Live from London.

I haven't had any time at all to update this dang thing, and I'm doing so now instead of sleeping, so you better all appreciate it. ;) From the beginning then...Monday, April 29th, Mom, Dad, and Cara dropped me off at SLC International at about 10 am. My flight was scheduled to take off at 12:45, so I felt I this was plenty of time to check my bag (which was a fatty: 65 pounds! We had to pay a $50 fee, haha. And :( But later in this story, we will all be glad I only had one bag). I got through security quickly and found my terminal and sat down. Makayla showed up--she had been there since 7:30 and was just wandering around), and we waited for our plane. It was on time and we took off for our connecting flight to Houston. Houston has many more trees than I previously thought; it's a gorgeous city.

At Houston we made our connecting to Heathrow. About the plane ride: It was long, I watched movies and tv, closed my eyes without actually sleeping, the end. It also was not crowded at all, most likely only half full. We landed at Heathrow at 9:23 am on April 29th, and got through customs. The officer didn't grill us too bad, but did ask to see our letter from BYU. Whew...I guess they're really paranoid about people my age coming over and working without a visa. Whatev. After that baggage was claimed, money was changed, and Tube tix were bought. The Tube was easy to figure out and we got on without incident. (Me on Tube at left.)
The only beef I have with the Underground stations is this: There are no escalators or elevators. So come time to switch from Piccadilly Line to District, my 65 lb bag had to be hefted up slippery concrete stairs by moi et seulement moi. It was a beast, I'll tell you what. Although at the change to District, Makayla and I met up with some other BYU students, and this girl had two heavy suitcases, a laptop case, and her uber-heavy backpack. So not fun. And guess who got stuck with this girl when she couldn't lug her luggage through the train doors, rendering us unable to exit at our stop? Yes, I was such a lucky one. We were separated from everyone and had to continue riding the train until we got to a stop that was going back to where we needed to be. The only redeeming factor of this whole situation was that this muscly Londoner, who obviously just finished a workout session, helped her with one of her bags, even after we turned around at the next stop to get back to Notting Hill. So thanks nice Londoner, you done us good. (This girl also lost her ticket in the process, and had to buy another one before they would let her leave the station. Nightmarrrrreee. I quickly ran away from her upon reaching the Centre.)

We reached the Centre! I was greeted with: welcome from the professors, money for Oyster card, go make your bed, blah blah blah. By this time I sweating buckets--it's humid and was still in charge of Fatty Suitcase, mind you--and just wanted to collapse on my bed. But there was still yet more to be done...

There are form dorm rooms in the centre, and I am in number 4; it's at the top of 8 staircases. The Centre is, er, very tall. I made my bed. I unpacked my suitcase. I went with Makayla and Kristin to buy our Oyster cards (Tube passes). We walked around Kensington Gardens, which is amazingly beautiful. Probably my favorite park in the entire world. The trees are huge. I'll try to put a picture of them on here soon. We walked the grounds at Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria lived until she moved to Buckingham, and also where Princess Diana lived.
Something that’s really funny about Kensington Gardens are the squirrels. They walk right up to you expecting handouts. And there are a lot of squirrels in the park. It kinda freaked us out at first, but we got used to it. At the Round Pond, there are swans and ducks everywhere, so I’m pretty sure that Kensington has the park animal market cornered. After a jaunt through the park, we went back to the Centre for dinner. We had this really good broccoli cheese soup, homemade baguettes, and fruit. It was yummy; I couldn’t help thinking in the back of my mind about the shower I would soon have before falling into bed. But that was delayed by a Centre meeting with the professors and the family that lives here and takes care of the building. The best part of the meeting was the Joe (art prof) informed us that he was planning a day trip to Paris, and that anyone who wanted to go was invited, for only 59 pounds, which is amazing at this time of year. Everyone had been bummed that we weren’t being allowed to travel outside the British Isles for our free travel weekend, but this made up for it. Going for a day is better than not going at all, right?
After the meeting, I took a shower, which was simultaneously delicious and awkward. Delicious for obvious travel-stained reasons, and awkward because the doors are glass, and hence very see-through. Luckily I had some idea of their transparency from a friend and had brought a large towel with me. But getting dressed was equally weird to finagle, despite the some girl deciding to turn a closet on the landing into a dressing room. I was beyond caring at this point, and just wanted sleep, or at least to just sit down.
So I slept pretty well. I woke up around 1:30 am, totally awake and trying to go back to sleep again. Eventually I feel asleep again, and didn’t wake up again until 7:00 am. I got up and dressed before going down to breakfast—cereal and juice and fruit. After eating, Makayla, Carlos, Kristin and I headed out for King’s Cross for the most beautiful of events, to buy our train tickets for Paris. :] The Tube was crowded and hot, being rush hour, but we made it there and after locating the Eurostar office, got our tickets and Metro passes for only 55 pounds, less than what we had thought it would be. I’m extremely excited; June 4th will be a great day and addition to this experience.
Since we were at King’s Cross and had two very avid Harry Potter fans in the group, we stopped at Platform 9 ¾. I felt very touristy, but managed to eke a picture out of my ego, which I appreciate now of course. From King’s Cross we headed to Tower Hill in order to walk around the old London Wall left over from Roman rule. It was pretty wicked, and it’s amazing how small London began and how huge it is now.
Once we were finished with the walk, we booked it home in order to get our tickets for a matinee showing of Wicked. Now here’s the deal: I’m not a fan of musicals—anyone who’s known me for five minutes can attest to that. But I was still excited at the prospect of seeing a show in London, especially one that everyone seems to be so freaked out over. The show was okay, not my thing like I mentioned before; I probably would have enjoyed it more it I hadn’t been so exhausted. What I’m really down to see is We Will Rock You, which is a musical composed completely of Queen songs. That’s more up my alley and I’m hoping to get someone to check it out with me.
After the show, we booked it home and ate sandwiches and leftover soup before heading out again. We walked around the surrounding neighborhood up Queensway, Notting Hill, and Bayswater. It’s a really beautiful, not to mention posh, area and I’m so grateful we get to stay in such awesome surroundings. We saw the southern end of Portobello Road and decided to check it out on Saturday, when the rest of the world will probably be there too. I can’t wait. So now I’m just sitting on my bunk, recuperating and excited for tomorrow. Until then! (I haven't loaded all the pics yet, so be patient--it takes forever!) Cheers.