Day 30- May 28th

Today started off with an absolutely rousing round of classes. We talked about the relationship of nature and theology and how art communicates this relationship. (Threw this in so I could prove I'm not JUST vacationing and  partying whilst I'm here) 

Afterwards I really wanted to go get tickets to The Lion King, but everyone else wanted to stay in and do homework. I peaced out on that, and set out to go get tickets on my own. Unfortunately, the weather was quite horrid today with some nice heavy rain showers, and I was supposed to meet up with Whitney for afternoon tea a half hour after I left. So I booked it to the tube (which was delayed 10 min), transferred, got off, made a wrong turn, met the only unhelpful direction giver I've encountered since being here, made another wrong turn, found my way, bought my ticket, ran (literally) to the tube (I was 15 min late at this point), texted Whitney to let her know I was on my way, got on the wrong train, got on the right train, thought I lost my phone (it was in my hand), got off the tube, and ran to the Orangery in Kensington Gardens. Whitney and I had planned to get all cute and fancy for tea, so I was quite disappointed with myself when I showed up in my wet, neon shoes, iHeart Radio t-shirt, my giant cardigan, and my nappy just-ran-through-the-rain hair. But when I got there they said that they had terminated the reservation and that Whitney hadn't shown up. In my frantic mind for some reason that meant that I should sit down and wait for Whitney. Well Whitney had sent me text while I was in the tube that said that she wasn't going to go and that she was leaving for a museum, but I didn't get it until I was at the Orangery . So I quickly texted her back and told her not go, that I'd meet her at home, and then we'd go back for tea. And luckily she hadn't left yet!!! So I booked it home and got cutified :)

Afternoon tea was so much fun!!! The Orangery was so classy! We sat in this big, white room with giant windows, floral decor, beautiful china, and handsome waiters. We had a blast sipping our hot chocolate and eating finger sandwiches, biscuits, pastries, and macaroons. And right when we walked out to go home, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out! But as we were taking pictures these two squirrels got a little too close for comfort and chased us for a good 8 feet, it was pretty terrifying... and hilarious. 

After dinner I got ready and went to The Lion King. After my tube encounter for today I wasn't so eager to revisit it, so I hailed myself a cap to treat myself on my solo night. The cab was really nice, and I could actually understand the driver! 

Lion King was so good!!! I absolutely loved it! Plus, I was sitting next to a mother and her daughter from Yorkshire who were out celebrating the daughter's 21 birthday. They were really nice and offered me a sweet (gummies) and chocolate. 

Then I came home and turned in a quiz. 

Day 29- May 27th

To kick off my last week in London town, Whitney, Brooke, and I took a trip to the Harry Potter set! We're  really starting to get the hang of this whole urban travel thing. After the tube, a train, and a bus we made it to the magical world of Harry Potter. I love me some Harry Potter, but I'll admit that I'm not a  super fan. I thought the books were great and went to most of the midnight premires, but oh baby, I might be a super fan after today!!! Even the intro got me all excieted! I was so excited that I busted out a small (ok, not really that small) dance move when I heard that we could walk through the orginal sets, that the tour guide pointed me out (in a group of 100 people) and said, "That's the best reaction I've seen to that ever." 

Plus we had the surprise of being there for Animal week. I got to see animals that actually played Hermione's cat, Hagrid's dog, and even (wait for it) Hedwig (Harry's owl)!!! Be jealous. 

We got ourselves some Butterbeer (delish), rode some broomsticks, took some pics with Dobby, wandered down Diagon Alley (SOOOO COOL), got some pictures taken by nicest, most HP loving Japanese girls who were cracking us up (lots of peace signs, high pichted giggling, and "one, two, tree"s) and finished off with the model that they used to shoot all the exterior scenes of the castle (which took up an entire room). It was incredible. You walk into this giant room with dramatic HP music and lighting to see this incredibly detailed model... it was quite the moment :)

Then we headed back home to get some food. Here begins the worst series of decisions that I've made the entire trip. We walked to High Street Kensington (really cool actually) and saw all kinds of cute stores and restaurants. We went to Wagamama's for lunch (ate an entire pad thai by myself), then went to My Old Dutch Pancake House for a giant Nutella strawberry pancake (which we shared) and also each got our own milk shake (delicious, but definitely not the best decision), and then as we walked toward to the tube Brooke saw a Ben's cookies and thought it was a novelty (there's one in SLC) and despite my protests the next thing I knew I was shoving cookies in my mouth. Then we came home, did our laundry, took a nap, bought our tickets for the London Eye, and Paige and I headed out to walk around Holland park. We didn't quite make it to the park, but the neighborhoods we walked through were beautiful!

After our adventure, we met up with Whitney and Brooke at a place called Tortilla (depite the variety of food in London they only have two Mexican Restaraunts, and the workers speak French instead of Spanish), and then Whitney Brooke and I took off for the eye. We were worried about being late for our tickets, but there were only 5 peopel adhead of us when we got there! Talk about amazing (the Eye is always packed).

We went right as the sun was setting, and the lights in Big Ben were turning on. It was so beautiful! The weather had been warm and clear all day, so we had a perfect view. Then we walked along the South Bank, took lots of adorable pictures, and finished the night off with the best bad decision of the day... Amorino :)

Day 28- May 26th

Last day in the Catford ward! 

Admist all of the juicing of each day that's been happening, turns out I do have some responsiblities... like giving a talk in church. Luckily I had been assigned the 13th ariticle of faith, which I had given a stake youth council talk on a while ago. And especially luckily, Ali was willing to search through the computer for me to find it. Not so luckily I had not heeded Dad's advice to save a doc every two mintues and only had half of it... I actually had to write half of a talk ;)

Our group was actually on time this morning (a unique occurrence), which was good since we were the entire church for today with 3 of us giving talks, 1 musical number, and a RS and primary lesson. But our tube was held, our train delayed, our transfer train cancelled, and our train stop closed. So we took a new train, got on a bus, and (2 and a half hours later) walked in right as sacrament meeting was finishing. They were really nice about the whole thing, they had just asked people bare testimonies, and we enjoyed our last day at this ward. But you can't say that I didn't go out with a bang. I saw my boy Georgie across the chaple and threw him the peace sign, but with the back of my hand facing him (you know gangster style). Well turns out that that is another way of giving a Brit the bird... oops :)

We made our way home without any incidents which was entirely due to a very nice lady who led us onto the train, and to the right tube station. 

When we got home I caught up on some much needed sleep, ate dinner, had a hoot at the talent show we had, watched a nature documentary as a class, and got some sweet wifi so that I could actually talk to Mom and Dad :)

Day 27- May 25th

There is a new play out with Judi Dench (M from James Bond) and Ben Wilshaw (Q from Skyfall) called Peter and Alice. It's about an encounter between the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland and the inspiration for Peter Pan. I've been dying to see it, but it's completely sold out. But I did some digging and I found out that they sell 10 pound day of tickets!!! So McKenna (one of my roommies) and I woke up at 5:30, left at 5:45 and got in line at 6:15! I'm an early morning line waiting pro now, and I was looking pretty good in my double layer jeans, three sweaters, jacket, scarf, and gloves. But the wait was worth it! We got tickets!!! I may have busted out a victory dance outside of the box office, which turns out is quite the oditiy over here. Based upon the sounds of their laughter at me,  I'm sure I brightened the morning of a few chilly Brits today. Plus we could buy two per person, so McKenna and I each got an extra one and some girls that couldn't makeit this morning paid us 15 pounds for them (you can take the girl out of America, but you can't take America out of the girl). 

Then Paige, Ashley, Maggie, Whitney, Brooke and I went to Westfield Mall. It was huge!!! And it had the best pretzels I've ever had (shout out to Mom). Then we went to Camden Market and got our bargain on. Ali, be excited, be very excited. 

To kick off our Peter and Alice celebrations we went to the pub right next to the theater with Haley (aka woodland creature), Chloe R (yes, we have resorted to Bachelor abreivations in the house), Katie, and Lindsey for dinner. On the way to the pub I got really excited and got a huge smile on my face and started saying, "Guys, guys! We're going to see Judi Dench!!!" Which caused the bouncer outside of a stake house to say, "Now that's life! That's what I'm talking about!"

Pub food is my new favorite thing! I got myself some bangers and mash (sasages and mashed potatoes in gravy) and boy was it delish!!! Can't wait for two weeks of pub food on the road!!!

Peter and Alice was the weirdest, deepest, most bizarre, and most incredible and beautiful play I've ever seen. Judi Dench was incredible, and the rest of the cast was amazing. I loved it and it was definitely worth all the planning and waiting!!! 

After that, we went to my favorite place in all of London, Amorino! We walked through SoHo (it was still lgiht outside) and saw everyone celebrating with mini brass bands for the football game, a hari krishna group dancing through the street, partiers, and the sun set; all while eating the best ice cream in the world. But while I was eating my cone I did have the realization that this was my last saturday night in London, and I got a bit sad; but then I ate more ice cream and was good :)

Today was definitely one of the best days I've had here :) 

Day 26- May 24th

Today was AMAZING!!! Brooke, Whitney and I took London by storm (literally, today was the worst weather we've had yet. Nice and cold and rainy)! We started off with a tour of the Tower of London, which has a bad rap. All I had ever heard was that the crown jewels were there and that there was a lot of torture that took place there. The crown jewels were cool (I personally liked the  V&A jewelry exhibition better) but there was only a three minute walk through on torture. Turns out they only ever tortured 80 of the prisoners that were ever kept there. But they had lots of cool armor and towers to see. After about an hour and a half, none of us could feel our hands, so we took a quick trip to Starbucks for some hot chocolate before going to Harrods to find some lunch.

Harrods was the most incredible place I've ever been! It is massive, and beautiful, and I don't know how anyone knows their way around. We started with the main food hall but we couldn't find anything that really tickeled our fancy, so we enjoyed looking around and then went up a floor to the Italian restaurant Brooke had been wanting to go to. IT WAS SO GOOD!!!

We got seats at the bar for some great people watching, ordered ourselves some pesto pene and margarita pizza, and basked in the italian serenading from the chef. Conviently there is the best ice cream bar you've ever been to right across from the italian restaurant and we decided to give it ago. Originally we all agreed to share a sunday, but somehow it quickly escalated into each of us getting our own sake/sunday... Brooke and I even got the same one! And it was the most beautiful sunday I had ever seen. Nutella ice cream, chocolate ice cream, vanilla soft serve ice cream, whipped cream, a chocolate straw, a wafer, a bon bon, a chocolate cup filled with warm Nutella and wafer, and chocolate sauce just to finish it off... oh, and it was the size of my head. The sad/impressive part is that before I knew it I only  had two bites of it left. I had eaten the entire thing by myself without even knowing it!!! But, man, was it worth it.

Then we wobbled to the gift shop, got myself a new Harrod's wallet, headed towards Tiffany's, saw a room full of fresh off the runway dresses (definitely will be revisiting it), and tried on some 16,000 pound rings :) Whitney and Brooke had never tried a Tiffany ring on before and I am quite proud to be the one to show them how it feels to have a house on their finger ;)

After that life changing "astheic experience" at Harrod's we went back home for some food and I headed out with Kassidy, Steph, Kenzie, and Sierra to Les Miserables. Buying tickets for this show was one of the first things we did whent we got here, so we've been looking forward to this for a long time. To see it in it's orginal theater, with an incredible Jean Val Jean,  Javier, and Fontine, on a Friday night in London was like living in a dream!

Day 25- May 23rd

After my farthest run yet and class, I got together Maggie and Whitney to go to Buckingham Palace. We took some great photos, tried to sneek into the Queen's Gallery, then I went back to the Natural History Museum to acutally do my assignment. 

It was so sweet! Maggie and I walked around the giant mamals exhibit and then I headed to the Dinosaur wing. It was sick. They had all kinds of cool stuff, plus I saw the cutest little girl. Every time she saw something she'd gasp and put her hand over her mouth. Super cute. 

I made it home in time for dinner and then made my classy harem pant debut at Beethoven's 9th symphony in St. Paul's cathedral with Steph, Sierra, Kassidy, and Kenzie. The symphony was fantastic (and surprisingly short), and for the times when my mind started to wander,  the catherdral was beautiful enough to keep me occupied. 

Day 24- May 22nd

Today was a day trip to Hampton Court palace, King George's favorite palace. I ended up hanging out with Paige, Whitney, and Brooke (my bunkmate) and boy did we have a good time :) 

We started out with the Secrets of the Bedchamber exhibit (creepy name, but pretty cool). One part let you lay down on these divinely comfortable matress and watch a movie on the ceiling (while you try not to think about the billion other people who laid all over them). Unforuntately our relaxation was inturrupted by some French teenagers, and we continued on our way. After tearing up the castle we headed out to the gardens for some major picutre taking. Brooke has a pretty sweet camera and we loaded up with the photo shoots, fake laughing and all. 

Then we got food at a really good restaraunt called Blubeckers. We realized that we had all forgotten what it was like to eat in a real place! It was a brand new experience going to the bathroom where you didn't have to worry about catching a disease as well as doing your thang.

Then we caught the train, I head to Boots( a convince store), came home, found out how to get tickets for Peter and Alice (a play Judi Dench is in AND found a group to go with me!), took a nap, went to Mullberry pizza and went to War Horse as a group. 

War Horse was quite the interesting experience. The staging was amazing! The horses were absolutely increble, and when the plot wasn't really doing it for you you could always just watch the three men manning this giant horse puppet. The story line was not my cup of tea, but I'm so happy we went. It was really cool and got me super pumped to go see Lion King (hopefully on Tuesday!).

Day 23- May 21st

Today we went as a class to the Sebastiao Salgado Genesis photography exhibit at the Museum of Natural History after class. It was so cool!!! These pictures were absolutely beautful and had everything from the Amazon to the Arctic. Then my home boy Georgie hooked Kassidy, Kenzie and I up with tickets to the museum's Spirit Collection Tour. 

We weren't entirely sure what it acutally was, but we had heard something about a giant squid and closed to the public and we were in. As we started asking workers where the tour was, we felt more and more privilaged. They would all say, "You know you need to book these tickets in advance?" (Georgie had gotten them two hours before hand for us) "You know this is very exclusive"... We felt pretty cool. There were only three other guys on the tour and our exlusive guide, Allister, who studied Biology and speicializes in mollusks. 

During the tour we got to see the laboratories (turns out the museum was construted to be a giant laboratory and research center, not an attraction), the collection rooms (saw all kinds of stuff in funky little jars), and the "We Don't Have Jars Big Enough to Fit This Stuff Into So We Put Them In Giant Tanks" room. It was incredible. We walked into this huge room and saw huge jars lining the walls with palatapi, foxes, giant fish, sharks..., about 16 3x6 ft steel tanks that you can't see through, and ,  a giant tank (a bit longer than a double decker bus) with the giant squid!!!! This thing was so freaky and awesome. It was abosultely massive, and to think aobut it swimming around in the deep blue somewhere kind of gives me the willies. We asked Allister what was in the steel tanks and he said that they had orangoutangs, sharks, shetlin  poines, and who knows what elese. When we asked if we could see inside one of them he said that it takes too long to get the lids off so we wouldn't be able to... well right as we were taking picitures with the squid, a man walked in with a giant cart and starts taking lids off the tanks!!! He took off one and told us about all the funky things that were inside of it (the giant head of a stergon [the main suspect for the locness monster]), a shark bent into the shape of a suitcase (since that what the man who donated it brought it in), giant stingrays, and tuna. So sweet!!! Then for the end of the tour Allister took us to a special part of the wall where there appeared to be just normal bottled fish and such. But we took a look at the label and they were samples from the Beagle expidition... Charles Darwin's orginal expidition!!!!!!!!!!! It was incredible!!!! Major shout out to Georgie for letting us mooch off of him!!! 

After all that exictement I came home for my last night of kitchen duty, went to fro yo with Paige, and had a giant girls night in room 3. 

Day 22- May 20th

Day trip day today! We all loaded up in the coach to go to Constable Country, where John Constable painted his most famous landscapes. It was beautiful! We went on a 4 mile "hike" along rivers, through herds of cows (yes one of them did lick my hand, and yes we do have pictures of it), over bridges, and fields of flowers. Magical. Not to mention that all of the girls in my room and I decided to braid our hair today and Whitney, one of my roommates, decided to weave wildflowers into our hair. We had some major flower power going on.

Then we loaded up in the coach again for Cambridge. I found a sweet (and divinely comfortable) sweatshirt, and then Ashely, Kenzie, Maggie and I went punting. Punting is the British version of gondalering, only that the men are even studlier becuase you can actually understand what they are saying behind their accents ;) Matthew was our punter and was so fine that when Maggie and I (who were on the front of the boat) went through a cloud of a thousand gnats and Matthew was talking about Winnie the Poo, all she could do was gaze out at the river and say "say it again". Hahaha. It was pretty fun. 

After our punt we were starving, but only had 15 min before we needed to go to Evensong. So we ran into a bakery, got our sandwiches 10 min later, and scarfed them down right in time to que up. Evensong was surprisingly great! The cathedral was incredible, with the original stained glass windows from the 1200's (learned that from my art professor, not Matt), the wood carvings, the stone ceiling, and the giant alter. The standing, kneeling, and sitting were a new venture for me, but the chior singing with the priest was beautiful. 

Then we loaded back into the coach for the ride home (where Paige got a little inside my personal space), changed into my cambridge sweatshirt, and settled in for the night. 

Day 21- May 19th

I've hit the 3 week mark!!! Crazy!!!! 

Today was stake conference, and I was able to walk with one of my professor's families to church at the Hyde Park building. Church was ok I guess, if you like hearing from a member of the 70, and Elder Scott, AND Elder Eyring. It was amazing!

Then a group of us set out to find the Parent Trap house, but unfortunately it was under construction. So Maggie, Kenzie, and I took pictures in front of the house next door and called it good. ("When life give you lemons stuff them in your bra" as Jenny would say.)

Afterwards, the three of us took our very own sunday "hike" through the south garden walk and Kensington Gardens. And relaxed the rest of the night. 

Day 20- May 18th

In light of the past two days, today was quite productive! I started off with a run to the Diana Memorial splash fountain in Hyde Park, then headed off with Chloe, Beth, Ashley, Kassidy, Kenzie, Steph, and Sierra to the Churchill War Rooms. It was surprisingly fantastic! Learned alot about WWII, but unfortunately we were unprepared for the frigid temperatures at which they kept the museum and had to huddle up next to an electric sign to keep warm. But despite that, it really was cool. 

Then we headed out to Borough Market...again. I got the most delicious spinach and ricotta ravioli, and Steph and I split an incredible White Chocolate Sea Salt cookie. 

After that Steph, Kenzie and I went on an unsuccessful look for theater tickets for tonight, and went to the Wallace Collection museum. 

The Wallace is a house that they've turned into a public museum. They have insane amounts priceless paintings, dishes, armor, and guns; but I spent most of the time looking at the beautiful furniture and decor rather than the Rembrandts  hanging on the wall ;)

The group who went to Scotland came back tonight and walked me through their trip. It was so beautiful! Scotland is for sure on my must visit list.

Day 19- May 17th

Kicked off today with another run through Kensington Gardens. Got a great view of of the horse statue and even the Serpentine Lake. When I came back, a group of us got ready and headed out to Borough Market... one of my favorite places on earth. Sierra and I split a delicious grilled cheese, raspberry tart, and hot chocolate. Then we went to the Tate Britain Museum to check out the JMW Turner exhibit, which was incredible.  On way the home we passed the MI6 building and had a pretty sweet photo shoot, where a slightly creepy old man made suggestions on how to improve our Bond poses. After that adventure, I learned some card tricks via Sam (one of the professor's kids), ordered some pizza, and had a girls night. Here's to a productive day tomorrow :) 

Day 18- May 16th

Today I headed out on the town lone wolf style. My main goal was to find some tickets to the Lion King for Steph, Kenzie, and I; but I couldn't find any for a good price. BUT I did find out about a sweet student deal that we will definitely be taking advantage of next week :) In my quest for Lion King tickets, I also discovered the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (a brand new musical premiering this week) theater and went to see if they had any seats. I got the last 3 seats for the show on the 29th! Holler!

To get myself out of the missing Rome slump, I chose today for some retail therapy! I started at one end of Oxford street and worked my way down to the other. I found some sweet stuff, and feel like a real Londoner ;) When I came home a group was heading out for Indian food, so I tagged along with them and got my curry on. Then I came home and chilled.

Day 17- May 15th

Oh, today!

We started out by taking a day trip as a class to Kew Gardens. It was absolutely beautiful and humongous! They had three giant greenhouses, a gazebo, a water lilly house, a Japanese zen garden (complete with 10 story tower), a 6 story tree walk (where you can look over the trees and see the entire garden), a lake, and every flower you could want to see. And then the adventure to Rome began.

There was a little miscommunication about when to meet up, so we left about 20 min late, and since we were out on the outskirts of the tube line there wasn't a train every 5 min. So we had to sprint through the tube station to the bus depot, see our bus leave, bang on the doors, have the bus driver look at me and continue to drive, get on a later bus with the slowest driver known to man, and get to the airport 10 min after the gate closed...we did not make it to Rome. But we did get a lovely tour of the English countryside via the shuttle bus. We were so exhausted by the time we got home that Sierra and I barely had the energy to drag ourselves to Cafe Diana for some fish and chips, and then come home and shower and put ourselves in bed. 

Oh well, I didn't eat pizza by the Colosseum tonight; but being in London ain't that bad either ;) 

Day 16- May 14th

This morning began my turn for kitchen duty yee haw!!! After cleaning up breakfast I went to class and fortunately one of the professor's canceled, so we got out at 11. 

Maggie and I went to Paul's, a french bakery, for lunch and came back and finished our papers. After we both turned them in, we were looking for something quick to do (I had to be back in two hours for kitchen duty) and decided to go find tickets for Mama Mia. 

After talking to several discount places we found a pretty good deal and came back to the center for naps and dinner. 

We went to Mama Mia with a girl named Paige, and it was the funnest musical I've been to! The singing was great, the crowd was fun, and it felt like we were at a concert the whole time. Then we went to Tesco to pick up food for tomorrow (we're going to Kew Gardens) and also chocolate and junk food that we didn't need.  It was a fantastic girls' night!!!

Then we came home and finished our homework and I started packing for Rome. In 24 hours I will be sleeping 20 min away from the Colosseum!!!

Day 15- May 13th

A few days ago I was FaceTiming with Dad and he expressed some appropriate fatherly concern pertaining to my fitness, what with the constant stream of pictures of me with various unhealthy food items. When I told him that exercise has yet to make it into my routine he said, "Well jus remember what Heidi [Klum] says, 'you can eat what you want, just not all of it.'" That conversation made such an impression on me (and stirred up enough fear for the quickly approaching swimsuit season) that I actually woke up and went for a run around Kensington Gardens this morning. 

After my run I grabbed some breakfast and headed to class. Then Maggie, Brooke, Whitney and I headed out to see if we could find tickets for Singing in the Rain or Wicked. We went to the TKTS booth in Leicester Square and they just happened to have some 22.5 pound tickets for tonight! Whitney and Brooke wanted to go to Singing, so I bought two for Kenzie and Steph to join us at Wicked.

From the ticket booth, Maggie and I made our way to the Tate Modern Museum (via the Millennium/Harry Potter Bridge and stopped for some delicious candied nuts). It was even stranger than I thought it would be, and that's coming from an art minor. Unfortunately they didn't have anything from my favorite artist, Chuck Close, but we were able to find some Picasso and Jackson Pollock (which I freaked out at), and even got some sweet wifi; so it was definitely a worth while trip ;) 

Then we went back to the center for dinner, rounded up Kenzie and Steph, and left for Wicked (we made it early to the show without having to run!!!). Wicked was great, but it was very different seeing it in London. The accents made a huge difference, and the actors were a bit more subdued. Even the audience wasn't as rambunctious as they usually are in the states. After the first song we started yelling and clapping and the lady next to Maggie leaned over and said, "I don't think we're supposed to be yelling." But Elphaba was amazing and we all had a great night out on the town!

Day 14- May 12th

Only took us an hour and a half to get to church today instead of two and only got off at the wrong station once, so we're getting better ;) By the time we leave, maybe we'll even be to church on time! 

Church was great today. It was all focused on marriage relationships, the temple, and eternal covenants (quite fitting for Mother's Day). The people in our ward are so nice and welcoming, it's been fantastic to be able to hear their perspectives on the church migration to the west and the importance they place on temples. I was 'blessed' enough to be able to teach  RS today, and I was really happy with how it went. The ladies were more than willing to participate and gave some excellent comments. 

For dinner we had ribs, which were pretty amazing, and thankfully I avoided making a complete mess of myself. Then one of my professors, Gary Barton, invited my group over for FHE. It was so nice! I ended up talking to his daughter who is coming to BYU in the Fall for an hour and a half. It was so good just to be around a real family again, just talking in the family room. Then I went off to write a paper about the relationship between man and nature as reflected in Shakespear's The Tempest. 

Day 13- May 11th

Today started off with a nice and early wake up call: 6 am. We planned to meet up at 6:30 to go wait in line for 5 of the 16, 5 pound Matilda the Musical (one the hottest shows) tickets released each day. Unfortunately, none of the other girls' alarms went off, so I had to go and wake them up. We didn't leave until 7 and didn't get in line until 7:30. When we got there, 9 other people were already there, so we ran in line and two other people came in line right behind us. Talk about a relief! We all found a nice recess to huddle up in, and settled in for the next 2 and half hours. 

The girls did their readings while I prepared my Relief Society lesson for tomorrow. When they finally  opened the box office we grabbed our seats and headed to Cafe Nero (kind of like Starbucks) to unfreeze. Then Sierra and I headed to towards Borough Market.  

Along the way we found a Benefit Cosmetics store, got our make up done, found a random alley way with every color of building you could want (and lots of herbal supplement stores), and finally found Borough. 

Oh, Borough! Talk about a food lover's dream!!! Every kind of pastry, cheese, jam, wrap, exotic hot dog, sandwich, and dessert you could ever want is found in Borough Market. I had a delicious falafel, Sierra had this beef skewered hot dog thing, and we shared a raspberry tart. Amazing! I'll definitely be going back. 

Then Sierra and I headed back to the center for a power nap. When I woke up I made a quick stop to H&M (found an amazing dress) and headed back to the center to grab some food before Matilda. 

We were late leaving for the show (thought we could make it in 30 min), so we had to sprint to the tube, hurry and get on, make one transfer, run out of the tube station, and sprint our way to the show. After a few shouts of "why did we do this?!" and "I hate us!" we made it to the theater with 5 min to spare ;)And it most definitely was worth it! 

Matilda is possibly the best show I've ever seen! I had never seen the movie and my mind was absolutely blown. It's mostly a kid cast and the dance numbers they were doing were above and beyond some of the NappyTabbs numbers I've seen. And the staging was so cool!!! 

Before I left, Brandt's sister, Mari, had told me about how she and her friends went back stage to meet the cast after they saw Peter Pan. She got pictures with them and ended up going to dinner with them, she said it was so much fun. We were all so excited about the play that we booked it out of the theater to go meet the cast at the stage door (I was expecting a photo or two, but just to clear I did not plan on taking an 8 year old out to dinner). When we walked up there was a crowd of people around, so we figured that we weren't the only ones who wanted pics with the leads and kids... turns out that group of people were all of the actors' parents. As families started leaving, we felt more and more creepy... turns out meeting 30 year olds who play 8 year olds is a lot different than just meeting 8 year olds. 

Day 12- May 10th

Today was my favorite day in London! It started out with a trip to Portobello Road with Maggie, Whitney, Brooke, and Brinley. And I got all of my gift giving shopping done! (Mom, Tiff, Jenny, Carol, Ali... be excited) Plus, I got to use my bargaining skills. Thank you canal street! 

We were supposed to meet up with another group of girls for a tour of Westminster Abbey at 10:30, but we didn't finish Portobello until 11. And somehow Maggie and I couldn't find the other girls in craziness of the street. So Maggie and I dropped off our purchases at the center and then headed to Westminster by ourselves. 

And can I just say how nice it was walking around with just one other person? I love all the girls I go out with, but it was the first time I really felt like I was just having a normal day in London. Maggie and I looked so urban that someone even asked us for directions. ;)

We didn't see anyone that we had planned to meet up with (possibly because we were an hour late) and there was a 40 min long que just to buy our tickets, so we peaced out on that and headed to the National Gallery. Which was amazing! Saw some Van Gough, Monet, and just about everyone else. So cool.  

We met up with a girl, Paige, at the National Gallery and headed to the British Museum... it was a lot to see. After dominating Egypt and Greece we decided we needed a change of scenery and headed to Amorino for the best ice cream you've ever had (yes they even sculpt it into a flower). Then we said goodbye to Paige and went the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was by far my favorite museum. But on the way to the museum we passed a one armed guitar player who was playing Viva La Vida!!! (my favorite song) And then passed another guitar player who was playing Maggie's favorite song... it was destiny. 

At the V&A we saw some great marble statues, the Catholic and Islam exhibits, and the Jewelry exhibit. The jewelry was amazing!!! So sparkly ;)

We made our way home, and after a quick dinner we got ready to go with the rest of the group to the opera La Boheme. It was surprisingly entertaining! And the music was to die for! But, possibly the best part of the night was that I finally had an occasion to wear my 5 lb sequined shirt :)

After the opera we came home and planned out our trip to Rome. Which is happening in 5 days!!!

Day 11- May 9th

We had classes today, which were far less stressful than usual. Both of our professors have turned exams and quizzes into notes and 100 word essays, holler! 

After class we went to Leicester Square where the Arrested Development Banana Stand made an appearance!!! Then we met up with 5 other girls and went to the 1/2 price ticket both to pick up our tickets for Woman in Black. After scoring some sweet 15 pound tickets, we enjoyed some quality time at the National Portrait Gallery (had a Kate Middleton sighting...portrait that is) and came home for dinner. 

Then we booked it to Woman in Black. After a few tube delays we got off the train at 7:59, ran three blocks (hoards of people cleared the sidewalks and got a good laugh out of us), and made it the theater at 8:02! Not bad for a 9th grade track star ;) 

The play was actually really fun, screamed a few times, and got a bit freaked out on the ride home; but I think I've fully recovered. 

Day 10- May 8th

We took the coach (fancy name for bus) through the countryside to Dover and Hever today! The bus ride was beautiful, minus the one person who threw up 5 min into the drive and the three others who reported motion sickness. 

We've been so lucky with the weather with only one day of rain, but we paid for it today. When we pulled up to Dover Castle (we almost didn't get admitted due to the ticket lady's concern for our boisterousness. She told our professor to make sure we didn't spit on anyone!)  a massive wall of fog rolled in. We were 10 feet away from it and could not see it for the life of us. Then the wind picked up and it started to rain... hard. It made for some good, frozen memories but we were all more than happy to get back on the bus. 

When we were all on the bus they announced that we were taking a detour to the beach so that we could see the famous White Cliffs of Dover... not necessarily a funtivity you want to do in the fog and rain. But right when we pulled up to the beach the clouds cleared, the sun came out, and it got warm! It was beautiful! 

The weather even stayed fantastic when we got to Hever Castle, Anne Bolyen's home. We walked through the castle (where the workers thought we were all children and required that we had an adult for every 10 of us... again!), and then strolled through the Itallian gardens, which was possibly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. 

We survived the ride home and met up with George for dinner at Mullberry Pizza and milkshakes... so good! 

Day 9- May 7th

Today kicked off with a rousing set of classes... for 6 hours. The classes today were mostly focused on all the work that we need to get done before we leave the center in 3 weeks, which sent everyone into a tizzy. To decompress after some very near mental breakdowns, we got ice cream at Fenton's and went for an hour long walk through Kensington Gardens. We walked around Kensington Palace, saw the Peter Pan Statue, played around in the Diana fountain, and made our way back home. 

After dinner to went to The Tempest at the Globe Theater. So good! Thankfully we had the sit down seats, and double thankfully Kassidy and I rented some sweet 1 pound seat cushions... saved our butts... literally ;) The acting was great, the staging was pretty freaking awesome, and the romantic lead was the goofiest little boy you've ever seen (think Prince in the the tower form Monty Python)... he made the entire play for me :)

Then we came home and got in bed in prep for our 6:30 departure tomorrow morning for Dover

Day 8- May 6th

After staying up until 3 am last night trying to get homework done, we were all exhausted. Unfortunately this exhaustion gave a late start (due to sleeping in) and no brain power to decide what we wanted to do for the day. Luckily, George shot me a text and invited us to lunch. Kassidy and I were the only ones who could go and we met him a Charring Cross, the train station with the new "I'm a Mormon" campaign.... Super cool. The entire main lobby is covered in giant Mormon posters. 

George started off today's tour with a visit to the most delicious gelato shop you've ever been to: Amorino. It's right next to China Town and perfectly kiddie corner from Joe & the Juice (the fact that Kassidy and I ogle our favorite juicer through the window made every bite even more delicious). They have four different kinds of chocolate gelato, two different kinds of pistachio, and every sorbet you could want. When you order you can get as many flavors as you like (a mind blowing concept for Kassidy and I) and if you order an ice cream cone, they sculpt each new flavor into a flower petal. It was amazing!

Then we went window shopping down Regent Street and Oxford Street, made our way to Hyde Park, and found a fantastic outdoor table at the Serpentine. It was a bank holiday today and the weather was absolutely amazing (high of 72 and sunny), so the park was filled with families, kids on scooters, cricket players, football players, frisbee games... it was so much fun! 

George took us through Hyde and into Kensington Gardens where we found the South Flower Garden (?). It was like its own little world, flowers and animals everywhere, the occasional palm tree, and just the three of us strolling along.  Unfortunately, George had to head home, so Kassidy and I found a nice spot in the sun to take a nap. We were awoken by a little, white, fluffy Maltese and its owner, a little boy named Arron. Arron was adorable, he had on this helmet that made his head three times bigger than it actually was, but we never saw him with a scooter! He was just always chasing his dog. After they left Kassidy and I spent another hour or two in the park and in the garden just relaxing then headed back to the center. 

But, on the way we discovered Kensington Palace. We wandered around the amazing courtyard, and found our way to the Orangery, a gorgeous building that is famous for its afternoon tea. We're planning on getting gussied up and going there sometime next week. 

When we came home we met up with Kenzie and Steph and went to Nando's for dinner (delicious pineapple chicken burger). Picked up some more chocolate from the store and came home to finish homework.