Week 4: Burgers and Curry

Sunday-Saturday

13-19 October

Church here is always an adventure. I have to travel about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, play the organ in sacrament, piano in Primary, teach a music lesson, teach a regular Primary lesson, stay for choir practice, and then travel an hour and fifteen minutes back home again. So the church part of my Sunday starts at 7:00am and goes until 3:00pm. It was raining on the 13th, so the commute was even more difficult because everything was wet and slippery. But I laughed it off.

Monday we had a special lecture from a visiting BYU History Professor about the slave trade in Britain. It was actually one of the most interesting thing I've learned about on this trip, even including all the art I learned about in Italy and France. Britain played a very interesting role in the slave trade, but also in the abolishment of the slave trade which I never knew about. Someday I'll have to talk about it with those who are interested, but this blog is probably not the best place to do that.

Tuesdays are school days. I got some delicious curry from a restaurant right up my street. It was so good. Unfortunately I threw up that night (it wasn't from the curry). We had a day trip planned for the next day that I didn't want to miss, but I just wasn't feeling up to it.

At 6am on Wednesday morning I was definitely not up for being on a bus all day, but I got a serious case of fear of missing out, and I was afraid I would always regret not going. I don't think I would have though. We went to Stratford-upon-Avon and toured Anne Hathaway's house (that's Shakespeare's wife Anne Hathaway, not the Princess Diaries one, although it probably would have been cooler if it was her house). Then we went to the Shakespeare center. It was so crowded, but there really isn't anything else to do in Stratford except Shakespeare stuff so I guess it's understandable. They showed some weird video clips of the different ways Shakespeare plays have been interpreted over the years, did a little presentation, and then showed us the first folio, which is the written collection of some Shakespeare works. Then we toured Shakespeare's house with a bunch of German tourists.

My philosophy on life. Haha just kidding.

Next we drove to Oxford. I was really looking forward to this because of all the history blah, blah, blah, but mainly because lots of Harry Potter scenes were filmed there. The town is so cute (it reminded me of Bath) and there are good-looking people all over the place! What makes it better is that everyone there are all Oxford students so you can be sure they are both smart and good-looking. We went on a guided tour of Oxford, and saw the outside of one lousy filming site. Then we got on the bus back home.

Hello Oxford!

Behind these windows houses the filming location for a scene from the Harry Potter movies. I love movies, film sets, celebrities, and Harry Potter, so I was excited to see this even though I was still far away.

This was inspiration for Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland.

Friday we went to Hampstead to see Keats' house. I don't really know why we keep going to the houses of dead authors and poets, because after a while they all seem the same, and we only end up being there for five minutes. I decided to leave Hampstead and go to Camden Market before meeting up for an art lecture at the National Gallery.

The home of Keats and the Braun's.

Lamppost in Hampstead.

Curry!

Camden Market was pretty cool. There was a slight punk vibe at some of the shops which gave the place a really distinct atmosphere. I had a little bit of retail therapy, tried Thai curry for the first time, and then caught a bus to the National Gallery.

After some lecturing about art, I decided on a whim to go see the show Top Hat. We had some time before the show started so we went to Shake Shack! Top Hat was based off the movie Top Hat with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It was filled with nice costumes and tap dancing, and was overall just a fun time.

Even though the middle of my week was a little rough, I got to have curry 3 times and Shake Shack 3 times which is never rough!

Week 3: Shows and Shakes

Sunday-Saturday

06-12 October

On Tuesday I had class all day long, but afterward I decided to be spontaneous and go see Phantom of the Opera with some other girls. It was my first time seeing a show here, and my first time seeing Phantom of the Opera and I loved every minute of it. The Phantom was absolutely incredible. He scared me, made me feel sorry for him, and almost made me cry. He was the highlight of the show. We walked by the stage door and saw the girl who played Christine walk out. We didn't really know how to ask for a picture (and I didn't even really want a picture if I'm being honest) so we just went home. 

Wednesday was another day trip on the bus to Dover castle. We went through the underground tunnels used during WWII. They put a lot of work into making that an interactive exhibit and it really paid off. I loved it. We didn't have time to actual see the castle at Dover, but we did get to take pictures of the famous white cliffs (even though we had to take them from inside a bus). We made our way over to Canterbury to see the Canterbury Cathedral. I did not enjoy this. By this point all cathedrals look the same and the day trips get longer and longer. Plus, I didn't enjoy reading the Canterbury Tales in preparation for this trip, so all in all I was kind of a grump for the second part of the day.

Dover the castle.

Dover the city.

The girls of Dover.

The White Cliffs of Dover.

The outside of Canterbury. 

The one cool thing I learned at Canterbury was that some Hungarian artists did the stained glass. You can't see but they figures in the glass look like Disney characters. That's because Walt Disney hired Hungarian artists when he was first starting out. Pretty cool!

Weird wobbly house in Canterbury.

I got a lot some candy for the drive home from this little shop. They provided all the candy for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie.

Thursday was another highlight day for me. We got to see Macbeth performed at the Globe Theatre. I went there on my own, and walked on a bridge over the Thames. I looked up and saw the London Eye, and was hit with the realization that I was in London about to see a Shakespeare play in Shakespeare's theater. My seat was on the second level of the theater, which turned out to be a pretty good seat. I know it's more authentic to stand as a groundling, but that looked pretty uncomfortable. The play was great. It was quite chilly because the theater doesn't have a roof. 

My view.

My adorable seat mates!

Friday we went to Hampton Court, the home of the Tudors. The absolute best part of the day was going into the "Secrets of the Bedchamber" exhibit. They had huge mattresses all over the floor and the lights dimmed down with a movie playing on the ceiling. The actually exhibit was weird, but those beds were the most comfortable things in the whole world. All of us laid on the beds for almost the whole time we were there. I also saw some of the gardens, but the beds were much better.

I want this in my house forever and ever.

After that we went to Kew Gardens. It was raining, so I was tempted to leave early, but I stuck it out and walked around a little bit more. I was glad I did because I saw some cool pumpkin displays. It's hard to see Autumn in the city so that was a nice treat.

On Saturday I discovered Shake Shack. Going there makes me feel like I'm in America. I would normally feel guilty about going to a chain restaurant, but they don't have one in Houston or Provo, so I figured it was fine that I went. It was really delicious and I've gone an embarrassingly high number of times since then.

This was the week where I really started to feel comfortable here. Navigating got super easy, my roommates and I bonded a lot, and we did some really amazing things in London, not just in a little towns a couple hours away.

Week 2: Pride and Prejudice (and Stonehenge)

Sunday-Saturday

29 September- 05 October

On Sunday I went to church in my new ward. It is over an hour away by tube, plus a fifteen minute walk. Going to church basically takes up my whole entire day, but it is worth it. I can't believe I've been to church in 4 different countries this year, and they've all taught the same things. We had a special talk with a man who grew up here during the end of WWII, and he talked about what a huge impact the war had on the country. 

On Monday we got library cards (I still don't know why.. I'm not going to the library here), and then saw the Tower of London. The highlight was seeing the crown jewels. Again, we couldn't take pictures there, but the jewels were pretty cool. The rest of the buildings there weren't actually that riveting. 

Tower of London. Not an actual tower.

The coolest thing to see was this dragon.

Does this look familiar to anyone?

On Tuesday I decided to go on an optional countryside walk with the man who gave the WWII talk. I just found out that we were in Kent (Pride and Prejudice anyone). It was beautiful! I seriously felt like I was Elizabeth Bennett. The walk was ten miles but it didn't feel like that at all.

The group of us that went. I'm to the left of the taller boy in the back row.

This looks like a scene from Harry Potter.

Beautiful scenery.

Cute British houses.

We got to go inside this old church and sing hymns at the end of our walk. It was a neat experience.

More beautiful countryside.

On Friday we left for a trip to Southeast England. We dropped by Stonehenge on the way there (how crazy is it that I can just stop by Stonehenge?!). I was surprised at how much smaller it looked in person. I wish we could've gotten closer to the rocks, but it was still so cool to see.

Our next stop was Salisbury to see the Salisbury Cathedral. My groups tour guide was so flamboyant, and I kept laughing. The cathedral was interesting, but I have to admit I didn't really learn anything cool about it. Except, I did get to see one of the original copies of the Magna Carta. Pretty cool. 

We made our way to Stourhead gardens next. This was one of the best things I've done so far. They filmed part of the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice at Stourhead (it's the scene when Darcy proposes in the rain), and I was so excited to see it. I somehow got completely separated from the group so I was alone. I actually liked soaking in all the nature by myself. I walked through some grotto's, a temple dedicated to Greek gods and goddesses, and past some rivers. As I was making my way to the Temple of Apollo (the place where the proposal takes place) it started raining. Just like it did in the movie. I was dying. Hands down, just a perfect moment on this trip. I toured the house of the family who owned the gardens right before we left, but after awhile historic houses all start to look the same. 

I was so excited to be standing where Keira Knightley stood and got proposed to!

We finally made it to Bath. Our hostel looked like a fancy pants British house, but we had to walk up a huge hill to get to it. Bath is a cute college town, and I went with a couple friends to this awesome restaurant and just walked around absorbing the atmosphere. 

The next day we went to the Jane Austen center. Not what I thought it would be. It was basically just a house dedicated to how cool Jane Austen is. She only lived in Bath for a couple of years when she was older, and I don't even think the house was the actual house she lived in. But I do know she got inspiration from Bath when she visited as a teenager. 

They had clothes you could dress up in. I didn't, but I took lots of pictures.

A famous Bath bun. They aren't actually that good. There's just a sugar cube baked into the bottom.

We also got to go the Fashion Museum which I loved. There were some really cool and iconic dresses there and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the exhibit. 

Fashion museum.

Our last stop was the Roman Baths (the reason that Bath is called Bath is because of the Romans). They were cool to see, but when I think about what they were actually like when the Romans were using them, I got a little grossed out. Communal bath water is not sanitary.

We had a little bit of time to explore the city and get things to eat before we left to go home. I don't know if I should include this, because it would lower the tone, but I want to document the experience as honestly as I can. While we were eating dinner, there was a homeless teenager sitting across from us, rolling and deconstructing cigarettes. Everyone kept passing him and giving him sad looks. It was obvious he had run away from home, and been gone for a long time. There was definitely something wrong with him and I knew I should've given him my food, or done something but I didn't and I felt so guilty. A lady stopped and sat to talk to him, asked him if he had a house or money or anything and gave him some money. It made me so sad and I couldn't help but be upset the way home while the rest of the people on the bus watched Harry Potter. One thing I've noticed from being in Europe is how many kids smoke and drink and run away from home and it makes me so sad. I wished I could help them.

Anyways, I had such a good week seeing all the Pride and Prejudice things. We read that in our English class that week too, which was so fun. It was my first time reading it and I was surprised by how much better I thought it was than the movie!

(Side-note: Saturday night marked the night that our apartment started our scare competitions. I started it off by hiding in someone's room in the dark. There's been lots of scaring since and it is so funny! I got a good group of roommates!)