My Safe Haven

Riding in the coach down the twisting roads. Green trees surrounding the windy cobblestone streets. There is a lake of glass out the window that is so perfectly still you can see the reflection of the colorful hills and trees in the water as we drive by. There are green rolling hills to the other side of the coach with mama sheep and their babies roaming around. The sky is blue with mysterious wispy clouds that almost seemed like a light dewy mist. All I keep asking myself is, "am I in a Nicholas sparks novel right now?" I have been to many beautiful places in this world but I think today has been one of my favorites! We are in Ambleside today. First thing when we got here we ate dinner at this cute little cottage teahouse. Just the drive up the hill to dinner was incredible. The dinner place had a whole gluten free British meal with gluten free chocolate cake to finish it off. It was yummy! After dinner we toured the cottage where William Wordsworth lived. He is a famous poet and we have been studying some of his works in my class this semester.

I wandered lonely as a cloud


That floats on high o'er vales and hills,


When all at once I saw a crowd,


A host, of golden daffodils;


Beside the lake, beneath the trees,


Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.



Continuous as the stars that shine


And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line


Along the margin of a bay:


Ten thousand saw I at a glance,


Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.



The waves beside them danced; but they


Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:


A poet could not but be gay,


In such a jocund company:

I gazed--and gazed--but little thought


What wealth the show to me had brought:



For oft, when on my couch I lie


In vacant or in pensive mood,


They flash upon that inward eye


Which is the bliss of solitude;


And then my heart with pleasure fills,


And dances with the daffodils.

We read this cute daffodil poem in the Wordsworth garden overlooking the beautiful countryside and lake. It felt like a dream and I loved every minute if it. After the tour we headed back down the hill to the hostel. We are staying at the cutest little lakeside hostel and I do not even know how we got so lucky! This place is an absolute dream to me. There are sailboats docked next to these cute little wooden docks and there are seaside little cottage houses and restaurants. There are so many gluten free options that it is overwhelming! The weather is a perfect temperature to wear a light sweater. I just wanted to sit on the dock and look out over the water and watch the sun set. It stays light for a long time here. It didn't fully get dark until about 10:30. That meant that the sunset lasted for a long time. I loved how long it dragged on and how many colors the sky turned. It was beautiful. I kept looking around for my Josh Duhmal to come around the corner and whisk me off my feet like in the movie Safe Haven. This would be the cutest place ever to fall in love.

 Isn't this the most gorgeous thing you have ever seen? I love this place!

So much fun to be surrounded by such good friends! 

This is a beautiful hike we took that overlooks the town

I am in love with Ambleside

Persuasion

Throughout this semester we have been studying the novel by Jane Austin titled Persuasion. I have really enjoyed learning about lots of the underlying meanings behind this novel. There are so many deep things to explore and discuss about this novel. We have gotten into big class discussions about women's rights and their role in society. We have talked about gender roles and how it is still a problem today. There has also been talk about marriage and, as a woman, when is it the right time to surrender and give up everything for a man? How much should a woman have to give up for a man? What is the perfect balance of surrendering and yet still having enough education and meaning behind yourself to be an equal partner in marriage and relationships? These questions obviously don't have any right or wrong answers. That is why the book is discussing these problems. That is another great thing about this book, all the questions it poses and all the answers are arbitrary. No one quite knows the perfect answer. It gets you thinking. 

The title itself is Persuasion. People are trying to persuade throughout the whole book. In the first few chapters of the book it discusses the different types of women by using Anne (the main character) and her sisters as examples. There is the type that gives up everything and gets married right away, the type that remains single because she is stubborn and wont give into societies role, then there is the type that is doing both, similar to Anne. Anne doesn’t quite know if she wants to surrender to what society if trying to make her become. What is the right thing for Anne to do anyway? Anne feels like there needs to be a balance. The role of gender is still a problem in society today and that is a reason why I think this novel is still so popular. People can relate to it. The book goes through Anne’s way of deciding what is best for her. The ultimate judgment of what is right to do is ambiguous. The book is titles persuasion because even though Anne is being pulled and persuaded by society and everyone else in this book, she still has to decide for herself what she wants to do and what she thinks is right.

This book can be applied to many aspects of life. There are always people around you and society norms that persuade you and form you into the person you are and will become. People need to remember that, even though persuasion can be good at times, there needs to be times where people decide for themselves. It is hard to step away from society and change. Sometimes it is engrained into people’s heads what is right or wrong, or that there even is a right or wrong in every situation. Sometimes there is a gray area in life and people need to explore and find their own gray area. It might end up being a mixture of someone else’s black, which turns out to be a different persons white. In the end the gray area you choose will become your own personal black and white. People need to learn to step back from the norms and the persuasion and choose for themselves what they think is right for them.

All of these questions and feelings have been really applicable to my life lately. That is why I am so grateful for the opportunity to be studying abroad in London. This can be a time for me, like Anne, to figure out what my black and white is. It is a time where I can step away from mostly everything and just think about what Sami wants to think about. I can make decisions for myself and I can finally figure out what I want to do in life. I think I am finally figuring out my balance of black and white and gray and everything in between. 

Because To Live, You Have To Love

"Because to live, you have to love."  

"Those who live in fear will die miserably in their grave. You can't live in fear of your own life."

These are some of my new favorite quotes from one of my new favorite musicals. ONCE! It was absolutely incredible! More about once to come, but first here is a little bit about the rest of my day!

 For a class assignment we went and visited a cemetery. It sounds like a weird assignment but it was actually quite enjoyable. The graves were all very ornate and rustic. It was fun, in an eerie sort of way, to walk through and look at all the random headstones. The picture below was probably taken in one of the least decorative part of the cemetery. I wish it showed more of the cool headstones. 



Next was shopping and Starbucks of course! Below I am with my new friends Jess and Madie. It was frappuccino happy hour so everything was half off! I love getting frappuccino's for only 1 pound! After Starbucks we hit up Primark. I was in love! Primark is a big department store that is here in London. It so super crowded and there is so much stuff it is almost overwhelming. Everything is so cheap but so cute! All the girls here have been there so many times and for some reason I just kept missing out. Now I know why they go there so much. It is the best store ever! I got some cute surprises for my sisters and I am excited to give them to them when they come over to visit me. 



After class, the cemetery, and shopping we decided to go to Once the musical. This is me all ready to go! Because everyone has to take a selfie every once in awhile… :)
 

We were all a little nervous to go to Once because we had heard such mixed reviews. Half of the girls that went absolutely loved it and it was their new favorite and the other half said it was the worst play they have ever been to. I decided that either way I still wanted to know what all they hype was about. Let me tell you, I am so glad I went! It is probably one of my new favorite plays too! I LOVED it!!!!! It is a little odd though. I think I loved it so much because I went into it knowing that it wasn't a typical "happily ever after" love story beforehand. I also went into it knowing a lot of people hated it so I didn't have super high hopes. I am not a super emotional person, or a very musical, broadway type of person either. But this play had me crying at the end and I had chills the whole time! The music was incredible and I have already downloaded it onto my computer and have been jamming all day. Falling Slowly is one of my new favorite songs. I highly recommend this musical!



David Hunter was actor that played the main guy in the show we went to. He was amazing and he had one of the best voices I have ever heard. I have looked everywhere for him singing the song Falling Slowly but I can't find it. Below is a link of him singing a different song but you can really tell how talented he is. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtudo63MYyg

Stonehenge, Bath, and Stourhead Farm

Stourhead Farm was the first stop on our tour. The gardens were gorgeous and it was so much fun walking around all the beautiful nature. We went there to get a glimpse into the times of Jane Ausen and what her life would be like. We were able to see what it would be like in the times of the Persuasion, which is the book we are reading for my British Literature class. Pride and Prejudice was also filmed here. It was fun getting a glimpse into the 18th century.

The next stop was Bath. We got to tour all the Roman Baths and then we had some free time to tour the city of Bath. It was lots of fun to see something that has been preserved for so long. The Baths held so much history. It is amazing that they have been able to preserve them. The town itself was also very surprising to me. I felt as if I was in Italy for a few hours. The city has a completely different feel then any of the other cities in England. I was glad I was able to spend a few hours there exploring. 

 Lastly we stopped at Stonehenge. It is so amazing to me. There are so many mysteries about this place and the unknown is what makes it so exciting. Ultimately you are able to make up your own story in your head about Stonehenge and why it was there. Supposedly Myth Busters did a show where they took cement stones that weighed about the same as these stones at Stonehenge. They used modern technology to try and replicate Stonehenge and they couldn't even do it! These stones are honestly so amazing! The more I learned about this place the more I am convinced that there used to be giants in this world and they were the ones who actually built Stonehenge. ;) Just kidding. But it is a good theory nonetheless!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. It captures just how much fun I am having exploring these sights with my new best friends! 

May 21st, 2014

Harry Potter, Harry Harry Potter

Harry Potter Studio Tour was very magical. The girls in my group were way hardcore fans and straight after class they ran to the Tube to make it there in time. I stuck with my friend, Ashley Livingston, because we were both in the same boat. We both have seen some of the Harry Potter movies but we haven’t read the books and we aren’t huge fans but we like it. After class we watched all the other girls stress and sprint to the Tube while we just chilled for a minute and got some lunch and then later we headed to the Tube. We stopped and got some gelato on the way, we also made lots of friends! Both of us are super chill and didn’t know exactly where we were going so we were just hoping that we wouldn’t get lost. We knew we would make it there eventually! We even stopped and got the typical London photo that I still needed to get. Picture with a red phone booth! 

 Next stop was the Tube. We made a friend on the Tube that helped us to find the right station to catch a train. Once we made it to the train station we made another friend who helped us find the right train. It was so funny, there were 2 trains going to the same place but one would take an hour and one would only take about 20 minutes. The train station worker told us to go to platform 8 to catch the right train that would only take us 20 minutes. We asked him if it was the one leaving now or the later one, he told us it was the later one that would leave in about 15 minutes. I guess we got confused because we assumed that another train was coming to the platform that would leave later, we didn’t think it was the train that was already at the platform! We were just sitting there on the side of the train when the train station worker comes running up to us. He rushes over to tell us to hurry and get on the train because it is about to leave. We almost missed our train just because we were sitting there! We are so silly. We finally got on the train and then took another shuttle to Harry Potter World. We pulled up and not going to lie, it was magical. I think the fact that so many people are so obsessed with this place just made it have a magical feeling. Everyone was there and united by the same purpose. It is amazing how a silly book can literally change the world. People live for this kind of stuff. I turned to Ashley and I said, “We have to read Harry Potter now.” She agreed and me made a pinky promise that we would both start the Harry Potter series when we got home this summer. We joked about how we are doing things so backwards. The movies and then the studio tour and then the books. I guess whatever works haha! We are going to have a sort of “Book Club” and check up on each other to make sure we are reading it. It must be good if people are this obsessed with it! I am excited to read it and immerse myself into a magical world of wizards and magic. Maybe it will help me to expound my imagination! While we were there we got some Butterbeer and took lots of cool pictures. There was so much to see and it is so awesome how much detail people put into the movies. I was so surprised about all of the props and sets that were so exquisitely done. Now for the funniest part of the whole day, we were so tired on the train that Ashley and I both fell asleep. There was this Indian guy across from us that didn’t speak any English. I randomly woke up really fast because my head was bobbing. When I jolted up the guy across was taking a picture of us!!!! He literally was probably thinking we were crazy for falling asleep on the train. I normally would not do that so that proves how tired I actually am. I am so busy all the time that I never even get to sleep. It is so worth it though!

May 20th, 2014 

Hyde Park Soccer

FHE was at Hyde Park! Hyde Park is right across the street from where we are living. It is so much fun to be so close to such a fun park. We decided to walk over there to play some soccer for FHE. We decided to take cheesy soccer pictures afterwards and pretend like we were elementary school kids again. It felt good to be out in the sun running around and having fun! I have met so many fun new friends here and I love how close we are all getting. It really does feel like a big London family! 

Cheesy Picture

Intimidating Picture 

Candid Picture 

Aren't we just the cutest family/soccer team ever? I love them!

May 19th, 2014

Funky Buddha

So tonight we decided to check out the nightlife in London and what the hype is all about. My friend that was here in London last semester, Kristin Hardester, said that the dance clubs and pubs are fun to hang out at during the night because they aren’t trashy or scary like the nightclubs in the US. Supposedly they are classier here in London. We decided to check it out and see for ourselves! The night started with the Fab 4 all huddled in front of a mirror getting ready. We had to have the perfect outfit on because we were hoping to run into Liam from One Direction. He hangs out at a club called Funky Buddha in London whenever he is in town. We found out from twitter that he was there yesterday so we were headed there tonight hoping he would be there again! It was also Lizzie’s 19^th birthday today so that was why we decided to celebrate tonight! After we got all dressed up we were going to go to dinner then hit the club! As we were walking down the street to the restaurant these guys had their heads out their windows and they were yelling at us. We all rolled our eyes and added that to our list of memories for the night. We finally found this fun Mexican restaurant down the street that had these cute virgin colada drinks and stuff. We all got fun drinks and took tons of pictures. We were almost done with our food when the owner of the restaurant comes over and starts talking to us. We tell him that it is Lizzie’s birthday and we are out celebrating. He congratulated us and said he would be right back. We all got excited thinking he would come out with free dessert and sing a song. Nope. We were way wrong. He comes out with free drinks! He tells us that tonight we are going to party and get wasted and we are starting right here in the restaurant! We all were so shocked and didn’t know what to do! We just smiled and said thank you but we all were laughing so hard that we could barely even reply enough to thank him. Honestly it was so awkward. In the US they give you free dessert, in Europe they give you free alcohol! We just stirred the drinks around a bit and secretly poured some into our other glasses on the table to hide the fact that we weren’t drinking any of it. I think he knew we weren’t drinking the drinks though and it was awkward. He was kind of mad he wasted the drinks on us. He should have known when we all ordered virgin coladas in the first place! We decided it was another memory to check onto our list for the night!

Virgin colada and mojito. 

 These are our alcoholic drinks that we just stirred around a little! 

No drinking! (Don't worry mom) 

Next it was time to go try and find the Funky Buddha! We went to the subway and as I was going down the escalator I felt someone tap on my shoulder. I turn around and it was 2 British men. They started talking to us and they “happened” to be on the same subway as us. At first we were a little hesitant but they actually turned out to be really nice and funny! They had thick accents though so it was hard to understand what they were saying most the time! As we were leaving the subway they told us to remember to cover our drinks and always use protection. We were shocked and thanked them and walked away laughing again. I could already tell that tonight was going to be a big eye opener for me! Another thing added to our list!

One of the funny British guys we met on the subway

Next we got off the subway and found ourselves in the middle of town surrounded by all these classy people all dressed up. We walked around for a bit until we found the Funky Buddha. We waited in line and showed our ID’s and entered the club. It felt like a movie or something. I had never seen or done anything like this before. I knew I would be safe with all of my friends though. We proceeded into the club and it was so much fun! It was a lot smaller then I thought it would be but we just danced the night away under all the neon lights with the music blasting and all the sweaty people surrounding us! Actually most of them were sweaty, drunk people but that just added to the fun! We met some fun friends but mostly we just had fun being silly together dancing in the corner. We had some British guys that kept trying to dance with us and talk to us. They were obviously drunk out of their minds but it was so funny to dance silly with them. Another memory added to the list! Not going to lie, everyone was looking at the group of blonde girls, dancing like they were at an EFY dance, that were not drinking any alcohol. We obviously stood out to them! It was really funny! 

The famous Funky Buddha

Caught in action dancing!

We only lasted about 45 minutes at the dance club because we had to make it back by midnight for curfew. The party was just beginning as we were leaving. We got back on the Tube and headed home. It was such a fun and adventurous night! I had my eyes opened a few times but I went into it expecting that it would be that way. I definitely saw a new way of life tonight though. I found out once again that Sami would not do very well in that lifestyle. It was fun being an outsider and not drinking and having a group to go with, but if I did that for real all the time I don’t think I would be happy. I am so glad that I have silly young single adult ward activities that I can go to where we play water balloon capture the flag, or paint twister, or iron chef competitions. I think I fit into that world a little bit better. It is much more of a “Sami” world. Unfortunately we didn’t even get to see Liam at Funky Buddha. We seriously were looking for him the whole night. We all got home and got ready for bed and all the sudden all of our phones buzz. Kristin Fitts had sent us all a picture message she had just gotten off of Twitter. Liam was at Funky Buddha! We missed him by about 20 minutes because we had to be back for curfew!!! Noooo!!!!! We were all so bummed. Literally we almost got back up and got ready and went back! But we didn’t… we decided to be good girls and follow the rules. Maybe we will track down One Direction eventually while we are here in London. Just not tonight.