The Strangest Play Known To Man

I love my cat. She is the most adorable thing int he world--but when it comes to human-animal relationships, there are definitely boundaries. The play War Horse, however, would disagree. Monday night, as a group we went to go see this production, and I'm not going to lie--it was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in my entire life. It's a story about a boy named Albert and his horse, Joey. Joey however, gets drafted into the war as a war horse and its up to Albert to reunite with his beloved horse once again. The entire time Caitlin and I honestly could not figure out if Albert was supposed to be mentally challenged, or if it was just the horrible way in which the actor who played Albert spoke. Either way, it was the cheesiest and strangest play I've ever seen and that play really made me question where our money is going in this program. But, I must admit that the puppeteering in the play was really cool and sometimes I even forgot that the people were there (all of the animals in the play were puppets--including the horses).

All in all, definitely a strange night.

Tuesday, we woke up and got ready to go on our hike with George

--this adorable old man who is in the Wansworth Stake Presidency here in London. Well, being an honorary member of dorm 4, I ran a little late, and Caitlin, Emma, Macy, Jenny and I BARELY made it onto the train on time to get to the lovely English countryside. Well, actually, most of us barely made it--Macy got lost on the way there and didnt make it onto the bus and it was so so sad. but kind of funny. Anyways, we eventually got to our destination and embarked out onto the hike with George and his two brothers as our guides. Despite the cold weather, the scenery was gorgeous and I loved every second of our excursion--minus the hike up the extremely steep hill---I almost slipped because it was so steep. I wouldnt have been surprised if the hill itself turned into a 90 degree angle. After a picnic by a little stream and some buffalo, stops at a few random places and a food shop, we eventually made it back to the train station after hiking 9.6 miles. My calves definitely felt the aftermath of that hike for the next few days.

In this picture, I highly resemble your classic BYU student...tennis shoes and all. So attractive.

(our tour guides--the three brothers Chittock)

That night, we came home and had a very delicious dinner--spaghetti, broccoli and salad--and then Terri made us the best cookies I've ever had in my life! After dinner, I took a nap and then some of us went and saw the new Alice in Wonderland. I loved it! It was such a good movie and I highly recommend it to everyone. Have I mentioned that I love Johnny Depp's movies? He's such a great actor.

Sad story: on our way home from the movie, I spilled Diet Coke in my purse and it got all over my camera. I didnt realize it had spilled until I got home, so I took out my camera, cleaned it off, turned it on, and--nothing. It's completely dead. I tried putting it in a bowl of rice to sick out the water, but it was no good. I'm so sad about my little camera.... Time to go shopping!

Wednesday, we woke up at 6AM to have breakfast and get ready for our day trip. I got to sit in the back of the bus and my experience was tarnished by our bus driver Tony, who doubled as a tour guide and felt the need to narrate our entire drive through the already very familiar London while we all tried to sleep. Luckily, I had earplugs so I was able to peacefully slumber until we arrived at our first destination--Stourhead. Here we saw the temples of Hercules and Apollo. The Temple of Apollo was very well known amongst our group because its the setting for the famous scene between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice where Darcy confesses his love. This picture may ring a few bells to P&P fans:

unfortunately, however, when I was there, the temple looked like this:

not quite as romantic... stupid scaffolding.

Fortunately, however, the sun was out so we were able to enjoy really great views of the rest of the garden, the lake, and the temple of Hercules.

After Stourhead, we made our way on over to Jane Austen's house! Given that I'm a huge Jane Austen fan, I really enjoyed this part of our trip and I even got an old copy of Pride and Prejudice that apparently was a gift to a woman named Betty. After Jane Austen's House, we drove over to Winchester. Now, in Winchester the highlight of our trip was supposed to be the Cathedral, however I'm not going to lie--I'm completely sick of cathedrals. They're all the same to me now. Luckily Winchester Cathedral had Jane Austen's grave so that made it semi-interesting, however after taking pictures of Jane's memorial and headstone, we left to go to Subway since we were all hungry. There, we were served by a very friendly British young man who had a great time making fun of our accents. We were thrilled when we heard that our time in Winchester was going to be cut by half an hour (they always give us far more time than we actually need in each of our destinations) and that we were going to be back home earlier that night. Before we knew it, we were all back home at the centre and I spent the night hanging out with my roommates before hitting my pillow.

(us in front of Jane Austen's house--even though it looks like a brick wall, I promise, it's really a house.)

Thursday, we woke up and had our Shakespeare class and afterwards we all did a little bit of homework for the afternoon....I tried to finish reading Wuthering Heights, but due to my lack of sleep this week, I ended up falling asleep and taking a little nap before dinner. We had chicken with mango salsa, rice with pine nut, this salad with mandarin oranges, kiwis, pecans and some sort of mango dressing, and green beans and it was a really delicious and healthy meal. After dinner, Emma, Caitlin, Macy and I all left to go see Les Miserables! We got to the theater and got some good tickets and candy from Cool Britannia. I really loved the show, but I must admit that it didn't change my life like everyone had told me it would. My favorite part was definitely Maurice or Marion or whatever the main guy's name was--he was very attractive. As was the colored vest man who leads the student's riot. My least favorite part was the general cop man who looked like a rat. I hated that man...but despite his presence I had a really good night.

Funny story: on our way home on the tube, I asked Caitlin if she had finished her entire bag of candy like she predicted she would. After she said no, the British guy sitting next to me says, "you know you shouldn't eat candy... it's bad for your teeth. The sugars get all caught up in between them." I, shocked that a Brit was giving me advice on how to take care of my teeth, said, "yeah, I think I'll be alright.... I floss a lot." He says in reply, "Flossing?? Yeah, we don't do that over here... that must be an American thing." Yeah, I can TELL!

This is WAR, peacock!

Religion class is always exciting. It's also always a great opportunity to blog. So, here I am, not listening to Dave... reminiscing back upon the last few days...

Wednesday was yet another day trip. I was on kitchen crew, so everything was extra stressful, but lo and behold we eventually made our way to our first destination, Warwick Castle. Warwick Castle was basically a medieval disneyland because they had tons of attractions surrounding the castle. There were people dressed up, a moderate haunted house type of thing called the London Dungeon, the Princess Tower (dont get too excited about this unless you're 8 or younger), a peacock garden, etc. I definitely did not dress warm enough so I was pretty much freezing the entire time...however, I had a good enough time regardless.

at the very very top of a tower at the Castle

Peacocks!!!

After Warwick Castle, we drove to Anne Hathaway's house--not the actress, Shakespeare's wife. We took a tour through the house and I got an adorable mug there that I'm really excited about. After we hopped back on the bus, we arrived in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which is where Shakespeare was born, and took a tour around Shakespeare's actual house. It was pretty interesting, however, once again my experience was plagued by the freezing weather. Nonetheless, it was a really cute little town and we looked around some of the shops before making our way over to the Nash House. After hearing an incredibly exciting dictation of information from an old man there, Emma, Caitlin and I settled down with some hot chocolate in Starbucks to pass the time before seeing King Lear. At 7:15 we arrived in the theater in Stratford-Upon-Avon and settled down into our seats for the production. I was happily surprised with the play--we had seen Twelfth Night the week before and I hated it, however, King Lear was a really great and capturing experience. The acting was great, but the set was really what impressed me the most--everything was really realistic; they had real rain and when Gloucester got his eyes stabbed out, it was so believable that I was cringing the entire time. After the play, we drove back home (where I completely passed out sleeping) and went to bed.

Anne Hathaway's house

Calvin and I in front of the house Shakespeare was born in!

Thursday was a class day, and after classes we decided to get some homework done and go to Samuel Johnson's house for our English literature class. However, I had no desire to do my hair that day, so my friends and I dressed Euro-Chic. For everyone who doesn't live in London, Euro-Chic is a style adopted by every young female in the city ages 16-25, where you mix and match all sorts of strange combinations of clothing (this mixture almost always includes a chunky scarf, flats, leggings, and some sort of sparkly or sequin accessory) with extremely messy hair. Think grungy/high fashion. If you still can't picture it in your head, here are some pictures to illustrate this peculiar style:

Yesterday, (Friday), we woke up early, had breakfast, and then had a meeting with this important guy from the Kennedy Center, and then left to go to John Keat's house in Hampstead and then Kenwood house after treading through the heath. My shoes weren't happy about this experience. After, we went to Camden Market where I got really good chinese food and a donut, and a really cute vest. We came back that night and I watched a movie for my Shakespeare class and then spent the rest of the night hanging out with people from the centre. It was a really fun day.

the gorgeous view from Kenwood House

this picture is an excellent representation of the amount of sleep that I get here in London...

**note, I didnt actually finish blogging during religion, so I'm picking up from where I left off. It's now 1 AM.**

Today after class, Emma, Caitlin, Macy and I went to get tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace. Well, by the time I got there I wasn't really feeling like tea (herbal, of course), so I ordered a lemonade (which was as natural and tart as lemonade can get) and a slice of carrot cake, and then we all shared some cute finger sandwiches.

After, we walked over to Cool Britannia in Picadilly Circus to get some candy for friends/family (and maybe we ate some of it, maybe we didn't), and then we went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum! I wasn't really excited because I've already been to the one in New York, but let me say that I was absolutely not disappointed! It was so much fun! There were so many celebrity figurines that I hadn't seen before, plus this one had a little Disneyland type of ride that took you through the history of London AND it had a haunted house in it! We didnt quite realize the haunted house part was an actual haunted house with people who pop out and scare the crap out of you, so we were unpleasantly surprised when we realized that we had to go through the thing with no way of escape. Despite how terrified I was, it ended up being really fun and it was actually nice to relieve some tension via screaming. After the museum we went to TopShop and then got dinner at Tortilla and then came home! Tonight I started Wuthering Heights, watched the newest episode of Grey's Anatomy, and finished a paper for my English class. It was a really fabulous day!

Daniel Radcliffe! Ahh I was so excited when I saw him

J Lo

Johnny Depp--this picture was mainly for my sister Brittney

Audrey & Audrey!

Hello, Sherlock.

That's all for now! Church in the morning! Good night followers! (if you even exist...)

You Can't Stop the Beat

Tonight Emma, Caitlin, Macy and I went and saw Hairspray! At first I didn't think it was going to be anything particularly special... but oh was I wrong. I LOVED it! It was probably my favorite show that I've seen in London! It was such a fun and cute show... the actors were really having fun when they were acting and they did an excellent job at pumping up and inspiring the audience. At the end everyone was standing up and singing and dancing with the cast in their final song. Plus, we had amazing seats which really contributed to the experience... it was just such a great show. I love Hairspray! I'm even listening to the soundtrack right now on my computer and I bought a really cool t-shirt. I'm very excited to wear it tomorrow and be twins with Caitlin.

After the show we went to the stage door in hopes of seeing the guy who played Link since he was so incredibly attractive. Unfortunately, he never showed... BUT we did get pictures with a few of the other cast members!

the man who played tracy's mom haha

tracy's dad

Tracy! She was amazing.

Last night we saw the movie Leap Year because it just came out in theaters over here. I absolutely loved it, its probably my favorite movie that I've seen this year. This week has just been full of great theater experiences! Sunday was church and I stayed up til 5AM studying for my polisci midterm. I think I did pretty well, but who knows. Hopefully I pulled off a decent grade... I got my paper back for my Shakespeare class and I got a 97 and I'm so happy about it! So school is going pretty well... Saturday we woke up and went to Borough Market where I got a bratwurst and carrot cake and it was absolutely delicious. I also got some of my favorite jam that they sell there that I plan to take home with me and enjoy back in Provo. After Borough Market, we made our way on over to the London Aquarium, which was an extreme disappointment. It was much smaller and with much less impressive fish than the aquariums that I've been to back home. We still had a lot of fun though.

SO delicious.

so, this picture has a story. In the aquarium we passed by a woman at a stand doing face painting. Caitlin became infatuated with the idea of getting her face painted, but didn't want to do it alone. I had no desire to get a sea creature painted on my face... especially if it costed me money. However, when Caitlin offered to pay for my painted dolphin, I really couldn't resist. The above picture is the result.

On Thursday we woke up at 5AM and got ready to leave to go on our trip to Wales. It was about a four hour coach ride and I pretty much slept the entire way. We first went to Tintern Abbey (see "Tintern Abbey" by William Wordsworth), and I was freezing and tired the entire time. After, we went to Big Pit, which is a coal mine. So we strapped up on our gear--a helmet with a really cool light on it, and a belt with spare oxygen and a battery for our lights on it. I also had my Snuggie with me. It protected me from not only cold air, but also the danger down in the depths of the coal mine. It was really weird and random, but at the same time its kinda cool that I can say I've been in a coal mine. After Big Pit, we went to the Museum of Welsh Life where I bought Welsh Cakes which are delicious. They are also made primarily of butter and sugar. We arrived in Cardiff and checked into our hotel, which was very nice. While everyone went out to eat, Emma, Caitlin and I ordered our own pizzas from Papa Johns and ate them while watching the Alice in Wonderland premiere (that we were very sad to be missing) and the Olympics. It was a fun night and in my very own queen sized bed, I had one of the best nights sleep I've had in a long time.

Tintern Abbey:

Emma, Me and Caitlin all wore our wellies that day. When we got out of the lift that took us out of the coal mine, the man working it was completely amazed by our wellies. He exclaimed very enthusiastically (and with a tad bit of shock), "GRAPE WELLIES! PINK WELLIES! SPOTTY WELLIES!" as we each walked off the lift one by one. Haha it was really funny.

Thanks to my snuggie I was a walking fashion statement.

The next day, we woke up and had breakfast in the hotel and then made our way off the Caerphilly Castle. It was gorgeous and reminded me of a castle you'd see in a movie like Tristan and Isolde. It was very medieval yet very romantic at the same time. I loved it. After the castle we drove a while, stopped for lunch where I got a delicious Subway, and then started our excursion to various church history sites. First, we went to John Benbow's farm. John Benbow was a very important and influential convert and we got to see the pond where many people were baptized. After the farm we went to the chapel that the Benbows attended and then made our way over to a large hill (dont know the name... I'll find out and put it in later) that we hiked up. Now when I say large, I'm not making an overstatement. The incline was about 70 degrees the entire way up. Needless to say by the time I got to the top I was not only completely winded, but my calves were killing me! It was a gorgeous hike though... the view was breath taking and everything was so green. Wales is very pretty. I can't imagine what Ireland must be like. Anyways, this hill was where Wilford Woodruff and some others came to pray and where they preached. After the hike, we went to the Gadfield Elm Chapel aka the first LDS chapel. There, we all sang "The Spirit of God" and it was a beautiful and very spiritual moment. It was a great way to end our day. Before we knew it we were back in the bus, on the way to London, and it was one of the best feelings ever driving up to Palace Court and snuggling into my bed in the place I call my home. I loved Wales, but really, nothing tops London.

my view of Wales from the top of our hike:

Gadfield Elm Chapel:

P.S. Emma took some glamour shots of me at Caerphilly Castle. Here are some of my favorites for you to enjoy at your own viewing pleasure.

On a side note, certain personal belongings of mine seem to be disappearing right before my eyes. And yes, I have looked everywhere and anywhere for them and I remember where I put them last. I am certain that they have been stolen. So, a reward will be offered for the following items:

1. My new Natural Eye eyeshadow palette

What ever pair of hands now holds this beloved eyeshadow of mine, please return it. My eyeshadow misses my eyes and my eyes miss it in return.

2. My grey leggings

Alright, while it's true these weren't valuable in any way shape or form and that they are easily replaceable, I still do not want to make the effort to go to H&M and spend £5 on new leggings. Please, whoever owns these now... save me some time and energy. Give my legs back their skin.

3. My top and most dear retainer.

To the individual who likes to try on and or wear other people's retainers for fun--you are indeed very strange. Now please, give it back. Now. As much as I'd like to assimilate into British culture, I'd like my teeth to stay strictly American.

That's all for now. I will be getting approximately four hours of sleep tonight thanks to my lovely duties on kitchen crew, which continues to ruin my life. Tomorrow should be a thrill, we're going to Stratford Upon Avon and a few other sites. Until then...cheers!