Practice What You Teach

On Monday we were FINALLY able to move into the newly renovated BYU London Centre! It could not possibly be any more beautiful. It's located on Notting Hill in a huge Victorian style townhouse. I'll take some pictures to post on my blog soon, but it is incredible. On Tuesday morning, we were awakened by a chorus of alarms going off  at 3:30 a.m. so that we could leave to catch our 5:40 a.m. train to Paris. We did so much in the 3 days in Paris that I'll just hit some of the highlights. 1. Sacre Couer. The Sacre Couer is a BEAUTIFUL church in Paris that is located up on a hill. You can hike up to it and take in not only the beautiful church but the incredible view of Paris. Funny story though, at all of the major tourist attractions in Paris you will find scammers trying to sell you things. As we were hiking up the hill, this man was trying to sell us friendship bracelets. I shook my head and tried to keep walking, but he grabbed my arm and tried to put one on me loudly cl...

So on Friday I got to spend the day at a castle. We made it successfully to Hampton Court after a few bumps in the road (aka we missed our train), where King Henry VIII lived during his reign. We were able to take a tour of the different parts of the castle and learn all about his many wives. He got bored of them pretty easily and either had them exiled or beheaded, with the exception of the one who died in childbirth. Pretty morbid, right? My favorite part of the castle was the gardens. They were HUGE, and clearly very carefully and closely maintained. Oh and we got a complimentary cape to wear during our tour. Have I mentioned I love England?! I thought the East Coast was green until I came to England! I could have spent hours in there! Then Saturday was spent visiting markets, eating delicious street food, and listening to local bands! Check out the pictures of this castle though: This morning, we woke up bright and early, because we thought it would take us way long...

The London tube goes directly to King's Cross Station, and they've build a replica of Platform 9 3/4 where you can take a picture heading off to Hogwarts with whichever House's scarf you want! So on Tuesday, we decided to spend the afternoon fulfilling our dreams! My friend Alison had both me and Sarah take the official sorting quiz before we went. All three of us got sorted into Hufflepuff! It looks  pretty realistic doesn't it?  Then on Tuesday night, we went out for dinner at a lovely Italian place down the street from our flat and then went to see Once at the West End! I've seen a lot of musicals in my life, but this was probably my favorite show I've ever seen. The show didn't have a pit orchestra. Instead, the actors were the musicians. Whenever they weren't in a scene, they would sit to the side of the stage and accompany the musical numbers with their string instruments. The music was so beautiful and acoustic in nature. I've been lis...

           I still can't believe I'm in London! It kind of still feels like a dream that's too good to be true! On Friday morning we woke up bright and early to take a tube to the Tower of London! It was incredible! My favorite part was seeing all of the beautiful crowns that past monarchs of England have worn in the Crown Jewels exhibit! We then took a self-guided tour that led us from the Tower of London to the Museum of London! We had so much fun exploring and of course stopping at a market along the way. London markets are officially my new favorite! Then in the evening we went to Picadilly Circus, which is basically the Times Square of London and Trafalgar Square! One of the gift shops we went in had an entire section devoted to One Direction. Jenn would have been in heaven! We also had our very first London pastry at a cafe before heading back home and it was incredible. On Saturday, I got meet up with the Buhlers for lunch! It was so ...

I've learned a few things in the two days since I left the U.S. First of all, flying internationally is AWESOME. Going through customs, not so awesome but I'll get there. You're greeted at your seat by a pillow and blanket, you get served Indian food for dinner, and there's tons of T.V. shows and movies to watch. I didn't sleep much, and thus was a bit disoriented when we landed at 7 am London time, while my body was on Virginia time where it was the middle of the night. I completely forgot that my dad had told me that before you go through passport control, there's a landing form you have to fill out. When my half asleep half awake self handed the border patrol officer my passport I was met with a very dirty glare as he angrily asked where my landing form was. He handed me one after I explained that I had forgotten to grab one, but not without a bit of eye rolling. I frantically filled it out and made it through customs in one piece after being questioned about...