Day 7 Paris

Friday

We were in a hotel room with just one other person last night. It was awesome! Sleeping I think is better. And its just not so chaotic and apparently its like this from here on out almost every night.

Erica and I woke up a little early and walked across the square to use free wifi. Pictures in Brussels should be up soon.

We ate breakfast. More croissants and cheese! As soon as we were heading for the bus it started to rain. It rains on and off like London. We took the metro two stops and made it to the European union. Don't ask me what happened in the next two hours cause I have no idea. The visit was so boring and I was just dying!! Didnt comprehend a thing. I fell asleep and people were plotting to stick a pen up my nose. Even professor Godfrey was nodding off...

BTTB :) to change and then we grabbed some snacks for the bus trip and ate some frites! Frites weren't anything special in my book.

The journey to Paris began a little after 1pm. I slept most of the first leg and then we stopped at a rest stop and there was a sign "wifi"...I've never seen so many people from one bus get off so fast. Hahah you'd think we were being deprived!!

BTTB for a little less than 2 hours! We left around 4:30pm so we were making pretty good time I think. Addison was in charge of music and the number 1 song in Germany came on...we all had a good laugh about it. It was catchy! We just had no idea what they were saying. Haha

We hit some major traffic with only 17 kilometers to go. It took us 45 min to drive 1 km...the boys found some entertainment which will be posted on Facebook soon. So hysterical!

After we finally made it into Paris around 7:30 some of us wanted to get food for breakfast and some wanted dinner. I headed to the market with Deanna and Erica. It was quite interesting. I've decided the french hate Americans and I love free plastic bags. Also, I miss my cereal and normal milk. :( Patrick, the best bus driver, took us on a tour of Paris from 9-11:30! It was awesome! Pictures say a lot of what we saw.

Now I'm back in my room wasting sleep time on wifi but we haven't had it in so long I just needed to update!! Deanna and I managed to get in the same room after a little rearranging...long story. But I'm off to bed!

Ps. Welcome home Elder Wilcox!!

Day 6 Delft/Brussels

Thursday

I had wifi last night so I stayed up a little longer then I probably should have. We had a 5am wake up time to get ready to to travel to Flora Holland, then Delft, then The Hague Temple!

The flower auction was crazy! There were flowers everywhere and it smelled amazing in the warehouse. The auction part was confusing...I just saw a bunch of mostly men around computers with a big screen in front of them and racks of flowers circle through the room from the warehouse. Seemed like organized chaos!

We headed back to the bus (which is super nice compared to trying to find trains or flights) and went the Delft. This little town is so darn cute. It's known for its blue and white pottery that I'm sure most people have seen. We had so much time in such a small town; a lot of us got tired of walking around and just plopped ourselves in some chairs with tables, some had sodas and some stroop waffles! (I was a little sick of carbs at this points...my body wanted vegetables...comes later) After an hour of people watching we headed to...THE BUS!

I took a snooze on the next trip to the temple. We got to the little temple and it was so peaceful! It made me a little sad cause it's the one thing that has been closest to whats at home! That's one thing I love about the church. You have it wherever you go. We did baptisms and then we stopped to grab a quick bite.

I picked up some carrots!!! They have never tasted so good, holy moly. And a yogurt and I saw digestives (they are like a graham cracker cookie half covered in chocolate) and I had to get them!! Kayce, thank you for getting me hooked. Erica and I were so happy that there's a picture included on facebook with our food.

Back to the bus! (maybe ill abbreviate this to BTTB cause it'll be on every post from here on out) Our journey to Brussels begins at 7pm!

I passed out on the bus ride! It was much needed. We made a pit stop at the atominium (spelling??) which is basically a giant building in the shape of an atom. It is the Eiffel tower of Belgium according to patrick our bus driver.

We arrive in Brussels around 9ish and there were pretty much three things we all wanted to do. 1.eat chocolate 2.eat a waffle 3.see the little boy peeing statue :) well, we did all three and saw even more of the city! It's much more alive than London at night. The chocolate was super silky smooth and the waffles were caramelized almost, super yummy!! Kinda wish we were all staying here for more than a night! The pictures I don't think do justice for how open and pretty this place is. This just might be my favorite city so far. Along with Delft being the cutest town. Tomorrow is business visits and traveling most of the day to Paris!!

Day 4-5 London/Amsterdam

Getting tired of my long, wordy blog posts? Well guess what...this one has some pictures and you can see more on my Facebook page (just add me as a friend if you aren't...I'll be flattered!)

Tuesday.

We got to sleep in a little today! Today was our free day, but a lot of us wanted to get up and get to the tower of London. Ate breakfast and were walking to the tube by 8:45.

The tower of London was pretty cool. It seems like a very big attraction for tourists. The crown jewels were held in there which was my favorite part. Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed so no pictures of the massive diamonds. I think all of our legs are slowly dying cause we kept on finding benches and sitting for 5 min then walking for 10 then getting tired again haha.

Some of the girls wanted to go see the british library before the treck to Harry Potter; I had to stay with the group but I just sat on a bench right inside and people watched. My dogs were barking! Plus, people watching is one of my favorite things!! Haha Dave hates it cause I'm always distracted slash just staring at people.

We were on our way back to the tube when we saw lots of people crowded around a hotel entrance. We asked who they were waiting for...the Spice Girls!! Oh yeah we saw them! Ok just kidding....it was them but they were taking their sweet time to come out and we had to make our Harry Potter tour time so we had to leave. Super lame.

Harry Potter was awesome!! Pictures say a lot...there coming I promise! We saw a lot of the real sets and props used for the movies at the Warner brothers set. We have all been having money troubles towards the end of our stay in London cause we are trying to get rid of our cash but we needed cash to get back on the bus! Haha the bus driver was a saint however and just let us all on for the 1 pound we had! Thank you mister bus driver!

Some of us were hungry after and we saw some chick out on the streets of Leicester square with 50% off coupons to a little restaurant. We broke college students took that deal however they barely made our 45 min time limit! We booked it through china town trying to get to the theater on time for Singin in the Rain. People were probably thinking "those crazy Americans" haha.

The musical was awesome! It helped that we were third row..."the splash zone". It really rains and the actors kick lots of water on you! It was funny and a musical I'd recommend!

We all made it safely back to the hotel and I showered, repacked my stuff, laid out my clothes for a early 5:30 wake up, and now I'm in bed. Tomorrow we travel to Amsterdam! (lets do some drugs!! If only I needed more field experienced for my substance abuse class haha JUST KIDDING, TOOTS AND POP!) until tomorrow!

Wednesday

We had an early 6am checkout from the hotel and headed to Earl's Court tube station for the last time. We took that to King's Cross where we boarded the eurostar train to Brussels and then to amsterdam! Pretty awesome I must say. I wish the states had more public trains like that one. I would ride it all the time!

I took a little snooze listening to my girl carrie underwood. Then, I woke up in brussels! We all forgot that the language is not English from here on out... This should be fun. First we thought our train to Amsterdam was on platform 19 then a native said 5...they were wrong it was really 19! We didn't make the first train obviously so we crashed in the middle of the terminal for an hour. Ps. I'm learning how to hold my pee. It cost 50 euro cent to go to the bathroom... Awesome

We got on the next train and realized it stopped at the airport...not all the way to Amsterdam, but it was pretty simple once we realized the next train on the same platform was our train to Amsterdam! This language barrier is not the simplest but we are working on it!

There are so many bikes! Holy cow!! We got to hotel van gogh and it's a lot nicer than London surprisingly. The shower head actually stays on the wall! Haha we are in bunk beds, but the best part is free wifi and more than one outlet.

Our bus driver is pretty funny. His name is Patrick and he's from holland! He decided to give us directions to Dams Square...we walked and walked and walked and walked and over an hour later we were on the opposite side of the town. We had to take the tram to get to the square and by this point we are all starving. Last thing we ate was at 7am and at this point it was 7:20pm. We went to this tiny pizzeria that barely held all of us spread out.

The pizza was pretty good! I think anything tasted good for how hungry we were. We headed back to our meeting spot and the two guys left us 7 girls to go check out what the boat rides were all about. We girls are not exactly comfortable being by ourselves in amsterdam. Luckily they were quick and we only got a few creepy looks...

We wanted to make sure we got back by dark so we got back on the tram and made it back in a fraction of the time. The stroop waffle places were all closed :( but they were right near the Amsterdam sign so we took some pictures. By this point we were all ready to take advantage of free wifi!! Back to the hotel!!

Amsterdam is definitely not my favorite. Glad we aren't here for too long...13 hours to be exact from start to finish!!

GO CHECK OUT PICTURES NOW!!

Day 3 London

Monday.

Ate breakfast and headed off to our first business. We went to the rio tinto in London to compare to what it was like at home. Then we had some free time and I felt like I was going to die. My stomach was not happy with me! So everyone ate at this Japanese place that looked really good...just not for me at the time :( right around the corner from the restaurant was the tower of London and the London bridge. I kept singing "London bridge is falling down" in my head haha. We didn't have time for the tour so I think some of us are going to go back tomorrow morning.

We then headed off to our second business visit with the bank of england...it was more of like a museum video...we didn't really meet with any businessmen.

Leicester square is where all the shows are and those of us who werent going to le mes wanted to find something cheap for tonight. We bought mousetrap tickets for 7:30.

We had some time and I heard Oxford street is cool so we went shopping up there. I bought two cute tops at this crazy busy store called Primark. It was super crowded so we left and decided to try the double decker bus. Too bad we didn't realize it stopped before we got to where the show was haha. Luckily there was a tube stop right there. Loving the tube! We quickly grabbed a bite to eat (My stomach finally settled down) and headed to the theater.

The theater was really cramped and the seats were really upright. We were laughing saying they should put these chairs in the classrooms to keep people awake! (it's worse than the MARB I think) the play was ok...kinda slow, but I'm happy with the purchase.

After, the three of us just took the tube back to the hotel. I took a shower and went to bed!
I honestly feel like I've been in London for forever. Probably doesn't help that I'm just waiting for July 13th to talk to Dave!! It's just so fun watching the other engaged girls talk to their fiances...I'm still loving this trip!! Would be even worse being at home with not a lot to do :)

Today's blog will be coming soon! And pictures will be up when I have more than just wifi on my phone! :)

Day 1-2 London

I made it!! I was super tired last night and didn't blog. My sleep felt more important! Also, I didn't have wifi...So I'm writing this while I have wifi in sacrament meeting...don't judge. Gotta do whatcha gotta do!

After being delayed in Salt Lake for 3.5 hours I got to JFK. Me and nearly half the airport missed all their connecting flights and were stuck. There were 4 students from my study abroad and the assistant director and her husband. Plus about 15 students from another study abroad. There were only 3 seats on the final 11pm flight to Heathrow. Then the plane boarded and they kept saying there were more...2 more seats...5 more seats...2 MORE seats! I was trying to be nice and let the other study abroad go all together since they didn't have a leader, but 2 girls from my group already went on and I said, "I'm going!!" I raced on with maybe 2 seats left. I original was assigned to an aisle seat, but this tall British fellow seemed annoyed that he got reassigned to a middle seat so I switched with him. The ride over wasn't bad. I slept for maybe an hour but luckily there were movies! I watched breaking dawn finally, but I didn't like it...it was very weird.

We arrived at the airport around 1:30pm London time. My bag didn't make it on the plane which I kinda expected would happen, but it's suppose to be here today. I may or may not have to go pick it up...they said they would deliver it but apparently they have a lot of bags.

Ok. So I arrived in Heathrow and traveled on the tube to Earl's Court station and the Mowbray Court Hotel (proudly a two star hotel...yes, they have a sign that says their status Haha) was right around the corner.

Then the four of us that made it took showers and then met up with one other person and just walked around the area. We only had like an hour before we were meeting for dinner, so we didn't want to go too far. Side note about the showers. We have all concluded that this use to be a hostel. There are 6 beds and a bathroom that is about the size of a cruise bathroom that we think was just added in the bathroom.

We went to what seemed like an Irish pub for dinner. I shared a BBQ burger and fish and chips with Erica. We both were so hungry; we didn't feel like branching out too much on the first night haha. After dinner Erica an I wanted to head up to Westminster...basically just trying to stay awake for a little longer.

We walked around Westminster. Saw Big Ben...Which looked really short and fat when I first walked out of the tube station. Haha we saw the Abby and took the traditional telephone booth picture :) we then headed trough a park towards Buckingham Palace.

After that we headed up to Piccadilly Circus which is very similar to times square...not as big, but similar. After walking around for 2 hours we were ready for bed...or at least I was! So we all headed back to the hotel.

The breakfast this morning consists of a lot of pastries! I will be eating cressants rice crispies or toast for breakfast until wednesday. We do a lot of walking so let's hope I don't gain any lbs!!

I'm surprised about how many Americans are in this ward. The church building is also very unique.

After  church we went to Hyde Park had a little FHE where we also saw people debating on soap boxes! Well, not really soap boxes, but it was very interesting. Some old english woman was arguing at the foreigners about how they are taking over their country. Kinda funny for us to watch.

Then we headed over to The British Museum: saw some nifty things, sat outside and people watched, then went back on the tube towards Trafalgar Square. There was a festival that just ended so everything was pretty closed off, but we saw the Olympic countdown. A lot of us were craving pizza so we headed to a little hole in wall and had some pizza and spaghetti...not that we won't be having a ton of that in Italy.

We just headed back and Jay was willing to lend me his Wifi connection so I could up load this so I don't want to take too much of his time. Pictures will be posted later on my blog and on facebook when I have free wifi somewhere.

London is beautiful. It's definitely and older city, but it reminds me a lot of D.C. The architecture is beautiful and very impressive! The weather is definitely colder than we had all planned. Walking to church today was a little chilly. It's hard to plan when apparently Italy is super hot right now. Its pretty overcast...what I expected with London.

That's all for now!!

Happy Sabbath!!

Are We Having Fun Yet?

I've been in the Salt Lake City Airport for almost 5 hours and I've got an hour and a half until our flight is suppose to leave....I'm praying we don't see a 4th delay. Hopefully we will get on our flight to JFK and then get on a flight to Heathrow, but my original flight was the last nonstop from JFK to Heathrow so we might have to make another stop if we want to get there Saturday afternoon. At least I'm not alone! I'm with 2 other girls on the trip and our assistant director. 

Erica, the girl in the blue, is the official blogger of the study abroad so you can also follow hers at europebusinessabroad.blogspot.com. Who knows if you all will have anything to read about if we never leave SLC. I'm hopeful! We haven't had a time change for over an hour so things are looking up!! First stop London...Amsterdam, Belgium, Paris, Luxembourg, Cologne, Hiedelberg, Munich, Salzburg, Venice, Parma, Florence....and last but not least, Rome :) Until my next post. Ciao!

Happy Birthday, Army!

It was actually a few days ago, but my step-dad sent this to me in a email and I just had to repost it.

On 06/14/12, United States Army Chief of Staff wrote:

Today, we celebrate the 237th birthday of our Army.

For 237 years, our Soldiers, Civilians and Families have been the strength of our Nation in peace and at war.

Today, America's Army is engaged in nearly 150 countries around the world, on 6 of 7 continents, with over 94,000 Soldiers deployed today and 94,000 forward stationed. Our Nation depends on its Army to defend the shores of our homeland, defeat enemy forces abroad, and help with recovery efforts in the wake of natural disasters.

We have the best equipped, best trained, and best led Army in history because of the 1.1 million professional Soldiers who serve in the Active Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve, as well as the dedicated service of our Army Civilians. It is our Army's competence, adaptability, moral character, and resolute commitment that defines us as professionals and guarantees our long-standing sacred trust with the American people.

I'm proud of your accomplishments, your sacrifice, and your selfless dedication to our Army and to the Nation. Today, on its 237th birthday, we honor our Army and the remarkable men and women, past and present, who have embraced our Nation's call to service. Army Strong!

Today, Dave takes his PT test which includes running, push-ups and sit-ups. This day is probably what was causing him the most stress. I don't blame him since it's a big contributor of what he gets to pick as a branch. Keep him in your prayers! 

I'm so excited for the adventures that are ahead for Dave and I. Who knows where we will end up, but that's the fun part I think :) I'm so grateful to have found him and I can't wait to be an army wife! 177 days!!