Thursday 7.19.2007 - Day 4
So I had a dream last night that someone was knocking at the door. And they kept knocking and knocking and knocking and knocking. Until I realized. This isn’t a dream. I think someone is knocking at my door. Its Kim! Woopsies. She is waking me up and has been knocking at my door for 10 minutes now! The poor thing. Wow off to a great start today. We then go upstairs and Grace, our B&B host made us a full English breakfast. It was wonderful. Then on the bus we go. The Profs thought it would be great for us to spend 2 hole hours in Edinburgh this morning (wow don’t be so generous in this amazing city) so since it was raining we went shopping. I opted for the lame mall because I was cold and sick and well it was raining. Then Kim and Ashley and I found a Starbucks and had Carmel Hot Chocolate YUM. Oh, yeah, and we saw some girls with a huge cookie so we bought one of those too (funny side note: Kim asked the Starbucks girl to warm up the cookie. She looked at Kim like she was crazy! “You want your cookie warm?” Kim said “yes”. The Starbucks girl said, “I don’t even know how I would do that”, as if Kim were nuts, and proceeded to make fun of her to her coworker).





Anyway, after SADLY leaving Edinburgh we headed to Ainswick(?) Castle, apparently where they filmed the Quidditch fight for the 1st Harry Potter (Corky and Malcolm insert profanities here). It is the 2nd largest inhabited castle in the world! Oh, and did I mention future Duke George Percy is 22 and totally cute??? I must find him! Ok anyway, the castle was beautiful and we even found a cute English guy to give us a tour and the history… after which I found the giant tree house and played like I was 10 again. It was awesome.

After Ainswick we drove to York, which is a fabulous town!! Such character (which of course is due to the cobblestone streets, small alleys, low building height and quaint sense of place). We dropped off our stuff at the hostel and went into the city for dinner. It was me, Ash, Anna, Holly, Lexi, Patrice and Kim. We were exhausted and grumpy. We walked the streets looking for a good restaurant and ended up at an okay pub. Then we attempted looking for dessert, but apparently nothing is open past 6:00 here. However, we did find this great restaurant HaHa! And found dessert there. We chatted until we realized how late it was and then started the long walk home; which turned out to be even longer than expected.

See, we kinda listened when the Prof’s gave us directions. Holly even went as far as writing them down. However, we couldn’t find the hostel. Little did we know we ended up walking by it – and even walking down the driveway for it once without realizing it! 4 times!! Back and forth and back and forth. But any time we asked for directions (like when we actually were there and then turned around because it was dark) we were led astray!! After many prayers we asked for directions at a gas station and looked over and who was there washing his car at midnight? A Taxi driver. Oh the Tender Mercies of the Lord. So he drove us down the street to our hostel, safe and sound. My legs are sore. Again.

Wednesday June 18 - Day 3
So I definitely caught whatever sickness was going around, and I did not sleep well last night. (Which is a big deal for me; usually my head hits the pillow and I am OUT). Anyway, so the night was bad and the morning was worse. I had to wait forever for breakfast and the hot chocolate didn’t even console me that much. Anyway, we have a FULL day of bus driving ahead of us, so I tried to sleep as much as I could. We got to the Scotland border, took a few pics from inside the bus and moved along. We did stop at Hadrian’s Wall on the way to Edinburgh. We walked by some LOUD BAAAAING sheep... up to this wall/fortress or the remains thereof. It was pretty cool, but since I was sick I was a little out of it. Oh and we got a little bored and started taking goofy pics. Please dont judge me in these pictures today!





OMG. I love Edinburgh. Why we didn’t spend more time here, I’m still not sure. It is WAY cooler than Ambleside!! We went straight for the castle and explored, oh and I found out something else new about Scotland—Edinburgh is on the Ocean!! From the castle we had the most beautiful views of the city and the ocean. It was awesome. So we looked at the crown jewels, the prisons (which held American POW’s and I saw a carving of an early American flag, so cool). Kk so after that we walked down the Royal Mile (not to be confused with the Magnificent Mile, that is Chicago folks) to see the Parliament building. Let me just tell you, if I have ever seen a revolt against the traditional architecture, it is the Scottish Parliament. Wow. This building is so cool. A lot of people hated it, but I like it because of what it stands for. If you notice the architecture and vernaculars of the rest of the city, it is all similar and traditional. However, CLEARLY the Parliament building is opposing this tradition, well ok, so more like fighting against this tradition. Ok ok I’ll stop with the contextual compatibility of the buildings… after Parliament Anna and Ashley and I found this creepy old cemetery, and then headed back for the bus. With my sickness all this walking (and not to mention COLD weather) I was feeling the worst I had felt all day.











Thankfully after this excursion we headed to our B&B’s. For some reason Anna, Holly, Kim and I were the “Outlaws” and sent off to our own B&B away from the others. We were grateful for some alone time, and for the first time on this trip I HAVE MY OWN ROOM!! Our host lady, Grace, is adorable, and she even pointed us in the direction of great food across the street!! I ordered bacon wrapped meatloaf and mashed potatoes in need of comfort food, and Anna proceeded to order half the menu J The meal was wonderful, probably the best I’ve had here, and the company was even better. I could not be more blessed to have been introduced to more fabulous girls. We were all brought to this program for a reason, to get to know each other and learn from each others’ testimonies. It is amazing the tender mercies the Lord bestows upon his children. Already I have learned so much, and I can’t wait to get to know these girls better. I am so grateful for this opportunity, I am so blessed.

Tuesday 7/17/07 - Day 2 of the Excursion
This morning our Prof asked us if we wanted to walk to Dove Cottage (William Woodsworth’s house in Grasmere) or if we wanted to take the bus. He explained it was just a 3 mile walk up the road, so feeling adventurous, we chose to walk. Unfortunately there was some miscommunication regarding what time we were leaving, and as a result, I was running late (see post above) and Ashley opted to stay behind with me; assuming we would catch up to the group.

Well, we should’ve known it was going to be a long walk when we stepped outside and it was already raining. However, we toughed it out and walked on. (Now, if any of you know me, you will probably be surprised by this, considering I HATE being out in the rain. I told you, I was feeling adventurous today). Our “walk” went something like this:

As we stepped out from our hostel,
we walked around the Lake of Wonder,
through the glistening fields of enlightenment,
and over the bridge of troubled waters.

We strolled alongside the quaint cottages
And into the yakity Yorkers—
After mocking us, and praising their map,
They sent us after the porkers.

Walking along the Rothey River
Serenading the Sweds and the cows we passed by.
Hopping across the sprouting stepping stones,
I wondered, why, WHY WHY?

Then we turned and up the mountain we went
Across the grades and against the streams
Thinking “My legs better look hot after this”
It was definitely not the Orange County scene.

The beauty of Meady Lake took my breath away
Well, it was that or Ashley climbing the rocks of insanity
Over the bubbling brooks and up the gentle streams
We tried and tried to keep our spirits high and not utter a profanity.

Up the Mountainside and past Ryder Cave
We took the road less traveled by and somehow found our way.
The beaches of Lake Grasmere were different from our home
But the water is cold, we are sure, like the San Fransisco Bay.

Viewing Grasmere in the distance was motivation to keep on
However, if we only knew how long it would take
We would have jumped in and swam across
Ok ok, I was only kidding for goodness sakes.

Along the water and through the woods
Passing the ‘baa-ing’ sheep we kept trudging on
With hopes of making it there for lunch
3 hours has gone by—what took us so long?

Another ½ mile and we spot the church
Alleluiah! We’ve made it at last.
Now to find Woodsworth. his inspiration
Beauty in the present, as he described in the past.


Ok so it’s a dorky poem/story/whateve but it is what it is. After Woodsworths we realized that the group that left us still wasn’t there. Come to find out that they got lost on a mountainside, and we were the lucky ones! We then grabbed an amazing lunch at Williams Café and then went out on the lake (they one we knew so well from our hike) and Ashley rowed us around the island. Then back to Ambleside where the group went on a Ferry ride. Exhausted and beginning to feel the signs of sickness Anna Kim and I opted to take a nap; which was our best idea yet. After the nap we scaled the town and ended up at Pippins for dinner. After which I went by the lake and read my scriptures—what a fabulous way to end the day.





























P.S. Kelsie: I totally know its your birthday but we have NO internet access up here in the freaking boondocks and I don’t have your cell phone number with me…sorry I’m such a terrible friend but I LOVE you!

I know you all have been missing my daily blog posts ... sorry I should have warned you I was traveling across the entire United Kingdom!!! These blogs are longer so you can catch up on my week... starting with Monday :)


Day 1 of the Week Long Excursion to Northern UK.
Sounds fun, right? Well just think about taking a COACH across the island!! And by coach I mean BUS. Ugh. At least this time our seats reclined slightly. Luckily I was so tired from the lack of sleep last night that it didn’t take much for me to sleep the first 3 hours. After a brief stop we headed up to the Preston Temple. On the way to the temple the back of the bus (aka the cool kids … haha ok ok just kidding) were singing favorite songs. However, as we saw the Captain Moroni we realized we needed to be reverent. In true BYU form we started singing primary songs: I love to see the Temple, A Childs Prayer, Love at Home, As sisters in Zion/Armies of Helamen. Its so cool to be able to be such a dork sometimes! It really did bring a sweet spirit to the experience though. When we got to the Temple we realized the grounds were closed…but the gates were open, and we were super reverent and got to go up and take pictures. I love this temple! The grounds were beautiful!! They were so big… the church has an MTC and a bunch of other buildings on that property. It’s amazing how peaceful the Temples grounds are.






After the Temple we headed up to Preston to visit Rubble River where Orson Hyde and Heber C Kimball came to preach the gospel for the first time in England (where they had immense success by the way). Preston is beautiful, and the River is so serene. There was even a rock explaining the significance of the spot, and about the Mormon Missionaries that came to preach there. It was really cool.








So then we were off to the Lake District, where we would stay the night. The Lake District is beautiful! Its in the country and has all these lakes … with sheep and goats and cows everywhere oh and small villages and towns dispersed in between all of that. We had a bit of confusion figuring out our hostel situation. First we stop at this adorable hostel on the lake, and get super excited. But then we head up in the countryside to the other hostel; and realize that the bus cant take us up to where the hostel is at and it’s a MILE walk up a couple switchbacks to get there! (With our luggage), and approx 40 people are staying there (which is most of the group). Anyway, totally disappointed we get off the bus, but then they say that 8 people can stay at the lake hostel. Of course us GIRLS decide that we aren’t about to hike up to get to our bed, so we opt for the lake… and of course we get our way. HOWEVER, then the Prof’s decide that we should probably take the bus back into town so everyone can get food. So we head back.





Ok, so here’s the scary part of this story. On the way to town we ALMOST DIE. The roads are super tiny, right? (we are driving in the English countryside!) So we are driving along, and then all of a sudden the bus comes to a halt! (and we all jerk forward). We look up and see a bus directly in front of us! (as if it were about to hit us!) THEN the bus in front of us decides to realign, and pass us! I honestly don’t know how this even happened, but see the series of pictures below. The bus was INCHES from us!! This picture is from my window...






So after that tragedy, I had a total clumsy moment and hit my eye on the seat in front of me. It was directly on my eyelid and I even left a mark on the chair! I think my eye is bruised.

So We get dinner at this little restaurant and stock up on our protein –we order salmon, chicken and lamb. Ahh it was amazing!! Then we finally get to our hostel, and after a few musical rooms get settled. We decide to go on this hike to the waterfalls. Although the waterfalls were slightly disappointing, we had a great time taking pictures and getting our energy out. On our way back we try to ask some locals what there is to do in this town. They respond “Drink!” (ok so maybe that’s because we were asking people outside of pubs?…) We opt out of the alcohol invite and grab smoothies and milkshakes, which definitely weren’t like what they are in the states. Disappointed we head home. Now I’ve got my music going and the girls are all appreciating me bring my lap top. After a couple episodes of the office we will go to sleep.

Here are some pictures of our hostel, and views!

Could I have GONE to any more church today???

Ok, so let me just explain to you, it takes us an hour and a half to get to church. And so far, for the past 2 weeks we have been 0-2 (partly kinda my fault...I know you may not believe this but i'm not exactly the MOST punctual person in the world...?? As Karah would say, "always late but worth the wait"). Ok, so back to my story. So today I took the alarm from Ashley and woke up at 7am--so I was definitely ready by 8:30am. too bad the rest of my group wasnt ready.... poor Kim was sick and Hilary was practically ready. But when we called Sean... umm yeah he totally slept in. Good one Sean. We are leaving without you. So not only did we make it to church on time, but we got there 10 min early. I was so proud of myself. Church today was great. We watched the Lamb of God in Sunday School and then talked about how I worship other Gods before my God (ie: My Shoes, bags and clothes??...ok so maybe thats a little dramatic). Ok.

So after church Sean and I (he made it to church) decided to go to Evensong at St.Pauls Cathedral. It was BEAUTIFUL!! But a lot of standing up and sitting down and singing songs that we totally didn't know. But the Cathedral was beautiful and the songs were as well. The sermon was totally weird (it was a "goodbye" to 12 year old boys??).

After St Pauls we came home for dinner, and then Anna and Lexi and I decided to go for a walk. We ended up next to the Kensington Chapel, where they were having their evensong. So what did we do? We walked in of course!! it wasn't as dramatic as St Pauls but still beautiful, and this time it was kneeling and sitting and standing. Oh and more singing. I love catholic mass. They keep you your toes.
So as if this wasn't ENOUGH church for me I ended my night with Family Home Evening with one of my Professors. Totally random to have FHE with your professors, but Dr. Mason's family was awesome!!

So lets break this down:
1.5 commute to church
3 hours at church
1.5 commute back
1.5 St Pauls
.5 Kensington
1 hour Fhe
________________
9 Hours of Church.

Beat that.

"Everybody likes when the girl shakes somethin"

So after a somewhat lazy day we decided it was time to go out on the town. However, of course this couldn't happen without something going TRAGICALLY wrong first. So let me just tell you that this is the first time we've gone out dancing since I've been here (I know, you all must be shocked it took me this long to get out, but seriously being a tourist is exhausting!! Oh, and the Bomb scare thing kinda freaked me out as well). Anyway, so I'm getting all cute (also one of the first times for me to actually get ready and put on cute clothes since I've been here). And I slip my foot into my leopard print stiletto .... OMG ... It feels FOREIGN to me!! HOW COULD THIS BE?? Then I realize: This is the LONGEST period of time I have gone without wearing stilettos. I mean, I am pushing 3 weeks here! How is that even possible?? Before this trip I don't think I could go 8 hours without wearing something at least 3" high (and those of you that know me well enough can attest to this). Sigh. However, no worries, my feet got reacquainted with my fabulous shoes and we had a night out on the town.

Ok, so really we should just call this night a trial run... supposedly we heard from some Americans that this club SOUND is the place to go for hip hop music. Umm yeah those people must be (a) clueless in the clubbing scene or (b) so ghetto that they didn't notice EVERYONE else totally ghetto in the club. they also must have been used to the 100 degree temperature in that place. It was like a sauna!! However, despite the aforementioned terrible reasons to stay at this place, we stuck it out and had a good time (as we always do). Oh, and finding the Americans to dance with us helped with that as well.

End of the night pics...





Oh, and Sean was totally hilarious this night!! He was wearing WHITE shorts so he refused to sit down-- on anything!!! Everytime we had to wait for a bus he would complain about being tired, or his legs hurting, and we would tell him to sit and he would adamently exclaim "I'm WEARING WHITE PANTS!!" haha it didn't matter if it was a stool, bench, seat, bus, etc etc. Finally he relented and settled for my lap :)

GIRLS DAY!

Today was one of my favorite days...ok so is that bad that my favorite day was the most mellow and least touristy? i hope not... anyway, the group went on a hike through the countryside with one of the local Bishops (actually, to tell you the truth he is my bishop and I probably should have gone, but oh well). Ok so the group was gone, minus a few of the girls, so we decided to hit up Camdentown where supposedly there were fab markets ... unfortunately the only cool thing about Camden were these awesome T-Shirts. So bailing out on Camden early, we hit up Portabella... much more our style. We grabbed lunch, some produce and then headed home. We put our pajamas on, and in my true girlfriend form, watched FRIENDS and took naps. It was amazing. Then we ran to the store to grab some snacks for our upcoming Scotland trip, and then made dinner. Which consisted of:
Homemade Guacamole
Hummus
Nan
Peaches and Cream.

Ahhh yum!!! Such a diverse and amazing meal with some amazing girls.

MUSEUMS!!

I told you I had to go to all the Museums in London. Today was the National Gallery, Dickens House and the British Library. The National Gallery was amazing ... so incredibly large that I definitely need to go back to fully appreciate the plethora of art that is exhibited there. Of course I loved my favorites the impressionists... Monet, Rembrant, Degas, Van Gogh.






Then we grabbed lunch at this amazing Italian Place. Ashley got a killer avacado salad and I got an amazing pizza. Then we went to Dickens house. To be quite honest it was somewhat dissapointing ... I think my favorite part was the bench out on the patio.







The British Library was really cool though. We got to see a lot of Shakespeare's original manuscripts, original music from Bethoven, Bach, Chopin, Mozart... Then there was this whole Beatles Exhibit with the original lyrics from Yesterday and I want to hold your hand, and tons of other stuff. Soo cool. We also got to see a Guitenberg Bible and one of the original Magna Carta's. Probably my favorite thing that I saw there was this special Sacred Exhibit, which had the Dead Sea Scrolls!! Such an amazing opportunity!! The amount of culture and opportunities that I have to learn and gain knowledge in this city is unbelieveable. I love it. But after all this culture ... we were a little tired.








So on our way home we stopped at 9 3/4. I'm definitely not a Harry Potter Freak like the rest of my group, but I mean, its still cool.

LAZY DAY!

Ok so I finally got to catch up on my sleep... although I think everyone in the program thinks I am the laziest person alive. However, if they all realized how late one has to stay up to get all the reading and homework done--- or ok so maybe just to get the chance to talk to some of you people back at home, then they would realize that its exhausting to wake up at 8am every day!! So, since we didn't have any morning obligations i took full advantage to SLEEP IN. And sleep in I did. I finally got up at 12 (noon). And was the most refreshed and energetic I have been since I've been here. It was awesome. Considering I slept half my day away, I decided to be a little productive and clean my room (or my area in my room) and do laundry. Then, i decided it would be smart to knock a museum assignment out of the way, so I went out with the other lazy's (aka Ashley and my friend Sean) and went to the National Portrait Gallery.

Ok, so the National Portrait Gallery basically has portraits of just about ANYONE thats known to influence Great Britain. I loved the ones of the Queens!! They looked soo beautiful! (ok so not all of the queens were beautiful but their portraits were!!)











My favorite portrait was of George Washington. I know, who would have though they would put up G.W. in the Great Britain National Portrait Gallery, but they totally did, and also a portrait of the signing of the Declaration of Independance. I was totally humbled as I looked up at this portrait of such an amazing man. It was cool.

















I also liked the one of Francis Bacon. Although many don't know who he is, he has greatly impacted each one of our lives through his work.
Again, I did not spend the time necessary to fully appreciate all of the art that was in this Museum, and I wish I had a broader background of art to fully appreciate the talent that it took to paint these figures in such a great way.

Oh, and on the way home we found this cool (ok totally sketchy) alley ...

Shiny Toy Guns

So I really kinda had no clue who this band was... but my friend Ian (from the Aquabats) was headed to this concert and insisted on me going. A couple of the boys in the group were into Shiny Toy Guns as well so we headed out to Camden. We end up at this tiny bar, Dingwalls. Lets just say this was NOT my scene and I was definitely NOT dressed Appropriately. As we walk down these steep stairs to the entrance of the bar all i see is BLACK t-shirted gothish/punk kids. (Mind you, I am dressed in a WHITE t-shirt with a pastel striped scarf). Yes, I know I look cute, but not necessarily Shiny Toy Guns cute. Woopsies. Missed the memo. As we get stared down walking into line I immediately regret my outfit decision. Oh well, too late now. We grab tickets and later on I meet up with Ian. I love hanging out with friends from home in foreign places!! The show was aweomse and as a result I am now a fan of Shiny Toy Guns.

British Museum.

So we have all these assignments to visit bascially ALL of the museums in London (ok so maybe thats a little dramatic, but we have to visit a lot of them). So after class on Wednesday we decide to knock out the British Museum. Having NO idea what is inside, I honestly wasn't too stoked. If only I would have realized what I was about to see. It was amazing. All of the Agean Marbles from the Parthenon were there, Assyrian inscriptions, THE ROSETTA stone. Ah. I never knew I could have such an incredibly spiritual experience in a museum. It probably helped to go with incredibly intelligent and spiritually sound women who taught me so much about these amazing artifacts. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have about our ancestors and our history.