On Sunday we had two options. A: Go to church at the Hyde Park family ward at 9am, or B: Go to the singles ward...at 230pm. It had been a super long day on Saturday (jet lag is a drag), so most of the girls opted for 230. But anyone who knows me knows that I like to have as much of my day available as possible, and so I decided to go at nine with a handful of other girls. It was a 30 minute walk through the park, but that was after the fire alarm went off and we had to trek across the street and stand in the rain for a little while. They still don't know what malfunction caused the alarm to go off, haha. Anyway, we walked to church through the park in the rain, and it was quite pleasant. Fast and testimony meeting was very good, and I was amazed with the number of converts here from the very beginning. There are very, very few people here that were born into the church-and the adversity AND diversity of the people in the Hyde Park Ward is astounding. That night we had a fireside with a few members from the two stake presidencies that are over the London area, and it was VERY good. President Phillips, from the Hyde Park Stake, talked about knowing yourself and discovering who you are during this program. I really think my experiences in the Lee Valley Ward, of the Hyde Park Stake, are going to change my life...and I can't wait! The ward I have been assigned to is on the East side, just outside the city. It takes about an hour or so to get there, starts at 10am, and the majority of members are African American!! YAY! I am ECSTATIC! Bring on the calling!
Classes started on Monday. I think that's all I want to say about that. I went running before breakfast, but forgot my [sexy red] inhaler, so I didn't get very far. After class a bunch of us headed to the British Museum to check out the Greek and Roman 'wing' for Humanities. On the way back stopped at a cute little grocery store for no reason, haha, and then headed upstairs to a HUGE shoe store. Weirdest shoes I have ever seen. Most shoes I have ever seen. They were just thrown together in heaps on tables and it was ridiculous! It totally reminded me of Haley and Bree--I'm sure they would have absolutely DIED, or at least fainted. We got back on the tube (which I am a big fan of. And thanks to practice in D.C. I'm not too bad at navigating...), and headed home for dinner (we have to be back at 445 for a meeting right before dinner at 5), and then to a meeting that was abnormally drawn out. I was SO ready for bed when the time came.
Yesterday was eventful as well. Classes were longer-an hour and a half each-which hasn't happened since junior high. It's odd. I only had the first two classes out of three, and I wanted to get outside, so I left with a few other girls to go on a walk. We went down 'Embassy Road', which is lined with embassy's from all over the world (a little self explanatory). I split off so I could find the Peter Pan statue in the park and head back to the centre before my roomies left for the Tower of London for a required walk we had to do. It took forever to find the statue, and the park is HUGE, so it took a while to get back. I just made it before they left, and we went to the tube station for the very long trip to the tower. The ride was long, the Tower was very large and very cool, but we had a ton of other places we were supposed to go, and we only had 2 hours to do it. Impossible. We barely got halfway done before we were scrambling for a tube station to get home for dinner. Half of our group was missing, and with zero way to get ahold of them, we had to just leave...which is kind of stressful when they don't show up for a long time. But it happens all the time and all of us manage to find our way back.
Today we went to Stonehenge and Bath. Talk about a long bus ride across the country-although, it was a super nice double decker bus. Stonehenge was just what you'd expect-a bunch of big rocks out in the middle of nowhere for apparently no reason. Then you read the article about it in National Geographic and it gets way more interesting. The information scientists find is ridiculous. Bath, on the other hand, surprised me. I had no idea it would be so absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The buildings, churches, shops, just everything. The Roman Baths were so impressive (even though they were green), and the Jane Austen Centre was really interesting. The last thing we did was go to the Pump Room for tea. Herbal tea, mind you. I'm not a huge fan, but it was something I can say I did-and the scones were de-lish. If we hadn't been so rushed at the end, I may have appreciated it more. The Brits don't do anything very fast around here...so getting our check was a feat in itself. It actually took one of the professors to get it for us from someone in charge...stressful. I was embarrassed.
One funny fact about Bath is that there are big pigs everywhere. Rewind. Big painted statues of pigs, everywhere. Kind of interesting...
We got home after a 2 and a half or 3 hour drive back, and I feel absolutely beat. It's been a long day, and there are so many things my brain is still trying to take in. Tomorrow we're headed to Criterion Theatre for a performance of 39 Steps.. I'll let you know how it goes.
Toodles.
-T
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