Lowest and Highest

So it's interesting that my least favorite day in London was followed by one of my all time favorites. Monday and Tuesday of this week were really an emotional roller coaster for me. Nothing super terrible or super fantastic really happened but I'm a girl and as such am entitled to one major emotional breakdown, right! So Monday was that breakdown.
So we went to class in the morning, nothing really special but I had a pretty cool insight about the play silence we saw. I did promise to talk about it more when I figured it out so here we good. I've decided that the whole symbolism of the play rested in the fact that it was called Silence. The whole time during the class discussion people were pulling all these interesting insights out of the play and they all had to do with the silence, or lack of silence in the play. Well sitting there it dawned on me that if the play was not titled silence that none of these insights would be happening. It made me realize the importance of the title of works of art. Pretty cool I think. Well after class was the first part of my down hill slide. I got my grade back on one of my papers and it was not what I wanted and I was not happy because it was the same grade I had gotten on the paper before but I knew it was a lot better and I had taken the time to get help with it and everything. Well that was really discouraging and when I talked to my teacher about it, it was even more discouraging and he really wasn't willing to help me work for the better grade which was really frustrating, anyone who knows me knows that grades are a big deal for me, so I left class in a bad mood.
After class I was trying to write my next paper for my other class. Unfortunately I was upset over what had just happened that I really couldn't write my paper. It was really frustrating because I re-started it about three times. The other frustrating thing was that the prompt given to write on did not fit with what I really wanted to write, so that was frustrating. I wanted to write on the insight that I had in class and it did not go well with the prompt. So all afternoon I wasted time, not doing my paper. So then I was really frustrated with myself for wasting a whole afternoon instead of going out and doing something.
So to add to the yucky-ness of my day, the play that we were supposed to see that night got canceled because I guess we didn't actually have tickets booked. So I was really sad about that and I hadn't done something all day with the thought that it was okay because I was doing something that night. So after being sad about that I went with a group of girls to see if we could get student tickets to see it anyway and that is where my night really fell apart.
So we got to the theater and they only had obstructed view tickets and they were more than I really wanted to pay for tickets and so the other girls got the tickets and I didn't. I was feeling a little abondoned which was stupid because it was my decision not to go but there was another group from our studyabroad that was at the theater that decided to try and see something else so I said ok I'll just go with them. Well we were going to see one show and then a different one and then a different one and then they decided to go see a movie, which I really didn't have any desire to see or pay 10 pounds to see so I said good bye to them and started home by myself. So I'm all alone in the middle of London and trying not to cry because I had a really stupid day and I was kicking myself for wasting a whole day. Especially because a big part of my afternoon wasting was not wanting to go out and do something by myself, and in the end I was by myself anyway. So then it started to rain which didn't help anything, but I guess the clouds decided to do my crying for me.
So I was all alone getting on the Tube and as soon as I got on, Amy from my program was sitting right there, so we went and got Ice Cream which made things a little better and then I went home and wrote my paper which I wasn't happy with even the final one but I had no choice but to turn it in.
So overall it was my least happy day in London, but everyone is entitled to one of those once in a while, especially because it was more than made up for with the day that followed.

So now that I have whined forever I can tell you about the great Tuesday I had that made up for my not so awesome Monday. First of all I'm pretty sure I had a great day because it was Erin's birthday and she is so awesome that she sent some of her happy birthday-ness my way.
So our day started with a trip out to Kent, which is the English country side. We had a great time walking through the country side and it was really beautiful and peaceful. I was just nice to get out of the city, it was a chance to breath. So this was my adventures in Kent.

So the first place we were supposed to visit was closed do to vandalism, we were sad.

Then we went and ate our lunches on the banks of this little river, Lauren looked really cute with my apple's sticker on her forehead! And Ellie Ashlee and I all wore the same shoes.

Amberly walked through the water on a flooded road

So the second stop was this Roman home and we made a rainbow while waiting for people.


Ashley is shorter that the average roman woman, I'm as tall as the average roman man, we found this amusing.

Then we got bored so we played with mosaic tiles in the kids area while other people took forever.

After that we continued our walk and we saw some horses. This one thinks it's a cow.

Then we walked through some more beautiful country side and it was just really relaxing and peaceful.

It rained but even that was great, mostly because I had my umbrella.

So I realize that this is a tree and a flower but this tree was just cool and I this poppy was my favorite one I saw all day because it was tiny and growing out of the sidewalk.

After the Kent walk we came home and then Cali and I went and got some Crepes. So it was a seriously long tube ride to this crepe place but everyone said it was the best so we went . They were right, it was the best crepe I have ever had. I got a savory one with asparagus and cheese and garlic! life changing!! Then we got dessert ones with bananas and syrup and peanuts and cream, so good. I cant wait to get home and make savory crepes, they really are the best.

It was also nice to just walk around this little town and talk with Cali. It was just a really peaceful day altogether and after the day I had on Monday, it was exactly what I needed.

Super Sunday

This is a pretty flower for a pretty day! :)
This Sunday was really great. We had stake conference but it was a regional conference broadcast from Salt Lake to all of England and part of Ireland. It was nice because we were able to watch the broadcast from the stake center which is the building where we go to school. It was nice to not get up at 7:30 and ride and hour on the train too.
The meeting it's self was really amazing. President Monson, L. Tom Perry, Sister Thompson and Brother Karen spoke. It was really interesting to hear their messages and it was great because they were very tailored to the saints here. Going to Conference I was a little worried that I wasn't going to get much out of it, part of me thought that if the message was for the saints on England and I'm not really one of them would it be applicable to me? So even going into it with those doubts I couldn't be more wrong, it was completely for me which was great.
One of the themes of the conference was loving others and being a true friend. President Monson talked about loving people as our brothers and sisters. So I've heard that said before but never really thought about it's implications. If everyone truly loved everyone as I do my actual brothers and sisters this world would have a lot less problems.
After conference I spent time with my roommates and took a nap. Cali, Ellie and I talked about what we learned at conference and got into a really good discussion which was nice.
Then we had a fireside where the three guys on our program all talked about their missions. It was a really interesting fireside and I got to hear perspectives on missions that I had never heard before. My favorite part of the fireside was Addison talking about Pslams 37. He talked about how it was a theme for his mission and for his life. It basically says: do good, trust God, and don't worry. I really loved that and want it to be a motto for my life. I think that is easier said than done but I'm going to try. Overall it was a super Sunday with great spiritual insights.

Cliffs of Dover

So today we went to Dover Castle. It was so much fun, and of course it was 5 girls and pretty backgrounds so what do you get? lots and lots of pictures! :) so hope they're as fun to look at as they were to take but I seriously doubt it! :)

This was the Train ride there. We were still really tired for the day before and it was about a 1 and 1/2 hour ride so good time for a nap.

So we got off the train in Dover and realized that our planning had only got that far. We had no idea how to get to Dover Castle. So this is us guessing which way to go, and Cami being really confused. We had a good laugh about it.

This was our first glimpse of the Castle so we pretty much just started walking towards it. We found signs along the way thankfully.

This is walking up to the Castle but this picture pretty much sums up my whole London experience. I tend to walk ahead of everyone else. It's become coined walking "Elly speed" anytime everyone else decides to walk fast too! :)

So we got to the top and this was our first pretty site. Trust me they just get better and better from here.

So the first place we went was the lookout. It was really windy as you can tell from our hair but we had some awesome views of Dover and the Cliffs.

Then we walked along the edge of the Castle property where they had all their guns and stuff but really it was just a good place for a photo shoot. :)

So isn't it funny what we'll do to get that perfect picture! this is Cali getting it done!

So it's decided I have the cutest friends ever, just sayin.

We found this really pretty hill of daises. I thought it was funny that these little flowers grow on this fortress that has seen so much war over it's long history.

Then we went into the tunnels of the Castle. They were really dark and in a couple of them we used the camera flashes for light to figure out where we were. It was fun. Especially when Ashlee scares Ellie.

After the tunnels we went into the actual Castle. They have it all decorated as if it were a working castle and it was fun to go through all the different rooms.

Us pretending to be the witches from Macbeth.

Cali making soup.

We got to meet the King!

So this room had a really big crank thing, as you can see. well I really wanted to turn it but it doesn't turn and as you can see if you look close I was really upset about it. The reason I like this picture is that Ellie totally caught my face, that's genuine disappointment!

Then we went on top of the Castle and it was really windy. Our hair really wasn't behaving, it was so windy it was hard to breath.

Ashlee will hate me for this one but it looks like she has a unicorn horn, it's great. Hey I have devil horns so I think it's fair.

It was really fun and we had some great views from the top so it was worth the wind.

After that we went on a tour of the tunnels that they used during WWII and that was really interesting. then we left the Castle to go down into the town. It was really cool to be at a Castle and to quote Tangled, "I could get use to a view like this,yep I'm use to it, guys I want a Castle!"

So we made our way down to the beach. It was a rock beach which was cool.


We got cool pictures of the beach, the water and the cliffs in the background, unfortunately the water got a little close for comfort during my photo shoot and Cali got a picture of the result.

This was a cool door that had everyone's stickers from Dover Castle on it so we added ours.

So that was our day at Dover. The train ride home was a lot like the one on the way there. I think this is funny because they are asleep exactly the same way.

We went to the grocery store on the way home and Ellie Ashlee and I couldn't help ourselves and we bought a cheesecake. Then we went home and watched movies on my bed, ate the cake and I cut Ellie's hair.

It was a long but awesome day.