This is getting harder

Hello all. So I'm starting to realize the more London feels normal and like home, the harder it becomes to blog. I mean, how often do you have the desire to delineate all of the activities you do in Provo, or Boston, or wherever you might be? So this will get harder and harder to blog, I fear, from here on out.

Here's my big news: I have booked two weekend trips with some friends next month. The first weekend in March, I'm going to Edinburgh, Scotland with 3 other girls. We're going to meet up with my friend, Shona, who lives just outside of Edinburgh, so I'm really excited to see her again. The following weekend, Elizabeth, Mary and I are heading off to Nice, France! It's right on the Southern coast, literally meters from the beach. This will be a longer trip -- we'll leave early early early Friday morning and be there until Monday night. I am really really really excited for this trip! It's definitely made me have to take another look at my budget while I'm here and make cut-backs in other spending areas. Yes, ladies and gents, this is where self-control comes into play.

So, on to the past week. Monday, as you know, was Presidents' Day. Yes, Americans still celebrate Presidents' Day in Britain, which basically just means -- no school! Elizabeth and I spent most of the day together, starting out with a glorious run through the park and a much-needed haircut for me. I seriously considered chopping it down to a pixie again, but decided against it. Don't be too disappointed. Then we spent the rest of the day wandering around Harrods doing things any males reading this wouldn't understand. Elizabeth may or may not have found her dream engagement ring :)

Tuesday I had my first mid-term, for British Mysteries, after which all of us made a trip to the replica of the Globe Theatre here in London. It was a neat experience, mainly because our tour guide was an actor/director and had the dry, funny personality to accompany it. He was astonishingly knowledgeable in Shakespeare and Elizabethan theatre, so we all gained a lot of insights into a great playwright's work. The Globe itself was not exactly awe-inspiring for me, simply because I've been to the Globe in Cedar City so many times, and I've even had the opportunity of performing on it twice.

Wednesday was our closest and shortest day trip yet, though I really enjoyed it. First, we went to Runnymede. Basically, we hiked up a really muddy hill to see a circular monument where the Magna Carta was signed... yeah, I'm not sure what to say about that. We snapped a couple of photos, headed back down the hill, Elizabeth slipped and almost fell, caught her balance, then my feet slipped completely out from underneath of me, and I ended up accidently grabbing Elizabeth to keep myself from sliding down the hill on my derriere. She says it was just an excuse for a boob grab.

We spent most of the day at Windsor Castle, which was incredible! For those who don't know, this is the summer residence of the Queen, her husband, and her children. One of the coolest things to see was the Queen's doll house, in which everything is perfectly to scale 12:1. Seriously, it was the most elaborate thing I've ever seen -- it even had fully functioning electricity and plumbing... not sure why, though. Maybe for those unfortunate children in Hunny I shrunk the kids. We also got to tour through the state rooms and semi-state rooms where the Queen entertains all sorts of guests, from politicians to celebrities. I wish we could have taken pictures, but I don't know that pictures would even begin to do those rooms justice. The ceilings alone were like giant, gold-trimmed, pop art doilies. Once again, I'm not sure why.. unless they roll out some purple and red sleeping bags and host sleepovers there, those ceilings are not going to get much attention. The rest of the time was spent in the town of Windsor, time during which there's not much to note except that I got yelled at by two different people for trying a hat on. Snobs.

Finally, we stopped at Stoke Poge, which I really enjoyed. This is the church and churchyard in and about which Thomas Gray wrote "Elegy written in a country churchyard," a poem which I studied and even wrote a paper on last semester. Thomas Gray was also buried there. The small community church was ancient and falling apart, as were the gravestones surrounding it, and it could not have been more beautiful. No wonder it inspired such an interesting poem.

Duh---duh duh duh Dat's all, folks.

Me in Windsor Castle

That's me and Elizabeth on the bench... we're so in love. This is by the famous golf course in Stoke Poge's... several movies filmed on this golf course. I can't remember all of them but one of them was Goldfinger

The tree Thomas Gray talks about in his poem written in Stoke Poge's. Oh, and James Bond did some filming here, too, when he goes to visit a gravestone.

In Stoke Poge's... I know, these pictures are so wanna-be artsy it's disgusting. But guess how much I care.