Today was a sad sad Sunday. It was our last Sunday in our ward before we’re done. WHHHAAA??!! I don’t like that. This ward has been so sweet and giving and I’m going to miss them. I hope to come back to visit someday.
MONDAY
Today, the group kicked of the week-long trip to northern England. Not gonna lie, I dislike being on the coach, especially for long periods of time, BUT the place we travelled to today made up for it. Oh, and we watched “Bright Star”, so I forced myself to stay awake so that I could watch it.
First off, I have to tell you, “Pride and Prejudice” (2005 version) is now one of my favorite movies of all time almost just because I’ve lived that movie. It has become so much more significant to me because the places are real and tangible and just as romantic as the movies depict them to be. The first stop of our trip was Chatsworth House, aka Pemberley, aka Mr. Darcy’s house in the movie. That place is practically a palace. I can’t even imagine what the side of the house that the people actually live in looks like, because the tourist side is beautiful. We saw the room with the Canova collection (the statue room) with the Achilles piece and the big lions. Sorry, but the veiled lady piece and Darcy bust were used only for the movies and were not there. It was so fun because the girls I walked the house with were funny tour guides helping me to understand the house better. I don’t know what has gotten into me, but I’m just so giggly on this trip (probably because I’m the happiest I’ve ever been ever). And I was super giggly in that house.
We walked the gardens in the rain (so romantic and appropriate!). Don’t worry about it, I saw the waterfall, the stairwell where she runs to after creeping on Georgiana and Darcy AND the fountain/green area where they are loving each other at the very end. UG!!! It’s too much for me to handle, all this romantic business and no boys around.
{Chawton, aka Pemberley, aka where I'm living with my husband Mr. Darcy}
Next stop was at the Bronte parsonage at Haworth, Yorkshire, where Charlotte, Anne, Branwell, and Emily Bronte lived with their father and wrote their famous stories. It was grey and foggy—another perfect setting for, say, the author who wrote Wuthering Heights. No wonder that novel is so dark.
{Wuthering Heights, anyone?}
That night we stayed in a hotel in York. There wasn’t much to do in the city, so we created our own fun and raided the nearby Sainsbury grocery. After stocking up on ice cream, dark chocolate Kit Kats, hummus, and soda, Kira, Brit, Annie, Jacob and I ordered pizza at the hotel and just ate and talked for a couple of hours.
TUESDAY
Long shower, pack-up, breakfast. The group walked across the Roman wall that runs along for a good distance up town to the York Minster. There we had a guided tour by a funny British man who knew so much about the church. This was probably one of my favorite churches. It was so pretty, yet not as extravagant as some of the other churches we’ve seen (which might be why I like it-beauty in simplicity and elegance). We checked out the crypt, then Kira, Brittany and I hung out at the gift store being silly for about 30 minutes. Not going to brag, but our group contains professional gift-shoppers. We’ve been in probably more than 50 gift shops during this trip. You can’t avoid them and they suck you in with their kitzy-cute-weird-obscure objects up for sale.
{York Minster}
Back onto the coach. More driving. More driving. Then stopping at Fountains Abbey, more ruins caused by good ole King Henry VIII. I had so much fun there, too, with this group of girls that are so witty and fun to be around. Love them.
{Fountains Abbey}
I was thinking about this: how we’re NEVER going to have something like this again EVER in our lives. Living with the same 39 people for 4 months straight, living and eating and travelling with your professors and these same people, being around them 24/7, experiencing life-changing things with these same people, seeing these people at 6 in the morning stumbling to the coach or at 3 in the morning studying their butts off…we have such a unique relationship with each other. We love each other, make fun of each other, understand each other’s quirks and dislikes, know each other’s life stories and deep secrets. And we’re all experiencing this together. We will get together with our other friends from back home and at school and it will be fun and you’ll catch up. But then you’ll run into someone from the winter 2010 London study abroad program and just…know. Oh, Kira’s playing the piano, CJ is taking pictures, Arrin’s sketching, Rachel’s being studious, that’s all. Oh, remember that one time we walked the bajillion stairs up to the top of Notre Dame? These south of campus stairs are nothing. Oh, man I could really go for a gelato run. Let’s take the lift…I mean, haha the elevator, whoops. I love this. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything!
Ok, let’s bring it back. After the abbey, we drove to Durham to our hotel and checked into the castle. CASTLE!! We slept in a castle. It’s used for Durham University, but it’s spring break for them, so we stormed the castle. Outside of my window, I could see the Cathedral where we attended evensong (which was so beautiful). It even smells like a castle.
After evensong, we ate at Nando’s. Then back to the castle, no big.
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