Monday, January 6

Two Years Ago Today

…I landed in London to begin the best adventure I've ever had.
I spent four months living at 27 Palace Court for my study abroad through BYU. Although I love the USA and wouldn't want to live anywhere else permanently, I really miss London. Especially these things:

-Amazing architecture
-Museums
-Musicals/plays
-Bangers and mash
-Pasties
-Kensington Gardens
-Visiting castles
-Little English towns
-The Lake District (favorite place ever)
-Green everything, even during the winter
-Portobello Market
-Saturdays at Camden Market (especially Bang Bang Chicken)
-Living with friends
-The rain
-Big Ben
-St. Paul's Cathedral
-Borough Market
-After-dinner walks with Christi and Abbey in Holland Park
-Going on cool city tours almost every day
-The gardens everywhere
-The classiness of the city
-Going to class in my pajamas
-Giant meals all together with my group
-Exploring and doing new things

I think that London is what really started my love of travel. I really really miss being able to see something new every day and always having something to do (like my heart aches. Seriously). Every single time I think about my study abroad, I'm this weird mixture of happy and sad. It is definitely a bittersweet thing. It's also something I try not to talk too much about because generally the people I'm with weren't on my study abroad and I know they don't exactly understand or find it as great as I do.

Buuut I still talk about it because while I was there I did all these things (not all of them in England):
 Traveled to Rome.
Ate gelato on the steps of the Vatican.
Saw the Colosseum.
Toured Stourhead Gardens (where a few scenes in the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice were filmed).
Saw Stonehenge.
Taught these crazy kids in Primary.
Ate this thing.

 Hiked through Grasmere (home of William Wordsworth).
 Climbed the Eiffel Tower.
 Made gargoyle faces in front of Notre Dame.
 Toured Versailles.
 Made it up to Sacre Coeur.
Spotted bunnies in Beatrix Potter's garden.
Fell in love with/backpacked through Ireland.
I used to be kind of embarrassed by all of these pictures because A) it's really humid in England so makeup/hair don't cooperate, B) there are no outlets in the bathrooms so it's almost impossible to do your hair, C) I really didn't sleep much so I always looked like a zombie, and D) I really didn't know how to use my camera yet. But then I realized that whether I look great or not, I still love all these pictures because they remind me of all the amazing things I did in Europe.
You have no idea how hard it was to only use these pictures. I have about 10,000 other ones to choose from and I didn't even go through them all to find pictures for this post.

I'm a little sad that I'm not in England seeing new things and exploring new places, but I'm so glad I was able to go on my study abroad. And I'm also glad to be back in America where we have real ice cream shakes and faucets that have adjustable temperatures (instead of just one faucet for boiling hot water and one for icy cold water).
If someone ever wants to take me back to the Lake District though, I won't complain.

4 comments:

  1. This post almost made me cry. So so good! I will go back to Lake District with you anytime!

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    1. I almost cry every time I think about our study abroad. Haha like I'm more sad about it being over than I am about high school or college being over. Is that pathetic? And yes please. I love the Lake District more than anywhere else on earth. I even made my parents go stay in Ambleside again with me when they came to pick me up. I vote we get a group together and go.

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  2. Even though it was hard to let you go, I knew you would love this study abroad and remember it all your life. I'm so glad you got this once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'd go back with you anytime. If we could just talk Dad into it ;)

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    1. I don't think we'll talk Dad into it . . . but we could have a mother-daughter trip!

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