What a Great Weekend!

This weekend was a really good weekend. Yesterday I only had one class. So I went to class for an hour and when I came home I skyped with Julie who is my awesome sister who is studying abroad in Madrid right now. Isn't she gorgeous? Seriously, I have the prettiest sisters.















Then I had to do an assignment where I had to do a lighting set up and light someone... but there was no one around and I couldn't set up lights for myself. So I called Nich who lives really close and was done with class for the day. Then I ended up with an awesome picture like this. haha Jolly Old St. Nich.

My Mom came down to hang out with me for the night. It was awesome! We went to dinner at Zupas and then walked around the mall. (Which doesn't mean just walked around I got a pretty great jacket, thanks Mom!)
















I got an awesome letter this week from my sister Erin who is on a mission in Thailand. My mom brought it down with her. It was one of the best letters ever, she somehow knew exactly what I needed to hear. Missionaries are good at that :) See? She's awesome too, she plays with tigers.









This is the envelope that the letter came in, isn't it great?!
She added a little commentary in the last picture:
"So Asian"


This morning I got up early (7 am!) and went to help film a capstone. I was really cold the whole day. I worked on camera for the first real time, it was a lot of pressure! I think I did ok... There were two Red Epics on set today so instead of doing the second assistant camera person job that I've been trained to do, I found myself being the 1st AC. So I had to focus the camera. I have only done it once before. I made a realization about myself, my left eye is very rarely actually in focus. I'm guessing it has to do with my astigmatism... but I had to focus the camera with one eye haha. It was a little rough, but good practice for when I'll be helping out with camera again next week :) I love working with camera, they are so cool!

Tonight I went to a international movie with my roommate, it was extremely weird. and that's coming from a film major who has watched an unreal number of movies.

When I got home tonight I was just tired... so I sat at home and watched Youtube videos with my roommates :) I found a playlist of 40 of the best cat videos... so worth watching! haha and now I am still not in bed, even though I have now been awake for 14 hours.

Day 1

You know, I have never really understood the phrase "today is the first day of the rest of my life."
But today I understand it perfectly.
One of my first thoughts this morning was, "ok, day 1. Let's do this." I haven't felt like that all day by any means but that's ok. I guess you just have to take some things one day at a time and eventually it won't even be a conscious decision, it will just be automatic.

Life Lately

I haven't posted in a few months, mostly because I have been interested in other things for the past couple of months. But today I feel like writing a little bit. Well, my last post was about going to Ireland from London. I am no longer living in London, unfortunately. I still have dreams of going to the Gloucester Road station and riding the tube to the BFI. I miss the perfect London skyline. We were lucky to get to be there during the Olympics, but at the same time, it got so busy  and packed with people that I started to feel like a native London-er who was getting frustrated by tourists. It was actually a good feeling :) It meant that I was completely adjusted to being there and I had made it my home for the short period of time that I was there. It seems weird that I was actually in London just this summer. It seems like another life. But I guess that's just how life is, isn't it?

I have learned a couple of things about life the past few months, these two lessons have been taught and re-taught to me in so many different situations and ways.
1. Things really do not turn out the way that you expect or plan.
2. Life is so good! No matter what happens, things are going to work out the way that they are supposed to and I am going to be happy.

These lessons have not been easy to learn but I am thankful that I have learned them, and that I have been able to get through some difficult situations through the learning of these lessons.

I had a hard day and came home to this from Mary. 

For example: This semester I didn't know who I was going to live with. I needed a new environment but the people I would consider living with were getting married, doing beauty pageants, going on missions, etc. things that were keeping them from being ready to sign a contract for fall semester. So a random girl posted on facebook that she was selling her contract I messaged her and bought it. It was just down the street from where I lived last year and it was cheaper than my previous apartment. I was nervous about moving in with three random girls, but I felt like it was a good decision. I had a really great experience moving in with random people freshman year but what are the odds that I would be that lucky twice? I wasn't planning on spending much time in my apartment because of school, work, and dating so I didn't think it mattered. But this semester has been far from what I expected it to be with all three of those things so I found myself spending more time with my roommates than I ever have. I don't know how but I ended up with the best roommates ever! My roommate Mary has quickly become one of my favorite people ever. I love getting to spend time with her and when she's not around I am actually disappointed. My life is not what I expected it to be, but I am happy. I am so thankful that I was "randomly" put with the girls that have gone out of their way to help a girl that they hardly knew feel better during a really hard day (or couple of weeks). Life is good.

Ireland

 This past weekend has been one of my favorites while studying abroad. We took a three day trip up to Ireland and it was such a cool experience. We took off right after class on thursday and took so many different modes of transportations. Within one day we took a shuttle, plane, taxi, bus, and train. Our flight took off from the Luton airport and landed in Dublin. From there we got on a train and rode the width of the country to the west coast. Our final destination was Galway. It was beautiful! There were cows, sheep, and horses everywhere, it was fantastic. I'm not gonna lie, I was feeling a little bit clausterphobic being in London because it was so much city around me so it was really nice to go to a place where you look for miles in every direction. We stayed at a bed and breakfast two miles outside of the town center that was owned by a great Irish couple. They were so nice to us, at one point we were standing in the rain waiting for the bus and Dez (the husband) saw us and felt sorry for us and drove us into to town. We spent a lot of our time on Quay (pronounced "key") street, pictured above. It was a lot of fun, there were a lot of pubs and stores to explore. The street was lined with musicians playing a variety of instruments. We learned later that Galway is the place for musicians in Ireland.

The Cliffs of Moher

Friday morning we woke up and went on a bus tour through the countryside. The highlight of the tour were the Cliffs of Moher. (where they filmed the Cliffs of Insanity scene in Princess Bride).  Being there was one of the coolest things I have ever done. They continued on forever and I just wanted to stay there for hours walking along the edge of the cliff. Every step I took changed the way that they looked. It was awe inspiring to feel like you were standing at the end of the world. I loved it!

Saturday morning we got back on the train and headed back to London. It was a successful weekend! I loved having the chance to go to Ireland.

Fires, Skype, and Such

I have some pictures and stuff that I want to show. I don't have much to say, this past weekend the exhaustion hit and I haven't done much. I relaxed a lot but it was a good kind of relaxing where I'm getting ready to enjoy everything I can. Today I went to class where my teachers once again taught a lesson that really impacted me, it was great! then we went and bought The Amazing Spider-man Tickets that we went to tonight. From there I went to H&M looking for a rain jacket, I didn't find one, but I did find a cute shirt that I'm excited to wear :) When I got home I finished Life of Pi, something that I am proud of. I spent the remainder of the afternoon on Skype with Cameron :) it was awesome.  

They put up the Olympic rings on the Tower Bridge a month before the Opening Ceremonies. I wanted to see them so bad, so I talked my friends into walking over there with me.  

This is one of my favorite pictures. I took it while sitting on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral. It was a little bit cold and rainy but I didn't mind because the view was worth it. 

This past week was a bad week for fires in Utah. Last friday I got on facebook to see my cousins posting on my mom's wall asking about the fire in Herriman, which is where my parents live. The next day there were posts about them being evacuated. I had a little bit of a rough time waiting for news (the internet being my only form of communication) about if my family was safe and if I still had a house. Finally I got the response that they were safe, they had to be evacuated but on sunday morning they were allowed back home. This picture was posted a little while later. The circled house is the one my parents live in. The fire came up to our backyard and then stopped. We are so blessed. 

Observations

While wandering around London this past week I have made a couple of observations that I would like to share.

1. London is incredibly diverse, I have never been to a place with so many people from so many different countries speaking other languages! It's been refreshing to get out of Utah
2. At almost every intersection, there is paint on the road telling you which direction to look for cars before you cross. This is so helpful for those of us who are not used to cars driving on the left side of the road.
3. When words ending in S are possessive they still put an apostrophe S. (ex: James's)
4. Europeans are quiet
5. Asians take a lot of pictures (even during musicals when it is "forbidden" haha)
6. People own really nice cars
7. When parking on the street, you can park any direction you want
8. Police sirens are REALLY loud, and the cars are neon yellow and green
9. Almost everyone smokes. The smoke isn't as stinky as in the US but it still gets hard to breathe sometimes
10. The toilets do not always flush
11. On the street people will walk straight at you until you move out of their way. It's like a game of chicken.
12. When people run into you they say, "so sorry!" I'm starting to pick up on it (I tend to run into people quite a bit)
13. They sell crispy m&m's!
14. There are a lot of dogs! Everywhere. Very pretty, groomed, well behaved dogs.


I'm sure I'll come up with more and post them later, but right now I actually need to do some homework. We gotta study some time on this "study" abroad. :)

Week 1 in London

Well I've officially been in London, well, almost a full week. Tomorrow morning it'll be a week. It has been an amazing week, I am so excited to be able to get another 5 weeks of this beautiful city and great people. I'll just give a brief overview of what I have been up to.

One night after a movie, we found Big Ben. We were very excited :) It was announced today that the clock is going to be renamed after the Queen. And it's real name isn't even Big Ben in the first place, what?!

 We ride the Tube a lot. We're becoming little experts at navigating the city, which always makes me feel cool.

Yesterday we went to the Tower of London. It was really cool to be at an old castle in the middle of modern London. It was also quite warm for the first time so I was happy.

This is Albert. He is a huge statue in Hyde Park right across the street from our flat. We see him basically every day. I have a lot of pictures of Albert.

I went and saw Wicked tonight and it was the best thing I have ever seen! I was so happy! It was worth every pound :) I want to see it again!

My roommates (Cassie and Laura on the ends), Emily, and I after our tour of the British Film Institute. I don't think this skyline will ever get old to me :)