Day 3 in London!

I know I have been really bad at updating this! Every day is so packed full of stuff that I literally have had no time!

I already talked about days 1 and 2 of our trip so now I will update you on day 3 :)

Shannon and I on the double-decker bus :)

So on our 3rd day (Friday) we went to Covent Gardens and bought coffee from a local cafe. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral next which was beautiful! I love old churches. They are so full of history and the architecture and everything in them is so pretty. Here is a little information on the cathedral, just in case you want to know more about it: http://www.stpauls.co.uk/Cathedral-History.  

Shannon and I climbed the 300 stairs to the uppermost level inside of the dome. We were up so high! Then I wanted to go higher so I went to the next two levels by myself. Those levels were outside and were very high up and there wasn't a lot of walking room so I was squished next to people.

 This was on the first platform outside

This was on the second platform outside!

 These were the stairs I got to climb up and down! They were very cramped and you go around and around and around so many times that my eyes were playing tricks on me and I thought I was going to miss a stair and fall.

I was way up there!

We ate lunch outside of the cathedral


After visiting the Cathedral, we went to the Photographer's Gallery and then St. Katherine's docks. We met Jeanne for dinner and went to a pub. Since we have been having such nice weather, there were so many people outside on the patio drinking and smoking. This was their social time evidently. We decided to go to an Asian restaurant instead which ended up being really good.

 St. Katherine's docks


We walked along the River Thames at sunset :) and I got to see where Shakespeare's globe theater was. 

Shakespeare's globe

We went back to Jeanne's after that and planned our itinerary for the next day!

in London and loving it!

It is official (well, technically it has been official since yesterday): Shannon and I are in London!

 Waiting for our plane in Minneapolis

Heathrow!

We arrived at Heathrow Airport yesterday around noon where Shannon's aunt Jeanne met us. We then had our first experiences with the tube and the buses! And let me tell you, it is not very fun when you have suitcases. But we still had a wonderful time taking everything in...although we were quite exhausted. We rode on our very first double-decker bus and were struggling to stay awake the entire time-we kept nodding off! Don't judge though; we each only got about an hour of sleep on the flight. I really wish I could sleep on planes! So when we got to Jeanne's house, we took a nap. Exciting stuff, I know.

 Our first form of public transportation in London: the Overground :)

When we woke up from our snooze it was 6 p.m. London time. Jeanne showed us around the area she lives in and we got to see a lot of cool shops, cafes, and pubs. We ate dinner at a pub and got to eat outside since it was such a beautiful day. And I discovered that I enjoy eating prawns (a type of shrimp for those like me who have no idea what that is).

We stopped at a local grocery store on the way home and then walked through the park back to Jeanne's house. After making our plans for Thursday we went to bed!

Today was quite interesting! Surprisingly, we were both up before 8:45 a.m. so we got ready for the day and left Jeanne's at 11 a.m. We got on the bus fine, but then we had to go on the Overground again and we weren't sure which platform we needed to take to get to where we were going-and there were 5 platforms to choose from.

 And we are off on our first day!

I'm sure we looked like completely lost tourists (which was not our goal) so we were approached by this older guy. Who was kind of sketch in my opinion. Shannon's first thoughts: "Yay! A nice person who will help us." My first thoughts: "Great. Some creepy old guy who is going to take advantage of us." Yes, I realize I think the worst of people sometimes. Better safe than sorry! Shannon eventually became worried he was never going to leave us alone haha. Anyways, the guy was probably 55-60, looked kind of homeless, and he may have been drunk. I couldn't really tell. I did know that I couldn't understand half of what he was saying. He asked us if we needed help so we showed him where we wanted to go. After a couple of minutes he couldn't figure it out either so he asked a guy who worked there (we realized we should have just asked him first) and he got us to the right platform. But then he kept talking to us about how people in London were really rude, how the attendant person had actually given us the wrong directions, and other things I couldn't understand. I just kept agreeing to whatever he was saying and then told him thanks for his help, and we walked away. He got the hint.

 On the Tube

After that, we got on the correct tube line, but there were delays due to a fire or something that had happened so we decided to get out and walk. We were pretty close to where we needed to be, right? Wrong! We got off at Westminster so it was exciting to see Big Ben and the London Eye, but we made a few wrong turns and had to backtrack a couple of times. We finally got to our destination of Kensington Gardens and we were so proud of ourselves! And also really hot and tired. But it was a lot of fun being 'lost' and finding our way. We also got to see a lot of London that we probably wouldn't have, even though it took us almost 9 miles and 2 hours to do so! It was definitely an adventure. We sat in the shade and relaxed while eating our picnic lunch :)

 The London Eye! Yay! We are going to ride it next week :)

 Wellington Arch...we walked underneath it while we were finding our way

 the park!

After that it was about 3:00 p.m. and we went to the Victoria and Albert museum where we looked around for a couple of hours. Then we went to Harrods (just to say we have been there haha) and then headed back to Jeanne's around 5. We didn't make it back to her place until after 7:00! The tube was filled with people coming home from work and stuff so the buses were packed full of people and we kept having to wait for the next ones. We stopped to pick up groceries for dinner and then we were back! We had a late dinner and then spent a good amount of time discussing more of our itinerary for the rest of our stay here.

Hooray for a classic tourist shot at Harrods :)

So far I am loving London! Especially all of the accents :) and we were waved at by a car full of British boys. Be jealous. ;)

Ready for London!

The day that Shannon and I get to go to London has finally arrived. And I am so ready for it! In one hour I will be leaving for the airport to fly all night! Good thing I enjoy flying ;)

This trip was kind of spur-of-the-moment. I mentioned to Shannon in March that I planned on traveling some with my mom this summer. Shannon said she always wanted to go to London to visit her aunt. I told her why not? Let's go! And so we are!

We will be home June 4th, and we get to go to Paris this weekend!

In one trip I am accomplishing so many things on my Bucket List!

1. Travel to London

2. Travel to Paris

3. Ride on a train

4. See the Eiffel Tower

5. Ride the London Eye 

I will try to be updating my blog along the trip!

I feel so blessed that my mom has such an amazing job =) (although it is one I would never want to have!)

finally...summer :)

Today finally felt like a typical summer day. And I loved every minute of it!

I worked from 8:30-3:00 which isn't always super fun, but hey! it's a job, so I should be thankful for it (and I am!)  I went to Kelly's house afterwards and swam in her lake for the first time this summer...I am sure there will be many more days of that! We went and saw The Avengers and if you haven't seen it yet, go watch it now! It was so amazingly fantastic!! It is my new favorite movie; I absolutely loved it. I just love superhero movies in general but this one was extra spectacular :) We went to Culver's afterwards and enjoyed a nice dinner at Kelly's favorite restaurant. 

After all of that fun stuff, I got to skype all my college friends! (except for McKinley, which was sad) All of us were on Google+ chatting together and we got to update each other on our lives...it was wonderful seeing all of their faces again. I miss them so much!

yay :)

I also got a sweet e-mail from my Aunt Joan :) and an encouraging letter from my friend Mariah which brightened my day!

Oh, and I helped a turtle cross the road today :) my first one of the season and certainly not the last...there are always turtles that need to be saved! And since turtles are awesome, here is a picture of one on a mini skateboard. Isn't he adorable?!

Mother's Day

I am so thankful for my amazing mom!

Every day she inspires me and encourages me to be my very best.

I know I don't tell her enough how much I love her, but she is truly one of the greatest parts of my life. 

She is the nicest person ever, has the most amazing faith ever, and is the strongest woman I know!

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy! I love you :)

missing my teeth :(

Just kidding, I am not actually missing my teeth. I kind of hate them.  My four wisdom teeth, that is. They were extracted from my mouth this morning! So as I write this, I am really glad none of you can see me! I have this weird contraption on my head to keep the bags of ice on my face at all times. My mom has already changed it like four times and same with the gauze, which she was really grossed out to do but I was pretty helpless for most of the day so I wasn't much help.

The surgery went well, I guess. I don't remember anything after they put the needle into me. I woke up in a recovery room thing, then my mom came in, then I got walked out to her, got in the car, and drove home. I didn't say a single word the entire time haha. It's hard to talk with cotton in your mouth. All I wanted to do was sleep. I got home and my mom told me she was going to have to change my gauze before she let me sleep and she left my room to get ice or something and then her and my dad came back in my room and I was crying. I don't really know why. I remember thinking 'this is weird. why am I crying? I should really stop now.' But I couldn't...so I cried for five minutes about nothing really :) that was the silliest thing I did I guess....Hunter said I wasn't very entertaining. But he does keep coming in my room and laughing at me because my face is all swollen. I still can't feel my face either. And I probably should be sleeping right now but I'm really not tired. So what else to do than update my blog?? :)

not the end...

I can hardly believe it, but my first year of being a college student is officially over! I only have two more years left until the real world, one of the downsides of doing PSEO and finishing a year earlier than most of my friends.

 McKinley, Chelsea, me, and Madison

This year was so incredibly amazing. Cliche, but true. College is 1000000x better than high school! Classes were a lot harder than I thought they would be though. I didn't really have to try to get A's in high school and in some college classes this year I was elated if I got a B on something.

all of the beautiful girls I lived with this year!

I feel like I have grown so much in this past year alone and learned so many things about myself. I really think I am a new, improved version of me :) I have learned to manage my time better, although it's still something I struggle with; I have better ways of de-stressing, like running; and my hard classes have taught me a lot.

 I love my roommate!

I have also learned a lot this year about trusting God no matter what and that has really helped me get through some of the harder times when I was stressed about everything. He comes through for me 100% of the time at His timing.

The biggest blessing from God this year were the girls in my unit, and I am so glad I get to room with some of them again next year! They are all such fun, encouraging, and beautiful women of God and I have loved spending every moment with them. I love that we can be crazy, screaming girls, but other times have really serious conversations about anything. I was so worried beginning the year that I wouldn't be able to make friends or that people wouldn't like me but that was such a silly thing to worry about! I have found great girls that I hope will be lifelong friends! 

love them :)

3 things I loved about Cedarville:

1) The professors - they are all so helpful and encouraging, even if they are really hard graders ;) 

2) Chapel - it is by far the highlight of my day. Chapel really encourages me and pushes me to grow in my faith. I am really going to miss it over the summer.

3) My friends - I love being able to walk two feet and be able to talk to someone. There is always someone in the dorm that I can vent to and be real with.

3 things I hated about Cedarville:

1) Cafeteria - our cafeteria is called Chuck's. It's okay I guess, it just makes you smell bad after you have been in there for awhile.

2) The weather - Ohio is bipolar. It was nice having 80's in March though!

3) Appearances - I had to go in public every time I wanted a meal which meant I couldn't just look like crap for a day. I mean I could, but then I ended up seeing everyone I knew.

Overall, I wouldn't trade this year for anything. It was so fun being on my own for the first time and being surrounded by great people. I can't wait for the next two years :)

Fun times!

 Chel and me

Me, Bria, Sarah, and Hayley

A couple of weeks ago some of us went for a hike and had a picnic dinner....it was so relaxing and fun!

A couple of weekends ago we had Elliv! Elliv is 'ville' spelled backwards...like Cedarville. It is kind of hard to explain what Elliv is all about. Basically, it is a concert with different bands who perform songs and there are background dancers also. People who go get all dressed up in fancy clothes or costumes and there are winners for the best costume. We went as hippies!

My roomie and me

 McKinley, me, and Madison

 Sarah and me

 The Crew

Peace!

I spent 12 hours straight one night working to finish a paper...from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next day. I had to drink 2 energy drinks to stay awake...I only got 1.5 hours of sleep! Glad that's over...

 Attractive, I know

 The Crew

What do you do when you are crazy stressed and should be studying for finals? Run screaming and laughing in the pouring rain, of course! We were sitting on the balcony at our dorm studying, kind of, when it started downpouring. We decided it was a perfect night to go running around campus :) We went slip 'n' sliding, and yes it is somewhat painful in the grass, but it was tons of fun! 

 

Let GoD

A couple weeks ago I came to a sudden realization.

I cannot do anything.

I cannot do anything on my own.

I had been going about my merry little life thinking I was this strong individual who had to have everything under control. I didn't need anyone else to help me with anything either. But I stressed about everything, and worried about everything, and honestly.....it was draining.

So I was sitting there on my bed with a miserable attitude, writing this paper that I had absolutely no confidence in when I realized I hadn't even asked God to help me, yet again.

I finally realized that I just needed to surrender everything to God. Everything that I had bottled up inside me that was causing me to worry.  My grades, my future, my friendships, everything.

I needed to let go and let God. Because He is bigger than everything and He is in control of everything. He cares about me because He created me.

My friend gave me a few verses and 1 Peter 5:7 was one of them: "Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you."

Isn't that fantastic?! The God of the universe cares about me!

Why hadn't I been giving everything to Him the whole year?!

I shared this epiphany with my roomie and she said she had been praying that for me for the entire year! It took me my entire freshman year to learn that.

However long it did take, I am just glad I finally learned it.  I don't have to worry about anything. Sometimes it's still hard because I am a worrier at heart, but God is fixing that too. Everything works according to His purposes; everything has a plan. So I don't need to have a plan because it would backfire on me anyways and not be nearly as awesome as God's plan for me.

And that paper I was stressed about? It turned out to be my best grade yet :)