L A K E D I S T R I C T :
The lake district was cold and beautiful and wonderful and the best place. Professor Underwood challenged us to the polar bear challenge {jumping into the freezing cold lake} When I say freezing cold lake, think the Red Mountain lake from girls camp. then make the outside air colder and wallah. it was freezing but considering that it was my last swim for two years, definitely worth it.
underwood polar bear challenge {those daring enough to hop in! and yes professor underwood jumped in too!}
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| jumping at the Lake District! |
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| we love lake Windermere! |
W A L E S :
ATTENTION: I am moving to wales. to become a sheep herder {I've realized I may or may not have a sheep obsession}. and learning to play the Hurdy Gurdy. and my life will be grand.
Next to Colorado of course, Wales was the prettiest place I've ever been! We stayed in a hostel in the middle of Snowdonia national park. Guys, it was so pretty, my pictures just can't even do it justice.
I've saved you a step and already googled Snowdonia National Park right here. {you're welcome}
Then we took a train to the top of Mount Snowdon, the highest point in the UK! {it's a thrilling 3,559 feet above sea level haha but still AMAZING} It was beautiful, and so so so cold at the top. Let me tell you, we were not dressed for the weather haha.
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| two types of people |
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| cold&windy but WORTH IT |
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| can we appreciate this cute little couple hiking the mountain together? #lifegoals |
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| Sir Philip of Snowdonia is our new mascot! |
COAL MINE IN WALES- we got to go down into a coal mine! helmets and everything. It was super interesting!
Our usual day shopping {including twinkies for 12 pounds}
RANDOM: if you haven't guessed yet, our trips are exhausting. in a good way, but this picture describes it well:
Pride and Prejudice to get us through the coach rides:
KENDALL IS THE CUTEST ENGLISH TOWN IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH TOWNS. We also bought a famous kendall mint for three pounds {we had never heard of them, but Sister Underwood assured us they were famous nonetheless. the packaging claims the same thing, so we'll roll with it.} We consider this purchase one of the top decisions on the entire study abroad.
Don't worry Mom, I brush my teeth lots.
Grasmere Gingerbread! ...they're known for it, and it was well worth the 50 pence!
so. tired. so. many. museums. {but it's cool because museums are the bomb.com}
hannah and I lived in these shoes. jandels for life.
Bristol and the cathedral we went to there! {I've lost track of which cathedrals we go to. so just appreciate the picture because I can't remember it's name}
My favorite part about going to all these cathedrals is seeing the similarities and differences. I can always find a couple things that I really love... this cathedral had an amazing ceiling!
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| Bristol was beautiful! |
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| this was one of the best moments of the entire trip {sorry claire}. We decided to take a picture and claire came running... then slipped on the hill. we sat on the ground laughing for a solid 5 minutes. you may have had to be there, but man was it great. |
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| don't worry... we got the picture. |
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| a castle! {I think this was Conway Castle?} |
and another Cathedral!
and another castle! {caerleon castle maybe?} This castle was another favorite because it was so complete! It wasn't just ruins... you could climb the towers and look into rooms and everything!
And another cathedral! Favorite part of the church: the mosaics. THEY WERE ASTOUNDING.
This town was also adorable! I love these english towns.
then L I V E R P O O L : {actually this was one of the first stops, but I really out of order, whoops}
liverpool was so fun to see! We walked through a slavery museum, titanic museum, Beatles exhibit, plus lots and lots of interactive activities in the Museum of Liverpool! {you are never too old to dress up or play corny pioneer games.}
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| this statue was donated to liverpool by the LDS church in remembrance of the hundreds of thousands of people that passed through the liverpool docks |
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| boys stories for dayyyss |
P R E S T O N :
preston was AMAZING! it has so much church history behind it! We've been reading about the first missionaries and their work here in England... we were able to get a tour by a local church member and historian who took us to lots of sites {including the house the missionaries first stayed in, the Ribble River where the first baptisms outside of America took place, and the town center where these missionaries, as well as a young missionary Gordon B Hinckly, taught. he showed us the flag pole that the "Truth will Prevail" banner hung that Joseph Feilding first saw. WAY COOL}
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| The first missionaries home! |
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| The Ribble River! Somewhere along this bank, hundreds of people were baptised! It's been so fun to learn about another angle of church history that I never really thought about. These people were so ready to receive the gospel! By {a certain year that I can't remember} there were 24,000 members in the US and 30,000 in the UK. CRAZY, right? |
You can still see the affect that the LDS church has had on this part of England. ahh. I love it.
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| The Preston temple was beautiful! |
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| the missionaries of the group, minus Hannah! Keturah's call still isn't here, but other than that, we've got California, Louisiana, Chile, Russia, and New Zealand. Can't wait to see what the future holds for us! |
More random things: Yes, I love english villages. We drove through this town on our way to Manchester.
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| THIS IS A REAL PLACE that people live in. |
Guys, this was actually the coolest little place ever! This house was built in the 16th century! It was really fun because they were having a special showing, so the workers were dressed up and they had people playing old english instruments and people making lace and doing crafts, and it was just the greatest.
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| I learned about a new instrument! This is called a Hurdy Gurdy, and it is the most interesting thing I have ever learned about. The man was soo nice, he opened up the instrument and showed me how it worked and he answered all my questions. I talked to him for seriously 20 minutes and I wish I could have kept asking questions! It was the coolest thing I have ever seen. New goal in life. Here's a guy playing it |
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| this is an original Hurdy Gurdy from the 17th century! and it still works... although it's quite out of tune. |
I actually missed tons of things, but that's the gist! It was an amazing week (: Next week we head out on another adventure to SCOTLAND! Tomorrow I'll blog about this week, including les mis, a day trip and life changing experience, plus GENERAL CONFERENCE! {you can watch it live right here}
I love England, and today marks exactly 1 month. Wow. Time is flying by!
Highlights//quotes:
-Study abroad gives you a new perspective on everything, including your professors. We spent a lot of the evening at the Lake District talking to the Underwoods about everything! If you ever have the chance to get advice on missions//life//boys from your professor, I highly suggest you do it.
-You become really close with these girls. You live on top of them and you're never alone, so you might as well get used to it. The quotes you hear are worth every other pain in the neck thing that happens! {"man, do you realize how much easier it would be to fall in love in wales than it is in provo?" "guys, I'm a good date. I look cute, I smell good, and I'm funny" -olivia quotes. "It was a barren wasteland of infertility" - Claire "I saw the picture sent in and I was like 'man, no wonder they sent me to South America so no one would have to see me!" "I'm the slowest one out of the group so I'd be the first one down" -Hannah "The only solution I see is to drop both of them and move in with me and we'll become crazy cat ladies together" -Claire to Lauren. and so it goes}
So yes, I love this place and these people and I'm never coming home.
lastly, please ignore typos.
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