3 down, 2 to go.

*Disclaimer: I have a lot of random, and perhaps unnecessary detail in this blog. Forgive me, my brain is fried. Fried, and dipped in tartar sauce.

I have successfully taken three of my five finals today. Rarely, in fact, I want to say NEVER, have I had actual written finals, like essay stuff. All of the ones today were like that. I think the closest in the past has been the written portion on my calculus final, but even then, it was just numbers and stuff. Essay finals are hard. Props to majors who actually have to do that regularly. All I have left is religion and culture finals. Piece. of. cake.

sponge cake.

Alright, as promised...events of the weekend.

Saturday was wonderful, as expected. It was one of those days where I just did everything I felt so inclined to do, without any stress or pressure.
So I left my little travel alarm clock on the coach accidentally after the North Trip a couple of weeks ago, and have been relying on Michelle to whack me in the mornings to wake me up ever since. I had a pep talk with her the other night, telling her that she was getting too nice, and that her "waking up skills" were waning in effectiveness. Anyway, she stayed up late studying the night before, and so since she slept in, I ended up sleeping in. I thought it was a good excuse.
After a lazy-ish morning, we got ready and headed out to Covent Garden, for the ballet, "Cinderella" at the Royal Opera House by the Royal Ballet. We got crepes at Creme de la Crepe right before, and headed in to the ballet. I'm pretty sure the only ballet I've ever seen has been The Nutcracker in Portland a couple of times. This performance was stunning, there really aren't words to describe.

Michelle and I then headed back to the center, changed out of our heels, and then went and got kebabs and took them to the park and had a little mini picnic and people watched for a while. We took a walk over to Portabello Road, for probably the last time, to get some souvenirs for family and friends (get excited) and just enjoyed the street. It was pretty late in the afternoon, so the street was mostly cleared of all of the stands and the thousands of people that crowd it during the morning.


I always love walking by this store, but never realized that it's actually a clothing store, but all of the walls are covered floor to ceiling with these old sewing machines. It's sooooo cooooool


Portabello Road and Market - gonna miss it.

So we got back and figured that the day was pretty much done. You know, we didn't have any more big plans, and were probably just going to start studying for finals and such. But Brittany came in and said a few girls were going to Nando's (of course) and then to a movie at Whitefield Mall. Like always, it didn't take long to convince me that fun is more important that studies.
Since I had just eaten, I just got bottomless frozen yogurt at Nando's, but ended up eating 4+ cup fulls. mmmm. I then watched Karalyn, Brittany, Kira, and Michelle get milkshakes at Sblended. And then we slid around on the traction-less mall floor for a while since it was essentially closed down for the night.
Movie of choice: WHIP IT!
I guess this movie has been out for a while in the States, but I had never heard of it, and had no clue what it was about. Well, was I in for a surprise. My first impression was "what the heck am I watching?" and then after about ten more minutes I realized that it was the best movie ever. Laughed the whole time. It's kind of like a girl power movie, but so so so much better. I mean, it's about roller derby, so it's got to be entertaining. As we left the theater, we pretended to "whip it" as we slid out of the mall on the slippery floor. There's something about malls...it's like it doesn't count as a public space - you can act ridiculous and it's ok.

On the tube ride home there were a few creepers, but I gave them the death glare and we made it home safe.

Sunday, sunday, sunday sunday sunday sunday. LAST sunday.


me in front of the Peckham Chapel - check out the lady in the background, though. seriously. I laughed for two minutes.

Tori and I were not so terribly sad about this being our last Sunday in this ward, but as we left I think we both were a little sad. It was a really good last Sunday. During sacrament meeting, Bro. Bradley (precious, shy, English man, who is a counselor in the bishopric) stood up and thanked the BYU students for our service in the ward, and then promptly announced that I would be getting up to bear my testimony, followed by Tori. I should have seen it coming. Oh well, it was fine, and hopefully I said something meaningful.
Primary was great, the kids were pretty well-behaved, and I swear they sang their best for me since it was my last time playing the keyboard for them. I didn't end up getting any pictures with them, but I'll definitely remember Edwyn, Ko Fi, Abdul, Ko Jo, Angel, Victoria, Sabrina, Andre, and all the others. Love them all and their craziness.
I honestly didn't really get to know any of the adults, since I was always at the piano during sacrament meeting, but Tori and I had a favorite missionary, Elder Ellsworth, who always said hello to us and was serving in the ward the whole time we were there. We told him that we thought he was a really great missionary as we left and said bye, and he did an awkward laugh and looked slightly embarrassed. Oooooohhhh missionaries. They can be so awkward.

That night we had a testimony meeting with the whole group for our fireside, which was awesome. It just reminded me how far we've all come together as a group and how great everyone is. Everything said was really genuine and I loved it all. We all spent most of the night acting goofy, still postponing our studies for finals.

I'm pretty sure the last few days have been devoted to finals studying...
oh, on Monday I went on a run with CJ and then later attempted to study in the park with Kira, Brittany, and Mary Kate. That didn't last long.
Tuesday Michelle, Kira, Brittany, and I had a lunch trip to Nando's where we had a "no finals talk" rule. We mostly ended up just talking about how weird it is that we're leaving London already.
Other than that, I've been in the center for the past two days, leaving once or twice for trips to Food and Wine, a little convenience store around the corner with plenty of Diet Coke and chocolate.

I've got two more days in London...who knows how much stuff I'll cram into those days.

*Good news. Packed up pretty much all of my stuff, and it looks like I'll be able to fit it all comfortably in my suitcase. My backpack weighs about 23491834571098 lbs, though.