Raisin Weekend

So last weekend was the craziest weekend I think I will encounter at St. Andrews. Raisin Weekend is a tradition at St. Andrews that actually goes back a few hundred years. I'm not entirely sure when it started, but as most other things here are, it is pretty old. I'm also not quite sure how to explain it, but I'll try.

Raisin weekend is centered around your academic families. Older students (mostly 3rd year, sometimes 4th year), adopt 1st years and forms a family. Each 1st year has a mom and a dad. On Raisin Sunday, you spend the day with your mom and then go to a party hosted by your dad. If your dad is mean, he might wake you up at some horribly early time in the morning and make you do something before your mom's party (like run into the North Sea). I am happy to say that my dad did not wake me up in the morning. I actually got to sleep in on Raisin Sunday, which is unusual. My friend across the hall didn't though. Her dad is crazy. She was told to leave the door unlocked, sleep in her clothes, and have a bucket by her bed (never a good sign...). I was woken up at 6:30 in the morning to a large crowd of people storming up our stairs and into her room. It was terrifying.

And that is not unusual for Raisin. Honestly, for a majority of people, Raisin is an opportunity to get completely and wildly wasted. I heard so many stories from last year about people being sick before 10:00 in the morning. We had a mandatory police talk in Hall last week. Apparently in the past, people have stolen things and destroyed property. They bring in extra police for the weekend, and they aren't afraid to arrest students. It was also reassuring to hear that the Red Cross was coming in for the weekend... So, as some of y'all already knew, I was a little concerned about Raisin. All the first years were. About a week beforehand we all sat around and discussed what we thought would happen in hushed tones during meals. On Saturday night we were all acting as if we were about to go into battle the next morning.

But my parents are awesome, and my fears weren't met. My parents' parties were chill, and they openly said that we didn't have to do anything that we didn't want to do. I already knew that nobody could seriously force me to do something that I really didn't want to do, but sometimes that can put you in an awkward position. But my parents respected that, and they didn't have us do anything insane, so I wasn't put into that position. I seriously appreciated that, and it made the weekend a whole lot more enjoyable. It was still totally crazy, but a good crazy!

Scavenger hunt task

Back to my mom's party. We met at 10:00 in our hall. My mom teamed up with her friend, so we did games with another family. I had a Senior Retreat moment. For "breakfast" my mom tied doughnuts to pieces of string and we had to eat them without using our hands. We also did a scavenger hunt. We had to do a bunch of random tasks like make a human pyramid in a store, do the YMCA in a coffee shop (we got kicked out for that...), buy something for exactly 22 pence from Tescos (lemon curd), ask directions to a really obvious place, etc. This was pretty much the only time I was out about town on Raisin Sunday, and watching other families was rather amusing. Some were tied up together, others were barely standing, and a lucky few had their parents' numbers and addresses written in sharpie on their arms in case they "got lost." Then there were the people not associated with the school. The locals looked annoyed ("Ugh, it's Raisin Weekend isn't it?"), and visitors looked extraordinarily confused.

So for his party, my dad did a joint gathering with his flatmates, and we did more family games. We played Spoons in the beginning, and they hid the spoons we were using. Our first task was to go find the spoons, which essentially meant tearing up their flat because there were 4 spoons and 6 people (I found one! In a stuffed hippo...) We also played sardines (which was interesting in a tiny flat...) and some random card games. It was mostly just hanging out (with some people trying to recover from all of the drinking they did earlier that day).

Dalek/Cyberman family

I met my mom the following morning so she could give me my costume for the foam fight. AND IT WAS DOCTOR WHO THEMED! We were a mix of Daleks and Cybermen (I was a cyberman). Somehow, my mom and her friend managed to make cybermen and dalek costumes out of tin foil, duct tape, string, plastic cups, and trash bags. I was quite impressed. For my costume, I was wrapped in tin foil and given a super awesome foil cyberman helmet that somehow survived the foam fight. Then my dad came over and gave me and my siblings our raisin receipts. Raisin receipts are something you have to carry down to the quad when you go to the foam fight. Dads can make you carry anything they want, and they are usually large, heavy, and awkward to carry. My dad was considering making us wheel him down in a wheelbarrow, but he decided against that (which was good, because it would have only been me and my sister...) Instead we were given those miniature instruments that you give to small children. I got a mini xylophone, and it was adorable!

My sister and I after the foam fight!

I felt like I was in a parade when I was walking down to the Quad. The locals come out to watch the procession, and visitors looked more confused then they did the day before. They also all laugh at us, but whatever. The University has the foam fight ridiculously well organized, and there is a very specific  way we had to enter the quad. But once we were in, chaos erupted and the foam began to fly. I was armed with 2 cans of foam and spent the next 45 minutes running around the quad. Pretty soon people were covered in so much foam that they were unrecognizable. My parents were waiting for us outside of the quad, and my sister and I deemed that it was completely acceptable to go hug them (they were good humored about this). Getting back into Hall was our last challenged. My hall had prepared well for Raisin: the carpet in the front was covered with plastic wrap and the entrances were guarded my wardens. The girls got off pretty well. My mom threw 2 buckets of cold water on me (while my dad took pictures). The guys had to strip down and run around the perimeter of the building a couple of times.

Because we haven't been through enough

So ends Raisin Weekend, a mental, infamous St. Andrews tradition that can hardly be described in words. In 2 years time, I will be able to adopt and ensure that another generation of first years can have an equally memorable Raisin experience.








Note, in my first paragraph "last weekend" now actually means the last weekend in October. School got in the way of finishing this blog in a timely manner...

Welcome Ball

So last Friday my hall had its Welcome Ball. Balls are a big part of St. Andrews culture. Almost every society has a ball sometime during the year. Some of the bigger ones include the Kate Kennedy Ball (Kate Kennedy is apparently a snobby, expensive, exclusive all male society that nobody likes), May Ball (not really sure what this is...I think it's an end-of-the-year thing), and I think a Christmas Ball (so, like, the Yule Ball?).

my hair!

I know "ball" sounds very formal, but our Welcome Ball was more semi-formal (though I think there are some legit formal balls). Nonetheless, I have a friend (Darya) who is really into balls, and she decided that she was going to do our group's hair. We were all finished with classes by lunch on Friday, so we spent most of the afternoon in one room getting our hair done. Let's just say Darya is super talented when it comes to doing hair. Somehow my hair managed to stay curled the whole night!


So Welcome Ball started with a pre-party in Hall (of course it did...) At least this was a classier pre-party than anything we had during Fresher's Week. I mean, they still served the usual beer and cider, but they also served rosé wine, champagne, and some cocktails. The actual event was at a hotel a few blocks away. Just walking to the hotel was one of my favorite parts of the evening. There is a guy in Hall who plays the bagpipes, so the Hall committee got him to dress up in a kilt and lead everyone to the hotel while playing the bagpipes. It was such a stereotypical Scottish sight: a large group of people dressed up (several guys in kilts) walking through the streets with a bagpipe playing leader. And a high percentage of people were already drunk. I think we were creating quite a scene.

The Ball itself was really fun. There was a chocolate fountain!!!!!!!!!!! And a bar, but I went for the chocolate fountain! The only unfortunate part was that a majority of people left pretty early. And the music didn't get really good until the end when this one guy started requesting better songs. So by the end of it all, there were about 6 of us on the dance floor in a deserted room rocking out to "Don't Stop Believing" and "Living on a Prayer." Then we decided to go back to Hall and have a cereal party.

Race2 Prague buddy! 

Cereal party

Surviving Fresher's Week

I have now completed my first major university accomplishment: surviving Fresher's week. Now every school has some form of orientation, but Fresher's Week is legendary at St. Andrews and in the rest of Britain. Fresher's week is a unique experience. Fun yes, but also crazy, busy, exhaustion, wild, chaotic, and most definitely memorable!

The Student Union and the different societies hosted events throughout the entire week. The Student Union took care of the big events at night. Here are a few things I have learned through some of these Student Union events:

1. Pre-gaming is a fact of life. I don't know if all halls do this, but my hall pre-games everything! This worried me at first, but I found a group of people who aren't into crazy drinking. Pre-gaming really isn't all that interesting though. If you're not into drinking, it gets old quickly.
2. Nothing really starts up until 10 or 11. Ever. And everything starts late. 
3. Drunk people are funny to watch. They do some pretty crazy things. And it's funny to see them at breakfast when they are completely hungover. But after a week, drunk people begin to get irritating. They are loud, have no concept of personal space, and seem to think it's okay to spray their drinks over a crowd of people (seriously, if you just payed for that drink, why would you pour it on people???). Oh, and drunk people love storming into the hall screaming at all times of the night.

Clan Warfare! JOHN BURNET!

I went to 3 of the Union events: the Bubble Rave, Clan Warfare, and the BOP. The Bubble Rave was the very first night. The Union brought in this huge bubble machine, and we had a big rave with bubbles everywhere. Bubbles glow in UV light, so we were all fluorescent by the end of the night. Most people thought the Bubble Rave was lame because there weren't a huge number of people there. I thought it was fun. After a chaotic day of moving in, I couldn't handle anything too insane. So it's a good thing Clan Warfare was the next night. Clan Warfare is when people dress up in their Hall colors and have intense Hall pride for a night. Each Hall has a representative and they compete in a series of events. The Hall that wins gets a £300 pub tab (oh the joy of going to school in Europe...), and bragging rights. The colors for John Burnet are green and blue, and we went all out with face paint and everything. This event was truly crazy. People were chanting for their halls, trash talking other halls, and just generally screaming and jumping around. Unfortunately, John Burnet didn't win; our biggest rivalry University Hall did. The last big Union event of the week was the BOP last night. The BOP was supposed to be a big event were they played all the popular and kind of cheesy pop songs that aren't actually any good but are super catchy (like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, etc). It wasn't actually like that. They played like 2 goods songs and the rest was super repetitive techno. Definitely not worth the hype. 

During the day it was hard to pick what to do! There were events going on all the time everywhere! On Monday night, a bunch of us went to a ballroom dancing session. Most of the people there had no experience. We were taught 3 different dances: waltz, cha-cha, and the jive. The whole experience reminded me of middle school. Girls and guys had to stand on the opposite side of the room and the instructors taught us the steps individually. Then the guys had to go find a girl to dance with, and I had the whole "I don't know who you are but I'm going to dance with you" experience. Kind of awkward, but it was fun!

On Thursday my hall put on a costume party. I didn't have much of a costume (more of a neon theme going on), but my friend dressed up as Cruella Deville! After the party, the majority of the hall went to the Lizard (a super sketch pub/nightclub). My friends and I decided to stay in. We had a mini party in our room where we played Disney music and reminisced on our childhood movies and T.V. shows.

Finally I joined a group called the Christian Union. CU is the main Christian group on campus. Earlier in the week, they brought in Dr. William Lane Craig to speak. Dr. Craig is an American apologist. Dr. Pendergrass mentioned him in Apologetics Junior year (don't worry, I didn't remember this until I looked him up on Wikipedia). Anyway, he was interesting to listen to. I actually knew what he was talking about! CU meets once a week and puts on different events throughout the semester, and I'm excited to get involved!

So classes...I was in denial that lectures would ever begin. But they have. Great, now I actually have to think again and be productive (and by "be productive" I mean find new ways to procrastinate). 

Journey to St. Andrews

Well, I finally made it to St. Andrews! It feels weird. I've been waiting for this day since I read my acceptance letter in December, and now it is here. So I left Houston on Wednesday morning and arrived in St. Andrews Thursday morning (extremely jetlagged, I might add). My parents and I spent Thursday and Friday walking around the town and getting important stuff done (like setting up a bank account, getting sheets, pillowcases, etc.,).

The town is beautiful! The buildings are old and full of history. The North Sea has a wild, rugged beauty to it. I can see the appeal, and I know I'm going to grow to love it here! At the same time, the experience has been a little overwhelming. I know that is to be expected, but sometimes it is hard to deal with. But everybody I have met so far has been extremely nice, and the staff/older students are very helpful when it comes to answering questions.

So I moved in today! I HAVE A HUGE ROOM.  It's way larger than I feel like I should have, but I'm not complaining too much. :) There is a big window in the back of the room and it looks out onto the back garden. It's a beautiful view! Unfortunately, my wardrobe (yes, I have a wardrobe! The entrance to Narnia hasn't appeared yet...) doesn't really match the size of my room, so I've had to be a little creative in hanging up my clothes. Let's just say the bookcase won't be holding any books... It doesn't help that my coats take up so much room! I also met my roommate. Her name is Isabel and she is very nice. We get along very well and seem to have a lot in common.

I can already tell that orientation is going to be exhausting! There are parties and other events going on all the time all week! Tonight there is a Bubble Rave. I'm not entirely sure what that will be like, but I'm guessing it will be interesting. I wondering just how wild things will get. I feel like if I can get through Fresher's week, I'll be able to survive anything here at St. Andrews.

the North Sea!

Una Aventura en Guatemala

So every other year my youth group takes a week long trip to Guatemala, and this summer was one of those years. I first went two years ago, and I was super excited to go back. My church has a special connection with Guatemala, and I fell right into that on my first trip. We worked with an organization called HELPS International. HELPS has a medical and a community development branch. Considering none of us actually have medical degrees (except one of the chaperones), we participated in community development pouring concrete, putting together water purification systems, and building stoves.

at least we had a nice view

We flew into Guatemala City early Saturday (July 28) morning. Ok, it wasn't actually all that early. Our flight was at like 9:30, but we had to meet at church at 5:45! The parking lot was filled with not happy teenagers. Anyway, we spent Saturday night at a seminary in the city. The next morning we embarked on an 8 hour bus journey through the mountains to the village of Nebaj. Now Nebaj is actually only 146 miles north of Guatemala City, but the road goes up and over countless mountains, so it takes awhile.

no parents, there weren't seat belts...

So we stayed in the village of Nebaj, but we worked in a village called San Juan Cotzal. It took over an hour by bus to get there every morning (San Juan probably wasn't that far away, but again, mountains and the eventual end of paved roads). Speaking of roads, we eventually hit a dirt road and it would be unsafe for the bus to try to drive up it. So instead, we all piled into the back of the 3 old pick-up trucks and rode the rest of the way up the mountain. It was like a crazy and bumpy and not entirely comfortable roller coaster ride, but it was SO MUCH FUN! I thought I would be thrown out of the bed on more than one occasion, but hey, it just added to the adventure.


So our first day of working consisted of mixing and pouring concrete. We were split into 6 different groups and each groups took 2 families. It was hard manual labor, but very satisfying. Before they get the concrete, families just live on dirt floors. Concrete floors are easier to clean and therefore healthier to live on.

On our second day we visited 2 schools. We installed 4 stoves at each school and gave them water purification systems. This was probably my favorite experience of the entire trip. Each school put on a welcome ceremony for us. All the children were lined up waiting for us, and then they performed for us! Different grades sang, danced, and recited poetry for us. At the second school, some second graders were performing a dance, and at the end, they grabbed people from the crowd to dance with them. I was one of those people. I felt privileged! Since there was only room for a few people to build the stoves in the schools' kitchens, most of us spent our time playing with the kids at each school. I work with the children at my church, and I love them, but the kids in Guatemala are different. They love you immediately, without question. All they want is for you to pay attention to them. Beyond names and age, we couldn't communicate much, but that really didn't matter. As soon as the welcome at the first school was over, a group of girls came up to me and my friend and asked for a picture. Several photos later, they grabbed hold of our hands and stuck by our side the 2+ hours we were there. We tried to teach them games and dances (ultimate frisbee, the hokey pokey, the chicken dance, football), but they also just spent a lot of time climbing all over us. Those kids reminded me what is was like to truly love people, a concept I fear our society hasn't truly grasped.

my favorite!

Day 3 we went back to our families and installed stoves. Families (and when I say families, I mean the women) normally cook on big open fires. This causes a couple issues. Problem 1 is smoke. Fires obviously produce smoke, and women and children spend most of their day breathing in that smoke, and prolonged smoke inhalation is not good for your lungs. Problem 2 is safety. Small children running around + large open fire = scary safety hazard. So I really enjoyed installing these stoves because I knew I was doing something genuinely helpful. Each family received 2 stoves, an indoor and an outdoor stove.

I think I've already mentioned that Guatemala is a beautiful country, but adding to that beauty was a waterfall right outside of the village we were working in. After all the groups had finished installing the stoves, we met by this waterfall to take pictures and have a closing ceremony with the families and village representatives. This was another highlight of the trip. I saw the very same waterfall on my trip two years ago, and being able to appreciate it again was awesome. It's kind of a magnificent sight.

The next day consisted of another 8 hour drive back through the mountains, and that afternoon we arrived in Antigua. Antigua is the cultural capitol of Guatemala, and it's kind of a shock after spending several days in the rural portion of the country. Antigua is popular with tourists, so the atmosphere is very different. Regardless, we spent the last day of our trip hanging out in the city. Well actually, in the morning we visited a special needs school right outside of Antigua. It's called the New Hope School, and they take kids with all sorts of needs, from learning disabilities to physical disabilities. Children with disabilities don't normally do well in Guatemala, so this school is a huge blessing to some. After visiting the school, we spent the rest of the day exploring Antigua. Fun fact: Antigua is built in between 2 volcanoes: Volcan de Agua and Volcan de Fuego. Can you guess which one is dormant and which one is active? :)

famous street!

taken in the ruins of an old church

One final thought. A very popular mission trip questions is "What did you learn on your trip?" or some such variation, and I have been asked that more than once. So here is my response (I'll try not to sound too cliche): The thing that I kept thinking about throughout the trip is the importance of community. Yes, I am aware of how privileged I am to have a roof over my head, reliably clean water, plenty of food, and a superb education; and yes, I believe that the least I can do with all that is to help people who don't have that. But there is so much more to the story. Material goods aren't bad. It's not bad that we have what I just listed, but material goods aren't everything. Love and community is far more important than anything we could ever own, and I think the relationships we formed will survive longer than any stove or water purification system we provided.

Wilderness 2012

So five days after I got home from London, I headed up to Colorado for a week long backpacking trip! I've always enjoyed hiking, and I went on my first backpacking trip last summer. I absolutely loved it, and when I heard about the opportunity to go back, I jumped on it immediately! I went with the small group that my senior Bible teacher and his wife led.

Look how clean and fresh we look!

It was a great trip, but there were some interesting moments! First off, we drove to Colorado. If you include stops, that is a 20 hour journey. That is a lot of time on a coach bus. It wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be. I was able to sleep during the night, which tremendously helped to pass the time. So, if you ever find yourself on a 20 hour bus ride, here are some tips:

• Make sure your ipod is fully charged! But also ration your ipod. If you are content to talk to people, read, sleep, or just sit, then do that. Save as much battery as possible for when you really need it!
• Bring a blanket and pillow! Buses get cold and pillows help you sleep! Special thanks to Alexandra for lending me Peels, her panda pillow pet.
• Have some travel toiletries in your carry-on. Remember, it's 20 hours before you can properly brush your teeth or wash your face!

So we finally got there, and our guides were there to greet us. Our base camp was at Wilderness Ranch, a YoungLife camp. We got our gear, packed up, ate lunch, and headed out. It's a good thing it was only a half day. We weren't fully acclimated to the altitude or adjusted to our packs yet, so the hiking was pretty tough. We were extremely grateful to get to our campsite that night!

Whenever we took long breaks, we did two things. At meals, we answered "meal questions." Those were just random questions that ensured that everybody got involved in conversation. Examples include: "What is your patronus?" (owl!); "If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could have 1 book, 1 movie, and 1 CD, what would it be?" (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, a Bourne movie, and Ceremonials by Florence and the Machines); and "If you could play a minor role in any movie, who would you play?" (a pirate on the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean). We also told life stories, which were kind of like faith journeys. The point was so we could all get to really know each other. 

So here are some highlights from the week:

Climbing through deadfall: I woke up our third morning feeling pretty good. I was finally fully acclimated to the altitude, and my pack didn't seem as heavy. The morning hike felt easy and all was good up to lunch. Things went downhill in the afternoon (only metaphorically though; literally, everything went UPHILL). The trail disappeared, so we were hiking along the side of a mountain on really rough terrain. Then we hit the deadfall. Colorado has had a problem this summer with pine beetles killing trees, so there are dead trees littered all over the place. And the problem with these dead trees is that they also have sharp branches sticking up all over the place. We then spent the entire afternoon climbing over dead trees and cutting ourselves on branches. It was exhausting, challenging, and we all came close to breaking down, but looking back, we decided that it was a part of the experience that we would not have changed.

Goose Lake: When we finally set up camp after battling the deadfall, our guides told us that we would be summiting the next day. I was super excited about this because my favorite part of backpacking last year was reaching the summit. So we got up unnaturally early (3:30) and covered a fair bit of ground before the sun even came up. It was another rough hike; the trail still hadn't appeared, the deadfall was just as bad, and we were being eaten alive by mosquitos. After hiking straight up for several hours, we reached a huge, gorgeous lake and set up camp near the shore. Our guides told us that we weren't going to make it to the summit because the weather was a bid dodgy, but we did get to spend the rest of the day relaxing by Goose lake. I was disappointed that we didn't get to summit, but after 2 days of intense hiking, relaxing by the lake was spectacular.

so intense!

Whiffle ball: My Bible teacher brought a whiffle ball set and we decided to have a game by the lake. This was a bit of a challenge for me because I've never played baseball, softball, or whiffle ball, so the others had to walk me through everything. I can't hit a ball to save my life, but at least I can catch and throw. After lunch, stakes were added to the game. The loosing team had to go jump into Goose Lake. The thing about Goose Lake is that it is fed by melted snow, so the water is freezing! Of course my team lost, and I had the privilege of leaping into the lake. At least it was refreshing...

Solo Night: The title says it all. When my 

my solo spot

teammates and I had recovered from our lake jump, our guides informed us that we would be having solo night. They found each of us a separate spot for the night and gave us some scripture to read and think about. Spending the night by myself in the woods was an interesting experience. It was extremely windy, and it sounded eerie through the trees. I woke up in the middle of the night and thought I heard an animal rustling near by, so I decided to hide deeper in my sleeping bag (though it was probably just the wind or a chipmunk). But the stars were incredible. Every time I woke up, I just looked at the sky and stared at millions and millions of glittering stars. You don't have many opportunities to see a night sky like that.  

Our last 2 days on trail were great! The trail magically appeared and we were beyond the land of the deadfall. We felt very accomplished by the time we got back to base camp. Taking a shower was amazing!!! Our guides also took us into a map room and showed us exactly where we hiked. We were on the longest trail (which is ironic, considering we were never on a trail!) and hiked 33 miles in 6 days. It was a great trip, and I would love to make backpacking an annual summer trip.

clean once again!

London review

So I got a little behind on blogging about my London trip! Here are some of the highlights from my second week there.

Henna: I got henna done on my hand! I've wanted to get a henna design ever since my sister came home from India with an authentic one. Alexandra and I both got it done at a Green Festival in Regent Park. Alexandra has a blog post dedicated to this. 

Rock of Ages premier: The Rock of Ages movie premier was happening at Leister Square, so we decided to stop by. There were the hard core people who had been camping out since 8:00 that morning who had the best spots right up at front, but considering we got there at like 5:00, we were able to get up fairly close. They had music from the movie playing, and at one point a band got up to perform the same music live. It was fun to listen to, and I had those rock songs stuck in my head for the rest of the evening. Oh, and I saw Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Russell Brand, and the rest of the cast! Ok, from a distance...but I still saw them. There was a stage set up, and all the major cast members got up and did an interview.

Harry Potter Studio Tour: We went to the Making of Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour. It was really incredible! This is a tour of all the sets, props, costumes, and designs for all the Harry Potter movies. For example, I saw the Great Hall, the Gryffindor common room, the boy's dormitory, Dumbledore's office, 4 Privet Drive, the Knight bus, and a whole bunch more. This is where they filmed the majority of the films. I felt like I was reliving my childhood since I grew up with the Harry Potter books and movies! Parts of it were just too much to handle! I think I took over 100 photos ( I promise I won't post them all!). And then there was the gift store...oh my goodness. It's this huge space with every Harry Potter item you could ever imagine. I got a pair of mittens that had the Hogwarts crest and colors. I really wanted one of the concept drawings. They were beautiful, but so expensive! Oh well, I'm happy with my mittens. I'll use them in Scotland. 

ahhhhh!!!!!!! We're so excited. :)

Gryffindor common room

Knight bus (all destinations except under water!)

Diagon Alley (strange lighting...)

model of Hogwarts Castle

and cue tears.....

Frankenstein: So a year ago, the National Theatre presented Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller. They switched playing the roles of the Creature and Dr. Frankenstein every night. So Alexandra and I went crazy last May, knowing that it was playing in London and we couldn't see it!!! But alas, the National Theatre filmed in and showed it in theaters in June. When we saw it, Ben was Frankenstein and Johnny was the Creature. It was an incredible, beautiful, heart-breaking production. The acting was phenomenal, and I wish we had been in London to see the second showing so I could see Ben and Johnny switch roles. 

Other Shows: Besides Frankenstein, we also saw The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at Kensington Gardens, the musical Matilda, and Henry V at the Globe. They were all very different shows, but I liked them all! I love the London theatre, and I'm definitely planning on taking a train down from St. Andrews to see some shows. 

inside the Globe! 

221b Baker Street

So I've been in London for several days now, and we are steadily checking things off our list of things that we must see. Alexandra and I decided that Monday would be Sherlock day! The first thing we did was head off to 221b Baker Street itself. There is a museum and a gift shop there. For the museum, they've taken a flat and have transformed it into the actual flat that Sherlock and Watson stayed in. There is Sherlock's room, Watson's room, the study, Mrs. Hudson's room, and a room containing wax figures of different characters.  I really enjoyed it! The flat had a lot of details that only people who have read the book would pick up on. For example, a book about bee keeping in Sherlock's room! They also took portions of some of the stories and had them written in journal form in Watson's room.

Bee keeping!

Watson's journal!

Sherlock's violin

creepy Moriarty wax figure

After we left the Sherlock Holmes museum, we trekked over to 187 North Gower Street, the other 221b. This is where the filmed the BBC Sherlock! Honestly, there isn't much there except an empty flat and Speedy's cafe (which was unfortunately closed!) But it was definitely worth the visit!

us FREAKING out :)

the other 221b

Oh, and this doesn't have anything to do with Sherlock, but WE FOUND A TARDIS!

TARDIS!

Diamond Jubilee

So on Thursday I graduated from high school! Summer has officially started (even though I've been done with classes for 2 weeks). On Friday I flew to London with Alexandra and her family, and we are here for the next 18 days! Yesterday was kind of rough because of the jet lag, but we were able to walk around Hampstead Heath a little, the area where we are staying.

Pond in Hampstead Heath!

So this whole weekend Britain is celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, meaning she has been on the throne for 60 years. Today a thousand boats sailed down the Thames, and there was a huge fancy ship that carried the Queen and some other members of the Royal family. We, along with 1.2 million other people, traveled down to Central London to watch the boats and attempt to get a glimpse of the Queen. It was absolutely chaotic! People were maxed out in British gear, and Union Jacks and pictures of the Queen were hanging from every possible surface. They were handing out free cardboard periscopes outside the tube station. I questioned how well they would work, but they were actually really fantastic! By the time the boats started to come down the Thames, the bank was so crowded that I couldn't actually see the river. At least with the periscope I could see a white speck that I took to be the Queen and three other specks that turned out to be the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, and Prince Harry.

Yes, we have matching t-shirts. Yes, we're cool.

Some people went all out!

Let's just climb up on top of a building to watch the boats.

On another note, IT'S FREEZING HERE! It was about 100 degrees when we left Houston, and today it was rainy, windy, and never climbed above the mid-50's. It's June. I don't think it got that cold in Houston this past winter. We've been borrowing all of Alexandra's aunt's jackets and scarves. I guess I better get used to this...

Summer???

Well, that's about it. Tomorrow is Sherlock day, and we head over to Baker Street!!!