I cut hair now, I guess.

So Sunday night I cut Josie's hair between the hours 11 PM and 1 AM. What started out as simple layers around the face turned into an extravaganza of five inches whacked off, volumizing and more layers. Whew. I was nervous. But it turned out absolutely darling and I'm so thankful she liked it. Here are some pics of the final product:


Keep in mind that her hair used to be to the middle of her back; this was no small decision, haha. So cheers to Josie's adventurous spirit and trusting me with her hair. Woot! The only bad thing is everyone is asking me now to cut their hair :/ Help!

Globe Trotters.

Last night we went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe Theater in Southwark. It was really cool; the building is a reconstruction of the original "theater in the round" style. The actual play was good--I kind of prefer BYU's production that Cub and I went to this past winter semester. This time around I think it was more about the experience of seeing theater reproduced as it would have been in Shakespeare's time rather than about having the most amazing production ever. It rained, alternating between mist and full-on rain, which made me glad we weren't standing with the groundlings. Kristin and I snuggled because it was so cold, so the night wasn't a complete lost cause. ;) The Thames was really pretty as we walked back after the play, and I'm pretty much determined to walk around more at night.

I love to see the temple.

Yesterday some of the group went to the London Temple. After a half-hour train ride to Lingfield, and one crazy taxi ride later, I was at my favorite place in the world. I've had a picture of the London Temple on my wall since I was 12. It was such an awesome day and I'm glad that I was able to get my recommend renewed right before leaving for London. We had the baptistry to ourselves, and the best part was that the endowed men from the group (meaning Jared, Carlos, and James) baptized everyone while two of the professors did the confirming. Afterwards, we ate lunch in the cafeteria, where I had the best tomato and cardamon soup, bread, and dessert :) I was so content and grateful for being able have such an amazing experience. Being there with everyone reaffirmed my belief in the importance of temples and living a temple-worthy life. I can't wait to go back to the temple when I go home.

Later that day we all just hung out and watched movies. I saw both Amazing Grace and The Queen for the first time; they were so good! So British and fantastic. I know I'm not going to be able to watch The Queen in the future without crying because it has so much of England in it that I love. Sigh. Love you all!

It's for fun.

I see some pretty random things on a day to day basis here; although I can't get it all, here are some highlights that don't make it into the everyday blog.



I took this one in Edinburgh; it reminded me of Derek :)


A performer by the Thames, which you can see behind him



The building where they film London Ink is a two-minute walk from the Centre down this random road. We were walking back from dinner one night and I saw them filming and stopped dead in my tracks and said, "No way!" It just surprised me, I guess. So watch the show some time and know that I'm just around the corner ;)


Okay, so this one isn't as random, but I promised Cara I would post the picture of the Scottish Parliament. This is the room where we watched the First Minister's Questions.


For the piece de resistance...lol. Belly shirt guy! I don't take credit for this picture, which is Makayla's, but I was standing next to her on the Tube when she took it. Yeah, I don't know. European thing?

My history senses are tingling.

The past three days have been a whirlwind tour of historic places and fantastic theatre. Monday started off pretty quiet; English class (I am pleased to inform you that we are done discussing "The Waste Land"! I love it, but three weeks is a little much), Tate Britain with Kristin and Kaitlin (sp), dinner, FHE, then bed! Monday was one of those days where you wake up tired and the rest of the day kinda drags. So it's a good thing it ended when it did. I also started reading The Absence of War, a play by a British author whose name I've forgotten now. It was really good though; it totally made more sense now that I have a better idea of how Parliament and the British government works. It was written a few years before the Labour Party came into power, so it was interesting to get this playwright's take on the whole deal before they beat the Tories in the late 90s.

Tuesday was a little more exciting. Kristin and I walked through Hyde Park, starting at Speaker's Corner and ending up back at the Centre. It's such a beautiful park, and a lot more manicured than Kensington Gardens. It really reminded me of Central Park in NYC.

The Serpentine in Hyde Park

After the walk I went to history lecture, which was all about the late medieval era--such a messy period of time, especially when you try to figure out the line of power. But it works out in the end. After lecture, I went to the Tower of London. ! Loved it. I mean, so much drama and history happened there that it's hard not to be excited. I didn't even mind shelling out the 14-pound student rate for a ticket. One of my pet eras in history is that of Henry VIII, and if you know anything about his story then you know the importance of the Tower. We took a guided tour with a Beefeater (retired Royal Army guy), who was hilarious, and the most moving place he took us was the chapel inside the grounds that Henry built for his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, and in which Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey are buried. We were set loose to wander around at will after the official tour, and we went inside the White Tower built by William of Normandy in the 11th century. It was a little too museum-y for my taste, but they had wicked displays of weapons and armour that I know Derek would have loved. After the White Tower I went over and checked out the crown jewels; they were cool. I don't know, at least I saw them, yeah? Haha...so I loved the Tower, mostly because of the Henry VIII connection, but it was all pretty impressive.

The White Tower



The chapel inside the White Tower--not the one where the two wives are buried though


Kristin and I outside the Tower of London


The axe that beheaded Anne Boleyn, and a chopping block that was also used in the Tower.


After the Tower, we booked it home just in time for dinner. After dinner I went with James, Carlos, and Arica to a play (not a musical, yay!) called God of Carnage. It was really good--the set was awesome, and it was interesting to see Ralph Fiennes in a non-Lord Voldemort role. After the play we walked home in time to make it for curfew, going through the Times Square-esque Piccadilly Circus. Carlos pretty much summed up my feelings at the moment when he commented, "How cool is this city? We just saw a great play with a famous actor, and are now walking down a historic street with buildings from every era of history surrounding us." Um, exactly. And that's not even half of it. This city never ceases to amaze me.

Wednesday was another historic treat for me. We went to Hampton Court Palace, which is about ten miles southeast of London and overlooks the Thames.
One side of Hampton Court facade

Henry VIII took it from Cardinal Wolsey when the Cardinal fell out of favor after not taking the king's side in his bid for a divorce from Katherine. The Tudor section of the house is gorgeous; the remodeled Georgian part is interesting, but I guess I'm just a sucker for the oldest things. What also interested me about the palace is that the site was originally used by the Knights Templars before Cardinal Wolsey built the building that stands there now. It was one of those places you go into and just get the chills because of all the energy and people that have come and gone; I absolutely loved it. One of my favorite parts was an exhibit on the young Henry VIII. Apparently he was a pretty amazing person--I think at one point he was called a prodigy.

The gardens were really beautiful too; we had fun getting lost in the maze and wandering around the rose garden. After getting our fill of the amazingness of Hampton Court, Kristin, Josie, James, and I took the train back to London, ate dinner, and then Josie, Jenny, and I went to the West End to see the operetta The Merry Widow at the Coliseum. It was so good, especially when you consider that we payed only ten pounds for front row seats on the Upper Circle. The seats aren't recommended for anyone over 5'6" since there's limited leg room, but it didn't matter as we were all under 5'5"! Yay for my shortness! The music was beautiful, the singing gorgeous, and the sets were fun. I am determined to see more operas from now on. We made in back just in time for curfew, and I headed to the library to get another book. This time I settled on H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man. I haven't had a chance to start it yet, but I'm sure it will be good. Carlos and James were in the library so instead of going to bed I stayed and talked with them, and we talked about the play we're going to see tonight, which is based on a true story. I'll probably talk about that later after I've seen it. So it's been a great three days, and I'm sure it'll only get better. I love this town.

York: The City That Wishes It Were London.

The second leg of our four day travel ended in York--the reason for which no one exactly knew. Sure the professors gave us some suggestions of what to see and do, but it was definitely anti-climactic after Scotland. A two hour train ride from Edinburgh landed 65 grumpy people in a city none of us had any idea what we were doing in. We walked along the river about 20 minutes from the station to our new hostel; this one wasn't as nice as our previous one--I didn't even go in the bathrooms, let alone take a shower. I favor some stinkiness over contracting some unknown disease, thanks. The beds turned out to be surprisingly comfortable though, as I found out later that afternoon during my two hour nap. What we found in York: cheap-city bakeries and hot chocolate, York Minster (billed as Northern Europe's largest Gothic cathedral), the Shambles (a medieval street in which the buildings lean precariously into the street), and a 22-year-old Yorkie named Marcus who plopped down at our table to ask us, "So what the f--- you doin' in York?" Thanks Marcus. We don't know. He was really nice though. Kinda lonely and bored. He told us about his experience working in a pub and getting to know the ghost there, Jeffrey, who watched over the casks of ale. Kristin and I had to get to the York community production of The Scarlet Pimpernel, so we quickly bid adieu to our friend Marcus and made our way to the Theatre Royal. The play: Hmm...like Kristin said, worth the five pounds, but nothing more. It was entertaining at least.

The next day consisted of more wandering around; I honestly think I was too tired by this point to care about looking into things to see beyond the city. We walked on top of the Roman wall halfway around the city, saw some crazy acrobatic squirrels (I'm finding said squirrel mania is common among all animals in England. Yeah I don't know...), then went to the most classy of all places, Poundland, where you guessed it, everything costs a pound. After our foray in the sordid cheapness that is Poundland and its goods, Kristin and I headed to the river so she could draw the bridge and I could write, which is how we passed the hours until we had to be at the train station. So we were all pretty ecstatic to return to the Centre. Despite the boiler still being down, resulting in glacial showers. But a shower nonetheless.


The Shambles. It had a lot of little shops that have been there forever. Think Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.

A child's shop window. I thought Cub would like this dress :)

A store devoted to cats and cat accoutrement. Obsessive, but funny.

A side view of York Minster. Imagine people the size of pin heads at the bottom and you might get some idea of how big it is.
One of the best bakeries we found--I got a cheese and onion pasty and an apple pasty for 1 pound 20p. Great deal. The Roman wall that surrounds most of the city. We walked along it for some time, enjoying the trees and serenity. It was cool to imagine soldiers walking along it.

A section of the Farmer's Market where I bought two plums and an apple for 1 pound. There was also a stall selling hot chocolate for 90p. Take that, Starbucks!

The view of the river from where Kristin and I were sitting.
One of the most interesting thing about York is that it is the birthplace of Guy Fawkes of the 5th of November fame. We walked by the house where he grew up, which was pretty cool knowing the street hadn't changed much since he'd lived there.

I heart Scotland--a lot.

For all of you who thought it was a safe bet I would come home at the end of this thing they call study abroad, you were probably right. Until I went to Scotland, that is. I am in love with a country. It is so beautiful and green and historical and crazy and I would have zero qualms living and dying there. Here's a rundown of my two days in the promised land, complete with pictures.

East Edinburgh from Arthur's Seat before the sun came out.

Early Wednesday morning (3:30, to be exact) I woke up and got ready to meet with everyone else at 4:15 in the classroom. Our train wasn't set to leave until 6:20, which shows you just how paranoid the professors are here about being on time. I guess I would have been more grateful for said paranoia if not for the ridiculously early wake-up call. But back to Scotland. We left the Centre in time to catch the 4:40 night bus to King's Cross--of Harry Potter fame--and, well, sat for an hour. The time came to board our train, which we did, and everyone tried to sleep, which I didn't. I was okay with not sleeping though, as the gorgeous scenery outside reminded me exactly why I came on this adventure in the first place. Picture in your mind the greenest, most patch-worked, sheep-y scene of England you've ever seen in a picture, add to that rays of early sun streaming through clouds and you may have a little idea of what I saw. Amazingly, breathtakingly beautiful. I would love to see it in the autumn when the trees change--after a fall wedding, perhaps? Haha...We followed the eastern coast up to Edinburgh (pronounced "Embra") where we arrived at about 8:30 am. Our small army of students and professors families trekked to our hostel on Blackfriars Street, just off the Royal Mile; we deposited our stuff and began a six mile "walk" that turned out to be a hike (glorious hike!) down the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle, past the Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Palace (the Queen's official residence in Scotland), and up the Salisbury Crags to Arthur's Seat.

Scottish marchers from the Palace, complete with bagpipes :)

Kristin and I on the Royal Mile
Holyrood Palace

Me about midway up the hike. Look behind me! Beautiful!

Kristin and I on top of the Crags. Don't look down, yeah?

Another picture from Arthur's Seat, this time the Forth of Firth

The hike: steep, rocky, long, and so worth the sweat. Once at the top, we could see in every direction for miles and miles: the Forth of Firth to the north, the center of Edinburgh to the west, and countryside every other way. I've never seen such vibrant colors. The best part was that the weather turned from being cloudy and stormy to sunny and clear by the time we got to the top. Having made the trek as a group, we were now set free to explore the city. Kristin, Makayla and I set off for the Royal Mile, having seen a number of shops we were dying to nip into.

Many shops, one delicious hot chocolate, and a fantastic burger dinner later, I found myself back at the hostel, settling in with Kristin to watch the football game (Rangers vs. St. Petersburg in Manchester).
My hot chocolate was so delicious after the hike.

But my night was not over yet...Carlos and James interrupted my football enjoyment to tell me we were going on a ghost walk. We had to choose between City of the Dead and Mary King's Close. For those of you who know my addiction to Ghost Hunters, Mary King's Close had the most appeal to me since they did an episode there. But ten minutes later I was walking through the darkening streets of Edinburgh towards the City of the Dead. In a nutshell, you know your ghost walk is going to be something fantastic when you can clearly see an advert for a "Jumper-Outer" when you pay for your ticket. Oh geez. So our guide took us around a little of the city, telling us stories and history, and finally to Grayfriar's graveyard where the so-called Mackenzie Poltergeist has pinched and scratched many a visitor. Right. Judging by my totally unscathed condition, nothing happened except I found out Carlos's miraculous swearing ability when the aforementioned "Jumper-Outer" made his appearance when we were in the tomb. It was so hilarious and we quickly made our way home after so as not to be caught up in the late-night "knife-culture" our professors warned us Edinburgh could be. Bed was a relief and I don't remember much between getting to the hostel and falling face-down on my comfy, albeit squeaky, hostel bunk.

Carlos, James, and Jared in their souvenirs from Scotland, haha.

Day two in Edinburgh will be forever remembered as one of the best and most perfect days of my life thus far. I woke up around 7, had some breakfast, and then headed out with Kristin, Makayla, and James for the Scottish Parliament. James had a connection with a BYU intern there since he just finished his own internship in Brussels (James will have been in Europe 6 1/2 months once this study abroad ends. It's crazy and awesome.).
The Scottish Parliament building, just across the street from Holyrood Palace, ironically.

My visitor's pass for parliament...it reminded me of V for Vendetta so I snuck a picture.

We arrived at the parliament building and were greeted by a Michael Wilson, who showed us around all the parts of parliament that visitors don't usually get to see. We met and spoke with an MSP--Member of Scottish Parliament--which was pretty awesome. He was a member of the National Party, which is the party pushing for independence from England. Something I totally support, by the way. So he was really nice, and even let us sit in his "thinkpod" in his office, which is a place each MSP has in his or her office to "get away" from the office and chill.
The MSP's "thinkpod" right behind his desk

Really cool. We ate lunch in the parliament cafeteria; really inexpensive + delicious= study abroad student's dream. The food I had in Scotland was the best I've had on this trip so far. After lunch we headed over to the main session room because Michael had gotten us tickets to the First Minister's Questions. The First Minister is the equivalent of the Prime Minister in England, and every Wednesday he meets with the rest of parliament to answer ANY question they put to him. There was a brief yet very heated debate about physical education; the policy is two hours in every school with a supervised and licensed PE instructor. So one MSP asked the First Minister when this would happen, and the FM dodged a straight answer by spewing loads of statistics, so all the MSPs freaked out and started yelling "Answer the question!" and banging their fists on the table. It was awesome. None of the polite garbage you see in the American legislature. Once the questions ended, we said farewell to our tour guide and began the 3 1/2 walk through the countryside to Craigmillar Castle.
Me on top of the castle :)

A stairwell in one of the castle towers. Wind-y and super steep.


The view from the trail to the castle.

The castle was deserted and beautiful. It was in ruins, but still intact enough that you could walk up into the towers onto the ramparts and see the surrounding area for miles. It would have been a fantastic place to spend the night, especially in some of the smaller rooms with no windows. That was cool to have the castle all to ourselves and just explore. We took the bus back to Edinburgh and New Town, where we went to the National Gallery of Scotland. I was pretty tired by this time and wanted to just chill at the hostel for a little while. After regrouping, Makayla, Carlos, Kristin, James and I went to dinner at this pub called The Royal Macgregor. In a word: delicious. I had bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes) and hot chocolate, of course. The atmosphere was warm, the food was great, our waiter was darling, and I was very content to just sit and talk with my favorite people. We're very funny, I'll tell you that. I have no problem admitting our hilarity ;) Okay, maybe I think we're funnier than we really are, but we do have fun together. Dinner was quickly followed by a group meeting and then bed--glorious bed. Our next stop on this four day tour was York, as in the Yorkshire Moors, which was to be another 4 am waking up. I was sad to say goodbye to Scotland, and I can't wait to go back again.

Random signage and wall art in London.

Something I've been on the lookout for during my walks through London and elsewhere are the signs and wall art throughout the city. Here are some of my findings so far.


This one is probably my favorite. It's written on a brick wall, obviously, and it says, "All in all, you're just another brick in the wall." One of the best parts about it is that it originally says "your," but some kindred spirit went and added "'r" to make it "you're." I love it.



I thought Cara would appreciate this pub's name.




















This one is just funny because the art prof here is named Joe.













I saw this one on my second day here. It was scrawled in little kid handwriting on an underpass in Chelsea. I thought it was really cute and exactly what I was thinking.
















Um, I don't really know what this means, but I thought it was interesting. It's painted on a boarded up shop window.




















There's this skate park in Southwark that has the coolest graffiti. This skull was covered up by the time I went back a week later.



























This one has familial significance. ;)
Besides that, it is the cottage that
adjoins Lamb House, which was Henry James's house in Rye.

Kew Gardens and Free Travel Plans.

So this past Friday we went as a group to Kew Gardens, which is a 300 acre parkland outside of central London. The area is really beautiful and I got some great shots of the greenery (and of a cute goose family and little field-trippers). The day was somewhat showery and gave us a short respite from the heat--yes, it has actually been hot here in London. I was totally not expecting this temperature when I was packing, and brought many cute, long-sleeved shirts and jeans when what I really need are summer clothes. But I was told that it will be cooler in Scotland (which we leave for on Wednesday morning at 4:15, if you can believe it) and look forward to not always feeling sweaty and unkempt. Haha, unkempt...anyway.

Kristin, Makayla and I made our plans for the free travel weekend, which is May 30-31. Let me tell you, the planning of such a small amount of time has never caused so much consternation and grief to three people in the entire universe. Ever. And I'm not being dramatic at all. Our original plans were Dublin, quickly changed to Wales or Cornwall, then escalated to the Lake District, and have finally settled on the Cotswolds. Stow-on-the-Wold, to be exact. Everything from the distance to the hostel price to the train ticket price worked out how we wanted it to, so we're all pretty happy to have that decided.


Saturday was a pretty fantastic day, for no other reason than we got to spend it however we chose. Makayla, Kristin, and I went to Westminster so they could draw for their art class and I to read for English. It was really relaxing to be feet from the Thames and just watch the people come and go as Big Ben tolled only a hundred yards away. During our couple of hours there, a random group of performers, consisting of old and young men, came right in front of us and began doing these dances. It was pretty impressive to see some of the old timers leaping in the air with all the panache of a ballet dancer, albeit a retired one. Whose career ended after a nasty fall on his ankle.

After the drawing/reading extravaganza, the three of us headed back to the Centre. The program directors kindly bought the group tickets to the Baroque by Candlelight concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields at Trafalgar Square. That was pretty awesome; the venue was really intimate and the music amazing. They played mostly Vivaldi, which is good anytime in my book, and I totally wish my mom could have been there. She would have eaten it up.

Yesterday (Mother's Day!) was my first day in my new calling, and I'll tell you what, British kids are even more adorable when they start talking. The kids here are so confident and well spoken, and I just sit there and think, You're four years old! They're really great. My darling of the moment is Addison, who told me he has no animals at his house, but he likes blue dogs. ? Haha. They're all really cute and talkative, which made the time fly by. Sacrament meeting was really good. The talks were some of the best I've ever heard; they were really simple and straightforward, which is something I appreciate because no one is trying to be all doctrinally deep and pedantic. The thing is with this stake is that 80% of the members are converts, and the other 20% are the children of those converts born into the church. So there really is an amazing air of everyone learning along with and from each other. It makes going to church more enjoyable when no one is really concerned with keeping up a face of righteousness or of not having a past or temptations. Anyway, that was my church experience yesterday. I was a little sad at not being able to talk to my mom for more than five minutes because of the exorbitant phone rates, but I'm going to download Skype and bypass all that crap from now on. Go me! Miss you all, and would love to hear from you! Cheers.