Two Months Down

Two months of my time here in London are over and gone. I was thinking about it this morning and was mulling over how sad I will be to leave this place. How dreadful waking up to Provo will be in comparison, and yet, I am so lucky that I was able to spend three months in London. I have had such an amazing past two months. I feel so beyond grateful. I feel undeserving! I didn't think someone should be able to have such a flawless time for so long. My biggest problems are the annoying people in the tube who push and bump into you, or the weekends when the tubes are down and it takes forever to get anywhere. But my goodness, I live in London! And this experience has been so great and informative, pleasantly informative in fact. I love London. 

Last Sunday not a lot happened besides Church. The boys had a Stake priesthood meeting and had to go somewhere else and wouldn't get home until later, so Angus gave Kate and I the keys and we hung out at his place without them, playing guitar and eating fish finger sandwiches.

Monday I ran 3 miles. I shipped a box of sweets to my dear friend Paige. I went through the National Gallery (saw the famous painting of Cardinal Richelieu). I went through TopShop and Uni Qlo looking at clothes for my brother and found clothes for myself... BUT something amazing happened at Uni Qlo. I found a pair of men's trousers that were on sale for £15 or so. And they fit me and I loved them. I figured it was worth it since I have like 3 pairs of trousers here. So when I was checking out and the cashier rung up the trousers, they rung up for only 99p! I got really nice trousers for £1!! Amazing! I was really happy with my decision to get them.

Fat Tuesday. It was Pancake day today. I went over to visit with Hilary around 12.30 and at 2 we decided to head to Portobello Road for pancakes and tea. 

We both looked darling, if I do say so myself, and the pancakes and tea were delicious. They were thinner than our pancakes but not as thin as crepes, and they were wrapped around bacon! So good. We sat there talking for 2 hours. It was so nice. I love the little moments I have to spend with Hilary. How sad that I wont have very many more of them. 

That evening the Ostler's had an extra ticket to see the Minnesota Orchestra play at the Barbican. Leslie, Katherine, Trey and I got a cab. It was fun. On the way I saw the tent for London Fashion Week! Oh la la. 

The orchestra was great. It was such a nice relaxing experience to listen to the music and let my mind wander. It made me miss being in orchestra a little. But on the way home I took the wrong train twice - two times. I ended up in this really dodgy train station in East London and felt very uncomfortable, standing there in my pearls and fine attire. I did finally get the right train home safely. 

I was up until 4a talking to different people online. And a friend from my childhood finally contacted me! We haven't seen each other for 11 years. It will be quite fun to get to know him once again. Amazing how people can live in Redding and never cross paths. It's not that big...

Ash Wednesday. To kick off Lent, Katherine, Kiri and I went to Westminster Abbey for an Ash Wednesday service so we could get into the Abbey for free. We didn't get to see the whole Abbey, but for all the things I see and do, just seeing the Nave was good enough for me. We did see the statue of Sir Isaac Newton featured in The DaVinci Code. Going to mass was an interesting experience. I still remember all the things to do. :) It was a lot of fun. 

Many LDS girls I know here are celebrating Lent. I usually do, just as an excuse to give something up and test my will power. This year I'm giving up meat, and I'm going to try to not indulge myself and eat smaller portions. Kiri is also giving up meat, and I don't think Katherine had decided what to do at this point. 

I was intoxicatedly tired by the end of the evening and could barely stay up past 10. I don't think I should stay up until 4a very often. Though I do love talking to Lauren late at night, it reminds me of last semester. Some of our best conversations have been featured in the wee hours of the morning. 

School is finally getting to be challenging. That is to say, I haven't been doing everything perfectly, but it's becoming more and more difficult. Today we made Chocolate Bavarian sponge cake. I had some troubles with the Bavarian, I didn't cool it properly... And please, I don't want to talk about the chocolate 'ribbon' we were supposed to have made. I couldn't get it, and my chocolate design looks like a pile of kindling... However, it was delicious.
My former French 102 teacher Irene Kim was in town for the evening. I met up with her at Trafalgar square and we went to institute where we socialized until nearly 11p. It was really good to see her. And I really enjoyed hanging out and talking with her. I wanted to let her sleep in my bed, but she took the floor, and I felt like a poor host. But since I had to leave early for school she just took my bed when I left. I don't think she was technically allowed to stay the night, but no one was hurt by her presence and I was happy to give her a place to stay that was free.

On Friday school was difficult again. We made a Strawberry Charlotte cake today. The sponge part was fine, no real troubles there, and the mousse was fine, but I didn't apply the glacage correctly and I was rushed with my piping so it looks messy and unprofessional... I was a little embarrassed by it. Plus I was sous chef and kept forgetting things, and putting things away improperly and I just wanted to leave, but kept having to do something else. ugh. 
To make it all even better, on my way to Paddington station to meet up with David, I was bumped trying to go through the ticket barrier and dropped my cake. Yes. I dropped it. It was still edible, but completely destroyed. I wanted to cry. It was a frustrating ending to a frustrating cake. 

David and I went to Kensington Gardens though, and that place always makes me happy, so I didn't stay frustrated for long. We saw the Peter Pan statue:
I fed pidgeons and a rat some of the scraps of my cake. I wanted to feed the squirrels, but they weren't interested. 
I fed the swans and the geese. They were very interested in my cake.  I was a bit afraid of being bitten, so it made the whole experience a bit more fun. Plus, I looked super cute today. It's an unrelated topic, but it was definitely a plus. As well as the absolutely gorgeous and warm day. I didn't need a jacket until it was dark! 
David and I walked around the gardens until about 7 when we met up with Angus and ate at a Thai Buffet. It was pretty good, definitely only worth the £5 though. Then we all went back to Angus' house for Arrested Development, The Mighty Boosh, and Yes Man. I didn't leave until 2.15a, and the buses were really terrible tonight and I didn't get home until nearly 3.30a! Rubbish. 

Saturday. The Last Day of February. I was going to be lazy today but around 2 I just couldn't take it any more and decided I needed to go for a run. I only have 28 days until I run in Prague! So today I ran the 6 miles to Angus' house, hung out there for about an hour resting, and then I ran the 6 miles home. 12 miles! Amazing! I brought my oyster card incase I couldn't make it the 12 miles and needed to utilize public transportation. I did not. I am so very pleased with myself.  Now I just need to be able to run a little more than that and all in one go. I'll totally be able to do it! 

I spent the late evening with Hilary. The tubes were complete rubbish today and it took me way too long to get there. But we ordered Indian food and it was so delicious. We sat around talking and stuff for a few hours and then found out that the centre had a guitar! So we pulled that out and played and sang until 10.30 when I went home. It was so fun to sing with her again. She is really good at finding the harmony and it's awesome! I found the low harmony on a couple songs as well. I'll really miss that. She is fabulous, and I'll definitely miss her. 

This is the end of February. So what's in store for March? Scotland, next weekend for Hilary's birthday, Oxford the next weekend, my birthday the following weekend, Le Cordon Bleu graduation, and a Half Marathon in Prague.