We again had breakfast at our bed and breakfasts, and then we got back on the coach to go to Blenheim Palace. Blenheim is where Winston Churchill was born, because it was his grandfather who was the duke of the estate and his mother went into labor at a party. It's still a private residence, and the grounds are amazing. It was beautiful. It was so beautiful I forgot to take many pictures ;p
When we were done with Blenheim we headed off to the middle of Oxford. Since I didn't really know what to do, I wandered through the museum we passed on the way in and then walked through a market. I was exhausted by the time I got home, so I went to sleep pretty early while everyone else had a dance party....
Saturday 4 June
Saturday was Carolyn's birthday, so we went to the Orangery for high tea again. Then I went and hung out at the Victoria and Albert museum again (there's so much to see there!) before coming home and writing a couple of papers. Relaxing, productive day :)
Sunday 5 June
This was our last Sunday in London :( We all woke up plenty early to get to church, to find that the tube line we took to get to church was closed. I'll admit that my initial reaction was to skip church, but instead I got online and found a couple buses we could take to get to our building. We were still taking a couple of tube lines, though, so we walked to Gloucester Station, just to find out that the couple of lines we were going to take were closed as well. So we found an alternate route, scrambling to find a way there, when all the sudden we realized the information online had been wrong. The line we needed to take was closed, but only before a certain point, and we were able to jump on right where it started and get to our tube station like normal. It was truly a blessing, and it was a testimony to me that God will help us reach the end if we prepare, no matter how many twists and turns we take.
That night we had our last fireside, and it was kind of emotional for all of us. We had our own testimony meeting at the flat, and we all talked about how our testimonies have grown over the past six weeks. I'm really going to miss all of the people here.
Monday 6 June
Our last class *sigh*. Nothing much happened the rest of the day until we went to see Pygmalion at the Garrick Theatre. Honestly, I really did not like it, but it wasn't because of the acting or the production (though there was a crazy man yelling in the front row as the second act started. We were sitting in the back and we could hear him) but I think it was because of the script itself. I wasn't comparing it to My Fair Lady or anything, but the actual plot is really lacking. None of the actually interesting stuff is shown on the stage!
Tuesday 7 June
We had our finals. They were the easiest finals I've ever taken in my entire life, but it was really sad when I finished them I could actually see myself taking these classes for the rest of my life with these people....kind of. Anyway, I finished mine kind of quickly, and all of us sat around the flat kind of trying to settle into the fact that we were done.
Then I went to the British museum with Amy, Amberly, and Kiersten. It is one of the coolest museums I've ever seen in my entire life! They had Cleopatra's mummy and the Rosetta Stone, and a bunch of really cool relics from the Parthenon--yes, the Parthenon. It was so cool.
We then went to Primark where I got some gifts for people and then to a restaurant called Tortilla. It was very similar to Cafe Rio or Chipolte, and it was very good.
Then we all went to see a show called Haunting Julia. Going to it, none of us knew what it was going to be about, but we thought it would probably be scary based on the title. It turned out to be the story of a music prodigy who died at the age of nineteen in a suspected suicide. You learn later that it was definitely suicide, but her father doesn't think so at first. Anyway, it explored the supernatural, and psychologically it was extremely interesting. It was scary at the end, though, and Carolyn and I hung on to each other very tightly.
Wednesday 8 June
We went to Hampton Court! This was one of Henry VIII's palaces, and is said to be haunted by one of his wives and many of his servants. It was really cool (I've been saying that a lot in these posts...can you tell that I'm doing this quickly?) and also had beautiful gardens, but I spent more time exploring the inside. We got to take audio tours for this one, which was really fun!
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| Made completely out of swords. The entire room was decorated with these. I was in heaven. |
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| Cali sleeping on the train home :D |
Thursday 9 June (Today)
I woke up with the sad realization that today was my last day in London. I tried to forget about it, though, and enjoy the day anyway. I left the flat early in the morning and explored Hyde Park for a couple of hours, seeing the parts of the park I hadn't yet been to. It started raining, but I was in no rush to get inside--I wanted to experience London while I could.
I had lunch at a pub (European style nachos are a delicacy) and then rode a bus for a while, just to ride a bus :) I came home to say goodbye to the people leaving today (there was internal crying involved) and then went to finish buying souvenirs for my friends and family. When I came home, I took a short nap before meeting our IRA (same thing as an RA) for check out.....
I was going to be a groundling at the Globe tonight, since I hadn't had the chance yet, but the show was already all sold out unfortunately. The alternative was probably better, though: I've been sitting in the common room with some of my favorite people for the past three and a half hours talking about everything and anything that comes to our minds, and sharing much laughter and joy. We've grown so close, and the only solace I have in leaving is that all but four of us go to the same school and the other four are just a couple hours away. I really could spend an entire day with any of the people in this program and be completely comfortable. This experience has changed my life and I can't even describe how much better it will be because of it.
So goodbye London, for now. Thank you for all you taught and showed me. I'll see you again, that I know.
♥Tiffany
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