Middletemple Princess Lunch--Islamic Mosque--Lovely Bones--Hairspray--Twelfth Night (In one week!!)

THURSDAY
This week was a little mixed up. We had our London Study Day today instead of Friday. This visit was to Middletemple, where the Inns of Court gathered. The Inns of Court is governed by the Master of Court, which could be the Queen or some other royalty figure head. This was one of the only things that I have genuinely been bored about, to tell you the truth. Not to sound ungrateful, but, eh, you can’t love everything. The best part, though, was the chance to eat in the Great Hall (another Great Hall) where the royalty used to eat. Today, it a very posh place to eat and so it was dubbed my princess lunch. I think this was one of the nicest meals I’ve ever had in my life. The waiters put my napkin on my lap, we had sparkling water, the menu was already drawn up for us, and it took a couple of hours since they had to bring out the progressive courses.
We went to the church associated with the Inn, where the Knights Templar gathered. It was made to look like Jerusalem, so one would feel like they were in the Holy Land. It was really pretty.
The tour guide was good-looking, to make it even better.
Then we went to the Dickens house, where (you guessed it!) Charles Dickens grew up. I thought it was cool because we had just read Oliver Twist and so we got to see where he sat and wrote it and what inspired his writing during that time.
FRIDAY
Since we had day trip day on Thursday, we had class today. After class, the group went to an Islamic Mosque for our cultures class. I took a world religion class last semester where Islam was included, so it was cool to actually see the people practice their religion first hand. Like I discovered at the Sikh temple, they are just as devout in their practice. Our tour guide was very informative and smart, so I learned lots.
For dinner, we tried out Nando’s. It’s this Spanish chicken spicy place and it was REALLY good.
That night I felt like crap thanks to the cold that graced me with its presence that week. Early bedtime and no fun.
SATURDAY
London reminds me a lot of home because of the rain and the trees. It has trees because it rains all of the time. But this Saturday was a sunny Saturday and so we HAD to be outside and take advantage of the sun. After breakfast at Café Diana’s, Annie and I walked all of the way to Buckingham Palace and St. James’ Park (tubes are nightmares on weekends, anyways). We completed an assigned walk and got some hot chocolate while we strolled. It was such a wonderful day.
That night was Sarah Shepherd’s birthday dinner at Zizzi’s with fifteen Americans total. We got the whole restaurant to sing for her and the food was great.
SUNDAY
Ward Conference at church. That night we had a fireside done by President Phillips about Christ’s life and how He had to grow and discover His divine right. We shouldn’t freak out when it comes to finding ourselves because it’ll come to us and He will love us no matter what. President Phillips is a great man and it was great hearing from him.
MONDAY
After dinner a few of us went to see “Lovely Bones”. I read the book by Alice Seybold when I was younger and was exposed to what was in the book that I hadn’t really heard about before. Throughout my life, I’ve been told not to talk to strangers and to be alert and smart. This movie, though, made me think: “Would I do what she did if I was in her situation?” The movie was good, but freaky and nerve-wracking. I already knew what was going to happen so I wasn’t freaked out, but it sent a few of the girls into panic mode, for sure.
TUESDAY
So far on this trip I have seen: Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, Oliver!, and Les Miserables. To see: The Lion King. I had heard that Hairspray was good from my high school peers who had seen it when it came out, but I wasn’t really dying to see it. Wow wow wow wow wow I can’t get over how AMAZING it is!! Anna Hayes and I had a chickdate because everyone else had seen it already and it ended up being us, the stage four rows in front of us, and Link and Seaweed. I was just laughing and cheering and clapping the whole time; it was such a fun time. At the curtain calls, they told everyone to stand up and dance with them. Of course, Anna and I did and we started waving at Link who was winking at us throughout the show, but he didn’t wave. BUT Seaweed totally waved back and kept smiling at us. My heart melted!!!! We were squeal-y and girly and giddy the whole way home.
WEDNESDAY
It was such a full week. The group went to see Twelfth Night. It was my first play while here in London and, even though my seats weren’t that great, it was really good.
I LOVE LONDON!