Re-Americanization

June 20-24, 2010

My process of re-Americanization after my European adventures officially began in DC. On Sunday we had cake celebrating both Father's day for Mike and my birthday. Mike and Alexis gave me my very own copy of Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr! They were so great to me. We spent most of my time here seeing the DC sites. Unfortunately Mike had to work - that's what you get for being responsible and stuff :) Poor guy. But I had marvelous company in Ryder and Alexis. Ryder is so big now! He can already swing a baseball bat and dribble a soccer ball! It's insane, but not surprising considering who his parents are. We walked along the Mall on the first day. We saw the WWII, Vietnam, and Lincoln memorials and the reflecting pool of course. There was a random concert going on at the WWII memorial - the LAPD band and some My favorite was definitely the Lincoln Memorial. I kept thinking of that part in Night at the Museum 2 when they're talking to Abe - "blah blah blah - I never lie!"

It reminded me a lot of my brother Josh too, mostly because he can quote that part of the movie perfectly. It was also really neat to read Lincoln's speeches, which are carved into the walls. He was such an amazing leader, definitely one of my favorite inspirational hero people. We also got to walk past the back of the White House. I waved to Obama...I'm not sure if he saw :) It was so cool to be so close to the White House. It's amazing.

We went to a few museums during my stay, including the Air and Space Museum where we saw the Lunar Lander (awesome!) and Amelia Earhart's plane, the Natural History Museum where we saw tons of dinosaurs and a giant shark jaw bone, and the American History Museum where I saw the ruby slippers and Kermit the Frog and Fonzie's jacket and Michealangelo (the ninja turtle)!

It was amazing. I went to one of the art museums by myself and saw some awesome Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, and Picasso - all my favorites. That was really neat. We hiked to Great Falls one of the days too - It was gorgeous! So fun and green and HOT. I think one of my favorite moments of the week was when I saw the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I couldn't help but wonder if there just might be a map on the back of one of them, but I was mostly impressed by the importance of these documents - it was so neat to see the actual documents, hand-written, with real signatures of people that I've read about and studied - Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Hancock, etc. I was such a neat experience, and it reminded me of how much I really do love the USA. It made me re-appreciate it. I was feeling a bit more British than I thought, but I am back to almost fully embracing my American-ness. I do love America, but I have a special place in my heart for Britain. I think I always will. However, I think my absolute favorite part about this week was just chilling with Mike, Lex, and Ryder. They're so awesome, and they treated me so well. I love them so much, and I am so glad I decided to stop by and visit them. They are simply the best. And Ryder is so darn cute!!! I loved this week. I am glad to be back in Utah though. It's nice to just sit for a little while and hang with my parents. I move back to Provo soon, and I start work in Provo next week, so complete laziness doesn't last terribly long. But long enough :)

Three Countries in One Day - daaaaaaang

Saturday, June 19, 2010

This morning we caught a cab at 5 to take us to the train station for the Chunnel. Our taxi driver couldn’t really speak English, but he was really nice. He made some comment about football, to which we replied “no” – that seems to be the safest thing to say when you don’t understand a question. I once, while working at Best Buy, had a guy ask me if I was married and I didn’t understand what he said so I said yes. Oops. It got him to go away though (he was weird), so I guess that’s good. Anyways, we got on the chunnel and rode back to London and spent the afternoon picking up chocolate on Queensway, the street near the Centre. It was weird being back there and being familiar with the roads and shops. It felt like home. But not as home as the States feels – don’t worry Mom, I’m still coming home J

I was really anxious to get to the airport just in case anything went wrong and it’s a good thing I did because we didn’t know which terminal the flight was leaving from so we had to ride a couple of different trains and then the security was super tight so they searched my bag and got mad at me because I forgot I had a can of hair mousse in my carry-on that was too big and such. Needless to say, it took a long time to get to our terminal. But we did! (the pic is of Tiffany and me waiting to board) And the flight didn’t seem that long to me. They had an awesome selection of movies and TV shows on the Delta entertainment thingy, including an episode of Doctor Who! So, first I watched that (it was “Midnight,” a really good episode) and then I watched Young Victoria (which I LOVED!), then When In Rome (which was not very good but kind of enjoyable), and then Leap Year (which also is very predictable but I enjoyed immensely because of Matthew Goode). I read my new leisure book, Michael Crichton’s Timeline, for a while and before I knew it I was in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport! I bid Tiffany farewell because she was continuing on to SLC and I found my way towards my next terminal. I pulled out my cell phone for the first time in almost 2 months and I called my mommy! Yay! It was awesome. I am proud to say that I didn’t really miss having the phone. I mean, it’s super nice and I need one, but it was also nice to have a bit of a break. I texted some people – woohoo – and then I got on my flight to Washington D.C. My brother Mike picked me up at the airport – yay!!! I’m so excited to be here. And it’s good to be somewhere surrounded by Americans. What better place to begin my re-Americanization than the nation’s capitol? It’s so good to see Mike and Lex and Ryder, their little boy. He is so big! But now I am exhausted. Three countries in one day, totaling to about 17 hours of travel time, is extremely exhausting. But hopefully, since it’s the perfect time to sleep here in DC I will be just fine and avoid as much jet lag as possible. Goodnight friends! It’s good to be back in the states. Just watch out for my word vomit about Europe. Everything reminds me of something in London or Paris – everything. It’s like I’m a returned missionary ready to spew mission stories. But it’s all because I loved it over there, so just deal with the annoyingness please J Thanks in advance.

Brother Young quotes from English class not to be forgotten: “There are six snipers in the corners of this room. If you don’t answer my question now, they’ll blow your heads off……….You’re all dead.”

Natalie asked him to repeat the question. He condescendingly mimicked her in response.

“Well, we could read that poem. In fact, we should, but we’re not going to because….I don’t like it.” (pretty much sums up the entire class)

The Final Day in Paris

Friday, June 18, 2010

We got Whit off safe and sound this morning at 4:30. She’s headed back to the states. We slept for a little while after walking her to the taxi station and then we got up to go back to the Eiffel Tower, this time to ride to the top. Unfortunately, it was a bit foggy in Paris this morning, so the view from the top was not as grand as I had hoped, but it was still awesome. We took many pictures.

And then we descended and headed off to Montmartre, the artist district, to see the Sacre Couer, a church on the top of a hill. This is the area where Picasso lived during his Rose Period. We arrived at the base of the hill and were accosted by men about whom I had fortunately been forewarned. They slip string around your finger and weave you a friendship ring before you can say no, and then they charge you for it. I almost got caught, but I pulled free and kept climbing the hill. It was kinda a scary experience – they were really pushy. But I’m fine. We went up to the Sacre Couer and went inside – it’s absolutely gorgeous. It still baffles me that all of these churches and temples are open to the public to just come in whenever. And most of them are still functioning churches – they have services and everything, right along with the tourists. That’s totally a foreign concept to me, since LDS temples are definitely open to the general public and require an ecclesiastical recommend to get inside. It’s very interesting.

After the Sacre Couer we went back towards Notre Dame to grab a Panini from our Panini friend (he gave us free crepes again – yay!) and meet up with a free walking tour group. We walked all over Paris with them and got bits of history along the way. It was really fun – our tour guide was a riot. She had far too much energy ha ha but that’s a good thing for a tour guide I think (see picture at left). After the tour we hunted for souvenirs and dinner. I bought a French beret – a real French beret! Woo! Unfortunately, by the time we had found a place for dinner and rushed over the the Musee d’Orsay it was closed. This was the museum I was most looking forward to – it’s full of impressionist art, like Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, etc. – all my favorites. Bummer!

But since it was closed we went to the Louvre. It’s kind of amazing when you can just pop on over to the Louvre. Amazing! So we visited Mona Lisa again. She’s doing well. A little bored, but good J We returned to the hotel and I tried to rearrange my clothes and stuff so they were under the weight limit. We’ll see if it worked tomorrow. It probably didn’t.

Paris holds the key to your heart

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Today we slept in! Not completely in, but enough to feel rested. We decided to take a train out to Versailles to see the palace – it was absolutely amazing! One of my favorite places I’ve been this summer so far. It was huge and beautiful and ornate. The Hall of Mirrors was probably my favorite part of the actual palace.

But the best part overall was Marie Antoinette’s hamlet, situated in a park a little ways from the palace. Oh my goodness, I could have died from how cute it was! I loved it so much! Thanks to Mama C who recommended we go. It was like a fairytale village, straight out of a story book. And while we were there it began to rain a bit, making it somehow more picturesque. I could hardly believe it. I can totally see why Marie Antoinette would prefer it to the palace.

After our journey home we ventured out to have some dinner. We decided we needed to have at least one legit French meal while we were here, even though the legit food is like 3 times more expensive than the American or store food. So we found a little café and we ate there – the most expensive meal I’ve ever had, but boy was the salmon amazing! It was probably the most amazing food I’ve ever had, so I guess that’s what you pay for, right? It was fun to have a real Parisian dinner.

After dinner we hopped on the metro to find the Arc de Triumph, and on our way we encountered some accordion players who actually weren't terribly talented but were actually quite entertaining. One of them put some moves on Whitney (see picture). Apparently that sort of thing happens to her a lot.

Then a whole bunch of supporters of the Algerian football team hopped on the train with us and were celebrating and singing – they had just tied England in the world cup. It was really fun and crazy. There were also some Mexican supporters – Mexico beat France in football that night too. They were all heading to the Arc de Triumph to celebrate. It was crazy fun. We took some pictures and headed home real fast because Whitney is leaving for the airport via taxi at 4:30 tomorrow morning. These past two days have been amazing! I’ll be honest though, I’m burning myself out…I don’t know how much more my body and mind will let me take. It’s so cool to be here in Paris though – it’s really such a beautiful city. I'm now going to sleep....in Paris!

Paris, here we come!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

4:30 AM – woke up, stripped my bed, and left the Centre. Sadness…I’m really going to miss this place. It is so amazing here. I think I’ll miss the people most of all. It’ll be fun to run into them on campus and play with them in Provo. We’ve been talking about having tea parties (BYOC – bring your own cup) and London shirt days and such. I love all these people.

6:00 AM – arrived at the Eurostar station to take a train to PARIS!!!!! Woohoo! The train ride wasn’t long, only a couple of hours. I am spending three days in Paris with Whitney and Tiffany from our group. We only got about an hour of sleep last night…yikes…and a couple of hours napping on the train isn’t quite enough – I’m absolutely exhausted. We found our way to our hotel pretty easily. It was weird walking through the Metro and seeing signs in a foreign language, and not hearing English as the main language. And, while looking for the Metro train we needed to take, we ran into a gypsy – a real, live gypsy! We didn’t realize she was a gypsy at the time, but we later learned that she was one. She asked us for money. It was a rather unique exciting experience. We weren’t at our hotel very long, we took off immediately to find Notre Dame. And we did! I saw it! We stopped for lunch at a nice little Panini shop where the guy gave us free crepes and taught us how to count in French. He was so nice! He showed us how to get to Notre Dame and even took the time to walk us to the street corner and point us in the right direction.

Notre Dame is absolutely gorgeous. It’s so much lighter in color than I expected for some reason. Not so dark and gothic as I thought. And the inside it wonderful! I loved it. I couldn’t help but sing “God Help the Outcasts” as I walked through the cathedral.

We went up to the top of it and imitated some gargoyles and got our first real view of the Eiffel Tower! Woo! We kept adding the phrase “in Paris” to everything we said, like – “I just ate a panini…in Paris!” or “I just went to the bathroom…in Paris!” It never got boring either. After Notre Dame we went to find the Louvre, but not before buying another adapter for my laptop chord. So now I have two on the end, because you can’t convert American chords directly to European without spending 30 euros, so I had to convert it to British and then to European. It was rather entertaining.

We found the Louvre after a bit of searching – I really had no idea where it was. But we found it! And it is GINORMOUS! You could spend years in that place. We went through and saw much of the key exhibits, including the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Hammurabi’s Code, and, of course, the Mona Lisa. I could hardly believe it – I was able to see all these statues and art pieces that I have only read about. It was so cool! We were so tired though that we ended up collapsing on some chairs and staring at the backside of a naked angel statue. Not on purpose. It was just there and we had no energy to move ha ha.

After exploring the Louvre we headed to the Eiffel Tower to rendezvous (a real French rendezvous!) with two of the guys from our study abroad group but we couldn’t find them. We had gotten there a bit late…a little too carried away in the Louvre I guess. But we found a little Chinese place, ate dinner, and then next door had the best ice cream I think I have ever had. Then we went back to the Eiffel Tower, which was lit up by this point. Every hour, on the hour, the tower twinkles! It’s so pretty and fun! I loved it and took many a picture. We then headed back to our hotel to collapse on our beds and get the first full night’s sleep I have had in over a week. I am exhausted…in Paris!

A Very British Birthday

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Firstly…I AM 21 YEARS OLD!!!! Woo! Another year gone. Another amazing birthday! I received so many messages from people wishing me a happy birthday. I felt very loved – thank you to those who wished me well in some form or another today.

Today was bitter sweet. Last day in London. We woke up early to take pictures down at Big Ben. They turned out really well, I think. They were rather embarrassing to take – lots of honking from passing cars happened. Brits like to play “spot the annoying tourist and embarrass them a lot” ha ha but we got some sweet pictures out of it so it’s totally worth it. We hustled back for our last breakfast in the Centre. We then headed for one last Primark visit, and then a trip to Harrod’s. Now, if you don’t know what Harrod’s is, let me sum up what I know. It’s basically a place where only super rich people can shop. Everything is expensive and fancy and name brand. The designer chocolate looked amazing – they had high heels made out of chocolate! I couldn’t believe it. And all their chocolates were so pretty.

We went to the toy section where they had every amazing toy ever – there was a huge Buzz Lightyear made out of legos and remote control helicopters were flying everywhere. It was awesome. And a nice man there made me a birthday card whilst demonstrating this paint set thing. It was so fun! Then we went to the pet section where they had the most expensive cats and dogs I have ever seen – the kittens were so adorable! They were like $2000 each! Wow…They have this really cool Egyptian escalator at Harrod’s too. It’s kinda hard to describe, so you just need to see pictures. It was way fun. We went to Nando’s for dinner – a Brazilian chicken place. It was really good.

Then we hurried off to ride the London Eye! About half of our group went to ride it. It was so much fun. We rode it at sunset, and we got to see everything in London. It was beautiful and wonderful – an awesome way to spend a birthday.

And we got magnums after, which made it even better! We then went home and proceeded to shove all of our belongings into suitcases. I have way too much stuff to take home…I’m kinda worried it won’t all fit…we’ll see J At about 10:30 pm we had a special musical number thing by Chelsea Wilson, one of the girls in our group who is studying musical theater at University of Michigan. She did a medley of a few of the songs from musicals we saw whilst in London, including a version of popular where she sang to Professor Macfarlane – it was the best. So funny! And then she and Staley, another girl in our group, sang “For Good.” It was beautiful. And so sad. I can’t believe it’s all over. I said goodbye to Professors Macfarlane and Cooper. Both gave me hugs. It’s in interesting thing, to get to know your professors so well. I will miss them, for sure. You can really tell they love us.

Finals? She DONE!

Monday, June 14, 2010

FINALS ARE DONE!!!!! Woohoo!!!! I am all done with school – best feeling in the world, let me tell you J And I think I did pretty well. I’ve learned a lot this semester. My favorite class was British History and Politics by far. I learned so much. Maybe it’s because it’s all new history to me, but I was fascinated by every single minute of it. And Professor Cooper was really awesome. And I was in London while I learned it – that might have a little to do with it.

After we finished finals we had a pizza party. It was sooooooo good. They were these massive New York style pieces – you know, super thin and huge. I loved it. They bought us Ben’s Cookies too. They’re the best cookies you’ll ever have. I’ll miss them. We then went on a final walk through Kensington Gardens to see Peter Pan. My friend Stephanie has a specific smile she uses when taking pictures, so we all tried to imitate it, which was fun. A couple of the girls re-enacted a scene from the Mary Kate and Ashley movie Winning London. We mostly just goofed off, fancy-free and free for anything fancy. Many much clamourosity happened.

We then went and got our last waffles…sadness…I got one with milk chocolate and white chocolate chips – holy cow, so good! I highly recommend it. I then went home to finish my final history assignment, which I stayed up far too late doing and now I’m off to bed so I can wake up in four hours to go take pictures at Big Ben with my friend Aubrie. We want to go early to get some nice, not busy pictures. Goodnight, faithful readers J