It's been real!

I am leaving to go to the airport in 3 hours. I can't believe it! I am very overwhelmed with how many different emotions I am feeling right now. One emotion I for sure am feeling is HAPPY. Because i have had an amazing last three days in London! 

Sunday was one of my favorite days here. Not because of London, but because of the people I am here with. People are the BEST! Church was awesome, I have really come to love my ward, especially my cute primary kids. It was harder than I thought saying bye to those little guys! Sunday night, we had a talent show with the whole group! It was an absolute BLAST. As I was watching, I just looked around the room at all my new friends, and I just thought Whoa Baby. These people are so COOL! I love everyone here, and we have had a blast together. Everyone here is so talented, as well! And funny. By the end, my cheeks were numb from smiling so big and my abs were sore from laughing so much. I am seriously going to miss this group! 

So, another emotion I have been feeling the last few days is STRESS. We had our finals and ohhhh my land. They were SO rough. We learned SO much information in such a short time, that it was just overwhelming trying to remember it all for the tests! But I studied as much as I could and am just sure glad they are over! So that's what Monday was full of. 

Today, was an absolutely PERFECT last day in London. I could not have asked for better! After finishing our final this morning, we pretty much ran out of the London Centre so we could spend as much time as possible outside for our last day. So, we rented some bikes and cruised hyde park! It was just lovely! Hyde Park is so gorgeous! I am going to miss that big green beauty a whole bunch. We had fun reminiscing our good times here and just taking in a typical foggy london afternoon for the last time. 

Tonight we had a delicious dinner! We went to a place called "My Old Dutch Pancake House." It was amaaaaaazing! BIG and YUMMY are the best descriptive words for it. Just check out the picture of it, and you'll see what i'm talking about! So, as our big last shabang we decided to hit the city. But here's the catch. We didn't just hit the city, we hit the city In the DARK. What is it about night time that just makes everything a billion times more awesome? Well I sure don't know but, London is definitely included in that! London at night is INCREDIBLE!! I about died tonight. It is truly exhilerating! I am in love with Big Ben at night. And St. Pauls. And the river Thames with the lights reflecting on it. And LONDON. 

Me and Amanda with the darling primary kids! 

These kids are going to grow up to be so amazing. 

i just know it! 

BIKES in hyde park! 

Absolutely perfect in every way. 

Hyde Park is so GREEN! 

I will miss it sooooo much! 

Palace Court. Our street. 

Home away from home. 

At "My Old Dutch!" 

Taaaaaasty goodness. 

Millenium Bridge and St. Pauls! 

at night. 

Is that not AMAZING?! 

LOOK AT THAT

Oh my. 

I don't think I can leave this place! 

 Oh Big Ben, i LOVE you.

I dare you to find me in this one. 

I love this group sooooo much! 

we have a good time, if you can't tell! 

I am so grateful to have gotten to know these fantastic people.  

Now everyone, it is time for me to get sappy up in here. I just have to! There is no other way to sum up this blog. So. It absolutely NUTS that I have come to my very last post! I mean, in some ways it seems like i've been here forever, in others it has flown by. I look back at everything i've done, and I am overwhelmed with how much i've learned, how happy I have been, how much fun I have had, how many unique and incredible things i got to see and experience, how many great people i've gotten to know, and how much i have come to LOVE LONDON. I will never forget this experience, and I know that there is nothing else like it! I am incredibly grateful for every moment I have had here and will cherish these memories forever! 

Goodbye London!  

It's been real! 

Eye Love London

These past three days have been incredible! But then again, that’s not unusual when you are living in London!

So Thursday was a day full of wars and battles. Literally! I went to the Churchill War Rooms, the Imperial War Museum, and saw War Horse that night! The museums were both awesome!! It was interesting to see how the British view Winston Churchill and see where he worked during the war. I can’t believe how much time he had to spend underground! The Imperial War Museum was really really good. We saw exhibits on World War 1 and 2. The WW1 exhibit was cool because they had replicas of trenches. You could walk through them to get a feel of what it might have been like. They made it very realistic. It even smelled like it would have in the war, and they had bombing and shooting sounds going on. It was scary! I can’t imagine what it really would have been like, but it was interesting to get an idea. They had a WW2 and Holocaust exhibit as well. These were very hard to walk through but very eye opening and interesting. Outside the exhibit they had a sign that said “no children 15 years and younger” and boy, I understand why they said that after walking out of it! It was very heavy. I felt extremely grateful to not have lived during these wars, and to not have gone through what so many people went through.

To follow along with the theme of the day, that night we saw the play “War Horse.” You may have heard of the movie, but it was actually a play first! It was incredible! The horse puppets were extremely impressive. After only 5 minutes of watching I was totally convinced they were real horses! So crazy. The story was really good too! I was very impressed with this play! There was also a cool violin man that would occasionally come on stage and play a little tune or two. He was my favorite part.  Something else I very much enjoyed was that the horses name was Joey. Really?? A horse named Joey. Well is that silly or what! I found it quite amusing.

So yesterday was a coach day!!! Sadly, our last and final one! But guess what, this time, we didn’t have our usual caterpillar. This time, we got a double decker coach! Boo-yeah! It was one fat caterpillar. How exciting! So our original plan was to head straight to STONEHENGE. However, (note: this next part is very sad so you might want to go grab a tissue or two) during the night before this there were terrible wind and rain storms, which caused big trees to fall down onto the middle of the road. And not just any road, the road leading to Stonehenge. And tragically, these trees were big enough that not even the fat caterpillar could drive over them. So, no Stonehenge. TRAGEDY!! I will be quite honest with you, I was thoroughly bummed. I just can’t believe I will leave England without seeing Stonehenge! That’s just crazy. But I will tell you, once, on one of our other coach days we did drive by it. But that doesn’t really count as seeing it because we were driving real fast and so we only got a quick glimpse. But, I guess that’s going to have to count now! Darn wind.

So, instead of Stonehenge, we just headed to our next destination for the day, which was Blenheim Palace! Besides the fact that it was pooooouring rain, freeeeeeezing cold out side, and sooooo windy I couldn’t even open my umbrella without it pulling me violently, Blenheim Palace was really fun! It was really beautiful and had really pretty gardens surrounding it and a cricket and polo field by it too! I SO wished I could watch a match! So Blenheim Palace isn’t actually a Royal palace, but it was used by the Monarchs of Britain quite often. The reason we chose to visit it is because we are learning about Winston Churchill in class, and his great grandparents owned Blenheim! Winston himself stayed there often during his time in the British government and such. The palace is in a ton of movies, too! Probably because it looks so palace-y. Blenheim was fantastic!  

Next stop: the University of Oxford! You guys. I LOVED Oxford! I mean I do love provo, but Oxford was like the coolest college town ever! We got a sweet tour from one of the nice blue badge guys and everything! Oxford is a very prestigious university. I loved seeing students everywhere! They all looked so studious. I even thought about joining them to work on my own papers and finals! (but not really.) But in fact, the students there are taking finals as we speak! Wanna hear something cool they do there? So on the first day of finals, they wear a white rose on their shirt. (They also wear cool fancy school clothes.) In the middle of their finals, they wear a pink rose. And when they take their very last final, they wear a red rose. And when they finish they are greeted with Champaign to celebrate! Cool huh! I am thinking of doing this myself at BYU. But don’t worry, I would drink Martinelli’s instead. So at Oxford we got to see all of the different colleges and basically just learn about how Oxford works and the life of a student there. It was sooooo neat!Oxford is one of the oldest Universities EVER in the world. The whole town is just so unique and old and gorgeous and fun and awesome. I loooooooved it. OH and guess what else? So there are these absolutely deliciously scrumptious cookies here in England called Ben’s Cookies. And in Oxford, is the first and original Ben’s cookies! They are soooooo yummy! I may or may not have had three. I mean, I had to make up for not seeing Stonehenge somehow right? Good ol’ Ben did the trick!

Today, Madeleine and I enjoyed our last Saturday in London with some nice fun cousin time! We went and did…. Drum roll please…. the London Eye!!! I have been so excited to do this since the moment I came. I purposely waited till the end to do it. And it was so worth it! Madeleine and I loved everything about it. It was so cool to get to the top, look out over London and be able to know everything I saw. And really know it. Because I experienced it all. And lived in it. And learned all about it. It was the BEST. I was listening to the tourists standing next to me try and pick out what everything was, and I loved being able to answer every question they had. I have truly come to know and love London, and it is such an exhilarating feeling! 

Blenheim Palace!

Please excuse my wet and wild hair.

And the rain drop on the lens. 

In front of the Library at Oxford! 

How'd that be to study in? 

I probably wouldn't get much studying done. 

The original Ben's Cookies! 

Yummy gooey soft rich creamy goodness.

I may name my first son after Ben. 

His cookies are just too good! 

Waiting in line for the London Eye! 

I have had my Eye on this thing for quite a while! 

On our way up to the top! 

Enjoying each other's company

as well as the tourists who were all over the age of 50. 

we felt so young and free! 

CHECK IT OUT! 

That, my friends, is the current love of my life. 

LONDON!

Well, tomorrow i will go to my ward for the last time. 

Lots of things this week have been in that category..."for the last time"

it makes me incredibly sad! 

I am truly going to miss this place! 

Luckily, i still get one more blog post. :) 

Talk to you then! 

Today, all my troubles seemed so far away...

Jubilation. That is what i feel here in London! I am sad the Jubilee is over! But it is also kind of a relief. It was CRAZY here. You couldn't do anything or get anywhere because everything was closed and blocked off and just crazy. All for good causes though! Everything in London is totally decked out for the Jubilee. There are flags everywhere. And people are just completely covered in Union Jack clothes from head to toe. Its SWEET. Like i said earlier, it just makes me feel so British, being here for all this! So for the  Royal Procession, rather than risking your life (but not really) and going to the actual thing, we got creative. We had what my professors called "Ye Jubilee Tea." We had a Tea Party! And when i say tea, i mean juice. And we had scones too! And when i say scones, i mean biscuits. The party was a gooooooood time! We decorated with Union Jack flags and watched the Procession on TV while enjoying our tea and scones. Ye Jubilee Tea was a huge success. And it sure is fun seeing that darling Queen! When she came out on the balcony of Buckingham, i secretly hoped she'd bring her dog out with her to wave hello. A girl can dream right?  

So one of my very best friends in the world, Ashley, happened to be in London this week! And lucky me, i got to meet up with her here! I showed her my favorite Gelato place here. Gelato Mio! I loved seeing Ash here and talking with her! It was so neat to be able to tell her fun things to do here, yummy food to eat, places to shop, how to get places, just how to do London. It made me realize how comfortable I feel here. I LOVE it. Something they always say here is "when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." Aint that the truth! I think if i really lived here, like for more than just two months, life would be a constant THRILL. Because that's just what London does to me. It THRILLS me. 

So today, "all my troubles seemed so far away".....because i went to ABBEY ROAD! You know, that famous road, that is basically just the Beatles stomping grounds? Yeah, i went there! And it was COOL! Mostly just because the Beatles are cool. We tried to copy their famous photo walking across the street... emphasis on the word "tried". Although our photo isn't quite like theirs, at least its proof i walked there right? I was singing Beatles all day today. We got to sign the wall that everyone signs! I tried to find where my sister signed but failed. There are so many dang signatures on that wall! It is so cool to see how many people come to see Abbey Road just because of what huge Beatles fans they are. Myself included! 

Tonight after hours of doing dishes and mopping floors (i'm on dish crew this week, bleh), it was time for a TREAT. I am finding this to be somewhat of a routine. Every night, without fail, about 15 minutes after dinner, i just get huuuuungry for something sweet. Maybe its just because i know i am in such close proximity to so many yummy treats? Probably. But its becoming quite the problem. But a very very very delicious problem. So tonight for our treat, we went to a place called "Ciao!" And they have a wonderfully scrumptious creation there called Ice Cream Spaghetti! It was FANTASTIC. I can't even explain it to you, you just gotta see the picture!! 

Even the Tube is Jubilified! 

Jubilified, is a word i just made up. 

Like it? 

Look! Its Ye Jubilee Tea! 

When the queen started waving

 well i just couldn't help but wave back! 

Meeting up with cute Ash. 

Loved seeing this girl! 

Beatles stomping grounds! 

Our attempt! 

Proof! I walked across Abbey Road! 

SEE??? 

Ice Cream Spaghetti. 

It was very exciting and yummy. 

On our way home we walked through Trafalgar Square! 

And happened to climb this big guy. 

Standing in Trafalgar Square

with Big Ben behind me.

This is my "I love this place so much and am not ready to leave it" smile. 

To be tired of London is to be Tired of Life! 

I will never ever ever ever ever be tired of London. 

I want every one to experience this amazing place!

Hey Queen Elizabeth! Thanks for inviting me to your party!

Happy Jubilee!!! Being here for this makes me feel ALMOST British. It’s the best. But I’ll get to that later first I gotta talk about other stuff I did!

So Friday a bunch of us went to Greenwich! (pronounced gren-itch) To get there we got to take a boat ride! I LOVED it. It started at Westminster Pier, which is right by Big Ben, Westminster Bridge, the London Eye, and such! And then we rode along the Thames to Greenwich! It was so cool to be able to start from one end of London and just ride along seeing the whole city. I loved being able to identify what everything was on both sides of me. It was cool to go underneath all of the bridges! And there are SO many bridges! And they’re all awesome. So when we got to Greenwich, we decided to first get something to eat. One of the girls I was with had heard of a cool restaurant she wanted to try. It was a double decker bus turned into a pizza place! The restaurant itself was creative and fun, however… getting there was interesting. We somehow ended up in what looked like the slums of Greenwich! Haha it was a funny experience. After that things didn’t get much better… We went to the Royal Observatory, which is actually really cool! And we saw the spot where all time is decided! (a.k.a prime meridian) Its not a new day till it’s a new day in Greenwich! So the reason it didn’t get much better after exploring the slums is cause, when I was straddling the prime meridian, I was taking a picture for my friend, and, I dropped her camera! Dropping leading to breaking. It was awful and I felt so bad the rest of the time! But she’s the best and quickly forgave me.

So yesterday was great! We started out by waking up early and hitting Portobello Road. It is soooooo fun! I could walk up and down that road for hours on end and not get bored! There are yummy crepe and waffle stands at every corner, and so many fun stores/stands to explore! We all found some good finds. After Portobello we went to the Tate Britain! I’ve been really excited to come here. The museum is under construction so not everything was available to see, and the layout was confusing. But it was still amazing!! Madeleine and I were completely thrilled to see “Carnation, Lily Lily Rose” by John Sargent because it is my Auntie Elizabeth’s favorite! And I fully understand why. It was incredible! I bought another post card. I also really enjoyed the Turner exhibits. He is brilliant and I was fascinated by his paintings!

So yesterday night was a real hit. We went and saw a show, but not just any show. A very unique show called STOMP! Ever heard of it? Well, youtube it or something. Because it was SWEET! If you don’t know what it is, well basically it’s just a group of people that create music with whatever they can find. They use garbage cans, brooms, buckets, rubber, water, tires, cups, matches, pots and pans, ropes, newspaper, and especially their hands and feet. You wouldn’t believe what they can do with these things! It was extremely impressive. I can’t imagine how tingly their hands and feet must have been, my hand gets tingly after one high-five! The end of the show was sort of interactive and they had us clap and stomp and snap with them and stuff. I think they had us do this so that we would feel stupid and realize how talented they really are. Ha! It was awesome! I was stomping and clapping and snapping all the way home.

Today everyone, was the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee! The Queen is commemorating 60 years as Queen, and so she’s havin a big HUGE celebration! It is absolutely crazy here right now! It’s like the 4^th of July times ten, but BRITISH. Obviously. It is so cool how much these people LOVE their Queen! After church some friends and I rushed on over to Westminster bridge to see the 1,000 boats come along the Thames! There were ten million billion trillion people everywhere. It was MADNESS. But the best kind of madness! We could hardly see anything but it was fun just being there for it all. I managed to jump really high and see the Queens boat! She is one classy lady! And I sure hope her boat was heated, because well, I was freeeeeeezing. But it was all worth it! These Brits really know how to throw a party! 

The London Eye!

so excited to go on take a spin on this baby! 

On our boat ride! 

You betcha we went under Tower Bridge! 

No biggie, just eating pizza in a double-decker bus! 

Found this awesomness in Greenwich! 

Madeleine and I reminisced playing with our pirate ship as kids! 

Love me some Portobello 

the absolutely wonderful

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose

On Westminster Bridge celebrating the Jubilee! 

Happy 60 years Elizabeth, thanks for inviting me to your hoppin party!

I can't believe tomorrow is the beginning of my last full week in London. 

Well that's just not okay with me at all! Not one bit.

But i can assure you, London and I are going to spend one blissful last week together!  

Bring it on.