Thursday Third Day
We got up early and headed straight for the David. On the way we got fruit and LARGE bottles of water.

Illegal Picture of the David...shhh don't tell!


Our First of MANY Gelatos...


The City Streets.



The Best Open Air Market EVER. (minus the prostitute ties and the David boxers that were everywhere).



Zaza's-- Our First Italian Meal




The DUOMO -- The Largest Cathedral ever. So amazing.




An Open Square in the city.



In Front of the famous Yellow Bridge ... well kinda. The photographer wasn't exactly on key. So we took some more.




So After our amazing day of exploring the city we went to a bridge and watched the Sunset ... where we met up with our Italian Friend, Fabio, we met at the Market.






I made Lexi get on stage with some sketchy Italian.


We love the bridge and lingered before heading back to our hostel.

Wednesday .... What Day?
So Wednesday is ITALY day!! We had class in the morning, and then everyone rushed off to catch their flights. My Italy group went to Florence (Florenzia) and Venice (Venezia). I had the best group ever it was:
James Cardinal
Patrice Erb
Spencer Hatch
Lexy Rinner
Page Hansen
Katie Lowe
ONLY like the best group ever (ummm did I already say this?)!! I love these kids... we broke off into groups of 3 and 4; my group was Patrice, Lexy, James and myself. Also Known As...The fab four.
I have lots of details, but for the sake of time and in the interest of my readers I will only post pictures on this blog...
Traveling was long ... but not too bad. and once we got there (at 11:30pm) we were totally clueless how to get to our hostel. After walking around a little we opted for a taxi. The taxi driver was crazy and I kept gripping onto James for safety. When the cab driver dropped us off he said, "are you sure this is it?" we said "yes" and then he LAUGHED. Umm thanks.
To say the least our Hostel was SCHETCH.

Tuesday Two Day.
I woke up this morning and thought "Oh man! I live in LONDON!" It was beautiful outside and so sunny so I got up and threw my running clothes on, uploaded my PINK ishuffle and headed out for a run through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It was so beautiful! I couldn't help but think, wow I am so lucky to live here and get to parktake of this beauty whenever I want to.
After my run I quickly got ready and went out Antique Shopping with the girls. However, in our attempts to be adventurous and find new places we found a crappy antique place...but in an amazing part of town-- Sloan Square! We stepped off the tube and saw Hugo Boss and Lk Bennett and girls that actually had style! It was so refreshing to see women that knew how to dress in this city. Then I looked across the square and saw TIFFANYS! It is so cute and so London!
After Sloan Square was somewhat of a bust we headed to Spitfield Markets across town. HOwever, this ended up being a bust as well, as its being rennovated for the rest of the summer. Oh well. At least we got out in the city.
After dinner we all had homework to do so we sat in the Library and gave ourselves a goal of finishing. Finally at 9:00pm we were all done and Miss Lexi had prepared an amazing dessert night for us. She went beyond the Peaches and Cream Concept and we had FRESH:
Blueberries
Rasperries
Strawberries
Peaches
and cream.




YUMMM. It was pretty much the best thing ever. We are in the process of figuring out how we can recreate this in the states. I dont think the cream is the same, which is so disapointing. This is one of my favorite things about london.
After dessert we grabbed our blankets and turned on FRIENDS for a few episodes. Ahh it is so refreshing to find friends that love FRIENDS as much as I do. Sigh.

Monday...One Day.
I'm the dish duty leader this week. My group rocks. They are like a fine tuned piece of machinery...each knows his/her role and we get things done quickly and efficiently, and everyone loves us for it. Its great. The only bad thing is that is still takes up some of my time, so Monday I just had class in the morning, and then stuck around the center in the afternoon and had dish duty that night.
However Since I had been cooped up inside all day we decided we had to get out and see HAIRSPRAY! The movie!! One of my favorite musicals (as mentioned in an earlier post) was created into a movie with the most amazing cast!!
John Travolta-- as a man
Amanda Bynes-- Penny
Britany Snow-- Bratty Amber
Michelle Piefer-- Villan Mother/TV Director
High School Musical Kid -- Sexy Link
Queen Latifa-- Black Mom
and... lots more.
Although this is the most expensive movie I have ever been to (10 pounds= 20 dollars) it was totally worth it, and the theater was amazing with their Haggan Daz and Ben and Jerrys! And the theatre itself was really nice-- like the Arclight.
A few people in our group hadn't seen the musical before so the storyline was completely new to them, and it was totally life changing. Towards the end of the movie i looked over and we were ALL dancing in our row to "You cant stop the beat" haha it was amazing. I loved it!!
And we were so inspired by the music that I turned on my soundtrack of the Broadway and we did sit ups and push ups to the musica later that night in the parlor.
fun. fun. fun.

Family Euro Vaca!
So my friends, The Rice's (Scott and Bev, and their fabulous kids Taylor and Lauren) are in town on family vacation and invited me to join them on Sunday. I jumped at the chance to feel at home with one of my favorite families from home. Luckily I woke up feeling much better.

Scott was brave and got a rental car, so they came to pick me up Sunday morning for church. We had an experience learning the streets to make it to church. Somehow we were late, but still made it in time for the opening Hymn (this was especially challenging to me being sick...) Anyway, church was great, quite the tourist ward, and much different from my own ward. I am glad I got the opportunity to go to this building. It is the Church Headquarters in London, and the building was quite unique. Taylor was impressed with the building when he recognized that President Hinckley rededicated the building in 1995.

After church we all got changed and prepped for the ride to the Temple. We had no idea how challenging finding the Temple would be. Even with Brooke (our hand held GPS guide) and an Atlas we were pretty sure we were lost and driving into the wrong countryside. After 1 1/2 hours of driving in the middle of no where we came to a round about with a steple behind it. We had arrived. Unfortunately the gates were locked so we ended up driving around (or trying to) to find another gate. It was at this point that a girl on a horse rode up next to us (when does that ever happen next to a temple?). Anyway, lucky for us I saw a random missionary on the grounds and got him to give me his keys and let us in.





Wow. I love the London Temple. Lauren and I decided on destination weddings just to get married in the London Temple. The grounds are amazing; like a park, with benches and dedicated trees and reflection pools. We even saw this cute duck couple napping by the pond. It was such a peaceful moment to walk the Temple grounds. I loved it.








After the Temple we headed to Dover. We had a little bit of a long drive so we told stories along the way. It was great. As we entered Dover I was stoked to see the ocean and the White Cliffs! After scaling the town for food we gave up and went to the white cliffs for the white cliffs walk. However, it took us longer than expected to get there so we ended up ditching the white cliffs for the castle (sorry the castle looked way cooler than a nature walk). We explored the castle practically alone, since it was the end of the day the place was pretty empty. It was awesome to explore and especially to go to the roof and look over the city. Ah what amazing views!!! Then we went and saw this amazing movie/experience in the Castle. Even after all the castles I've been to, this was quite unique. It was interactive and kinda creepy... but really cool. We learned about the seige on the castle in the 1200s. After exploring the castle we checked out the old Roman Lighthouse, which was the original building on this mountain. We also walked along the cliffs and took in the views of the ocean. It felt like home (well ok just a little).







Now onto Rye. Rye is a quaint sea side village, with some of the oldest buildings in England. Rye has been described as "The broche of England" which Bev repeatedly reminded us of as we walked the cobblestone streets and were in awe of the old buildings and redeeming quaintness of the city. I loved the Church, ok so more than the church I loved the Hickory Dickory Dock Clock! After enjoying the town we went to dinner at this fabulous little place. It was a restaraunt that remodeled an old Tudor home, and the design of the restaraunt was an old/new blend-- using the black and white qualities of the Tudor Architecture, and using only black and white modern decorative pieces inside. Oh, and the food was fabulous! Good choice Bev and Scott.






I had such an amazing day with the Rice's. They are such a wonderful family and I loved hanging out with them in London! Thanks for a FABULOUS day!!

It's the freaking weekend baby i'm about to have me some FUN...
Ok so that wasn't exactly my attitude as I woke up Sick Saturday morning, but I was determined to get out into the city and take advantage of a beautiful day. So I got ready, put on my dress and headed out to take in the neighborhood on my own. (There's something invigorating about exploring and experiencing things on your own sometimes...) Anyway, I headed to South Kensington and walked through the shops and walked slowly past the bakeries... I found a couple cute summer dresses for my Italy trip and then totally got caught in the RAIN. Umm where did the rain come from? It was totally beautiful 20 min ago. Ah well. I'm living in London. So after shopping I hit up Marks and Spencer and got my "I'm totally sick" kit.
Minestrone Soup
Orange Juice
Pinapple Juice
Peppermint Tea

I might as well tape "I AM SICK" on my forehead with these groceries in hand. Losing my energy and feeling even more sick I headed home. Luckily the rain stopped, and the walk was somewhat enjoyable. I came in, put my pjs on, had some tea and took a nap. Since I was feeling sick I did some Laundry and hung out around the house all night. I hate being sick, it ruins everything. Sorry no pics for today.

FOR MY BROOKIE COOKIE

Ok love I saw this sign on the way to ST. PAULS Cathedral and got homesick for you. Now I am sitting here watching FRIENDS ... Just want to say I LOVE YOU!

Friday 7/20/2007 - Final Day

I hate being sick. We went to York Minster this morning, and then hung around York. After that we headed up to Yorkshire to the Bronte Sisters parsonage. Being sick I really didn’t care too much about this, and the bus was driving me crazy already. We grabbed lunch at this adorable little café called Emma’s; which was just like a small kitchen from home!! One girl (I would assume, Emma) was cooking. I had homemade chilli… YUM. Then onto the bus. Ok so let me just tell you know that this is approx 2:30. We were anticipating a 5 hour ride home, with a short stop in the middle, so ETA 8:00pm. Too bad we totally hit traffic and didn’t get back until 10:30!!! OMG I thought I was going to die with all the stop and go traffic… I even took a Nyquil so I would sleep, but that only lasted for 2 hours. Ugh. Anyway, we finally made it and I am home at last. Sigh.

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.