Stratford-upon-Avon.

Self-timer picture of me, Hailey, Ethan, Abbie and Kaleb.

On Thursday we had our trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. We saw the cottage of Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare's wife) and the birthplace of Shakespeare. We went to the cemetery where Shakespeare is buried, and walked around and had a nice time hanging out. We met just after lunchtime to see Henry IV at the Old Courtyard Theater. It was a really good production, although most of us got a little sleepy in the middle. It was a fun day, and the play was cool.

Lord of the Rings

Amanda, Me, Alicia, Britney

On Wednesday night Sabrina, Amanda, Alicia, Britney and I went to the Lord of the Rings musical. It was an amazing play! The set and special effects were great. It was definitely the best set I've seen so far. The music is also really nice, and I'm probably going to get the soundtrack. We had really good seats for a good price. We were in the fifth row down in the stalls, so we were really close to the stage. It was a great experience.

Cold, no, freezing showers

I just thought I'd write a little post about the shower situation here... I'll start with a bit of an introduction. On Saturday evening when we arrived home from Scotland, everyone was thinking about a nice shower in our own bathrooms and stuff. Well we got home and were informed that the hot water wasn't working. There were signups on the doors to shower in the professors' flats, where the hot water was working. I just wanted a shower so badly, without any hassle, that I braved the cold water. This water isn't just lukewarm, or coldish, or even cold. It is like ice water. There isn't a drop of warmth in it. It hurts my head and makes it hard to breathe for a few moments, and some girls have complained about numb feet. The upside is that as soon as I get out and dry off, I feel so warm. So the hot water isn't fixed yet, and I have been taking cold showers this week. You just don't feel quite as clean, so I took a hot shower in one of the professors' flats once. It isn't a huge deal, and I'm really glad I'm here and stuff, but it a little difficult.

Arthur's Seat

At the top of Arthur's Seat. When we were up there waiting for the picture, it was really scary, because we could have easily blown off. We had to make sure we were hanging on tightly.

Loch Ness

Standing barefoot in Loch Ness! So freezing...

Edinburgh Castle

Amanda, Sabrina, Hailey, Me, Brittany

a wee little post about Scotland

First things first: I love Scotland. The atmosphere in Scotland was amazing- I just felt happy and free and everyone was so nice there, always asking about us and talking to us. It was like everyone wanted to be connected and they were, and I felt like being there made me a part of it.

Wednesday night we took an overnight bus to Edinburgh, and arrived around 8 on Thursday morning. Although the bus wasn't the nicest and it was hard to sleep, it was a great way to go because we were able to start our day bright and early. There were 17 of us, and we headed over to the Castle Rock Hostel, which is right next to Edinburgh Castle. We checked in and then split into groups and headed off. With the girls in my group, we spent the day exploring. We saw the castle, cool ruins, a cemetery, and checked out the shops and stuff. It was a lot of fun to just explore and walk around without feeling any rush.

On Friday we had a bus tour to Loch Ness planned. As soon as we got on the bus at eight that morning we knew it'd be great. We had a really fun tour guide, Bill, who kept us entertained between his jokes and his passionate love for Scotland. I learned so much about Scotland's history, and in an interesting way. The bus actually broke down just after we saw Loch Ness, but I didn't even feel like it ruined the day because it had been so good.

Saturday morning Hailey, Sabrina, Amanda and I went to breakfast at Chocolate Soup, where we had some delicious chocolate pancakes. They were wonderful! Hailey and I then hiked Arthur's Seat. It was a pretty long hike, and at the top the wind was crazy. Hailey and I really were holding on for our lives when we were at the top. It was so much fun. As we headed down, we stopped to lay in the grass and stayed for awhile. Altogether we spent a few hours up there, and when we came down, we had lunch and went to the National Portrait Gallery before we had to catch the bus to the airport.

Scotland was a fantastic trip, and I am so grateful I was able to go. I feel like I was able to learn a lot about the history of Scotland and something about the people, as well.

Leaving for Scotland!

I just thought I'd leave a little post since I'm leaving tonight for Scotland and I'll be gone through Saturday. I'm so excited and hopefully I'll have some fun posts up when I get back!

Chinese New Year!

This is at Oxford Circus in London, and I just thought these Chinese lanterns made of lights looked really cool.

Stoke Poges

Me and Betsy

Windsor

The trees that line the long walk, which is just to the left.

Runnymede

Abbie, Kaleb, Hailey

On Wednesday we had a little outing to Runnymede, Windsor and Stoke Poges. It was a lovely little day, starting in Runnymede, where we just walked through a meadow and part of the woods to see a couple monuments and such. It was nice to be outside and walking around, even though it was muddy and cold, and some weren't dressed too well for that. Windsor is and awesome castle, and the long walk, a long, tree-lined walkway, was beautiful. We drew a little and walked through the castle and looked at all the cool armor and weapons and such. Stoke Poges has a little church and cemetery, famous because of a poem, and fun because we had another poet, David Anthony, who showed us around. It was really pretty. To sum up the day, I saw so many beautiful things, especially some of the things outside. It was a great day because we were outside most of the time and it was pretty relaxed.

Valentine's Day!

My St. Valentine's Day earns a post. This is why: Antonio Banderas. On Vday morning we had drawing class, so we headed off to the V&A Museum. We drew for a couple of hours and then Abbie and I were slowly looking at some things on our way to meet Sabercat. Abbie walks up to me and says, "Those two people behind me are famous. Is that Antonio Banderas?" I turned around and there he was, with Melanie Griffith. They were in the same section as us, looking at some art. Not only that, but they made their way over and the four of us were looking at the same sculpture at the same time. It was very exciting. We scampered off to tell our professor, Joe, and he sent us off with his two younger kids, who we used to get autographs...haha. So anyways, little Hannah and I went up and asked for an autograph and he signed my sketchbook, pictured above. It was pretty exciting, especially because no one else in the museum really noticed. And this is what makes a great Valentine's day.

Woman in Black

Alyssa, Kaitlyn, Me, Hailey, Abbie, Erin

Oxford

This is inside part of Merton College campus, part of Oxford.

Oh man, it's kind of been awhile since I've posted, and I didn't really do a good job talking about Paris, but I wanted to talk about some of the highlights of the last week or so.

Last Wednesday we had a group excursion to Oxford, which was amazing. Oxford is so pretty! There are all these lovely little shops, I went into Blackwell's art and poster shop and wanted to buy all the prints and postcards they had. The Ashmolean museum is small, but has several great exhibits. There was one of a bunch of Chinese prints that were truly beautiful. There were old violins and harpsichords, which were really cool, because they're some pieces of art I haven't seen much of in the museums I've been to. Hailey and I accidently went into Merton College in Oxford and walked around an area we weren't really supposed to be in, but it was worth it. The campuses are just so beautiful, and hard to describe with words.

On Thursday night some of us girls went to a play called Woman in Black. We went last week because it's about to end and a few others went and loved it. It's a really different type of play--supposed to be scary. And it was. I definitely screamed quite a bit, along with others in the theatre. I was just glad that Abbie and Hailey were willing to hold hands. Haha.

Friday started out with really nice weather, and it continued all weekend. It was sunny and not too cold, so I spent all of Friday and Saturday outside, playing football (soccer) with others, reading in the park, running and strolling around outside and in the parks.

Sunday was a nice end to the weekend because we got to church in an hour, which is king of amazing. It's the first time the line that is our only direct route was open on the way to church, so we were early and had a nice sacrament meeting and such. I really like my sunbeams, they're so fun. We went outside for part of our lesson, which was about the creations Heavenly Father made for us because He loves us.

To end my post, today Rocky and I went with Chris--the 14 year old son of Professor Hoffman--to volunteer at an after-school homework program. He is helping as his Eagle project, so a lot of us signed up to help on different days. It was fun and felt good to be involved in part of the community while I'm here.

first glimpse of heidi in paris

Well I'm back in London as of late Friday night. Paris was so much fun and I have a lot to write about it, but it'll will take a few days to get it all on here. I ate so many crepes with nutella and I had some really good paninis. I spent a lot of time in museums and drew a lot for my art class. My sketchbook is a really nice memento because I drew something at almost every site we went to. We took an evening boat ride on the Seine the first night and it was so cold! It was cold the whole week and rainy part of the time, but it was so much fun and I learned a lot. I am really glad I was able to go and it was a great experience. I will be adding more over the next couple days!