Wales!!

This past week was really exciting, we did a lot and had a lot of fun!

Monday, basic classes, nothing too exciting. For FHE (family home evening) our group went to Hyde Park with another group and played soccer.


Tuesday was an insane day full of classes. We combined Thursday classes with Tuesday so that we could leave for our extended weekend on Thursday. Though in the evening we went to Hyde Park once again and played soccer and ultimate Frisbee. So much fun!

Wednesday we went to Cambridge. We wandered around a Darwin exhibit at a museum for a while which was cool, then went to the botanical gardens. After that we wandered around a lot. Sadly, most of the buildings were closed so we didn’t get to go in. Not the most fun trip, a little on the boring side. Though we did watch a punter fall into the river he was giving tours of, haha. That was probably the highlight.

Thursday morning I spent doing homework. In the afternoon I quickly packed my backpack with the bare essentials and we left London for Cardiff, Wales.

When we got there we toured around Cardiff Castle first.

Then found the hostel the girls were staying in. After we’d dropped stuff off we went to dinner, then split off. Six of us started walking toward Cardiff Bay and the other three went to find BJ’s hostel, then would join us at the bay.

Well, it took us about two hours to make the forty-five minute walk. The road we needed to go down (once we found it) wasn’t open to pedestrians. We eventually found the bay a bit after 10pm and figured that the others had probably come and gone already. We looked around for a bit, then just as we were getting ready to head back to our hostel I spotted the other three turning a corner in our direction. Woot! After we were all together again we started having a bit of fun.

The hostel wasn’t that great. I felt like I was sleeping on the springs of my mattress. The light in the communal bathroom was out (I showered by flashlight) and there were lots of gross middle aged men wandering around in nothing but their underwear. Let me tell you, coming out of the bathroom and running into one of those guys isn’t pleasant…

In the morning we all headed down to the Cardiff Central train station and caught our train to Manorbier. That was where we would be staying the next night. When we got there it was literally in the middle of nowhere. We were totally out in the country, and Manorbier didn’t have much other than the train station and a school. We hiked two miles to our hostel there, which happened to be right on some cliffs overlooking the ocean. Beautiful! That hostel was much nicer than the other, but it was out in the middle of nowhere. We decided to catch the bus into Tenby, five miles away, and much more of a tourist town. We didn’t want to hike all the way up the long road so we cut through a farmer’s field.
We had fun in Tenby. The first stop was to a pub for food. After that we split off, into groups again and my group wanted to go to the aquarium there. As we passed one of the beaches we decided to take a short detour and played for a while.

Then we were back on the quest for the aquarium. Sadly, once we found it we saw that it closed at 5pm, not 6pm, but it was next to a cool, old cemetery so we wandered around that for a bit, then headed out again. By that time the continual mist that exists in Wales was starting to really get to us, especially BJ who had jumped into the ocean. We stopped in at another pub and got some hot chocolate before moving on and finding a cool old Norman castle that we checked out.When we finally decided to head back to the hostel (the cold was not fun) we realized that we missed the bus we needed and the next one was around 11:30pm. Needless to say we didn’t want to wait so we found a taxi big enough for the five of us and drove back to the hostel in Manorbier. It was nice being able to be driven right up to the door and not having to hike it.

We had to be at the Manorbier train station early in the morning to catch our train at 7:20am. No one really wanted to be conscious, and we had to hike through the fields again, which were wet, so when we made it we were all wet. My shoes were squishing with water, not cool.

The original idea was that we would take the train back to Cardiff and tour around Cardiff a bit more but we ended up getting off in Swansea for a while to chill. We ended up playing on the beach again. We caught a train back to Cardiff, did a bit of shopping, played some ultimate frisbee in a park next to Cardiff Castle, then caught the train back to London.
It was sooo nice to be back home! It was kind of weird to think that, as we finally pulled into Paddington station I thought, “ahh, back to London,” then when we finally turned onto Palace Court and walked into the BYU center it was like, “ahh, home.” First thing was first: a nice long, hot shower. Once I was comfortable again I could continue with my evening.

So yeah, that was my last week. Going to Wales was definitely the highlight. It’s such a beautiful country! The only down side was the constant rain/mist. It wasn’t really possible to feel dry. It’s nice to be back in London where we have dryers and enough going on in the center that it’s warm.

Well, until next time… Cheers!

Stonehenge, Bath, Stourhead, Wicked, Southall

It’s been a pretty busy and fun week! Because we’ve done so much already it’s hard to believe that we’ve only been here for two weeks. It seems like a lot longer. I really love being here in London. I think I’ll definitely be coming back to England in the future. There is so much to do, see, and experience!

Monday:
We had class in the morning like normal, and in the afternoon a small group of us went to buy tickets. I got a ticket to see Wicked with another group of ours that had bought their tickets earlier. Then in the evening we had an early dinner, followed by a trip to the Globe Theater to see Shakespeare’s As You Like It. We walked across the Millennium Bridge on the way and were able to see London Bridge off in the distance. Anyway, the play was so good! It was the second time I’d seen it performed, and we’d read and studied the play in my Shakespeare class last semester so I was very familiar with the story. I think I got quite a bit more out of it watching it performed by professionals.



Tuesday:
Not terribly exciting. I got up early and did laundry while doing some reading for class. I had class and played piano quite a bit. So yeah, nothing exciting.

Wednesday:
Amazing! We left at 8am to go to Stonehenge. Our coach was pretty awesome and our driver, Tony, is super cool. We watched Pride and Prejudice on the way. After Stonehenge we drove a bit further on to Bath and got to tour around up there. We saw the Roman Baths, saw where Jane Austin lived, and about a million other things in Bath. It was pretty cool. After Bath we drove to Stourhead, which is where they filmed the confrontation scene in the new Pride and Prejudice movie. I walked across the bridge that Elizabeth Bennett ran across, and stood in the Temple of Apollo where Mr. Darcy proposed to Elizabeth, but she refused him. It was so neat! It would have been even cooler if it was cooler… it was a super hot day and the humidity is driving me insane. I don’t know if I’ve ever sweat so much. After we finished there we got back on the bus and rewatched that scene of the movie. I’m so excited to say that “I was there!”


Thursday:
We had class which wasn’t very exciting, but after class we took the tube over to Westminster Abbey and chilled there. I got to see so many amazing tombs! Jane Austen! The Bronte sisters! Handel! Sir Isaac Newton! Charles Darwin! And countless royals. It was amazing! The abbey is so beautiful! Very nice gothic architecture. After that we went home and had dinner, then in the evening we headed down to the West End and watched Wicked!! Amazing! After seeing Wicked we wandered down by Parliament and saw Bit Bed, the house of Parliament and the London Eye all lit up. Awesome! I can’t describe how breathtaking it is. I think that was one of the moments that reminded me that I’m in London. I’ve seen pictures of these places so often and I was finally there in person. Having watched Dr. Who about a million times I was very familiar with the London eye because it shows up in about everything, and I couldn’t believe I was standing right next to it! So incredibly cool!


Friday:
We went to a Sikh temple in Southall, then two Hindu temples. That was pretty cool, but I think going there was when I finally got to stage two of culture shock. I was dealing with the English culture pretty well because I incorporated so much of it into my life back in to the states (music, movies, literature) but I wasn’t prepared for the Indian culture. When I got back in the evening I was mildly depressed which carried over into….

Saturday:
I was very much a bum on Saturday. I should have done homework but couldn’t keep focused. I got one assignment done, but that was all. I moped around a bit in the morning, then some friends dragged me from the computer and we went to Burger King for lunch. We had to have something American! It was the 4th of July! I got back, did a whole lot of nothing for quite a while, then in the evening we got some more American food again (Subway this time) and went to sit in Hyde Park. As we sat three we noticed a football (soccer ball) laying, abandoned in the grass and eventually we decided to kick it back and forth in our group. Kicking it in a circle became boring so we decided to actually play a game of football (soccer). That was a lot of fun! After we got back they started watching Casino Royal and I chilled and talked to a friend who just got back from his mission. I think toward the end of the day I was in a much better mood.

So yeah, that was the week. It was a lot of fun, very busy, and I can’t wait for the coming week! Later!

Tower of London, Hamlet (Jude Law)

Well, week one is over and done with! I was waiting to write until I had some decent pictures to share. I’ve been super paranoid about taking my camera around with me so all the pictures you see are one’s other people have taken. I haven’t even taken my camera out once yet. Shame on me, I know. BUT, since you want to read about my London adventures, let us begin!

I got to PDX a little before 4:30am on Monday. I did all my packing in about two hours then sat at the computer, emailed and what not until it was time to go. No sleep. Mom and Dad weren’t allowed to walk me to my gate so I said goodbye to them as I walked through security. Mom looked like she was really fighting tears. Silly Mom! Once I found my gate I was bored until we actually started boarding. I sat and stared out the window, watching the sun rise over Portland. That plane ride was a little under five hours. Nothing exciting to tell about that ride except there were cool touch screen monitors on the back of ever seat and I was able to watch TV to keep entertained. I brought a book but was too tired to read. I landed in New York at JFK and was starving so I bought a sandwich and some fruit. Airport food is so expensive! Then I waited. I knew there were some other girls on my flight to London but I didn’t see them. I kept an eye out for about 4 hours, then found out that my plane was delayed so instead of leaving at 6pm we were leaving at 7pm. Right after that announcement I found one person I knew who happened to have found a bunch of other people from the program. So we wandered around the airport until we boarded out flight to LHR.

We landed in London just 20 minutes after we were originally supposed to land, even though we took off an hour late. We all found each other, went through border patrol together, exchanged money, then found the Dot to Dot service we were going to use to get to the London Center. We were waiting for Kaitlin who had arrived on a different flight on a different terminal, but she was the one who booked four of us. The other six (there would be ten of us in total once we found Kaitlin) managed to reserve the other spots left on the same shuttle so that we could all travel together.

Crazy driving in London, that’s all I can really say. It makes Utah look safe.

We got to the London Center and surprised Prof. Hawkins with the big group. He gave us the rundown of what was going on, handed out maps of the tube (underground/subway), gave us room assignments and told us when we have kitchen duty. I had/have kitchen duty the first week. Joy (sarcasm).

As soon as they let us go I made my bed, unpacked my suitcase and took a shower. I don’t know if a shower has ever felt so good! From then on it was a fight to stay awake. We took our first London walking tour and this one was just around our neighborhood. We found Hyde Park, the Bayswater and Queensway tube stations which are the closest states to the center, and walked down Queensway and saw all the restaurants and shopping. I was so exhausted that I didn’t take much in.

On Wednesday we had to go to the British Museum and see a couple different rooms for an assignment, then write about what we learned in them. The British Museum was pretty awesome! I even saw the Rosetta Stone!! There was a massive crowed around it so pictures were hard to get, but it was incredible. I wasn’t able to see enough of the museum, so I’ll probably have to head back at some point while I’m here.

Thursday was the first day of classes and I’m not excited about the workload, but I have to admit, it could be worse. The teachers really are trying NOT to kill us, so that we can go out and see the city. After class we had the afternoon free so I went with a group to the Victoria and Albert Museum. We had a lot of fun going through the fashion exhibit. As we passed through some of the marble statues along the way I even saw an original Bernini statue! Amazing! Those statues though… not very modest. Yeah.

Friday was incredible! We went to the Tower of London! There was a huge exhibit on Henry VIII in the White Tower, and we got to walk through the jewel house and see the crown jewels. Holy cow, I’ve never seen so many shiny things in my life! Photography was forbidden though, so alas, no pictures. Going through all the different sites there was pretty neat. As we were waiting to go through one of the towers a group of second or third grade students came out and there was a little kid who said (and think of this with a British accent): “I hate Richard III, I wish I could have executed him myself!” Maybe that’s one of those things that’s funnier at the time, but it was pretty cute. We all had a good laugh.

After the Tower of London the group I was with decided we wanted to go home and get lunch, then head out to the West End to find some tickets for Hamlet. The theater was super easy to find, as in just across the street from the tube station, and we asked about tickets. They told us that all the shows were currently sold out, and that if we wanted tickets they released some daily, but we had to stand in line really early. So what did we do?

Saturday morning I left the center at 6:30am with two other girls and we met the rest of the group there (who had left at 6am) and sat around until 10am when the ticket office opened. Everyone else in the group paid 32 pounds for seated tickets and I paid 10 pounds for a standing ticket. As luck would have it, I didn’t have to stand the first half. A couple people on the end of a row didn’t show up before the show started so I got to have their seat. Unfortunately they eventually made it and at intermission I was forced to stand against a wall for the remainder o the show. Still, it was worth it… I mean, Jude Law was Hamlet! After the show we wandered back behind to the stage door and waited around to see Jude Law. He took forever to come out, but he did! And I was within 5 feet of him! He’s far more attractive in person than he is in pictures. Alas, he looked completely exhausted. We felt kind of bad for him, being mobbed by people when all he probably wanted to do was rest. Playing Hamlet is a super intense role, and he was really energetic.

Sunday was church, so pretty basic. We found our ward (Peckham) and joined right in. After church we got our callings, and I’ll be in Young Women’s. Since I went straight into the singles ward when I was baptized I never experienced Young Women’s, so I figure now is a good time to get that experience.

Well, this concludes my first week in London. I should be off kitchen duty this week which I’m super excited about. I’ll have about 2 extra hours in my evenings which will be nice for socializing and doing homework.
This coming week we’re going to As You Like It at the Globe Theater Monday night, then we travel to Bath on Wednesday! Woot! It’s going to be busy! Cheers!

Summer Catch Up

This summer has been a whirlwind, trying to get everything ready for London, finish an independent study class, AND work (sub in two school districts). Here it is, the night before I leave and I’m finally able to tell you everything that I’ve been doing in relation to study abroad!

Shopping:
*They suggested a sleep mask and ear plugs which I got and got to use while I was house sitting. They work quite well and I plan on taking them on the plane with me so that I can get eight hours of sleep on my plane from New York to London. I figure since I get in to London at 7:05am if I just wake up from eight hours of sleep I should be able to combat jet lag pretty well. Right? We’ll see. Jumping eight hours forward is pretty intense.
*Notebook: three subject, durable, able to hold my pens and such and will work great for travel and studying on the go!
*Outlet adapters: I’ll be using those for my laptop and cell phone (both are made to work on either current). I realize I won’t be able to use my cell phone in London, but I think it would make a great alarm clock in the morning if nothing else, so I’m taking it.
*Phone card: I don’t know how many minutes I’ll get out of it from overseas but we’ll see. I’ll also be using Skype.

Packing:
I’m all done! I’m so used to traveling to Utah for school with a car load that only having one big piece of luggage and my backpack makes me feel like I’m missing something. I tried to take only the things I knew I would use and there’s still room in my luggage so I’ll be able to bring back gifts and souvenirs.

Travel Update:
Originally I was scheduled to fly out of PDX at 6:00am PDT but it got changed to 6:30am. Still, that means I’m leaving the house at 2:30am to get to the airport by 4:30am. Bleh. Kaitlin, one of my friends who is going (took a Spanish class with her before this) booked us a shuttle to take us from the airport to the BYU London Center. I hope tomorrow goes off without a hitch because I really don’t want to be stuck in a foreign country with no idea what I’m doing. :-P

I don’t think there’s anything else to relay at the moment. Tomorrow my journey begins! I’ve got my digital camera and lots of extra batteries so there will be pictures galore.

Don’t forget that you can leave comments! I’d love to hear from anyone who is reading! :-D Advice, suggestions, questions or whatever are appreciated.

Next blog from London!

Sixth Prep Class - April 8

This was the final prep class! There isn’t anything exciting to share about it. We had our history lecture and talked about the final exam. For trip stuff we talked about travel to and from the airport and a bit about insurance. We got the name of the book we need for the history class and were told to buy it from someplace other than the BYU Bookstore because Prof. Hawkins wasn’t going to order it. Honestly though, that was about it. There was a lot of excitement and “see you in London!” So this concludes the prep class portion of my blog. :-) One step closer to actually leaving!

Fifth Prep Class - April 1

For this class we discussed the 19th century for the history portion and had our safety briefing for the second half of class. They basically told us that of all the major cities we could be traveling to in the world, London was probably the safest… but we still have to be careful (duh! Have you seen Taken?) and the guy then proceeded to tell us horror stories about London students and students from other study abroad programs. This included one about a BYU student who was in China and disappeared five years ago, never to be found. Yeah, not comforting.

Anyway, basic things they told us in order to keep us safe:
*Keep up with the London current events through online newspapers such as the Times and the Economist.
*Change your schedule and habits if you need to. For example, don’t go running in the dark. If you normally go running at 11pm, you’d better find another time to run.
*The risk in London is similar to that in medium size US cities.
*Watch out for pickpockets. They’re slick and everywhere, but especially in crowded areas.
*Don’t take with you more than you can afford to lose.
*Don’t advertise what you have. For example, don’t flash your laptop, digital camera, and iPod around.
*NEVER carry your passport with you. You shouldn’t need it, and it can stay at the London Center.
*Don’t carry large amounts of money.
*Don’t put all your money in one spot. Socks are great!
*Keep a close eye on bank statements and have more than one account so that if one is compromised, you’re not up a creek.
*Use cash whenever possible, not credit cards.
*Use ATM cards only at legit places during business hours.
*Make sure you have your bank branch’s phone number.
*If ATMs next to each other don’t look the same, don’t use them.
*Walk confidently.
*Talk quietly.
*Carry key contact numbers with you at all times.
*Always be detailed and let people know where you’re going. Don’t go anywhere alone.

Then we talked about things it might be a good idea to bring:
*Ear plugs and a sleep mask for when roommates are up and partying when you want to sleep.
*Nothing that uses a US plug. Hair straighteners and curling irons are out. Laptops need a plug converter but will be fine on UK currency.
*Take a copy of your vaccinations.
*Take something to keep money safe, such as a money belt.

Yep, so those were the basics of our 5th meeting. London is that much closer now!

Fourth Prep Class – March 25

We started class out with a practice quiz over major people/events in English history. I didn’t do so hot, which isn’t surprising since I haven’t started memorizing all the dates yet. Something I should probably start doing. I got a few of the correct answers, and was able to confidently say some things that DIDN’T happen on certain dates. For example, I knew Charles I ascended to the throne before 1660. I was excited that I knew that. I felt smart, haha.

After the “quiz” we moved on to the history lecture. We talked about 16 and 1700s. A fairly interesting time, lots of things happening. The black plague… the Great Fire, Isaac Newton, the first dictionary by Samuel Johnson, and of course King George III and the American colonies.

After the history lecture, we took a break and split up into our semester groups. Professor Hawkins gave us another quiz, but this one was just for fun. It tested our knowledge of English culture. I knew some of the answers easily, and others surprised me. For example:

What would the English say about Hitler?
A) Butcher
B) Madness
C) A guy that almost destroyed England
D) Not the nicest of guys.

The answer was D! What does that tell us about the English? They understate EVERYTHING. They aren’t fans of the extreme, so it’s important for us not to be too exuberant while we’re out and about. One of the other questions was:

About how many pints of alcohol does a person consume on average, per year? [I can’t remember the exact numbers, so I’ll estimate about where they were]
A) 100-200
B) approx. 400
C) approx 850
D) +1100

The answer? D!!! Can you believe it! That’s sooo much alcohol! It’s true that alcoholism is a major problem in the UK. As a BYU student, and as a member of the LDS church, I will NOT be trying the drinks in England. Water, milk, and soda for me!

Toward the end of the class period Dr. Evans came in and talked a bit more about center life. We will have chore rotations every two weeks to keep the center in tip top shape and all our classmates happy. For example, on kitchen duty the jobs include prepping dinner, setting the tables, doing dishes, etc.

Then we talked about packing. They told us to think like pioneers, only take the necessities and nothing more. We have 1.5ft of closet space, and one large drawer under our bed. The end. No more. SO, luggage that is easily compacted is good (I’m going to try borrowing my brother’s large duffel bag, big enough it could fit a body in it… not that that’s why I’d be using it… but I could… ANYWAY… so I’d only be taking clothes to get me through one week, and probably two pairs of shoes, one for walking, one for church. A towel too because the only towels they have there are old and threadbare. Then of course the necessary toiletries, unless you want to buy all new there, which I’d rather not do.

Finally, Dr. Evans told us about how much the typical student spends per semester. Somehow I don’t think I’m going to be within that range. I’ve already started talking with some other girls about a trip to Ireland one weekend. Ireland is another place that’s on my dream list of places to visit. Possibly a trip to Paris too, but we’ll see. That trip’s a bit more expensive.

So that’s what’s been happening this week! It sounds like Harry Potter is definitely on, so I’m thrilled about that. Everything else seems to be looking good too.  Happy Allison!