"Just touched down in London town"

THURSDAY
Today was more about productivity over exploration. After classes, though, we went “pubbin’”. What is pubbin’, you ask? Well, let me enlighten you. At our meeting with the professors regarding rules and regulations, we were told to not go to any clubs or night clubs or anything like that. Someone asked if we could go to pubs and we are allowed as long as we don’t drink and if we go earlier in the day so as to avoid drunk people. So several girls went pubbin instead of clubbin and got some yummy fish n chips for lunch.
Since we had TONNNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSS of reading, that’s what I spent my Thursday night doing, along with getting distracted by Kellan, a buddy of mine in the program. That kid cracks me up, so I can’t get anything done around him. I asked him which countries he has been to since he has traveled everywhere and it was quite a list. I want to travel everywhere by the time I leave this world, and I think London has been a good kick-off (English speaking, lots of culture but also McDonald’s nearby, travelling with a big American group from BYU).
FRIDAY
Fridays are day trip days, so you should look forward to what I have to say about them. Today the whole group took the tube to the Tower of London. You know how you hear about things in foreign countries that are famous and cool but you’ve never been so you concoct this picture of what it could be like. Yeah, that’s what I did with the Tower of London. Since it’s singular, I thought it was this big tower off of the Thames that has one staircase that you go up and an see all of London. Not even close. Ok, so there were towers that overlooked the Thames, but it was a fortress of towers with walls and buildings.
We went into the Waterloo Block where the crown jewels are housed and on display. Seeing those things made the fact that royalty is for real more tangible to me. I’ve thought a couple of times about the fact that we’re in a country with a Queen not a President but it didn’t really hit me until then. The magnitude of the difference between classes was realized also, when I saw how massive and priceless the crown jewels are and how just next door were some stonewall dungeons and torture chambers for those peasants who misbehaved. Anyways, there were moving sidewalks next to the displays where we saw all of the crowns, scepters and orbs used for coronation and other ceremonies. The scepter used for coronations has the world’s largest diamond at the top (351 carats!). The biggest diamond was found in South Africa and was cut into 9 smaller diamonds, the biggest in the scepter, the second in the Queen’s crown, and the rest used by royalty for other crowns and jewelry. We asked the lady monitoring them how much they are worth, and no one has attempted to price them. We also talked to another guard man named George and he was telling us how there has only been one attempt to steal the crown since the 17th century. The man had gotten the crown and was almost to the gate, but was apprehended by the guards before he could leave the Tower. Sorry for all of the stories—I put them in here because I think they’re interesting and I want to remember them. In the White Tower was a special temporary display of all of King Henry VI’s armory. There is also a chapel that has been there for about 1000 years. It was really cool to stand in it and think about how millions of people have worshipped here since the beginning of this millennium. You don’t have that in the States. There was also the Bloody Tower, where the sons of a king had mysteriously disappeared and their bones found years later under a staircase. Since it was a prison and had torture chambers, there are plenty of horror/ghost stories about the Tower. I thought it was a really cool place.
The group then walked down the road to see the London Bridge (oh, snap!) and Borrough Road/Market, where I ate this divinely scrumptious Greek wrap and got this amazing double chocolate and cherry muffin. I want to go back there, it smelled so good.
I was a bum again and did homework again. But we watched "A Knight's Tale" since we were constantly quoting it in the King Henry exhibit. Love that movie.
SATURDAY
It was refreshing to sleep in then go running in Hyde Park. Annie and I spent the afternoon shopping on Portobello Road. Can I just say that I got a bag that was originally 35 pounds for 7 pounds? Golden!! It was pouring on our heads and it was a little taste of home. That night we went to dinner at Kahn’s, this really good Indian food place by the Centre.
SUNDAY
I didn’t have church until 1 pm, but it took us about an hour to get to our ward by tube. I’m assigned to the Lea Valley ward in Walthamstow with Laura Nielson and Sarah Marshall. We walked in 5 minutes late, but they hadn’t started yet. Instantly we were bombarded by head shakes and “hey, are you from BYU?” Everyone is so friendly! I was assigned to the primary/nursery, so I get to work with the adorable British kids with cute little accents. The primary teacher was teaching about how we’re all from different parts of the world and how we all are different, then asked the kids what the one thing is that we all have in common. A little kid named Tiko raised his hand and said in his cute little accent: “We are all Heavenly Father’s children and he loves all of us”. That just made my heart melt! So adorable! When talking to the bishop afterwards, he counted about 20 to 25 different countries that the people in the ward are from. I definitely felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb, but then I thought: There’s almost as many countries as there are people, so we’re all unique. It was a very cool experience and I’m excited to work with them for the next 3 months.
After dinner, I got to talk to my family for the first time on Skype. I found out that they adopted a rescued bulldog! She’s so sweet and fat and I can’t wait to meet her.
Cheers! Pictures to come!