Learning London

[caitalittlin]

9 Things I learned in London

Welp.  The time has come.  As my semester abroad comes to a close, I find myself disparaged at leaving, yet incredibly excited to come home to my family for the holidays.  I also find myself reflecting not on the things I've done or seen, but on the things I've learned.  

I've learned many things here in London.  I'm returning home a different person for sure.  

So here are 9 things that I learned that I feel are the most important, or the most life-altering, or maybe just the things on my mind right now:

1. My parents prepared me well.

I was going to start this with "I learned how to be responsible," but that's not actually something I learned here.

I live with 39 other students.  We're all young college kids, barely passing as adults, yet here we are, living for 3 1/2 months in a foreign country.  I'm honestly not sure how to say this without sounding a bit prideful, but I'm just gonna go for it.  My parents taught me how to be responsible.  I know how to budget my money and not overspend.  I know how to keep myself safe when I'm in the city.  I know how to solve a problem when presented with one.  I don't need to call my parents with every little decision because I don't know what I'm doing.  I call my parents because I love them and want them to know what's happening in my life, and to ask them for advice because I know that they know things better than I do.  But when it comes down to it, I don't need them holding my hand because they already taught me right from wrong and how to follow the spirit.  So thanks Mom and Dad.  I think you taught me pretty well.  

2. Packing light is worth it, even if sometimes you really wish you had a pair of slippers.  

There were a few things I've wished I had, but being able to pack for 3 1/2 months in one suitcase and a backpack certainly has its perks.  Also, because of my pro packing skills I have plenty of room for all my souvenirs and don't have to worry about my suitcase going over the weight limit.   

3. Knowing how a circuit breaker works is an important life skill.

Random, I know.  But sometimes at 12:30 in the morning you need to prevent a house fire and the only way to do that is to cut a circuit, and knowing how the whole system works makes that a lot easier.  Something else my parents taught me.

4. Patience.  

What more can I say?  Living in the same house as 34 other girls for over 3 months is exhausting.  Having seven roommates is exhausting, and I'm in one of the smaller rooms.  Let me be honest: people can be exhausting.  Life tip: having patience will make you a lot happier.

5. Places are great, but people are more important.

I've seen a whole bunch of really awesome stuff here, but they wouldn't be nearly as cool if I hadn't been with all my amazing fellow Londoners.  Occasionally my patience has been tried, yes, but I love them.  I love them so much.

6. A place is what you make it.

Even if you're in the most wonderful place in the world, you're not going to be happy if you're not grateful.  I honestly believe that all good things start with gratitude.  Or maybe gratitude starts good things.  Either way, having a positive, grateful outlook will make any place better.  

7. Being happy when you're all by yourself is really liberating.  

Sometimes being with other people isn't an option.  Or maybe you just don't want to be with other people.  That's okay.  I've gone to dinner all by myself.  I've gone to the theatre all by myself.  I've gone shopping all by myself.  When I can't be with other people, I just enjoy my own company, and that's something I think all people should experience.  

And lastly, two things that I not so much learned as realized:

8. I want to live my dreams apologetically.

I've always been really self-conscious about who I am and who people expect me to be.  I've been afraid of judgement and I don't want to disappoint people.  But you know what?  Being a people-pleaser is a sure-fire way to never by satisfied with your life.  

I am who I am, and I don't want to apologize for that.  So I'm not going on a mission.  Are you disappointed in me?  Well don't be, because it's my life and I happen to know that a mission is not what I'm supposed to be doing.  Maybe I'll go to grad school and get a PhD in psychology.  Maybe I'll write a book.  I don't know yet.  Maybe I'll do both.  

9. I want to do things that make me happy. 

The last and most important realization.  I want to be happy.  Not exactly a new idea, I know, but I just really want to stop doing things that don't make me happy.  I want to say no to things I really don't want to do.  I want to say yes to things I've never done but have always wanted to try.  I want to live life to the fullest.  

So thanks to everyone that's still reading.  Thanks for keeping up with me on this journey, for supporting me and for loving me.  

Cheers, for the last time, from London.

[caitalittlin]

Paris, my love

After months and weeks of waiting and anticipating, I finally got to go to Paris.  

Let me tell you, it was a dream.

After riding the chunnel (tunnel under the English Channel) and checking into our hotel, our first stop was the Louvre. 

You can't tell in the pictures, but I was freaking out inside.  So much excitement.  So much love.

There were 3 things I wanted to see at the Louvre: the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory of Somathrace, aka Nike.

In case you didn't know, the Louvre is massive.  It would take a whole day to walk through all the rooms without even looking at the art.  It's also quite easy to get lost in, so when we ran into the Venus de Milo, it came out of nowhere.  

This, my friends, is beauty.  She is one of the few remaining Greek sculptures, most that we see are actually Roman replicas.  And, as a Greek sculpture, she is meant to be the epitome of perfection.  It's interesting because we don't know what position her arms were in, but I'm sure she was posed gracefully.  

I think that Venus's grace nicely compliments Nike's strength.

This is Winged Victory of Samothrace, and she is glory.  Just look at her for a moment.  Look at how powerful she looks.  If you look closely, you can see that her clothes cling to her body, as if she's soaking wet.  This is because she was designed to be placed over a fountain and she currently stands on the bow of a ship, elevated high above her onlookers.  Her wings stretch out, casting a sharp shadow on the rear wall.  Like Venus, we don't know what position her arms originally held, but I'm willing to bet she struck a mighty pose.  

And finally, the Mona Lisa.

Slightly underwhelming, but an obvious bucket list item.  So there she is.  I like her.  I wish we couldn't gone closer.  

I'm sure there were a bunch of really famous things in the Louvre that I missed, but ya know, I'm okay with that.  I saw a lot of things that I loved and I'm really grateful for that opportunity.  I left the museum happy.  

And then, in a small food stand nearby, I found my true Paris love: the beignet.  Nutella-filled doughnut dusted with powdered sugar.  Heavenly, I tell you.  I bought one every day in Paris.  

Here's the one I ate on day three of the trip, enjoying the heat of the sun and rushing water of the fountain, not far from the Louvre.

Day two took us out of Paris and into Versailles.  

Back in the UK, the Remembrance Day festivities were coming to a head, everybody wearing poppies on their lapels to commemorate the soldiers who served in WWI.  It's been on pretty much every Londoner's mind lately, so it was my honor to spend some time in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, which is where the peace treaty was signed that ended WWI.  

This very hall was where it ended.  Also this hall is amazingly beautiful, so there's that, too.  

After finishing at the Palace, we wandered the grounds (which stretch for miles. So much walking).  My favorite part was Marie Antoinette's hamlet, which was built as a retreat for her family.  

It was the cutest little place!  I want to live there.

How quaint :)

Although we were pretty exhausted from walking so freaking much, we still went out Tuesday night because, well, Paris.  No slowing down when you've only got 4 days in Paris.  

And I'm glad we did because it was one of the most magical nights of my life.  

I present: The Arc de Triomphe!

Pretty cool, right?  So we went in and walked to the top, which was 284 steps (I was pretty winded), but we made it!  I came out of the stairway, felt the fresh night air on my face, and stepped over to the edge of the Arc.  The Eiffel Tower in its full glory stood before me.  

I may or may not have shed a tear.  It was one of the most beautiful things.  We admired, took pictures, and admired some more.  Then, like it does every hour on the hour (after dark) for 5 minutes, the Tower sparkled.  

We took more pictures.  

I fell in love with Paris.  

The next morning we began our day at Notre Dame Cathedral, which beautiful, but pretty dark inside, and I have to admit, there are many English cathedrals I've liked more.  But it was certainly a cool place to be.  

Next was Saint Chapelle, where the walls are all stained glass.  

And then the Musée d'Orsay, which is an old train station converted into an art museum which contains the works of Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, and others.  Although art isn't usually my thing, I really loved the impressionist and post-impressionist galleries.  We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I snuck a pic of one of my favorites.

And then we were off to the Eiffel Tower again, this time while it was still light outside.  There was so much to see in so little time.  

Did you know that the Eiffel Tower was constructed to be an entrance arch for the World Fair in 1889.  An entrance arch! And now it's a Paris icon, one of the most widely recognized structures in the world.  

So of course, being the tourists we are, took a whole bunch of pictures.

  We finished the day with some crepes a few blocks away, with a nice view of the Tower so we could see it sparkle again.  

The next day was our last in Paris, and we had accomplished nearly everything we had wanted to.  Which is quite a feat, really.  And we were so tired at the end of each day we always slept quite well, so there was an extra bonus.

With only a few things left, we began at the Hotel des Invalides, which is where Napolean's tomb is.  

The tomb was freaking huge.  

Incredibly awe inspiring, which is exactly what they were going for, I'm sure.  It was nice to sit on the steps inside and rest for a bit (which tells you how tired we were the whole trip, considering this was our first stop that day).  Although there was always another place to be seeing, one thing I really enjoyed about Paris was being able to sit down in any given museum or historical site and just take it in.  

A word of advise: don't rush through everything.  I'm not just talking about when you're traveling, I think this can apply just as well to everyday life.  Take a minute to chill.  I'm on this study abroad with 39 other students, and the times I get to know them best is when we're in some amazing location, sitting in front of the most amazing things, just talking.  

One of my favorite quotes of all time is "While in the pursuit of happiness, one should stop and just be happy."  

Take a moment to appreciate the beauty around you.

Sorry for that tangent; moving on.

After stopping for lunch and trying my first savory crepe (egg chicken cheese, so good), we went to the Pantheon, which was something I've always wanted to see.  To clarify: this isn't the Parthenon (temple in Greece) or the Pantheon of Rome (although it was modeled after the Roman Pantheon).  This is the Paris Pantheon.

The word Pantheon is Greek and means "every God," to whom the building is dedicated.  The crypt is the resting site of many noteworthy Frenchmen, most notably (for me, at least) Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables, and Alexandre Dumas, author of The Count of Monte Christo.  

I was impressed at how spacious it was inside.  Although it doesn't seem to be anything special, I just really enjoyed being there.  There was something serene and peaceful about it.    This is my moment of quiet happiness in the Pantheon.

It was also my little goodbye moment for Paris.  

A few short hours later, we were on the train speeding back to London.  

Until next time, Paris.  I dearly hope to return one day.

[caitalittlin]

Why I love Shakespeare (and why you should too)

Have you ever read Shakespeare and thought, "This is stupid.  I don't understand a word of this"? 

Hey, me too! The first work of Shakespeare I ever read was Romeo and Juliet as a freshman in high school, and I remember thinking, I know this is a classic story and all, but why do people think this is so good?  A couple of teenagers fall so madly in love in a matter of days that they make a bunch of stupid decisions that gets themselves and a few other people killed.  

Wow.  We should probably market this as the greatest love story of all time.  

I just didn't get it.

Within the next few years I read Julius Caesar, which definitely impressed me more, and then I read Hamlet, which I legitimately enjoyed, but there was still something missing.  I'd come to appreciate Shakespeare, but I just couldn't love Shakespeare.  

And then something happened that made all that change.  Something that changed my outlook on everything I've ever heard about Shakespeare's plays.

I saw one performed.  

I know, I know, revolutionary, right?  I saw a freaking play.  But here's why it was so amazing for me.

To preface, I read the play beforehand, and wasn't impressed.  The play I'm talking about is Comedy of Errors, which I'd actually never heard of before reading it.  It's one of Shakespeare's earlier works.  It's a comedy about identical twins who happen to have identical twin servants who get separated basically at birth.  They take the same name, as do the servants who have been with them since birth, so you end up with two guys names Antipholus with two servants named Dromio.  They come to the same town (now adults) and everybody gets everybody else mixed up.  

Upon reading the play, I chuckled maybe a couple times, but it wasn't all that funny.  Then I went and saw it, and it's probably the second funniest play I've seen in my entire life.  I laughed so hard.  The whole thing was hilarious.  

And it was in that moment, walking out of the Globe theatre after my first Shakespeare production, that I started to love it.  

An epiphany of understanding: Think of it this way.  Imagine your favorite book.  A book that makes you laugh and cry and want to be a better person.  A book that inspires you.  Now imagine the sparknotes version of that book.  Raw, basic plot with none of the flourishes and nuances that make that book what it is.  Sparknotes will tell you what happens, but that's it.  

If you read Sparknotes, would that still be your favorite book?  Probably not.  Mostly because it wouldn't mean anything to you.  

Reading a Shakespeare play is like reading the Sparknotes version of a book.  You get dialogue.  That's it.  The bare basics with nothing that makes it truly incredible.  

No wonder so many people hate Shakespeare!  They have no idea what Shakespeare even is!

A few weeks after my wonderful first encounter, I returned to the Globe to see Julius Caesar.  Remember how I've read this one before?  I liked it before.  But just wait.  

I stand in the Globe as a groundling, just as a working class citizen would have in Shakespeare's day.  Midway through the play, I lean against the stage in the front row and watch the fake blood flow as Caesar is stabbed again and again.  The conspirators, soaked to their elbows in blood, threaten Mark Antony, a supporter of Caesar's who has walked in to see their heinous  act.  Antony claims to mean them no harm, and they leave him for a moment alone with Caesar, who lies dead in a pool of crimson.  The murderers exit, and Mark Antony stands alone on the stage.  He stumbles to Caesar's body, falls to his knees, and weeps.  

"O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth," Antony whispers through his tears to Caesar, "that I am meek and gentle with these butchers.  Thou art the ruins of the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times."

He raises his hands upward to heaven, now dripping with Caesar's blood, his face streaked with tears. "Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!"  His voice echoes across the hundreds of silent people who suddenly feel as if they have intruded on this grieved and pained man as he weeps over his dead friend.  

A tear slides from my own eye.  

No longer words on a page, Shakespeare is alive.  The words are no longer ancient and out-of-date, but natural and beautiful.  

Shakespeare was not of an age, but for all time, as Ben Jonson said.  

I love Shakespeare.  I love Shakespeare.  Not because I've read most of his plays, which I haven't.  Not because I've seen many of his plays, because I haven't.  

I love Shakespeare because I've seen the plays come to life on stage in the way they were meant to.  Plays are meant to be seen, not read.  

So don't hate Shakespeare because you don't understand it.  Stop reading and start watching.  Maybe you'll fall in love, too.  

[caitalittlin]

York and Edinburgh, chocolate and magic

Our trip North was wonderful, chalk full of fun places and learning experiences.  I'd like to share just a couple of those with you now.  

Firstly, York.  Let me tell you about this adorable town.  It's basically the home of chocolate because way back when, some guys started chocolate companies that are now known as Cadbury, Nestle, Terry's (Terry's sells the chocolate oranges) and I think a couple more.  There are several chocolate factories in York, one of which makes Kit Kat.  Fun fact: Kit Kat is the most widely sold candy bar in the world, and six million of them are made every single day in York.

I got to go to York's Chocolate Story, where they take you on a tour, tell you wonderful things about chocolate, give you chocolate, and then let you make your own chocolate bar.

That place is so happy, it could give Disneyland a run for its money.  

Another amazing thing that happened to me in York occurred at Yorkminster Abbey.  

At most (pretty much all) cathedrals and Abbeys, there are places where you can light a candle for someone who has passed away, or simply as a prayer for yourself or a loved one.  I've always loved this, so I put a small donation into the box and lit a little candle.  

I said a quick prayer and moved on quickly to avoid drawing attention to myself.  As I wandered back by the candle stand a few minutes later (taking pictures of the abbey), I noticed a woman putting in a donation for a candle as well.  I watched, and as I did, she took her candle and lit it from mine.  

My small, humble flame lit another.  The two candles burned side by side, quiet and unassuming.  Two prayers, the prayers of complete strangers, seemed to burn and flicker as one.  

I felt strangely touched by those two candles.  I don't know what that woman's prayer was about, nor do I know what religious beliefs that woman holds.  Yet in that moment, it seemed to me that our prayers went to heaven together.  I brushed away a few tears as I walked away, and I felt a new sense of peace.  Even surrounded by strangers, I didn't have to be alone.  

Perhaps that's why I enjoyed York so much, but no matter the reasons, it's one of my favorite cities.  

Probably my second favorite.  First favorite goes to Edinburgh.  

Edinburgh is certainly a magical place.  It's a lot smaller than London, but it still has all the conveniences major cities have to offer.  It also has hills, which you don't get in London.  Only a 15 minute walk from our hotel was one of the larger hills, which I got to climb and take in the majesty of the city all at once.  

In that second picture you can see the North Sea in the distance, which connects with the Arctic Ocean.  

While the city is pretty big, it has the feel of a much smaller city, with friendly people and lots of local shops, and when you walk down the street, the sound of bagpipes drifts through the air.  Ah, Scotland.

The highlight of my day in Edinburgh was my pilgrimage to the Elephant House, where JK Rowling began Harry Potter.  

I made it! Pure happiness.  JK Rowling came here to write because she said it was cheaper to buy coffee than heat her flat.  Looking at the inside of the shop, I expected some sort of Harry Potter theme or at least recognition, but the only theme in there is elephants.  That is, until you go into the restrooms.  

Graffiti everywhere.  Harry Potter quotes, JK Rowling quotes, HP drawings, people thanking JK for inspiring them, et cetera, et cetera.  It was brilliant.  

And I just happened to have a sharpie in my purse.  So we all took turns writing our inscriptions, leaving our small mark and paying homage to our hero.  

JK Rowling amazes me.  Her life was so hard when she began Harry Potter.  She couldn't even afford her heating bill, for heaven's sake.  Yet she was writing.  She had never written a book before but she had enough faith that she could make it.  She believed in her story, she believed in Harry, before any of us knew he existed.  And after years of struggling and hard work, her devotion finally paid off.  The series is now the most successful book series of all time, and JK doesn't have to worry about her heating bill anymore.  

They also sell wonderful hot chocolate, so kudos to her on her cafe choice as well.  

Although there's much more to tell, I'll leave you with that.  

And this reminder: 

"Don't let the muggles get you down."  -JK Rowling

[caitalittlin]

Northern England and Wales

Hello mates! Today I'd like to share with you my grand adventure to Wales and Northern England.  

Over the 14 weeks I'm here across the pond, we take several "field trips" ranging from day trips to places near London, to week-long vacations where we learn some stuff and have lots of fun.  This was one of those week long trips: Monday to Saturday.

We departed last Monday morning and stopped first in the city of Bristol.  Throughout this trip, there were numerous stops we made where they gave us choices on what we wanted to do because we wouldn't have time for everything, and in Bristol, I got to go to the S.S. Great Britain.  

There she is! So the S.S Great Britain has one of the longest histories of pretty much any ship ever.  It took its maiden voyage in 1843 as the largest ship on the sea.  The ocean liner crossed the Atlantic in a record 14 days as the first iron steamer to every do so.  In 1852, she began taking immigrants across the ocean.  Through her long life she served many purposes, even including a quarantine ship for the sick.  

This "Grand Old Lady" has been around over 170 years, traveled a million miles at seas, and been around the world 32 times.  They've actually reconstructed the inside to look like it would have back when it carried people across the sea.  

And the museum is designed so you can go underneath water level and see the bottom of the ship.  

Apparently Dani wasn't too impressed with the anchor.  

Overall it was cooler than I was expecting.  

The bus was meeting in the center of town and we had to rush back to make it in time, but on the way I had my first ever Magnum bar.  Those things are super delicious.  Didn't take a pic because we were in a hurry, but I did stop for a second to take a pic of this.  

Because, you know, "dis is not de Crystal, dis is de Bristol!"

"Well one of us is in the wrong hotel."

Cheers to anybody who knows what I'm talking about.  

Continuing on, we got back on the coach and soon crossed the border into Wales.  

Now let me tell you, Wales is beautiful.  I know I've said that about a lot of places already, and it's been true every time, but there's something special about Wales.  Maybe it's the accents that sound like an odd combination of English, Scottish, and occasionally Irish.  Maybe it's the Welsh cakes, which remind me of snickerdoodles.  Or maybe it's the fact that all Welsh people love to sing.  But whatever it may be, Wales stole my heart.  

While in Wales we got to see a Roman amphitheater, where gladiator fights took place,

Some ancient Roman barracks, where were tiny rooms where probably around 8 people would've lived,

A quaint Roman garden,

And we even got a glimpse of Caerphilly Castle.  

I know that word looks like it should be pronounced like "carefully," but I heard a Welsh guy say the name and there wasn't an "R" sound.  I would try to write it phonetically, but the Welsh accent give me troubles.  I just can't pin it down.  So I can't really remember how he said it, and if you want to call it Carefully Castle, that's okay with me.  

On Tuesday I got to go to Cardiff Castle.  Apparently both Doctor Who and Sherlock have done filming there, but we're not sure of the exact locations.  I believe that the WWII episodes from Doctor Who were probably filmed here

In these hallways where they crowded over 1,500 people during air raids in WWII.  

And the Tower of London scene where Moriarty steals the Crown Jewels was filmed somewhere in the castle, but I'm not sure where.  It was a pretty castle all the same.

Also here's a reminder that ALL signs in Wales (all signs the government puts up, that is) are in both English and Welsh.  And let me tell you, Welsh is one interesting language.  

At one point, Welsh was almost a dead language, but the government has tried really hard to save it, and it seems to be working.  Not a whole lot of people speak it, but they see it everywhere, a constant reminder of their cultural heritage.  

Anyway, Cardiff Castle.  This is the ceiling of the Arab room.

Way cool place.  

Later that day we went to the Big Pit mine.  They suited us up with hard hats and headlamps and we rode the elevator down.  We got a tour of the mine, then went back to the surface and I had my first Welsh cake, which I mentioned earlier.  Welsh Snickerdoodles with raisins, basically.  Except more like a cake than a cookie.  But shaped like a cookie.  But cake over here is different than cake in the states.  I'm doing a terrible job of describing this.  Sorry.  Enough of that.

That night we stayed at a pretty nice hostel in the middle of nowhere.  It rained all night and in the morning the rolling hills draped in fog looked just like the moors of Hound of the Baskervilles.  

We got a better view of those fog-draped mountains when we took a train to the top of Mount Snowdon.  It was pretty freezing outside so I got some hot chocolate and sipped it all the way up, through the clouds, and past the sheep grazing.  

The train stopped and hiked the rest of the way to the top, which wasn't far at all.  I don't have any pics of that because we were in a cloud and couldn't see a blasted thing.  But it was cool to be on top of the world.  

After the lazy ride back down the mountain (the trip took an hour each way), we got on the coach and headed to Conwy.  

I just loved Conwy!  We went to another castle here, and this one was remarkable put together.  The stairs inside the towers had been restored, but most of it was original.  

In the back here is (you can't really see it, but imagine) the city wall, which is mostly still standing.  That hasn't been the case very often with the castles I've seen here, and I've seen a fair amount of castles thus far. 

The town of Conwy was really cute, too.  

The next town we hit was Chester, which I'm going to skip over because all we did was see a cathedral and another Roman amphitheater which wasn't as impressive as the other one we saw.  

Plus I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to do anything.  Side note: I was sick this entire trip, which kinda sucked, but I was able to have a pretty good time regardless.  

Thursday morning we were in Liverpool, which I'm also going to skim over because I felt pretty awful and didn't want to do much, so I didn't really do much.  Museums.  Merseyside Maritime Museum, best part: Titanic exhibit.  Museum of Liverpool, best part: football exhibit (football as in soccer).  International Slavery Museum, kinda depressing.  So yeah, Liverpool.  

We then went to Preston, where we got a church history walking tour of the city from Peter Fag, who's a member there.  Here's the house where the first missionaries stayed when they got to Preston, and Peter is the guy talking.

So when the first missionaries came to England, they landed in Liverpool, which was a major port at the time.  In fact, an estimated nine million people emigrated through Liverpool coming to America.  After the missionaries cleared customs (which took several days back then), they went to Preston, where one of the missionaries had family.  The church grew rapidly in Preston, and we got to see the sites where important things happened, more notably the (probable) site of the first baptisms.  

Although we're not entirely sure where the baptisms took place, this riverbank is traditionally considered the place.  

And then that night we stayed in a sketchy part of town that made me feel uneasy, and I'm not normally worried about that kind of stuff.  We went out to dinner in groups of at least four people, and I was glad to be out of there the next morning.  

Besides the whole Wales thing, my next favorite place was the Lake District.  The Lake District is England's largest national park, and it's got some pretty amazing scenery.  I was also able to visit the house Wordsworth was living in when he composed what is considered his best poetry.  Our hostel was right next to Lake Windermere and some people jumped in, but I decided not because still sick :/ 

Everybody waited around for Professor Underwood, but when Underwood came out, he wasn't waiting for anybody.  If you look closely at this pic, you can see him at the end of the dock jumping in while most everybody else is oblivious.  

Although I wouldn't like the jump in, the water was pretty frigid, so it was probably good that I didn't.  I enjoyed watching.

After dinner that night, I went out again (literally 20 steps from the hostel) to watch the sunset.

The last day of the trip we were going to go to Manchester, but instead we went to the Preston Temple, and I'm so glad we did!

It was a wonderful place to be and I'm so grateful that I was able to walk the temple grounds for a bit and feel the spirit.  The morning was overcast and chilly, a typical England day.  The England MTC is also there, so we got to pass by that, too.  

Our last stop was Stoke-on-Trent, where the potteries are.  A lot of missionary work happened in that area in the early days of the church in England.  It's called the potteries because they made lots of pottery there.  Imagine that.  

And we also stopped at a Tudor house, which I didn't enjoy as much as I would've if I hadn't been sick.  After 12 days, I was sick of being sick and was kind of out of it.  I watched ducks swim around in the little river by the house for a good 20 minutes.  Yeah, I was glad to come back to London.

One of the greatest feelings ever: walking back into the London Centre and thinking, "Finally. Home."  I love being able to call London my home and I'm always grateful for this wonderful opportunity to be here studying abroad.  So I'd just like to say thanks to all the people who encouraged me and helped me get here.  

Cheers :)

[caitalittlin]

Trip to the Southwest

This past weekend was our first excursion, three days full of lots of fun and loooong bus rides.  Here are some of my favorite parts.  

The first stop was the ruins of Old Sarum, which was a castle back in the day (as in 800 years ago).  Although you may think of castles having moats, Old Sarum didn’t.  Instead, they heaped up the ground around the castle so it would be more easily defensible.  It probably would have even had timberwork at the top for extra defense.  Sound familiar?  

I imagine that this is exactly what those Book of Mormon cities would have looked like, except Captain Moroni was doing this thousands of years ago, instead of just hundreds.  

Like I said, not much left.  

Just down the hill from the castle are the remnants of the church, although it just looks like an outline now.  

You can’t see it that well, but honestly neither could we.  

This was probably the throne.  

Jk the throne room was up the hill.  But something important probably happened here.  

There were also some random tables around the ruins and one of them had a bunch of blocks on it, so Keturah and I built a castle.  

Or rather Keturah built a castle, and I helped.  

We then went down to the nearby town of Salisbury where we saw the beautiful cathedral

And I even got to see the Magna Carta, which of course you can’t take pictures of because it’s a very old document and flash photography could damage it and all that stuff.  

And our next stop was…….

STONEHENGE! 

Ta dah!!! 

Yeah, it’s not actually all that mind-blowing.  You can’t get very close and you walk around it and take the same pictures of the same rocks from different angles that all pretty much look the same.  

Yet the actual existence of Stonehenge is quite mind-blowing indeed.  This place is probably around 5,000 years old.  Five thousand! Consider that for a moment.  Because Stonehenge was obviously not used as a place of habitation and not at all defensible, it was most likely used for religious worship of some kind.  But the coolest part is that we have no idea how these primitive people built the thing.  I think my thoughts can best be summed up by a quote from Bill Bryson:

"Just think about it for a minute.  Can you imagine trying to talk six hundred people into helping you drag a fifty-ton stone eighteen miles across the countryside and muscle it into an upright position, and then saying, ‘Right, lads! Another twenty like that, plus some lintels and maybe a couple of dozen nice bluestones from Wales, and we can party!’  Whoever was the person behind Stonehenge was one dickens of a motivator, I’ll tell you that."  

I liked Stonhenge, but our next stop was one I loved. 

Stourhead Gardens.  

For those of you who have seen the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice (the best version *cough cough*) this is where some of the filming was done.  We’re not entirely sure, but we think the Stourhead house is Mr. Bingley’s mansion.  

And you know the scene in the rain, where Darcy proposes the first time and it’s absolutely magical?

There she is!  One of the many picturesque sites on the estate.  This place was beautiful.  

I mean, just look at it.  

I could have spent days here.  I could live here.  

Although, for some perspective:  I got talking to a woman that works there and when we said we were from Utah, she got excited and said she would be going there soon.  Her family will be going through Bryce and Zions National Parks, through Moab and down to Monument Valley (and yes, of course she knows exactly where Blanding is and will be driving through).  She said that while we marvel at the green here, they marvel at the red rocks in Utah and mumble about the same-old green when they return to England.  So appreciate what’s in your own backyard, folks.  

Anyway, continuing on.  

We got to see the ocean! 

Olivia loves the ocean!  Olivia is my bunk buddy (we share a bunk bed at the Centre) and was also my bus buddy for this trip.  Although it’s technically called a coach but coach-buddy just doesn’t have the same ring to it.  

And I had my first dinner of fish and chips!

Yes, I took a picture of my food, and yes, it was delicious.  

And there was day one.  We spent the night at a hostel and the next morning I had a nice English breakfast of eggs, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, and beans.  

We went to St. Michael’s Mount, where supposedly the archangel Michael appeared hundreds of years ago.  It was a castle on an island, but we walked to it because it was low tide.  

The hike to the top was, well, a hike, but the view was spectacular.  

Here’s a model of the Mount made entirely from corks, constructed by a butler who worked here.  

How epic is that?  I took a lot of pictures, but I’m gonna move on now because I want to get to my favorite part of the day: Tintagel Castle.  

Legend says that this is the birthplace of King Arthur.  But just like Old Sarum, there isn’t much left anymore.  Like St. Michael’s Mount, Tintagel is also on an island, and also required a bit of a hike.  

The stairs pictured here represent about 1/5th of the climbing we did.  Perhaps less.  I couldn’t get a good picture of the other stairs because they wound around the rock, but I’ll just tell you they looked a bit like the stairs to Mordor.  

There was lots of stretching out at the top.  

So yeah.  Tintagel.  

Amazing views.  I loved this place so much because I could sit down for a bit and just enjoy being there.  

And then I could move to another spot and do the same with a different view.  

I can’t tell you how much I loved it.  The weather was nice and a soft breeze swept across the island.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  

That evening we ate dinner in the town just up the not-so-small hill, where I ordered a half rack of ribs and chips.  However, because so many in our group went to that one particular restaurant (not many places are open in the evenings) it took them a while to get out all our food.  I was one of the last to get my meal and the bus was about to leave, but refusing to waste any, I ate the whole thing (with some help with my chips from the people sitting closest to me) in eight minutes.  The coach had driven 5 miles down the road before it hit bottom and I realized how full I was.  

That night we stayed in a hotel, but again, because there were so many of us, we bought out all the two-person rooms so some of us (myself included) got a room to ourselves.  I really appreciated that, although my bathroom was located just below a stairway, so my shower had a minor issue.  

Also note the two separate taps for hot and cold water.  Why does that still exist?? It’s 2014 people, washing your hands should not be such a struggle.  I’m glad we’ve got mixed taps at the Centre.  Seriously England, get it together.  Literally.  

The next morning, our first stop was Glastonbury Tor, which is the rumored location for the Holy Grail, brought there by Joseph of Arimathea.  Our program directors ensured us that we wouldn’t have to do anywhere near the kind of hiking we had done the day before, so we set off in high spirits.  

Lies.  All lies.  

It was quite far away and the hike was even more intense than the day before.  

But we made it!  And once again, the view was well worth it.  

That English countryside tho.

The wind was blowing like crazy and we were in a bit of a hurry, so we skipped down and journey back was far easier (okay, maybe it was just me skipping).  

We then went to the Wells Cathedral, which was, of course, beautiful.  

Our final stop of the trip before heading back to London was the city of Bath.  That’s “bahth” with an English accent, not “baaath” like an American or a sheep.  

I got to see the Royal Crescent, which is hard to see here because you can only get so much in a picture.  

The building curves like a crescent.  I’m sure you can imagine the rest.  

I wandered around the city for a bit and found this:

Just for you, Dad.

And of course we got to see the Roman baths!

Which are the only natural hot springs in Britain.  Remember what I said about appreciating the things in your own backyard?  I’ve lived 10 miles from some of the best hot springs in the world my entire life.  This city exists because of these springs, which in Roman times was the site of a temple.  People came from all over to do everything from worship, to gossip, to (duh) bathe.  If Lava Hot Springs were located near large ancient civilizations like Bath was, I think Marsh Valley would be a very different place today.  

And on the way back to London that night, we got a beautiful sunset, a sweet goodbye from Southwest England.  

[caitalittlin]

Tower of London and the Mayfair Walk

Hello friends! I've been here in London just over a week now and already I can't keep up with my blogging and journaling.  There is just too much.  But I shall do my best.

I'll begin with last Monday, September 8, when we went to the Tower of London.  

This is where the crown jewels are kept, which is what we saw first.  It kinda blows my mind how much stuff of immense worth is kept in there.  Not just crowns and jewels, but coronation swords and coronation spoons (not sure exactly how those fit into the ceremony) all made from solid gold or silver and there was next to no security in that place.  I would expect more than a single guard casually checking inside people's bags and a layer of glass to protect Britain's grand collection of precious gems and metals, but nope.  

There are actually lots of towers in the Tower of London (I counted seven), all of which contain different things.  The bloody tower had a small exhibit about the two princes that were last seen playing there before they disappeared.  Can you believe that?  Two freakin princes just go missing.  Never found.  Two hundred years later they unearthed a box containing the bones of two children near the White tower.  The remains of the princes?  Probably.  

Also found a dragon made out of pieces of armour.  Pretty neat.  

Quick bit of history: there are some ravens that live at the Tower of London, and there was a legend that said if the birds ever left the Tower, the monarchy would fall.  So nowadays, by law, there must be at least six ravens at the Tower at all times.  The tower currently has eight, and they've trimmed their wings to keep them from leaving and thus bringing about the end of England as we know it.  Pretty important birds.  

They're also very large birds.  This one swooped down out of nowhere and almost killed us.  

We saw the other parts of the Tower, but those were my favorite.  

An update: remember when I mentioned the red flowers surrounding the Tower in commemoration for the WWI centenary?  Well I found out that they're not roses, but handmade, ceramic poppies.  Each one represents a British soldier who died in the war.  The exhibit is called "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red," and when the last one is "planted" on November 11, there will be over 880,000.  The poppies are sold individually and when the exhibit is over, the flower will be shipped to the person who bought it.  All the money will be divided six ways and given to charities.  

So that was my Monday.  

Tuesday!  Tuesday was our first day of classes.  I had Humanities, Shakespeare, and Interior Design and Architecture.  After classes, we had lunch and then went off to do another walk for the Walks class.  The one we chose was the Mayfair Walk, which we only did because we heard about a massive toy store along the way.  

We took the tube to Oxford Circus and when we came out, I felt like I was in a city crowd for the first time.  All these people rushing around shopping and stuff. Our first real stop was a small church with a little market out front called St. James' church.  It is said to be one of Christopher Wren's favorite churches and was used as a model for many early American churches in New England.    

There was a piano recital going on inside, so we listened for a few minutes before continuing on.  

The next stop was the Royal Academy of Art, which was founded in 1768.

It's interesting to me, thinking that here in the UK, 1768 is relatively new.  I mean, I've already seen a bunch of medieval and pre-renaissance stuff that's way older than anything we have in the states.  I mean, this academy was founded before we were even a country, yet it's not that old.  Britain's history is so much more vast than ours.  

Anyway, then we got macaroons, which I've never had before.  The little shop was super fancy.   

 Just a tower of macaroons atop a gilded counter.  NBD.  I thought they were pretty darn tasty, but I'm told they weren't as good as the one's we'll have in France, so I'm looking forward to that.  I had a peach one, orange cream, and a Venezuelan chocolate.  

Walking some more, we came across the houses of a couple famous people.  I liked this sign the best:

Leader of fashion.  An inspiration to us all, I'm sure.  

I'd never heard of him, but apparently there have been several movies made about him (a silent movie in 1924 and another movie in 1954), which you probably don't care about, but there was also a play made about him and the guy who wrote the music for the play (Edward Elgar) also wrote "Pomp and Circumstance" and is actually on the £20 note here in the UK.  Which has nothing to do with Bau Brummell, sorry.  I digress. 

We then went into a church which I believe is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Jesuit Order in London.  I really don't know much about that, but the church was pretty.

With its Gothic arches and clear-story windows and all that good stuff I'm learning about in my architecture class.  (The arches are Gothic because they're pointed at the top and the clear-story windows are the ones at the top that let all the light into the center of the church unobstructed by the rest of the building.)

We then found Grosvernor Square, which looks like a park, and I touched the Berlin Wall

and also found a little piece of home.

If you can't read it, that's FDR.  This statue was erected because of Roosevelt's alliance with Great Britain in WWII and was unveiled in 1948 by his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, before an audience that included the current Prime Minister, the Royal Family, and former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who of course was the Prime Minister during WWII.  

And that was the walk! What fun! Now finished, we had time to go back to the place that was the whole reason we came: the toy store!

My friends, Hamley's Toy Shop.  7 stories of pure awesome.  It's said that you can test any toy before you buy it.  So they've got displays and stuff everywhere.  Working at Hamley's would probably be the funnest thing every.  There are workers with guns that spray bubbles greeting you as you come in.  There are guys flying remote-controlled helicopters, and throwing boomerang type things, but with three prongs instead of two so they come back to you sooner, and that's just as you're walking in.  

Here's a couple of boys testing out some nerf guns.  

Some remote control cars.  

And a dang impressive Harry Potter section.

There was a sweet shop on the top floor.

And here's the Royal Family made out of Legos.  

This place was astounding.  Seven stories tall and nothing but fun.  I definitely want to go back to that sometime.  

And that was my Tuesday :)  I love this city so much!

[caitalittlin]

London!

I made it! Yay! :D

Quick recap of the trip: 

Woke up: 2:50am

Left home: 3:20am

Got to the airport: 5:30am

Flew out: 9:30am (curse those delays, storm over Chicago)

3 hour flight, 2 1/2 hour layover, 8-ish hour flight.

London! 5:30am local time

Then I got kind of stuck in an elevator with some very nice people at the airport.  We finally made it down to the underground, where I bought a ticket, got on the train, switched lines, got off, and made it to the Centre having only had to ask for directions 4 times.  Success.  

Although I will admit the beginning of the trip was a little stressful.  I took this picture after the elevator thing and asking for directions the first two times.  

But I totes made it just fine.  

Okay.  The Centre? Freaking beautiful.  Apparently it was made in the 1870s, or close to it, and it's absolutely amazing.  It's two adjoining townhouses just north of Kensington Gardens.  Here's a quick shot of the outside, taken from the front steps.

That little round window?  The classroom.  So cute.  I'm lucky and got the bedroom on the ground floor, so I don't have to go up and down 600 stairs every day.  Including the basement, the Centre is 6 stories.  I'll have to take a better picture that shows all the way to the top.  

On our first day we pretty much unpacked and got to know each other a little, then went to bed as soon as we could.  Everybody else seemed to not sleep so well, but apparently the horrendous hours I slept this past summer prepared me quite well for jet lag because I slept wonderfully.  One of the girls even said she heard me laughing in my sleep.

So today was my first full day in London.  What a day.  It began with what was supposed to be a short walk around the neighborhood, but we ended up running into Portobello Road, and the market was open since it's Saturday, so we walked pretty much the whole thing.  I didn't buy anything or take any pictures, but have no fear, I will surely be going back very soon.

I realized I haven't explained something.  One of the classes I'm taking here is called London Walks.  We have this little book and we pick a walk and read about it.  It gives us the history of the area and notable things to see.  Then it gives directions on where to walk and where all those notable things are along the way.  Quite fun.  So after completing the neighborhood walk, we decided to do the one called "A walk on the wild side: South of the Thames."  

We got on the tube and rode into central London.  It was super awesome because you're underground so you can't see where you're going and then you come up and BAM! London.

That cool-looking building is nicknamed "The Gerkin," and I really don't know what happens inside it.  We turned left here, towards the Tower bridge.  But before we got there, we passed the Tower of London.  Fun fact: this year is the 100th anniversary of WWI.  In commemoration, the Tower of London has some special decorations.  

That red stuff is roses.  They're not real, though.  People were setting them up, sticking them in the grass.  Thousands and thousands of them.  We had a lot of questions that weren't answered, but we'll be visiting the Tower on Monday, so I'll learn all the answers then :)

Aaaaaand turning left from where this picture was taken:

Bam. Tower Bridge.  Kinda came out of nowhere.  So we walked across and vowed to come back and visit the top some other time.  

And then we got to watch it lift up for a boat. 

(Remember this is the Tower bridge, not the London bridge.  I'll get to that in a minute.)

Then we encountered a commemorative fountain, also for the WWI anniversary.  

It's a ship, if you couldn't tell.  

WWI centenary, sorry, not anniversary.  My bad.  

Continuing on, we walked a little longer, passed a cathedral, and then there was the Borough Market.  It came out of nowhere, too.  

I sampled some freaking delicious honey and they had bees flying around right there (I know Stockton, you're gonna freak, but the honey was soooo good).   

And then I bought this bread stuff, and I don't remember what it was called but I'll ask because one of the girls I was with did so I'll ask her and get back to you.  

But it was delish.  

The next stop was the London bridge, which I don't feel like is especially noteworthy, but it gave us a nice view of the Tower Bridge.

Now, as I said earlier, they're different bridges.  Most people confuse them because the Tower bridge is prettier and more photographed (they hung the Olympic rings from the Tower bridge in 2012), but the London bridge is older.  Well, I think.  The London bridge has been rebuilt several times, but the original was the first bridge across the Thames and the only bridge for a long time, dating back to Roman times.  It was 1750 before another one was built (Westminster bridge).  

So we kept walking along and then BAM again, there's St. Paul's.

Yeah, I got surprised a lot.  And wait, these surprises get better.  :)

I forgot to note, that cathedral I mentioned earlier?  Our walk took us back to it.  I don't have any pictures of the inside.  Here's the outside:

Quite pretty, bells ringing.  There's a Shakespeare memorial inside because Shakespeare came there a lot and there was even a stained glass window depicting some of his plays, but I'm ashamed to say that Hamlet was the only one I recognized.  I hope that will change by the time this semester's over.  

Speaking of Shakespeare, we found the spot where the original globe theatre was.  Not much there now.  Just a couple signs and a thing on the ground that says "The Globe."

Yet down the street sat the modern globe.  

BEAUTIFUL.  Dream come true, seeing that place.  I can't wait to come back next Wednesday to see Comedy of Errors.  Also, Julius Caesar is playing until October, so I'll probably come back to see that, too.   

We kept walking (we walked a ton today) and BAM! surprise number 4: 

That would be the London Eye, in case you know nothing about London.  That's okay.  We'll learn together :)

And when there's the London Eye, guess what else is just across the river??

BAM. Big Ben.  Although Big Ben is actually not the name of the tower, nor the name of the clock.  It's the nickname for the largest bell inside the tower.  Who knew?  Maybe you.  Maybe you know everything about London.  I obviously have no idea what kind of people read my blog.  But this is a super long post, so if you're still reading you must be a person who really loves me.  Or London.  I love London, that's why this post is so long.  But it's almost done.  

We were supposed to cross the bridge and take the tube home, but the Embankment station was closed, so we got to walk right up to Big Ben.  

And then my camera battery died and we came home, pretty much just as tired as my poor battery.  

Day one complete.  Complete success, that is!  Loved every minute.  I also love British accents.  

Church in the Hyde Park ward tomorrow! Goodnight friends!l

[caitalittlin]

I'm going on an adventure!

This is it.  The time has come.  After days of packing, weeks of planning, and months of pure excitement, I’m finally going to London.  

I've had a lot of people tell me recently that they'd love to keep up with me during this study abroad, so I've started this blog to keep anybody who's willing to read it updated.  Thanks for being here, everybody.  

I'm super excited, and I've had the wonderful opportunity to talk to a number of people who have spent some time in London about their experiences.  Thanks to all those people, you've helped me be a little more prepared.   

For those of you just joining us, here's some backstory.  I applied for the program almost a year ago, but this adventure really began for me last February.  I was studying in the library at BYU when I received an email from the Kennedy Center for international studies.  It read:

“Dear Caitlin Black, congratulations on your acceptance to BYU’s Fall 2014 London Study Abroad program.”  

With a flood of emotion, it took everything I had not to jump up and down in the middle of the library right then and there.  I was done studying.  I slammed my books shut and stuffed them in my bag.  I rushed through the test I had been studying for (which I got a C on, but who cares, London!) and practically ran home.  I burst through the apartment door, the words already spilling from my mouth. “Guys! Guys, guess what?! Guess what just happened to me!!!” 

Silence.  

"Guys?"

Nobody home.  ”Well I’m going to London if anybody cares!” I yelled to the empty space.  Apparently the apartment ghost didn’t care (thanks a lot, Hydro), so I called my family and they were the first to know.  As my roommates came home, I got to share the news again and again, jumping and yelling with excitement each time.

Although I was initially concerned about paying for the program, this past summer I was able to get a job working the night shift at the Utah State Hospital.  Even though the hours were hard and I now have a new concept of the term “sleep deprivation,” I spent little, paid my tithing, and everything worked out.

I fly out on Thursday morning.  

(This is how I feel)

The next 14 weeks, I'll be reading Shakespeare, visiting museums, eating fish and chips, and trying to live like a true Londoner.  And of course taking a boatload of pictures.  

However, this is a study abroad, so amidst all the fun, I've got classes in there too.  Mark Twain once said, "Don't let schooling interfere with your education."  Education is (of course) more than just classes.  And London, as an amalgam of fine literature, art, architecture, and culture, has a lot to teach me. Although I intend to learn everything I can from my classes, I hope to learn even more from the city itself, which prompted the name of my blog.  So wish me luck as I head off on this trip of a lifetime and take my best shot at Learning London.