Getting things done (6 July)

I don't think that today is blog-worthy, but I've written every other day so I feel like I have to write about July 6th, too. Otherwise you might think I died yesterday and reincarnated tomorrow or something.

Today I had class and then did laundry (always a big undertaking). For the rest of the day I plan to do homework, work-work, and make plans for the rest of my time in London. If you have any must-sees, let me know. It might be cool if someone adds a comment to my blog some time. That would make me feel very much a part of the world of blog.

Back to class (5 July)

This morning started out with a lovely jog around Kensington and Hyde Parks, which are right next to our flat. It's an awesome place to run--everyone is out riding bikes and horses, running, walking, stretching . . . you name it. Chrisse and I were running along and then we look up and there's Kensington Palace. I go running in the coolest places on this study abroad. And there's a chance that William and Kate will soon be moving into Kensington Palace. Maybe Duchess Kate goes jogging at 6:30 am, too.

We went to the Hyde Park Chapel for class at 9. The chapel is actually like the Church Office Building for England, so it's bigger than a normal chapel. It's about a 10-minute walk from our place. We are there for three hours and we each have our two various classes and then one study hour while we're there. I had been almost dreading going back to classes, but when I was there I remembered how much I love school. I'm a student at heart!

After class we went home for lunch and then I went out into the city with 5 others. It was my first time on the Tube, the London Underground. All went well. I've changed a lot since my New York experience 8 years ago! We went to the National Portrait Gallery, an art museum with hundreds of famous portraits. In three hours, Lori and I only completed one floor (we're both pretty slow museum-goers). It was a floor that covers most of English history. It was really awesome to see the original paintings that I have seen in textbooks my whole life. I saw Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare, John Milton (the real deal - not just my recent depiction of him and Paradise Lost), John Locke, Thomas Hobbs, and many other very famous people (Goerge Washington, too! He's a part of British History). I really loved it. It was so interesting to see the change in the painting styles over time--the painting style also teaches us about the history.

At 6:00 the museum closed and we were forced out. At that point I got separated from Lori (and the others had long deserted us), so I had 30 minutes before we were meeting at a certain place. We're not really supposed to be alone, but what can you do? I just wandered the streets, observing. People are really interesting. London is a bustling place.

We met up at 6:30, grabbed a bite to eat, and went to a play. As students, we get a pretty good deal on the leftover seats right before the plays. The play was called '39 Steps.' It's a comedy and a few of the people I was with had seen it before and loved it. It was really good! It's acted by only 4 people and many of them are changing character the whole time. It was great. I was so exhausted by the time I got home. The end.

Waiting for the underground (the tube) after the play.

Traveling to London (4 July)

Happy Fourth of July! Here I am in the country we declared independence from. It’s provided an interesting perspective for me. I look at this beautiful country and think, “Why did they leave this?” Truly the people in our history were inspired. I think of the Mayflower Compact, grateful for those people (like my good ol’ ancestors, John and Pricilla Mullins0 who were willing to give up some of their personal freedoms for the good of society as a whole—they made a covenant with each other. I’m grateful for our nation that made the Restoration of the Gospel possible. I hope you all enjoy the fireworks and your freedoms today.

The patriotic trio and me

As we made our way to London today we made two stops: Stonehenge and Chawton (where Jane Austen lived). I was surprised that Stonehenge is just right next to the highway—it seems so random. But it was neat to see. It’s about as old as the Pyramids of Giza, and apparently some of the stones (the blue rock) was quarried in Southern Wales and taken there first on the River Avon (which I ran along in Bristol) and then heaved over rolling logs to its present location. 

Jump for joy . . . the Druids marked solar patterns! And my hair looks crazy.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. It was a beautiful village and it was neat to see many of her family’s belongings. I learned about her daily pattern: She would wake up and practice piano before breakfast. In the morning she would write, in the afternoon she would walk with her sister (for a few hours!), and in the evening she would sew. So simple! I contrast this to my life that’s planned out in thirty-minute increments. I think I can take a leaf out of her book.

Flowers in Jane Austen's garden. Yes, I'm my father's daughter.

The highlight of my day occurred in their entrance way, where I got to play my favorite Clementi Sonatina (no. 3) on a Clementi original piano—from 1810! I could have played forever. I love Clementi.

And now we’re in London. We are in a really nice place (Kensington) near to Hyde Park. We got oriented a little bit, went to the Tube (the subway) station to buy 3-week passes and went grocery shopping. Now we’re just settling into our flats. All 20 of us are in one flat with a large shared kitchen and separate bedrooms. It’s so strange to be here in London! You know how I’m not a big-city person? Well, I think I’ve mellowed out a lot. The city doesn’t stress me out at least. Of course I haven’t really done anything in the city, yet, but we’ll see. Classes start tomorrow [yikes!]. I’m excited to have a good night’s rest tonight!

A Sabbath in Bristol (3 July)

Shabbat Shalom, as I used to write in my Sunday emails home from the JC. Well, I’m in England so I guess it’s Happy Sabbath.

This morning we went to a ward here in Bristol (well, Whitchurch, actually). It was so fun. The ward members were excited to have us. We started with Relief Society and then went to the YSA Sunday School (we brought the class size up from about 8 to 28). They were a fun group. I know some of the people that they know because I served my mission with some British, Welsh, and Scottish sisters. They invited us back for FHE that night, but we weren’t able to make it back.

Sacrament meeting (fast and testimony meeting) was awesome. The youth here have totally impressed me. One of the men in the ward turned 90 today and so he had a bunch of family there. With the thirty of us and his family, the chapel was full and there was a great feeling in the meeting.

After being bussed back to the hostel, Lori and I went to the Church of St. Mary Redcliffe where we looked around and studied scriptures for about and hour and a half. It’s a really neat church. We got to talk to one of the ladies there and she answered a lot of our questions about the Anglican church. We went home to break our fast and then went back to the church for a special festival Evensong. It was lovely, just like last time. The organ was awesome! It’s really interesting to see how others worship. I see both similarities and differences from our church.

So it’s been a good day—a bit more low-key than other days in the week. Tomorrow night I’ll be in London! I’m excited to settle into a place for more than a few nights. I don’t feel really prepared to start classes on Tuesday, but we’ll cross that bridge (perhaps the London Bridge?) when we come to it. 

I'm not sure what this sign is trying to tell me, but the Church of St. Mary Redcliffe is in the background.

Bath, England (2 July) -- and just wait 'til you hear about cuffed pants

I don’t know why, but I can write forever. Somehow this blog about an average day of sightseeing has gotten very long. If you’re not interested in reading the whole thing, at least read the last paragraph—it will give you a reason to laugh, I hope.

Today I went for a run along the River Avon and then got ready to go to Bath.

We started our day in Bath with a two-hour walking city tour. Two hours is a long time, but it went quickly because our guide was awesome. We learned about when the Romans were in Bath and then about the 1700s in Bath. 

Look what I found on our city tour! Precious.

The only hot water spring in Britain is found in Bath. It was said to heal people. It was warm and contained about 42 different minerals. Of course the water would do some good for people in the 1700s because they didn’t usually bathe anyway, they wore and ate things with lead and arsenic in them, and they never drank water because the rivers were so filthy. So a mineral bath and mineral water definitely did them some good. Oh, and you can pay 50 pence (about 80 cents) to drink a glass of it, so Lori and I split one. It was really warm and minerally and it left an odd aftertaste, but it wasn’t as terrible as some people had said (perhaps because I like drinking warm water anyway). And the bonus is that now I’ll be cured from all my ailments. A good deal for 50 pence.

The magical healing waters of Bath. Cheers!

Bath was a party town—a social place to spend holidays. The city buildings are made out of beautiful honey-colored limestone and are reflective of ancient Roman architecture (and I love Roman architecture!). We learned about the gambler Richard Beau Nash who is credited for inventing the polite society; he was respected and came up with rules of dress and interaction as well as curfews, etc., that we still feed off of today.

We also learned about ladies hair in the pre-French Revolution period. The women would add extensions on to their hair and do it up with different designs. It was called a coiffeur (I hope it is spelled right) and the most fashionable ladies would wear them up to four and a half feet high. They’d keep it in for a long time. At night they’d wrap it in wire or mesh to keep out the bugs and the mice, but it didn’t work completely. So when they’d finally take their hair down, out would come the bugs and mice. They’d use the mice fur to make fake eyebrows. Mmmmmm. All of this info made me grateful for my life today. After the French Revolution, these signs of status were no longer very sought after—another reason why that time period fascinates me.

Anyway, I learned a ton on that tour. For the rest of the time Lori and I walked around the city, visited a Quaker meetinghouse, ate our lunches, walked down the river, visited a few little shops, and retraced some of our steps from the tour. It was relaxing. Then the bus took us back to our hostel in Bristol.

I pretty much worked on homework for the night. I still need to finish my book for the History of the English Language class and prepare a presentation on it. I was actually able to find a place where I could be kind of alone and focus on reading (definitely a challenge on a trip like this). I enjoyed it.

I’d like to mention a funny language experience I had today. It was a pretty warm, sunny day and we were getting hot on the tour. Lori rolled up her pant legs and asked me if it looked stupid. I said it was cool and told her that I remembered hearing a friend once use the following sentence to describe a guy she thought was stylish: “He cuffed his pants before cuffing pants was cool.” Our tour guide, Cheryl, turned around aghast and said, “He WHAT?” And I repeated it and Lori showed her the cuffed pants. Afterward, I whispered to Lori, “Does ‘cuffing’ mean something bad in British English?” “I have no idea,” she responded. It wasn’t until about 30 minutes later that we realized why the situation was funny: in British English, “pants” means underwear! If they were to talk about what we call pants, they’d say “trousers.” Ha ha ha. So it sounded like I said, “He cuffed his underwear before cuffing underwear was cool.” I don’t really know what cuffed underwear would be like, but I hope that’s NEVER cool.

Journeys through Southern Wales (1 July)

I can’t believe it’s July! Today we didn’t spend quite as much time in the bus. We started out going to Cardiff Castle, in the center of the downtown. It wsa an awesome castle. One of the things that I enjoyed the most was gong through the the passageways of the outer wall. They were used as airraid shelters in World War two. As we walked through they had the windows blacked out and we heard old radio recordings and planes flying by. It really gave me a feel for what it might have been like to be in an airraid. The British suffered a lot during that war.

The keep of Cardiff Castle

I'm trying to look as happy as can be

[sidenote: This will give you an insight into Kendra. The group I was with in Bristol was a bit late getting back to the bus after the castle after purchasing our lunch to go. Some of them insisted that we run. I was actually telling a story as we ran—a story about my dad’s face-planting into rocks while biking. Being the graceful person that I am, I somehow managed to trip on a gravelly sidewalk and skid along the rocks. My hand an knee were minorly scraped and my food broke open a bit and I got the red sauce on my arm, shirt, and pants. It was a great start to the day. Kendra Grace Crandall—that’s my name. Not really]

Next we went to St. Fagans, an educational park that’s set up kind of like Nauvoo where you go around to different houses and get a feel for what the Welsh life was like. I especially enjoyed talking to some of the workers (taking notes on their dialect, of course), and enjoying the beautiful day. It hasn’t rained in a while! Strange.

Our last stop was to Tintern Abbey, a place I was very excited to visit. It is beautiful. I took my Kindle into the remains of the abbey and read Wordsworth’s poem, “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” outloud for everyone. I think I like it better now. Tintern Abbey is beautiful.

I walked in one of the doors in the nave of the abbey just as the sun came out and this is what I saw!

Now we’ve crossed into England via the Bristol Channel. We will be staying in Bristol for the next 3 nights. We have to pay for Wi-fi there, so you probably won’t hear much from me.

Wales from North to South (30 June)

Today was a bus-filled day. It started with an amazing run on the country roads outside of Beaumaris. I just can’t get over the clouds here! There is so much variation—they can be wispy and puffy, big and small, gloomy gray and pure white. I love it.

We spent the rest of the day on a bus going from the northern tip of Wales to the southern tip. If you ask a local what the best way through Wales is, they’d say that the best way is to leave Wales and take the freeway in England instead. But, we wanted to see Wales, so we spent she day on roads that were too narrow for our bus, going through small towns that had no food or facilities—it was awesome. Wales is gorgeous. We even got lost a few times, which added to the excitement.

We did stop in one quaint town, Beddgerlert, just to experience a Northern-Wales town. It was so beautiful! There was a river going through it with a beautiful arched stone bridge. Flowers lined the streets and hung out of window boxes. Plus, we got some delicious ice cream for 1.80 (1 pound, 80 pence). Good thing because it wasn’t until about 3:15 that we found a grocery store to stop at and get lunch!

Chrisse and I with some delicious gelatto-like ice cream in Beddgelert

(Parenthetical story: Yesterday I pulled out some money for Great Britain—the pound. Lori and I went to buy some Welsh cakes and I went to pay for them. I pulled out my handful of change and suddenly realized that I had no clue what this money was. I was trying to figure out how their money worked looking at each coin. Finally I laughed and asked the woman, “um . . . can you help me? I don’t know what these are.” She counted the coins out of my hand. We laughed and she said she felt like my school teacher. Ha. The British coins are interesting. The pound is the highest-value coin, but it’s pretty small. The 10-pence and 2-pence coins are much longer!)

We arrived at our hotel in Cardiff, Wales. We were about a 20 minute bus ride away from the city center, so we all took a bus in to the downtown. We had a bit of an adventure getting back. It’s a long story, but I’ll just say that the people of Wales are so kind and helpful. 

Downtown Cardiff. On the right is Cardiff Castle.