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!