Cheers from Britain!
After a long ride through the chunnel on Thursday, this study abroad group finally made it to London!
And we love it!
Right next to Hyde Park, BYU has this adorable five story centre with a common room, a dining room, a servery, a class room, a library, a kitchen, laundry facilities, and more! I'm on the first floor with a bunch of really great girls. There are three other girls rooms and the boys are up in the attic. I guess the boys counted how many steps there are up to their room, and it's 88! Kind of wish I got a buns work out like that everyday... But let me tell you, those steps are LOUD. You cannot walk anywhere in this place without the entire house knowing (which kind of stinks for those of us that get up early). On the upside, we finally figured out how to flush the toilets. When we first arrived, no one could figure it out. Those poor girls who scrambled to get the loo first. Finally, Merritt got the toilets to flush (she had the "magic" touch), so we made her go around flushing everything. Not sure if I'd want that talent. But now we've all got "the touch", so problem solved!
27 Palace Court
Our humble abode!
So, for the first couple weeks in Europe, when we pretty much had to pay for all of our meals ourselves (expensive!), I was wondering where on earth all those program fees went. Well, now I know. They went to our amazing cook here in the center! Gosh darn, we were planning on loosing all of our Paris pounds in nasty England. No such luck. Our first meal was a roast, garlic and parsley carrots, green salad, bread, cheese stuffed figs, and balsamic broccoli. This woman's like gourmet and ridiculously talented. Good thing I'll need a new wardrobe anyway when I get home, because I'm movin' up to XXL.
Don't judge.
On another London side note, the tube is way nicer than the Paris metro, but way more expensive (like everything else here..)! The streets are way confusing as well. If they have street signs at all, it's only after you've walked like 50 meters down the street and two stories up, the cars drive on the wrong side of the street which is terrifying, but Hyde Park is so much fun! Running has never been better.
Friday, I pretty much just got lost with a friend all day, but during our rambles, we found a Ben's Cookies (highly recommended by my wonderful friend Kennedy). YUM. Until I dropped half of my cookie on the ground and the pidgins attacked. Sooo scary! If ever you look up on a walk in Hyde Park, hundreds of pidgins line the branches of the trees, staring menacingly at you as you skitter by, terrified- no exaggeration!
Saturday, we went and saw Richard III at the Globe Theatre! It was so fun! I know the actual Globe burned down in the London fire, but it was cool imagining Queen Elizabeth watching from the stands. We got peasant seats, a.k.a. we had to stand for the whole three hours (A LOT harder than it sounds). While it was a cool experience, the play would've been a lot more enjoyable had we had a seat. I guess the man who played Richard III is a world renown actor, and I can see why. He was hilarious! But disgusting too. All the women in the production were played by men and Richard kissed one! Sick! That was my favorite part, though (the women/men, not the kissing). That and Shakespeare's insults. Such a colorful vocabulary! Here, let me exemplify:
"Thou lump of foul deformity!"
"A knot you are of damned bloodsuckers!" (pardon the language, it's not mine)
"There's no more faith in thee than a stewed prune"
"Thou poisonous bunch-back'd toad!"
To be further insulted Shakespeareanly, check out http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/index.html?
After the play, we went and took touristy pictures at Big Ben (someone in our group didn't know what it was..) and then ate at Princess Diana Cafe. Pretty good day!
Richard III's mother AND Henry VII!
Globe Theatre
Big Ben!
Today, Sunday, we went to church in our separate wards! I'm in the Clapham ward (funny, I used to live on Clapham Ct. in Colorado), I think southeast of London? I had this gut feeling that us BYU students would be called on to bear our testimonies or something, and what do you know, it was fast and testimony week and the Bishop called us up to be first. Of course, I cried (gotta fix that before the mish), but it was a good experience. I don't bare my testimony enough, but I think I'll try to more, now. After sacrament meeting, the ward musical director came up and asked us to prepare a musical number for next month. Well, since I have no other talent than playing the piano (which can hardly be called a talent. Yes BYU, you have humbled me extremely), guess what I'll be doing! During second hour, the bishop called us in to give us our callings. Fun fact- our bishop, Bishop Cooke, is in a Mormon Message! Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dNYpXZIN_c
Soooo, drum roll please....... I've been called to teach the 15-18 year old sunday school class! I'm so excited and nervous! It's funny, because I keep expecting the members here to be at the same level as the people in Belize, but they're not! In class today, some of these 15 year old girls were sharing the most amazing insights in the Book of Mormon, and the faith and power in their comments was so inspiring. The boys on the other hand... a lot of them are struggling with the decision to go on a mission, so pray that I'll be able to be an influence for good in that area! I have such a testimony of missionary work, I hope the spirit will relate that to these young men through my lessons.
I'm so excited for these upcoming Sundays and for all the fun stuff we're doing this week!
Oh, and I just remembered, we went to a Hayden symphony Friday night. Very beautiful, but I did fall asleep. Classical music just does that to me. Hopefully we'll get another opportunity to hear some more well known pieces sometime soon.
The Barbican Center
Cheerio!
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