London August 10th-August 14th

August 10th, Friday
So, I'm going to be short about this day, because it was something of a small disaster. I got to sleep in, and when I woke up, Whitney, Katie, Page, and I went to Covent Garden to do some shopping (so far all is going well).
Then, we get home for dinner, and we find out that one of the greatest singers ALIVE, IMOGEN HEAP, is performing at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall across Kensington Gardens at night. Basically, we all freak out, and we make major plans to go. Well, we leave the Center at 7:30PM to get in line for teh 9:00PM show. We get there, the line wraps around two blocks...and basically we waste 2 hours in line JUST to make it up 10 steps away from the front, and they say "Sorry we're all sold out." Whatever...you and live and learn. It was just a mondo waste of time, although we all had fun singing Britney Spears for the two hours we were in line...and pretending like models.
When I got back to the Center, I just stayed in the rest of the day.

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August 11th, Saturday
So, I woke up and who was in the living room? CORRINE, KIREN, AND RACHEL! For those of you that don't know, Corrine is my friend from Birmingham, England that was in my ward back at BYU (Freshman year). Kiren and Rachel are her friends. Kiren flew out to Provo for a couple of weeks last year. Now that I've told you the E! True Hollywood Story, I can start telling you about my day.
First, we headed to Camden Town. We wanted to go to the market there. Just some more fun information for you: (Grandma pay attention) the Camden Town Market is the market that the director based the market off of in "What A Girl Wants" with Amanda Bynes and Oliver James. Knowing that the market along the Thames in that movie is based off the Camden Town market...I HAD to get something. So, I bought myself cowboy boots! YEEHAW! We ate lunch at Wagamammas (Asian noodle place).
Then, we headed to Covent Garden (I feel like it's my billionth time going there). We rode the horsie ride thing (carousel), and it was the fastest freaking carousel I've EVER been on! After my almost near death experience being flung off the carousel, we went to Pizza Hut (how American...it was so my English friends' idea) to get dessert.
Basically, I had the best time EVER with Corrine and her friends. We talked a lot about who says things right and who says things wrong. I did my English accent for them (which was amazing), and they did their American accents for me. They made it sound like Americans were just really whiney. And it was even ten times more amazing, because my English friends are 100% English, but of different ethnicities like Jamaican and Asian.
We had SOOO MUCH FUN! YAY!

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August 12th, Sunday
So, I kind of rushed through the above two entries, because I really wanted to talk about Sunday.
First, I woke up, and got ready for church. This is the last church day. The Catford Ward has been really great to me. They were so thankful for us being there, so they gave us a "mix and mingle" or in America a "linger longer". They had cucumber sandwhiches, cookies, soda, etc. It was really great of them to give us a little party. Then, it gets even better. They presented Kylie, Kim, Hilary, and I with a card and a present. We all got little magnets of Buckingham Palace. While mingling, a man came up to Hillary and I and said the sweetest thing that meant a lot to me. He said, "Even though Brigham Young has passed away, he keeps sending us angels." This just made my day!
When I got back to the Center, I studied like a crazy man for finals. After dinner, at 7:30PM we had a talent show as our last big thing together. Can I just say...the talent show was a little over 2 hours long, and it was the funnest (yes that is a word) time EVER! Everyone was so amazing. Here are some highlights of the talent show for me:
-Hilary, Ashley, and Coryn's "Top 10" List..."wait for it...wait for it...THE CIRCLE LINE!" Because the Circle Line takes FOREVER!
-Heather's impression of Lexi: *pretend alarm clock goes off* "Dear Diary, What a wonderful day. I will now get ready to the song that dictates my life." *Starts humming 'Harry Potter Theme Song'* ... Seriously, funniest thing EVER!
-Laura's impression of Me: "OH MY GOSH! I can't stand it when people talk bad about TomKat! Stop it right now!" Note: TomKat...Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
-Being mentioned in Becca's poem. It reads, "Our classes are timeless. I have no idea what time it is, and it seems rude to turn all the way around every time I wonder. I hope someone raises their hand in the back row, yes, I’m just listening to what Sean has to say at 11:57 I hope there are potatoes left by the time I get there. I can’t wait too long for the day trips." Becca is basically a literary GENIOUS, so being name dropped in her poem is AMAZING.
-Most of all: Whitney and My version of "A Whole New World"! Yes, the two asians performing an Asian Disney masterpiece (Asians in England are Indians and Middle Easterns...Oriental is Chinese, Japanese, etc.) Anyway, basically, we were INCREDIBLE! Everyone was laughing, and everyone loved it so much. My professor said, "It was so bad, it was great!" My professors wife told me that she was filming it, but it's really shaky, because she was laughing so hard. My TA (and most favorite English 150 teacher EVER, Anna) cried...along with many others. I basically am Aladdin.
Seriously, such a great day.

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August 13th, Monday
FINALS! Ahh! So, basically, I woke up, and Spencer told me he heard me in my sleep saying, "I DON'T KNOW THE KINGS AND QUEENS! STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS! WHAT KING IS THAT!?" I was stressing out in my sleep! I took my finals, and they didn't seem to be too bad. I don't really know how I feel about them. Time will tell.
After, Katie, Spencer, Whitney, Page, and I went to Piccadilly Circus to get tickets to Phantom of the Opera for Tuesday.
After dinner, Spencer, Coryn, Katie, and I took a two mile walk along the Thames. It was a lot of fun, and we saw this guy sitting by the Thames and he made a living room out of sand! It was so cool! He was sitting on a couch, made out of sand! There was even a sand pillow as a part of it! Across from him was a sand desk with a sand TV on it. It was way cool!

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August 14th, Tuesday
Donde the time!? (I've been saying 'Donde' to EVERYTHING). It's the last day, and I'm going to miss everyone and London SO MUCH! To celebrate the last day, Spencer, Katie, Page, Whitney, and I went to Phantom of the Opera! It was INCREDIBLE! It was a very intimate theater, and the cast was GREAT! I really enjoyed myself.
After dinner, Page and I ate a thousand corner yogurts, because they're so delicious! Then, I went out on the Thames for the last time with Anna, Kim, Lexi, James, Patrice, and Heather. We all had a great time drinking our sparkling juices cheering to all our great London times!

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Special Thanks:
Mom and Dad: Without the suggesting, I wouldn't have been able to come on this trip. Thank you so much for helping me financially. I've really grown a lot on this Study Abroad. I'm forever greatful for this opportunity. Without your help, I would not be here. This one of the best adventures I've ever had. Thank you so much for being the most amazing parents ever. I love you both so much, and I can't wait to take you both on a tour of London sometime! Love from London!

Anna B:
Without you also suggesting to me in our little English 150 class to come on this Study Abroad, I might have ended up on the Spring Semester...and what a mistake that would have been! I'm going to miss seeing you on BYU campus a ton! You're the best teacher and TA ever! Thanks so much for looking over countless papers of mine. You're great! GO TEAM!

Haeree K:
You're not on this Study Abroad, but without your forcing me to sit down and apply to the Study Abroad, I obviously wouldn't be here! We talked about you CONSTANTLY on this trip, and the only thing that would have made this Study Abroad better would be you. You're the best, and I can't wait for some good Provo adventures! Love Love Love!

The Professors:
You guys are the BEST! I've learned SO much in your classes! Keep up the enthusiasm you have for teaching. It's THE BEST.

All the Study Abroad Students:
I've had such an amazing experience with ALL of you. I LOVE every single one of you. Donde my study abroad students...I better see you all on campus! I miss you all already! Long Live LONDON Summer 07!!!