Rodger won't let us sleep!

WOW! For those who were concerned that we may have crashed over the Atlantic and died, don't worry. I didn't. I made it to London safely, sound and exhausted. 11 hours is 11 hours too many. I can't really sleep on planes so as Christian and Melissa managed some "Coach Class" spooning and slept, I was awake for all but maybe an hour. But, we made it all the same. Getting through customs was actually a breeze, we got a train then a cab and got to Hyde Park Gate. When we got in the cab driver, who we could barely understand through the accent and the silly little microphone-monitor thing that they use, asked us Which Hyde Park Gate? There are two." As sleepy, bewildered Americans we responded confusedly and not knowing what to say so we said "Try them both and we'll see." Hopefully one of us will divine the correct house. Luckily it was the "first" Hyde Gate park. We found it due to the HUGE "BYU" sign tacked outside on the railing. If it weren't for that, utter madness may have ensued.

So we got checked in and the boys get to live in the basement. (Please observe the photos)
It's cozy, decently sized and, of course, dank. Just like I wanted ;)

As we were milling about the flats Rodger and Lance kept reminding us not to sleep. Which went well until around 8:00 when I sat on my bed on my computer with the intention of blogging and literally fell asleep slumped over my laptop. Christian woke me up two hours later, but I was still able to sleep just fine when 11:00 rolled around.

Earlier that day we went shopping for a few groceries in stores that were organized completely helter-skelter from what we would think to be logical. (Cheese dispersed throughout the store by use and country of origin and the eggs not refrigerated next to the bread...?) We bought a little bit of stuff, then when we got back I finally found Heidi and we began some misadventures wandering about Hyde Park for 40 minutes or so. It was GORGEOUS.
Our favorite discovery in the park so far was the random 3-room shrine/temple with nothing in it but the odor of stale urine and some guy named Mike's phone number. It was ridiculous and epic to say the least.
We were both so crazy and tired, it's almost not funny.

Well, that was pretty much the first day. There was a nice little stroll about town where everyone acted like friggin Asian tourists and went around talking loudly, blocking traffic and taking pictures of EVERYTHING. I'm a little upset by the group tourist dynamic, in case you couldn't tell.

Anywho, that's all about that day. I'm sure more will come up later :)

Over and out.

I'm on a boat! (And by a boat, I mean a plane)

So I'm in the airport right now! OMGZ!! We are just sitting here waiting for them to start boarding the plane. It'll probably be another 30-40 minutes. So we wait. And then we get on the plane. And wait some more. 11 hours and 5 mins more...gah! But hey, I'm going to London!


We just exchanged a bunch of dollars for pounds and I've learned two things so far without even leaving America: 1) pound notes are HUGE, like too big to fit in my wallet huge; and 2) exchange rates are LAME. Watching $500 become 322 pounds is depressing. Lets pray that tithing blessings will allow me to keep eating and not just sit in the flats. ::fingers crossed::

Also, our airport terminal sucks. All the cool shops and stuff are outside of security. But we didn't know that so we decided to go through security first and then go see stuff. SURPRISE, there's nothing to see!! So we sit here. But that's ok. Christian bought an internet pass because he's scrambling to turn in some last-minutes papers to Rodger before the grade deadline tomorrow at noon and I'm taking advantage of it and blogging/goofing off on Facebook. :)

Anywho, I think that's it. Next time I write I'll be FRIGGIN' IN LONDON!!! YAY!

Cuz we don't want no dirty beaches...

Today was the last day in California, and so clearly the logical choice was beach day! It was a GORGEOUS 75 degrees in Thousand Oaks today, so we figured high 60s/low 70s for the beach (weather.com even confirmed it). The actual situation: LIES! It was freezing at the beach! We were driving down the canyon with INCREDIBLE weather, and no exaggeration, as soon as we hit the "Malibu City Limits" line there was a wall of fog and the temperature dropped by 20. No joke, I asked "Is it on fire?" because I was so bewildered by the fact that there would be so much cloud cover.



But, we are resilient so we pressed on and had our picnic at Zuma 7. It was freezing. We were bitter. I was mad. Worst beach day EVER! The irony being we are all about to cross the ocean to a land where everything is overcast and cold. Ugh! I wanted one day of sunshine before we left, but clearly the fates have conspired against it.

Anyways. We checked-in and printed our boarding passes! Less than 24 hours until London!!!! We've booked flights to Dublin for the travel weekend and Scotland for Christian's birthday and highland games!!!

My fellow theatre nerds will appreciate this more than the rest: there is a production of "bash: latter-day plays" by Neil Labute opening the day we arrive, and I loves me some Neil Labute!! :)

Also, in 12 hours exactly we will be leaving for LAX to go to London! SQUEE!! I'm sure I'll update from the airport. If not, keep watching for when I get to London!!

Leaving Provo: The Journey Begins!!

My study abroad adventure has begun! I started with a 10-hour road trip to my house in California on April 22. Being the phenomenal BYU student that I am I, of course, did no packing or cleaning until the last minute and consequently was awake for approximately 44 hours straight. But, thank goodness, we arrived safely to California without harm or accident. We, of course, being myself, Allan, Christian and Melissa. We'll enjoy a few days of relaxation and then off to London on Tuesday! Just let me go already!!

While Christian and Melissa were at a wedding in Newport all day Friday, Allan and I decided to do some play research and pick out some additional shows we are going to see :) After sifting through the riff-raff of British fringe theatre (including, but not limited to a South African soccer-playing drag queen and "Porn: The Musical") we've selected as of right in now about 7 shows to see for sure. There will undoubtedly be more that we find or whatever but we've got a good lineup so far. Most of it is small, random fringe stuff, but I do have planned to see "Billy Elliot" and "Hair" on the West End!! I'm so pumped!

Today we spent time researching Ryan Air flights in Europe for the travel weekend and we booked flights to Dublin for 6 pounds round trip! WIN. We've got a hostel we are looking at and we are also probably flying to Scotland for Christian's birthday in June (insert cliche "Braveheart" quote here)!! We also discovered the ISIC discounts we get for being poor college students and I'm super excited. I even get discounts in America with it! HOORAY!

Anywho, all I want to do it go to London. The end. I'll keep everybody posted with pics and video. T-minus 3 days and counting...

Jason