Now, for an update. I'm just going list the things I'm thinking, as connecting them all with enough words to make them flow would just be a longer post than any of you are interested in reading.
1. I flew over the Atlantic all on my own, sitting next to a nice Muslim Bangladeshi man who often visits Chicago (where I was) and lives in Saudi Arabia and has a Mormon colleague from Utah. Random. He was a really nice guy though. This is my first view of London. At 6 a.m. It was beautiful. :)
2. I arrived at number 27 Palace Court last Wednesday at about 9:00 a.m. London time. I met up with 8 other girls in my program at the airport, and we took a shuttle bus to the London Centre. I sat by a very, very cute Scottish boy (with an even cuter accent) and our driver was a wonderfully charming old man who narrated for us the neighborhoods of London as we passed.
3. By Saturday, I had seen Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, the London Eye (only I'm not going ride it--its 17 pounds! And everything that I would see from it, I can see myself. As Rachel said, it's a rip-off.), the Thames, several houses of state, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, all around my neighborhood, and also Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament from a distance. I had also visited the British Museum and the National Gallery and been to Phantom of the Opera. (Phantom was amazing. We had an absolutely excellent cast. Mostly because the Phantom was incredible. I loved him.) :) Woo-hoo!
My roommate Nicole and I in front of the British Museum.
I saw the Elgin Marbles! Gaaahhh!!! :)4. Sunday, I went to church. I attend the Mitcham ward, in an area of London waaaaay south of the main city (about 1 1/2 hours one way) and there are only 6 or 8 people in the ward who are white. And 4 of them are missionaries. Most of the people are from Ghana, I think. I work in the Primary, and it is going to be so cool! :)
5. Monday, classes started for real. I like them already, and the faculty especially.
6. I am almost done with my English Teaching Application. I'm emailing it to my mom to send in on Thursday, and when I finish, it will be cause for GREAT celebration. It's been kind of an ordeal to get it all done. I worked on it almost all day today, and finally after dinner tonight I took a break and went to Gelato Mio with a couple of my roommates. It was lovely to get out.
It's been fabulous so far. I'm so excited for the rest of this week! But more on that later.... it'll be a surprise.
Gaaah!
ReplyDeleteI think that about sums it up. :) Glad you have a cool ward like that, and good job for traveling so far -- that is a big sacrifice for that long to have church take up about 7 hours every Sunday. You should come up with train activities for yourself.
I've been thinking of a couple other pieces of advice that it sounds like you're already doing:
1. Walk around and leave time for getting lost and exploring. It's the best way to feel like you know the city. Read signs. Read everything. (Lisa's thinking, "Check. I do that anyway...")
2. Do at least one thing every day that you can only do in London/England/etc. Like Wednesday where you worked forever on your application and then went out for gelato. That was good. Maybe one day it's that you get lost or another that you take in a random plaque around Elephant & Castle, or that you eat Winegums, or do your homework in the park, or something. Maybe that's harder to sustain for a semester than a term, but probably it's still good advice.
Lisa listen to your sister. Those are excellent pieces of advice. Especially number two. I'm glad you're almost done with your application so you don't have to spend all your time cooped up in the centre, as nice as it is.
ReplyDeleteAnd you don't need to spend 17 pounds on the London Eye. Just go to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. You have to work for it, but it's amazing. And none of that pansy class between you and the sky. It's all right there in front of you.
Can't wait until you post again. Have a wonderful day seeing as it's in the wee hours of the morning where you are right now and you shouldn't get this until the morning.
I love your posts! And I'm so jealous you're actually doing what you've always dreamed of doing! I know you'll have an AMAZING time.
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