Goodbye London!

Wow I can't believe that I am already home! London was so much fun and was such a great experience. I loved living there with so many cool people from BYU.  Our group made it a great time.  

Well the last couple of days were crazy!  We went on a tour in Parliament/Big Ben!  It was so cool.  Then afterwards we decided to go see the Trooping of the Colour.  It was a parade for the Queens birthday!  A bunch of us went and it wasn't nearly as crowded as the Royal Wedding.  We got to see the royalty twice while being in London... once at the beginning and then at the end! They had a fly over of a ton of different planes.   The last one was the coolest because they shot out smoke of red, white and blue!  All of a sudden we heard loud shots. So Britton and I ran over to get as close as we could.  We tried taking a picture, but it turned out blurry cause it was so loud(enough to shake us ha).  Afterwards we went to Camden Markets and got lunch as a group and with Andreas family!

At the Trooping of the Colour

Running from the cannons

The Queens Bday

We saw the QUEEN walking
in the park with her guard one day!!!
(haha Just kidding.... she was just a look a like
so we had to take a picture... hopefully they didn't see
us taking it. Who I am I kidding? They totally saw
a bunch of kids running back and snapping a pic! ha)

Tour of Parliament and Big ben

 We had a fireside on our last Sunday and shared one thing that we will each remember.  We also watched a slideshow! It was so much fun.  We then had to study for our finals which were the last day.  The most important thing that I learned was that experiences come before grades.  So I always chose to go out and do something rather than homework.  It was great that way cause the homework always ended up getting accomplished.  So we will see if I get good grades or not ha.

Our last fireside...sad ha

Studying for finals

We had gelato at one of our favorite places.  We all had a final picnic after all of us took our finals.  We went over to hyde park for it on the beautiful sunny day. It was so much fun! We also ate out a lot the last couple of days.  We also were able to see the crown jewels and stuff at the tower of london on our last weekend.  So fun! I am gonna miss all of the fun things that we did almost everyday!

Last Show: Billy Elliot
(I am going to miss shows!)  I went to
like 10 shows while there for
seven weeks!

Tower of London as a group

Outside of the Tower of London looking at Tower Bridge

Picnic in Hyde Park

Slug and Lettuce on Monday(half off everything mondays!)

Final Fine Art Class at the Saatchi Gallery

City view from room

Looking out into the city

Last time on the Underground

On the patio looking for Ginny ha 

Supposedly Ginny Weasley lives next to us and we tried looking for her but never saw her.  It was okay though cause we did see Kiera Knightly and all of the royal family.  

We went to this one restaurant... The Cremerie Creperie... they have such good crepes! We went on our last day and it was so good! Andreas mom was so nice and surprised us at the end and paid for all of crepes! Thanks!  The owners then gave us all free ice cream since we were leaving the next day for the states! They are so cool.

Last night having Crepes!Thanks to Andreas Mom!!

Cremerie Creperie... Free Gelato

Looks like a band cover ha

Our last day was so much fun! A group of us(Andrea, Taylor, Lauren, Britton, Kelsey , Scott and I) decided to just shop around our area for final souvenirs and clothes.  So we just stayed in the Portobello area, Notting Hill area and places around us! It was so fun.  Then we ate at the Burger Kitchen and Subway. Afterwards we decided to just go and lay out on the patio at the center.  We turned on some music and just relaxed until dinner! It was so warm and amazing! Later that night we wanted to spend our final night cruising London.  So we saw everything by walking and seeing it in the dark with all the lights on! It was so much fun and we had some funny moments!

Last Day Shopping in Notting Hill/Portobello Area

Tanning!!!

Out on the Centers Patio

Last Night Walking In London

 We took a shuttle/taxi to the airport.  We didn't want to do the tube(cause we would have had to carry our luggage up and down stairs and it would have been a hassle.) and luckily had enough people to make the shuttle cheap enough once we split it.  I had a few hassles getting through with my luggage, but they worked it out.  Four of us on our flight were randomly selected and upgraded.  I was luckily one of them! The seats were double the size of economy, had foot rests and so much leg room! It was amazing.  We had dinner and lunch and a ton of orange juice on our flight.  I sat next to Alison.  She is so funny. We would say things and totally miscommunicate it ha
For example....

I asked, "Are you going to watch Adjustment Bureau" and she thought I asked, "do you want to spend a euro?" haha

I asked, "are you just going home" and she thought I said, "you don't have a mom".  So funny.... maybe you had to be there... but I thought it was so funny.

I watched so many movies and listened to the BBC Radio... It made the flight go by so quickly.  I was able to sleep too since the seats were so comfortable and had so much room!  I watched Just Go With It, Adjustment Bureau, Unknown, and part of Eagle and Little Fockers(didn't finish either one).  They gave us good headphones and I couldn't hear anything outside once I had them on! It was great!

In Dallas, we all went to TGI Fridays for dinner. The service was amazing compared to London and we got free refills! So great! It was a fun final goodbye dinner to our final little group!

After our taxi shuttle to the airport! Goodbye friends!

Not first class... but the chairs laid out
and had leg rests and was great! Watched
so many good movies!

Sitting next to Alison in our
upgraded seats!

Final little group lunch at TGI Friday in Dallas Airport

Hello Utah!  Beautiful sunset flying in!

Well I am back in Utah after a 2 hr flight from Dallas, which I slept on the entire way... they had to wake me up to put my seat back up ha.  So I opened my window and saw Utah's mountains with a beautiful sunset and snowy tops! It was a great way to get home! I am going to miss London and all of my friends that I had there! I loved every moment of it and everyone there! LONDON IS AMAZING! 

CHEERS!!!

Final Days!!!

Kenzington Palace

So basically we are practically done with our semester in London! It has gone by way too fast!  I wish that I had a lot more time here.  But, we have done so many cool things.

High Tea! So good and fun!

The other day our group got to go to Kenzington Palace to have high tea as a group.  We got to have tea and some good little snacks. It was fun.(We didn't see anybody,but that very next day Prince William and Kate were there for a charity event). After we went to the park and learned the rules of cricket and played.  It was fun since we were going to a cricket match later.  

Learning how to play cricket in Hyde Park before the match this week

Mousetrap Play (view from seats)

We also went and saw Mousetrap as a group this week.  It is the longest running play.  It was a mystery play, kinda like the game clue.  It was so fun and such a good play.  

So our group went to the temple early Wednesday morning.  It was a lot of fun and in a cool, green area.  It was like a 45 minute bus ride.  So most of us slept there and back since it was early.  As you can see, we took some funny pictures.  We had the grounds practically to ourselves.  It was fun.  I always thought that the pond was bigger cause in pictures it looks like it has a huge pond... but it still was cool!

The other day I woke up with two little bites on my body.  I thought it was weird, but no big deal.  But, then the next day I woke up with over a hundred bug bites on my hands, arms, legs, neck and back.  At first I didn't know what it was.  I asked my professor.  She had had it and knew what I had.  She had a lot of extra cream and all sorts of stuff for it.  She is so nice!  That same day I decided to wash my backpack, clothes, and sheets.... twice.  I didn't want to have any left.  So one night, Scott(the kid on my same bunk) and I got new beds from downstairs(like we were told by Alvaro) and slept downstairs in the classroom.  We had a professional come and check our room and he couldn't see a sign of any bed bugs anywhere in our room.  So we realized that I didn't get it here.  It had to have been in Rome.  The first night in Rome I couldn't sleep and felt like I had bugs all over me(thought it couldn't have been and must have been sweat since it was so hot).  Now we know that they were real bugs! So disgusting!

View of the play Billy Elliot from our seats

A group of us went on a weekday to see Billy Elliot.  We got really good seats after asking to be moved, and then moving in during the play.  We payed 19 pounds but then sat in 60 pound seats!   It was awesome!


We got to finally go to a cricket match after learning the rules.  It was pretty fun, but many go for just the social aspect.  It was so fun and so warm.  It was cool to see them play after playing it for ourselves.

Tower of London

The tower of London was a lot of fun! We went as a group and got to see all sorts of things like the crown jewels and the towers... it was so fun!

Chicken Sandwhich and Fries

After the Tower of London it rained!!

After the Tower of London we went to get lunch and it suddenly got cold and rainy(like the first time since we have been here even though it is supposed to be typical weather.  It was fun.  We happened upon a pub and got lunch there since it was warm and we were wet and cold.  It was a really good meal and just fun!
I am gonna miss our fun little excursions here in London and have truly loved being here! I am going to enjoy these last couple of days(even with finals).....