This week is a week for school and homework! We were in Paris half of last week and will be in Scotland all next week, so I guess we should probably go to class a little bit... :)
So I guess just a bunch of random thoughts for today!
I feel like I am starting to get the hang of London. I can pretty much figure out the tube and get anywhere I want to and I know where to shop and get stuff to eat. I still feel like there is so much more to explore though! I feel like I have only gotten to see a small piece of London. We have a London Walks class where we have to do eight specific walks around London. We walk through the parks and around the city. It's fun to see the people who live here and see what they do everyday. The parks here are so beautiful! They are so green, my camera does not do them justice. It makes me really want to go home and walk around and see the neat things by where I live! I love running into little shops and finding great food or books or other things! I feel like there is a lot more things I can explore at home, too.
I love being able to study British Literature and History while I am here. I noticed while I was in Paris that it was just not as exciting to see things because I didn't know their importance or their story at all. Just something I've noticed... Today in class we talked all about Art History and Jane Austen. I loved it! We talked about the progression of art and watched this really great clip! It was so funny, it was the credits on Wall-e, but as you watch it the background goes through all these different forms of art. It starts with cave drawings to hieroglyphics to mosaics and goes through all different art forms like impressionism, etc, etc. It was kind of fun! Then we seriously went through and talked about art :). Talking about Jane Austen was great, too. We talked about how well she does character development, about her life, and about how she was someone who really saved the novel and was the great novelist of her time. Then we had a great discussion of the relationships in Sense and Sensibility and the characters. I have really missed being in English and having great discussions like that!
Last night we went to this play called Written on the Heart. It was about William Tyndale and the translation of the bible into english. It was a little long, but it had some very moving scenes. It really made me realize how hard it was to translate the bible into english and all of the sacrifice that was made by people to do it. It was really neat to hear how important it was to Tyndale for common people to be able to read the bible. I think that as Latter-day Saints we sometimes take the bible for granted and don't realize how important it is and how many things had to happen for it to get to us. I have gained a much better appreciation for those who have given us the opportunity to read the bible.
So I've tried this new thing called Digestives. It sounds like a horrible medicine that you take like tums or something right? Well, that's not what it is and I am so addicted to them! They are these graham cracker like cookie with chocolate on one side. A whole package is like a pound and I can't stop buying them!
Something I never thought would be hard: crossing the street. I didn't know I always looked a certain way first! And these people don't slow down or stop when they go around the corner. I don't even know if they know that people are crossing the street. Or maybe they don't care... I am more afraid of dying crossing the street than anything else...
I guess I should talk about how my church experience has been, too. It is interesting to be in a ward that is mostly converts and that has so many different ethnic groups, mostly not european. It is a very large ward, but most of them are inactive. Even so, it is quite large for a ward in London. It is interesting how they go through and spend a really long time on some basic principles. The other day in Sunday School we talked about the difference between a seer and a prophet for a long time. Most meetings are really wonderful. There has been one meeting where there has been some contention and where it almost felt like the teacher had an argument for every comment made. For the most part though, this ward is really sweet. I have noticed that this ward really loves each other so much! They are so kind to each other and are always willing to talk to everybody and make them feel comfortable. I have met a lot of really great missionaries in my ward, too. I found out that one of my friends from high school Michael White is AP in the mission my stake here is in. That was pretty neat!
I really want to run into a celebrity while I am here... Just for fun. Some girl in our group ran into a famous artist today. I was a little jealous.
Tomorrow we are going to Bath and Stourhead and I am so excited! I'll blog about it tomorrow. I still haven't figured out how to respond to people's comments! I am not ignoring them just trying to figure it out. I'll get it down soon though!
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