Melissa Jane

Rexburg!

2009-05-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

So I had the chance to go to Rexburg and visit my sister and her family finally since I got home from London. The kids were so cute. I played with them and babysat on friday while Hyrum took Sunni out for dinner and date night for her birthday just this past sunday. Then Saturday we woke up and went to Jackson, WY. It is a cute, small cowboy town. We hiked in the Tetons and got fudge. To finish up this amazing day we ate dinner at Big Judd's. It doesn't get much better than that. Here are some pictures from the adventure.

Churchill Museum

2009-03-14T16:09:00.001-07:00

On this past Monday our class went to the Churchill Museum and the Cabinent War Rooms. It was a very hands on museum and I loved it! You learn so much about Churchill's life and also about WW2. And then the Cabinent War Rooms are connected to the museum and it was where the bulk of the operations went on during WW2. It was so fun to have a glimps into what was life back then and to be able to see it thru the eyes of these people.

Also, keep in mind that Churchill is prized on his wit, which I admire, and this was one of my favorites so, I took a picture!

Bagpipes, Kilts, and a Sketchy Hostel!

2009-03-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to Scotland with 12 of my friends: Mary, Maddie, Hilary, Janna, Amy, Lauren, Patrice, Kiely, Elizabeth, Jenny, Maryanne, and Amanda. It was so much fun and I did see two men in kilts playing the bagpipes. It was so cliche! But let's start at the beginning. We arrive in Edinburgh and it isn't too late. We are walking around, all 13 of us, and we are looking for our hostel. We can't find it anywhere, and so we finally ask some of the bobby that we see walking around and they point us in the direction that we need to be going. We go and we walk into this back alley way and we walk past this opening and then we realized that that was our hostel. So we turn back around and go in. I kid you not, there were characterchers on the walls. And then you had to walk up about 60 steps to get to the hostel. During those steps we walked past a nice Pub that provided us with a great smell and crazy music into the night. Now not much rivals the comfort of your own bed, and let me tell you, this also does not rival the comfort of my bed! But nonetheless we were safe, thanks to Arnaud (another story, for another day) and nothing of mine was stolen, so I'm not going to complain too much. The next day we went to a castle,
hiked up Arther's Seat and saw the whole city of Edinburgh,

saw the birthplace of Harry Potter, meaning the pub where J.K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter,

and went to the Scottish Museum.

Then next day I went on a bus tour (yes, I am a tourist, so get over it) of the city and it took us a little bit out of the city near the bay. It was really fun and we went to the Botanic Gardens, where I was able to stand next to one of the oldest palm trees in one of the tallest green houses in Great Britain. Ya doesn't get better than that...

the Royal Yacht Britannia,

and went into the Scottish Parliament Building.

It was such a fun weekend and I really liked the city. It was big enough that there was always something that we were doing, yet small enough that we weren't overloaded with new stuff. I think that my favorite part was hiking up Arther's Seat. I loved being able to look over the city, but it was really windy, so a lot of my pictures you can't even see my face because my hair is blowing in it. But I loved it in Scotland and even though the hills were small, it made me feel like it was just a little bit more like I was in Provo. It was refreshing. I would just like to end by putting this disclaimer. The hostel we stayed at, as explain above, was sketchy and not the cleanest. Ergo, I didn't want to use the shower because I think I would have come out dirtier than when I went in. You can do the math. Please excuse the grease in my hair, and thank goodness for deoderant! But you know what they say, when in Europe, do what the Europeans do!

Greenwich

2009-03-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Last wednesday we took the river boat to Greenwich...It was so fun to be on the water and it was only about a 30 minute ride from London. While we were there we were able to participate in a plethera of activities which include the following.....

Riding on the River Boat,

Standing on the Prime Meridian,

Going to the Queen's House,

Seeing a crazy 24 hour clock,

Visiting the National Meritime Museum,

And going to the Planetarium, but I didn't get a picture of that. The planetarium was actually one of my favorite places because we got to sit down and look at the sky and they showed us a lot of things about constellations and the moon and the planets. It was a blast, and I really enjoyed Greenwich.

Blenheim, take 2......

2009-03-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

So after Stratford we took off to Blenheim Palace. I had been there before, when we went to Oxford, but I was happy to go back. It is so pretty and full of history. So just a little bit of background about the palace. It was built for the first duke of Marlborough for military service, but then the interesting part is that Winston Churchill was born there. His paternal grandparents were the 8th duke and dutches and then his uncle and aunt were the 9th duke and dutchess. Another cool thing about the palace is that they have just recently filmed a movie there called Young Victoria. I guess that people think that it looks similar to Buckingham palace and that's why they filmed it there. And the movie just came out and so we went and saw it and it was so much fun because we had been everywhere that the movie showed. This is the reason that I am putting up a picture of me pretending to be an eagle....they showed this statue multiple times in the movie because it is right in the gardens, and Maddie and I kept laughing because she also has one by a sphinx that was shown a lot. So overall Blenheim Palace was really fun...I still think that Blenheim is one of my favorite places so far.

Stratford-Upon-Avon

2009-03-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

A little less than two weeks ago we went to Stratford-Upon-Avon for one of our Wednesday fieldtrips. We visited almost all of the Shakespeare properties, which was a little much for me, but it was cool nonetheless. Later that night we went to a Shakespeare play called the tempest. It was put on by the royal shakespeare company. It was really good! Here are a few pictures from the trip.....

Me at one of the Shakespeare Properties...His wife's

house maybe? They kind of all look the same :)

Me feeding the ducks on the River Avon...

hence the name, 'Stratford-Upon-Avon'

So this is us at the theater...It was an amazing performance!

I loved a Shakespeare play...you can quote me on that!

The fattest Squirrel EVER!

2009-03-09T14:04:00.001-07:00

So I just had to show you a picture of the fattest squirrel that I found when Maddie and I were walking in the park the other day. It is huge and I tryied to take a picture by it and I pointed at it with my finger and it started to attack me, so I ran away screaming! For reals! So here it is...

Pancake Races

2009-03-09T13:12:00.000-07:00

So it has been quite awhile since I wrote on here, and I want to catch up a little bit. So the day before lent it is pancake day because they want to get rid of all of their extra flour and sugar before lent starts. So they decide to have pancake races. It was crazy and they are running and flipping and running. So I took a video of it, and that is what this is even though you can't see it very well.

I Signed the Magna Carta

2009-02-27T12:04:00.000-08:00

So not really, but I was at the place where they forced the King to sign it in 1215. So something funny about this is I guess that the English don't think that this is a very big deal (or that is what our bus driver Tony told us) but the Americans are the ones that think this is a big deal so we made a monument. It is just in this big field, kind of in the middle of nowhere called Runnymead.

Also something that is funny is that Maddie and I accidentally dresses alike, not the first time, and probably not the last time. Oh and another side fact, the last time that I wore this sweater it was to church, and there was someone else that was wearing a sweater, but he was a 10 year old little boy. Ya, that was embarassing!

The Queen's Weekend Escape

2009-02-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

Windsor Castle is the perfect place to escape from your worries. It is a luxurious castle set in the charming town of Windsor. It has hundreds of rooms, a giant and fully working doll house that belonged to Queen Mary (it has real plumbing and electric), giant state apartments, and the best security system in the land. So enough of my real estate talk, haha, I don't think that I am allowed to sell the Queen's castle. It was so big! I couldn't believe how nice it was. There really was a big doll house and the state apartments were really big. And we were told that the Queen lives there on the weekend, I don't know if that is true, but it is neat to think about it. Also we watched changing of the guard, and after we took pictures with the guard. So I thought that they were supposed to be serious, but he was laughing at me. So I accomplished the unaccomplishable feat, making the Queen's guard laugh. So Windsor was really fun, and I fully approve.

The Shakespearence

2009-02-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

About a week and a half ago we had the chance to go to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and tour around it. It was breath taking. It was a really cool theathre that they set up just like they had it in Shakespeare's time. Also during our tour, we learned a lot about how the plays were practiced and performed. Here are some of the facts that we learned: There were only men that played the parts, no women in the plays; the actors only had their lines for the performance a couple of days in advance and because they had to hand write every script, they wouldn't write out the whole script for everyone, they would only get their lines and the three words that came before their lines; they wrote everything on a roll that they would roll up...hence the term, someone's role in a play; they would perform a different play every night; they would practice the play only the morning of and then perform them that night, they would start practicing around ten in the morning and run through it one time to around one, and then have a one hour lunch break and start performing around 2; and the plays were three hours long, so they only ran thru it one time before performing. We learned a lot more, but I don't remember them anymore. So here are some pictures, and I'm sorry that I bored you with all of that information, it was interesting to me, and so I thought you might like to know that (and I thought that Sunni might like it, and because she is the only one that comments on my blog! Thanks Sunni!).

V-Day:1944

2009-02-26T13:50:00.000-08:00

This Valentine's Day was very interesting. 40 girls in one house...ya that was crazy, but it ended up being more fun than I thought it was going to be. We had a 40's theme and everyone got all dressed up and danced. I even put on red lipstick.....that might have been the first time in my life. We also did a Valentines gift exchange. So ya, it was a lot of fun and I would suggest to everyone that has to spend a Valentine's day with 40 girls, have a party, it doesn't get any better, (But I hope that no one has to spend a Valentine's day with 40 girls).

Cymru=Wales in Welch

2009-02-13T17:22:00.000-08:00

So these past couple of days we had a chance to visit Wales. It was so amazing and I think that Maddie and Mary can attest to this, but I think that Ihad a smile on my face for all of the 3 days. Wales is like England, but it is more rural, so I like that a lot and it means less people and everyone is more friendly. I love Wales! It was a lot of time on a bus, and I don't have all of the pictures but it was so fun. I'm going to show you just a few. So the first night we stayed in Cardiff. It was a descent sized town and it was pretty cool. We went into town after dinner that night and saw a movie. Wednesday night was my first night staying in a hostel, and can I say, what an experience that was. It was crazy, but our group had so many people, that we rented out the whole hostel, so that was nice. That day we stopped at an outdoor museum with pigs and cows and miniture houses that I would have hit my head on the doors, and Coch Castle. The next morning we woke up and drove and drove. It was nice because we drove pretty much from the very south tip of Wales up to the Northwest corner of the country. So when I wasn't sleeping on the bus (which I have found one of my new talents, I can sleep really well for long periods of time on the bus, ya be jealous of my skills!) I could just stare out the window and see all of the sheep and the green rolling hills. We finally made it to this island called Anglesey and it was a tiny town right on the sea called beaumaris. It was so BEAUTIFUL! We also saw a castle there! This one was cool and we could get on the roof again! That was fun because it looked out over the water! We stayed at a nice hotel there and had an amazing dinner and breakfast the next morning. We then drove all the way home the next day making 3 stops. 1. Chester, 2. Shrewsbury Abbey and 3. Coventry Cathedral. It was a long trip but so fun!

So I would like to make a few disclaimers about this post. Yes I am wearing the same jeans and jacket in all of my pictures, get over it. All I had was my backpack for 3 days and they take up too much room to pack extra. Another thing is, Welch is totally crazy and makes no since...for real. And lastly, I think that the Britains think that people are stupid and they post signs all over the place that point out the most stupid things!

So we would like to thank Maddie for this demonstration on how hard it is to speak and read Welch! It was so confusing...

The Tower of London

2009-02-13T17:06:00.000-08:00

On Monday we went to the Tower of London. We were supposed to go the Friday before, but the weather was so bad, that it got pushed back to Monday. Let me tell you, the weather was not much better. It was cold and raining! Real surprise? I think not! So it is a big tower/castle. It was pretty cool though and even though it was freezing, I really did enjoy myself. I saw the 7 ravens and the crown jewels. I saw some of the biggest diamonds and other assorted jewels, they were amazing!

Me using an old fashioned Bow and Arrow device of some sort, or an arrow shooter. I was definately more into the weapon than reading the description that I am sure was located right by it! Oops...

Mary and Amy showing you all how cold it really was!

Ok so I don't know if it looks like this to you, but I feel like I am getting closer to that 6 ft. line than I would like to be...what is wrong with me, I am still growing!
Tower Bridge, but with lots of raindrops on the camera, sad, but typical!

Changing of the Guard

2009-02-13T16:09:00.000-08:00

So last saturday we went to changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was so cool and I realized once I got there that 1. I didn't know anything about this and B. I didn't realize how big of a deal this was...There were so many people there and it was crazy. There were people everywhere. Tourists were crowded all over the place, and yes I fought my way to the front, I felt like A. an Asian Tourist and 2. an Old person beating young children away from the free samples at Costco. So ya, I pushed my way up to the front. But we had a really good view of the parade part, but next time we will have to push our way to the front so that we can see the actual changing of the guard part. It is either one or the other.

After that we decided that it would be fun to go to platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter in King's Cross Station. Don't judge me, but it was the third time that I have been there, but I will put some pictures up of this. And just so you know, I finished listening to the 7th Harry Potter book, so I am definately in a Harry Potter mood.

After we rode a bus and got lunch in Covent Gardens. It was really good. The rest of the day was me writing my talk and getting dinner for one of the girls birthdays. It was a fun day.

Blue Birds Over, The White Cliffs of Dover

2009-02-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

So I am so far behind, so I'm going to try and do this quickly, so that I can get caught up. So last wednesday we went to Dover Castle and the white cliffs of Dover. IT was so cool and the castle was pretty fun. But my favorite part about it was the WWII tunnels. So they were right by the castle and we got to take a tour around them. It was so fun, but I can't put up pictures of them because we weren't allowed to take pictures...but I promise, they were cool.

So then we drove for a while and we went to St. Augustines Abbey. It was cool, but it was all in ruins, so that was not quite as cool.

After that, you guessed it, we went to another cathedral...We went to Canterbury Cathedral. Yes, just like the one from the tales. This was the cathedral that Thomas Beckett was killed in. So all in all a pretty good day.

Stourhead...the best place ever

2009-02-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I am definately playing catch up. So this was the adventure that we had one week ago. We started out by going to Stourhead which is where part of Pride and Prejudice was filmed. It was so beautiful. The part of the movie that was filmed there was when Elizabeth runs across the bridge in the rain and Mr. Darcy comes after her and says that he loves her. It was so good and so pretty. I took a video because I didn't think that words or just a snap shot could describe the beauty of this place.

Here are some other pictures of Stourhead. This one is the view from the Pantheon.

This is a picture of Mary, Maddie and Me at the place that Mr. Darcy proposes. It is so beautiful.

After we left Stourhead we went to Winchester Cathedral, which, you guessed it, is very similar to all of the other cathedrals that we have seen. Don't get me wrong, it was really cool, but nothing super spectacular.

After that we went to Portchester Castle. It was a ran down castle that was really big, and was right on part of a channel. I don't think that it was the ocean, but there was a body of water that was right there by it. It was so cool and we were able to run around in this castle. It felt like I was playing in a huge playground. It was awesome. They let us climb up to the very top of the castle and look around. I also took a video of this because it was so cool. It was raining a little bit though, but it was still so fun.

Oxford

2009-01-28T12:54:00.000-08:00

Ok so I am going to have to play catch up for a little bit. So I will start with last Saturday. On Saturday we woke up really early and we went to Oxford. We were up at 6 and then on the bus by 7. We arrived in Oxford around 8:30 and we started out by looking in some shops and then we went to Christ's Church College and Cathedral.

This is a place that some of Harry Potter was filmed in and we took a few pictures there. We saw the stairs that all of the kids stand on in the first movie when they are waiting to get sorted by the sorting hat! It was pretty cool.

After that we looked at the picture gallery that is attached to the Cathedral. After that we went to lunch at a local pub. It was so yummy because we had left so early, even before we had breakfast, so lunch was greatly appreciated. After that we just walked around Oxford for while and found some good deals on Oxford shirts. Then when we were done with that then we went with Janna's aunt and her cousin to Bleheim Palace. The grounds and gardens around the palace were the most beautiful thing!

We took a walk around the gardens and they were so gorgeous. After that then we went back to Janna's aunt's house to have dinner. It was so good to have a home cooked meal. After that we took a bus back to London and we got home around 10:30. It was such a good day, but I was exhausted by the end of it, but I am so glad that I went.

The Town of Bath and Stonehenge

2009-01-21T13:47:00.000-08:00

Today we took off from the center at 7:15, so we were up super early, but we were able to sleep on the 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Bath. When we got to Bath, we got to look around an old Roman bath house and see a bunch of different things that were a part of that community. After we went around the bath we got to look around the town of Bath. There was a lot of cool things that we saw around. We saw the circus which is where nicolas cage has a house, and we saw a jane austen museum, but we didn't go in because it was quite pricey, and we saw the Bath Rugby team....a little bit creepy with their short shorts, but it is a good thing that i didn't get any pictures with them.

After we got done with Bath, we went to Stonehenge. It was so weird because i thought that it would be more off from the main roads and stuff...but it wasn't at all. we just drove up almost rigth to it. It was pretty cool. It was weird because I have seen so many pictures of Stonehenge all of my life, but then now today, I was right there seeing it with my own eyes, taking pictures of it. It really was so nice and fun to be able to experience that.

After that we went to yet another cathedral in salsbury. It was pretty cool and i got to see one of the last four remaining copies of the magna carta. that was pretty cool, but it was pretty similar to the other cathedrals that we have seen. But all in all it was a good day and i really enjoyed myself.

Madame Tussauds

2009-01-21T12:47:00.000-08:00

Ok so I would like to start out by thanking our very new President Obama. You might wonder why i am doing that, but it is because of him that i got to go to Madame Tussauds which is a wax museum...for free. It is usually 25 pounds, but because it was inauguration day, and they have a wax thing of Obama! But there were so many different wax people and even super heroes. I think that my pictures say it way better than my words can. It really was a lot of fun, and definately made better because i didn't have to pay for it.

THE ZOO!!!!!

2009-01-21T12:42:00.000-08:00

So, on Monday I went to the London zoo! It was so much fun and i saw so many animals. We did get a little bit lost on the way there, but we took a beautiful walk thru Regents Park which is the real park that 101 dalmations was based in...not the park by my house. So I didn't have any pictures on my camera, but pictures from the zoo are soon to come. After the zoo I came home and went for a run with mary....it was a lot of fun. So it was definately a good day!

I Heart Parks

2009-01-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

So Kensington Gardens is right by my house and i thought that i would post just a few picture of what it looks like because words will not do it justice. I just want to throw in that everytime i'm in it, it reminds me of 101 dalmations because it is a huge park with a pond and there are people there walking their dogs all the time. it is amazing and yes, i took these pictures, don't be too surprised, i have some talents in this life.

Westminster Abbey and around

2009-01-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

So yesterday we started out the day by going to westminster abbey pretty early in the morning. westminster is a big cathedral that a lot of famous people are buried in and if i'm not mistaken, all of the monarchs since william the conquerer in 1066 have been coronated there. so we weren't allowed to take pictures in the cathedral but i saw the graves of so many people. to name a few; jane austen, the bronte sisters, charles dickens, charles darwin, queen elizabeth the first, and so many others. all i can say from that is i'm so glad that they don't bury people in our churches because it was a little bit creepy. so like i said, no pictures inside, but here are some from outside...

After westminster we came home, ate lunch, and then went shopping. we went to the most expensive store in London. It is called Harrods, and to just give you an idea about prices there, I saw a fur coat that was 14,000 pounds, and that translates into 21,000 U.S. dollars. Crazy huh? but this store is GIGANTIC. They have a full on grocery store in the store and tons of places to eat and it is crazy. They had anything that you wanted you could find it there. They had a place that they sell ice cream there and it was 12 pounds...18 U.S. dollars. I like ice cream, but not that much. But, needless to say, I did make a purchace. I found designer jeans for only 30 pounds which was really on sale and they are so cute, so now when I wear them and people tell me they like my jeans and ask me where I got them, i can say LONDON! This store though was like a mall. It was crazy. But directly after we walked out of the store we saw....a ferrari. No joke, it was so nice and if my memory is not mistaken I believe that there were two parked in a row.

Later we saw a street performer and he was a juggler. He was juggling two huge knifes and an apple on a unicycle. And the unicycle was probably 10 feet off the ground. crazy!

I came home and helped with dinner and then later that night we went out and i had my first experience on a double decker bus. I was always too afraid to go by myself but there was a group of us and we finally braved it. It was a great day in london!

our adventure to cambridge

2009-01-15T00:03:00.000-08:00

so yesterday we went to cambridge...it was pretty fun. come to find out that cambridge is a collection of 34 different colleges and they are just all in the same town. on our way there we stopped at an old roman ruins called verulium (i think thats how you spell it) and saw a museum that goes along with the ruins. we saw the remains of an old bath house.

after we walked to an old cathedral that was built some time in the 11th century. it was called st. albanes cathedral. it was so big, but they said that not that many people actually go to church there. as we were walking up to the cathedral, we couldn't see any thing because it was so foggy, and then all of a sudden there was a huge cathedral in front of us. it was really neat inside.

after the cathedral we went to an american war cemetary. it is one of only 14 cemetaries out side of the U.S.A. that americans are buried in from ww2. it was really neat, but sobering. there were around 3000 buried but then there were 5000 that were on the wall of the missing.

after the cemetary, then we went to cambridge. while we were there we went to the fitwilliam museum, which is a collection of pictures and artifacts from many different cultures.

then we just walked around the town for a while and shopped a little bit. at 4:45 we had to meet to wait for evensong that was in st. johns cathedral. it was neat, but it was pretty long and it was a full on catholic service, i didn't know that i would experience that at a byu study abroad. it was a good day but pretty long.

china town and trafalger square

2009-01-14T15:03:00.000-08:00

so on tuesday we went to china town and we tried mochi....it is this weird pounded rice thing that has flavored mung bean in the middle. also it was pretty cool because it they are setting up for chinese new years which is at the end of the month so it looks pretty cool :)

after we went to china town we went to trafalger square and then to the national gallery....it was beautiful to look at all of the cool paintings. we couldn't take any pictures of the gallery, but i have some of trafalger square.

later that night, we went to les miserables. it was amazing...i had no idea what the play was about, but it was so good. i would recommend it to everyone

natural history museum

2009-01-14T14:47:00.000-08:00

On monday i went to the natural history museum and saw so many cool things. it reminded me a lot of the natural history museum in New York. But it was so big...we only made it thru the blue zone, so we will have to go back again. also it was the first day of rain that i experienced in london. we had to walk all the way to the museum in the rain, but it was fun to experience.

LONDON

2009-01-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

So I made it to London, after hardly any sleep and lots of delays for icy planes and airports, I made it. So the centre is pretty cool, and at least today its not too cold here so we went for a walk and were able to take some pictures. I love the park that is close to our house. It is so pretty. But so far I love London :)

The Beginning

2009-01-03T00:33:00.000-08:00

so i decided that i would make this....nalani, i couldn't figure yours out so i had to make my own, but i still love you and i will tell you all about it tomorrow. so ya, i want to try to keep it updated while i'm in London...we'll see how that goes.