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!!!!