thursday

today was very pleasant. we went as an entire group to westminster abbey. it was beautiful! we got a guided audio tour which was super neat. there were SO many tombstones and graves and memorials. i have never seen anything like that! we were talking in my fine arts class about how in america, we think that something is old and has history when its 100 years old. this abbey has foundations that go back to 616 ad. it was so crazy to me. we talked for a while with one of the priests, he gave us a history of a few of the items and graves. it was really cool.
after the abbey we went on a walk around the thames and past the london eye. we tried to go to a pub for lunch but they would accept our id's and didn't believe that we were old enough. bummer. we settled for a pizza hut instead. in our prep class back in provo our teacher told us that going into american restaurants in england would be a whole new experience. take into account the following picture.

yes. its true. mcdonalds is the epitome of "western civilization". wonderful. anyway, our teacher was SO right! it was crazy. the pizza hut was full of business men in suites. you could make reservations! and it was cleaner and nicer than any pizza hut back home. it was crazy. there was this place that we went to a few nights ago before the play that we were going to where, under the dessert section, the menu offered "American Style Pancakes with Ice Cream and Maple-style syrup". first - what is maple "style" syrup?? second, since when did pancakes become dessert?
anyway, after lunch we went on another walk through the mall (not a shopping one..but like..the governmental sort of district..) it was really neat - there are pictures in my last post.
after dinner we headed over to little venice. it was a short little walk and it was so cute! there is a canal and a ton of river boats. it was really fun.
i have the funnest friends. we have a blast together. we all think alike (to a certain degree) and we have all fallen into our certain "roles" that we play in the group. ray, for example, has become known as "the mum" because...well she sort of acts like the mother figure - keeping us on time, giving us hand sanitizer so that we don't get swine flu, reading the maps, ect. we have so much fun.
we already have a favorite treat here in our little section of london. its a hole in the wall belgian waffle stand. the guy who runs it is adorable and the waffles are DELICIOUS! seriously the most amazing thing i have ever eaten. tonight we talked and made friends with him and he gave us 1 pound off of our treat! lucky us.
one super funny thing that happened today - we were walking down the street by the parliament buildings, and this british man was walking next to us - he looked very important and business like. anyway, as usual, rachel was reading to us out of our london walks guide book. after we walked a little ways we came to a stop light where we parted ways with the man. before he left he turned to us and said "cool accent." haha. a british man thought that an AMERICAN had a cool accent. that's a first.
heres pictures!

reading the london walks book. always reading.

the thames..even though you can't see it. promise it's there. doing self take and actually getting the back ground is a talent which we have not yet mastered.


big ben and parliament :]

after being followed for two blocks by some gangsters..

little venice. one of my favorites. it was so quaint. and cute. and calm. atleast when we were there...

mostly westminster abbey

here are the sights from today
more to come tonight!

regents park

my bedroom at the centre



sights



st james park



alrighty.
so today we had another class - European Fine Arts. it was weird to go to class just upstairs from where i sleep and eat. very weird. but the class was great. its another excuse to see the sights of london and get credit for it. fabulous. tomorrow we go as a class to westminster abbey. im super excited.

after class we went on a walk through regent's park. it was super gorgeous. there were trees and flowers everywhere. there were also a ton of people. especially joggers. i don't understand how there are always so many joggers! in the middle of the day in the middle of the week! so bizzare. doesn't anyone work? guess not. there were also a TON of birds. it was kind of disgusting actually. we got a little lost so the walk to a long time, so when we were done we got back on the tube and came back to our side of town. we went to a super yummy shop called pret a manger and got some lunch. it was super delicious. we came home and did some homework after that. it's kind of starting to sink in that we actually have class and have to do homework and such. but its fun.

tonight we went and got belgian waffles from a little tiny shop down the road. they were DELICIOUS! wow. definitely a new favorite treat. it was so super good. i have now been exactly 6 days without diet coke. sort of dying. no joke. its rough. oh boy.

it was sort of just a chill day so that's about all i have to report..haha but here's a bunch of pictures from the last few days!!

rainy day

st. regents


our serious londoner faces. everyone here is so serious. all. the. time.


rainy day in chelsea

we're basically tube experts


rainy day along the thames. i look tanky cuz my purse is zipped into my jacket :]

home of james bond :]

sherlock holmes giftshop


top of a double decker bus

"STOMP!"


delicious lunch from pret


getting home from the show

more sherlock holmes museum

london.

wow! it has been a long 4 days. its weird that ive only been here for 4 days. our days are so long and so intense that everything blurrs together in one big clump and time seems to stand still almost anyway. here is a major recap.

SATURDAY

friday moring just flat out sucked. lets leave it at that.
so the flight to new york wasnt that bad. it went by pretty fast. i fell asleep for lots of it. then we just watched tv. then the flight to london was brutal. we were in the plane on the runway at jfk for over an hour before we took off. which was super fun. my tylenol pm had almost worn off by the time we actually took off. fabulous. the plane from new york to london was freeeezing and bumpy so i didnt get much sleep. i officially hate flying over night. it's terrible!! but I survived. :] the customs lady gave me a really hard time coming through. she made me answer a whole bunch of stupid questions like who i lived with at home and who was paying for my trip and what my major was and when i was going to graduate. it was brutal. it took me a super long time and she asked a ton of questions. we got our bags and realized that delta was in terminal 4 and the other girls that we were supposed to meet to get on the shuttle were in terminal 3. so we had to go all the way across the terminal and down 2 super long escalators and then get on a train to take us to terminal 4. whew! when we finally got there… our shuttle wasn't there. rachel and i ran around the terminal trying to find him (i was the one that had reserved the shuttle so it was my job to find out where he was) for seriously 15 minutes. we tried to ask the information desk but they were no help. they were actually kind of rude. but whatever. we finally found him. well he found us. he was half an hour late. when we went to get on the shuttle bus we all went to the wrong side of the car and just stood there. the driver got a good laugh. driving to the centre was fun. it's so pretty here. and so so so different. there are tons of old buildings and houses - i love them!! most of them are super tiny. and it’s so green here! its lovely. side note- London drivers are NUTS! when we got to the center we got divided up into rooms. on the first floor there are 8 girls, the third floor has 16 girls, the fourth floor has 18 girls and the fifth floor has 6 girls. you would not believe how many stairs there are in this place. it is ridiculous. ts ridiculous. for that reason im glad that im on the main floor. :] anyway, so after we got unpacked and everything we went on a walk around the neighborhood. its a fun place. there are tons of shops and restaurants around. theres a starbucks on every corner just like in new york. it was really sunny and we did a ton of walking. we walked around the neighborhood then we came back to the centre for a delicious dinner. after that we went out to buckingham palace, big ben, westminster abby and st james park. we walked forever. blah. it was good though. the weather is beautiful during the day when the sun is out. but the minute the sun goes down its freezing. that night we found out that we have no hot water until atleast the end of next week. a boiler blew up so they had to order a new part. lame. so, at this point, I haent showered since Thursday night. cute.

SUNDAY

we walked to church through the park on Sunday morning. it was amazing. it was about a 20 minute walk through a gorgeous park on a gorgeous Sunday. I loved it. i almost fell asleep in church so many times. the jet lag finally hit. i slept perfectly all nigh on saturdayt once i actually fell asleep but i was still so tired. after church we walked home slowly then we went to the london history museum. we got off the tube at a few wrong stops and walked around a lot so it took a while. it was super nice weather again. the museum was mostly boring but there were a few really cool things from the roman times. when got out of the museum we saw a london boy scout parade...even though im pretty sure that they werent quite called boy scouts. it was fun. we got lost on the tube. a great adventure. that night we met with the stake president who gave us our ward assignments. I found out tonight that my bishop here is going to give me a temple prep class and my recommends!! they will be signed by a london bishop and stake president. that's pretty cool huh? I'm kind of stoked. my bishop is this super young guy. He's probably like 30. his wife is from minnesota. they met while she was on byu study abroad. hahah. they have a 5 week old baby girl who is super adorable. tonight we went over to west end. we weren't quite sure what it was but the bunk bed told us to go (so on the wood between the two bunks i guess it is kind of tradition to sign your name and semester and what your favorite part was and give advice to the new people in the center. so we spent a long time reading the bunks this afternoon cuz its hilarious. so we've got a few good ideas of stuff to do. hah) anyway. we got on a train and a group of boys followed us into our car. they sat the entire train ride staring at us. owe get up to get off at our stop and they totally follow us. so we faked them out, pretended to get off and waited until they were off then got back on. personally i think it was super tricky. so we went on a few stops and our super great west end adventure turned out to be lame. there was nothing there. probably cuz we never actually made it to the real wet end. we just eneded up on some random street. when we got on the tube to come home another group of boys were yelling mean things at us in the station. like..hitting on us by calling us rude names. it was annoying. everywhere we go we get cat calls. its funny.

MONDAY

Monday it rained allll day. we went on a walk called the "walk of the stars" where a bunch of famous people lived down in chelsea. we saw the old hospital and where a bunch of authors lived. we ate a a cute sandwich shop. it was owned by italians. unfortunately, we paid with pounds that were expired apparently so we had to find different money to apy with. he chased us out of the store onto the street. not so cool. then we found a bus stop becuase it was freezing and we didn't know where a tube station was. the bus was fun i guess. more exciting almost than the tube. we changed our clothes and then went out to the v&a for the afternoon. we saw a baroque art exhibit and the jewlery room and the cast room. then it was time to get home cuz we have to be home every day at 4:45 for "evensong" where we get announcements and have a prayer and stuff. dinner is usually super yummy here. that night we went down to leicester square to see a show. we ended up getting cheap last minute tickets to stomp. it was super fun.

TUESDAY

finally updated! I am proud of anyone who read that entire post. as if anyone actually cares that much. but I didn’t want to rewrite everything so I basically took emails that I had sent to greg and my mom and coped and pasted them. thus the intense length. don’t expect that every day. haha. anyway. today was our first class. it's gona be easy. after class we went to the sherlock holmes musuem. we rode the bus down there which was super fun. it took like 40 minutes but it was cool to see everything - which you totally miss on the tube. we sat up top which was cool. its super scary though. the buses get so so so close to the other buses. like inches away. once we got off the bus it was a pain getting to the actual museum cuz we kept getting lost. then the museum cost money and we didnt want to pay so we ended up not even going in. but it was okay. then we went to the cabinet war rooms and the imperial war museum london. both were awesome. the cabinet warm rooms are where Winston Churchill basically planned out and directed ww2 during the bombings in London. it is underground rooms and dorm sort of rooms. there is a kitchen and living quarters and map rooms and strategizing rooms and whatnot. one day everyone that was living slash working down there packed up and went home. but left everything there. exactly the way it was every other day. then they locked the outside doors and never came back. so everything was found in perfect condition. papers still in stacks, tacks still on walls. one commander even left his sugar cubes in his desk in an envelope – and they are still on display. it is basically exactly the way it was found. even all of the chalk boards and calendars and clocks are just the way they were on the day that everyone left. it is super super cool. in the imperial war museum we went to the holocaust exhibit which really was cool. tonight we went to a play as a group. we saw a view from the bridge by arthur miller. it was kind of dumb...but whatever. we had to go and it was free. so last nigh i took my first cold shower. it was so cold that my head hurt within seconds. and i saw my first mouse tonight . they get stuck on these pieces of paper that have mouse trap glue on them. so theyre alive and trying to jump around, but they're stuck on sticky paper. it was shrieking and yelping and disgusting. I have almost gotten hit like 5 times already. its hilarious. the taxis come speeding around the corner of the opposite side of what you would expect. and the buses practically drive on the sidewalks. its ridiculous. but it makes for a good laugh.

anyway. pictures to follow. promise.
it gets annoying to have to take a pcture on two or three cameras every time we take a picture so we’ve kind of developed a system where only one person takes the group pictures then transfers them onto our computers. so I don’t actually have the pictures yet. haha. but soon!!

love story.

thanks to beth..im now obsessed.
as if the original song wasn't amazing enough.
ive become infatuated all over again.

the original video on youtube was huge and i couldnt shrink it down so it totally cuts off...but its the song thats amazing, not the video.. :]

seven.

seven days.
that's it.
in one week i will be spending my last night in the United States of America.
wow.

i have one final down. five to go.
gag.
i detest finals.

and.
it snowed 7 inches last night.
fabulous eh?
i just love this city.
or not.



last night my roommates had a bridal shower for me.
it was so fun.
i seriously have THE most amazing friends.
they are such a fun group of girls.
i love them!!
it was hilarious
i havent laughed that hard in a long time.
it was so so so so much fun.
and i got some really fun stuff :]
haha
yay.

greg.

for our first date, greg and i went to get frozen yogurt. we stayed at the place and talked for over an hour then he brought me home. a few minutes after he had dropped me off, we decided that we werent done talking so, he came and picked me up again and we went to a park and sat at a picnic table and talked until the middle of the night. i came home and katelyn had written me a note that said:

"jord, i was just wondering what some good dates would be for your bridal shower. also, i would prefer if the bridesmaids dresses weren't orange"

we got a good laugh out of it. many nights after that note, we would lay in bed before we fell asleep and be giggly and talk about what if he really was "the one"? this all started out kind of as a joke...19 year old girls being dreamy and silly. but as time passed, the conversations got more and more serious.

i was talking to my friend tonight about how funny it is that when you find the person that you're supposed to marry, you just know. i mean, obviously, it takes time. but when i very first met greg i could just feel that something about him was different. and that sounds totally cheesy. but it is totally true. i honestly just knew. truly, after a few weeks i knew that we were going to get married. (atleast i knew that i wanted to marry him..haha)

in relief society a few weeks ago the teacher told us all to pause for a minute, and think about if we got to go back to the point in our life that we were the very happiest. i honestly thought back throughout my whole life (all nineteen years of it) and i cannot think of a time that i have been happier. not even one moment when i was happier than i am right now. most nights when im laying in bed before i go to sleep, i get overwhelmed with this feeling of how amazingly lucky i am. most times it starts with the question "what in the world did i do to deserve all of this?" seriously, greg is the best thing that has ever happened to me. he treats me in a way that i never could have dreamed of being treated. he is the most amazing man in the entire world..besides my dad and my grandpa...so maybe, the most amazing 22 year old? haha. i love him so much! it is crazy - i didn't even know that i was capable of feeling this way about someone. i love it.

getting on that plane in 13 days is going to be the hardest thing i have had to do so far in my life. it is going to be rough. im so glad that ray will be there to help me..cuz if she weren't there i dont think i would be able to do it. on friday it finally hit me that i was going to have to leave. i was a wreck before i went to work, then i finally got it together...then i bawled at work to my boss for half an hour. my worst fear is being without him. im not sure that im going to be able to do it. it makes my heart hurt to even think about leaving him. people keep telling me "its just 8 weeks and you have eternity" but that's really no consolation right now. it will be the longest 8 weeks of my life.

today we went shopping. he bought me the cutest umbrella and a few jackets for london. he also bought me some shoes a few days ago. he is seriously amazing.

top ten things that i love:

1. he makes me lunch every single day
2. he picks me up for school at my apartment, he drops me off at the door to the building where i work, then he drives to the parking lot and walks to campus rain, snow or shine, and has done so every single day this semester. he also gets the car every single day and comes and picks me up for my building so that i dont have to walk in the cold.
3. he always keeps diet coke at his house :]
4. he always suprises me with treats. and he gets so excited to give them to me.
5. he deals with my mood swings like a champ.
6. he plays with my cousins and is so adorable. they all just love him.
7. he does my laundry.
8. he says the most adorable things, and has the cutest nicknames for me.
9. he is the most self sacrificing person i know.
10. he makes me so happy. its ridiculous.



i love you gregory

wow

2 weeks from tonight, i will be tucking myself into my cozy little bunk bed with my 13 other roommates in my glorious london flat.

11 weeks from tonight i will be married :]

wonderful

i've gotten so many nice comments on my last post!! thanks so much guys!! i had no idea that people even read my blog... haha. you guys are wonderful.

i leave in 2 weeks!! crazy.

wanna hear a funny story?
we took 425 envelopes to be printed with a return address for our wedding annoucements. we picked them up, decided to count them, and only ended up with 402. could this whole announcement thing be any more of a headache? sheesh.

another funny story...
i have 14 days left. we're still trying to take engagment pictures. but.. IT WONT STOP RAINING! and yes, i am thankful that it is not snow. but there is no end in sight to the rain. it's kind of starting to be a little bit stressful.

my aunts are throwing me a bridal shower tomorrow night!! im so excited :] yay.

seriously?

some very nice anonymous person just left this comment under one of my posts. seriously?? why would you think it was okay to do this?

I represent a company that goes through blogs in search of various forms of talent. Writing and advertising potential are two of the main things we look for.
Having introduced myself, let me just say that this is the worst blog I have had to read in as long as I can remember. I try not to judge people personally based on blog postings, but you are the most moronic, vapid person I have ever had to read about. You are what is wrong with society. I shouldn't have to go into reasons why, as they are apparent to anyone with half a brain.
One of your posts in particular stood out to me as I was reading today. Its it is entitled, "deep". You point out what is wrong with yourself in this post, but no doubt you are too dense to notice. I quote:

anyway, as i've been reading..i've realized how silly my blog is.
i swear, everyone else writes deep, inspiring, meaningful things in every post.
i have no such luck.
maybe i'm just a shallow, uninspiring, unmeaningful type of person?
i'm totally an english major..i think i'm kiiindaa good at writing?
but my blog struggles.

There it is. You said it yourself. You are given an opportunity through blogging to talk about yourself, your life, and your feelings, and what do you do with it? Pathetic. As a side note though, what in the world does being an English major have to do with anything? I can choose to major in neuroscience, but that doesn't make me good at it.
Now, if you would grant me one last indulgence, I would like to make just one more personal attack. (then he said something extremely rude about greg)

holy crap.
i seriously almost started crying when i read it.
people suck.

21.

three weeks from this very moment i will be in the sky on my way to london.
very exciting.

maybe someday when im not feeling so lazy i'll write about the night we went and made tinfoil dinners. but for now, here are some pictures. there's also some of us at my bridal shower :]

alone.

i'm sitting here trying to study french.
but then i started thinking
and - obviously - have to blog about my oh so interesting plethora of thoughts.

1. i really enjoy being alone. clarification - i really enjoy being in my apartment alone during the day. i hate going anywhere alone. i hate being home alone at night. and i hate being alone when i want to be with someone else...obviously. anyway. im in my room alone right now. my roommates are all gone. and i was just thinking about how i really like to be able to be alone and have quietness and be able to think about things - to not feel like i need to say something to get rid of the awkward silence, to not be bothered by someone's noises. just to be alone. i like it. not that im not SO excited to live with greg..but just a thought. before i met him i was intent on moving to new york and getting an adorable studio apartment somewhere and living some dreamlike sort of solitary life in the big city...like on the movies. anyway. thats that thought. onto the next one.

2. our wedding announcements got printed with the wrong date. everyone thinks. oh it will never be me that does something STUPID like write SATURDAY JUNE 26 on my wedding announcements. obviously i know when my wedding is. whoops. it would be me. i severely struggle i guess.

3. i had the funnest bridal shower in vegas this weekend. i seriously know the most amazing women. i have the best role models and friends..seriously. way better than yours. it was so fun. thank you to everyone who was a part of that. it was a super fun night.

side note - it was in the 80's in vegas...and here i am sitting in the middle of a snowstorm :] oh how i love provo.

4. i go leave for london in 22 days. i get married in 85. yay!

5. i got my first A on a french 102 test. it was so amazing. i screamed out loud in the middle of class. literally. screamed. it was awkward. but i was so excited. i got A's on every single french 101 test except one...then i got to french 102 and sucked. anyway. it was a very exciting day in my life.

6. i found a new musical with which i am obsessed - le roi soleil. and like all of my other recent obsessions, it is in french, but it is oh so good. even cute gregory said that it was better than he thought it was going to be. he is such a good sport about being dragged with me on my french culture activities.

7. im taking engagement pictures in a week..and i have nothing to wear. and no money to buy something cute. im currently taking donations (both of cute clothes...and donations of the monetary sort...)

8. they told me in London prep class on monday that im not allowed to wear my engagement ring while im on the program...because it will get stolen. im super sad. i actually think tears welled up in my eyes. but im a little dramatic i guess. i just love my pretty ring.

9. lets talk about LOST for a minute - little boy ben was the most adorable sweet big hearted boy. he reminds me of my brother benson. he even kind of looks like him. but then jack had to screw things up and turn him into big ben. ew. this show is just way more than i can handle.

10. i have about a bazillion pictures on my camera of fun things that i need to blog about but i never have enough time. i will do it between sessions of conference this weekend. hopefully.