Duffin dinner in Texas
8 years ago
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Jack the Ripper, Stourhead, Winchester and Prochester Castle
Okay so last night we all did the Jack the Ripper Tour. It sounds morbid, which it was a little, but it was really interesting. So we get off of the tube and our tour guide is waiting for us at the exit. While we are walking out of the tube we notice all of these police men taking notes and asking people questions, obviously this is not a good place in town. So the tour guide takes us to every place where Jack murdered his victims. She would take us down these alley ways that looked totally sketch. Even though there were 40 girls with us and nothing was bound to happen, I still found myself taking a peek over my shoulder very often. Mckenzie made me and Steph stand on either side of her and she about squeezed our hands to death she was so scared. While I was paying close attention, Mckenzie keeps muttering to herself, why did I come? Why am I here? Haha she was very scared. Our tour guide has been studying the case of Jack the Ripper for 20 years ever since she was 12 years old! She was very excited about the subject. At the end she told us her theory of the Ripper and she actually thinks that Jack the Ripper is two people! Even though some of the girls got very scared I found it very interesting.
Today was another travel day. We went to Stourhead, Winchester Cathedral and Prochester Castle. Stourhead is actually the place where some of the scenes from Pride and Prejudice were filmed. Before Pride and Prejudice it is famous for its beautiful gardens. It has beautiful ponds, waterfalls and architecture structures. One architectural structure that was made famous from the movie Pride and Prejudice is Apollo’s Temple (this is where Mr. Darcy, for the first time, expresses his love to Elizabeth). When you go the Apollo’s Temple it is one of the most beautiful views of the whole garden. This place was absolutely stunning and I would love to go back there in the spring or summer, I cant imagine how amazing it would be. After we finished there we headed over to Winchester to see the Winchester Cathedral. I love going inside of all these churches because it is so peaceful inside. This church is the place where Jane Austen is buried (yes it was a big Jane Austen day). I really enjoyed this church. There was a middle section of the church that was so intricate and so amazing to see. I tried to take a picture of it so hopefully you can see, but a picture does not do it justice. After we finished inside the chapel I needed to go to the bathroom. Everyone was meeting outside of the chapel to leave so I just hurried and went to the bathroom. When I got out of the bathroom everyone was GONE!! I was like ooookayyy. So I just started walking towards where the bus was going to be to pick us up figuring I would catch up with them. When I got to the bus stop (which I almost got lost going to) the bus was not there and NO ONE was there either. My heart almost dropped. I was like ok so I am like 3 hours away from London how am I supposed to get back! I stayed at the station hoping that the bus would come back. I was so confused because I knew they wouldn’t just leave me, but I could not find them anywhere. I started saying almost every prayer possible. I was scared that I was left in this far away town. I finally remembered that I had a piece of paper with all of the professors names on it. I quickly found the nearest phone booth and called one of them. When they answered the phone and I told them it was me they didn’t sound relived or worried at all. I finally explained to them how I had been separated from the group and I had no idea where to go or where they were. He nicely explained that they were at the great hall (which is in the same city very close to the Winchester chapel, and me being forgetful, totally forgot that we were going to that after). He told me they would be heading back soon so I should just wait by the bus stop for them to get there. Now that I was filled with relief and knowing that no one had left me, I went into a cute little shop and bought some slippers that I have been in need for. So that was a big panic for my day! Can you imagine being left in a town three hours away from home not knowing how to get home!! Well anyways so after Winchester we headed over to Porchester Castle. This is an old run down castle. Not a very big one. Most of the castle is broken apart. We got to climb all these tedious stairs though to the very top and see the beautiful view. The castle was right next to a harbor which I had to stop by. Smelling the smell of sea water made me feel at home and smelt SO good. I collected some cool sea shells so I could have some from England! We finished or journey and headed back home. Afterwards we went out to dinner at this place called Wagamama! It is SO good!! It is Thai, Japanese and Chinese food. They have really good Thai food and I have come to like it so much! After I day of traveling everyone came home and watched…of course…can you guess??? YES Pride and Prejudice! It was fun to see the scene and see where we exactly had stood that very day! Today was a fun and eventful day!
Today was another travel day. We went to Stourhead, Winchester Cathedral and Prochester Castle. Stourhead is actually the place where some of the scenes from Pride and Prejudice were filmed. Before Pride and Prejudice it is famous for its beautiful gardens. It has beautiful ponds, waterfalls and architecture structures. One architectural structure that was made famous from the movie Pride and Prejudice is Apollo’s Temple (this is where Mr. Darcy, for the first time, expresses his love to Elizabeth). When you go the Apollo’s Temple it is one of the most beautiful views of the whole garden. This place was absolutely stunning and I would love to go back there in the spring or summer, I cant imagine how amazing it would be. After we finished there we headed over to Winchester to see the Winchester Cathedral. I love going inside of all these churches because it is so peaceful inside. This church is the place where Jane Austen is buried (yes it was a big Jane Austen day). I really enjoyed this church. There was a middle section of the church that was so intricate and so amazing to see. I tried to take a picture of it so hopefully you can see, but a picture does not do it justice. After we finished inside the chapel I needed to go to the bathroom. Everyone was meeting outside of the chapel to leave so I just hurried and went to the bathroom. When I got out of the bathroom everyone was GONE!! I was like ooookayyy. So I just started walking towards where the bus was going to be to pick us up figuring I would catch up with them. When I got to the bus stop (which I almost got lost going to) the bus was not there and NO ONE was there either. My heart almost dropped. I was like ok so I am like 3 hours away from London how am I supposed to get back! I stayed at the station hoping that the bus would come back. I was so confused because I knew they wouldn’t just leave me, but I could not find them anywhere. I started saying almost every prayer possible. I was scared that I was left in this far away town. I finally remembered that I had a piece of paper with all of the professors names on it. I quickly found the nearest phone booth and called one of them. When they answered the phone and I told them it was me they didn’t sound relived or worried at all. I finally explained to them how I had been separated from the group and I had no idea where to go or where they were. He nicely explained that they were at the great hall (which is in the same city very close to the Winchester chapel, and me being forgetful, totally forgot that we were going to that after). He told me they would be heading back soon so I should just wait by the bus stop for them to get there. Now that I was filled with relief and knowing that no one had left me, I went into a cute little shop and bought some slippers that I have been in need for. So that was a big panic for my day! Can you imagine being left in a town three hours away from home not knowing how to get home!! Well anyways so after Winchester we headed over to Porchester Castle. This is an old run down castle. Not a very big one. Most of the castle is broken apart. We got to climb all these tedious stairs though to the very top and see the beautiful view. The castle was right next to a harbor which I had to stop by. Smelling the smell of sea water made me feel at home and smelt SO good. I collected some cool sea shells so I could have some from England! We finished or journey and headed back home. Afterwards we went out to dinner at this place called Wagamama! It is SO good!! It is Thai, Japanese and Chinese food. They have really good Thai food and I have come to like it so much! After I day of traveling everyone came home and watched…of course…can you guess??? YES Pride and Prejudice! It was fun to see the scene and see where we exactly had stood that very day! Today was a fun and eventful day!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Another Day in London!
So Today was just a relaxed day, but still fun. I slept through breakfast (as usual) and then i woke up and went to my Religion class at 9:00. After that i just got ready for the day. Me Mckell, Mckenzie, Steph, Ana and Sarach all went the National Portrait Museum. We went into the the famous Annie Leibovitz gallery and it was amazing to see the work she can do in just a photograph. I also saw paintings of Anne Boleyn, Mary Qeen of Scotts, King Henry VIII and many pictures of Queen Elizabeth I. Its amazing to me to see such old works of art. Europe holds so much HISTORY!! I LOVE it!! everywhere we go there is one historical thing to another. After we went to the museum we walked a little bit around Trafalgar square, which was absolutly beautiful due to the amazing sunny weather we had today! (i didnt even wear a jacket) We came home and had dinner and i took a little nap :) After that we watched American Idon, FINALLY! This one girl found a website were we can watch the full episodes, so we put it on the projector in the classroom and enjoyed the show! I can not wait to see what other adventures London has yet to give me!!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Walk and Walk aaaand Walk...
Okay so i know that i am really bad at updating this and i am very sorry. So just a little recap. This last Sunday i went to my Ward, the Lee Valley Ward, and everyone there is SO nice! There are probably 100 people in our ward and 92% are African people! It is so awesome. I recieved a calling as the Youth Sunday School teacher, which i am really excited for. On Monday me and a couple of the girls went and saw Phantom of the Opera! It was of course amazing. On Tuesday all of us went to the Wax Museum, and the best part about it is that we got in for free!! They let all American's in for free in honor of President Obama's inaguration! it was really fun to spend a couple hours there and take pictures was some famous people! And then tuesday night some of me and the girls kind of went a little crazy. Okay so here is the story. Mckell wanted to go out and buy and I Love London shirt, so we start off searching for the shirt. All four of us wanted one so we kept trying to make this deal of 4 for 12 pounds. Everyone was turning us down when finally on our SIXTH store they easily let us buy them. So then afterwards we put on our I Love London Shirts and took some total tourist pictures. We decided to just hop on the bus and let it take us to wherever it was going. We ended up in Picadelly Circus. We started walking along and we started singing broadway songs. Eventually we started to break into a dance and before we know it, here we are singing Mama Mia, dancing in the dead center of Picadelly Cirus! (which is equivalent to New York's Time Square). We had one of the girls video us dancing and it was so funny to see these people's reactions to our performance. Many people were laughing and there were also many weird stares. In the end it was a very fun and spontaneous night!! On Wednesday we spent a marvelous day in Bath, Sailsbury and Stoneheng!
Bath is this amazing old town. The city is named Bath after these Roman Baths there were found there. The Baths are still fully intact and everything still works. The water is really warm and the drainage system STILL works! It was so amazing to see all of this! After that we went to Sailsbury Cathedral, which is this amazing old and huge chathedral that has been added onto through out the centries so there are different sections of the cathedral that have a different look to it. After that we went to stonehenge and it amazing to finally see this place in person. I cant believe how those things got there!!
On Thursday we all went and saw the Philharmonia Orchestra perform! It was absolutley amazing!! The orchestra was unbelievable. Today we went down to Oxford street and it is the ALL TIME cutest place to shop in London! It was amazingly busy today, because it was a saturday. This street has all stores imageanable! The stores kept going and going, i felt like i was in a movie. Of course i had to make some purchases, and they were GOOD ones! Luckily everything is on sale right now so it was all pretty cheap. Well i am sorry that i have not been the best at keeping this thing updated but i promise that i will try a little harder! :)
Bath is this amazing old town. The city is named Bath after these Roman Baths there were found there. The Baths are still fully intact and everything still works. The water is really warm and the drainage system STILL works! It was so amazing to see all of this! After that we went to Sailsbury Cathedral, which is this amazing old and huge chathedral that has been added onto through out the centries so there are different sections of the cathedral that have a different look to it. After that we went to stonehenge and it amazing to finally see this place in person. I cant believe how those things got there!!
On Thursday we all went and saw the Philharmonia Orchestra perform! It was absolutley amazing!! The orchestra was unbelievable. Today we went down to Oxford street and it is the ALL TIME cutest place to shop in London! It was amazingly busy today, because it was a saturday. This street has all stores imageanable! The stores kept going and going, i felt like i was in a movie. Of course i had to make some purchases, and they were GOOD ones! Luckily everything is on sale right now so it was all pretty cheap. Well i am sorry that i have not been the best at keeping this thing updated but i promise that i will try a little harder! :)
Friday, January 16, 2009
Foggy London Town!
So it has now been officially ten days here in LONDON and i am loving every bit of it. The weather isnt really too bad here. Last Saturday is SO cold, but ever since then it has been totally ok. It is what everyone says it is though, definitly foggy London town. On Monday I went and saw Les Miserables and it was the most beautiful show that i have ever seen! I was basically crying through the whole thing, i love it :) On Tuesday Me and my new friend Amy went to Harrods!!! Ok so it is probably the nicest "mall" that i have ever seen. When you walk in it looks like a palace for clothes and such. In Harrods they have a "food court", if that is even the proper word to call it, probably more like HEAVEN!! It is like the nicest food and the best ice cream ever!! Right after the ice cream parlor is this long hallway of diamonds and jewels. I felt like the store never ended. I picked up a scarf just to see how expensive this place actually is and let me tell you, yeah the scarf was 300 pounds!!! Which is even more in American money! yeah no big deal, just a scarf for 300 pounds! So yeah i didnt buy anthing there it was so expensive, but so much fun to walk around in.
On Wednesday the whole group went together and we all went to Cambridge! It was the cutest little town. Cambridge University is, of course, in Cambridge. Cambridge University consists of a bunch of other colleges. The campus's of all the colleges are unlike any campus i have seen before. The classrooms and college looks like a castle! Almost straight out of Harry potter!! It was so cool to see everything there, Isaac Newton Went there!! Kings College has a chapel and we went to one of their services and it was SO cool. A boys choir sang a lot of the time and they were very good. We had to participate in the service so we had to kneel and say a prayer, it was an interesting experience. OH! i forgot to say! Before we stopped at Cambridge we went to this WWII Burial Site, that England donated to the United States. The US uses this land as a grave site for WWII victams that were killed over in Europe. It was really a site to see.
Today we all went to Westminister Abbey! It is the most amazing church ever! There are so many famouse people burried there. I saw Queen Mary of Scotts, Queen Elizabeth I, King Henry VII and VIII, Jane Austen, Fredrick Handel and so so many more!! The Architecture inside the church is absolutly stunning!
I am enjoying these experience so much here! I can not wait to go to my new ward, the Lee Valley Ward, on sunday and to recieve my calling! London is so full of exciting and i love it!
On Wednesday the whole group went together and we all went to Cambridge! It was the cutest little town. Cambridge University is, of course, in Cambridge. Cambridge University consists of a bunch of other colleges. The campus's of all the colleges are unlike any campus i have seen before. The classrooms and college looks like a castle! Almost straight out of Harry potter!! It was so cool to see everything there, Isaac Newton Went there!! Kings College has a chapel and we went to one of their services and it was SO cool. A boys choir sang a lot of the time and they were very good. We had to participate in the service so we had to kneel and say a prayer, it was an interesting experience. OH! i forgot to say! Before we stopped at Cambridge we went to this WWII Burial Site, that England donated to the United States. The US uses this land as a grave site for WWII victams that were killed over in Europe. It was really a site to see.
Today we all went to Westminister Abbey! It is the most amazing church ever! There are so many famouse people burried there. I saw Queen Mary of Scotts, Queen Elizabeth I, King Henry VII and VIII, Jane Austen, Fredrick Handel and so so many more!! The Architecture inside the church is absolutly stunning!
I am enjoying these experience so much here! I can not wait to go to my new ward, the Lee Valley Ward, on sunday and to recieve my calling! London is so full of exciting and i love it!
So the First picture is a picture of a bridge that leads over to Kings College. The College Can been seen a little bit on the right hand side, see it looks like a castle!!
The Second picture is at the WWII graves.
The Third Picture is St. Albans Church
And the Fourth Picture is me with my favorite crepe so far, its called, Ill Have What She's Having, wich strawberry fudge Whiped cream and caramel! It is AH-MA-ZING!!!!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Love London!!!
So i have only been here for only about 5 days but it has seemed like i have been here FOREVER!! I have been able to do so many things while i am here already. The girls here are so nice and all of them are so much fun!
Every day we get up in the morning around 7:30 and eat breakfast. Tommorrow we start classes. But after breakfast our first class is at nine and then the second one is at 11, so we are done with classes by 12! That means that we have the whole rest of the day to ourselves! I cant wait! The food that they serve here is actually pretty good. I do need to go to the grocery store though because all they have to snack on here is bread with jam, penut butter or nutella (yummmy nuttella :) ).
On the second day that we were here we just hopped on the tube and took it to the middle of London. We were walking on this random street and we found this museum called the Clink Prison Museum. It was this place were a bunch of prisons were. They had all these wierd torture things. They made the women wear this thing over their mouth so that they couldn't gossip or complain! haha i thought that was really funny. They had these chastity belts that were really funny too. We also went and saw the Tower Bridges and the Tower of London. It is so beautiful! I love all the arcitecture. We didnt go in the Tower of London because we are going there with the whole group later on in the trip.
On Friday we went to Hyde park and played soccer! It was a lot of fun! After that we came home and got ready for the day and then we went on a walk all around Kensington gardens and saw Kensington Palace! We also walked past royal albert hall. That night after dinner we went to see Big Ben and the parliment and the London Eye. It was so cool at night it was so pretty. Then we also took a little stop at Platform 9 3/4! It was cool to see.
On Saturday we went to this Market that was like an antique market and it was really cool to see. There were so many people there. After that we stopped for some lunch and i had my first Fish and Chips. It basically tasted like fish sticks to me and im not a huge fan of sea food, but i think i need to go to a better place! After that we went and checked out if when we could go to Les Miserables so we headed down to Piccadelle Circus and walked around there. We are going to Les Miserables tomorrow! I am SO excited! I have never seen it before!!! We then went down to Buckingham palace and walked around for a little there. When we came home there were all these protest signs on the ground, literally EVERYWHERE! I guess we live close to the Isralian Embassy so the Pakistans were having a protest close by and that seems to happen a lot around here. 'But i couldnt believe all the trash, it was the dirtest i have seen London, cuz London is such a clean city.
Today we went to church and it was really nice. Tonight we get our ward assignments and our callings so i am really excited for that! Some girls in the other stake already have their callings and they are like Primary teachers, or sunday school teachers, or Young Women's teachers so i am really excited to know what i am going to be!
Well i better go :) Cheers!
Every day we get up in the morning around 7:30 and eat breakfast. Tommorrow we start classes. But after breakfast our first class is at nine and then the second one is at 11, so we are done with classes by 12! That means that we have the whole rest of the day to ourselves! I cant wait! The food that they serve here is actually pretty good. I do need to go to the grocery store though because all they have to snack on here is bread with jam, penut butter or nutella (yummmy nuttella :) ).
On the second day that we were here we just hopped on the tube and took it to the middle of London. We were walking on this random street and we found this museum called the Clink Prison Museum. It was this place were a bunch of prisons were. They had all these wierd torture things. They made the women wear this thing over their mouth so that they couldn't gossip or complain! haha i thought that was really funny. They had these chastity belts that were really funny too. We also went and saw the Tower Bridges and the Tower of London. It is so beautiful! I love all the arcitecture. We didnt go in the Tower of London because we are going there with the whole group later on in the trip.
On Friday we went to Hyde park and played soccer! It was a lot of fun! After that we came home and got ready for the day and then we went on a walk all around Kensington gardens and saw Kensington Palace! We also walked past royal albert hall. That night after dinner we went to see Big Ben and the parliment and the London Eye. It was so cool at night it was so pretty. Then we also took a little stop at Platform 9 3/4! It was cool to see.
On Saturday we went to this Market that was like an antique market and it was really cool to see. There were so many people there. After that we stopped for some lunch and i had my first Fish and Chips. It basically tasted like fish sticks to me and im not a huge fan of sea food, but i think i need to go to a better place! After that we went and checked out if when we could go to Les Miserables so we headed down to Piccadelle Circus and walked around there. We are going to Les Miserables tomorrow! I am SO excited! I have never seen it before!!! We then went down to Buckingham palace and walked around for a little there. When we came home there were all these protest signs on the ground, literally EVERYWHERE! I guess we live close to the Isralian Embassy so the Pakistans were having a protest close by and that seems to happen a lot around here. 'But i couldnt believe all the trash, it was the dirtest i have seen London, cuz London is such a clean city.
Today we went to church and it was really nice. Tonight we get our ward assignments and our callings so i am really excited for that! Some girls in the other stake already have their callings and they are like Primary teachers, or sunday school teachers, or Young Women's teachers so i am really excited to know what i am going to be!
Well i better go :) Cheers!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Finally here!!!!
So i am finally here in London! I have been here for just one day but i already am in love with! Yesterday was a loooong day. My first flight was delayed for a little while and then my connecting flight was a littel tight and then they didnt get my luggage on the plane so i dont have my luggage!! I feel like a part of me is gone!! haha but they have it finally so i should get it today :)
When i arrived yesterday i was so glad to finally get to the London Centre. It is so so cute and really nice inside the London Centre. There are a total of 4 dorm rooms. One with 6 one with 12 one with 16 and one with 8. I am in the one with eight so it is really nice. It is the only one on the ground floor and kinda away from all the other girls so its more quiet :) I SCORED! haha but The girls that are in my room room are really cool. They are so nice and willing to lend me their clothes because i dont have ANY!! I can tell it will be a good semester because of them:)
Yesterday after i settled in a couple of us girls went on a walk around London. Of course we got Lost for a little bit! It was ment to be a one hour walk but ended being 2 hours, but who wouldnt want to be lost in London! We took the tube for the first time and we were all really proud of ourselves for succeeding! While we were walking there was a protest from all the Isralian people it was kinda cool. But it was a fun and interesting day. Right before dinner we have a little prayer and spirtual thought and we sing this song that Dr.Durham (the musical director) made up, haha its kinda funny. And i voulenteered to be the chairman of the devotional committee so i am excited about that! Well i will update another time :)
When i arrived yesterday i was so glad to finally get to the London Centre. It is so so cute and really nice inside the London Centre. There are a total of 4 dorm rooms. One with 6 one with 12 one with 16 and one with 8. I am in the one with eight so it is really nice. It is the only one on the ground floor and kinda away from all the other girls so its more quiet :) I SCORED! haha but The girls that are in my room room are really cool. They are so nice and willing to lend me their clothes because i dont have ANY!! I can tell it will be a good semester because of them:)
Yesterday after i settled in a couple of us girls went on a walk around London. Of course we got Lost for a little bit! It was ment to be a one hour walk but ended being 2 hours, but who wouldnt want to be lost in London! We took the tube for the first time and we were all really proud of ourselves for succeeding! While we were walking there was a protest from all the Isralian people it was kinda cool. But it was a fun and interesting day. Right before dinner we have a little prayer and spirtual thought and we sing this song that Dr.Durham (the musical director) made up, haha its kinda funny. And i voulenteered to be the chairman of the devotional committee so i am excited about that! Well i will update another time :)
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