Sister Friden

This girl gave her farewell talk today:

She leaves Wednesday (ground hog day hahaha) for the mtc. I'm so excited for her to start this new adventure in her life! Since I couldn't be at her farewell (obviously), my parents emailed me a voice recording of her talk. I teared up a bit (this is the only time I'll mention that, if you tell anyone I'll deny it)...she'll be an amazing missionary. :) Truth is I've always looked up to her, (my whole family really). They are probably the number one reason I have stayed strong in the gospel. They don't just preach it, the live it. Hayley (and the rest of my family) don't really know how much I've looked up to them throughout my life; late at night when I was bored I'd go into Hayley's room and beg her to entertain me, but she'd be a good girl and would be reading her scriptures, writing in her journal, and doing all those little things that I should have been doing. I feel the same about all my siblings (and parents). They always are found doing those little things that I should be doing. I really can't put into words how much of an impact they have made in life; it's their actions and the way they live their lives that I will always be grateful for. Any who like Bishop Gauchay said, Hayley will be a real treat! LOVE YOU!

Aren't they great?

On a side note, I taught Young Womens today. Weird. You may call me Sister Friden. The girls are probably like "why is an 18 year old teaching us...shouldn't she be sitting with us?" I feel the same way, I really do.

Cambridge

Yesterday, we took a day trip to Cambridge. Lets just say Cambridge University makes BYU look lame. It was a BEAUTIFUL campus and I can't wait to see Oxford. We started off our tour of Cambridge by taking a punting tour of the university. It was most definitely the highlight. Our tour guide was way funny and the 9 of us on our punt had a jolly good time on the Cam river. Then we just walked around this massive campus/town the rest of the day.

On our way to Cambridge we stopped off at the only American cemetery in the UK.

Today, we took a tour of Parliament and it was way neat. We aren't allowed to take any pictures inside but let me just say the House of Lords room was AMAZING. After leaving Parliament we walked down the street to the National Gallery (we have to go there this week for fine arts) and  we walked right in the middle of the protest. Thousands of students (well just people in general) started picketing, protesting, rioting, (whatever you want to call it) right down the main road. They started at the National Gallery (where we were headed) and were marching to Parliament (where we were coming from). It was crazy, but cool to witness. I think it's a bit funny that they are protesting for free college education...I'm sorry you have to pay hardly anything for school..NOT! Oh socialized education. Anywho it's been a solid weekend. Now I'm off to plan my Young Womens lesson.

Sara and I at Parliament

In the middle of the madness.

Failure

Today was kind of a failure. This is how it went:

-Left the centre at 7:55am for a day trip. failure
-Arrived at Dover castle around 10; it was closed. failure

Sad that the Castle was closed.

-Went to the "white cliffs" of Dover; they weren't white. failure.

Laura and I at the "white cliffs" of Dover.

-Went to Canterbury, had two hours to kill, forgot the addresses my mom told me to look up. failure
-Went to Pound Land and got 3 kinder buenos for a dollar. success
-Went to our 4th Cathedral in 3 weeks had 2 hours there, I took 15 minutes. failure

Devon and I at the Canterbury Cathedral.

-Went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner; Blake is broke. failure

Amidst all these failures, today still managed to be so fun. I love it here! We manage to have a ton of fun even when everything goes wrong. The people I'm with are the best and we can just laugh for hours about nothing.

Stairs

You see these stairs? Ya there are 68 to get to my room. I go up and down them several times a day. Today, I biffed it down these stairs while on my way to class. Like I completely fell from the top of one flight of stairs to the bottom. Normally I would catch my self, but I had my laptop in hand and so it was impossible to stop. My backside is bruised. Let's not talk about it. On a more positive note, I went on a Book of the Dead tour for my British Museum class. I liked it.

And I Walked and Walked and Walked and Walked...

I did 3 of my "London Walks" today. I've truly outdone myself. You go Heather, you go girl! Also I made a pact today to always be doing something in London, screw homework, naps, sleep. I want to experience London. As hard as giving up my sleep is for me, I'm going to do it. I'm on a roll and no one can stop me. (Really I just made this post because my journal check is due for class tomorrow and I'm trying to look like I've done more posts). Okay bye.

A Weekend Up North

Be prepared for a picture overload of my weekend:

Day 1: Fountains Abbey (favorite part of the weekend, besides the Beatles museum, it's like a giant playground for adults).

Day 1 continued: Arrive in York late (My roomie and bunkmate Kaylee).

York by night

The great wall of York on our way to the Cathedral.

Largest indoor picture in the world

Day 2: Church History tour in Preston.

Day 2 Continued: Arrive in Liverpool. My Roomie for the 2nd night, Lyse.

Day 3: Liverpool - Ode to the Beatles.

Rockin' out to twist and shout at "the cavern" (it's where the Beatles used to play).

 

Day 3 Continued: Giant Swings overlooking Liverpool and Shopping.

Wicked Awesome

The past couple of days have been Wicked awesome (pun intended hehe, not funny, I'm aware). Let me just give 'you' a brief recap of this week so far....

Sunday: Woke up REALLY early, we're talking 6 o'clock (okay maybe I didn't get out of bed till 6:45), but we left for church at 7:25, it takes an hour and half to get there and an hour and a half to get back. Needless to say it was a LONG day, but a good one. I'm a young women's leader in my ward...the ward is straight up African, it's pretty sweet, and the people are soo nice. I didn't get to be a primary teacher like I wanted (the other 4 study abroad students that are in my ward with me are all primary teachers haha), BUT the 2 young women are cute (yes there are only 2 young women) and I'm looking forward to be with them. Let me just give 'you' some stats; I'm in the Hyde Park stake and the Lea Valley ward...our stake has 105 different nationalities and 75% of the people are 1st generation members. They're amazing. Six hours later we got home...

Elise fell asleep on the ride home...Sharon is waiting to greet her when she wakes (shout out to my girl Sharon, it's her birthday).

Monday: Woke up early to go get some wifi at a cafe on Portobello road, but I didn't get wifi since Charlie (who owned the cafe) hadn't paid his internet bill. Naturally. So I just ended up with a Lemonade (refer to previous post). Then I went back to the centre, got some homework done, relaxed, and the went out for crepes...again...for like the 5th time this week. Let's not talk about that.

yum.

Tuesday: Went to class. Then Lyse, Maddy and I went on a walk because it was a BEAUTIFUL sunny day in London (it has actually been blue skies all day this week, except Monday). Then the whole group went to go see WICKED. It was amazing, I have seen it before, but I haven't seen it with British accents.

This is my classroom. No joke. Sweet huh?

Maddy and Lyse on our walk.

Sunny day in London.

Wicked!

Emerald City.

Wednesday: Went to both the British Museum AND Victoria and Albert Museum.

Just reading about ancient Assyria at the BM.

Looking at the Magic Lantern at the V&A Museum.

Beauty and the Beast anyone?

This week has been good to me. FIRST overnight road trip this weekend...we leave first thing in the morning!