Day 20

Church this morning was crazy again! We left the flat at 8:30 for church at 10. It is only supposed to take an hour so we figured that would be plenty of time. Wrong. It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to church. It was a nightmare. I will never complain about walking to church on campus again. Lies. I'm sure I will complain nearly every time. But church was good, I'm glad we got to be there!
Guys. Tomorrow at this time I will be in Paris! Isn't that nuts!? Thats sorta all I've got for now but a week from now I will hopefully have a good long one with lots of pictures!

Day 19

We went back to Portabello Road again this morning. It was so fun! I had seen some stuff there last time that I didn't have time to grab so I was excited to go back. When we got there though I quickly realized that the girls I was with weren't looking for the same things at all. They were just there for food (weird food) and briefcases. No thanks. I was getting really frustrated because they weren't good with crowds and I kept getting cut off and pushed farther and farther behind them and they would every once in a while look behind them, wait till I got a little closer and then start walking again. Seriously. I was so flustered. I finally caught up to them and told them in an irritated tone that I was going to do my own thing. Oops. Probably shoulda been nicer..
Anywho I found what I was looking for and I was stoked! Turns out I really like doing things like that on my own. Not so much a fan of asking if we could stop at a booth and then feeling rushed as they watch me look at things. Thanks but no thanks. It was much more enjoyable and relaxing when I did it on my own. Also, it seems that I am not very good at bartering.. "how much for this?" "10 pounds" "could you do 8?" "no" "ok *hands over 10 pounds*" what a sucker. But I got what I wanted so that is all that really counts right?
So uh..then I came back to the flat and realized that my ticket for tonights play was missing. Like gone. Oops. So I hurried and emailed my teacher and as I was waiting for him to respond to tell me what to do..I fell asleep. Like really fell asleep-for 2 hours. When I woke up it was 6:06. I read the response to my email that said to meet him at 6:30 and he would try and see if we could get me another ticket. Yeah its a 45 minute tube ride and then a 10 minute walk. I was out the door by 6:11. While I was on the bus I had a few minutes of panic in which I thought I didn't have my tube pass. Great. No wait! I found it. So I hop on the tube and hop off at my stop and fast walk my way to the theater. Have you ever seen the Olympic Fast Walkers (probs not their real title)? Because I put them to shame. So I get to the gate and I tell the man that I don't have my ticket but my teacher is inside and he is going to get it for me. He says that Brett would need to come and get me so I try and explain to him that he doesn't know I am here. No luck. They tell me to stand off to the side and hope he comes. And come he did! About 2 minutes later he comes and grabs me and tells me that the box office man would reprint my ticket but that I coudln't pick it up until 10 minutes before the show starts. Crap. That means that I would have to stand for the next 3 hours of the show. We get in there and the kind box office man says he will print it off right then! What a saint! As I'm walking out I of course open the door with altogether far too much gusto and the door smacks into the wall. Awesome. Then I find my friends and I get in line right up front with them-so I guess I'm one of those girls who does that whole cutting thing. But I got the raddest standing spot ever!

See! Literally leaning on the stage. So rad

Post-fast walk of death

The show was so good though! Usually I dont really like the Shakespeare plays all that much but this one was my fav! It was A Midsummer Nights Dream. The shiz. Way better than the Oregon Shakespeare Festival one I went to freshman year!

Day 18

Today was the shiz. Guess what we did?

Woot woot!

Apparently we got a taste today of what it was like all last year for the study abraders: cold, rainy, and veeery windy! On the steps of St. Paul's

These were the stairs we had the pleasure of climbing up. There were 900.

Seriously we were so far up. It was nuts.

You could even see the London Eye! I mean..you could see everything but that was cool

Did you want to see another picture of the view? Good

Just a super awkward, hunched over, terrible pic

Love me some flyaways

Seriously. So. Windy.

See?

Not a fan. 

I got out of the wind rain and freezing cold for a hot second!

Just the damp, dark hallway we had to walk up to get to that view of mine. Fun fun fun lookin forward to the weekend

This place was rad.

So then we went on a walk through Hyde Park..the wall was wet..

See that building in the background? Oh thats just where William and Kate are going to live once the renovations are done..nbd

Guys. We went to tea. And I don't actually like tea..but this stuff was dank (once you added the sugar cubes). And we got scones with clotted cream! Finally. Been missing my Black Sheep! But in real life I liked the Ashland scones better..they were more dense and the clotted cream was a lot more solid. These were good too though. Totes going back

Just my first sip of tea is all. Burnt my lips H-core

I may or may not have been really underdressed. 

So then we went to see the play The Winslow Boy. It ends tomorrow so we figured we'd hit that up. Eh..it was 3 hours long. For some reason I have the hardest time sitting in those theaters for that long but I could sit in front of my laptop and watch Downton for days! 

So I got some ice cream at intermission. It was a necessity. Also pictures werent allowed in the theater so this was a pretty great find. That ice cream..yeah it was all natural-organic. It was delicious! 

Good day..it was a good day

Day 17

Late morning :) Once we had been up for a while Khrystalle and I decided we needed a treat so we went in search of the mysterious Hummingbird Bakery that we had been hearing so much about. After getting misdirections from a classmate, asking another foreigner for help, and getting told there wasn't one anywhere near here we finally found it!

Shoot guys. It was so good! And so cute, golly woulda look at that box my cupcake came in! 

Then we had a show tonight. It was good, so darn funny! 

Have I mentioned yet that platform shoes seem to  be trying to make a comeback? I have tried multiple times to snag a pic of all the people walking passed in them but always failed. Also I think I am getting used to the smell of cigarettes. Gross I know, but it is everywhere. Not a day goes by that I dont get stuck behind someone walking down the street smoking. And you know what else?! I think you can smoke in theaters here.. Maybe they have like a special permit or something because in nearly every play the actors smoke and I can totally smell it! So I dont think they are just fake props. Also, apparently its a thing here to go to theaters with rank breath. And I mean rank! It is seriously so bad! The actors will say something funny and the audience laughs and I just about die. I don't do bad breath. Apparently its also a thing to eat bananas really loudly here as well..no thanks. And! I found my retainer! Slash I called maintenance and this guy came and tore apart our sink and then left anything he found in our tub, amongst which was my retainer. So yay! But ew

Day 16

Class again. But in one of them we watched this video called This Is Water on youtube. It was rad. Mostly it just tells you to have a better attitude and outlook on life.
Then we went to see the musical Chorus Line

It was not at all what I expected. The whole musical took place in one audition..strange but good

Then we had some time to kill before we went to see our second play of the night..like an hour and a half so what better to do than to eat?!

Waffle with caramel..delicious

And eat..something called a pasty. Basically a glorified calzone.

Another girl took the pic of us on her phone so this is all I have to show you of our second musical of the night. We saw Billy Elliot. It was really incredible. The kid who was the main lead was a champ. It was 3 hours long so by the end I was reeeally feeling done. And then they drew the end out for like a good 10 minutes..Like of just bowing and dancing some more and oh maybe a little more singing..

Then..when I came home I was brushing my teeth and whipped out my retainer and you know what? My bottom retainer fell in the sink. Usually not a big deal..I usually just pick it up and clean it and then go on with my life. Not in the UK. In the UK the drains are larger..bye bye retainer

Days 14 & 15

Yesterday was way rad! My old roommate Jessica Richmond, and one of the other girls who lived on our floor this passed semester were in London! Jessica came to meet up with me after class and we went to get crepes with a bunch of girls from our class. They were delicious! Way better than the ones that we got at Portabello Road. The nutella got so warm that it was pouring over my hand. It fell all over the concrete outside of the shop along with the majority of my strawberries. We've got some great pics on Jess's camera but she hasn't sent them to me yet!
Then we went to Harrods which is apparently a must but unless youre a millionaire it's basically a bust. Its all designer clothes, furniture, jewelry. Nonsense. Mostly I wanted everything
After that we came back to the flat for a while before going back out for a play called The Audience. It was about the Queen and how she would sit with the Prime Minister every week to discuss the happenings of that particular week. I feel like it would have been funny if I had been 40 years older and lived in London my whole life. Everything went over my head!

Today we went to see the Victoria and Albert Museum. I wish I was into that sort of thing because it seemed cool but my attention span is just too short.

Just some a costume from some famous movie that I got to wear..no big deal or anything

Then we went to Byrons. It was heaven. We got burgers and shakes. Seriously so good. New fav place for din

Aaaand then we got dinner. Also my new favorite place. Some rad fresh mex place. Don't mind the distortions..they just come with the territory at this point

Forgot to mention that I got packages this Sunday! 

Isn't my grams just so adorable! Too bad I dont know how to work pay phones or calling cards..

Random fact about the majority of faucets here? You can only have hot OR cold..not both or inbetween. 

This is my teacher making us peanut butter and lemon curd sandwiches. He was so excited for us all to try them! Actually not too bad..dont let the word curd dissuade you

Abbey Tingey, Jessica Richmond and I walking to Harrods. Abbey is who Jessica and Mary were staying with. She accompanied us to crepes and Harrods

The pre-crepe episode

Adorbs

We learned after it splattered all over my feet, down here sleeve, and all over the back of her jacket how the pros eat these suckers

The roomies

I got all of these after I wrote everything and didn't feel like editing so they are all out of order but..better late than never right?

Ps..I'm watching the Last Song right now..just for you Jess

Day 13

Stake Conference this morning! There was a special broadcast for all of the stakes in the UK, Richard G Scott, the General YW's President, and President Eyring all spoke. It was really cool. I got to see some of my BFF's as well so that was rad!

This is my Bishop from summer term! Jessica and Mary are staying with he and his wife right now. These are some of us who have been in his ward over the passed few years..all of us in London!

22's reunited! Missed these girls! 

It was so so good to see my roomie again! Sure missed this little lady!

Day 12

We went to Portabello Road this morning. Way fun. Basically a saturday market on crack. We spent 3 hours there and had only gone through about half of it-latest obsession. We will be going back next saturday, and the next, and probably the next after that. 

Look at how fun it is! I mean..this isn't it but it was one of the side streets. What a cool little neighborhood!

Then we got some crepes! I looked like a fool while I ate that one..

Then tonight we went to King Lear. It was painful. Almost as painful as this facial expression of mine!

Aaaand we just got home after having gotten lost twice on the way back from the play. It was another good and successful day!