goodbye london.

i am home from london and it feels a bit strange. although seeing my family, eating real food, sleeping in my own bed, and taking a hot shower was nice.. i have been in a weird mood for the past few days. maybe it's because i am having withdrawals and having the classic case of

missing london town.

which i knew would happen. there's nothing like the big city and being surrounded by your best friends. the group i was with really became my family, and it literally feels weird not doing everything with them. i never thought that i would miss the loud keyboard clicks and bedside lights blaring in my eyes as i'm trying to fall asleep at night, sleeping on a bed where liz could hear every move i made, climbing up 70 stairs, having washers that shred our clothes, eating creepy meals, and never being alone. haha that sounds like complaining, but i promise i'm not.. i am just saying that i miss e v e r y t h i n g about london. i wish that i could go back right now. i am so so lucky that i got to spend 3 1/2 months there. while i was in the uk, i did realize how lucky i was, but now that i am home... i am realizing it more and more each and every day. here is the full group:

too many funny times & memories with all of these people.

the night before i left to come back to utah, a group of us (there weren't many of us left.. this was on wednesday, and starting monday people began to leave the centre to go home or to travel other places) went to south kensington to get "ben's cookies" - one of our favorite treats there, and we of course got some yoghurt covered almonds from the so ken station. after getting our treats, we went to see big ben one last time. and we HAD to get the "must have" telephone booth pic.

after we took our last tube ride back home. which was really sad! haha, we have all come to love the tube and it's convenience.

when we got home, we hungout and finished up packing. our room was already feeling a bit empty, and i already missed everyone in dorm 4! liz & carly left this night at 2 am, carl went to bed at 1:30 haha, got a good 15 minutes of sleep, and liz and i stayed up chatting on {our} bed. i will miss my bunkmate! the london centre tradition is that you sign your bunk bed and give advice to the new students that will be coming. me & bevie signed it together.

after saying goodbye to both of them.. i climbed up the ladder to my bed for the last time and slept for 4 hours until kaylee woke me up to say goodbye and then 30 minutes later i got up and went downstairs to say goodbye to the next group leaving. i finished packing, ate my last bowl of crunchy nut (my fav cereal.. i literally ate this at least 2 meals a day), and then left the centre with taylor, geoff, and liz.

after dragging my huge 2 huge bags, 1 heavy heavy carryon, and 2 purses; catching my flight to detriot... then almost missing my connecting flight to salt lake because the line to get through customs took 5 years.. i finally made it to utah. i was greeted by my cute family, (geebs wasn't there because he had a baseball game) grandparents, my cousin caitlin, and my friend maria.

it is so fun to be home.. but i can't help but miss london now! i had the best few months of my life and i have made the greatest memories. i am so blessed.

and now.. i'm currently counting down the days until i get to see beautiful london again!

xoxo

the centre.

this is where i have been living the past 3 1/2 months.

this place has become home and even though the food, the stairs, the sharing a shower with 20 girls, the bad internet service, and having no space in a room with 12 girls can sometimes be hard.... i will miss it here SO much.

{thanks to mike for some of these pictures}

[sharing a fridge with 40 people doesn't really work. could never find anything in there]

[we were originally only supposed to get a small box for food, but once we realized that the food wasn't too good... we all started taking over cupboards.. the 2nd one up with the cereal is mine & kinsey's shelf haha]

[where we spent countless hours... our library. aka- hangout spot. aka- only place to get internet in the house]

[just the beginning of the stairs]

[NATALIA]

[30+ girls shared these]

[the famous stairs from our bedroom to the bathroom-- that mostly everyone fell down at some point or another]

[my half of the room where the seven of us slept]

[by the end of the semester... this is what my small closet looked like haha so messy]

[mine & bev's bed. i swear it wasn't this messy the whole time. we just had to take a picture of it this day because it was out of control haha]

[ashley's bed. ash was originally in dorm 3 (one floor down from us) but after the boy's showers leaked through the wall by her bed and ruined her laptop haha, she moved her matress up for a night to have a break. and we never wanted to move it back down because we loved her up there too much. she completed room 4! and she officially was in our room longer than she was in room 3. we're just happy that she put up with us and didn't mind sleeping on the floor haha]

[the view from our bedroom window]

27 palace court.

you will be missed.

hyde park & such.

the past few weeks here in london have been going way too fast.. but we have done so many fun things and i have fallen in love with london all over again. how could you not when this is right outside your door??

on tuesday.. liz, carly, paige, and i walked to hyde park and went paddle boating. it was the prettiest day and we had the best time!

that night, a group of us went to see trafalgar square, the tower of london, and tower bridge for the last time.

[the countdown in trafalgar square for the 2012 olympics]

[my twin]

here comes the first of the lasts..

the past few days have been crazy, but so much fun. on sunday, we had our final fireside. mike & ashley made the best slideshow (i've lost track of how many times i've watched it haha, i love it so much) and the fireside was so much fun, reliving a semester full of memories and good times. at one point, kins was laughing so hard that she fell off her seat haha.

after the fireside, we did a study group for our final the next morning. which led into more talking and laughing than actually studying. monday, we had our last final and we finished up our papers. ashley's mom came into town monday afternoon, and we were all excited to finally meet her, but were sad to see ashley move her bed from our bedroom floor, back down to her bunk haha-- and to see the first one of us all to pack up. ash's mom took out a group of us to snog for frozen yogurt. our favorite place to get yogurt on south kensington. after, we all went to our last show, 39 steps. it is a alfred hitchcock comedy, and i really liked it because it was funny and really different than any other thing we have seen in london. the show was right by piccadilly circus, so it was a fun area to go to and to of course to watch the crazy street performers there haha.

the best saturday in london.

{beware, picture overload}

saturdays are the best day of the week in london, they may be a little more crowded, but the city is so much livelier than other days of the week, which makes it fun... and this saturday was my favorite one that we have had. a bunch of us woke up and headed to camden market. it was a sunny day, which makes everything better, and we had a fun day full of souvenir shopping and eating. and eating.

[i think if i had to choose one thing from camden, it would have to be these churros. they hand make the dough right in front of you, create the churro, fry it, roll it in sugar & cinnamon, and then fill the inside with caramel and chocolate. yummy.]

next, huge belgian chocolate covered strawberries, sprinkled with hazelnuts-- served in a banana leaf haha.

after spending a few hours at the market, we went home and relaxed for a bit. since our room at the centre is always so hot, we have the windows and fire escape doors permanently open. we decided to take a walk up the fire escape and go to the roof of our house. it was so so pretty and lots of fun! the view was what you see in movies like marry poppins-- with all of the roofs & chimneys.

[our funny middle parts]

later that night, we went out to dinner at nandos- a well known restaurant in london. we love the chicken pita with pineapple & cheese.. so yums. and then we took a ride on the tube to get snacks. haha why not end the non-stop eating day with a bang!?

[liz decided to lay on me when we were on the tube.. haha i kept telling her that my hand was squished and hurting, but she wouldn't believe me. luckily mike was able to snap this pic for proof hahahaha]

after we got home, and liz making me laugh so hard.. (well we all know what happens what i laugh too hard.. but that's another story for a different day).... we ended up staying up really late. mike & ashley were working on the final slideshow.. and me and kins attempted to write our papers for school. oh ya, and liz stayed up till 4 blogging too haha. such a fun day in london town!