walking in the steps of royalty.

so i have a confession to make. i finally made a connection that i should have made months ago, but i got extremely excited today when i realized that my parents names are William and Catherine and guess who just had a royal wedding here in london. you guessed it- William and Catherine. So im pretty sure that means im of royal decent, right. Actually, I think my mom told me once that we are a descendant of king john, which isn't something to necessarily be proud of, but still kind of exciting.

the plate i was looking at when i had this ridiculous epiphany

today the plan was to go on the big bus tour. our teachers gave us tickets for it on monday and you can use them whenever but once you start it you only have 24 hrs until your ticket becomes invalid, and considering  our day was pretty much completely free except for a show tonight we thought it would be a perfect day to do it. however, mother nature did not agree. we walked outside, and for the first time since we got here, it was raining! lets just say there was a quick change in plans.

but because it was raining i finally got to wear my new raincoat!

instead we went to Westminster Abbey and the Royal Mews to re-live to royal wedding, a re-live we did.

we got to westminster and there was quite the line to get in, luckily it moved fast and we only had to wait for about 20 minutes. inside the decorations were still up from the wedding and there was a special royal wedding tour. it was wonderful. technically you werent supposed to take pictures but cali used her mad skills and we snuck a few pictures. she is currently contemplating joining the CIA. thats a lie. but she should.

look at that line- yes. it does wrap around the corner to where we are. no worries.

Elizabeth, Cali, and Carli waiting in line.

This was the special tour you could take that showed you all the special places from the wedding. like where kate walked, the room they signed the register, where the queen sat, and where will and harry waited before the ceremony.

Kate's bouquet. I was surprised at how small and simple it was. It was beautiful,.

where they we married.

we got to sign kate & will's wedding book.

we then had to go to the gift shop. it wasnt a matter of wanting to or not. well thats a lie. but the gift shops are so fun to look around. I was amazed at the number of kate and will things. mugs, plates, you name it with their faces on it. There were some we saw later (like the one at the top) that i liked a lot better. It seemed more classy, where as the ones with their faces on them just make me laugh. after the gift shop we headed over to buckingham palace.

on the walk over we saw a double decker with tangled on the side. we got very excited. hmm three posts in a row mentioning tangled. i think i have a problem.

Buckingham Palace. contrary to popular belief the guards do not stand outside the gate for you to try to make laugh, supposedly that is at the tower of london. but you can see the poof poofs of their hats if you look closely.

While at Buckingham we went and toured the Royal Mews, which is where they keep the horses and carriages for the Palace. It was such a cool tour, and definitely worth the seven pounds it cost. your ticket gets you in for a year, so we might have to go back in the near future. but we were so lucky, because right when we walked in this cute worker woman was starting a guided tour, instead of the audio tour, so we walked around with her and she told us lots of fun facts about the horses and carriages.

This horse was my absolute forces. His name was Coachman. He was probably one of the funniest horses i have ever met- because i have met so many. but he would smile for the camera. and while our tour guide was talking she would say something and he would nod his head. it was wonderful, i think i paid more attention to him than to what she was saying

The Austrailian State Coach- this is the coach the middleton;s and charles' and his wife road in during the precession

The Glass Coach- this is the coach Diana rode in on the way to her wedding.

The Scottish State Coach- the carriage the queen rode in for the royal wedding.

The carriage that Will & Kate rode in! I forget the name of it, and sadly the sides were up . But it was way fun to see.

The Gold State Coach. This one was ridiculous! and hasnt been used since 2002! it was sooo ridiculously ornate. oh brother.

The car that Kate Middleton rode it to the wedding.

we found this error in the gift shop. all the others said the 29th but this one said the 20th. we took it to the lady at the check-out line hoping we could get it for free, and thought it was looking up when she said she was going to throw it in the bin, but then another worker said "im going to keep this one" and we were very sad. 

After our trip to the touristy places of london we decided a nice break at home would be grand. So home we came. We have been talking and realized that we have 6 weeks here, that we dont need to jam pack every day so full that we get burned out. And i am so grateful for this decision because i have a very busy summer ahead of me. So it is nice to have some time to breathe. Part of our time at home included eating dinner. As we had already spent money to be tourists we decided to eat the 1 pound pizza we got at Sainsbury the day before. lets just say it wasnt worth the 1 pound. It was one of the worst pizza's i have ever eaten. no bueno.

look at that beautiful pizza. this is before we realized how delicious this pizza was.

Cali made me choose what piece I wanted, but i am horrible with decisions. horrible. just ask nate (ps you made it in again...good work) or anyone else. so i closed my eyes and said surprise me- and surprise me she did. she put the entire pizza on my plate! i am sooo glad i vetoed that decision because of what we ended up tasting.

luckily we had biscuts and milk. yum yum.

after din din we were off to Little Eagles at the Hampstead theater. It was an AMAZING show. the acting was spectacular. It was a three hour show but the time seemed to fly. The actors were not just acting the parts but they became the parts. Yuri, became the first man in space, and made me fall in love with him because of his happy demeanor. Little Eagles is the story of the Russians making it into space and the man behind it all. It was enlightening intellectually as well as aesthetically.  One downfall of the show was the over abundance of the f word. They not only pushed the envelope but pushed the envelope to the moon and back, but even with the language it did not take away from the integrity of the show. There is something that can be said for being accepting of the show and letting it in without judging based on language. Moral of the story, it was an amazing show and i am so grateful we got to go see it.


one line i loved was from the doctor to Sergei, it reads

"On a night like this, don't you think to want more than the air around you is just greedy?" 

ooo and another line...sorry indulge me..once again from the doctor talking about all Sergei Korolyov. He was the chief engineer but we (the Americans) had no idea about him, and he, almost single handedly, ran the Soviet space program.

"Yes, just one. You had Von Brahn and all the other German scientists and all your thousands of workers and vilbions of dollars and we had Sergei Pavlovich and convicts and some university students. So what? We got there, didn't we? Quicker than you."

it was interesting watching the show as an American, in London, and having the play portray Americans because i had to remember that it wasnt being played by Americans so it wasnt like there were any politics with the way the portrayed us. If that makes any sense. 

Cali, Cami, and I at Little Eagles

other random tidbits-

our sheets were cleaned today- however the cleaning ladies dont remake the beds, and we came home and were soo exhausted and cute elly made our beds for us. she is amazing, and i adore her! Cali and I will have to find some way to repay her

did i ever mention i have the most amazing brother and sister-in-law in the world (well i have lots of them) but my brother gave me a present to write something about economics in my blog. it was perfect and will help me justify buying the ring from portobello that i loved. He is currently studying economics at the university of chicago and is an absolute genius. talking to him, i actually like economics. He is able to apply it to everything, and even can use it to out whit my dad and get out of doing chores. he is amazing. economics is amazing. but that being said, i have to most amazing family ever, and i miss them oh so very much.

the tube was super crowded on the way to the theater, and of course i couldnt stop sneezing. i felt like the girl that everyone hates because they get everyone sick

our teacher shuffles the tickets before passing them out in class to help us sit by different people and get to know everyone. however i have a talent for getting to know the person i am sitting by right before i sit by them. if that makes any sense. example. all's well- kristen came with us on the tube to the globe, we sat by each other at the lecture, surprise sat next to each other at the show. tonight. talked to Dezi lots on the tube, surprise sat next to her. I think i have a super natural talent.

we have a lot of fun in london.

the end.

the study part of the study abroad.

after drugging up on nyquil- for this silly cold i have caught, i slept like a baby last night. however, i guess not enough because once again i feel asleep in class. I could feel my eyes start to close and would fight as hard as i could but my eyelids were impossible there was no way i would win the battle.

cali and i were late in leaving for class, so our morning run was on the way to class. im sure we were a sight to see, two girls running pass the relaxed Europeans, backpacks bouncing. we got there only a minute late, but were surprised to see our class standing outside the doors. While we had rushed, we ended up having to wait for the doors to be unlocked. Once inside sleep overtook me as we learned about Little Eagles, the show we will see tomorrow night, from Roger. Lucky for me I still had some jelly beans leftover from what Keri gave me for the flight over so i started popping those in order to keep myself awake. A little sugar did the trick, and I was able to stay awake for the rest of class. After the break we peer reviewed our Tempest reviews and then it was home to do more homework.

cali braided my hair for me today. and she made it the prettiest. see here. ps see that book about frace. yeah im not really reading it, this is a very staged picture so we could get a picture of my hair. no worries.

In order to delay the inevitable homework, and to feed our starving bellies (one problem with running late is that it isnt very conducive to eating breakfast), we decided a trip to Sainsbury (the grocery store) was much needed. So we made the trek to the grocery store- ps. i will never complain about having a far parking spot again, having to walk to the grocery store and then carry it all back is not one of the things i love about london. but elly is a genius and we brought our backpacks which made it easier- the grocery store was grand. i got a lot. first off they had cadbury eggs that were huge left over from easter for only 20p, which perfectly fit my indulgence for chocolate. then bananas, sandwich stuff, and much much more. we then came home to eat the food we had gotten. I wasnt very patient and broke out one of the chocolate eggs to eat while i waited for my rice to cook. I got this way good thai rice that all you have to do is microwave. it was delicious and so easy. thank you uncle ben's.

it was then homework time. sometimes i wish we didnt have to actually study on the study abroad. but we got it done. one performance review on all's well that end's well, one field trip reflection, read the synopsis of school for scandal, and a post on how we would direct said play. it is surprising how long homework can take, especially when you are distracted. while today was pretty much a free day it was overtaken by homework. but no worries we still have fun doing it.

while studying we had to open the windows because our room smelled like fresh laundry....but  very strongly. the laundry machines are way expensive, so air drying was the solution, but they were very fragrant. no bueno.

so studying on the beds it can be kind of hard to get comfy. elly though has found the perfect way to stay warm (with said open window) and still be able to type. this is her showing us how...she calls this look the beached whale.

these are our happy homework faces. convincing? yes. ps note the byu sweatpants. oh how i love them so.

cali and i then went on adventure to find a fun and exciting place to eat to reward ourselves for working so hard on our homework. wagamamas was the winner, we had heard good things so we thought we should see what all the talk was about. it was scrumptious. we had some sort of curry thing and no worries we both cleaned our plates. carter (my food baby) was alive and kicking. we then decided it was a smart idea to go on an adventure to find dessert. obviously. so there are some pastry shops we always pass that look delicious, so we thought that would be a perfect ending to our date. im sure i wasnt as good a date as sean. but unfortunately the one we wanted was closed, and the other ones didnt have what we wanted. so instead we went to tesco and got magnum bars (which are really good ice cream bars) and it was so grand. so we started heading back home, on the other side of the street- and guess what we passed. you guessed the most perfect pastry shop. so we now have another place we have to go.

the start of our adventure slash date.

how do you wagamama? oh yes we thought it meant wag-a-mama...aka shake senora. there is a sweet video of cali shaking but im not allowed to... 

so we were felling artsy with the dessert menu, which we didnt get anything from, and the waiter came and took it away and then stopped and said "oh unless youre not done taking pictures" so embarrassing. 

dear tesco. thank you for the magnum bars. the were delicious. love ellie and cali.

the lovely desserts we wanted but werent patient enough to get. saddest day ever. 

cali and i are kind of weird though. its true. we are cool, dont get me wrong, but a little weird. we both have a tendency to break out into song, so it means a lot of time when we are walking we are singing. its wonderful. but im sure the reserved people of london must think we are constantly very intoxicated when in fact we are not intoxicated in the slightest.

an example of being weird. this is what happens when ellie is bored and has a camera in hand.

Amberly with her cool orange laptop cover. ellie still just taking pictures of everyone and everything.

so one thing i love about our flat is that we are super safe. first off we are surround by embassies which means there is security around us. plus there are three locks in order to get to our room. Im always lazy and my keys are in the very bottom of my purse so cali always ends up unlocking all the doors, she's the bestest. 

but isnt she the cutest unlocking the door. good work sean.

but we are now having Ell(ie,y) bonding time watching Tangled. best movie ever... ps in case you didnt know my sister-in-law, Keri, is amazing at baking and decorating cakes. but seriously amazing. her desserts are to die for and recently she made a tangled cake for a little girls birthday...here are some pictures. if you need a cake for anything im sure she would be willing to help you out.

the cake at the bottom is what you eat, the rest is a topper, but it is all edible, except im pretty sure its around styrofoam.

my adorable niece Ari

she made Rapunzel using gum paste...it was amazing the tiny detailing she did!

go to her blog to see more of her AMAZING cakes! it's sweetmimsy.blogspot.com

sorry longest post ever, but an efy email came today. can i just say i am so excited for the summer, and i realize it will be here before i can believe, but at the same time i am sad that i have to rush home instead of staying and exploring europe more. also can i say that i feel very blessed that my summer has fallen into place so nicely.

a step through history.

This morning started very similar to yesterday. I think our beds are too comfy, because we like them A LOT, and have a very difficult time getting up to go running.

outside the british library- i loved this quote. yay team.

but we spent our morning at the british library. now one might think "whats so special about a library, we have those in the states" but this library had a special collection room which was absolutely amazing. i think i got teary-eyed at one point. yes i admit, i cry easily and at silly things, but looking at one of the first gutenberg bibles and thinking of what happened because of that book and the printing press brought a tear to my eye.

the british library is just this small brick looking building. you would never think it held such amazing treasures.

so i have this little london moleskin book which has maps in it and places to write your thoughts and such, as well as write down places to eat and such.  way cool. but i have yet to use it for anything besides the maps and holding my tickets from shows. but today that changed as i made a list of some of the amazing things i saw at the library. to name a few, jane austen's writing desk and a collection of short stories she wrote to entertain her family, however it was the original copy, her handwriting and all. there was also handel's messiah as well as the original liberatto. motzart's marriage contract. the magna carta. a letter charles darwin wrote. part of st. john's gospel written on papyrus from the third century. and then there was the beatles collection. oh yes a whole display for the beatles. it was wonderful. they had old pieces of paper that they had jotted down the lyrics to songs on. one was on the back of a birthday card, another on the back of an envelope. it was so amazing to see, and was so amazing that someone had saved them.


we then made our way to the gift shop. oh how i love gift shops, and there was this adorable children's book called "a walk through london" or something like that and i was sooo tempted to get it because it highlights all the major things of london in a cute little story with great illustrations. but alas i restrained myself, because i have been thinking about this ring i saw at portobello road and i want to save my money so i can get it. i figure if it is 4 days later and im still thinking about it, it would be a good buy.

cali perusing in the gift shop

trying to be artsy and show the beauty of the books. key word. trying.

after that we headed over to Trafalgar Square. It was beautiful and reminded me of a sterotypical place in europe. it was perfect. I sat on the fountain and wrote a postcard to my parents (sorry to spoil the surprise mom), threw a coin into the fountain, and then played the word association game with some people in the group and then we climbed on the statue and took pictures. it was perfect, and was beautiful weather. we really have been so lucky that we havent had much rain and everyday has been perfect weather.

trafalgar square felt so much like europe. there were pigeons and tons of people sitting on the steps, and was surrounded by old building and fountains. i loved it. i could have sat on the edge of the fountain watching people all day long.

the olympics are coming to london! woowhoo!

the beautiful monument in trafalgar square- you can see this in the  HP clip at the end of the blog.

make a wish.

on the monument- oh so touristy. it was scary climbing up there though. cali was grand and gave me a boost and then i pulled her up. what a good team. dont worry i wasnt like flynn rider and run the other way because my hands were already full with the stolen tiara. oh tangled how i love you.

me and the other elly. we are roommates. its confusing. but i love her lots and lots, so i guess i can share my name with her.

we then went into the national portrait gallery, however, i started feeling sick and cali was a gem and came back to the flats with me. it was free, and we realized we have another five weeks that we can go back, and that we could then get some of the homework that is due tomorrow done before going to the globe. however, it turned more into checking email and responding to familia and such. and then nap time. which just sort of happened when we turned off the lights and set the alarm to read "school for scandal"- whoops. but it was the most amazing nap ever and i didnt want to get out of bed.

then off to the globe to see all's well. the walk over was absolutely wonderful. we had an amazing view of st. pauls cathedral, and walked over a pretty bridge with a beautiful view of the thames and got ice cream that was delicious from an ice cream truck. I  was also very grateful for the london moleskin again because it has maps which makes finding things so much easier. but we got there with time to spare before a lecture we went to before the show.

cali on the beautiful thames river. it was so beautiful with the view of st pauls cathedral in the background, and the cobblestone pathway.

the ice cream was soo delicious, i dont know what America is thinking but the europeans know how to do soft serve, we should get the recipe. but seriously all the sweets here are so much better. its a good thing we do so much walking.

the amazing ice cream truck. we couldnt resist. however later while at the globe we were wishing we had saved out two pounds to get hot chocolate instead of ice cream because it was so cold.

before the show, a cute british couple took the picture for us. they were adorable and were actually in the lecture with us. 

shakespeare's globe.

the lecture was good, and gave a lot of good insights into the show. the scholar that gave it focused on some things we hadnt talked about in class so that was interesting. the show itself was grand! but really it was amazing! the actors did a superb job..their timing was perfect and the show was hysterical. it was a little chilly, and we had a blocked view, but we got to sit which was so nice and it was all part of the experience. i sat next to one of our directors and he was so kind and shared his blanket with me. they take such good care of us. unfortunately i am catching a cold so i was sniffily and sneezy...i felt bad for the people next to me.

happy globing. unfortunately this was not my view, rather move farther to the left and add a wood post and then you have my view. i was only sad that we couldnt see the actors facial expressions, but the show was still wonderful from there, and i was grateful to be on the back row so i had a wall to lean against and didnt have to be a groundling and stand the whole time.

on the way home though we walked back over the footbridge that they show in the 6th harry potter...watch here.

harry potter clip

its a little blurry, but you get the point.

ps im amazed at how hight the "opportunity cost" of writing this blog is. and considering the other thing i could be doing with that time it would seem advantagis of me to not write this. however, when thinking about it it actually saves me time because it allows me to journal and email family all at the same time. so in fact the opportunity cost is less blogging than it would be to have the same effect by other means.

To Love Another Person Is To See The Face Of God

oh another beautiful day in london.


the seven o'clock run did not happen this morning. unfortunately, but fortunately, we roommates (Cali, Lauren, Elly, and I) love each other and can talk forever...so it was finally 2 by the time we called it a night. so five hours later when the alarm went off a fun grunting conversation went on between Cali and I, and the alarm was changed to 30 minutes before class started. But saddest story ever, Amberly had gotten up to go with us (the first time anyone took us up on our offer and it was the one day we didnt go..bahumbug) and ended up going by herself and got really sick on her run and no one was there with her. We felt awful when we found out- so never again will we say we are going and not go.


class was wonderful. i didnt fall asleep, and felt like i had things to contribute. I love theater, but I sometimes feel like I like it at face value rather than analyzing what is happening, especially when it comes to shakespeare. but as i mentioned before i found the character of helena in all's well fascinating. however, i had a coughing attack during class. I had one last night at 2 30, but i got up drank some juice, and was able to stop and fall asleep. but water didnt do the trick in class and after five minutes of my pathetic coughs our teacher stopped class to check on me. embarassing? yes. but i was able to mind over matter it, and make the coughing stop. phew.


after class we came back and got ready for an afternoon run, we couldn't just not go. but unfortunately we forgot our cameras and we were so sad because the park was absolutely beautiful today and there were so many moments i wished i could have captured on film, but i guess i will just have to try to use my words to describe it.

beautiful things in the park

1. the path of gardens- when we first went into the park we took a different route and passed through the gardens. there were little black iron fences on either side with beautiful flowers and bushes on either side with beautiful trees canopying over us. oo and there was one tree that literally makes a little room...ooo i have a picture of this one from yesterday- to give you and idea...

2. paddle boats on the river- at one point we ran along the run the river at it was a picturesque spring day. because today was a bank holiday everyone was at the park, and there were paddle boats all on the river. cali and i will go back sometime and experience the joy of the paddle boats

3. the princess diana memorial fountain- there is a fountain which is not like your normal spouty fountain but rather is like a little oval cement bound river- if that makes any sense. but it was filled with children and people wadding in it and i was so tempted to stop running take off my socks and shoes and going wade through fountain with everyone. it just looked like such a perfect moment, all the families and laughing children were perfect.

4. the peter pan statue- we finally went and saw the peter pan statue! it was just as grand as i expected to be. it is right by the river and is once again so picturesque. we have decided that the next time we are reading and the park we will read with peter and the rest of the lost boys.

after our run we came back and were responsible. lame right? but we worked on some homework. but we had the excitement of a show getting us through writing our performance review of the tempest.

this is random. but every time we got on the tube at glochester i see this and i really want to read it. oh marriage and family major. mom, a birthday idea.

what is the show you ask- LES MISERABLES. 

my toms and the les mis sidewalk medallion outside the ticket office.

yes the day has finally come where i was able to watch it professionally done. Les mis has been one of my favorite scores since i can remember. the songs touch my heart. I dreamed a dream, a little fall of rain, a heart full of love, one day more, the finale....ahh they are all so good! can i just say how much i love student rush prices. we went for a mere 27.50 pounds. but to be honest i was a little disappointed with the vocals. i just have grown up listening to the songs and watching the anniversary concerts- which are the best of the best- but they were still grand...and eponine stole the show! she was amazing! but i forget what a depressing show it is. literally everyone you love dies minus marius and cosette. it just makes me the saddest.

the group of us before the show (me, cali, amy, elly, and cami)

but a random thing while at the show- at intermission cali spotted the mom from "Seventeen Again" we arent positive if it was here but it looked just like her. oh celebrity sightings how i love thee.

but on a happier note- before the show we went to mcdonals...yes folk thats right we came all the way to london to go to mcdonalds. but it was for a good reason. cadbury cream egg mcflurries...thats right, we didnt hold out very long. we got them tonight. but i was shocked at how big the mcdonalds was. two stories, and there was no pace to sit because it was so full. in provo they are always empty but let me tell ya, in europe mcdonalds is a hoppin place.

yay mcflurries. 

doesnt that look scrumptious.

after the show was also an adventure. it was around 10 30 when the show was done and oh boy did people want us to go clubbing. its because we are the cutest. haha. but we walked as though we were on the most intense mission ever but it didnt work. i was leading the group and my legs were going super sonic speed, and i got really good at saying "no" "nope" "sorry no thank you" or just ignoring them. i know i shouldnt have found it exciting, but it kind of was a fun game telling them all no.

this is my adorable friend cali. this is why i adore her so. yep its official shes my favorite.

but tomorrow is the british library and national portrait gallery. im pumped