IRELAND

REALND!!!! Well I just got back from Ireland and had the time of my life! It was so beautiful and I just felt really connected to Dublin since I lived in Dublin, Ohio for 7 years of my life haha.  Here is just a brief summary of some of the things we did!

The first day we got there we went to see Dublin castle.  The castle part was a little but of a let down but they took us underground and showed us the ruins of the original castle and the underground river.  We were exhausted form getting up at 4 and getting our flight to Dublin so we just walked around Temple Bar (the pub and shopping district of Dublin) and found some place to eat and then we headed back to our hotel.  We decided to watch “P.S. I Love You” because the next day we were headed on a tour through the Wicklow mountains which is where they filmmed the scene where they meet!

We had to get up early and go to the tourist office to get on our tour bus.   We started driving our into the Irish country side and it was unbelievable.  It wasn’t the typical Irish green, it was still the vibrant green but then there was all of this orangey copper color everywhere (I mean it is October which means fall:) and it was just our luck that it was raining all day… it really wasn’t that bad but it was a little foggy. We saw some waterfalls and lakes and mountains.  We stopped at this little town called Laragh (pronounced Laura:) and we had hot chocolate and scones at this cute little bed and breakfast.  We stopped at the ruins of an old monastery and walked around some lakes on our way back to Dublin.  When we got back we ate some dinner and walked around the city some more.  We went and saw a movie, which was really stupid, and then we went to bed!

Again we had to get up early because we took another day trip out to the Cliffs of Moher.  These cliffs are the cliffs of insanity in “Princess Bride” and the cliffs in the recent “Harry Potter 6” that just came out.  They are on the west coast of Ireland so it was a 3 hour drive out.  They were unreal! I loved them.  We were luck that is was pretty cleat so we could see them well.  We stopped at a castle on the way back but we were so tired we didn’t really appreciate it… We got back late and went right to bed.

Saturday was our Dublin day.  We started off by checking out of our hotel and taking the train out to this little seaside town called Bray to go and see this manor house called Powerscourt.  If you have seen the movie “Count of Monte Cristo” it is the house Edmond buys when he becomes the count.  The house is just surrouned by these beautiful gardens so we just walked around.  It was sunny the whole time we were there which was so nice! I finally dried up and thawed out from the rainy days!  We made our way back to Dublin and went on a tour of Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells (this 2,000 year illuminated manuscript of the 4 gospels).  We went and ate quick and then headed to Christ Church Cathedral and went to Choral Evensong.  It was a little long but really interesting. All I have to say that I prefer our sacrament meeting any day! We went back to the hotel and picked up our bags and then caught the bus to the airport.  We arrived home safe, sound, and tired. It was an amazing trip and if any of you ever get the chance to go, GO! I can tell you all of the best places to hit!

Powersourt...

Cliffs of Moher...
Lake at the Monestary Ruins...
Christ Church Cathedral...
Dublin Castle...

Kensington Gardens

For my English 300 class we had to write a poem about nature... oh boy. I wasn't really looking forward to it but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I decided to write about Kensington Gardens since it is my favorite spot in all of London. I am not a poet by any means but here it is...

Kensington Falls

October trees line the curving walkways,

The path of a mother pushing a pram 

Shaded by the friendly sweeping boughs.

The wandering lane meets waters edge

And disappears beneath the corrugated surface

Only to be disturbed by the wake of a swan;

Reflected in the ripples lies a secret.

A single red limb whispers the sound of autumn.

The gentle brush of a hand could sweep away 

The colors of brisk mornings and thanksgiving;

Yet leaf to leaf, branch to branch, tree to tree,

The rumor of an approaching fall spreads 

Until the entire garden is aflame.

The paths puzzling the landscape lead to fountains

One of Roman times and yet another of youth.

The face of a boy plays in the burning foliage 

Beckoning the harvest to capture his boyhood 

And end the sweet sunshine of summer.

Tender winds rustle through fields of golden grass

And carry the invisible hum down curving walkways

Only to disappear through the Lancaster’s Gate. 

Stratford Upon Avon

Well today we went on a lovely day trip to the lovely town on Stratford, home of the Great William Shakespeare. We started the day at Mary Arden's farm.  I thought it was interesting that is was still a working farm.  I felt like I learned a lot more by seeing it rather than reading about it.  We saw some falconeering and learned about the servants as we watched them eat a real period meal.  We then headed to Anne Hathaway's house.  Anne Hathaway was the woman Shakespeare married when he was 18... she was 26... and pregnant.  I loved learning about Shakespeare's life before he was a playwright.  I also enjoyed seeing the actual cottage.  It was pretty much kept in the same condition it would have been when Anne and William were there.  It was bigger then I thought it would have been which showed that they were not a peasant family.  We then headed to the actual house Shakespeare was born in.  We went through a very interesting exhibit about him before.  It made me appreciate his lagacy a little more.  For example it said that almost at every moment of the day "Hamlet" is being performed somewhere in the world!  We had a few hours to kill after the birthplace and then we went to se the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance of "The Winter's Tale." This has been my favorite Shakespeare we have seen so far.  I loved the time period they portrayed it in and plot and the meaning behind it.  It was just a reminder of how we shouldn't judge others and the power of forgiveness.    

The Birthplace...

Anne Hathaway's Cottage...
The Winter's Tale...

The National Gallery II

Friday was nice too.  It was my month mark so I celebrated by going to the Park... ok I actaully went to the park to study, but it was still nice.  That afternoon we had the chance to go back to the National Gallery.  We just walked by paintings and talked about them.  It really was like having a live powerpoint presentation.  We studied some art from the Baroque time and them some prictures from the Rococo period.  After Dr. Soper talked to us we were able to walk around and look at some artists we are going to study.  I really am excited to learn about Turner because I really loved the colors and style.  It was neat to see some work from Van Gogh and Monet. Here are some of the pictures we saw when we were there!

One of Van Gogh's flower portraits...

Ruben's Rape of the Sabine Women...
One of Rembrants Self Portraits...
Monet's Bridge...

Friday was nice too.  It was my month mark so I celebrated by going to the Park... ok I actaully went to the park to study, but it was still nice.  That afternoon we had the chance to go back to the National Gallery.  We just walked by paintings and talked about them.  It really was like having a live powerpoint presentation.  We studied some art from the Baroque time and them some prictures from the Rococo period.  After Dr. Soper talked to us we were able to walk around and look at some artists we are going to study.  I really am excited to learn about _____ because I really loved the colors and style.  It was neat to see some work from Van Gogh and Monet. Here are some of the pictures we saw when we were there!

Road Tripin'

I love England!!!!! Seiroulsy it is the most beautiful place I have ever been.  This week we want on this big roadtrip all across Northern England into York and the Lake District.  The hills were so beautiful.  It is better then what you see in the movies because the green is sooo green.  It is almost neon, I have never seen that color in the states.  There are sheep and cattle everywhere and these walls called dry stone walls that make the hills look like pieces of a puzzle. The walls are all made by staking flat rocks right on top of each other without any mortar.  When I wasn't car sick or sleeping I was in complete and utter bliss just sitting on the coach listening to my Pride and Prejudice soundtrack looking out the window.  The whole trip was a blast.   We did so much I am going to divide it up into days...

Day 1

We drove a couple hours and stopped at the Bronte Parsonage where the Bronte Sisters lived and wrote their novels. Then we drove a littel farther and went into York to see the York Minster.  It is this beautiful cathedral that we went on a tour through and then climbed to the top of the tower that had this stunning view.  We got to our first hostel and there was this big TV room so we all just congregated and watched a movie and put dreadlocks into one of the girls hair... too funny.

My roommates in the first hostel...

York Minster...

Day 2

This was my favorite day since I have been here if not my favorite day of my whole life... ok that is an exageration, but it was really fabulous.  We went to this place called Fountains Abbey. It is this old rune of an Abbey.  It is set down in this little valley with all of this foliage and and a little creek running the length of the valley and ended in these beautiful water gardens.  We were there for a couple hours just talking picture and walking around.  It sounds boring but it was so unbelievably beautiful that I could of stayed all day. After fountains abbey we headed over to Lake Windermere, checked into our hostel and then had the rest of the day to explore. We stayed up on this hill and the lake was beautiful and we had the most amazing view of it from our bedroom window.

The View...

Fountains Abbey...

Day 3

We got up ate the same breakfast we had every morning (a full english breakfast of eggs, sausage, hasbrowns, cooked tomatoes, bacon, toast, and some black pudding something).  First off we headed to William Wordsworth home where he wrote all of his poems.  He was so inspired by the beauty of the land and you can really feel it in his poems.  We took a little scenic drive around some more of the lakes and then we kind of split up. I went with a group of girls and took a ferry across the lake to go to Beatrix Potter's Hill Top Cottage where she wrote all of her Peter Rabbit tales. We checked into our other hostel and it was right on the water and we had some fun hanging out in the town and sketching the sailboats sitting in the lake.

Day 4 

This was another great day.  We went to Preston and went on a guided tour of all of the church sites.  We saw the platform in the middle of the square where the first missionaries in England preached from and again years later where President Hinkley taught from. We saw where the first baptism were and the palaces where these early missionaries lived.  We started heading towards Liverpool and stopped in two more little towns significant to the church and at the Preston Temple in Chorley.  Then we headed on to Liverpool and checked into our hostel.  

The temple...

The Docks...
The Beatles Museum...

Day 5

We got up and headed straight over to  Albert Dock which is where all of the early saints left to head to Utah.  It was a really tender experience. We sang a verse of "Come, Come Ye Saints" and these tears just welled up in my eyes thinking about the sacrifices they went through so that I could be where I am. After that we went to the Beatles museum, to pay our respects since they did start in Loverpool. And then we headed on our way back to London.  We stopped one last time at this manor house called Chatsworth. It is the current home if the Duke and Dutchess of York but it is also in the movie Pride and Prejudice as Mr. Darcey's home (Pemberly).  It was beautiful. 

Mr. Darcy from the Movie...

Chatsworth...

It was good to get back home.  It is funny being away for so long becasue now this really does feel like my home away from home. Sunday was good too.  There was only in my class so I we just went outside and I talked to him about the articles of faith. Now i'm just sitting in class writing this blog. Good times here in England! 

Tower of London and Shakespeare

Well yesterday was such a great day!  We woke up pretty early and headed to the tower of London as a whole group.  We got out tickets and headed inside and went straight to the crown jewels.  It was incredible. Probably one of my favorite things that I have done since we have been here.  I saw the biggest diamond in the world, the First Star of Africa! It was 503.2 carrots and on the royal scepter. There we a couple crowns including the Royal Crown and the crown used at the coronations. After the crown jewels we headed to do a tour with one of the Yeoman Warders. He told us about the history of the tower and about some of the people that used to live there.  He was a retired military man and was very funny, both qualifications to become a warder.  We wandered around the tower a little bit and saw where Anne Boleyne was beheaded and saw the torture chamber.  We also saw this very interesting exhibit on King Henry the VIII armor.  We headed a home a couple hours later and got ready to go to see Shakespeare’s Alls Well that Ends Well at the national theater.  It was quite interesting but I really enjoyed it.  Alot of the humor and details of the story were kind of over my head but I got the main gist of plot and I liked it!  It is basically about this girl who falls in love with this boy and through some ties with the king they are married.  The boy wants nothing to do with her and leaves to go into the army in Italy and gives his new bride some impossible demands which she has to get. It was quite funny and complicated plot.  I felt like there was an underlying theme with the costumes and some nuances that I was missing but it was still entertaining.  It was a great finish to a great day.  

A Yeoman Warder...

The Tower of London...
The National Theater...
The Play...

Southall!!!

hat a great day! I feel like in my life I haven’t had the opportunity to really immerse myself in other cultures. Of course there is the occasional vacation outside of the country but I don’t really think that counts.  Today we had the chance to go to Southall. This basically the area of London where all of the Indians live.  When we first arrived we got off of the train and walked to a Sikh Temple called the Gurdwara.  Dave Shuler gave us a short little run down of what the Sikh religion was and I found it fascinating.  He said that the Sikh have spiritual leaders that they call Gurus. There are no Gurus left today so they live their lives by following there book of scripture and following the 5 Ks, I will describe these later.  When we first walked in the temple we had to take out shoes off and cover our hair with our scarves.  We then proceed up the stairs into this big room where the book was sitting.  We walked up this big isle and to show respect you bow to the ground and touch your forehead to the book. We just walked up and touched the floor and then went to sit on the left side of the room with all the other ladies.  To show respect to the book you aren’t supposed to turn your back to it or point your feet to it. We had to sit cross legged on the  floor and walk sort of diagonally, it was a little tricky.  We took time to just meditate and all of these questions just started coming into my head.  It was a amazing the things you wonder about when you take time to just sit and think.  I wanted to know what the lady on the loud speaker was saying, and why there was a man fanning the book with a big white fan. I had my questions answered later that day in a little question and answer session we had in the library.  When we left the big room there was little lady sitting on the floor who handed us a lump of this warm gooey stuff which was made out of butter, flour, and sugar which was just a thank you for coming to worship.  Then we headed to the kitchen to try some indian food. The food is free and is always there for anyone that wishes to come and eat.  During the question and Answer session we were able to talk to a real practicing Sikh.  He said he had become active about 13 years ago. He told us about the religion but he said they don’t really call it a religion they call it a way of life.  There philosophy is that they don’t need to convert people to their religion because there goal is to just praise God and encourage others to praise God the best they can. He also described the 5 K’s. The turban- worn at all times to show respect to god, the comb- symbol of cleanliness comb it twice a day, Hair- never cutting tit because it is something God gave them, the knife- worn at all times to show they are willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of mankind, and the bangles- to remind them to do the work of god.  I thought it was amazing how many similarities there were between out religion and theirs when the cultural differences are so big.  We both pay tithing, we both take or shoes off in our temples to show respect, we both focus on a personal conversion to God, both acknowledge the power of mothers and their part in teaching and nurturing children, and many other things. He also told us that they don’t keep copies of the scripture in their house unless they chose to follow a strict set of rules, that is why they are encourage to go the temple twice a day.

After that we were able to go and sit in 2 more muslim temples. They were much different.  They worship many Gods and they are represented by these big ornate dolls set up all along their temples. They were all about the sparkle and the lights.  It almost felt like we were in Disneyland and not a real place of worship.  I was kind of bummed that we didn’t get to talk with anyone because I had a lot of questions about this religion as well.  After those temples we had a couple hours of free time to just explore the town.  We bought bangles and got henna.  It was fun to see these people just out and about their daily routine. We ended our excursion at this Pakistani Restaurant for dinner.  It was really great.  It was my first time having indian food and I really enjoyed trying everything.  It was a great finish to a great day.

The Gudwara...

The sweet dough...
The free food...
The statues in the muslim temple...

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