two decades.

this week has gone by really fast. we were really busy and we are all getting more used to living here. a few highlights from the week were:

1. dover & canterbury. on wednesday we drove to dover to see the white cliffs and to see the castle there. of course the day we go the castle is closed, so we only saw the cliffs and then left! but they were still really pretty and it was fun to see! then we went to canterbury and saw the cathedral there and then went shopping and i found my new favorite store. paperchase. in love.

[rock beach]

[canterbury cathedral]

[kins just representing east high in the uk]

2. "oh my gosh, oh my gosh you guys!!!" (song that's stuck in our head from legally blonde that we have been singing all week) me, carly, liz, and paige went and saw legally blonde on thursday night. we didn't go there till right before it started to get tickets because we wanted to get the cheap price-- we ended up getting tickets that weren't that expensive, but we were pretty much at the very top, haha but it was still SO fun!

3. on friday we went to the american military cemetery and memorial and then to cambridge. cambridge was the funnest town and i loved it! steph-- i kept wishing the whole time that you could be there to show me where you lived and show me around! but it was such a fun day. we got lunch at a yummy cafe, went to one of their colleges there, and we went punting! it was freezing and we ended up getting the punter who all the guides were complaining about being so slow. haha he was so slow- getting passed left and right by other punters & boats, and he would just randomly stop and just talk to us about his life haha. it was so funny and i'm way glad that we did it!

[cambridge]

[punting]

4. saturday we went to get a tour of the houses of parliament. the tour was long, but really interesting! they showed us where all the meetings happen, and how once a year the queen comes and where she sits and goes. it was cool!

5. i'm 20 today! since my bday was sunday, me and some friends went out saturday night to celebrate. kins, liz, carly, paige, ashley, elise, and kaylee were nice enough to take me shopping and then to dinner at gourmet burger kitchen. it was way good and lots of fun! after we got gelato and i got the hazelnut kind, which basically tasted like a bueno bar in ice cream form. so so yummy! this morning i woke up to an email from my mom saying that she booked her flight to come visit me the first week of march! i can't wait!!! even though i knew she was coming, it made it that much better to get the final update that she booked her flight on my birthday! overall, i had a great birthday!!

xoxo

up north.

this weekend we traveled up north. thursday morning we took the coach towards york. we stopped at the fountains abbey. fountains abbey is where monks and nuns lived back in like the 12th century. it was really really cool! it's weird to go somewhere and try to picture it how it used to be- i can't picture monks walking around there and stuff! but it was fun and actually really pretty. funny story- as we're walking down the hill to get to the abbey, it is really muddy and wet grass, and typical i fall and slide down the hill. not once, but twice. hahaha. me and kinsey couldn't stop laughing because it was so funny and of course it would happen to me. luckily later when i saw liz, and she saw how my pants and coat had mud all over them-- i found out that sort of the same thing happened to her and she was dirty too haha.

[i'm the tiny head in the veryyyyyyy back]

[just the cutest girl around]

[muddy]

after seeing the abbey, we drove to york and checked into our hotel. we stayed at the ibis-- and we were all in love. haha, it wasn't even that nice- but just the fact that we were only sharing a room with one other person, and we had a private shower with warm water and good water pressure-- we were so happy! they did our roommate assignments by our bunk mates- so i was with liz! love her too much. that first night, after getting settled into the hotel, we went out to find some dinner and to see york. it was only 5:30, but everything was closed and after searching we finally found a good place to eat! after getting dinner we went back to the ibis, and played cards. when it was time to go to bed- i was worried that i wouldn't sleep good since we were in a new place and because i had already slept a few hours on the bus ride, so i took an ambien. to keep the story short and not too embarrassing-- let's just say that me and liz had an hour conversation that i could not remember to save my life the next morning. thanks to liz for being able to put up with me.

on friday morning we ate breakfast and packed up our stuff. we walked to the york minster and got a tour. it was really cool- but all of the cathedrals are starting to look the same to me haha. hard to keep tract/keep interested in them. but it was still fun! after the tour, we walked around the town for a bit- and we went to shambles street. it's the oldest shopping street in all of europe!

[me & carly on shambles street]

we got back on the bus after shopping a bit and drove to preston. we got a lds church tour and saw a lot of the sights. we saw the preaching square, where president hinkley served, the river where they had their baptisms, and a park that was dedicated to the converts and the first missionaries in england. it was so pretty there and really interesting- even though none of us had ever been so cold before! we drove to the preston temple, where they also have an mtc, stake center, and a distribution center. it was all pretty small-- their mtc usually only has about 25 boys at a time in it. after the tour we drove to liverpool. we were all still freezing, so once we got to the hotel, we didn't want to leave. we ate at the restaurant at the ibis and then played cards and hungout till late.

[me & megan at the baptism river]

[preston, england temple]

saturday we woke up, ate breakfast, checked out of our hotel once again- then we walked to the liverpool beatles museum. the museum was actually really fun and interesting! they had a lot of fun things from the beatles in there. after the museum we had some time to kill before getting back on the bus to go home- so we went shopping for a bit and ate lunch at barburrito. it was basically a barbacoa-- and we all LOVED it. we have all been missing mexican food like crazy, so we were all happy to find it! after our yummy lunch, we had a 5 1/2 hour bus ride back to london. it was weird to be coming home from a vacation-- but only coming back "home" to the centre.. but we were happy to get off the bus and everything! overall, it was a fun weekend up north and even though we had a few falls and had perma chills the whole time- it was really fun!

today we went to church-- and it was my first day in young women. there were only 5 girls- and like 4 advisors (then with me there will be 5) haha so it's a lot different than how it was at home, but hopefully it will be good! i have to teach in 2 weeks-- on "preparing to become an eternal companion." haha i don't know how i will teach girls about this when i don't know as much about it as all the married leaders! but we'll see how it goes!

defying gravity.

i have officially been living here for 2 weeks. it feels like it has been months haha. the past few days i have still been doing kitchen crew, which makes the days feel like a little longer.

on friday we headed to the british museum for 2 of our classes. it was a pretty big museum, so even after being there for almost 2 hours, we didn't see that much! after the museum, me, sharon, liz, and carly went to the restaurant 'zizi's' right by our place. it is italian, and it was really yummy!

saturday we went on another walk for our "london walks" class- we went to portobello market. it was way bigger than i expected and everything was so cute and different. they had lots of scarves and jewelry- and i finally spotted a cath kidston store!!!! we ventured out the harrods that night. it was HUGE.... looks like a museum in there and we actually got lost in there. it was so crowded and we were starving, so we split up our group of like 8 and me, kins, and ashley got dinner there while the others left and went somewhere else. we now know that we all can't go to harrods together on a saturday night when it is so crowded because we all get on edge and get really hungry hahahaha. (also, family- we went to laduree's in harrods to get a macaroon, and it was actually really really good! i don't know why but they tasted so much better than the paris ones we got!)

i started church at my assigned ward on sunday. my ward is full of african people, and i got a calling in the young women. the ward was really small- and in the chapel they don't even have benches, just folded chairs. so i am surprised to see how many young women they even have in the ward! i'm kind of nervous considering that i just barely got out of young women's a year ago haha. it took us an hour and a half to get there (3 different tubes & a bus) but we somehow got there on time (actually 5 minutes early) so it all worked out good!

monday a few of us attempted to go shopping, but sadly the mall that we chose to go to because it was the closest to us-- wasn't the best. i don't have school on mondays, so it's a free day. which is sometimes nice, but sometimes just makes us lazy and all think about home more. after kitchen crew and dinner, we all went out and got frozen yogurt at our new favorite place called snog. sugar free & fat free... and still tasted good. yup we're all trying to figure it out still.

yesterday (tuesday), i had class all day, then straight to kitchen crew, and then went to wicked! the day was busy.. but good! this was my second time seeing wicked.. and i really liked it! it was fun to see it in london (lots of the singers had british accents)- we had great seats and it was really fun!

this morning we woke up early again for kitchen crew, then we climbed back into bed for a while hahaha- which we lovvvvved. after getting up and getting ready, me and kinsey went to giraffe for lunch. it was the best meal that we have eaten here! after lunch we went to oxford street and got in some good shopping. we had a really fun day and were really happy! hahaha we needed a good eating & shopping day. plus it was sunny for the first time since we have been here- makes the day that much better.

tomorrow we are leaving to go up north.. it will be fun to get out of the centre for a weekend!! xoxo

ps. sorry that all this post talked about was complaining about kitchen duty.

the 1st week and a 1/2 of life in the uk.

this is a lot of catch up from the past week & a half. sorry so long!

me and kinsey left for london on monday night. the flight was long, but pretty good. we were loving watching movies on our personal tv's in front of us. we were eating smartfood popcorn and lounging- haha we were laughing that we were acting like it was a movie theater. we arrived in london on tuesday afternoon- and took a taxi to the hyde park hilton. we were so tired from the 7 hour difference- that we decided to take a quick nap. (kins said she only wanted a 30 minute one haha.. but we decided on just doing a 1 hour power nap) yup not a good idea. woke up 5 hours later and then i couldn't fall back asleep that night! the first of many nights that i haven't slept.

on wednesday we headed straight over to the byu london centre early in the morning. we were the first ones there (this is an unusual thing for me.. i swear i'm usually late to everything!) and we picked out our beds and unpacked. both me and kinsey brought our own bedspreads & sheets.. which took up some of our luggage space. we also brought pillows haha.. actually kinsey brought 2. but we are very grateful for our own comfy bedding! we are both in dorm 4 and we have 12 girls total in our room. the room is split down the middle by dressers/closets so we are mainly surrounded by 4 other girls. 3 sets of bunks! my 4 other roomies besides kinsey are liz bevan, carly flamm, sharon jensen, and elise hansen. they are all so cute!! after all the girls arrived to the centre, we all went on a walk through kensington gardens. it was so pretty but it has been so cold in london this week! (not as cold as utah & snow... but just wet, rainy, and windy!)

on thursday we had orientation. we went over the rules of the centre and talked about how the semester would be like. later that night we took the tube and saw the london eye & big ben. it was fun to finally get out into the city and see some of the sights that everyone talks about!

friday morning we got up early and went to the tower of london. everything was so interesting and really cool! they have the old prison that you can go through and a lot of old stuff like the king's armor and they have the jewel house-- where they have a lot of the jewels that the kings and queens have worn, and a lot of old crowns. after the tower of london, we went to westminister abbey. i liked this a lot and the whole time i kept thinking about how much my mom would have loved to see it haha. the had tombs of a lot of queens and kings and other people like charles dickens, isaac newton, charles darwin.. etc. it is also where princess diana's funeral was, where their coronations are held, and where the royal wedding will be held this april!

[big ben]

[westminister abbey]

saturday we headed to buckingham palace to see the changing of the guard. it was SO crowded- we couldn't even really see that much, but it was still fun. after that we went on a "london walk" for one of our assignments. we walked through st. james park, hyde park, and kensington gardens. they were all very beautiful! that night we went to our first play here- "the lady in black." funny story- the first day when me and kinsey were here, watching tv at the hilton, we could only find one good channel to watch... the preview channel for the plays/musicals happening right now. we kept watching it and finding ones that looked really good or ones that we wanted to see. then we saw this preview that looked scary & creepy. it says that it is "the lady in black" and right after the preview we look at each other and are like we do NOT want to see that.. it looks so weird! sure enough... we get the calendar the next day and we all already have tickets to go see it. haha, it ended up not being too bad-- but probably just because we had such low expectations. it was just fun to get out and go to a show though!

[buckingham palace - changing of the guard]

[on our walk through st. james park]

[wellington arch]

sunday was our first day of church here in london. we went to the hyde park ward - it is about a 25 minute walk from our house. we got our assignments for which wards we will each go to next week-- so i will start at a new ward on sunday & will probably be getting a calling! later that night after waiting hours for my family to get out of church- i talked to all of them. i really miss you guys and loved talking for a while!

on monday we started school! i have creative writing on mondays-- and it seems like it will be a pretty class! that night we took the tube to oxford street. right when we got off the tube and walked up the stairs.. we were all amazed at how many good shops they have here!!!!! we only were at a small part of the street-- and we already saw zara, h&m, topshop, the london nike store, urban outfitters. we ended up only going to topshop first and spending way too long there- so we didn't make it to the other shops! the mall closes early here too-- at 8:00 so we didn't have much time! but i will for sure be going back there! too excited.

on tuesday we went on a walk for our "london walks" class again. we went to soho and it was really cool to finally see that. (since i have always heard from itunes... saying songs are 'live from soho" and i always thought that it was in japan or china or something hahaha) in the afternoon we had our history of england class. it was long, but it seems like it will be an interesting class- just since we will be going to a lot of the places that we are learning about! (but we have all figured out that we will all be reading a lot this semester...) after dinner with everybody in the centre, me and 4 other girls (kinsey, elise hansen, ashley jorgensen, and paige knudsen) went to the play, dirty dancing. it wasn't as good as we were expecting it to- and as good as everybody told us it would be, but it was still fun!

[some of us on our walk through soho]

wednesday we woke up early (6 am) and took a charter bus (they call it a coach) and went to the salisbury cathedral, stonehenge, and then to bath. the salisbury cathedral was really cool and interesting. outside of it was my favorite part though. all of the streets and houses were so pretty and the grass was so so green. to my surprise.. i actually really liked stonehenge! it was also very beautiful there and even though it was cold and rainy.. we got in some cute pictures! after stonehenge we got back on the bus for an hour and drove to bath. bath was not what i was expecting at all! for some reason i didn't think it was a whole city, i just thought that it was the one roman bath haha. (learning new things everyday- go me!) but the whole city was really cute and unique- full of cute shops and little cafes/food places. the roman bath itself was pretty cool- it was interesting to think how people it that time really thought that it had healing powers. our professor even said that when queen elizabeth 1 couldn't get pregnant- she went to the bath to be healed.. and after that she could have children. isn't that crazy? i think it is all in their heads.. but i wonder what everybody thought back then! after our 3 stops.. we didn't get home till about 8. pretty long and cold day- but a good one!

[me and kinsey at the salisbury cathedral. sorry you can't see us- we look like ants haha.. and the cathedral was under construction (whatever you call it)]

[me & kinsey outside by the salisbury cathedral]

[ashley, elise, me, liz at stonehenge]

[me & liz]

[a little too windy for umbrellas haha...]

[the roman bath]

[just spotted this shop in bath-- had to take a pic for my bro in law. miss you]

during the semester, we are all put into "kitchen crew" groups. i'm in a group with 6 other people- and we do it straight for one week. we have to wake up early, set up breakfast.. clean it all up and then go to dinner an hour early to help prepare it and then clean up for an hour or so after. it basically sucks haha. today was the first day of my week. needless to say, it was a long day on top of school and everything! other than kitchen crew, i had a fine arts class this morning and then had my religion class at the hyde park ward this afternoon. it was a long day! but i can't believe it is friday tomorrow- the days have been going by slow here, but now our 2nd week is almost over!!

this past week and 1/2 has been a really good experience for me. adjusting to a new place, new friends, new living situations, new time zone, and being away from home. the first few nights were long- but each day has gotten better. i still haven't slept through the whole night, but it has gotten better! london is such a great place & i wish that all of you guys could come see it too and be here with me! love and miss you all!!!!