home, sweet home.

Life is just getting started.

 

So finals are over. I think I did well, but until I get my grades, I’ll just pretend. On Monday, half of the program went to the Nutcracker and it was amazing! I’m not super into ballet but it was wonderful and definitely getting me in the Christmas mood!

Outside the Royal Opera House!

Some lovely ladies and I waiting for the ballet to start!

I brought this jar of peanut butter at the beginning of the trip and finished it just in time.

King's Cross exists and so does this picture.

 

Tuesday (the last Tinseltown Tuesday we had) night two of my friends and I walked to the east end of Hyde Park for the holiday carnival Winter Wonderland! It was packed with people, music was blasting everywhere, there were lights, rides, and stands that were selling food and trinkets everywhere, and it was freezing! It was SO fun! We went on two rides that I wish I could explain without visuals, but basically I was reminded that on carnival rides, I am a screamer. No shame.

 

It looks like it's snowing, but my camera just picks up mist really well.

The ride where I switched to be on the outside and got squished by these two Texan ladies! Couldn't breathe but I could laugh.

In front of the ride of death that never ended!! It was really fun, I would just never do it again.

 

Wednesday we went on the temple trip and it was amazing, of course. This time it was really cold and frosty, the grounds looked covered in snow! It was beautiful!

Our lovely group that went to the temple with us!

The grounds are so gorgeous and one of the ponds was even frozen over!

One of my favorite places.

On our way back to the Centre, I stopped with one of my friends at the Hyde Park Speaker’s Corner. Before leaving for Europe, my grandmother told me a story about her father on his mission in the British Isles. He and his companion had been preaching at Speaker’s Corner, as many people did/do, and a mob formed and he and his companion were almost killed. So she asked me to get a picture at Speaker’s Corner and so I did!

Thursday, as I predicted, I spent packing. It took most of the day but I was able to go out on my last night in London with three of my friends to get dinner, a last hoorah for gelato at Snowflake, and to see a showing of The Hobbit. It was so much fun and a night I’ll never forget!

The group of us on our way to dinner and gelato!

Last minute packing with my bunk buddy!

Nobody slept that night, at least not any longer than a couple hours. I was able to get 2 hours of sleep—thank goodness. We all made our separate ways to the airport (I took the Tube which wasn’t that bad at all) and then waited for my 8 hour flight to Minneapolis. It was quite the adventure. With the time difference, I was chasing the sun and was up from 5am London time until about 10pm Seattle time, making it a full day of 25 hours? After 2 hours of sleep? Needless to say, I was really tired.

View from the London Eye.

And that’s that. I am home with my family, anticipating what this next year has in store for me. Many people who I have seen have asked “How was it? What was your favorite place you visited? What did you learn from it?” etc., the questions continue.

After the London Eye, just next to the ice skating rink!

 

It was amazing and life changing. I am so grateful for all that I experienced, all that I saw and visited, the people I got to make these memories with, and all that these few months of my life entailed. I cannot tell you in a few words about three months of my life just as you probably can’t do it either. It’s a long time and a lot can happen; a lot did happen. My favorite place cannot be contained to one particular geographical site—I enjoyed it all. I am glad to be back, but I do miss it. It was wonderful, indescribable, and I wouldn't change a day of it.

More London Eye pictures to get you to keep reading.

I learned a lot about change. The most important part about change is that you remember why and how you change. It’s changing for a righteous cause, to better yourself and to help those around you better themselves as well. If you aren’t changing for the right reasons, you’re just going to go back to how you were before. Change is hard to accept but it is the most consistent thing in our lives. We must allow others around us to change; otherwise we hinder their growth just as much as we hinder our own. Surrounding ourselves with people who will let us change, help us change, encourage our changes, love our changes, those are the people we want to be with and the type of person we should be.

Some amazing people I got to spend my time in Europe with!

I was in Utah for a couple days to get some things done and stayed with a dear friend of mine in Orem. She really is wonderful and I am so blessed to have her in my life. One night we watched Dan in Real Life, and now I can saw I’ve seen it! If you haven't seen it, see it. It makes me feel better about the title of my blog, too. It was very fitting, as I’m probably not going to blog anymore. Maybe, but we’ll see.

If you want to request more pictures from certain places, let me know! This one here is one of the happiest places on earth.

In these next few months I will be working on my mission papers to turn them in as soon as I can. I'll also be turning 20. I’m getting my wisdom teeth ripped out of my face a week from today. I will be back at BYU; however weird that will be after all that has happened this past year, especially these last few months. It will have been about 8 ½ months since I was there for classes. Crazy.

I hope the holidays find you as content, grateful, and as happy as I feel. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and best of luck with whatever you’re trying to accomplish in life!

 

There ya go.