north

this week we went NORTH! like to the lake district (i.e. ABLISCIDE!) and York. this was the greatest week ever!! I want to record every story. of every minute. because it was so great!! but, unfortunately, I'm tired and sick. and drowning in homework. and only have a week left in london.... so perhaps I will just say:
that is officially the most beautiful place in the world.
and, york is HAUNTED! like seriously. legit.
we went on a ghost tour and i jumped out of my skin in the first 10 minutes when i bumped into the umbrella stuck in the ground behind me that I was sure was a ghost. and then for the next hour I jumped and screamed a few more times than I care to admit. but the thing is, the stories weren't just like oooooh so scary. they were REAL! it was very spooky. Like here's one:
we were at an old building - now used as a church, but it used to be a boarding school or something. and the conditions were really bad, so the little girls would die, and the headmaster Mr Pimm would bury their bones under the floor boards so he could still get government funding for them. and without a proper burial, the girls ghosts lingered there and haunted the school. Well evil Mr. Pimm was driven mad by their ghosts and the secret, so he was sent to the insane asylum where he confessed his crime. So the people went and tore up the school and found the bodies of all the girls excpet 3 - and they still haunt that neighborhood to this day.
and then he told us all the sightings people have had etc.
i know that as I'm typing this, it doesn't seem that scary. but it was really creepy. Leaves blowing even though there was no wind, suddenly it was really cold... it was all just really terrifying. everyone in the group just kept glancing at me, worried I was about to burst into tears (again...)
BUT this isn't the end of my haunted tale! because after it ends, everyone is a little on edge, and we're walking home, to stay in our rather sketchy hostel - which our ghost guide told us is haunted in the tv room - and we walk past the insane asylum. which still functions as such, jsut as it did in the days of.....MR PIMM.
so we're walking, I'm sort of a bit behind the group (the regular gang/my fam here - sarah, clark, jacqui, chery, eden) and I SEE A CREEPY OLD MAN BEHIND THE OLD FENCE IN THE TREES! so i scream and grab onto clark. and then it's kind of a blur... all I konw is that I didn't let go of him for a while and i think i might have pulled off his arm. I was the only one who saw anything, but sarah and jacqui both heard a mans voice just before I screamed! so three possible options I see:
1. it was a hobo who had hopped the fence and was just lurking creepily outside the ominous insane asylum building
2. it was an insane patient, in the middle of his grand escape that he's been planning for years as he dug a tunnel out - just shy a couple of feet unfortunately, cause he obviously didn't clear the fence...
3. it was the GHOST of MR PIMM.
i'm rather inclined to believe the last.
well, like we haven't had enough - i'm practically in hysterics and would perfer to go to bed, but am too scared to be alone - so we go to the supposedly haunted tv lounge to tell ghost stories. well it was awful. and clark wins for telling the scariest story i've ever heard. we all were crying at this point. and he finishes, and i think someone was just saying jokingly to clear the mood - yeah but who really believes in ghosts, or something like that. adn the DOOR SLAMS. even though nobdoy is around. then we all screamed and ran back to our room. and sang hymns. and ate chocolate. until we were calm enough to let clark leave to go to his room. and then we went to sleep. except i didn't really sleep that well, cause i kept seeing that creepy mans face in my dreams...
I was glad ot come home and put some distance between me and york.... hopeuflly his ghost isn't following me.
but not happy to leave amblicide! we went on a hike through HEAVEN and sat in this big tree that over looked the lake, and ate LOTS of ice cream, and jumped in the lake, etc. etc. etc. it was so great. and peaceful. london is great, but so busy! and I always feel like I should be doing 10 things and seeing something great. but there I just walked around and soaked it in. now back for one last sprint to finals and HOME!

behind

time to face the fact that I'm not going to do catch up posts, and might as well keep up with where I am!
well, where I am = the library. the place for the boring, serious students. which as of now includes me. though, obviously since I'm actually just blogging in here, I don't really fit that description. but I'm on a roll with my paper - surprise, i'm
taking an LDS view point on the war. basically I just write my testimony for every paper - regardless of the assigned subject. so glad I go to BYU. it works like a charm.
spekaing of lds... we went to the temple today! it was so beautiful! and always teh very best experience. it was a long trip! and actually we tried so hard to go yesterday... and actually kinda wasted our whole day trying to get there. but satan is good! well... we beat him in the end!
clark, sarah, chery and i went back to proms tonight, casue it was sooo good when we went earlier this week. (i guess I didn't blog about that.. but we saw chopains nocturns and it was beautiful. but this time, though on the website made it sound lke it was mostly featuring the planets which I love... it was actually all about Dr. Who - don't worry - I'm a doctor!
it was bizarre!! packed with children and weird teens, the stars of the show were all there... and there was so much screeming at the movie footage on screen that i oculdn't hear the orchestra half the time, but I think they were playing something amazing....
anyway. back to my paper. good luck clark - he's in way more trouble than me. which makes me feel kinda good about myself ;)

a week in FRANCE

modnay:
wake up extra early to ensure that jacqui and i get the best spot on the bus.
Long bus ride
took the ferry across the channel, felt sick
played a really fun game where you draw pictures and write sentences folding the paper - you know waht I'm talking about? laughed so hard.
stopped at two WWI sights - the place the armistice was signed (here, jacqui was sick after i had ditched her. and i felt like a real bad friend...) and a battlefield (the name of which currently eludes me) where we walked through the trenches and could see to the enemy side.
sleep uncomforably on bus - so glad jessica lent me her neck pillow.
ARRIVE IN PARIS!
check into our semi-sketchy hotel.
metro into the city, without getting lost - hallelujah for chery
walk around, get a first look at the amazing landscape
took a boat tour at pont nueff (or something like that. memory is failing me quickly, and i already had no idea how to spell these names...)
got an amazing star lit first look at the city. saw the eiffel tower. fell in love.
went home - noticed that the metros stink like urine. bigtime.
jacqui and i were roommates!
slept like a log

Tuesday:
early breakfast - discover how delicious french hot chocoalte is. drink three cups.
load up the bus - group trip to Chartres Cathedral!
Formation of our band - bonne idée. clark = main song writer with our first hit - je ne sais pas
Back on the bus to Versailles.
RUN through all the rooms, jaw open at the ridiculously elaborate and fancy rooms. hall of mirrors. amazing.
the gardens were closed unless you paid, so instead sarah and i did an episode of: bad fashion at versailles.
back to the city
Muse D'Orse. amazgin! my favorite museum. like, ever. maybe. i love impressionists! i loved loved loved it. wish we could have gone back.
Eiffel Tower! stood in the LONG line. avoided all gypsy women and junk sellers fairly well. went up to the top. amazing view. way cooler than i ever thought it would be. 10 points to the eiffel tower. 4realz.
Champs Elise - at this point, it's pretty late. and i'm pretty hungry! no food since breakfast (hot chocolate...) and that granola bar i packed in my bag. but we pass all the amazing looking food places. clark takes the lead (literally for the first time ever as he is always the very slowest) and power walks us to the arch de triumph which we make it to just before it closes. cool place. cool view.
Dinner. 11:30 at night. everyone's getting a little grumpy... mainly me actually. i actually stomped me foot at jacqui i think...
went to a great little bakery place, forgotten the name unfortunately. but had the most delicious sandwich on a baguette. and fruit tarts. and hot chocolate - i was on a kick...
back to the hotel. big planning session of how to effectively use our time the next day. fall asleep two minutes later attempting to write in my journal.

wednesday - BASTILLE DAY
wake clark up for the third day in a row. he has yet again slept in through his alarm. seriously, what would he do without us?
breakfast and head out early
Best group ever, everyone has an importatn job:
Jacqui: the interpreter.
Chery: The Navigator
Sarah: Comedic relief
Clark: the Protector - ditched us on wed. good thing we weren't kidnapped. rude.
mia: the tag-along.
kellyann - compass
edan - our conscience
hit up the Lourve. 1 hour and a half. are you kidding me?? no time at all. i ditch everyone cause they're moving too slow. and pretty much just book it through the galleries. running past jacqui louis david, monet, and raphael. amazing!!!!!
saw the mona lisa - cooler than anticipated. everyone says it's smaller than they expected, so i was picturing something really small, which it's really not.
went outside and caught the very end of hte parade - the jets with the colored smoke and lots of military men zooming past!
Crepes for lunch! so good!!! like out of this world. i'm obsessed with food. and this was the best. i had 2 for lunch one food one and one dessert one - with ice cream on it! the guy working there was so nice, and we were all making such a huge mess he kept bringing us over napkins. and finally he just said - there's a wash room downstairs I'll let you girls use. ha we were a MESS! but it was so good.
went to notre dame - on the way it stared to rain. adn by rain, i mean POUR!!!!!!!!! like monsoon. tidal waves. downpour. we all had umbrellas except poor edan. and i thought it would pass. so we ran to the cathedral, it felt like running to find sanctuary there and was very fitting to see the huddled masses inside. it is such a beautiful cathedral!! I really loved it.
went back outside. still pouring.
went to san chappel - the power is out cause of the storm. we can't go in :(
we head to the pompeduii museum. get off the metro. start walking through the storm. completely lost.
walk 10 miles
rains the whole time
soaked to teh bone!!
splashing in puddles. and wading through the lake which was the street.
huddled all our umbrellas to try to look at the map which has disintegrated into mush
I ask direction from approximately 10 people. they all pointed in different directions.
we pick one and keep walking.
after like, 2 hours of this, we are pretty dejected. when, in the distance, we SEE A MUSEUM! we run to the building. and i see a sign, that says lourve. and i say - i think we're at the lourve. no one belives me, because it's impossible! that's waaay across the city from where we are. but it somehow is the lourve. i sit down in a big puddle. and cry.
we go to a cafe and get hot chocolate! sarah says if we can't have the very best day in paris, we might as well have the very worst! i definitely will never forget that day!
cold.
wet.
dried my pants in the bathroom with the hand drier.
it stops raining!
we go to saucre cure. - i loved it! in a very different part of town - small and quaint!
went home to change - edan is still soaked.
run into lots of other groups who have just been hanging at the hotel all day to avoid the rain. ha. pansies!
went to the latin quarter for dinner- more crepes! so good. again! 2 more. a little piggy, i know.
went to the tullery to watch the amazing bastille day fireworks show. found the perfect wall. sat there and talked. and talked and talked. cause apparetnly it doesn't get dark until 11:30 in paris.
sarah and i tried to go to the bathroom- i'm really good at asking directions, but bad at understanding the answers people give. almost died in the scariest place ever.... went to a carnival, found one there :)
firework show = good. but not great. we were kind of far away, and they wer kind of low, so we could really see everything. which is really too bad cause i hear they wer realy cool from close up. but whateves.


ok. this is going to have to be a 2 part entry. so you can anxiously look forward to thursday and friday tomorrow! ;)

i love my yw

Sunday: Internet problems persist. And so I again write this on word, and will transfer one day I hope onto my actual blog. But I won’t be uploading said blogs for at least a week! Because I won’t have internet this week while I’m in PARIS!! I’m so excited! Like, really. It just hit me. And I’m so so glad that Jacqui speaks French cause it also just hit me that I do not know a single word!! Tonight we were out on the street watching the finale of the world cup, and she had her French dictionary out and was trying to teach me some stuff and the guy in front of us turned around and he was French and was so nice and he could understand everything Jacqui said, but I couldn’t understand him – even when he was trying to speak English! This is my first time really to go somewhere that English isn’t the main language. Chery said that she would take care of me – and she already found my passport which I left at the meeting… I’m off to a bad start! But clark said he would protect us, and Jacqui can translate! I have the best friends ever! We’ll be there during Bastille days, so it’s going to be CRAZY!! They keep warning us about getting robbed or pick pocketed etc. and it has kinda struck some fear into my heart. So glad I’m friends with the only boy on this program… just cause I’ll feel a little safer I think. Not that I’m really scared. I’m tough and independent and can handle anything 
Just finished packing, it’s 2 and the bus leaves at 6 I think… so I’m going to shower and go to bed
But first let me mention church was so good today! I love my young women! They’re angels! And they invited me to come and help them with their dance this week cause they’re having a big stake sytycd competition, but I’ll miss the whole thing. But they are the best. I’m teaching the lesson next week – Jessica did it today and she did a great job! I also went to the park and wrote post cards and read the ensign. And took a nap. I love Sundays!

oxford = HOGWARTS

This morning we got out the door around 1030 – much later than we’d planned but it’s impossible to get a group of people out the door. But we went to Oxford today! Chery is brilliant and talked to Dr. Tate in advance and found out the cool things to see and had a map etc. so weren’t even lost today! They filmed the great hall and the library of Harry Potter here, so it was really fun because I felt like I was actually at HOGWARTS! It’s an awesome school! So old and beautiful – it felt like we were really at a castle. What would it be like to go to school there? Too bad I’m not brilliant so I’ll never find out…
But we went to New College, the theater designed by Christopher Wren that’s name escapes me right now, Christ’s Church, and the library – except we could really go in so we only saw the alice in wonderland exhibit there, and shopped. The theater has “perfect acoustics” so chery san a lovely solo there, and there was beautiful stained glass at all the chapels. And I walked where ron, Hermione, and Harry, AKA Daniel ratcliff and emma Watson have walked! It was me, Jacqui, Cheri, Hilary, Maggie, and Edan that went. It was such a fun group! I’m so glad we went!
Tonight was kind of a bust – I really really wanted to go to a dance thing they had a Trafalgar square – its some world dance thing (I’m picturing the folk fest…) that’s been going all around the UK and it’s finale was tonight. But everyone was SO SLOW (partly my fault) and we missed the whole thing by the time we got there. :( I still don’t feel like I wasted the day – it was busy and fun and I’m all tuckered out.

Friday

Tower of London.

Bourough Market.

Primark

Homework

ECLIPSE

Could not possibly have loved today more.

look! pictures!

so here's the sitch with the camera... I borrowed andrews, but it's not rechargable. so i figured I could just buy new double A's - they're universal right? well, it seems that my american appliance uses way more energy tha AA's here. cause new ones only have enough juice to turn my camera on before they die. so I'm kind of cameraless! but I figure it's not really all so bad, I use Jacquis a lot, and I'm in lots of other peoples pictures, so I just need to get copies. So chery emailed me these 2 tonight. she 's the best! and there I am with her at Cambridge and with Jacqui at Canterbury :)

Today was fun! (i say that a lot...)
classes this morning, and then I did laundry and did my homework down in the laundry room for a couple hours. I only took one chocolate break (have I blogged about the chocolate here??? it's amazing. and deserves an entire entry to itself sometime.) and during said break, who showed up but...
President Samuelson!!
yeah, like the pres of BYU. he'd never been to teh center before, it was a surprise visit when he was just passing through. and cause we all have tons of homework and tests, most people were home and he either was impressed with how very studious we all are or disappointed in the fact that they pay tons to have this amazing center and we all just sit in the center studying. I must admit I side with the latter...
But he and I chatted about chocolate for a while, he told me his favorite was lion, which I haven't even seen so I'll be on the lookout :)
more studying. dinner. and then...
we went to st. pauls cathedral to hear Beethovans 9th symphony! the acoustics were AMAZING! and I think we played the second movement in chamber? so that was fun memories. it sounded incredible! one of the opera singers voices was out of this world. my mouth was open in awe the whole time he sang. we all got dressed up. it was such a fun night out!!
We came home and were giong to study for our war test tomorrow on the poetry and art, and we actually did study a lot... but also chatted and had such a fun time!!! I love these friends. tehy are keepers! I told the story about how last night I thought that clark got murdered cause he has to use the bathroom in the basement and then he never came back. and I thought i should check his room on my way up at 130, but i forgot, and then I didn't want to get out of bed... so then i had a terrible nightmare that he died, so I got up and went to the fire escape to look in his window. and the light was on but I couldn't see him so i was freaking out cause he was missing. and then I couldn't open the door back in and I was stuck on the fire escape and thought I was going to die too... but then i was too scared to go and knock on his door or anything. anyway, it made for a restless night. and i felt like Catherine from Northanger abbey - i might write my paper on that. clark is fine, and everyone thinks I'm a big creeper for looking in his window and for not doing anything about thinking he was missing. and even worse... I slept in and missed the ONE day we have a good breakfast! of course. going to bed so i don't sleep in again tomorrow. even though I bet they'll just serve gross yogurt, sour milk on cereal and bananas. if we're lucky.