london walks, the Globe, and adventures galore.

guess what?

1. I just got back from a trip to Stonehenge, several castles, Roman Baths, and the beach. But no, I'm not blogging about that right now. That'll be the next post. This post is to catch up. {and because I have a solid 500 pictures from the last three days and I can't bring myself to go through them right now}
2. MY MISSION CALL IS HERE. seriously. a scan of the letter is sitting in my email right now. and has been for a day. and I open it tomorrow. definitely mixed feelings. definitely.

 >>>We got to go to The Globe to watch Comedy of Errors which we read for our first assignment in Humanities. I really am not a huge fan of Shakespeare {he's a genius, just not my favorite person to read} but seeing the play was great! ...very entertaining and a lot easier to understand once it was portrayed by an actor. The Globe was wonderful! We were "groundlings" which means we stood through the entire play. But worth it!

>>> We went to a 5 story tall toy store. I repeat: FIVE STORIES of toys. it was magnificent.

^full size lego replica of price harry^

>>> We did our second and third London Walks {which I'll post eventually, so I can turn them in} and found a great little crepes place. let's face it, crepes and hot chocolate are my weakness. WE ARE GONNA BE FAMOUS. no but actually. we were walking through this square and heard a music type thing coming from somewhere {like improve rap}. then the voice started telling us to stand in the middle of the "X" in the courtyard. so we did and they started singing a song about us. super hard to explain, but afterwards we found out they were filming a Toyota commercial. We signed some release forms then went our way. A couple days ago we got an email with more papers to sign and the lady told us that we were being put in the final cut because we were so clever! hahahahaha yes. so there's a very good chance I'm going to be in a European Toyota commercial. True story.

we may have found a wedding and casually watched the bride and groom for a bit...

the toyota lady!!!!

Ellen just being a statue, no biggie

Wow. this post was a little crazy, but I am exhausted. So... until tomorrow! {WHEN I POST ABOUT MY MISSION CALL AHHHHH} And until I post my last couple london walks plus our trip to the southwestern part of England!

I'm pretty sure this is all just a dream...

well... I've realized how hard blogging is when you actually have lots of things to blog about {and you have to read Shakespeare plays before class starts tomorrow}. So I've come to terms with the fact that there is absolutely no way to document everything that I do, but since I adore pictures and memories and that type of stuff, I'm going to try my very best, for my sake. Yesterday we all went to church together since we hadn't gotten our individual assignments yet. It was the cutest ward I have ever seen. There were two different people who had served missions in the ward and were back to visit and who spoke in testimony meeting... which was such a little miracle for me. I always love being reminded why I want to serve a mission! Heavenly Father really is always listening to our prayers! After that, I spent the day enjoying the sun, emailing missionaries, just the usual.

Today was glorious! IT WAS SUNNY! First time I've seen the sun in a few days, that's for sure. First, Ellen and I went running through Kensington Gardens... oh how I wish I would have had something to take pictures with! It was all misty and the entire run I just imagined the last scene of Pride and Prejudice, when Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy finally confess their love and stuff... corny but it seriously looked just like that. Then we toured the Tower of London {don't be deceived... the tower of London is not just one tower. but a little community type thing. way cool. google it.} Then we explored about London, got some delicious asian noodles for lunch, then headed home in hopes of finding the famous Ben's Cookies. At which point we got lost {again. see a recurring theme? life without gps phones is a struggle. plus we stopped and asked for directions, which did the opposite of helping us. whoops}. Finally just found our way home after a couple miles of a detour//NO BENS COOKIES. Then Ellen and I decided to go get a Coke and pick up a peanut butter Kit Kat {I promise I'm eating healthy food too, mom! I bought some apples and stuff}. That adventure was quite the learning experience filled with sketchy supermarkets and pretty blatantly looking like dumb americans who don't know what the British coins look like...

The Tower of London!

Ellen and Aimee!

I may or may not have a slight obsession with all of the beautiful stained glass windows. I blame Hannah.

THIS BIRD ATTACKED US. and yes we screamed and ran away. you don't understand how large it is.

We got to see the crown jewels! plans are underway to steal one of them for hannah's birthday hat. don't you worry.
{that is 100% a complete joke. I would rather not spend the rest of my life in prison}

have this amazingly awkward picture of us. we couldn't get any closer :(

I'm not sure why I don't have a picture with a red phone booth yet... they really are everywhere.

because it's the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Great War, they have a poppy for every single one of their soldiers lost in the battle. it was amazing. it's supposed to look like the tower is bleeding, it was all stunning.

one of the streets we got lost on. not too shabby, right?

this was seriously just in one of the neighborhoods. 

fun fact: most of the major roads have directions telling you which way to look when crossing the street... it's probably saved my life a couple times...

not sure if this is graffiti orrrrr...?

I would say I'm moving up in the world... trying new foods and whatnot.

Ellen dancing all the way to the sketchy super market!

our dinner was cheese and crackers, bread, grapes, and stuffed figs. better than the cannon center, I would say!

I always have to remind myself that this is my life and I am actually living in London like I've always dreamed of. So far, it definitely hasn't disappointed!

-Erica

highlights:

-touring the white tower
-being told our accents were "rather mild"
-Ellen and I having a Jamaican lady yell "you go, girls" as we ran past eachother
-trying new foods {aka peanut butter kit kats}
-seeing the sun// 70 degress
-getting to talk to my family yesterday!
-Kate and William are expecting baby #2!!
-knowing MY MISSION CALL IS COMING

#cheerstoyoulondon

Hello! Today we woke up {yay for trying to sleep off jet lag by going to bed at 9:30}. We had a meeting at 9 then Ellen, Aimee, and I decided to take a run! We attempted to get through Hyde Park but ended up first going down the row of Embassy buildings... including the Russian embassy, complete with machine-gun-carrying guards. So, yep. Fun story of the day. After our run, we got ready and headed on our first London Walks assignment! {which I blogged about here. Fun fact: my grade for this class is based on going on the walks and doing a photo essay on my blog, then sending the link to the TA. can you say "fantastic"? Yep} After an afternoon in downtown london {I AM IN LOVE} we came back, baked pizza, and spent the evening telling awkward date stories with a lot of the girls. My goodness, am I loving this. I love the history, and the buildings, and the people. LOVE.

I sincerely apologize for the overload of pictures over the next few months... Actually I don't feel that bad at all. I love architecture so so so much! I couldn't believe that these buildings were in downtown london!! It was crazy.

My awesome walk buddies for the day!

My favorite part of today was seeing the Royal Exchange {it's the fancy building on the left side of the picture above}. I was really hoping to read a book about the financial system or the financial districts of the UK but I just didn't get time, or find a book that looked good. But oh well, I still loved it!

I love the Royal Exchange! The heart of the London financial district (:

We also went to this cute little outdoor shopping area! However, every single store was closed??? yeah. disappointment. But the archway/roof thing was great.

After we made it back {like 7 miles later since half the tube stations were closed so we had to keep walking back to the first station we got off of at the beginning of the walk} we headed for Gelato! My first gelato of Europe. SO GREAT.

Then headed home. Tomorrow we get our ward assignments. I can't wait!

-Erica

p.s. MY CALL HAS BEEN ASSIGNED!! I think that means it'll get to Colorado next week??