Paris - Week 1

So I realize that I haven't posted anything about France and I've been here almost a week. Hmm, maybe because it has been crazy, but you probably figured that one out. Staying at the hotel the first two nights really kind of sucked. You can't really relax in a hotel, it doesn't feel like you can settle in. I always feel slightly in limbo in hotels. It was nice when we finally made it to our host homes. My roommate and I have the cutest little french lady as our host. She speaks mostly french to us, except when we really can't figure out what she is saying.
The French is coming along, slowly. My teacher spent about an hour with me going over pronunciation. That was helpful. I'm not very good at talking. It's a little sad. My teacher also asked how I was doing with the reading because I probably have the least experience reading at the level we are reading at. Fortunately I have a few tricks that help me understand the text. (Yeah, that would be reading the text in English either before or after).
Ok, it was definately a surreal feeling walking up to this. I honestly never thought I would get to see the Eiffle Tower in person. So surreal.



Yeah, and this is looking up from underneath the Tower.



We didn't go up. We almost walked up the stairs, but we went on Sunday and we decided we would come another time when we weren't all in our church shoes.

London - Day 2

Anyone know how to make my pictures face the right direction?
Sorry, most of them are sideways!!



Here's a picture to show, yes I really was in London. PS. I don't know how to PhotoShop it, so unless I hired someone else, its real.


Westminster Abbey. Pretty cool!



Buckingham Palace. I don't think the queen is in.


Tower of London. I know I said it was my favorite place in all London already, but its still true.



Traitor's Gate. Oh, so much history!!



Tower Bridge. It was very exciting to cross. I think I took fifteen pictures just on the bridge.


We ran into the other three girls from our program on the South Bank. Small world!


The Globe. Of course I had to visit it. I'm just sad I didn't make it to Stratford-Upon-Avon.


St Paul's. This is where I actually got the chills. It was just such a great day. After St Paul's we went back.


But not before I found my favorite statue. It's called Young Lovers and I have no idea why I liked it so much, but I did. Statues don't normally speak to me (expect in the British Museum) and I don't really like the whole anonymous lovers statues, but this one I did.

London - Day 1

Alright, back to my stay in England. Its taking a while to upload the pictures to the site, maybe I should make my pics smaller. We went into London after resting in Colchester. We went in with a group from Colchester, they showed us how to use the train and metro and we split a family pass with them because it was less expensive. It was cool. Travel buddy and I wandered down to Notting Hill Gate, which was fun, and up Portabello Road. Then I had that song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks stuck in my head all day. I think that was one of my favorite movies as a child. Travel Buddy had no idea what I was talking about.



We met up with a friend from the program and went to the British museum. What a treasure!! It was amazing! We only saw a few rooms, but they were so amazing! I was able to hold a bead from the first or second century and a little bronze man from somewhere between the first to fourth century. That was so neat! Here are some highlights from the Museum, in no particular order.


Some English school children on a field trip. All in their uniforms. Not something you see often in the US.


The Rosetta Stone! This was one of my favorites. They had a replica you could touch in another room.


A little piece of Egypt. They also had one arm.


I think these were called Neriads, but I'm probably wrong. I loved! the Greek statues!


This lady is a caryatid. She was used in place of a pillar to support the roof. Apparently the other ones that were not moved to England have been removed from the original site, moved to a different museum and have been replaced by replicas. I think she is beautiful.


These statues were so cool! I couldn't believe I was actually there seeing them! I was actually quite sad that they were supposed to be in Italy, but their bodies were in England and some of their heads were in Germany. Not sure I'd like that if it were me.
I think I could spend two days at the British Museum, probably longer. We didn't see Africa or China, Korea, India, Japan, or anything but Greek, Roman, Egypt and a little of Europe. They had so many mummies! I loved the Museum. Just so much stuff!!

Oh. Whoops

Apparently it won't be as easy to get online as I had hoped, so the pics will be long coming, and my blogging won't be as frequent as I was planning. Saturday, we rode into London on the train and met up with two of the other girls in our program. We took a little detour to the train station next to the Eurostar station because we were right next to King's Cross and Platform 9 3/4. So I have pictures of the platform. They have a trolley halfway through the wall outside-ish so you don't have to buy a ticket to see the platform. Probably wise because everyone wants to see it.
I fell asleep on the Chunnel before we went underwater. Oh well, it was really just dark anyway. I sat next to a nice gentleman who was a conductor of a symphony and choir. We took a taxi to the hotel and found a couple other girls and we went to get crepes. Then we met up with the directors and found out what was going on.
This morning, we got ready and travel buddy was rooming with another girl and they did not wake up before breakfast. They were like ten minutes late. We went to church and they spoke french the entire time. Quel suprise. I actually understood quite a bit, but not everything.
I'll have to catch up later because someone else needs to get on the internet, but I had to drop something real quick!!

I love England

We went into London again today. I'll have to upload the pictures later. It was so fun to see so much, and we still just barely got to the tip of the iceberg!! By far my favorite is the Tower of London. That was the coolest thing I've seen. We didn't get to go inside because we got there too late. We got there too late for everything, but it was still really cool. We ran into the other girls in our program walking along the South Bank. It was totally crazy! So all of us were in the same place at the same time. It sure is a small world!!
Anyway, there are more pictures to come, but its really hard to get them uploaded right now and I am really tired. But they are coming soon!

More Colchester!

This is the shoulder of a whale. It was used for the sign of an inn. It was in the Natural History Museum. I just thought it was cool.


This is Colchester Castle. It was built over the Roman Temple of Claudius. It is also the largest keep ever built by the Normans. It is now a museum, surrounded by a park. The Roman wall of the last post is part of the Park also. The park is beautiful, it also has a sensory garden where you can smell the herbs planted all around.

A Day in Colchester

Wednesday, we decided to not go in to London, but to spend a little time in the city we are staying in. Colchester happens to be the oldest recorded town in Britain. Pretty cool!!
First we stopped by the Natural History Museum. It was pretty neat, it was a converted church and we could see the old stain glass windows. They had life size pictures of a mammoth and a mastodon. I just don't compare


We also found a little door, but it appears that no one was home.


We saw lots of sculptures of the Lion and the Unicorn. Travel Buddy didn't know what I was talking about when I told her there was a poem about it, but I looked it up for her later.


A view looking down a cool street in Colchester

This Roman wall was built in 120 AD! I was so excited to touch something that old.


I've got more to show, but the computer isn't letting me upload right now. I'll be back with more, plus today's trip to London!! (And I'll figure out how to flip those pics around!!)

More on Jet Lag

The day we came in to London, we travelled by coach to Colchester. We had a layover (not sure what you call it when riding coach) in Victoria. As you can see, we were a little tired. That night, I ended up taking a three hour nap followed by fitful dozing. Last night, again a three hour nap. Then I laid awake for about two hours before finishing off the night with more fitful dozing. Hopefully tonight will be better!!

Jet lag!

What a long day!! But I am finally in England and tomorrow I get to go see things! Tonight, I really just want a good night's sleep.
So let me tell you about my trip. Travel Buddy and I left for the airport after it had been snowing all morning. We knew our flight was delayed forty minutes, which put us really close to missing our connecting flight, but I thought we could probably do it. We saw two or three accidents because of the snow on our way to the airport and seven or eight slide offs. At the airport, they told us the flight was delayed but they didn't actually know how long. Well, actually, it turned out to be an hour and forty five minutes late taking off. The flight was supposed to take three hours and ten minutes, but our pilot got us there in two and a halfish. That was nice because many of us were worried about missing connecting flights. It was a fast flight.
We ran to our gate and got on the plane. We made it, but then we sat there for about an hour before they let us take off, what with the de-icing and all. We should have grabbed something to eat, but we decided to wait until they fed us. It was a longer wait than we wanted, but what can you do? Needless to say, I ate everything they gave us. It was like two in London when we took off, but only eight back home, so it was a little hard to sleep. I watched one of the movies before I tried. Oh, and the plane was huge, I've never been on an international flight to Europe, only to Mexico and my Mexico plane was small. Then I tried to sleep. Travel Buddy managed to actually fall asleep, I didn't. I never sleep well when I'm in a moving vehicle.
We had breakfast before I was really ready to be awake. Then off the plane, through customs (where we didn't know what address to put because we are staying with Travel Buddies friend), picked up our luggage and met Essex friend. After waiting possibly an hour. Oh, yeah, with glasses, which is not a strong enough prescription and travel hair. Lovely. So we decided to go coach because of all our luggage. And take the cheaper route, which took a lot longer. So we took the first coach to Victoria station, where they charge 20 pence to use the restroom. That was fun trying to make change first thing over. Then we took the next coach for three hours and slept. Then, apparently there are two stops in Colchester, the main one and the University one. Fortunately, we figured out we needed the second one, with a little help from our bus driver (which is apparently quite rare). And then we had to walk up a hill with our fifty pound luggage after not getting enough sleep. That was fun. But its an adventure!! I hope I feel more adventurous tomorrow.

Pain. Lots of pain.

I had to go to the dentist yesterday. It really wasn't a bad experience, they were really nice. The problem came later, after the anesthesia wore off. I had two cavities filled, one on top and one on the opposite side on the bottom. Yeah, well I ended up with a good headache afterward, that went right along with my cramps. Really, I felt like I got hit by a car or a train. Even after I took IBuProfin, it took a while to go to sleep. I still don't even feel well, I just want to take a hot bath and go to bed.

Hmmm . . .

Your Love Life is Like Casablanca

"Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time." For you, love is never finished. If you've loved someone once, you'll always love them. You're an old fashioned romantic... even if your relationships don't end up as romantic as you'd like. Your love style: Traditional and understated Your Hollywood Ending Will Be: Complicated and ambiguous

http://www.blogthings.com/whatmovieisyourlovelifelikequiz/"
What Movie Is Your Love Life Like?

I apologize in advance

On Saturday night, I went to the Symphony. I took a nice young man from my ward who got back off his mission this summer. It was really nice that he enjoyed the music and liked being there. We have a lot of common interests and he was really sweet. While we were sitting, listening to the music, I thought this really isn't going to go anywhere, but it was nice to have a good time with someone who really appreciates the Symphony. On the way home, we were chatting and I asked where he went to school his senior year of high school because he said he only went here until his junior year. Well, he was in Korea because his dad was a mission president. And then after high school, he went on a mission because mission president's sons can go when they're eighteen. Oh, crap, I thought. That means he got back off his mission when he was 20, not 21 like most missionaries. So he may have been 20. I know I said I wouldn't date guys under 21 anymore, but I forgot that mission president's sons could do that!! There is the chance that since he's been back, he had a birthday, so I might be safe, but boy, that one just made me groan inside. My apologies all.

Wedding Gala

Last night was my sister's wedding reception here where we live. She had it up at this place that looks just like a castle, but really isn't. Now let me tell you a little bit about this place. In the summer, it is used for theater. It's actually an ampitheatre (yes, that means outside) and you have to park at the bottom of the hill and walk up a switchback to the bottom of the castle and then walk up two and a half flights of stairs to get to the ampitheater part. Now if you remember what the weather has been like this week (ie six inches of snow on Wednesday) you probably have a good guess of what it was like up there. And there was also some more snow that fell over the past few days, including yesterday. Now, halfway up the ampitheater, there is a little room to one side, probably for costumes and props and stuff. That is where my sister and her husband had their reception. By the way, there is no way to heat that room (yes it was only a room, fortunately, I didn't need to go to the bathroom because who knows what I would have done if I had). They had a fire going and a couple of space heaters, which actually did very little to heat the room, at least to a comfortable level. When I got up there, my other sister and brother where there shoveling snow. My brother had been shoveling snow all day. Poor guy, what a trooper.
Did I mention that the reception was a masked ball? I didn't wear a mask. Most of the time we just mingled. At the beginning, I was a little afraid because I was surrounded by weird people I didn't know (yes, Parker, I know you're thinking that's the pot calling the kettle black, but there is more than one kind of weird). I almost went home, but I stuck it out. I later went home with a friend of mine and we watched a movie.
The coolest part of the reception was the cake. It was shaped like the Portland Temple. Spires and everything. Very good cake decorator. I have her number if you ever need it. Her son came to the reception. I didn't recognize him. He grew up since I've seen him, literally. He got back from his mission just a little while ago. Ok, probably at least a couple of years.
Anyway, I love my sister and was happy to go to her reception and support her, but I am not having my reception at an outdoor venue during the winter. That was crazy. I guess it kind of worked because people came, but maybe they were crazy too and that's why they did it.

I looked out the window and what did I see

White. Lots of white. Six inches of it in fact. It was fun leaving my house today. After the snow got pushed off my car, I think the snow was higher than my car. Driving to work, I went slow. Crazy. I've decided the snow isn't so bad. Its the ice that will be there tomorrow morning. I would really much prefer to have the snow somewhere I could go to it if I wanted to, but didn't have to deal with it every day.

Time flies!

Ok, I just realized I'm going to France in two weeks!!!! I don't know that I am ready, but I am getting there. I have to tell you, I am a little afraid. I've never been that far from home, and never somewhere I wouldn't be able to communicate well! I'm just freaking out a little.

New Years

I don't think I've ever had a great New Years Eve.  I think maybe I expect too much from it.  I always expect to spend it having a great time, but I never do.  Generally I have a good time, but I always come away feeling disappointed.  I don't think it has anything to do with the people I'm with, I think it is totally me.  I don't like New Years as a holiday. There is a bunch of hype and no follow through.  There is nothing really exciting about it.  And I generally get depressed the following day.  I look back at the last year and realize that in reality, I have accomplished nothing. There were no milestones I reached in the last year, nothing noteworthy, just a day to day existence of survival. I make sure I eat enough, I make sure I exercise, I have enough money to pay my bills, but there was nothing with which I can mark the year.  Just a waste of time. And my resolutions are always that next year will be better.  But try as I may, somehow they never are.