Harrods

just happened to run into the boyfriend while out to dinner...

The Chocolate Bar (July 31st)

It felt good to be on my own today in the city. I didn’t feel like a tourist and I felt really accomplished that I was able to navigate around on the tube and the streets without getting lost. I remember when I first got here I was so overwhelmed and I didn’t think that I would be able to ever figure this city out. However, now I feel totally confident on my own here.
Later in the night I met up with the rest of the group and we went to Harrods where we had dessert at a chocolate bar. It was chocolate fondue that was AMAZING. We all got really hyper from the chocolate and thought it would be funny to make chocolate mustaches with the milk chocolate. I think people were wondering if we were ok. After we wanted to shop around Harrods but we quickly figured out that we couldn’t afford it. In fact Sarah was brilliant when she noticed that only people who sell nuclear bombs can afford to shop there. Go there and you will understand what im talking about…. Now we are back home and getting ready for another jam-packed day tomorrow! Yay!

London Aquarium (July 31st)

After the temple we went back home and I went to the London Aquarium. I ended up going by myself but I still really enjoyed it. I took my time and saw sharks, sting rays and jelly fish. The best was the sea horses I loved them!!! I learned that they have no real stomachs and can eat up to 17 times a day!! The shark tank was also rad. I learned a few interesting facts while I was there too, I learned that there are 460 different types of sharks and that there are 35 different types in Britain alone. I also learned that sharks cannot breathe if they are not moving through the water. If a shark does not swim for ten minutes it will suffocate. They had several different types in this aquarium but the most interesting to me was the tiger shark. I learned that while most sharks can have up to 8 pups each pregnancy, tiger sharks can only have two. They have two uteruses and each one will have four or five babies in them, however they eat each other in the wombs. Only the one strongest will survive. Also I thought it was crazy to learn that tiger sharks will loose about 20,000 teeth in their lifetimes! Something else cool about sharks, they can sense electrical currents. So even though there eyesight isn’t the best they can sense a human heart beat and know where they are and how close they are. Finally, my last cool fact about sharks is that their skin is so rough that it was commonly used as sand paper. The aquarium was awesome and I loved learning about all of the different species. It was all fascinating to me and it surprised me how little we still know about the ocean and the creatures living in it. One statistic said that more people have been to space than to the deep sea realm.

London Temple! (July 31st)

Today was absolutely amazing! It was one of the best days here by far! Today we got up early and seven of us went to the London Temple. It took us about an hour and a half to get there but it was so worth it. It felt so good to be there. It was a beautiful day and the temple grounds were s amazing. We were all in awe and took a thousand pictures. All of the workers were so happy that we were there and so genuinely nice. Three of us did an endowment session and we were three of the five people there. It was different that anything I have ever experienced in the temple and I really enjoyed it. The temple was stunning inside. It will definitely be one of the most memorable temple experiences that I have experienced. It was a very peaceful morning, something that I needed today. I met some very neat people and will not forget some of the conversations that I had.

After the cathedral we went to this amazing little lunch place and it was a lot like the restaurant that I want to open. It was all really healthy but delicious food. The funny thing was is that this whole trip it’s been a running joke to draw mustaches on our fingers and hold them up on our face…and while we were eating lunch we noticed that the waitress had a tattoo of a mustache on her finger! So we had to get pictures with it! So funny! Once we got back on the bus we were inspired to draw our own mustaches again and we all had themed ones. I was the sexy Spaniard, Jayci had the Mexi-stash, Jenny was the old man with nose hair, Sarah was the rocker, and Mandie was Hitler. It made the two hour bus ride go by faster.
Our second stop was Battle which was the site of the Norman invasion in 1066. This was the infamous battle between William the Conqueror of Normandy and the English. It was a bloody battle in which about 7000 people were killed. The Normans prevailed and this would change the Anglican community forever. Also on this site was an Abby and we learned all about the Monks that lived there until they were forced to leave when Henry the VIII broke off from the Catholic Church. It was all interesting. After that we came home on the bus and planned all of our fun activities that we are all going to do together when we get back to Utah. We want to make sure we remain good friends. When we got back I went for a quick run and then we did some abs workouts.

fun on the bus

we were inspired...

Here we are bored at he chapel.. and then here is the restaruant and the waitresses tattoo!

Day Trip to Canterbury and Battle (July 30)

Today we took a day trip to Canterbury and Battle. A few of us thought it would be really cool to all match so we wore our "I love London" shirts and stretch pants. We looked fabulous.

The first stop in Canterbury was Canterbury Cathedral. This was beautiful but honestly I have seen a lot of cathedrals over the last few weeks and they are all starting to blend together. There were a few interesting things about it though. There was a compass in the middle of the floor in the chapel. It was called the compass rose and it is the symbol of worldwide Anglican Communion. In the center of it is a Greek quote that translates to read “the truth will make you free.” Also they had a candle burning in the middle of the floor which was a shrine to St. Thomas of Canterbury (the original shrine was destroyed by Henry VIII.

Engrish (july 29)

This picture is an example of what we learned in class yesterday. we learned that often english in the media is used because it is very popular, however many times in foreign countries they do not even know what they are saying...

mama mia, here i go again...

Peter Pan and Mama Mia (July 28)

So today was so great. i think each day gets better and better. im a little sad that im leaving London in one week. the only downside about today is that im recovering from a little cold that ive had for the last few days but that didnt slow me down. In class today i presented my powerpoint on Indian English and that went really well. After class we were able to go see the play Peter Pan in kensington Gardens. this was so awesome. it was in a giant dome and the set was amazing. also, something funny happened to us while we were there. i was in line paying for some food and i accidently ran into someone. not thinking anything of it i went on with my business and then when i went back to my friends they told me to turn around and look at who i just bumped into...it was none other than Meg Ryan... i couldnt believe it. we were all staring at here, it was a little embarassing. we were definately star struck. my friend Kenzie went up and asked if we could get a picture with her and she said no..actually she said "no im off duty" and waved her hand at us. i feel bad she probably gets that a lot. then we went into the play and she was sitting on our same row just a few seats down so we snuck a few pictures of her. she was there with her daughter..pretty cool.
After peter pan a few of us went out to dinner at a vegetarian restaurant called Food for Thought. it was sooooooooo good. it gave you so much food and it was so healthy and yummy. i was in heaven. then Kenzie and i went to Mama Mia!! i was so excited for this and it definately lived up to my expectations. the only downside of it was that the two ladies next to me were really confused and thought that i paid $100 to see them sing and dance... kind of annoying. but it was still worth it...drunk off key ladies and all.

We LOVE LONDON

FHE July 27th

For FHE we thought it would be funny to get all dressed up and take “family” portraits together. So that is exactly what we did. Will and Tiare were the parents and the rest of us were the children. I think our pictures turned out quite well what do you think?

just a little pre match good luck...and then there i am cheering him on from my special box seat with his parents...

this is where the players and their families have tea and strawberries and cream

Centre Court!!

ok...so maybe im a stalker...

Federer sat in this chair!!

sitting in the press room, and seeing the grass