I am in Ireland now. We spent the day here seeing the sights including St. Patrick's cathedral and Trinity College. It's really pretty, I like it a lot. Tomorrow we head to Scotland for the remainder of travel weekend, three days. Basically, life is good. Also, I'm accumulating stamps in my passport. I like that. I'm writing this on a pay per minute computer at the hostel. I'm sharing a room with 7 other BYU girls and it's really quite a nice place, I'm pretty pleased about that. I haven't ever stayed in a hostel before so I didn't know what to expect. I should take a shower and head to bed, it's not quite 10pm but our flight for Scotland leaves at 6 something in the morning and the bus to the airport takes about half an hour. So, goodnight and wishme continued luck!

Mind the gap.

I'm not keeping up with this everday updating thing, am I?

Eh.

Well, Tuesday we went to the temple and I went in for the first time for something other than an open house. It was great and I got to see a bunch of crazy Theatre (and English) kids be reverent but still themselves. This one had a cafeteria, I'd left with a few other girls to walk the grounds (the grounds looked like a mini version of Kew Gardens, they were so pretty. Well, they had tulips and flower beds too, unlike Kew), I had to show my recommend to get back in to eat there. I may just be a 12 year old boy because I bought a soft drink (some sort of British all natural cherry soda) that said something like "chilled [name of drink] made my stones shrink." Get it? Because cherries have stones and....OH! I giggled and then I saved the can. And took a picture. It wouldn't have been nearly as amusing if I hadn't bought it from the temple cafeteria.

We got back around 3pm-ish wherein I tried to write a paper but didn't really because I frankly didn't have the desire or brain-power to. I ended up going with a couple of girls to a show others of our group had seen and recommended. It was a circus show centered around people with mental disorders like hypochondria, insomnia and addiction to use a few of their examples. It was AMAZING. I forgot to clap half the time because my mind was so blown and my jaw was on the floor so I would've been smacking myself in the jaw anyway. The closest comparison I could make would be to say it was like Cirque Du Soleil only with a much smaller cast, more urban and less bizarre. So awesome though. The girls I was with managed to get pictures with the majority of the cast (I was inside buying a program) while this was happening. One of them wanted to take the little French guy home in her pocket. He was pretty adorable. I was amazed by how young the majority of the cast was and every one of them was in incredibly good shape. There were several instances where a few of the guys took off their shirts for no extremely important or good reason but I don't think anyone minded. The physicality of their characters were so perfect, the addict was a major creeper -he never once let the physicality slip. Twitchy and perfectly so. I could go on and on. SO GOOD! Funny and sad and just great. Love.

Today was another class. This evening we went to Taking Steps. So. Stinking. Funny! My face hurts from laughing and smiling so hard. It was an Ayckbourn, the same playwright who wrote the first play I ever legitimately designed for. Yes, the same author as Absent Friends. My battery is dying so I'm going to leave it at that and come back to it later.

The circle of life? Or just the Circle line to High Street Kensington?

We had another class today. I did remember my 15 lines of Shakespeare all right, I think. I just wrote them down instead of reciting or performing them. I figured with my congestion I would be less audible than I am on a good day -no one ever seems to hear me normally. Other than that we discussed past and upcoming shows we will be seeing. And, I also took part in an assigned scene with my assigned group. I just read a letter and contributed to the overall concept. It was a pretty mellow performance thingamajig but I'm glad to have it over. Now it's all a bunch of papers and one more 15 line memorization. After class I worked on an assignment, finished it and then went food shopping. I joined some girls to try and go see The Lion King on the West End (London's equivalent to Broadway). Well, we got lost since we didn't really know where we were going. When we finally got there we got to see that there are no Monday performances ever for the show. All that for naught. But, we did go out to eat and got some really tasty dinner. I ended up eating a chicken udon noodle soup with bean sprouts, mushrooms (which I picked through and didn't eat because I don't like mushrooms), and I think scallions or something. The broth seemed to be a miso type thing with some red pepperiness. The name of it was dynamite broth. It was spicy but pleasantly so, I think. So, now I'm back at the flat considering doing some homework or taking a shower and going to bed early. I think the shower and bed thing will win out.
Tomorrow is a temple trip, we have a coach (aka, bus) coming to pick us up in the early morning hours in front of the flat for a little over an hour ride to the temple. The majority of the day will be available to us afterwards. I still haven't ever been to the temple (besides an open house) so my first time will be in London.

If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended, that you have but slumbered here...

Well, I've missed several days. What has happened in that time...I'll try to remember.

Okay, since my last entry (I had to go back and re-read to see where I left off) I went to the cemetary where William Blake is buried. I don't actually know anything about him other than he was a poet and, I guess, a painter. I went with a girl in my group who didn't want to go alone. It was a pretty cemetary and a pretty day. We ended up getting to Twelfth Night late, however, because we got confused about the time. We had been thinking it was at 2:30 when it was actually 2, the only reason we knew otherwise was because I'd pulled out my ticket and saw the correct time. This was at 1:30 when we still hadn't gotten on the bus that takes approximately 35 minutes to get us in the general area and a 6 min walk to the theater. We somehow got there only 5 minutes late and though we had to wait in the foyer (sp?) for a break in the performance they seated us without any problem. After the performance I went with a group of girls to Primark and bought a pair of jeans because...I need jeans and they were 8 pounds (equating $12), I also bought shoes for 2 pounds ($3). I kinda wish we had Primark in the states, they have good basic clothes for really cheap, plain t-shirts, plain jeans and plain shoes -not very high quality but durable enough for what it is. And still better quality than most things you get in the States for much more than that. Like Down East shirts, they're good staples but the quality is junk unless you're careful and the shirt is about $12. They have the same types of shirts here but so much cheaper and better constructed. I was pretty much exhausted after that so I just did some homework and chilled out.

Friday, we went as a group to Kew gardens, it was quite pretty. It's like a major park with greenhouses, a pagoda and ponds and such. I'd say it was like Buchart but not really. For one, there were a lot less flowers and for another I think it was a lot bigger. I just kept thinking that it would be more suitable for my sister or mom to go there, they probably would have appreciated it more though I wasn't exactly bored myself. After that I went and did some much needed laundering, bought a ticket for a tour of Bath and Stonehenge for the following day and printed my confirmation information in the computer lab at Metrogate while I did my laundry. Then, I went with some girls on my floor to a YSA (Young Single Adult) dance they were having in the cultural hall of Hyde Park's family history center/chapel/church building. Quite fun.

Saturday was the tour to Bath and Stonehenge. We had few occurances that changed plans for us, apparently there was a big accident on the road to Stonehenge so they took us to Bath first (when normally it would be the other way around) and then the windshiel wipers were having issues so they had to pull into a rest stop and fix it which gave us less time in Bath. We went to the Roman Baths (it was included in the tour price) on audio tours which I rushed through so I could get on to other things. Then, Shelby, Martha and I went to the Bath Fashion Museum which actually turned out to be a bit dissappointing. It was smaller than the fashion exhibit at the V&A plus we had to pay. They did have some really great pieces though. I still have flashes of awe when I look at the clothes and realize how small people were back then and how these are not just museum pieces but actual garments people wore and lived in. Except for the newer stuff that maybe a model turned around a catwalk before they got put in the museum. We had time to get a pasty at a shop (I got a chicken and vegetable pasty, very tasty. Like a chicken pot pie only in a really flaky butter filled crust). Unfortunately I'd woken up with a bad sore throat and it didn't go away the whole day, I ended up sleeping a lot on the bus. Stonehenge was cool though it was incredibly cold and windy and I felt like crap. It was about the same size as I had imagined though a lot of people tend to say it's smaller than they imagined. We got home around 6ish and I did homework and went to bed.

This morning I woke up feeling really overheated and miserable so I ended up not going to church and just slept for several hours after making myself some scrambled eggs and toast so I wouldn't be taking ibuprophen on an empty stomach. Lots and lots of sleep. I felt better, my sore throat went away. I think tonight I will take nyquil, I only have one little packet thing though. I worked on memorizing 15 lines of Shakespeare for class tomorrow. I don't know if I'll be able to remember it, fevered mind and all that. Tomorrow we have class and I think I will chill out most of the day unless I can find something to do. I haven't gone to an extra play yet, there's a couple I still want to go to but I don't know that I will find people who want to go too.

How now, Malvolio?

Today was class four. Originally we were going to see a matinee of Enron (a musical...about Enron...) but our teachers have pulled endorsement for the show by this BYU program because it was foul, apparently. They gave us the option of going anyway since they could not refund the tickets and it was already paid. From his description it didn't sound like a valuable use of my time here so I opted not to go. Apparently there were F-bombs galore and onstage sex. It sounded like I would be either bored or irritated and probably not learn enough to make the boredom and irritation worth it. Instead, the majority of us went to Metrogate house (the management building of our flats) in order to figure out how to print our assignment to hand in to our TA. It took a good hour standing in queue. I should have figured out where the laundry is while I was there but I didn't. Then it was lunchtime. Then I went with a group of girls to Camden (might have to check the name) Market but not before detouring to Kingscross station to take pictures at the entrance to Platform 9 3/4. I learned today that if I ever want to indulge my goth or punk tendancies somewhat cheaply Camden market is the place to get the clothes. There was one full length jacket there that I tried on and bartered down (from 45 pounds to 28)but ended up not getting because my debit card was declined when I tried getting a month tube pass and I wasn't sure how long my cash would have to last until I could get it sorted out. And it would have left me with 12 pounds for who knows how long. I might have to go back and see if I can get it for about the same price (not likely) -it was very Cristina from Lacuna Coil-esque with lacings up the back. It could go full out goth or just be eccentric.

I'm not sure why my card was declined, I was worried they'd frozen it (eventhough I called and told them I would be using it in London and they told me they wouldn't cancel it for the extent of the trip) but it worked to draw out cash at an ATM so...I think I will just depend on cash from now on and hope no one mugs me. Yes. I've found that London is very much like New York. So many people from all over the place. I was asked if I was German or English today which amuses me.

We go see Twelfth Night tomorrow but we're watching it in the common room on someone's laptop. It's a version with Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia, it's quite good.

We went to the London Museum as a class this morning. Pretty much all of us showed up late (some more than others) as we all got lost (again, some more than others). It was kind of lame because only the top floor was open, all of the other exhibits were being renovated. Then we went gallivanting around other places (including the Horse Guard place thing) until we met up again at the Banqueting house. Then had dinner and then did more gallivanting.

And now I need to finish writing my paper before my battery dies.

I need to buy more chocolate...

I didn't do much today, I went to our third class and then came back to the flat to purchase plane tickets to Ireland and Scotland for the travel weekend (May 19th to just before midnight on Saturday). There were three total which amounted to $70.00 dollars. We're going to stay in hostels but other than that...I'll see what they're planning.

Somehow I managed to fall asleep on the floor of my room. I woke up feeling groggy and a bit stiff in the hip. Then I tagged along with Shelby and Martha to Trafalger Square. Our original destination was going to see 39 Steps but since it was a bank holiday and such it was completely sold out except for seats wherein our view would be blocked by a pillar or some such. It's supposed to be a really funny play though. So, we went and looked at other stuff instead and had a bit of a walk culminating in a visit to the McDonalds on High Street Kensington, I got chicken Mcnuggets and some hot chocolate. It's been cold and windy -the hot chocolate was just the right thing (eventhough there wasn't much flavor to it). They nuggets tasted a little different than the ones in the states, it seemed like the breading was thicker. I do have to say that so far I haven't found High Fructose Corn syrup in anything it's glucose fructose somthing or other instead. I should check closer for monosodium glutamate though, I haven't done that. Also, I have a goal of trying basically every Cadburry thing they have. So far I had a chocolate carmel bar (delicious) and some chocolate mousse cups (not as delicious but very good). Also, Nutella, I need to get some of that.