"making the magical world real and the real world magical"

These past two days have been AMAZING! I am living the good life here. I feel soooo lucky to be doing all the cool things i'm doing here! London is the coolest place ever. 

Okay so yesterday was EPIC. Some of us big Harry Potter fans went to the Warner Brothers Studio and took a tour! The Warner Brothers Studio as in, where the Harry Potter movies were filmed and created! This is where the best series in the world came to life!!! This experience was very very very overwhelming! Overwhelming in a good way, i mean. in a GREAT way, actually! All you non Harry Potter fans out there, go ahead and roll your eyes or laugh, but seriously this was UNREAL! Actually no, it was real! And that is why it was so COOL! We saw the actual sets they used in the movies for the burrow, hagrids hut, gryfindor common room, the classrooms, diagon alley, privet drive, hogwarts bridge and more! Oh my. My jaw was dropped the entire time we were there. We saw all the props too! To name a few, all of the horcruxes, costumes, wands, wigs, masks, and more. We saw the actual night bus and the Weasleys car! These are the ACTUAL sets and props used in the movie. I died. Okay and it seriously is amazing how much detail goes into these movies! It was insane! It was so cool how incredibly detailed every set, prop, costume, everything was. It made me love the movies even more! (if that is even possible!) AND the coolest part was seeing the model of the Hogwarts Castle! Did you know that anytime they do an over the top view or scoping view of the castle that its really just a model?? What the! Thats nuts. This tour was overwhelmingly awesome. I wished my Harry Potter fan family was with me the whole time! 

Today we spent the day exploring! We went to Covent Garden which is a really famous street/area in London! It was really fun and we happened to hit it on a day when the market was open! You KNOW how much i love markets! This was a really fun area. The other day my mom asked me what my favorite part about London is. (Silly Mom, that's an impossible question!) I obviously couldn't name a very favorite because like i said, is impossible, but one that definitely came to mind is London's markets. The atmosphere is SO much fun. I love love love it. 

Today we also went to Hatchards! Hatchards is the oldest bookstore in London! It first opened in 1797! Whoa baby! This is also another really neat thing about London is its bookstores. I could spend hours on end there! We found some really cool books there and even bought myself a darling copy of  "Emma" by Jane Austen. Told you she'd be on my summer reading list! 

So tonight, i had an absolute BLAST. Know why? Because i saw "Singin in the rain!" Oh my word. I didn't know it was possible to have so much fun just sitting for two hours! This musical was just down right delightful. I had an enormous grin on my face the entire show! The whole time i was watching i just wanted to get up and dance! And the scenes in the rain were so awesome! This musical just made me so completely happy. I am still grinning. I just can't stop. Singin in the rain was FABULOUS! 

Warner Bros Studios: "making the magical world real and the real world magical" 

the warner brothers may be the coolest brothers i know!

other than my own of course.

The Knight Bus!!! 

Destination: ANYWHERE! (except underwater!) 

its gonna be a bumpy ride!

#4 Privet Drive. 

Uncle Vernon wasn't home, sadly. 

The Weasley's enchanted car! 

This is the REAL thing guys. 

!!! 

Just drinkin some delicious Butter Beer! 

Olivander's Wand Shop! 

Fred and Georges joke shop! 

HA HA HA 

The lovely Covent Garden. 

London is THE BEST! 

The happiest musical ever! 

I can't wait for the next time it rains. 

I will definitely be singing in it. 

We have two more completely open days coming up! 

I can't wait to see what they hold. 

I am on cloud 9 here in London! 

Miss you all! 

Food Glorious Food

Hellllllooo everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying the summer sun. I know I am! Wait, did i really just say that? Is it really sunny and warm here? IT IS, and I am still trying to grasp the concept. 

Sooooo member how much I LOVED Borough Market? And how I said I would for sure be going back there? Well, this saturday was the day! A day when all my dreams came true. Ha! Really though guys, Borough market is a food dream land. And I went craaaaazy there. I didn't even realize how much food I ate and bought until I was walking out feeling like I was gonna explode. I turned to Madeleine and I said "What in the world did I just do!" She asked me to name all the foods I ate, and I started to name them and the list just kept going and going and going, I ran out of fingers to count! But guess what? I don't regret it one bit. Food Glorious Food! Borough Market, you totally nailed that one. To name a few fun things I ate... delicious sugar coated nuts, fresh fruit, kangaroo burger, ice cream, flap jacks, and more.... YUM. 

So remember in the movie "Parent Trap" how Hallie and her mom spend the day "getting lost in harrods"? Well, Parent Trap being in my top five favorite movies, getting lost in Harrods is something I have always hoped to do. And I did! And it was spectacular! Harrods is extremely high class. I felt a tad out of place wearing my 10 dollar Forever 21 shirt and keds haha. I tried on sunglasses that cost more than probably my whole wardrobe combined! Whoa baby. So, I decided as I was strolling through Harrods, that because all of the clothes were outrageously expensive, that it is just not even logical to buy things there. So in my mind, Harrods is just a big clothes museum! What a sweet museum right? 

School is still in session here in London. Darn school. Just kidding. But really. We had our history midterm today and it was bru-tal. I refuse to study in London when there is still day light out, so I may or may not have studied in the late hours of the night. Don't worry, I took a power nap right before the test! The test was.... well, lets just not talk about that. Ha! Lets talk about the fact that I saw WICKED tonight!!! Oh, I am Wicked through and through! I love Wicked. Always have always will! I have seen it a few times before, and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it here in London. No regrets! And Elphaba, well she is just a power house. I have extreeeeeeeeme goose bumps every time that gal opens up her big ol voice. "No good deed" blew my mind! My desire to be able to sing like that is flaming right now. Flaming!!! 

My new motto in life. 

Thank you Borough. 

Eating strawberry balsamic goats milk ice cream 

best ice cream i've ever had. 

Exotic meaning Kangaroo!!!

Very tasty. 

I could have eaten a whole watermelon. 

or a whole five watermelons. 

or ten. 

YOU'RE WELCOME

Me in Harrods!

Gucci, maybe someday I will own you... 

But until then, thanks for letting me pretend i'm one of your models! 

next mission: Defy Gravity! 

So tomorrow I have class ALL DAY. 

But thats okay because after that we have the rest of the week free! Holla! 

My time is running out here... so much to do so little time. 

Wish me luck! 

My sand castle came to life!

Well hey! So this post is going to be a wee bit long considering I have been away from the Internet world for the past three days! I have so much to catch you all up on! Here I go.

Soooo Wednesday morning we stuck around Ambleside for a little bit longer and did another hike! Yes, another hike. Thing is, I love hiking. And I love Ambleside. So it all worked quite nicely. This hike was more of a walk, actually. We walked a ways and got to see the other house William Wordsworth lived in as well as the Church he attended. Sa-weet! So after this we grabbed a quick lunch before getting on the coach for our next destination. Our professors told us to eat at a place called “The Apple Pie Café” because they love it! They had really delicious sandwiches and I got a yummy scone. But I tried their apple pie… and call me biased, it wasn’t nearly as good as my Mothers. Hers are like, the BEST. Everyone knows that!

So one long coach ride later, and I was in SCOTLAND! Oh how I loved hearing bagpipes at all times either close by or somewhere off in the distance. Oh how I loved those charming Scottish accents! Oh how I loved seeing people actually wearing Kilts. Oh how I loved Edinburgh! (I learned it is pronounced Ed- in- bur- uh, BTW) When we first got there we checked into our Hostel. Hostels, well they aren’t the greatest. It was a fun experience though… I mean, I love sleeping next to a wall with mysterious green stains all over it, sleeping on sheets as scratchy as toilet paper. and showering in a shower that is in close enough proximity to the toilet that I could be washing my hair and using the bathroom all at the same time. What’s not to love! So anyways, roaming Scotland was AWESOME. We saw St. Giles Cathedral, Scottish Parliament, Holyrood Palace, the famous Princes Street and St. Andrews Square, Caltons hill. I loved it all! Guess what else I saw? A place called “The Elephant House” this is the café where Harry Potter was born!!! I saw the very table that J.K. Rowling sat at when she jotted down the beginning of the incredible series on a napkin! Wow, it was an overwhelming experience. Haha

Well anyways, we got dinner and then we were off to do another hike! Woo! We hiked to Arthurs Seat. You guys. This was INCREDIBLE! I know I know, I need new adjectives to describe things. Let me know if you can think of any others because right now, all I can think of to describe this view is: incredible, fantastic, amazing, phenomenal, wonderful, beautiful, breathtaking, jaw dropping. Definitely “Whoa Baby” status. From the top of this massive mountain you could see everything! Not to mention we got to watch the sunset from up there! It was just PERFECT.

So, let me tell you a quick little story. When I was little, my cousins and I used to build what I would call a masterpiece in the sand. We’d start by making a big mound of sand. Then we’d build a huge castle on top of it. Then, surrounding it we’d build a little village, and all the other stuff in the town. And then on one side of the creation would be the ocean, the other side would be the beach. Well, when I was in Edinburgh, I saw my sand castle come to life! Little did I know, I had been building Edinburgh in the sand, all this time! Because that really is what its like. Just smack dab in the middle you’ve got Edinburgh Castle, which is like the epitome of what a castle is, on a huge hill, surrounded by the town. And then not too far is the ocean! Seeing it all from Arthurs seat made me absolutely giddy. And seriously there is no more perfect way to describe the Edinburgh castle, then by just saying its totally a CASTLE. I love love love love Edinburgh!

Okay so after Edinburgh we made our way back down to England and went to York! When we first arrived in York I didn’t think it would be that cool or fun, but i was very wrong! It was SO cool and SO fun! In york, is the York Minster. Oh my days, it is AMAZING. York Minster is the biggest Cathedral in all of England and in most of the Western part of Europe. This baby is BIG. I think it was my favorite cathedral we’ve seen! Inside, it was just so light. And open. And beautiful. Although these churches are not our (as in, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!) churches, when I step inside, I definitely feel spiritual. It is just really cool to think that these people built these INCREDIBLE structures, all for worshipping God. I don’t know how anyone could not feel that walking into York Minster.

So other than the Minster, York is just a cute little town. There is this famous street there called “Shambles” and it is SO fun! The street is all crooked! The side walk, the sides of the buildings, everything! I felt like I was in Disneyland, but it was a real street! I guess that’s what happens when cows build your streets. And when I say build, I mean just walking over the same path repeatedly. Ha! So along with this fun street there was a big market there that was amaaaaazing. Definitely right up there with London markets! I tried enough samples to count as a meal! It was AWESOME. And I had some of the best chocolate I’ve ever had, ever! I was in heaven!

Our last, but definitely not least, stop was Fountains Abbey! Fountains Abbey is the ruins of this massive Abbey that Henry VIII tried to destroy when he was all mad at everyone for religion. I mean that’s unfortunate that he did that, but man these ruins are COOL! Madeleine and I were in heaven and the kid came out in us. We climbed every part possible to climb and were positively giddy about it. Surrounding the Abbey are beautiful gardens, and a pond and river and such. It is wonderful! I laid down in a field of butter cups day dreaming, making pictures out of clouds, and laughing with friends. What a great way to end our trip!

sunset from Arthurs Seat. 

It was AMAZING

WHOA BABY! 

Don't worry, there was some grass below me. 

Fooled ya! 

At the Elephant House

Harry Potters birthplace!!!!

Me with some snazzy scottish guards! 

One of them even winked at me! 

The Edinburgh Castle! 

My sand castle came to life. 

The incredible ceiling in the Chapter House of York Minster

A nice man told me it was okay to lay on the floor to take my picture...

So i did! 

York Minster! 

Couldn't even fit it all in its so big! 

Fountains Abbey! 

Nice try Henry VIII, you didn't destroy all of it! 

Climbing to my hearts desire 

Butter Cup fields make me soooooo happy! 

the good life. 

One loooooong coach ride

and my first experience with severe car sickness later...

and i'm back in London! 

I love this place.

LakeLand

Oh myyyyyyy goodness. Have you ever heard of The Lake District??? Well, let me tell you about it.... it is the most INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL place ever!!!! And maybe some of you are thinking, well Kate does exaggerate quite a bit on most things... but you guys i'm not this time, i promise. This place is seriously phenomenal! 

Okay so first rewind a little bit. So we left early yesterday morning and hopped on the one and only Coach! We named it the Caterpillar, because it has antennas. So we drove and drove and drove, and our first stop was Chorley! It was a quick stop, but a great stop! Chorley is where the England MTC is, as well as the Preston Temple! Betcha thought the Preston Temple was in Preston huh? Well, fooled ya! Its not, its in Chorley! But so we got to take a quick tour of the MTC, which was so cool because i got to see where Tys stayed and learned! And i also met the President and his Wife and they remembered Elder King and loved him! So that was very fun. The Preston Temple is beautiful! I love being on temple groups because you can just tell how sacred it is! Next we got to see the River Ribble. This river is veeeeery significant because this is where the first English converts to the Church were Baptized! SO cool! The church is true! Even here in England! haha 

So we got back on the Caterpillar and headed to Ambleside! Ambleside is in the Lake District. Like i said earlier, the Lake District is probably THE most beautiful part of England. It is mountainous, and green, and lake-y, and just breathtaking. So another reason why this place is so awesome, is because this is where THE great english poet William Wordsworth lived! This is where he wrote the majority of his poems. Its no wonder his poems are so brilliant, even I was feeling my creative juices flowing. Its impossible not to be inspired here! But of course, he is a genius. So we went to Dove Cottage, which is where he and his family lived! Our professor has some connections with the people in charge of the cottage, because he is super awesome, so he hooked us up big time! We were able to not only tour the cottage, but EAT dinner in the Cottage! Yes, i ate dinner in Dove Cottage! They made us food from authentic 18th century recipes! We ate a meal that Wordsworth himself ate all the time, in the same place he ate it! It was quite the experience. My favorite was this Lemonade that was deeeeeelicious. The secret to it, is its made with brown sugar instead of white! Whoa. Cool huh. The gardens at Dove Cottage were really pretty and had an incredible view of one of the lakes! I could have stayed there the rest of the time and been completely happy. After this, we went down to the Lake and did some exploring! I LOVE exploring.

So today, first thing in the morning we went back to Dove Cottage and did something really special. Our professor hooked us up again, and got us a nice little session, you could call it. In this, we got to see and hold the original first edition copies of Lyrical Ballads, (the book of poems written by Wordsworth and Coleridge) John Keats first addition book of poems, and many others. We also read and studied letters written to and from Wordsworth, his wife and sister, and friends. I felt so lucky the whole time. Because these things are seriously treasures. They are absolutely priceless treasures. And not many people get to see these things and have a hands-on experience with them! It is so different reading a poem in its original book, or even in the poets handwriting than reading it from a textbook. And when i say different, i mean a million times better! We've been studying Wordsworth poems, and just romantic poetry in general in class, and so coming here just made it even cooler. I can really appreciate his poetry now. I am really getting into this stuff! I absolutely love it. 

We also went on two hikes! Two beautiful hikes. The first one we went on took us to the most incredible view of the mountains and lakes. I may or may not have had another moment. It was breathtaking. Also, i just love hiking. Its the best because: you can engage in great conversation, see beautiful scenery all around you, and be getting exercise all at the same time! What more could you want? The other hike we went on was more of an obstacle course. It wasn't steep or hard, just muddy. So it was fun to find ways to avoid it and maneuver our way through the trail. This led us to a mini waterfall and river! We waded in the river, which took me down memory lane and reminded me of wading in the stream in Park City with my Papa Ted! I loved it. 

Tyson was once here!!!

the Preston Temple! 

In Chorley. 

Lakeland anyone? 

Picturesque? I think so. 

Eating dinner at Dove Cottage! 

The view from the top of the Garden at Dove Cottage. 

Where WW wrote many of his poems. 

View from our hike! 

This picture does no justice. 

Look at all of my friends! 

And look how pretty Ambleside is! 

This is me wading in the river! 

Thanks to Madeleine for this fun angle. 

My new summer home maybe?

I'm looking into it.

Seriously. 

I love this place. It is incredible.

 I LOVE Lakeland. 

We'll be spending a few more hours here tomorrow, and then its of to Scotland! 

Cheers everyone! 

Candlelight Serenade

Greetings from London! I’ve got lots of goooooood stuff to share.

So i totally forgot in my last post to write about our tour of the Olympic park! We got to tour the Olympic Park! It was WAY cool. So the Olympics are going to be in the East side of London. (where I live is the west end just FYI.) The East End of London is…. Interesting. Well basically, it is not the prettiest, or cleanest, part of town! It is more the industrial part of London. Its kind of dirty, and stinky. Ha! There isn’t really much to do or see there… which is WHY they decided to do the Olympics there! They wanted to give this part of London a lil boost. They built a new mall, all the facilities for the games, a weird building thing for tourists, and housing for the Athletes! So they are hoping that having the Olympics here will help East London out a bit! And I’m sure it will. Because it all looks so awesome! I can’t wait to watch the Olmypics and be able to say “I was soooo there!” My favorite facility was the Aquatics building. The designer got super creative with it and tried to make it look like a swimmers back doing the butterfly stroke! To me it looked more like a stingray… but its still awesome. I SO wished could have gone swimming in that thing! How awesome would that have been. I’m so excited for the Olympics!

So I just get to do the cooooolest things here. For any of you musicians or classical music lovers, you would have loved what I got to do on Friday night! We went to St. Martins in the Field and watched the Orchestra of London! (note: St. Martins in the Fields isn’t actually in the fields… see picture below!) The show was called “Vivaldi Four Seasons By Candlelight.” The first half of the show it was still light outside, and they played some a variety of Bach. Specifically, Concerto for Two Violins AKA Bach Double! (Brianna: I wished you there so we could have joined in!) This orchestra was really cool sounding because it was a Chamber Orchestra and instead of having a Piano, they had a Harpsichord! It was really unique sounding, I LOVED it! The second half of the show was the real hit. By this point it was dark outside and they lit candles all over the hall, and played Vivaldi’s four seasons! Those four seasons never get old. I love em. So the concert was fantastic. To top it off we got some delicious gelato at a place called “Ciao!” Confession: I am developing quite the addiction to Gelato.

So yesterday, we got to do something super neat. We got to tour the houses of parliament! Ya know, that big place with BIG BEN attached to it? This seriously was so neat. Once again, we had a great blue badge tour guide and so I learned A TON. It was really interesting to learn about how they run their government here. And to see the inside of Parliament is even cooler than seeing the outside! Each room is really unique and is so detailed. And every detail has meaning, too. It was a lot to take in! When we were in the House of Commons, it reminded me of the trial rooms in Harry Potter! I felt like a member of the ministry of magic, for just a little bit. AWESOME.

So next we were off to Camden Market! This market is different from Borough because rather than a variety of food, it’s a variety of clothes, jewelry, trinkets, antique stuff, and artsy stuff! It’s really fun. It’s not really near the city of London, its in a more dirty part of London. Dirty as in, I got enough second hand smoke that it was as if I smoked my own cigarette! YUCK. But we had to go for the experience! And I bought some earrings, boo-yeah! And we got to practice our bargaining skills, which is always entertaining!

Check it out! It's the Olympic Aquatic Center! 

See what i mean about the stingray? 

 Look at this weird building thing!

 It's some sort of "view tower" for the games

St. Martins in the Fields

Candlelight ROCKS! 

This is Me, Madeleine, and the Police Man 

at the Houses of Parliament! 

Had to get the phone booth photo with Big Ben behind me! 

And some Random people, too. 

Us at Camden Market! 

So this week, i'm goin on a trip! We're off to Ambleside, Scotland, and York!

Basically, we're just gonna explore Northern England. 

And i can't wait to hear those scottish accents and see that big ol'castle! 

stoked.

TTYL! 

Definitely puzzle worthy!

Guess what. I’ve got loooooots of pictures this time! I told you I’d have more! And they are splendid.

Yesterday may or may not have been my favorite day so far….

We woke up reeeeal early and hopped on a coach! Coach days are the best. We headed first to Chawton. Chawton, is a very neat place. Not only is it a little quaint town in the country side, it is where the one and only, Jane Austen, lived! Did I get to walk through Jane Austens house? You bet I did! Did I see a lock of her hair? Yup. And did I see the very spot where she finished her brilliant novels? Ohhh yeah. It was sweeeeeeet. Especially after just finishing one her books, it was so cool to see exactly where she wrote it! It gave me a whole new perspective, and I feel like I have this cool connection with Jane Austen now. Ha! My book list for the beach this summer now includes two Jane Austen novels.

After Chawton we went to Stourhead. Guys. Stourhead was UNBELEIVABLE! There is no way in the world I can describe this place to you. And there is no picture in the world that will do it justice. But I will do my best! K so a little history about Stourhead: Its all man made! This guy named Henry Hoare II created it. He was really really really really rich, and wanted a way to show off how much money he had. Sooo, he created the most beautiful place ever! He found a river, built a damn and turned it into a lake, added a bunch of pretty gazebo/building things, and somehow made the trees/flowers/everything more vibrant than you can imagine. Although his motives were not great, what a cool way to spend your money! If I ever get rich, imma build my very own stourhead! I fell in love with this place. I absolutely did not want to leave. AND, I had a moment. Ya know, those moments, where the only way you can think of to describe the way you feel, is that you’re having a moment? Well, I totally had one in Stourhead. It was AWESOME. Oh, almost forgot! Another cool thing about stourhead, is that a few scenes from “Pride and Prejudice” were filmed there! I felt Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy’s vibes the whole time I was there. Ha!

After Stourhead, it was Bath time! Bath, was not what I expected at all! I mean, I knew it was cool because of the roman baths there, but I thought that was the only cool part about it! I was wrong. When we drove in on our coach, it was another one of those times where all I could do was sit there, staring, with my jaw completely dropped, saying “WHOA” over and over. (I’m realizing now that I should just get used to these moments, because they happen very often.) Bath was so neat! For just a little bit I felt like I was not in England. It looks very different from anywhere else I have seen here! It reminded me of Italy. Even though I’ve never been to Italy. For some reason, I just felt like I was in Italy! So anyways, in Bath we got to tour the Roman Baths! They were crazy cool! It is incomprehensible to think that that same water, is the water the Romans bathed in, centuries of years ago! WHAT! Is that crazy or is that crazy? That's crazy. When you look at the water, you can really tell, its naaaaasty. So naturally, I had to drink some! Haha don’t worry, the water I drank had been filtered, but it was still warm, and still tasted like a rotten egg. I can’t believe I drank water from a Roman Bath! Add that to your bucket list, everyone! 

At Jane Austens house! 

Just hangin out in Jane Austens backyard. 

I tried to think up a poem or something... it failed. 

Stourhead is GORGEOUS. 

This is the bridge where Mr. Darcy confesses his love for Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice!

I think this photo is puzzle worthy, don't you? 

A stunning view behind us that you can't really see! 

But i promise, it really was stunning. 

I wanted to steal one of these flowers sooooo bad. Or all of them! 

The lake behind us! 

A crazy old man took this picture, by the way. 

This doesn't even come close to how beautiful it was! 

And we were so lucky to be there on a sunny day! 

Recognize this? 

Another Pride and Prejudice scene filmed here! 

If you don't know what i am talking about,

go watch!  

Meet my cute little friends Rachel and Ellie!

They are my professors daughters.

And they are positively adorable! 

at the Roman Baths! 

SO cool! 

I almost jumped in to go for a swim! 

NOT! 

Drinking the delicious bath water. 

And when i say delicious i mean repulsive. 

I miss you all and wish you could experience everything with me! 

I do my very best to give you all the juicy details. 

More to come! 

xoxo