I Like Catholics.

So we went to St. Paul's Cathedral.  There is only one word to describe it.  Wow.  It was seriously amazing.  It is comparable to the Vatican in size and decor.  I was in love the moment I walked inside.  It amazed me that a church has been on that land since 607 AD.  Of course it has burnt down multiple times, but the last time we rebuilt it was in 1600.  We took the 450 steps up to the top of the dome.  The capitol building dome view was more impressive.  After we were finished walking around, we stayed for the 5:00 evensong.  There were very young boys in the choir and very old boys.  The age range was weird.  It was so amazing though.  The organ was played very little so the whole thing was a cappella. I enjoyed it a lot!  As I was reading Psalms, I just realized that I am very grateful to the Catholic church for keeping Christianity alive while the church was off the earth.  What would we do without them?  I grabbed a pass along card while I was in the institute building the other day and I wanted to leave it at the church, but it was in my other purse.  Next time.

Spotted Dick

Yesterday the weather was gloomy.  After we went to class we went and tried to find a "spotted dick."  Now, don't be offended.  This is the title of a delicate dessert served in London.  So as we searched and asked around where we could find one of these, we got a lot of weird looks like we were freaks.  This is a picture of a spotted dick.  Don't ask me why it is called like that. Our teacher told us everybody would know what we were talking about, but obviously she was wrong.  Awkward.  We never found it.  So we just went shopping to the biggest Top Shop ever!!!  Top Shop is a really cute store, but it's not really in my price range right now.  It would be comparable to Nordstrom's prices.  If my mom was here then I would be going crazy.  It is 3 levels of just girls clothes.  They even have a candy shop, a style expert and so many other cool things!!!  Every girl needs the chance to go there before she dies.  So we didn't buy anything, but then we ventured over to H&M.  We are getting mad at that store because they need to change out their clothes!  I want new things to choose from.  I didn't buy anything there either.  When we came home we at at this cute little cafe place right by our house in South Kensington.  I got a leafy green tuna salad thing.  The dressing was just olive oil and vinegar and it was amazing!!!! I am on the no carb diet and I have been doing really well.  Except yesterday I had to make an exception when I saw the nut man on the street with hot toasted cinnamon and sugar nuts!!  How could you resist on such a gloomy day?  Besides that (and a cookie I had after dinner), I have been doing really well!  Pretty sure I am skinnier already.  I have to be cute for the beach and Lauren's wedding!  Today we are going to see St. Paul's cathedral.  It is going to be amazing because it is basically the same thing as the Vadican in Italy.  Anyway, I am so so so excited to go to the beach!!!!!  

Luck of the Irish

I have a lot to write.  Wednesday we went and did the London Eye.  It was a really cool view, but it's pretty expensive.  It's really just a tourist money pit, but oh well.  Wednesday night we went and saw Hairspray.  It was pretty good, but we all liked the movie a lot more!  Surprising, I know.  I think we all just liked the actors in the movie more.  Also, Tracy's voice was too old and manly sounding.  It was still a fun time though!  Thursday we went to class then straight to the tube to go catch our flight to Ireland.  We took the tube to another tube station, then had to pay to take a bus an hour and a half to a different airport.  We got to the airport with plenty of time so we went to a restaurant inside the airport.  It was kind of expensive but very worth it!  We ordered a lot of food, including the sampler platter.  It was all American food, so the sampler platter was loaded with potato skins, wings, bread, and much more fattening food.  It was great.  Then we ordered burgers and milk shakes.  Needless to say, after this trip I am on a very strict diet.  So we finally got our plane and it was only an hour ride to Dublin.  Our tickets were only 15 pounds, or around $30, roundtrip.  It's pretty awesome!  When we got to Dublin we took a bus to our hotel and got settled and watched t.v. for the first time since I have been here.  We watched some European singing competition.  I must say that Europe has way more nudity and lower than the U.S. surprisingly.  The next day we got up and got ready and took the bus into Dublin.  We bought tickets to do the site seeing double decker bus thing.  It was pretty good, but we started realizing that there really is not much we wanted to see.  We got off and saw a really cool jail that they would kill people in.  I guess a few movies have been filmed there.  Then we went to a dumb museum, then shopped for a bit and then ate at a place called "From Rome to Mexico."  It was italian and mexican food obviously, but I thought that was a weird combo.  My friend and I decided to split a burrito, but we were very disappointed when it came out because a burrito to them is about the size of an enchilada haha.  So we ate a muffin later.  It was good though!  We were at the heart and party area of Dublin called Temple Bar.  So it was cobble stone roads and cool buildings, and there was a live band with people all watching them and dancing.  It was way fun!!  We just hung out around there for a while then took the bus back home to the Travelodge.  The next day we finished our tour and went to another museum.  I hate museums now.  I noticed on the front door that it said there was a drawing class for free with real artists help that day so when I saw it, me and my friend just had to do it!!  There were all these professional artists drawing live artists, so we picked up a canvas ourselves and started drawing!  It was way fun. That afternoon we took the train to a little town called Howth.  It is a peninsula on Ireland and it was so beautiful and fun!  We ate at a pub where I got amazing fish n' chips because it's right on the coast.  Then we rented bikes and rode around the coast.  We rode up a few hills and it was so fun!  That night we just went back to Temple Bar for a while then back home to our European Idol.  Sunday we bought tickets to do a Morren Cliffs tour.  We had to take a taxi at 6:00 a.m. to Dublin.  Then a bus from 7:00-10:00 a.m. to another town, where the tour actually started.  We didn't realize we would be on a bus the entire day.  So literally, we were.  We got out to eat once, and out to look at a castle for 5 minutes but other than that we were on the bust for a million hours.  We did get out for an hour to look at the cliffs.  They were breathtaking!  It was very worth it.  We got back to the town we started in at 6.  Then we took a bus from 6-10 back to the airport.  Then another bus from the airport to our hotel.  It was probably one of the longest days of my life.  To make it even worse, we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to take a taxi to go to the airport  to make our 6:25 flight.  It was insane!!!!!  So we took our flight, took the 1.5 hour bus back, took the tube back, and walked up the 91 stairs to our flat.  It was exhausting.  Now I am sitting on my bed and we are not doing anything today because we are just so worn out!  It was fun though.  We might go see the Romeo and Juliet ballet.  Oh and I am on the no carb diet.  Also, I am not doing facebook anymore for a while for personal reasons.  K bye!

Happy Bday Shelley!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHELLEY!!!!!!!  Pretend that I am giving this cake to you for your birthday since I can't be there!!  I hope you have a great day!  Love you!

Tick Tock

       

I am halfway through my trip to London!  It's kind of sad, but exciting at the same time.  I just can't believe how fast it has gone.  So far it has been so amazing!  Sunday morning before church we went to Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the guards.  It was pretty cool.  We got there an hour early, which was not necessary so by the time it was over we were freezing.  I still have not gotten a picture with the famous red guards that stand in front of Buckingham Palace because they are only there every other day.  Apparently they have to take turns because so many are gone to the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.  I was pretty surprised at that answer when I asked the worker at the museum.  Anyway, we went to church and had a great time again.  The building always feels like a hundred degrees, but it is honestly one of the best wards I have gone to.  My favorite hour is Relief Society.  The spirit is always so strong.  Part of me feels like it is because all the girls come from so many places around the world and each one is trying her hardest to make something of herself in London.  It's really a neat feeling.  Sunday night we just did homework because we actually had a lot to do.  Our teachers here aren't just a breeze, we have homework every night.  Yesterday we went to the Windsor Castle.  It was by far my favorite castle we have seen.  Around 100 people live there.  Even the queen lives there sometimes.  It was really neat!  We ate at Pizza Hut for 5.99 pounds ($12 american) and stuffed our faces with pizza.  It was amazing.  Today we handed in a paper for history and I was the only one who got 100%!  I was really excited!!  I guess all my communications classes at BYU really payed off.  So today we went to class, then we went to the Camden market.  I have been to that market like 4 times.  I guess I really like it.  I bought my sisters each a dress.  I hope they like them.  I am trying to be a cool sister that brings back the latest fashions from London, even though they are following our trends.  After the market we went to the Museum of London.  I am pretty sure this was the 15th museum of the trip.  We are all museum'ed out.  It was all about the London fire and stuff I really didn't care much about.  Tonight we are going to a Wheel of Fortune karaoke bar!  I am so excited because I have been wanting to go for two weeks now.  It is going to be a lot of fun!  On Thursday, me and 8 of my friends are flying to Ireland.  We are going to be there till Monday morning.  It is going to be an adventure to say the least.  I am really excited though!  Tomorrow is Shelley's birthday and she is going to be 16!  Happy Birthday Shelley!  Emily is also graduating tomorrow.  Congratulations Emily!!  I wish I could be there for both of those events.  It's only times like these when I really get home sick.  I can't even express how excited I am to go to California!!!!!!!  It's going to be so fun!!!!!!!!  P.S.  Exactly one year ago yesterday, I crashed long boarding at BYU Hawaii.  In memory, I am going to post a picture.

Party Animals

During the day on Friday we went to a few markets and I really can't even remember what else we did.  I guess I should update this more often.  Friday night was honestly wild.  A bunch of us went to a club and partied the night away!!  It really was a ton of fun.  Some of the girls didn't bring the right form of ID so they couldn't get it.  I felt bad, but it was way fun!!  The best part about it was everything was free!  Saturday morning we were all really lazy.  It was raining and freezing outside so that makes you not even want to leave the house.  We left around 12:30 and it felt like 8 in the morning.  We went to Buckingham Palace because we hadn't even been there yet!  Sadly the famous guards who where the red with the furry hats were not out.  I asked a man why not and he said they have to switch off days because a lot of them are in Iraq and Afghanistan.  That was weird.  I never realized. It just kind of hit me.  After, we went to the Tate Modern Museum.  There was the weirdest stuff I have ever seen in there.  Some of it was cool and really famous, but other stuff was just outlandish.  Interesting to say the least.  Tonight we went to see the movie Made of Honour.  We all thought it was so cute!  I really liked it.  After we had nothing to do so we just stayed and watched Iron Man.  I know that's bad, but I am really poor.  I loved Iron Man too!!  It was a fun night.  The movie got out at 12:50 am and the tube closes at 1 so we were running to catch it!  We made it and only got to take it one stop so we took a cab the rest of the way.  Oh London!!  I am having a great time!!  P.S.  I have a sucker in my mouth in that picture.

Day Trip

Last Tuesday we went to Abbey Road and took some pictures!  That is where the famous Beatles picture is.  We also went to the British Library and I was not impressed.  The Library of Congress is way prettier and cooler! Tuesday night I saw the Lion King!  It was really amazing.  The costumes were spectacular.  I had two favorite parts.  The first one was in the very beginning when everyone sings "The Circle of Life" and the second part was the "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" scene.  It was very powerful!  The only problem was that the air conditioning was blowing right on my back and I was wearing a square back so I was freezing!!  It was quite miserable.  Wednesday morning, our group left at 7 a.m. on a charter bus for an overnight excursion.  We traveled 3 hours to get to Stratford Upon Avon (Shakespeare).  We went to his wife's house and where his grave is.  Then we went to a pub and got some dinner.  After dinner we went to the play "A Midsummer's Night Dream."  I saw that play in February at BYU and I thought it was really good, but this one was just weird.  I could hardly even keep my eyes open.  All my friends (9 of us) fell dead asleep in the second half of the play.  It was a funny site.  I wish I had a picture.  That night we stayed in different bed and breakfast places.  It was so cute!  They are really formal and quant.  Our beds were amazing.  The beds in our flats are really bad.  My back hurts so bad every morning.  Our sheets have holes in them!  And we don't even have a fitted sheet or a mattress pad.  We just have to tuck a normal sheet under the mattress.  Anyway, in the morning our hostess, Annie, made our english breakfast.  It consisted of toast, a fried egg, mushrooms, a fried tomato, sausage and blood pudding.  Needless to say, I ate about 4 pieces of toast and 2 bananas.  I didn't even try the blood pudding because just the thought of it made me gag.  It's a type of pudding that is made with the animals blood.  My friend tried it and said it really did taste like blood.  That day we went to Shakespeare's birth place and ate at a little crepe place.  The whole time I was in that city, I just kept thinking "who cares?"  I obviously do not really care about that stuff.   Then we got back on the bus and traveled to Oxford.  I liked that a lot!  We got to see a few of the places where Harry Potter was filmed!  It was really cool.  That night we ate at McDonald's.  I don't even eat that in America, but we thought it would be fun to try it here because we heard it was different.  It wasn't!  It was amazing!!  I had a chicken snack wrap, fries and an apple pie thing and I was so happy!  Then we came home and I took a very needed shower and got in bed.  Last week the weather was sunny with 80 degrees, but now it is back to 50 degrees and raining.  The rain really is depressing.  I could never live where it is so dreary all the time.  This weekend it's called the "short weekend" because we supposedly have a break.  I don't understand why though.  It's the same as any other weekend.  I think we might go to a theme park and go on a tour bus of the city!  Then go clubbing tonight.  It's been a while.  I'm excited!