Cheers from London!!

TRAVELING
Let me recap my adventures of arriving in London. Yesterday, I woke up at 3:30 AM (Oregon time) and flew to Chicago where I hung out at O'Hare waiting for my next flight. I was bummed that I couldn't leave the airport for a bit because, being an aspiring interior designer, I wanted to explore the architecture that started modern design. Oh, well, at least I finally got to see the awesome light tunnel at the airport. I met up with Annie, Cam and Jenny and we set off, over the big pond, to the motherland. My personal screen had my constant attention since it told us where we were and how far we had to go. 3,600 miles later, we landed at Heathrow Airport, where we were interrogated by the cranky border patrol. I almost thought that I wasn't going to make it into the country because they would find my nervousness suspicious.
There are a few things that I quickly learned when I stepped out of the airport:
1. they drive on the wrong side of the road. My dad's only request before I left was for me to find out why the British still drive on the wrong side of the road. Well, for the information of both my dad and everyone else reading, it's because of Napoleon and the French, according to my stake president here. When they were deciding which side of the road to do things, they thought that the left hand side would allow most right handers the comfort of holding a sword and being able to attack from the right side, like in jousting. When Napoleon came into power, he obviously wanted to do everything opposite of the Brits. Thus, the rest of the world is different, not the British, Either way, it freaks me out.
2. There is no law stating that pedestrians have the right away.
3. I've never used a different currency before. It's different and will definitely take some getting used to.


by where I live

where we live

The Centre is amazing. It's so old, we're not allowed to jump for fear that we'll crack the plaster ceiling. And it's hard to sneak around because everything is so squeaky. We're set in an ideal location, just a block away from Hyde Park and Kensington Palace. We're also a short tube ride away from downtown and all of the cool stuff there. I'm very excited to be here.
SATURDAY
Annie and I had our first authentic British breakfast complete with scrambled eggs and bacon or sausage on toast with fried tomatoes and freshly squeezed OJ. We got lost walking around after going almost all of the way down Portabello Road. Yes, Portabello Road is all that it's cracked up to be, no we couldn't find the bookstore from the movie "Notting Hill". I made my first purchase since it's so stinkin cold: cute, fuzzy earmuffs. (side note: it hasn’t been this cold for the past 18 years and it hasn’t snowed like this in 30 years, or something like that) I also found this awesome store called Poundland, the equivalent to Dollar Tree in the States. We got near the end of the street and decided to turn off of a side street to work our way home. We got lost because of this, but in a good way. We found this really pretty cathedral in the middle of a nice neighborhood, a nice surprise. That night, we went to try to get tickets for Peter Pan at Leicester Square. Not the way to do it, we found out, so we ended up walking around then went back to Queensway to eat at Bella Italia.
SUNDAY
We traveled to the Hyde Park chapel to have church. We spoke with the Stake President of the Hyde Park Stake, who was really great to talk to (not just because of his sweet accent). I was assigned to the Lea Valley Ward and apparently it will be an adventure to travel to the building each week. Not much to report since I slept for about 3.5 hours (jet lag…blahhh).
MONDAY
Our first day trip day! Our mass of Americans hopped onto the tube to visit the Museum of London. There were only 3 rooms open, but it was cool what we could see. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t listen in history class when we covered the Motherland. The group then went to St. Paul’s Cathedral in the same area and had the whole tour. I’ve never been inside a Cathedral before, and I’m wondering why I haven’t. Probably because they have few old Cathedrals in the States. I was so humbled by the elaborate design and the intricate statues. We climbed about 240 stairs up the Whispering Gallery in the dome of the crossing where you can look down over the whole main room. It’s called the Whispering Gallery because you can whisper towards a person 30 meters away along the wall of the dome and they will hear you. The craziest part was going down into the crypt. We saw the tombs of Florence Nightingale, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Christopher Wren (the one who designed and built St. Paul’s and many other great buildings), along with many others. A little creepy walking down the halls surrounded by dead people, but also very interesting. After getting cookies from Ben’s (mmmmm perfection), my new friends and I went to Big Ben and the London Bridge to be tourists and take billions of pictures. We even had some people recording us (again, creepy) haha.


St. Paul's

Annie and I with the London Eye

TUESDAY
First day of classes! So far, so good. Except I’m going to have to get back into the study mode, again, like every other semester. Only this semester, I’m in a foreign country which makes it a bit harder to get down the nitty gritty. Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll work hard in my classes, especially the ones outside in London  I LOVE how it’s set up here: I wake up, put on some sweats, run downstairs to breakfast, run back upstairs to get ready, look at the clock and exclaim: “Oh crap class is starting right now”, and run down a flight of stairs to class. It’s fantastic. Class is over by 1:20 every day and so we can explore the rest of the day (or study, I guess). I love my classes, too. I’m taking Greek & Roman Mythology where we have to find evidences of Classicism wherever we go in London; Classical Civilization; British Literature where we are reading some classics from each time period and then going out to see them in London’s theatres; a cultural class where we are learning about different cultures then going out to their synagogues or mosques here in London. Then there’s a one credit class that’s called London Walks (no explanation needed, in my opinion). This semester will be the ultimate learning experience, in my opinion.
Tuesday night, we went to the Apollo Theatre to see Wicked. Student cards are magical and should be taken advantage of because we got front section tickets the same day of the performance for only 25 pounds! Amazing performance, even the second time around. The accents made it a different experience than seeing it in NYC, that’s for sure. To sum it up, Annie after the performance said, “That was the best 3 hours of my life!!!”


“Dahncing through lahf”

WEDNESDAY
After classes, we took the tube to Trafalga(r) Square and the National Gallery. Either I’ve been young and naïve or I really haven’t seen any famous art, because it was so amazing seeing the originals! Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Seurat, etc etc etc. Last night we took a break from studying to get some Gelato. It was a first time thing for me and I’m hooked, people, hooked.


National Gallery


I have a feeling that this week was just a glimpse at the experience that I’m going to have here. It feels like I’ve been here forever, even though it’s only been a week. I’m taking full advantage of my time here and I hope you all will love living vicariously through my trip here in London.