Day of Love

Usually I'm not a big fan of Valentine's day, but this years was different. Besides being in London, I also received some chocolate, roses and went to the Ballet. It was a good day.

The day started off with my waking up to a handmade valentine from one of the boys in the centre. It was so nice! He wrote one for all 33 of us girls. Then I went to my favorite English classes. We talked books and then in my writing class we wrote bad love poetry and also edited each other's papers.

Between classes we then received a delivery of 33 roses, one for each girl, from 2 boys in the centre as well. It was very nice of them :)

After class we had dinner and then we got our tickets to go to the ballet at the Royal Opera House. All of us girls got nice and cute, since we don't have much of a need to get ready very often. I even straightened my hair, which is a pretty big deal--London is pretty humid, so it's really hard to straighten my curly hair.

We went to Swan Lake. It was beautiful. I love watching how graceful they are and it makes me wish that I was able to do that. The orchestra was phenomenal, too. It was just a really neat experience. The white swan was amazing! I can't even describe it to you.

view from my seat. The Royal Opera House.

I sat next to my friend Devon and we had an interesting experience with these 2 old women behind us. They were annoyed because they couldn't see. It was hilarious because they were just super rude and Devon and I just gave her funny looks. When our professors heard about it they told us that we should have told the ladies that if they were going to complain about their seats, then maybe they should have paid more money for better ones. It was funny. Gotta love our professors :)

Devon and I after the ballet

I also got a nice note from a very special someone and it was just a great valentines day :)

"FREEEEDOOOMMMM!!" part IV

Name that ^ movie. This one is much easier.

So like I said in my previous post, waking up at that hostel was not the best thing ever. In fact, it was pretty gross. But, I survived. We left the hostel and got back onto the coach.

The coach took us to the base of the William Wallace monument. William Wallace is the main scotsman in 'Braveheart'. So that was pretty cool. We hiked up a pretty steep hill. The view was so great. I love Scotland. I can't even describe how much I loved it. Then I went inside the monument and hiked up I think about 260 stairs to the very top. It was awesome. William Wallace is so cool! I got to see his sword, too. It was as tall as I am. Seriously. A five foot sword. How can you even use that? I really enjoyed visiting the monument and all of that.

William Wallace monument. I climbed about 260 stairs to get to the top!

William Wallace's sword! It was huge :)

Almost to the top of the monument ;)

In the process of getting up on their knees. I was struggling and kinda freaking out because I could figure out how to get up there. I'm not the tallest person in the world...

Blake, me and Ramzi. Their kilts were awesome! I got one similar to the one Blake is wearing for Travis :)

Holly and I at the top of Wallace Monument. Beautiful view of Stirling

We got back on the coach and took off back to Edinburgh to catch our train back to London. It was a bit of a bitter sweet drive. I love London, but I think Scotland will always have a big place in my heart. I really wish we could have stayed a lot longer.

The train ride back to London was LONG. We kept getting delayed and it ended up being like 7 hours. It was as long as the flight over here from Chicago. Crazy. I passed the time with cards, admiring the scenery out the window, reading, listening to Florence and the Machine and Hans Zimmer, eating and sleeping.

Scotland... how I love thee!

"Who would let their children stay here?!".. part III

Friday, Feb. 11:

I woke up early again to some Scottish breakfast and packed up all my stuff. We were leaving Edinburgh to go to Stirling for the night. So, I got all my stuff together and got on the coach for even more driving.

We stopped at New Lanark. This is the remnants of an old cotton mill. The man who used to run the mill introduced a lot of groundbreaking policies for the time. We were there for quite some time and had a tour of the place. It's located right where this beautiful waterfall is and is within this gorgeous valley. I think my favorite part was just the location, it was so pretty. There are still I think 150 people that live in this mill and make wool things and run the tours. They had this old candy shop where I got some really good black licorice candies. So good. I also got some chicken, leeks and I think corn soup. I don't know, really. But whatever it was... it was delicious! New Lanark also had some random ride that reminded me a bit of a disneyland ride--like the haunted mansion, just like a billion times less cool. It was about some random girl/ghost that they made up that lived in the mill. Super creepy. Yes it was.

This was after that Disneyland-esque ride. The girl in the left corner is the creepy one I was talking about.

beautiful waterfall at New Lanark

After our stop at New Lanark we drove some more to get into Stirling. Our coach pulled up to this super old building within this cemetery. Yup, a real cemetery. Guess what that building was. If you guessed our hostel, you would be correct. Haha. We get our room assignments and drop off our stuff before heading up to Stirling castle. Then we went to Stirling castle and it was so pretty. It wasn't nearly as big as Edinburgh and not as much to see, but the views over the valley and of the William Wallace monument were breathtaking! I ended up climbing these rocky cliffs within the castle walls to get higher up and get a better view of things. I'm glad I did that because it was beautiful. After the castle we went on a man hunt to find something to eat. Stirling is just like every other place---everything closed at like 6 besides pubs and some restaurants! So, we found this Australian pub/grill. I got some good pasta. They sold Kangaroo burgers! How sad. My friend tried a Kangaroo steak. She said it was pretty good. I just wouldn't be able to bring myself to eat a cute little animal like that. But, I guess they are overpopulating Australia because they were really promoting eating this kangaroo. Sad. This pub was cool, there was constant Steve Irwin/Crocodile Hunter episodes playing and inside the bathroom there was a life size poster of Steve Irwin and a crocodile. It was awesome! Haha. I guess Scottish people like to decorate their bathrooms? Maybe?

Entrance to Stirling Castle

View from Stirling Castle

After eating, literally everything was closed and I was exhausted so we all headed back to the hostel. Oh man. Prepare yourself for some great reading ahead. So we cross through the cemetery and walk up the stairs (no lifts... aka elevators here). We get into our room. 4 to a room. 2 bunk beds. We find out quickly that there are no towels, no soap to wash our hands with. Nothing like that. The toilet room looks like one from a tiny trailer--with that kitschy wallpaper. Haha. There is a sink with a sign above it that says, "Not drinking water". Awesome. So we sit on our beds and feel the blanket. You know those sheets that are plastic for bed wetters? Yeah, that's what our blanket was, with a duvet cover over it. If you moved the blanket at all, the crinkle and noise it made could probably start an avalanche. There are random stains on the sheets and on the carpet and some questionable body hairs, too. Just wait, it gets better.

So, we do have a deck of cards and a group of us gather into our room and we play some games. I probably played the funniest game of Egyptian rat screw poker of my life. I kept on slapping all the doubles and I think my roommate, Emily was seriously going to kill me/punch me in the face because we were getting so into it and I kept stealing all her cards. I was laughing so hard. So that was a good part of the night. Anyway, we decide to head to bed and we get talking about why the water would be labeled, "not drinking water". Our first thoughts are since it's such an old building it's probably because they are lead painted pipes. Anyway, then I got thinking. We are in a cemetery. The water must run through it. Yeah. Put 2 and 2 together. It was dead people water! So I say that and Emily starts laughing and Jaynann starts freaking out and I'm saying "I'm certain its dead people water!". Anyway we are laughing so hard. Then the girls across the hallway come into our room and they see the sign above our water and they say, "Our sign says it is drinking water!" And then we tell them about the dead people water and they start freaking out because they drank the water earlier that day. Basically it was this huge hysteria and we were all laughing so hard. Anyway, they go back to their room and we are all getting into our beds for the night. Then we hear this scream across the hallway and the girls run and knock on our door. So Katie goes to open the door and they are shouting something about their beds having bed bugs and ours do too (Earlier there was a small outbreak at the centre so everyone has been paranoid about those bugs). Anyway, after hearing that all of us scream and jump out of bed and start freaking out and those girls from the other room are laughing so hard. Emily says, "if you guys are joking I'm going to be so pissed off and I will kill you." And we all just start laughing harder and the girls say, "No, we're serious!" and they have us go inspect. I don't go into the other room because I don't want to get those bed bugs! Anyway, one of the girls picks up what she thinks is a bed bug and they are looking at it, and then all of a sudden it jumps/disappears out of her hand and all the girls in their room run back into our room, screaming, and we start freaking out and the girl that was holding the bug puts her hand under our faucet and then realizes it's the dead people water and starts freaking out more. Anyway, everyone is just out of control but we are laughing so hard. I seriously almost peed my pants because I was laughing so hard. I was crying, that's for sure. Anyway, then we check our beds and Jaynann finds black specks and starts freaking out even more. Then another girl that actually knows what bed bugs look like and where to look comes in and checks our beds. Yeah, we didn't have them. It was just a bunch of fuzz from the crackly comforters! Haha. So we started a bunch of hysteria and were just so loud. I don't think I've laughed that hard in so long! It was a bit ridiculous. Needless to say, none of us slept really well and it was so HOT. I seriously felt disgusting waking up in the morning, in those gross beds. Ugh. It was like living in a cave, but worse! I was sure glad to leave that place in the morning!

*The blog post title is an exclamation concerning our hostel. It was called the Stirling Youth hostel. haha.

"The day is mine!".....part II

Anyone who can name where that quote is from gets something awesome!

Anyway, I digress...

Thursday, Feb. 10:

Today was our free day in Edinburgh. I woke up early to get our free scottish breakfast at the hostel. Yes, they did serve Haggis. Did I try it? Why would you even ask that? Of course I didn't. Sick. Do you know what's in that stuff? However, I got to watch 2 other girls at my table try it, make disgusted faces, and kinda gag a bit. We all know how picky I am, so that definitely wouldn't fly with me! Haha.

After breakfast we decided to head back to the Tartan Mill and explore the downstairs since we didn't get around to that the night before. The downstairs is where they actually weave the tartans! I got to see the looms and the wool and people working the machines! It was soooo cool!! I could have spent hours there. Seriously. But, not everyone in my group felt the same way. Sad. If I had all the money in the world I could have gotten so much cool stuff, but I don't. So I only got a few things. I got a MacGregor scarf for my Grandma McMaster and a tie for Tyson.

one of the weavers

weaving the tartan

After exploring the mill we headed back down the Royal Mile and stopped at St. Giles Cathedral. It was super pretty! We were going to head to the children's toy museum with a few girls, but then we ended up getting separated and the girls that I was with decided to stop at this kilt shop that we had heard about from one of the boys last night. He bought an entire outfit... kilt, shirt, socks and the little bag thing. I can't remember what they are called. I did learn that they are because kilts do not have pockets, so that's where guys put the stuff they would put in their pockets. Fun facts to know and tell I guess.

St. Giles Cathedral

Anyway, I had my eyes on the look out for a kilt for Travis. He had told me that he wanted one. The woman helping us, Stephanie was probably the nicest lady ever! She was so helpful, was able to tell us what sizes to try on and she even let us, girls, try on as many kilts as we wanted and we could take pictures without having to buy them. We all tried some on. And, of course I fell in love and had to by one myself. I know. I'm ridiculous. But it's so cute and in the buchanan tartan design. It's family stuff, right? Haha, and she gave me quite a few pounds off too! Also, I got Travis a sweet kilt. Dark blue and Dark green. You'll love it, Travis! Super cool :) (Dad, I'm still working on getting you a kilt, too. So, do not fret!)

Trying on kilts. I didn't get that one... but if you look at the pattern of the kilt in the top left hand corner that's the one I got :)

After this little detour we went to the museum had fun there and then went to: The Elephant House! This is where J.K. Rowling came up with Harry Potter and wrote parts of the books! So awesome! We got lunch there and it was very tasty. I got a picture of myself in the corner where she used to write. The best part was going into the bathroom and seeing the toilet seat plastered with pictures from the Harry Potter movies! So great! The bathrooms were also covered in scribblings of people describing how Harry had changed their lives. It was really cool. I signed my name under "Dumbledore's army". I was number 116, 117 or 118. Haha I can't remember exactly. All that really matters is my name is under it! It was a fun stop!

In front of The Elephant House. Yes, I realize I look gross. haha.

J.K. Rowling used a napkin to start writing Harry Potter. So, naturally, I did the same thing :)

The awesome toilet. Yes, I do realize I took a picture of a toilet.

The corner where J.K. Rowling used to sit and write.

We went back to the hostel to drop off our kilts and junk. I met up with my friend Jaynann, and we talked to some people who hiked up Arthur's seat earlier. They said it wasn't that bad of a hike and that it was beautiful. So, we decided to do that together. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to make it all the way up to the top because the sun was setting. We didn't want to have to hike down the mountain/hill in the dark. But we made it quite far up, went off the path, hiked up a grassy slope and nestled into the mountain to watch the sun set. It was beautiful. One of my favorite memories thus far on this study abroad. I'll put some pictures of the sunset, but it won't even do it justice. It's hard to catch a memory like that in a photo. It was just amazing.

Where I would be hiking to. Jaynann and I made it to the part on the right hand side of the picture where the cliff meets up with the grassy hill.

Edinburgh :)

Sunset on the pathway.

beautiful sunset over Edinburgh.

I love Scotland so much. I can't even describe how I feel about it really, or why I like it so much. It's not just how beautiful it is, it's just the feeling being there. All the people we came into contact with were SO nice! That atmosphere was just a lot more comfortable and felt more intimate. We were in a huge city, but it didn't feel anything like a city, or like London. I just love Scotland and everything about it. I want to go back so badly. Hopefully someday I can return.

After hiking down Arthur's seat I met up with some other girls, Liz and Holly. We went on a search for somewhere to eat. We tried this pub, but since we all looked under 21 we got carded (even though the drinking age is like 18 I think?). They don't take US licenses or school IDs, only passports. So, we weren't able to order just hamburgers. So we found somewhere else that ended up having a 30% student discount! Sweet deal. The food was soo good! I  got a grilled chicken breast sandwich and lots of chips. So good!

I was exhausted after dinner, so I came back to the hostel and just relaxed. It was a great day, that's for sure!

Sean Connery sends his regards... part 1

SCOTLAND!!!

It was so beautiful. I cannot even describe how much I loved being there. If I could go back again, I would. No questions about that.

Wednesday, Feb. 9:
We woke up early and took the tube to King's Cross station to catch our train. Yes, I did take a train from King's Cross Station. Just like Harry Potter. I wish I was heading to Hogwarts, but Scotland was pretty awesome too! Anyway, the train ride was about 5 hours long. I tried not to sleep, but it seems whenever I take long coach trips, or train trips, I can't help but fall asleep. Do not worry, though, I woke up and took quite a lot of beautiful pictures of the Scottish Coast. The ocean was so beautiful. Rolling green hills, long yellowed grass, sheep, dark rocky cliffs, and every color blue imaginable in the water. It was wonderful.

Scottish countryside

Beautiful blue water!

We got off the train and were greeted by lovely Scottish accents. We had officially arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland (pronounced Edinburrow... not Edinberg). Our director was trying to get his bearings, so we ended up wandering around the train station for awhile. Not too long, though. Anyway, we found our way out and made it to the Royal Mile. This is basically the main street in Edinburgh. On one end is Edinburgh castle and on the other is the Holyrood Palace... and in between is ever shop you can imagine... filled with kilts, bagpipes, family tartans, hats, golf stuff and just tons of tourist shops. We made our way to our hostel that was just off the Royal Mile. We weren't able to check in yet, because it was still too early, so they let us drop off our stuff in a locked room while we trekked to Edinburgh castle. 

So before we left we had all heard horror stories about how COLD Scotland was going to be. So we were all expecting the worst. But, basically they lied to us... or the weather was just really nice to us in Edinburgh... either way, it was warm. Well, warm compared to what I'm used to in Winter... so it was like high 40s low 50s. So, I was like burning up in my huge downfeather snow coat. So, I had stripped down to just my short sleeve shirt walking up the royal mile to the castle. I got a lot of strange looks. Here I am, in Scotland, early February, wearing a short sleeve shirt. Haha. Anyway, at the top of the hill was the castle on this hill. It looked like it was floating above the city. It was beautiful. We got to explore the castle and just take our time around things. The views were incredible. All of Edinburgh was just sprawled out below this castle and we had a great view of the ocean. It was a once in a lifetime view. I got some postcards and a spoon for my aunt. We also stopped at this cafe inside the castle that had great hot coco. The castle also had the Scottish crown jewels and a lot of information about the old royalty. It was really neat. After we left castle we started heading back down the royal mile and meandered our way into a Tartan Mill just outside the castle. This was such a cool shop! I saw all my family tartans made into scarves, blankets, ties etc. Super cool.

Beautiful Edinburgh castle! It was so windy. Notice my short sleeves... but I was so warm! 

Michelle, me, Jaynann and Holly looking out over Edinburgh. We were all so HAPPY to be in Scotland!

One of many pictures I took of the view from Edinburgh Castle

After this we headed back to our hostel to move our stuff into our rooms. This hostel was huge, and luckily we only had people we knew in our rooms. All BYU students. The rooms had the bare minimum. Just a bunch of bunkbeds, a tiny pillow, fitted sheet and duvet cover for the "comforter". Each of us had a small cupboard to put things in... also the room had 2 toilets and 2 showers. Not as bad as I thought a hostel was going to be. Actually, it was 10 times better than the second hostel we stayed at (more to come about that later... haha!).  Anyway, we moved our stuff in, then met up with a bunch of girls to find a pub to eat in. We heard about a famous pub "Maggie Dixon" that we should go to. So, a bunch of us headed out in search for this pub. We found it pretty fast and made a quick stop at this random joke shop beforehand.

So Maggie Dixon is the first pub I've been to since being in England! I know, crazy. So we get in and they set us up at a big table. They probably thought we were crazy... when all we ordered to drink was tap water (I did break down and get a diet coke. They are so expensive here, its ridiculous!). I got a basil, tomato and mozzarella panini with chips (fries). It was pretty good. I don't think the pub is famous for their food... but for the story behind the name. I guess back in the day, this girl named "Maggie Dixon' got preggo and tried to hide it. She successfully did, but ended up miscarrying the baby... so she threw the dead baby into the river... changed her mind about throwing it like that and grabbed it and placed it in the rushes of the river. Anyway, people found the baby and pinned it on her, so she was sentenced to hang. So she was hung and pronounced dead because she had no pulse... but when her friends were getting her body ready for the funeral they heard moaning coming from her coffin. When they opened it, she was alive! Weird. I know! Anyway, the people thought that there had to be a reason she was still alive so they let her live, and she lived to be old and died old. Anyway, I am not making this up. It's completely true!

After the pub we were going to walk around the city, but everything closes early. I don't know what it is with the UK and everything closing at 6 (besides pubs/restaurants)... but they do. So we headed back to our hostel before heading out to find dessert. We went to Bella Italia to get some great gelato! It was sooo good, and our waiter was hilarious and so nice! His accent was the best! Since I was sharing with another girl he brought us out 2 spoons and even gave us an extra cookie so we wouldn't have to 'fight over it' as he put it. So nice! I love Scotland! After dessert we went back to our hostel, yet again and talked/relaxed. It was a great night :)

Happy Birthday Sissy!

So, I know this post is late for my sister's birthday... but I am blogging about the day of her birthday. So I guess better late than never! Love you SueZann!

Today was really great. A group of us, girls, woke up early to go to Portobello market. This market is so neat! It's the world's largest antique market. I never could afford any of the antiques, but they are so fun to look at! Dad-- I saw some sweet pocket watches and was going to get you one. But, I didn't. Let me know if you want me to go back! The market gets so crowded and is just crazy walking through it. I heard probably about 10 different languages, smelled fresh cooking Indian food and crepes. It's just a lot of fun! There was a man selling old books. I almost got an old Peter Rabbit book from the 50s I think for my nephews... but I wasn't sure if they would like something like that. But, I loved looking at the books that man had to offer. I think he had a copy of Treasure Island from the 20s. Pretty neat stuff. Portobello also has a plethora of scarves for sale. I just bought 6 of them in 6 different colors for souvenirs for my friends back home. Let me know if you want one. I have some wonderful colors!

After the market me and my bunkmate Jaynann and my friend Michelle went to the original Twinings tea shop. It was soo fun! They had so many different flavors. It was cool to see a tea shop that is so old (est. 1706) and that provides tea for the royal family! Pretty awesome. I got an assortment of peppermint tea. It's delicious!

After tea I came home, studied a bit, and then a huge group of us went out to China town for the Chinese new year. China town was decorated with thousands of chinese lanterns and the streets were FULL of people and loud popping noises from those fireworks that you throw on the ground and they explode. We went to a restaurant-- The Golden Dragon. It had some great reviews and all of that and since our group was so big we ended up waiting for like 45 minutes to be seated. The food was alright. I still like Mings better... man, I miss that little Chinese food place and their lo mein noodles. Yum.

After dinner we went home since a lot of us had homework to catch up on. The tube was extra credit since the circle line was down for construction this weekend. Crowded tube makes for some interesting experiences. Haha. But, it's all good. Yay for public transportation, right?

Anyway, happy late birthday SueZann! I'll send a package when I get home from Scotland. Love you!

"Dear Mr. Potter...We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Friday was our first entire day off in a long time. So what better way to spend it then going Harry Potter adventuring? Believe me, I totally embraced my inner witch self. 


We started off the day heading out to the tube and trying to find characters to fit all of us. I'm convinced I would have made the best Hermione, but someone else had already claimed her. I said I would be one of the crazy characters... I can't remember who. So, we'll just say I was Hermione... or no one. It's all good.


Our first stop was to the King's Cross Station. Platform 9 and 3/4. The real one was actually under construction, so that was a little disappointing. They put up a fake one to suffice the avid Harry Potter lovers. Our group was huge and we definitely congested the flow of tourists since everyone wanted to take individual pictures. It's all good though, Platform 9 and 3/4 was awesome. I wanted to jump on a train on our way out to make my way to Hogwarts! Do not worry, on our trip to Scotland we are taking a train from King's Cross Station. I guess that can  be like taking the Hogwarts Express.

Our second stop was at Shaftesbury Avenue right in downtown Soho. This is where Hermione, Harry and Ron apparrate in the 7th movie when the death eaters attack Bill's wedding. It was fun walking up and down it. We even stopped to get some hot chocolate at Starbucks. Super good stuff :)


The next stop on our fun outing was where they filmed the ministry of magic. If you remember from the films the ministry is hardly ever shown. I think it might be shown like once or twice from the outside in the films. But, we did find it. It's where the old Scotland Yard headquarters are. Pretty cool.


After the ministry we went to where they filmed part of the leaky cauldron. It was where I had been on a London walk class earlier on. The atmosphere was cool, but the building they "used" didn't look anything like the leaky cauldron. I'm a bit skeptical that it really was. Maybe the passages they used. But I'd say that's probably it in that area.


After that we headed home and I did home work for the rest of the night. The Harry Potter tour was lots of fun and I'm so glad we went! We're planning on eventually going to the London Zoo in order to visit the Reptilian house there. But, that's something for another weekend and free day. 


Now I really want to read the Harry Potter books... hmmm. That will have to wait until I get back home to the states though. Sad day.

The entire group that came on the tour!

When I felt like Keira Knightley in P & P

P & P = Pride and Prejudice

Also, we are going to a play here with Keira Knightley in it.

So on Wednesday the 2nd our group set out on a country excursion. I was a little worried about leaving since I was still recovering from whatever it was that I had. However, I'm so glad that I decided to go.

A few weeks ago we had 2 old men from the stakes here in London come and talk to us about living in London and the church here. One of the men told us that he leads us BYU students on a 9 mile hike through the English countryside where we would see lots of rolling fields, sheep, horses and castle ruins. Needless to say, I was so excited for this adventure! I'm glad I decided to seize this opportunity, otherwise I would have missed out on the beauty and solace we can only find in nature.

We drove just outside of London to Kent, where we met up with the old man, George, and his 2 brothers. George is pretty awesome. He lived in London during the Blitz and will be talking to us later on what it was like when we get to WWII history. Anyway, so he knows a lot about England and London and so do his brothers. This walk/hike wasn't really bad at all. It was relatively flat, except for one extremely steep hill and I got to see so much. We walked through the middle of fields, through forests and undergrowth, on old gravel roads, in mud. You name it, I probably trudged through it. The rolling green hills were probably my favorite part, it really just reminded me of the new version of Pride and Prejudice when Elizabeth is walking through the dark and cloudy countryside to get to Netherfield Park.

I saw a brand new baby pony. It was so cute and shaggy. When I went up to the fence enclosure it galloped right over. I'm sure it loved the attention of 10 girls.

I stayed near the front most of the way and talked to George's brother, John. I think he was really surprised at how much I knew when he would ask me questions. I talked to him quite a bit just about living in England and his family. We also talked about religion. He told me about the church of england and his duties within the church. He is able to pass the wine around and he goes to church every Sunday. I really enjoyed getting to learn more about him and his experiences.

One of the castles we saw was in a small town called Eynsford. It was just ruins now, but it was neat to just walk around and explore the rocky labyrinth. Eynsford was a cute little town, very small and very quiet. I enjoyed walking through it.

Along the walk we stopped at a old Hobbs farm. This farm (I think it was called Castle farms) is also extremely famous for their lavender. In the spring the fields are blooming in that beautiful purple color and that great smell. They were selling homemade lavender ice cream. I wish I would have bought some just to say I've tried lavender ice cream. But I didn't. Instead I bought fresh pressed apple juice. Probably the best apple juice I've had.

I'm so glad I went on the walk and got to experience a little bit more of England. 9 miles definitely did not seem that long at all. In fact, I wouldn't mind living in the English country side one day and being greeted by those rolling green hills and wonderful fresh air.

After our walk we hit the town for some excellent food. We went to an Italian restaurant just down Queensway (really close to where we live). The pasta I got was pretty good. I loved the cheese on it. The gelato I got was even better! I just love gelato. I'm so excited to go to Italy in a month. Yay!

"To love another person is to see the face of God"

Just right outside of the theatre!

On Monday our group went to Les Miserables. I was super excited to see this musical because I have loved listening to some of the songs over the years and I was excited to see the context of them.

This musical was amazing! They were all amazing singers and the story was wonderful. It was great to see the redeeming story of the characters and how they stood up for what they believed. It was just a really powerful musical. I really think the fact that everything is sung also made it a lot more powerful. There is nothing that is spoken throughout the entire show. It's wonderful! I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the songs that I didn't know a lot more. Especially the Finale and the one right before intermission. My favorite character was Eponine. I just thought she was the most relatable of the characters and I loved when she sang, "On my own." So wonderful! Also Javert had the most rich and deep baritone voice I have ever heard. It was heart melting! Haha. I just really enjoyed it quite a bit.

The stage. Our seats were awesome!

After the show we walked around Soho. It was seriously the funniest thing ever. We probably got asked about 10 times what club we were going to, since it was a big group of girls. A guy even came up to us and offered to buy us free drinks if we went to the club with him. Haha. Don't worry, none of us were silly enough to go. It was way funny, though, just to be approached by so many people about clubbing. Soho is kinda a sketchy place at night time. We found a dessert and then went home.

Good night. Good music. Good laughs.

Being sick in a foreign country

Oh being sick. Bad enough when you are home, but being abroad it really just kinda stinks.

Last Thursday walking home from the tube station I started getting this terrible pain in my left back area. By the end of the night I could barely stand and was in terrible pain. Even laying down wouldn't stop the aches from happening. Yeah, it was great. I ended up spending the whole night laying down with wet hot towels in plastic baggies to heat up my back and taking pain pills. The heat helped a bit, but the pain pills didn't. One of the professors here, a saint really, came in and gave me a blessing and then offered to let me use his and his wifes bathtub in their flat for me to soak in. So I did that and felt a bit  better, but went to bed soon afterward. The next morning wasn't so bad, so I decided to go to Cambridge... but, like the previous post said a few hours into it I was in a ton of pain again. So Friday night I spent laying down and not doing anything either. I was going to set up an appointment with a doctor here, since our program comes with great insurance, but they weren't open on the weekends. So I dealt with it. Saturday was probably the worst day... the pain started moving from my back to my sides and then down to my lower abdomen on the left side. I stayed home from going to Parliament and missed the huge student demonstration/riot at Trafalgar square that I heard a lot about. Haha. Sunday, I still didn't feel well but I could tell it was getting better. I was able to skype with my family and that was so good. It was nice seeing everyone and laughing. We should do that again. Ok family? Ok.

Umm, I called Monday for a doctor's appointment and then went on Tuesday. Basically my Dr., Dr. MacGreevy was the nicest, cutest old british man ever. He was so nice, sat me down and listened to everything I had to say. Then he had me lay down on those couch-table-things and pushed on my side where it had been hurting. He said that he wasn't sure exactly what I had, but, "my impression is that you had a kidney stone". Actually he used "kidney grit". Yeah he had me pee in a cup for tests to see if it could have been an infection instead of kidney stones. The funny thing here in the UK they didn't take my urine sample from me to drop it off at a lab. They made me do it. I kept laughing because I was walking around this hospital carrying my pee in a plastic baggy trying to find where to drop it off and having to fill out quite a bit of paper work. Haha. Good stuff.

When I left the hospital this beauty met my eyes (yes this is a link in case you can't see it): http://www.autoscorner.com/aston-martin-one-77.html 

Oh, London. I love you, and your great cars.

I went to Cambridge and I don't feel any smarter.... just colder. Ha.

Cambridge was neat... and cold... and when I started feeling super sick.

BUT

it was fun. Really fun.

We went on Friday the 28th of January.

Again our group left early to go on the coach. Cambridge isn't that far away from London mile wise (or kilometers) but it's about an hour and a half drive. Basically our professor gave us 20 pounds and then set us free for about 6 hours to do what we wanted. We just had to make sure and visit some of the colleges. Cambridge is full of separate colleges, and we learned that you have to be accepted into Cambridge itself and then you apply to a specific college and have to be accepted there, too. So, it's a lot different than how universities are in the states.

I visited King's College. Well, kinda. The college part was closed since it's the winter time and it's not open very often. So instead we went to the King's College chapel. It was very beautiful and a student I think was playing the organ when we first got in. The music they were playing was very eerie, which I thought fit the setting quite well. It looked like the inside of a cathedral basically, so it had the gothic feel. The inside was decorated with lots of gryffons and greyhounds. Pretty interesting. I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I would have liked because I was feeling terrible. But from what I saw and heard it was very beautiful.

Anyway, the first thing that I actually did was go on a punt ride. Punting is a boat ride basically. It's a flat bottomed boat and you have a guide/punter on the end pushing you along the river with a very long stick. In my case our guide/punter was a college student that is actually learning to be a cook. Pretty cool. He, or Chris, was really funny and had a lot of funny jokes. I'm pretty sure he thought we were all crazy, but it was a lot of fun. It was funny how we ended up on the punt ride. Basically we were trying to figure out what to do in front of King's College since it was closed and these guys came up to us and offered to take us on a punting trip. They even offered us a deal 10 pounds a person instead of 14. So, we took it and then paid up and followed a man to the Cam river. It felt kinda sketchy as 13 of us girls were just following this guy in small and narrow alley ways. But, do not fret, they were the 'real deal'... if there is such a thing. Haha. Anyway, all of us were having a great time and just being loud and laughing quite a bit. Acting like loud Americans, actually. Haha. One of the funniest parts was when he was telling us the history of one of the colleges and these ducks came up to our boat. So, someone got out a piece of bread and threw it in the water. Bad idea. The ducks (2 of them) started freaking out and followed us down the river for probably about 5 minutes and even tried climbing into our boat! haha. Everyone was screaming as he was explaining something. It was great. Chris just laughed at us basically. He kept on using random British swear words that made us laugh... oh good times.

After our punting adventure we went to find something to warm us up, since I couldn't even feel my toes. Seriously so cold! We stopped at a starbucks near by and got some yummy, super hot, hot chocolate. Then we went out to a marketplace where I got some postcards and a sweet longsleeve Cambridge shirt. So now I'm basically the real deal.

And that's about when I felt like I was dying. Haha. Oh the Coats family and their cursed backs! haha. Good times, that's for sure.

By the time we left for home I was ready since my back was killing me.

One of the funniest stories of our bus trips also happened on the way home. One of the girls had to go to the bathroom so bad and we were stuck in traffic. It was so funny. She was freaking out. We basically just pulled over and dropped her off in the middle of London somewhere for her to find a bathroom. Hahaha. She wrote a blog post about it that seriously made me laugh so hard I cried. Here's the link to the post if you want a little laugh: http://jamienickell.blogspot.com/2011/01/never-had-to-pee-so-bad-in-my-life.html

Anyway, Cambridge was great... except for getting sick.

Also, I apologize. My camera's memory card did not work so I didn't get any pictures. I might be able to steal some though. We'll see.