WEEK 1

I SURVIVED MY FIRST WEEK IN LONDON
it's been pretty great, but there are quite a few things that i'm still adjusting to. like i almost get hit by a bus everyday. but i should be used to that because that happened quite a few times in provo, too. haha so this is my overview of the week……. :)

wednesday was our first full day in this beautiful city! it was pretty hard to wake up for classes due to jet lag, but we did it! so we all woke up with big smiles on our faces ready to learn! there was only one obstacle in our way: THE SHOWER. it was the first time any of us tackled this bad boy, so we were terrified. christine volunteered to go first, i got in when she was done, and after we finished and told the horror stories, our other roommates didn't want to take their chances. haha basically our shower was created by satan himself. when you first get it, it's kind of a comfortable, warm temperature for about ten seconds and then….. BAM it starts spewing out boiling hot water. so naturally, you turn up the cold water so it warms up right? well when you do that, it goes directly to ice cold water. like there was no happy medium. it just went back and forth the whole time. HORRIBLE. and in my first experience with the shower, i didn't even know how to turn it off. so yeah, i could already tell it was going to be a long day. haha oh and here are those pictures of my room i promised :)

the view of our room walking in

"paige's perfect bed" that's what people call it. haha isn't it lovely?

satanic shower

i like it :) we actually have the best bathroom in the flat… not to brag :)

then we made our way to the hyde park church building for our classes! it's only about a fifteen minute walk from our flat! and it's a very lovely walk! so while i'm here, i'm in three core classes: geography of the british isles, british history and politics, and shakespeare. we have these classes three times a week 9:00-12:00 monday, tuesday, and thursday. we also take a "religious studies in a world setting" class on thursday afternoons! our schedule was a little messed up since it was a really short first week, so we started our classes on wednesday. the first day wasn't that bad because we mostly just went over the syllabuses and we were told what to expect over the next three months! after our classes, we walked to the nearest tesco and bought groceries so we wouldn't starve at home. haha and let me just say, i am so excited to try all of the candy here. haha like really though. everything looks sooooo good! i saw these and thought of you, kinsey ;) i'll bring you some home if i remember!!!!! #kinderobsessed
we should make a "kinder klub" at BYU ;)

then at 2:30, we had a tour of the library that we can use, but it's about thirty minutes away on the tube and it was really small, so we might find alternate places to study. haha it was nice though, and it will be a great resource when we need to use it :) after the library tour, we decided that it was about time we ate fish and chips like real londoners! haha we asked the man at the library to suggest a local place we could go to, and he pointed us down the street to mr. fish's fish and chips! it was DELICIOUS. whoever said the food in london was gross is crazy ;)

yummmmmmmmm minus the mushy peas

i'm pretty sure after that, we just did homework (yes, we had TONS the first night) and then went to bed early! :)



ON THURSDAY, we had classes just like we did on wednesday and then walked back to our flat to lay down. haha we felt so lazy, but it was crazy how tired we were!!!!! the only difference between our classes on wednesday and thursday was that we all had major anxiety attacks on thursday. these classes are actually REALLY HARD and we don't really know how we're going to survive or pass, but we're all in the same sinking ship together. like how are we expected to do all of this homework and go on all of these field trips and have fun? i feel like we should have more free time that's not spent on homework, but then again, it is a STUDY abroad….. haha i just have to keep that in mind! and hopefully, it'll get easier to manage once we actually have a solid schedule in place.
then before our religion class, we stopped at snog for some frozen yogurt! it's the cutest place ever! and the puns are pretty good. i especially love it just because it makes me think of one of my favorite movies "angus, thongs, and perfect snogging" haha

our religion class is 4:00-5:30 on thursdays. our teacher's pretty cool, but this class is a lot of work too. haha i expected it to be like an institute thing, but it's a real church history class. like we have a three-page, single spaced paper due in a few weeks. ahhhhh oh well. breathe in, breathe out. everything will be okay. haha when we got home from class, ashlyn, christine, and i just wanted to do homework and sleep, but our other roommate, madie, is always up for adventure, so instead of having a lazy night, we went to see big ben and the london eye! this picture is not the best, but i want to prove that i actually went there. haha

after seeing all of the grand attractions, we looked for a thai restaurant, but couldn't find it after walking around for an hour, so we settled on an american italian place. haha we got some pizza that was pretty gross, but hey, we're just making memories :)
then we got lost on our way home, but eventually we made it back at about 10:00. as soon as we got home, we passed out. thank you, jet lag.



FINALLY ON TO FRIDAY. friday was probably my favorite day so far :) here's why!

every friday, we go on field trips and we go on what are called "london walks". basically for our london walks, we have a little book that tells us where to walk and points out a bunch of historical things on our way to where we're going! it's almost like a treasure hunt, except there's no treasure at the end. haha
first things first! we had to meet at the tower of london at 9:15 AM, but everyone got lost, so we were all late. haha but our group was the first group to get there, so we stopped at a little cafe and got breakfast! LOOK WHAT I GOT-- a salted caramel muffin. like oh my goodness so good.

doesn't that just look divine?? and yes, i took pictures of everything i ate, so get ready.

once all of our groups arrived, we began our tour of the Tower of London. it was- AMAZING. i don't even know how to describe it. i feel like i learned so much, and i fell in love with museums. i feel like when i've gone to museums before, i didn't take time to really think about what i was reading and looking at, but now, i want to go to every museum i can and learn everything i can! it was really fun to walk around the tower and put myself in the shoes of those who were there so long ago. i couldn't get enough of it! my friends probably all thought i was a major freak, but i thought it was so cool! i feel like i have no words to describe my experience here, but here are some pictures to sum it up!

we were able to feel what the different pillows felt like stuffed with straw, feathers, etc.

CARTER PETERSON all of these cool pictures of weapons and armor and stuff are for you! haha i have tons more to show you :) XOXOX

you can't really tell with this picture, but all of these weapons are totally blinged out. i want one.

i really wanted to buy one of these for G <3

this picture's for you, MOM. XOXOX

#actionshot

this left me speechless. so gorgeous. in order to see these, you ride on a little moving sidewalk next to the crown jewels to avoid huge crowds. i wanted to ride that moving sidewalk like fifty times, but i stopped after two :)

after we explored the whole tower, we ate lunch at wagamama. once again, DELISH. except a girl in my group didn't let me ask for a fork, so i was forced to learn how to use chopsticks. i'm still pretty bad with them though. haha

now, we took our first london walk! this walk was titled "walking the walls of londinium". we expected it to be a simple twenty minute stroll or something through london, butttttttt it was more like a four-hour stroll through london. haha it was rough, but we got to see A LOT! i was thankful that we did it at the end! we got to learn about the jewish population in london- about how they were living here with no political rights and were treated very unfairly and eventually kicked out of london, but then later returned and restarted their lives here! we were on jewry street and pictured the jewish ghettos with people milling around going about their daily tasks! it was very interesting. we also walked to Christopher Wren's Christ"s Church. it was so beautiful. as we walked down the street, it just loomed over you like a big, glorious, i don't know what, but it was HUGE. check it out
it was one of my favorite parts of the day because we were all kind of complaining because our walk was taking so long and we were tired and stressed out about school, but as soon as we entered the church, there was an immediate feeling of peace that came over us. we were all suddenly calm and it was like our attitudes and perspectives automatically changed. it was simply glorious.

we also walked through this really cute market that we HAVE TO visit again! markets are so fun! i just need to work on my bartering skills. haha
another one of my favorite parts of the day was walking through the financial district. guess why? nice-looking men in nice-looking suits. hahahah EVERYWHERE. it was like heaven.

the last stop on our london walk was the guild and ward church. behind the church, there was a whole wall honoring those who had died in the efforts of saving others' lives. we were all in tears by the end of it. it was truly heartwarming. and it ended our walk on the perfect note. here are some examples...

on our way home, we grabbed some cadbury chocolate and diet coke for dinner. that's basically what i live on in our flat. it's actually my favorite meal now. haha

and to top off the night, all of the girls on our program watched the bachelor together, and it's so much more fun with twenty girls watching it with you. trust me. except there's a lot of screaming involved…. #TEAMJUANPABLO



SATURDAY
basically, we sat in our flat all day and did homework. saturday is our only day off during the week and i'm pretty sure we'll be spending them doing homework all day. and sleeping. and getting hot chocolate and macaroons.

taylor, i need to take you here in april. the macaroons are HUGE and the hot chocolate is like drinking melted hot chocolate. divineeeeeeee

SUNDAY! we went to the hyde park first ward at 9:00 AM! this isn't actually my assigned ward for the semester. i will be attending a ward about an hour away starting next sunday, and i will give you all the details on that next week! but our ward this sunday was fun! i feel like it is way easier to pay attention when everything is being said in a british accent. like really though. i love it! i can't wait to attend my ward next week and find out what my calling is!!!
AND GUESS WHO I SAW AT CHURCH ON SUNDAY?? bishop white! my bishop from my first semester of my freshman year at BYU! it was so fun! and he actually recognized me! haha
after church, we took our sunday naps and then went to our weekly sunday fireside! they really know how to keep us busy! haha it's awesome though :)



sorry this post was painfully long. i'll try to start posting more often so i can more accurately remember every detail and keep my posts a bit shorter! i love this city though. and the weather has been beautiful so far! it's been sunny everyday, and i really hope it keeps this up for a while! haha

oh and don't forget.. leave your gum and butts here.

from london with love,
pep xoxox