sunday drive

i am back in london!! praise the heavens! if i ever see another coach again i might punch someone! ugh!
so anyways we obviously drove alllll the way back from edinburgh to london today. on the way there we broke it up a lot by spending time in the lake district and york but today was a direct trip. haha. i don't know if i explained this before but here in the UK they are really strict about their coach drivers driving for a certain amount of time, so every three or four hours we have to take breaks for a certain amount of time. so because of that we made two lovely stops today! 
first we stopped in durham. so we were gonna try and go to church today in Edinburgh but i guess the block started too late. so instead we went to an anglican service in Durham cathedral. it was fine, i guess. its hard for me to pay attention in those services! it was cool though because unlike evensong at Westminster abbey they had the eucharist at this one, which is like the sacrament. it was super different. they use wine and everyone drinks out of the same cup! yuck! but what was really cool was the cathedral itself. i think this was one of the oldest i have been to, it dated back to like 1036 or something. it wasn't as ornate as a lot of the gothic ones we have seen but it was MASSIVE. definitely one of the biggest! i was surprised by how cute durham was. i wish we had more time there. 
our next stop was kibworth. i am pretty sure none of you have any idea what kibworth is. haha. but its really important to our trip! so our textbook for our history class is this book called the story of england by michael wood which follows the whole history of england from the prehistoric celts to modern day england in one town... and that town is kibworth! so it was weird that we had read all about it and we finally were there seeing this place that we had learned so much about. the owner of the main pub made us a special dinner- traditional english roast! it was SO good! we had roast and yorkshire pudding and potatoes and veggies. i was in heaven. especially because i had been fasting most of the day. okay churchy moment- this trip has really taught me how to fast and how to appreciate it. being with RMs and seeing their habits makes me feel like i have a lot i need to work on! and i've never been very good at fast sunday but i am proud to say that every fast sunday this month i have been really good! so yeah. end of churchy moment. 
so after that we finally made it to london! we were on the road for 12 hours and it was terrible! i slept a lot and tried to memorize a poem for english but mostly it was just smelly and uncomfortable and no fun. i am so glad to be home! 
OH i just remembered! i got mail when i got home!!!!!!!!! i got a package from my mom, a letter from my grandma (so sweet, i miss you mimi!), a package from Diane! thank you diane!! and a letter from ty! thank you everyone!! once again everyone here at the centre was super jealous!! 
sorry this post is short, but i just barely added my posts from the past 2 days in Edinburgh so be sure to check those out! all of my north trip is still without pictures. i might not be able to add those until i get into the states but i will let you know. thanks for reading! 

Falling in love with Edinburgh- August 4

Wow what a day in Edinburgh!!! At first I thought this place was so creepy and dark and I wasn’t really a fan but after today I love it!

So we started our day with a tour of Edinburgh castle. The whole city is built around it and it sits up on top of a hill so it is really prominent and I have been looking forward to touring it. Fun fact- the hill itself is actually a volcano! You can still see part of the volcanic rock throughout the grounds and they often use it as part of memorials and stuff. So we had a little guided tour that took us through the grounds and showed us to different buildings that make up the castle. It was funny because this place really is super intimidating from below but once you get up inside the walls it’s not very impressive at all. But one thing that was interesting was this big modern gun they fire every day at 1 o’clock so that incoming ships can set their clocks to british time. I thought that was interesting.

After that we had free time to explore the buildings. First I went in and saw the crown jewels. Not nearly as cool as the ones in the London tower but still neat. They have a big crown, a scepter, a sword, and the scoon stone which is really important to the monarchy because it’s been present at every coronation for a really really really long time. So yeah, saw that. It was cool. Then I went and did the war memorial which was amazing. It was a very moving place. Here in Scotland I feel like they take military stuff really seriously. To this day they add names to that memorial, but most of the ones that are in there are from the ‘great war’ or world war 1. It was very elaborate. It was also really Christian. I like how here they can be really upfront about their faith in god. They don’t have to worry about being politically correct which I feel like happens a lot in America and often detracts from the meaning. After that I went into the royal apartments which were cool. Its funny because it’s so obvious that Scotland is extremely proud of one moment in time: the time when queen Elizabeth I died and left no heir, so James, son of Mary Queen of Scots took the English crown and united Scotland and England. It’s so funny. I love how they kind of hate the English. I will talk a little more about that later. Lets see, after that I went down into the dungeon area which has a really funny story. During world war two all of Britain was really scared of a german invasion sooo they hid the crown jewels! They actually hid them in a midevil toilet in this dungeon area. Isn’t that funny? I loved that story. And finally after that I went into another military museum. It houses the only flag ever taken from napoleon. It was taken by a Scotsman so they were very proud of that.

After that I was part of a small group that got to tour Scottish parliament! So you are probably wondering why the heck Scotland has parliament because it is technically part of the UK. Soo in the late 1990s the ‘devolution’ started which means England basically said that wales and Scotland and northern Ireland could kind of start doing their own thing. I think all of them now have their own parliament with pretty limited power, but Scotland really took it to heart. They have a very strong sense of nationalism. So they have this amazing building built. They brought in this catalan architect from Barcelona and constructed the most expensive building in Europe. It was around 750 million dollars. So it’s a pretty cool building but it looks terribly out of place. It definitely belongs in Barcelona (I have been there so I think I can say that) and it just doesn’t seem very functional. But enough with boring buildings. Our tour was lead by the son of the only LDS guy that is in Scottish parliament. Cool right? He showed us the offices and the debate room and all the good stuff. It was so weird to be in a government building that was brand new and didn’t have a historical background like parliament in London or the capitol in DC. One thing that was really fun to discuss was the Scottish independence referendum coming up in 2014. So basically in 2014 all the voters in Scotland are going to decide if Scotland is going to exceed the uk and become a separate state! This would make them the same as a place like Australia or Canada. Separate government, but still look to the queen as supreme ruler. It was cool stuff!

After that it was shopping time! I did the entire royal mile. Yay me. I found a sweater! Yayyy! It smells like sheep poop and I LOVE it! It is so legit. Mom i also found a thistle charm for my bracelet! So that’s exciting. For lunch we found this place that was like subway but for baguettes so I was in heaven. Then we took a quick break at the hostel and I changed cause it was bloody hot! Then we went over to the new part of town and grassmarket. Grassmarket is where everyone used to get hanged, now it’s a fun shopping/pub district and all the pubs are named after people who were hung. Kind of funny. so yeah I was actually trying to go to this awesome china shop I saw on the coach a few days ago but I got there and it turns out it’s only open Saturdays from 11-1? So I was out of luck. Luckily the Scottish museum was right next door and it was free. This place was LEGIT. Seriously the best museum I have probably seen the whole trip. They had awesome exhibits on Scotland, space, natural history, science, and more I didn’t have time to look at because it was about to close. Basically I would definitely recommend it. So we came out of that and headed to the new part of town. I wish I would’ve found this earlier because it had so many cute shops! But we got there as everything was closing L we did however find an arts and crafts market that is in town for the fringe festival. I got an awesome picture of the city at sunset. We talked to the photographer for a long time and he told us how its always been his dream to come to the states and photograph Yosemite and Bryce canyon. It was so cool! It made me feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

So we came out of this market and the weather had changed dramatically, it was so cool! All of the sudden this mist rolled in and you could hardly see the castle anymore. It was all mysterious and Scottish and it was sweet!! So anyways then we found dinner at this random café that wasn’t that good. Then we trekked back up to the royal mile/castle area and to the hostel! We went down into the bar and a ton of our group was watching the Olympics. We watched Michael phelp’s last race! He is such a cutie! I love him. I also went to tesco and got some yogurt and fruit. I’m sure yall really wanted to know that.

After that it was time for the best part of the day… TATTOO. No I didn’t get inked. Tattoo is an annual festival of military that takes places right in front of the castle. Probably one of the most picturesque things I have ever seen. It is SO COOL. It made me feel proud to be Scottish and I’m pretty sure I’m not Scottish. It’s kind of like glorified marching band, but so much cooler. They have military units come from south Africa, Norway, Australia, and the states! It was funny the Americans little solo number was a bunch of superhero theme songs. But my absolute favorite part was when the Scottish regiments did music from the new Pixar movie Brave. I think the Scottish people are pretty proud of that so it was awesome. Tonight the composer editor and producer were there at tattoo to see it performed! It was awesome!! I seriously teared up it was so beautiful. So Disney. So cool.

So the show was about two hours long and their finale was the Scottish tune that the church borrowed for praise to the man. It was so cool. All us BYU students were sitting together and we were freaking stoked on life. A bunch of us lost our voices! I had so much fun. If you are planning on travelling to Scotland anytime soon, come in august so you can go to tattoo!! It is so incredibly worth it! Seriously the coolest thing of the whole north trip and definitely of my study abroad! I didn’t explain it very well but even if I did it wouldn’t do it justice.

I am so tired so I’m sorry that was a terrible post. Tomorrow we head back to London for our final week! See ya there! 


PS-keep reading! i also just uploaded my entry from august 3. enjoy!

Olympic soccer and exploring Edinburgh- August 3

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday! Yeahoo! What a day! So today started out with an optional hike up to this place called Arthurs Seat that overlooks a lot of Edinburgh. It’s one of Scotland’s seven hills or something. Sounds exciting right? I didn’t go on it. Hahaha. I was up super late last night so I opted out of that one. I’m lame I know! So really my day started out with meeting the group on the coach after the hike to go to Glasgow for OLYMPIC SOCCER! Weeeeeee! (all this after a lovely breakfast at our hostel of course J)

So we got to see the womens quarterfinals! Sweden vs France! This was the last match that will be played at Hampden park, all the rest of them will be at Wembley in London! Crazy that it’s already gotten to that point right? It was AMAZING to walk in that stadium. Oh my gosh. Sadly just like what you see on tv it wasn’t full. That still blows my mind.. we literally got tickets like two days ago. I don’t think that should even be possible but whatever! Ill take it! Security was pretty intense. They gave us all clear plastic bags and we had to dump the entire contents of our bags into it so that they could see everything at all times. This all took place in the pouring rain so that wasn’t too fun. Luckily the stadium seating was covered J not the field though, poor soccer players. Also if you got any drinks they had to take the lid off and pour it into a cup for you. I don’t think I’ll ever understand that one. But the game was so fun! I was cheering for Sweden of course! Down with the dang frenchies! Hate them! But it was so funny to see Sweden.. they are all so Scandinavian! I felt like I was watching a million Gur clones! (made me miss you guri L) but sadly they lost even though I think they were a better team. They possessed the ball at least 75% of the match but that’s not what counts I guess! Now france faces the winner of brazil and japan on Monday in London! Cool stuff. I got ‘lunch’ at the stadium. Unlike America they don’t have a lot of selection. Every place you went only had one food item… pies. Yikes. And they were nasty. I got the Hampden pie because it was named after the stadium so I thought it’d be legit. It was a mincemeat pie and it was so gross. I don’t like remembering it.

After that we headed back to Edinburgh which was like an hour drive. We stopped in a little grocery store and although it was pretty insignificant I have to take time to publicly state that I can officially tell the difference between English and Scottish accents. I AM SO PROUD. Also, many Scottish people are completely impossible to understand.  And yeah.. I think that’s all I was going to say. Haha

So then we got back to the hostel and we went up to St. Giles cathedral on the royal mile. I can’t remember if I explained this yesterday but the royal mile is basically the one main street that goes straight up to the castle and is the center of all the shopping and eating and such. So we went to this cathedral and it was beautiful. I have come to appreciate Edinburgh’s beauty a lot more after today. The dark stone and architecture is a lot more European-ish and not so English, but I like it. It’s really dark but it makes it unique and you just kind of have to let it grow on you. I was able to take pictures so I will post that when I can.

After that I went into total stress mode because I still hadn’t been able to make my Disney thing work so while everyone went out to explore the city and go to shows for the festival and stuff I had to go sit in the bar in the bottom of my hostel and pay to use the internet. I was pretty miserable haha I am glad no one was with me cause I wasn’t in a pleasant mood at all. I was probably down there for like three hours and I had to download a totally new web browser and it was super loud and there were a ton of drunk people. The best was this guy that walked in a mini pink dress with fake boobs. Yeah. Gotta love the festival going on here. Brings out really high quality people. Nawt. But after a scary phone call to the dcp office which involved an apology for the noise because I was in a Scottish bar because it was the only place I could get internet (I’ll never forget that conversation) I got everything sorted out and I am still going to Disney world! Yay ali!

After that I was terrified to go out into the city. Since I had been cooped up all day I had no idea where anyone was so I was gonna have to go out by myself. What’s worse is this place just straight up freaks me out with all the weirdos running around for the festival. So my mom talked me into going out. I’m glad I did! First I found some souvenir and wool shops where I got some gifts. It was cool! Scotland really is a legit place. I wish I could go to a nice town or something though because Edinburgh I feel is a little different, but cool in its own way. I will admit tonight really made me appreciate Edinburgh.

After that I went on a ghost tour! I’m pretty sure Edinburgh is the most haunted city in the world. If you could just see this place you could seriously assume that every single building is haunted. It is a straight up creepy place. They have dozens of ghost tours but I just went to the one that had a meeting spot I knew of. Apparently this was the scariest one in town so I chose well! Keep in mind I was alone this whole time… so I was a little freaked out. But then five girls from my group showed up to go on the same tour! Yay! So that made it a lot better. The tour was great, our guide was an awesome storyteller. First we went to some vaults and then to grayfriars cemetery which we went into last night. He told some good stories but I’m not gonna lie.. I wasn’t scared at all. It’s hard for me to believe that kind of stuff so basically I convinced myself that everything he said was BS. Kinda ruined the whole point but oh well! It was cool and I’m really glad I went. One thing that was interesting, we went into this inner crypt in the cemetery that is only accessed by this tour company. It was actually the first site of a concentration camp. It was pretty eerie I guess. But they were holding a bunch of people who eventually became martyrs and yeah it was a cool story I will post later. I took a picture of the placard that explained it because I knew I wouldn’t remember it. I also thought it was cool because it was the only story I believed hahaha. Only because it had a little historical placard at the front. I could talk a lot more about this and tell lots of freaky stories but I am so tired. So if you wanna know more about the creepy history of Edinburgh let me know.

After that we wandered around trying to find this place called chocolate soup where they apparently have amazing hot chocolate. After like an hour of searching we found that it has strangely disappeared. It was the saddest. So then we decided to try and find milkshakes. Random I know. And bad. I shouldn’t have. But we found this Italian place that had super good ice cream. We went in and sat down and I saw that they had sticky toffee pudding. I have been wanting to try a traditional English dessert so bad so I ordered it. It was so good. So in the UK pudding means cake basically. So it was a warm chocolate cake with toffee and chocolate sauce and whipped cream and super good ice cream. SO GOOD. Warm cake and ice cream are my weakness. And yeah! That was basically my day! Oh! We also walked past the end of the military tattoo so we got to see all the super legit uniforms and hear the bagpipes. We will be seeing all of that tomorrow and I’m stoked! I still don’t know exactly what it is yet so I will explain tomorrow when I know more. Also we saw the fireworks from tattoo so that was a fun way to end the night J

Also another thing I forgot! So I got off the elevator (or lift if you’re feeling british) at the hostel, I turn to walk out, and there’s my relief society advisor from BYU! Crazy right!?!? She actually went to sky view so have a lot of connections! But it turns out the other byu London study abroad program is here in Edinburgh as well! We had no idea! So that was fun to see her. Dad- it was the doctors daughter you always talk to me about. Oh and I also found schwarma for dinner. It was fine.. but not even close to taza’s back home in London. Sad.

That’s my day! More Edinburgh adventures tomorrow! Hope everyone is fantastic! 

the road to Edinburgh- August 2

Today we made it to Edinburgh! I’m officially in Scotland! Wahoo!

So today involved a lot of bus riding so it will probably be a pretty quick post. So we got up and had breakfast at our hotel which was great. Then we hopped on the coach and rode for about two hours until we got to Fountains Abbey. This abbey was a lot like tintern abbey, it is in ruins! It was HUGE though and of course really beautiful. This one was also interesting because it wasn’t the typical layout at all. I will let you see from the pictures. It was really neat though, very picturesque. There was a little river right next to it and the grounds were kept really nicely. The lawn was all mowed and you could tell they take good care of it.

After that it was back on the coach and of to Hadrians Wall to hike! This was optional but I decided to do it! It was about 3 miles and took us about 2 hours. We started at the remains of an old roman fort along the wall which is actually the best roman ruins in all of Britain I guess. It was pretty cool but mostly just rocks so nothing too interesting. It still is weird to me that Britain was ruled by the Romans. I guess there’s actually a theory that Christ visited the British isles during his younger years that there are no records of. Interesting stuff right? Who knows.

So after that we did our little hike and it was beautiful! We were technically in Northumberland National Park and it is a really pretty place. Not the Lake District, but still beautiful. I really like all the pine trees and big rivers. It reminds me of home. For the hike we basically followed the wall, which is kind of up on a ridge, so we were able to overlook the countryside for miles and miles. We were so lucky we had good weather. It was cool to see all the fields that kind of look like they make patchwork quilts. And of course you have the sheep everywhere. I freaking love sheep. I still am set on being a black sheep in Wales in my next life. So we hiked and hiked and hiked and then ended in this little town called Once Brewed. And by little town I mean it had like one building, the Visitors Centre. Which makes no sense. But I guess it’s called Once Brewed because back in the day this guy owned a brewery and everyone complained of it being too weak so it became notorious for that. Freaking random right?

I’m sorry this post is gonna suck but I am currently freaking out trying to finish my Disney paperwork on this shizzy hostel internet and I can’t call the office and I’m exhausted. So bear with me.

So we got little treats there because we were gonna be on the road again for a while. I got two flapjacks, which are not pancakes. They are like glorified granola bars and they are super good. I swear food here is just a ton better than back home. It will be sad to go back. But anyways then it was back on the coach for about two hours. We stopped at the Scottish border and took pictures! So that was exciting.

Then back on the coach.. and finally Edinburgh! Our final destination on our lovely North Trip. We are staying in a hostel in a good spot near the center of the city. I have to say… this place is really interesting. Not sure how I feel about it yet. The first thing we did was have a little orientation tour lead by a former BYU student who is getting his PhD here at a university. My first impressions were that this place is 1) really really dark. I don’t if it’s the stone they use, the fact that’s it’s really far north, or what, but it is just not a cheery place. Second of all, the big festival is coming up. It’s all this really really sketchy fringe stuff so it is super risqué. So all these posters are basically plastered across the town and there is all sorts of nasty things going on. Seriously. Let your imagination run wild.. I guarantee they have it here. So that was scary. Next, all the places we walked by were these scary bars and tattoo shops and stuff. It did not come across as an inviting or friendly place. They use all this purple lighting so it kind of has this dark glow.. It’s just all so eerie! I do not like it! Finally the people. I literally feel like I’m walking around a bunch of circus freaks. Everyone here is all edgy and looks like they just found this new obsession with the punk rock look. So they dress really fashionable but just super funky. Like a crack addict let loose in American Apparel. Yep. So at first I was definitely sketched out.

We started walking to the other side of town and it got better, however. Our ‘guide’ took us to the café where JK Rowling wrote a lot of Harry Potter, as well as the cemetery where a guy named Tom Riddle is buried, who inspired her with the Voldemort character. There is also a private school just outside that cemetery that apparently was the model for Hogwarts. So that was pretty cool. This is also where they have all the Olympic décor up so that was a lot more cheery. I think in the Capitol of Scotland Wales and England they have the big rings on display so we found those. OH I totally forgot. This whole walk we were walking around the Edinburgh castle… most legit thing I have ever seen. Seriously. It’s perched up on top of this hill and it’s HUGE and it’s freaking intimidating! We are touring it at some point so I will fill you in on that later. Around this area is also a lot of Scandinavian looking architecture, especially in the churches. You can tell we are a lot further North, close to Norway.. so there are definitely influences here! I want to go to Norway so bad!! But it’s beautiful, so that’s the part of the city I really like. We walked through two cemeteries and I have to say.. this whole city is super eerie. Like everywhere you turn there is an ad for a ghost tour and I can see why. This place is freaking creepy. Like I said earlier I think it’s mostly how dark their stone is and everything here is just so gray. But these cemeteries were legitly the scariest ones I think I have ever been in. it’s cool though! I kind of like it.

After our little tour we were let loose for dinner and we got some indian food. It was good! Probably the best I’ve had since our west trip to cornwall. Surprisingly the best Indian food I’ve had this whole trip was definitely in Tintagel… which is so random. You’d think it’d be in London for sure. This place was good though. There are a lot of cool places to eat here and lots of history so I am excited to get a little familiar with the city.

Im gonna hit the hay! Pray for me that I get my freaking Disney stuff to work cause I’m kind of freaking out! Tomorrow we are going to Glasgow for Olympic soccer! We are watching Sweden and France! So I’m gonna pretend I’m Swedish for the day J

York- August 1

NOTE: this is just a temporary post without pictures! be sure to check all my other posts from the north trip, they're the ones with dates! enjoy and i will add pics when I can! 

Hello from York!

Today we left our hostel at 9 o’clock after having another good breakfast. It was sad to leave the Lake District! It truly is a beautiful place and I miss feeling at home L. We had a long bus ride to York! I am surprised at how big this city is. I guess its like 250,000 people. It’s weird because the only city I only really think about in England is London.

Okay well anyways our first attraction was this thing called Jorvik! (pronounced your-vick) A lot like the Roman attractions in London, it’s built on top of Viking ruins they found in the 1970s. There is a glass floor so you can see exactly what they found, which is pretty cool. It was neat to see Viking stuff because you don’t see any of that in London. It makes me want to visit Norway soooo bad! But this is where it got weird. The main part of the Jorvik experience is a ride! I guess people love it cause this place had a HUGE line and it was not cheap! But so this ride…  it’s kind of operated like Peter Pan in Disneyland. Your little car is attached to a track above you and you kind of float along the scenery below/around you. The scenery in this case is the reconstruction of a Viking village, complete with talking animatronics (they speak Norwegian or Danish or something, then the lady computer voice translates for you), smells, sounds, animals… it’s wild. The smells are totally disgusting. So you go through houses, a market, the shore complete with fisherman… and get this. The last scene is a Viking man using the latrine. I could not believe it! Complete with sound effects and some moss in his hand to clean up when he is done! Oh my gosh! It was crazy!!! Hahahaha. They had a funny gift shop after and I got a scratch and sniff postcard for my family so yeah. Get excited for that guys. Also they have ‘real vikings’ dressed up so I got a picture with them.

After that we had some free time to get lunch. Me and Chelsea went to this place called the Danish kitchen which we thought would be good. It was a total dud! Probably the first bad luck we’ve had with food this trip but oh well. It was funny.. it kind of reminded me of Angie’s with the really random decorations and whatnot. But anyways. I ended up getting some yogurt and granola at a Boots because I was still hungry after that experience. But we still had some free time so we decided to explore a little more. We had no idea what we were doing but we ended up on the most famous street, the Shambles! It is so cool! It dates back to midevil times. It is super narrow and the buildings are all really cool looking and saggy. Later we found out this is what Diagon Alley was modeled after! Yay for Harry Potter references J. York is known for it’s candy so we went in some of those shops (didn’t get anything).. but Chelsea did get some chocolates and they were dang good. They had a chocolate factory museum thing that we were gonna do but everything closes too freaking early.

So then it was time to meet up to go the York Minster. So this is the York Cathedral! It is HUGE which I was not expecting. I always thought Westminster Abbey was the biggest by a lot, but it’s actually this place. It is super old too! It dates back to the 1200s and before that was the site for Roman and Anglo Saxon and all sorts of stuff. It was interesting to learn that Constantine the Emperor of Rome was actually crowned in York! How crazy is that? You’d think all that stuff was only for legit Romans from Italy. But there were so many cool stories attached to cathedral. That’s why I like guided tours of them. This one was interesting because It’s roofs were actually wooden, but plastered then painted to look like stone. I guess this was because they were scared of roofs collapsing.. but of course this meant that the roof has caught on fire 3 or 4 times. But other than that everything is original! Including the stained glass, which is a big deal. During the end of our tour the choir started practicing for evensong so it was cool to be walking around and hear the amazing acoustics at work.

After that we had more free time so we wandered and shopped till everything closed at 6. I hate how early everything closes here!! But I found a cool dress store and got a dress… then I was bad and went to Top Shop which is totally in London but I got some good stuff. Then it was time for dinner. We really needed to make up for lunch so I was being especially picky. We totally nailed it, I wont lie. We ate in this legit old house that the hostess said was like 800 years old.. it definitely looked the part. It was SO cool. And it had a lot of traditional stuff! Ah I loved it! Me Chelsea and Taylor were all freaking out cause it was so cool. I got a butternut squash risotto and it was amazing. So yummy. That was probably the highlight of my day!

Now we are back at our hotel! It is outside of the town centre, which is also kind of cool to explain. So the midevil wall is still standing and that surrounds the ‘city’ that has all the good shopping and stuff. There are no coaches allowed in there and it’s pretty cool. We are a few blocks outside of it at a place called the Ibis Hotel. It’s nice! Me and Chelsea have our own room which is really nice. We watched some Olympics in our room and now we’re watching Anastasia on her iPad. I have to say it’s really funny to watch the Olympics from a British channel and not an American channel. They focus on what GB is good at.. which isn’t a lot haha. They are really making a fuss over that guy that just won the Tour De France and the time trial today so that is cool. But it’s also cool to see America dominate.. like today I got to see Phelps and Lochte so that was cool. They call them the ‘big boys’ over here and everyone knows they are untouchable. It’s fun!

Tomorrow we head to Edinburg! I am excited! Talk to you later J

Windermere- July 31

NOTE: I will add pictures later, this is just a temporary update on my North Trip! make sure to check them all out!

Hi everyone! It’s day two here in the Lake District and I am exhausted! This is the earliest I’ve been able to be in bed this whole trip and I love it! I just got done writing some postcards J

So we started out this morning getting breakfast here at our hostel! Our hostel is so nice I can’t get over it. I let myself try a bit of a traditional English breakfast with sausage, beans, and eggs. It was good! I also had a bit of bran cereal. After that we took the coach back to Dove Cottage. Today we had the amazing opportunity to actually handle manuscripts and letters from the Wordsworth Trust that are originals from William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge themselves! It was amazing! We basically spent the whole morning with the curator and it was just a very big deal. They filmed the whole thing and our professor was taking pictures like crazy. I wasn’t really looking forward to this but it ended up being so cool. Handling the letters and first drafts of Wordsworth’s poems made the whole scene really come to life. It was so cool because we have been studying him so much in my English literature class. Also all the stuff we did last night helped too. 

Halfway through our session we had a break for tea. But we didn’t have tea J haha we did have a little assortment of cake and cookies though! It was the cutest thing ever... they also had vimto, ribena, and water for us. They also had this homemade secret recipe seed cake and ginger bread. It was amazing. I hate gingerbread and I thought it was so good. They gave us a little souvenir menu that also included some of the things we had last night and it was cool because everything they serve us (except the vimto and ribena obviously) are old recipes they would have used back in the day. So after that we went back up and looked at some more documents. Then the curator wanted us to give little presentations! I guess he really really liked our group. They are redoing the ‘experience’ at Dove Cottage soon and wanted our feedback, so we split into groups and gave presentations on what we would like to see in the cottage, garden, and museum. They even filmed us! So we were feeling pretty special.

After this we went back to Ambleside/Windermere for free time and lunch. I saw some roadbikers on the way and DAD you would DIE if you biked here. I don’t think you could ever bike in Logan again after seeing this place. But Professor Christianson recommended this place called Apple Pie Café and it was amazing. I got an egg and cress filled roll. A lot of people got pastries and they all looked yummy! We then walked through town, stopped at the post office to get some stamps and in a random cute store that reminded me a ton of the Sportsman in downtown Logan. It’s so funny; literally every other shop here is a hiking store. I want to just hike nonstop! And I have to say again how beautiful it is here. I feel like I’m in the Swiss Alps. I love it. But also I have to say right at the middle of the town square there’s a church then a little green that has a mini golf course. It reminds me so much of the mini golfing up at Sweetwater up at Bear Lake. This place just makes me so homesick! But at the same time I never want to leave. Haha so it’s a rough life. But Chelsea and me headed back over to our hostel because we wanted to get out on the water somehow! We didn’t have a lot of time though. So we went to the canoe rental place run by the hostel and the guy said he was going to close early because the water was getting choppy so we were bummed. So we started heading back into town but then we saw some other girls in our group getting rowboats at the rental place next to us, so we went for that! The guy running it must’ve liked us because he gave us a boat for free! The other girls had to pay 5 pounds each! He told me not to tell though so keep it a secret for me okay ;) but it was so fun! We rowed around for like 30 minutes then had to head back to Ambleside to meet for our big hike!

The hike was beautiful! I won’t say too much because I have pictures, but pictures don’t do it justice. I have decided this place is like the Yellowstone of England! It just doesn’t have the big animals or the geothermal crap. I shouldn’t say crap because it’s cool crap. But you get my point. Anyways, There are sheep everywhere, which I love. I just want to be a sheep and chill here in England. That would be the life! We mostly followed this rock wall up a little mini mountain so it was pretty intense for a bit, but not as bad as the psycho hike we did in Cornwall. There were lots of beautiful streams and of course beautiful views of the lake. We also found this big cave thing! So that was sweet. Oh and we saw deer J also made me miss home. Dang deer! That took about three hours so we did some major work! We were all super ready for dinner so we came back into Ambleside and went to this Italian place! It was the first Italian food I’ve had the whole trip, which is surprising because it’s seriously everywhere. I got broccoli and blue cheese lasagna and it was pretty good! We were supposed to go on another mini hike to a waterfall but dinner took a long time and it started raining pretty hard, so we bailed. Then we walked back to our hostel in Windermere, which is like 15 minutes away. And now here I am!

I really wish we had more time here because I would love to see Beatrix Potter’s home and spend more time in Ambleside, hiking, and just enjoying the scenery and the lake. But mom said that we could come back so mom I am holding you to that by posting this publicly!

I am gonna start making a study guide for finals next week then I am going to bed!! Tomorrow we head to York and are spending the night. Yeahoo! 

Feeling right at home – July 30

NOTE: I will have to add pictures at a later time because my computer is about to die! Here are my updates from our North Trip!!! 

Hello! I am here in my bunkbed at our hostel in Ambleside on the shores of Lake Windermere in the Lake District. It is BEAUTIFUL! But we did lots of other things before we got here so I will start there.

So we got on the coach at like 7:45, had to get out of London before rush hour hit! Our first stop was Cambridge! We had about two hours there. It was beautiful! The campus itself reminded me a lot of Hampton Court with all the red brick and stuff. Which I guess makes sense because Christopher Wren also designed some of the buildings there. I have to admit I wasn’t as intimidated by Cambridge as I was by Oxford. I think that’s because we were immediately introduced to the BYU students that are doing the summer program there. (definitely thinking about doing that!!) first we had a lecture by Dr. Kerry, the professor that oversees the exchange program we do with Cambridge. BYU, along with Harvard and Yale, provide the most students to the program. Isn’t that cool? BYU actually has the largest group on average. Crazy right? So we had this little lecture on the history of the school. It was basically created by the people that got sick of Oxford… and it’s funny because the people that got sick of Cambridge went and established Harvard! So they’re all connected. But people like CS Lewis, Isaac Newton, and AA Milne have all studied there so it’s freaking cool.

Unlike Oxford we didn’t have quite as much free time to go see all the museums and bookstore and whatnot, our main event was punting the cam!! So I’m sure you are confused, just like we all were when we found out we were ‘punting’. Punting means pushing a little gondola boat! So picture the famous gondolas in Venice… now put it in the middle of Cambridge with a byu student driving it. It was great. They are self hire, when you rent one you don’t get a driver. You do it yourself! So we all had a go and most of us were terrible, especially the girls. But it was beautiful! The Cam is the river. It used to be named something else but they changed it to go with the name of the town, Cambridge. It was so beautiful with all the bridges and willows and beautiful flowers. Plus it was a sunny day! The cam winds behind almost all of the colleges so we got to see them too. It was cool stuff.

After that we went straight back to the coach. Before we started our long long drive, we took a bathroom break. Apparently the  Cambridge American Cemetery has the best facilities around there, so we stopped there. I am so glad we did! It reminded me so much of Arlington it was INSANE. I seriously felt like I was in DC with all the marble and American flags. Wow. I had no idea that the military had cemetaries overseas. But I guess when you enlist you can choose to be interred at places other than the states. I was looking at a map and there are like 20 worldwide! Mostly in France. But all together there were about 8000 soldiers buried there. There was also a hugeee wall with all these names that were there to memorialize soldiers that were never found. Kind of the equivalent to the tomb of the unknown soldier. Professor Jacoby asked one of the workers and I guess most of these names were pilots that were lost over German occupied territory. This place was crazy. It was definitely sacred ground and it made me proud to be an American. It also made me homesick like crazy, because like I said it was so much like DC it was blowing my mind.

So after that we started our real trip! I was asleep for most of it, I wont lie. One funny thing that happened though... in the UK they are so picky about how long their bus drivers drive for. So after a certain amount of time we are required by law to stop at rest stops. They have little computers on the buses and if you don’t stop the driver gets fined! So it’s pretty nit-picky. So we stopped at this goofy rest stop that had a hotel and a bunch of places to get food and it was really funny. But guess what family I found VIMTO! The purple soda from Senegal! I have seen before but I didn’t get it… it’s so good!

Okay so then it was another two hours or so to the Lake District, which is actually a national park! Didn’t know that. We passed between Liverpool and Manchester.. didn’t go through them, but I saw the exits so that was kind of cool. Anyways, this is the part when I got SO homesick. I am going crazy without my mountains you guys!! The lake district obviously has lots of lakes and some little mountains! And it’s super super green and has pine trees… it reminds me so much of redfish lake in Idaho. I would give anything to be there! What makes it worse is that my mimi called me today and told me how she was at the ranch and I miss it so much! But anyways this place is BEAUTIFUL. It’s just as pretty as Wales and I didn’t think that was possible! Oh my goodness. I will just let the pictures do the talking but I’m obsessed. All the stone cottages and streams and the MOUNTAINS and trees! Ah!

First we went to this place called dove cottage, which is where the poet William Wordsworth lived during the romantic era. We have been studying his work so it was cool to see it all brought together. He has some beautiful property in a place called Grasmere. We had dinner there made by the people that run the foundation! It was so adorable! We walked in and they had the little fire going in the parlor and we had all traditional food that he would’ve eaten back in the day. Some boiled potatoes, a stew with lamb and potatoes and rice, and mushed carrots and turnips which was surprisingly yummy. Then we had homemade lemonade and lemon custard which was really, really yummy. After that we explored the little cottage and the gardens. I liked going through this house because it has a lot of artifacts from Wordsworth himself… as opposed to dumb Anne Hathaway cottage which is totally different from how it was in her day. In the garden and in the parlor some of the students recited poetry from Wordsworth which was really cool. For our class we have to memorize 28 lines of poetry and recite it to the class so it was cool to see it done where this guy actually wrote it. I can see why he would be writing poetry here though! Heck, I might be able to write poetry here! The scenery is soooo pretty! Okay… I probably wouldn’t be able to write poetry no matter how pretty the scenery. But still.

After that we came over here to Windermere, which is a little town right on the shores of the lake. It is so cute. I could die. We checked into our hostel and of course it’s literally right on the lake. I don’t know how we are so lucky. This hostel is really nice! It’s more like a hotel with lots of rooms and levels. It also has it’s own restaurant and bar and rents out lots of sailboats and kayaks. I think I might kayak tomorrow during free time! But we went on a little walk around the shore and it was so beautiful. It was one of those moments where you just kind of zone out and think how amazing the world is. That was corny. But seriously. Then Chelsea and me came back and had the most amazing hot chocolate in the world from a funny bartender that didn’t speak very good English but was totally hitting on Chelsea. So funny. And now I am in my bunk! I am so proud of myself because I actually showered here at the hostel! Can check that off my bucket list now! But anyways this won’t get posted till I have Internet but I am thinking of you all! Much love!