what it is

Have you been to California, seen the sites and people there? Walked the streets of sleepy sea towns, tasted salty ocean air?

2010-08-06T20:29:00.000-07:00

Well last week concluded my adventures in LA. It was a very busy week, I ordered furniture and materials for Judy’s master bedroom. I worked really hard in getting everything all ready to be installed so I hope that all goes well and that she really likes her room. Also this week at work everyone was getting everything ready for the opening of our show room in Las Vegas in the World Market Center on the 2nd. I’ve seen the floor plans and what we’re displaying and it is going to be really cool. I’m sad that I’ll miss it but I am happy to be home.
Tuesday night after work I picked up my friend Amy and went downtown to see the Walt Disney Concert Hall designed my famous architect, Frank Gehry. It was so awesome! Probably the hottest building that I’ve ever seen! I am a sucker for great architecture and it did not disappoint! Every angle was so fascinating and the curvy lines make your eyes look upward, while you wonder how in the world it was built and how is it standing!? I have such a respect for artists and designers who really push the limits and make the impossible possible. We were only there for a short time because we parked at a meter but it really was incredible to see.

Amy and I feeling reflective

Thursday I went into work for about an hour and then headed to LAX to pick up Kate and Adam. After picking them up they had a “surprise” for me… tickets to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno! It was so awesome! We were even in the front row, so if you happened to watch the show on the 29th you probably saw me and didn’t even know it! It was a fantastic show with Jennifer Aniston and singer Christina Perry. Before they started filming the show they had people pumping up the audience before for the show. This one really funny guy came out and was giving out free t-shirts for the loudest fan and he picked me! He told me to come on stage. He put his hands behind his back and told me to be his arms and hands while he told a story, it was hilarious! I’m sure I looked like a fool up there but I was just having a good time, I’d do it for a free t-shirt! :) Too bad they didn’t film that!

After the show we went and got Subway and ate it at the beach. It was a great way to end an awesome day!

Adam and Kate

Friday was my last day at H Studio. I can’t believe my 7 week journey is at an end. I’ve learned so much in so many different ways. Here are just a few:
• I know more than I thought I did.
• Don’t be afraid to exploit yourself, you snooze you lose!
• Promptness shows respect.
• Keeping perspective is the key to happiness. From a distance, even a bumpy road looks smooth.
• Designing makes me happy.
• Be teachable.
• There is really nothing that I can’t conquer.
• Never leave the house without your GPS.
• The beach never gets old.
• The three P’s to a successful business is; the People, the Product, then the Profit.
I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to have had such a great experience. It’s been awesome to see and recognize the Lord’s hand in my life. It’s easy to get cynical about life and I consider it a blessing to be able to recognize the good. How have you been blessed?
At the end of the day Shlomi came up to me and asked, “What can I give you to thank you for all that you did?” and I said, “A letter of recommendation?” and he said, “No recommendation needed just come back in a year…no really… what can I give you?” my response was, “I don’t know?”, then Shlomi said to me, “Come to the showroom and pick out anything you want.” SAY WHAT!? Yeah, that’s right… I got to pick out anything I wanted! So I picked out this sweet, one of a kind sculpture! It would definitely pay for what I would have made over the summer if I got paid. Its super cool, it’s made out of dyed blue acrylic, the same material they use on their furniture.

Me with Ellen McAlister and Shlomi Haziza

H Studio showroom in LA

Jesse and I
After work, Kate, Adam, and I went to Hollywood Blvd. and walked down the Hollywood Walk of Fame for a while and took some sweet pics.

Look I'm famous!

Saturday morning we picked up Amy and rode the bus to Santa Monica Beach. The beach seriously doesn’t get old! It was kind of overcast and chilly when we got there but the sun soon came out. I forgot to put on sunscreen and I got fried! I looked like a freakin lobster! I never forget to put on sunscreen but I did and this time I paid!
Nice fany Adam!

California Beach Bums!

After the beach we went and got sushi and of course Ditty Riese. I’m going to miss it so much, good thing it’s not in Logan or else I would be in big trouble!

It has ruined me but I love it so much!

After dinner we headed to the Griffeth Observatory. It has awesome views of all of LA and Hollywood, we were there just in time for the sunset which was pretty sweet! The Observatory was a great way to spend my last night in California.

Hollywoooood!

Sunday morning came and it was time to make the 11 hour drive back to Utah. I had a chance to say good-bye to my awesome roommate Marge. I love Marge! I really got lucky to be with such an awesome person. I learned a lot from her as well, and she was so kind to let me stay in her humble abode. It was hard saying good-bye to her. I think we were both an answer to each other’s prayers.
Meet Marge, truely and amazing person!
I’m so glad to be home but so grateful for the opportunity to grow and learn new things. Chances are in all that we make them, and all I need! On to the next adventure, one more year at school! Can’t wait to start… until then peace out!!Home sweet home!

Can someone tell me what the heck Malibu Chic is?

2010-07-27T01:17:00.000-07:00

Oh gee… where do I start? It has been such a busy and slow week all at the same time! Earlier this week was pretty slow, everyone was trying to recover from last weekend’s opening of our showroom downtown, so I organized part of the Las Vegas inventory list on excel and also designed some of my own furniture that Shlomi may be interested in producing. By mid-week it went from slow to busy again, Jesse (one of my co-workers) and I were in charge of getting everything ready for the Malibu party on that coming Saturday. Luckily it wasn’t too involved, we just had to get all the furniture together and show up at the party. The Malibu party was put on by CC Skye, who is famous for her awesome and trendy jewelry and hand bags. Lots of celebrities and rich people buy her stuff. So what does this have to do with H Studio? Well CC Skye loves our furniture and asked if we would furnish the furniture for her party. During the week Jesse emailed CC Skye and asked her what kind of dress should we wear to the party and they responded with Malibu Chic. What in the heck is Malibu Chic!? Someone please enlighten me! No one in the office even knew what Malibu Chic was either. Efff! So I went to Ross and tried to do my best to find something that resembled Malibu Chic. I did end up finding something and I think that it worked, basically it’s a sophisticated beach/ hippy/ loosie goosie look… did you get that? Me neither! The party finally came and our furniture looked awesome! The party was pretty cool too, I felt a little awkward but good thing Jesse was there so I at least knew somebody. I haven’t got the slightest clue what it’s like to be rich and famous, I don’t know if I can handle all that attention from everyone, I definitely could handle the money though! Ha! The Best part of the party was that we got free jewelry and makeup! Sweet Nibblets!

Do we look Malibu Chic?

If I was a billionaire I would…
1. Pay off all of my school debt.
2. Pay off both of my sister’s school debt and their cars... or just buy them new ones.
3. Buy my parents a house and take care of them for the rest of their lives, let’s be honest… I owe it to them!
4. Travel the world with my friends.
5. Rent Disneyland for a week and only invite my closest friends and family to enjoy a crowd free vacation!
6. Help fund the church’s Humanitarian Aid and the Perpetual Education Fund.
7. Randomly go to a restaurant and pay everyone’s bill.
8. Purchase my own island.
9. Hire my own personal chef and hair and makeup stylist because I hate cooking and getting ready in the morning.
10. Own an original painting by Vincent van Gogh.

The list can go on for a while shamefully. What would you do/buy if you were a billionaire?

On my way home from the party I was driving along the Pacific Coast Highway and look what my view was! I'm really going to miss the ocean!

On Wednesday after work, Marge (my awesome and sweet roommate) and I went to the LA Temple! I’ve been here in LA for 6 weeks now and still have not made it to the temple so I was pretty excited to finally make it out there. The LA Temple is so big! I hear that it’s the biggest temple that the church has, and of course it was gorgeous inside. For my awesome friends that may not know about Mormon temples click here to find out more! I had such a wonderful time, I’m pretty sure it’s the only quiet place in all of LA! I so needed that time to disconnect with the world, it was so refreshing.

So do you remember me telling you about Judy? She was a client that I designed her master bedroom for? Well I finally got a hold of her this week! So she still wants to do her room. Well unfortunately I won’t be able to see it all finished sense I’m leaving this weekend. In the meantime, I’m going to be ordering everything and getting the room all prepped up so they know exactly how everything is supposed to go. I wished that I could have seen it all finished but I’ll do everything I can until then.
Before the party on Saturday my friend Amy and I tried to go see some Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry buildings but it was kind of a bust. We missed the tour for the Hollyhock House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright so we just took a few pictures. We also went to the Hollywood Library that supposedly was designed my Fank Gehry, not going to lie…it was kind of disappointing, it was run down and didn’t really look like anything that he would design. The rest of the day we were of course stuck in retarded traffic, but we did manage to make it to Ditty Riese, mmm… so good! I’m addicted!

We love Queen!

The Hollyhock House

Cant get enough of the PDC!
It was my last Sunday yesterday. I’m going to really miss the great people I’ve met through the church. They’ve been so kind and welcoming, who knows… maybe I’ll find a job out here in a year? We’ll see!
This week is my last week, I can’t believe it! It’s flown by so quickly, I’ve learned so much in such a short amount of time.
I’m so excited for Thursday, you wanna know why?! Because my awesome, beautiful cousin Kate, and my awesome macho friend Adam are coming to LA! They will be joining me on the long drive back to Utah early Sunday morning as well! Thursday can’t come soon enough! Until then… peace out!

Can you name anything more annoying? I bet you can't!

2010-07-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

I was driving on the 405 this week and right in front of me was a nice car that had one of those Nike stickers that said ‘Just Do It’… so I hit him… knocked the phone right out of his hand! Ha! There are three truths about this statement. The first being is that I really didn’t hit anyone; the second is that I really, really, hate the 405 freeway with every fiber of my being! And thirdly, LA traffic really makes me want to ram someone! It brings out the worst in me and it’s a good thing that I’m driving by myself most of the time because at times I’m ashamed at the things that come out of my mouth.
Week five is done and gone, now onto week six. It’s crazy to think that in less than two weeks I will be back in Utah. It’s gone by so fast! I feel like I’ve learned a lot already! This past week was a busy one! We’ve all been frantically trying to get everything ready for the grand opening of our showroom in LA that we had on Saturday. We had a few glitches and setbacks but we managed to pull through and it turned out really nice! The showroom looked glorious! We ended up painting the floors and walls all white at the last minute and it turned out so nice! I think we had a pretty good turn out too. The space was filled with people, loud music, and delicious food! My friend Amy came with me, these events can tend to be a little awkward so it was nice to have a friend there with me.

Last week I also started putting together a design for a party that H Studio is furnishing in Malibu. On Wednesday I drove to the house in Malibu where the party is going to be at and took pictures and measurements. It’s 40 miles away so it took about an hour and a half to get there. The party is this Saturday so I have a lot to do to get everything ready.
So as I was heading back from Malibu and it took me 3 hours to get home! Again reiterating my loathing of LA traffic! Mind you that it’s only 40 miles away! I was so ticked! LA traffic is the biggest gas loafer of all time! I’m so annoyed! To make it even worse it’s been over 100 all week. Stuck in traffic with a hot sun beating down on you is no bueno!
Friday night Amy and I went to the movie Inception. It was so good! I loved it! The whole concept of controlling your dreams and being able to know what is real and what is reality is mind boggling. I can’t quite wrap my brain around it but it was so interesting!
Saturday before the party Amy and I found Frank Gehry’s house! It’s definitely a Gehry house. Fence, metal, and glass protruding in every direction. It was way cool to see it. After the party we were hungry so we went to this really good sushi restaurant in Westwood and Ditty Riese for desert…mmmm so good! I can't get enough of it!

Sunday after church we of course headed to the beach. I love that place, it doesn’t get old for me. I can't resist it! It’s a great way to end my week and start a new one…until then…peace out!

Ketchup?

2010-07-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe that I’ve been here a whole month! Just 3 more weeks to go! This week I’ve been busy doing final renderings of the lobby of the Watermark Tower building in downtown LA. I think they turned out pretty good, it’s going to look pretty sweet when it’s all done and put together. Next this Saturday is THE day we open up our showroom to the public. We’re having a big party that night with lots a booze, but I’ll be going for the networking!

This girl at work was trying to convince me that Sketchup is better than CAD! Ha! Don’t make me laugh! Are you kidding me?! Sketchup isn’t even comparable to what you can do on CAD, it’s so much more professional and accurate! If you’re looking to muck around use Sketchup, if you're making real plans use AutoCAD…so there!
One of the many other projects going on here at H Studio is we’re remodeling our showroom in Las Vegas, and will be reopening on the 2nd of August. This week I went through the entire inventory in Vegas and organized everything into categories on Excel, then pasted pictures of each product next to their corresponding description. I am so bad at Excel so I guess this will be good for me!
On Wednesday, I went to the Ketchup Restaurant in West Hollywood with Kylee and Amy. Kylee went back to Utah on Friday so we wanted to have one last get together before she headed back. Ketchup is a way cool and trendy restaurant! The food was pretty good, they have all sorts of funky ketchup flavors for you to try like; chocolate, banana, ranch, BBQ, and just regular ketchup. It was fun to try all the flavors, who would have thought to put chocolate and ketchup together? It was pretty interesting!

Finally the weekend came and I headed over to Amy’s place to take the bus to the Getty! Riding the bus is so much cheaper than parking and it saves on gas so I think we’re going to try and ride the bus everywhere we can! I like the bus, I feel like I can actually enjoy LA because I’m not driving in it! Plus the TV on the bus asks you fun useless knowledge questions like; what is the largest cat in the world? –Tiger, and what determines the gender of a baby crocodile? – Temperature. I bet you didn’t know that! I didn’t! Good thing I was on the bus so we all can be that much smarter? Ha!
The Getty was really neat and is one of my favorite places that I’ve been to in LA. I love seeing great architecture and the Getty does not disappoint! A beautiful work of art made of travertine and aluminum. Richard Meier is the master mind architect. Inside the museum housed paintings from some of my favorite artists like Vincent Van Gough and Claude Monet. The collection also included pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, decorative arts, and 19th- and 20th-century American and European photographs. By the end of the day I felt pretty cultured.

After the Getty we rode the bus back to Westwood (where Amy lives) and went to this awesome place called Ditty Riese, which has the best homemade ice-cream sandwiches! You can pick the cookie and ice-cream, it is so good and the price is right too! Only $1.50!
I really like the Westwood area, the UCLA campus is there so it’s a fun college town feel, lots of fun places to hang out, really nice and friendly people, cool places to eat, and really close to the beach!
Sunday I went to church, I really like the singles ward here, the people are really nice. I’m sad that I’m leaving so soon I was just starting to get to know the people.
After church I met up with Amy and we took the bus to the Santa Monica Beach. It was another great day at the beach. We caught some sweet waves and built a real interesting sand castle and watched it wash away by the waves. It was a good day!
Well that finishes another crazy week in LA. Until next week…peace out!

Freedom!

2010-07-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

Week 3 is done… check! Three down four to go! This week at H Studio was pretty good; I was busy all week working on the renderings for the lobby in the Watermark Building downtown. Watermark is a super cool building! It’s a huge skyscraper that has high end apartments and penthouses. Also inside there is a gym, swimming pool, an indoor park for dogs, and our H Studio showroom. The cost to rent such a place costs as much as a new car a month, $15,000 a month! Who does that?! It’s going to be sweet when it’s all finished.
I tried to get a hold of Judy (my client) this week to get things started on her room but she’s been really busy at work. I hope I can get a hold of her soon, there isn’t much time left. Four weeks to completely install a room isn’t much time especially if you have to order fabrics and furniture.
This week Kylee and I attempted FHE on Monday; it was a multi stake activity at Dockwieler Beach where there was a big bonfire with marshmallows and stuff to make s’mores with. There were so many people so it was a bit intimidating but the people that we talked to were really nice. I was just proud of myself for even going!
The 4th of July weekend was so fun and jam packed of good old American fun! I even had Monday off too!
Saturday Kylee and I headed to Venice Beach. I heart Venice Beach! When I think of a California beach I think of a beach like Venice Beach. The beach is lined with gorgeous beach houses, street performers, tons of shops, people riding bikes, and of course muscle beach. If your neck is the same width of your head… take a day off!! It’s supposed to go in a little!
It was so nice just to lay out on the warm sand and feel the warm sun on my skin. The weather was perfect; it wasn’t too hot with a nice breeze to cool you off. After basking in the sun we did a little sand sculpting. I was made into a mermaid, and Kylee was a beautiful octopus! We played in the water for a bit, it was so fun to jump in the waves. I got a little creeped out by the seaweed and whatever else was lurking in the water so we got out of the water and changed our clothes. We decided it would be fun to rent bikes and ride them along the coast. We rode all the way up to the Santa Monica Pier. It was so much fun! I’ve always wanted to ride bikes on the beach! There was so much to see, music coming from all directions, crazy hippies, and street venders everywhere. It kind of reminded me of Portobello Rd. in London minus the beach of course.
We rode our bikes back and did a little shopping. I’ve seen a lot of things in my travels but the people in California are crazy! One of the great things (or some people think is great) about California is that medical marijuana is completely legal, so there were crazy reefer men trying to get people to come in and get a free health exam to see if you qualify for medical marijuana, this is absolutely crazy to me! No thanks! I like the system I’ve got! Try getting high on life, it’s awesome!

While walking back to the car we spotted Frank Gehry's Veince Beach House! So cool! It was just right in the middle of the big line of beach houses. It's always great to see things that you see in text books!
After the beach we headed back to Ky’s place and we had ourselves a little BBQ. We cut up so much fruit!! It was more like can I have some BBQ with my fruit! Ha! It was so good!
For the 4th of July we decided to go to the Aquarium in Long Beach and watch the fireworks. The Aquarium was really cool! It was like a mini Sea World, they had animals you can touch and there was so much to do and see. I had more fun admiring the design and architecture. The animals were just a bonus, I’m such a nerd! When we bought our tickets we got the 4th of July package, it came with admission to the aquarium and a dinner. The dinner was so good! We piled our plates full of food and dessert, it was quiet the American meal!
Later on that night we watched the fireworks from the Queen Mary. It was a great way to end the day. Thank you for being born America!
5 reasons why I love America:
1. I can pursue my dreams
2. I can obtain an education in anything I choose
3. The opportunities here are endless
4. I can have a car and go anywhere
5. I have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
There are so many other reasons why I love America, I feel very fortunate to be in this great land.
Monday I had the day off so Kylee and I went to Olvera St., which is the birth place of Los Angeles. It is a tiny street full of Mexican food and street venders. The atmosphere was really fun and so was the food!
Later on that night we went to a movie in Glendale. We saw Knight and Day. It was ok, kind of cheesy but at least it had good action in it.
It’s been a good week. I’ve done and seen a lot! Until next week… peace out!

JACK SQUAT!

2010-06-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

"You'll find that as you go out there, you're going to amount to JACK SQUAT!!"

Thats what I've learned this week! Ha! It was a good week but I definatly know my place, I have so much to learn. There is so many things that go into designing a room. Designing is the fun part, but figuring out prices (which I know nothing about, so thats been real fun to figure out), having accurate measurements, and your design having to be changed because of the price. Kind of a bummer.

One of the many things that I had to do this week was build three perspectives of the master bedroom in 3D on CAD and render all three in the space of three days! Basically I didn't sleep at all last week. I honestly don't know how I got all of it done, but I did and I have to say that they weren't that bad. Shlomi was impressed with them so I was happy with it.

I met with my client (Judy) for the first time on friday night to present to her my design. I was so nervous and had no idea what I was going to say but luckly Shlomi was there to help me out. It went really well and for the most part she really liked the design. Shlomi is puttng me in charge of the whole thing now. He wants the bedroom all done and installed by the time I leave in 5 weeks! Yikes! I have so much to do and I don't even know were to start! By the time Judy and her husband left that night it was almost 9! I was so exhausted! A 12 hour day with no sleep and no pay is a long day!

H Studio is building a new showroom in downtown LA so Shlomi and Ellen (my other supervisor) wants me to do some of the renderings for that too, should be fun.

During the week I ran a ton of arrends to the PDC and other really random places, along my travels I ran into the the famous Hollywood sign. It was so weird I sort of just stumbled apon it, I looked up and there it was! So I had to stop and take pictures of this iconic piece of California.

LA so far has been so fun, there is so much to do and see! I was happy to find out that my friends Kylee and Amy are still in town so its been nice to actually know somebody and do stuff with. This Saturday we went to the LA Zoo, we played some sweet bowling off of Hollywood Blvd., and watched a really weird movie outside at the Hollywood Forever Cemetary. West Hollywood is crazy, it's full of interesting individuals! What happens in West Hollywood, stays in West Hollywood! If there is anyone that is from or knows West Hollywood knows what I'm talking about!

On Sunday I went to the Singles Ward, the members are so nice, it should be a really fun ward! I met this guy named Harmen and he's in "showbiz", he found out that I'm a interior designer and asked if I wanted to help design a set for a shoe commercial on friday. That would be so awesome! I have to work so we'll see if I will be able to help out!

After church I picked up Kylee and Amy and headed to the beach. By the time we got there it was super cloudy and chilly so it wasn't too relaxing, but it was fun to play in the water for a bit and take some pictures. We also got to drive along the Pacific Coast Highway, it's so pretty! I could drive along that for hours!

This week I have to get a hold of Judy so we can get things going on her room, its going to be cool to see how it turns out! Should be a good week, until then...peace out!

Bouncin' California

2010-06-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

Inside the PDC

The PDC!

The Tornado Sculpture

The Oliver Chair

Yellow everyone!
This post is coming to you all from the land of fun in the sun, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer...LA! Ha!

Why am I in such a place? For the next 6 to 7 weeks I am interning for a fabulous firm in Sun Valley, California called, H Studio by Shlomi Haziza. Its crazy to think that just a year ago I was touring europe studying abroad...oh the places we'll go! I'm excited and oh so nervous to take on this next big adventure!

I just finished my first week at H Studio and its been an interesting one! My first day was actually pretty slow, I'm the only intern and everyone was super busy so I put folders together that they give to clients and the press. Towards the end of the day I got to meet Mr. Shlomi Haziza himself! In the flesh, thee master mind of incredible art, furniture, and fashion. He is so cool and charming...not to mention, pretty handsom for an older guy! If you've ever watched the show Chuck, he looks like a 50 year old Chuck Bartowsky...I know right?! Anyways, Shlomi was asking me all sorts of questions...where are you from, how old are you, how long have you been going to school, what do you want from this experience? Those type of questions. After chit-chatting with him for a bit, he decided to put me incharge of designing a master bedroom for one of their biggest clients...all by myself! What the hell!? This is so cool and oh so scary at the same time!

So during this week I went to the clients house, which is on top of the freaking mountain overlooking all of Hollywood and LA! Gorgeous house, almost everything she owns is from H Studio. I thought I was walking through an H Studio gallery! While there I took tons of measurements and pictures of the room. Shlomi and I are thinking of doing the room in turquoise and charcoal, its going to be sweet! The other day I found this awesome turquoise wall covering and Shlomi loved it! He kept saying "Yeah thats what I'm talking about! Don't go back to school, don't go back to school!" It was such a relief to me because half of the time I feel like I don't know what I'm doing!

The basketball playoffs were this week too so Shlomi wanted to deck out the studio, play loud music, and have an open house. You should have seen the place! The studio that we work at is so cool! Its very modern and contemporary. White floors, walls, and ceilings. Tons of open space to display our products and of course, also to have fabulous parties! Pretty sure he made a lot of money that night!

On Wednesday I got to go to the PDC (Pacific Design Center)!!! Ellen (one of my supervisors) wanted me to return some fabric samples there. Freaking huge building! Very modern architecture, glass everywhere, super cool building! I'm sure I'll get to go back, hopefully soon!

Yesterday I got to go see Amy and Kaitlyn at Disneyland and spend the night with them in their hotel! They've been in Anahiem all this week so I'm glad that I got to see them before they headed back to Utah. I freaking love Disneyland! It really is one of the happiest places on earth for me!

One other fun but not so fun thing that happend this week was my laptop hard drive decided to have a $300 fail! So I took it to the Geek Squad and they replaced it but in the process I've lost all of my programs that I've installed, everything is gone! Music, pictures, everything! Lucky I had most of it saved on my external hard drive. Its been the biggest pain to get things back on it, not to mention I'm out $300 and thats a lot when I'm getting 'paid' in experience this summer! I am so ticked! Oh well, it is what it is!

Its been a crazy week and I'm poo-poo-pooped! Until next time...peace out!

Some of my sketches of the Grand Tour

2009-09-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

Italy

2009-08-31T00:49:00.000-07:00

Top 5 reasons to visit Italy
5. The people. Italy has some of the nicest people that I’ve ever met in my life. They are so friendly and lax in everything they do. Coffee break anyone?
4. The language. Just the language alone is in and of itself artistic, poetic, beautiful, and so much fun to learn.
3. Mosaics. Every cathedral and every building is covered floor to ceiling in beautiful mosaics. Sometimes you have to look hard to make sure that it’s not a painting.
2. Gondola. A trip to Italy would not be complete without a gondola ride. There is something so magical about a really attractive Italian man taking you through the alley ways of Venice at sunset while singing “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that’s amore!” Mmm… Yes please!
1. Gelato. There is no limit of how much gelato one can consume in one day! For me in Italy it was an essential ritual of getting through the very hot and humid summer days of wonderful Italy.
Let’s be honest, what is there not to love about Italy? Every nook and cranny is covered in ancient ruins, which is surrounded by the crazy hustle and bustle of modern day living. I found myself soaking up the culture and really enjoying my time spent there.

Aug 4th

2009-08-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day of this wonderful tour. I'm a littles sad about it, I've learned so much about design and archicture and also about myself. Tomorrow is a 16 hour plan ride and its back to reality, facing the fact that I'm completely broke and school starts in two weeks! Yikes!! It was so worth it though! Late last night Beccah and Malory came back from their trip to Scotland, I'm so glad that their back. I've missed them, but I'm glad that they got to go and that they had a good time. This morning Darrin took all of us to Buckingham Palace for our last group activity! What a great way to end our tour. I've seen a lot of Palaces in the last 5 weeks and this one is my favorite! Its gorgeous inside, there was stuff from all over the world that have been given to Kings and queens over the years. It was pretty neat to learn about the history of the palace and the british history. After the palace Darrin gave us the rest of the day to do what we wanted so a group of us went to this really cool restraunt called Ask. It was really good, they had really yummy pasta and soup. Then we decided to to last minute shopping on Portobello Road. We did that for awhile and then it was time for Wicked! I was so exicted! Oh my! It was the coolest play that I've ever seen in my life! Its such a good story, good music, awesome set and design, way cool costumes, and great seats! It was really incredible! I'm so glad that I got to go! After wicked we wanted to get fish and chips one last time so we found some restruant, it was the only one that was open because it was pretty late. We got back to our flat around midnight and now we are all franticly packing and cleaning, I don't think we're going to make it to bed tonight, we all have to meet at the metro station at 5 AM! Yuck! Oh well, I'll sleep when I'm dead right!? It has been such a wonderful trip, wonderful is not even the word but its been amazing and life changing and I'm so blest to be able to have gone. It was a rough road preparing to go, but my experience here made it all worth it, a hundred times over!

Aug 3rd

2009-08-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today was our last free dau before we go home. My friend Ashley and I went to the Imperial War Memorial Musuem this afternoon. It has exhibites of the 1st and 2nd World Wars. It was really cool to learn about these wars on the european side of things. They had a cool exhibit about spies called "Secret War" they had really cool displays of the old devices they used to use. There was also an exhibit about the Holocaust, it was really well done but very graphic and very sad, I definately did not leave with a good feeling but a greater knowledge and respect for those who had to go through such horrible treatment. After the museum we headed back to the flat and I did some more sketching. Bec and Mal should be coming back pretty soon, I'm so excited! I've missed them!

Aug 2nd

2009-08-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Sabbath! It's the last Sunday here in Europe. Today we decided to go to the Single's Ward here in London, it didn't start until 2 30 so a group of us decided to go back to the V & A and see what we didn't get to see sense church was just right around the corner from the museum and its free too so thats always nice. I'm so glad that we went back. There was a section for theature and it was prety sweet, the picture of the rino is actually a life size costume, pretty sweet. We also saw the textile section too. We spent a few hours there and headed to church. I love the Single's Ward here! They are super friendly and there were some pretty good lookin guys too! Yes please! It was a really good sacrament meeting. This really cute girl in her talk talked about how she had the scriptures on her cell phone so she would listen to it while she was on the tube. Well one day when she was on the tube her phone got stolen so she got a new phone and texted her old phone and said " to who ever the new owner is, there is scriptures on my phone so feel free to listen to them." Ha ha! That is awesome! Good for her! After church we went to Hyde Park and walked on the Princess Diana Memorial Walk which led to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, that was pretty cool. Hyde Park is like Centeral Park in New York, its a huge park in the middle of a huge city. While we were walking there was a really cool tree, its branches grew down towards the ground. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen but so cool. After Hyde Park we went to Covent Gardens, Ive already been but the others hadn't so we looked around and enjoyed the street performers. Our favorite was Luca. He was really good and I got some video of him. We watched him for awhile and headed back to the flat. Tomorrow is Monday which means Bec and Mal get back tomorrow night!

Aug 1st

2009-08-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

Today was a super low key day. It was kind of nice to just take her easy today and go at my own pace. This early morning Bec and Mal left for Scotland, they were running a little late so I got up and made they're lunches. I miss them already and can't wait for them to get back. After they left I went back to bed and slept for a few more hours. I finally got up and met up with Jenna to check out this little shop that had Beatles stuff in it. It was so cool and if I had all the money in the world I would have bought everything! After the shop we went to the Apollo Theature to go buy Bec and I tickets to...WICKED! I got tickets for Tuesday night, our last night here in London, we're going to go out with a bang! I'm super stoked about it! I've always wanted to see it and now I get to! I even got the tickets for only 20 pounds, super cheap! After buying the tickets, Jenna and I wondered around the streets of London for a while and headed back to the flat and sketch for a while. I'm an idiot because I left my camera at the flat so I don't have any pictures today sorry.

July 31st

2009-08-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day trip for the rest of the grand tour. This morning we took a train to Chesterfield, then a bus to Haddon Hall. Hadden Hall was so interesting. It was like a hotel back in the 1300s. The way people lived was really interesting...I was getting really grossed out because of the way they lived and eat. Personal hygene was non-existant niether was cleanliness of any kind, but it was super cool and fasinating to learn about. Outside of Hadden Hall was a pretty garden, and we all spotted this really cool rustic and old door, so naturally we all had to take our picture in front of it. Ha ha! I love looking like tourists from America. While we were taking our pictures a british man came walking by us and said "Do they not have bloody doors in America?" Ha ha! Yes sir, of course we have doors! We got back on the bus and headed to Chatsworth. Chatsworth was Mr. Darcy's house in the newest movie of Pride and Prejudice, but is the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. When we got there my friends and I decided to look at the gradens first while the weather was good. The gardens here are so much fun, there were really neat fountains that you can wade your feet in and hours and hours of exploring. There was a really cool maze that you can go through made out of bushes. I was so mad because my camera ran out of batteries so I wasn't able to take as many as I wanted to. The interior is pretty sweet too. There is a ton of art and sculptures. It was a pretty fun day. When we got back into London we went to Piccadilly Circus to see a shop that we thought looked cool. It has a tun of british stuff, I finally got me a really sweet London jacket I'm so excited about it. The next three days are free so Beccah and Malory are going to Scotland in the morning. I'm going to miss them and I so wish that I could go, should be an interesting weekend.

July 30th

2009-08-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

Today we were giving the option of going to the Roam Baths but Malory, Beccah, and I decided to go to Windsor Castle. We had realized that we hadn't even seen one real castle during our time here in Europe. So with our Brit Rail Passes we took a train to Windsor. Windsor Castle is the Queen's actual residence and has been for the last 900 years. It was pretty darn sweet! I got to see an actual castle!! The town of Windsor reminded me of Disneyland, just with the castle and all the little shops and places to eat around it. We spent awhile there but we had to head back to London because my friends had tickets to see Peter Pan in Hyde Park. We get back in London and we're taking the Tube back to our flat and we had to transfer trains, so we're walking to the next train and all of a sudden my friends start running to get on before the doors close, but I get caught behind a bunch of people and the train leaves and my friends are on it! My first thought was..."oh shizz!" and I paniced a little bit. So I pulled out my iPod and turned on some music to calm me down and I hopped on the next train. Well I soon found out that I got on the wrong one so I got off on the next stop and got on the right trian and eventually made it safely to my flat. I will admit that I was scared, but luckly the metro system here is really easy to read and understand. Well my friends went to the play and I later met up with them for dinner in Piccadilly Circus at Planet Hollywood. Piccadilly Circus is like their Times Square, circus here in England means a square or court. It was pretty cool but there were wierdos out tonight! What a day!

July 29th

2009-08-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

Seriously! Everyday just gets better and better! I freaking love it here! This morning we took yet another trian to Petersborough, from there we took a bus to the Burgley House. When we got there, there was a big heard of deer in front of the house. Anybody that knows me knows that I'm not a fan of any animal that has hooves...due to my lovely expereince that I had while working in Yellowstone! Anyways, so I wasn't too excited to get out and walk up by them. Apperently they are very friendly and they'll let you pet them and feed them but I made a bee-line for the enterance. The Burgley House was really cool, one of the coolest rooms was the Heaven Room which was filmed in movies like The DaVinci Code and the newer Pride and Prejudice. The interior was over the top with embelishments and the finest furniture at the time. The gardens were pretty too. We were able to eat lunch at the Orangery Restraunt in the Burgley House, it was there that I was able to experience an English scone and clotted cream with hot chocolate made with Cadbury chocolate. All of it was SO delicious! I loved the scone, they are a lot like a biscuty texture with raisins in it and the clotted cream is like butter but 100 times better and creamier! So good...I could feel my arteries starting to clog but oh my...it was so good! After the Burgley House, we got back on the bus and headed to Stamford. Stamford is one of the oldest towns in England. The streets were also filmed in the movie Pride and Prejudice. It's a really neat and charming little town...if the streets could talk! We found this great little place that had the most amazing pasties! I got one with cheese in it, it was so good! It just warmed me right up! It has been pretty chilly here in Enland, its rained almost everyday sense we've been in the UK. I don't really mind though, I like rainy weather, I think its better than being freaking hot. Our time in Stamford was short lived and we had to head back to the train station to catch our train back to London. Well the night was still young so Bec and I went and had dinner and tried out a traditional English dinner, which is roast beef, potatoes, veggies, and yorkshire pudding. It was pretty good as you can see in the picture. After dinner we wanted to go to the London Eye! I was so excited and it was something that I totally had to do while here in London. It was so much fun! We met two really nice guys in our capsule, one was actually from Utah but lives in Washington now. He was there on a business trip. Anyways, they were really nice. As you can see from my pictures, Bec and I had some good times with the camera. We got off the Eye and this freakish wind/rain came. Umberellas were completely useless! It was pretty funny. It was such a good day, I could die happy right now! Life couldn't be more grand!:)

July 28th

2009-08-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

Another fun and fabulous day in London! Today we took a trian to Oxford and went to Blenheim Palace. The palace is the birthplace and ancestral home of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. Inside the palace they had a whole exhibit dedicated to Mr. Churchill. My favorite part of the Palace was the gardens, there were secret gardens, rose gardens, and every kind of garden you could ever imagine. They had acres and acres of soft green grass that we played on for about an hour. Its been a nice day, it was a little more layed back and we were able to see and do whatever we wanted. Tomorrow we are going to Stamford, I'm excited, should be fun.

July 27th

2009-08-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

Everyday gets better and better! I love London/England so much! I left my heart in Venise but I belong in London. Today we went to Salisbury and saw the Wilton House, the Salisbury Cathedral, and Stonehenge! So cool! Ok so this morning we met pretty early and took a train to Salisbury, I love going out to the english country side. From there we took a transite bus to the Wilton House. The Wilton House was so cool and it has a ton of really cool history to it, everyone should look it up if you don't know about it but one of the most exciting things about it for me was that it had origional furniture made by Chippendale! You only see that type of stuff in your textbooks but I actually got to see with my own eyes! So cool! The grounds and gardens are gorgeous and fabulous as well. The nice people at the Wilton House also gave us homemade lemonade with strawberries, and really yummy pastries. After the Wilton House we got back on the bus and went to Salisbury Cathedral. It's a really pretty cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows. The spire was added on after the cathedral was finished and it actually leans about 3 feet I think, but it leans against the wind so it wont blow off, coincidence? I think not! We actually got to walk up about 300 steps to the spire and saw amazing views of Salisbury, so cool! We also were in the bell tower when the bells went off, it was so loud and so cool at the same time! You can just feel it ringing in your body, just awesome! After Salisbury Darrin called a bunch of taxies for us to go see Stonehenge! I was so excited, this was on my top 10 list of places that I have to see before I die! Its literally out in the middle of a green field in the middle of nowhere! Stonehenge is over 5,000 years old and they still really aren't sure what it was really used for. I can't believe that I've been able to see it! So cool! It's been such a good day! I've been realizing that we only have about a week and a half left of this wonderful trip. It makes me really sad to think about but I do miss my family and friends, it will be nice to see them!

July 26th

2009-08-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Sabbath! This morning I got to go to church to the Hyde Park Ward. It was really neat,it was Fast and Testimony Meeting today so it was neat to be able to hear the testimonies of the good Saints in London. Although I think about half of the congregation were tourists, but its always so great to be among people who live, think, and believe in the same things as you do, its very refreshing. I had a bit of a hard time staying awake though because Beccah, Malory and I stayed up until 4 AM last night talking and doing laundry, it was so worth it though...good times. After church Bec and I wanted to go see the London Tower before her and Malory went went to The Lion King. So we get to the Tower and the lines were so long and by the time we got in we would only have like 30 minutes to look around so we desided just to do a little site seeing for ourselves. It was really fun, we looked in the Tower gift shop and took pictures. We also got on a double-decker bus so where the theature were The Lion King was showing. The bus was way fun, we actually had to run and jump on it like you see in the movies, it was a bit scary but so fun at the same time. On our way to the theature we stopped at McDonalds to get a shake with real cadbury chocolate in it! It was so good! They seriously need it in the States! Oh yeah speaking of chocolate...thats all I've been eating sense I got here! I've probably gained 20 pounds just this week I've eaten so much of it! But it is so good...mmm... We met up with the rest of the group at the theature, while they were watching the show I just hung out at a nearby market in Covent Gardens and later met up with them after the show for dinner. It was my first time being alone in London so it was quite the experience. Covent Gardens was really neat, they had all sorts of shops and street performers, it kind of reminded me of Portobello Road. I saw these amazing performers playing classical music, they were really fun, getting the crowd involded and they would dance as they would play their instruments. It was very entertaining. The Lion King was about three hours long so about two hours of it I was at Covent Gardens and the last hour I wondered back to the theature and just sat and waited for it to be over. It was really nice just to sit and watch the people go by. Here's another funny story...So i'm sitting at the theature waiting and across the street I see a garbage truck stop. A really cute black man gets out of the truck and he's doing his job putting the garbage into the truck. Anyways, so I was just watching him and he all of a sudden he looks at me so I hurry and look down because I felt a little sheepish that I got caught looking at him. I get the courage to look up and he's looking right at me, so I start to get all nervous thinking he's going to do something. But he just got back into the truck still looking at me but then he smiles and yells "CALL ME!" out the window. Ha ha! British men are so friendly here! Ha ha! Soon after my fly-by flirting the show was over and I met my friends to go get something to eat, we went to this cool pub just up the street and the food was way good, we had this mushroom and fried chicken dish, I can't remember what it was called but it was dang good! After dinner we headed back to the flat. Another good day in London!

July 25th

2009-08-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

Today was another fabulous day in wonderful London. This morning we got up early and went to Notting Hill Gate which has the famous Portobello Road Market. "Portobello road, Portobello road. Street where the riches of ages are stowed. Anything and everything a chap can unload. Is sold off the barrow in Portobello road." There were so many people it was crazy and a pick-pocketer's paradice I'm sure. There were so many fabulous things to look at and buy, I could have spent so much money. There was everything from antiques to purses and jewlry. It was so cool! Funny story though, my friends and I were walking down Portobello Road with the hords of people and this American girl, who looked like a valley girl, was talking so loud, and all you could hear above the crowd was, "If it was Jill...IF IT was Jill...IF IT WAS JILL!" in a valley girl voice, she sounded like an idiot! My friends and I where laughing so hard, no wonder europeans think Americans are stupid because they talk like that! It was pretty funny, so now we say it all the time just for a good laugh. After our lovely time on Portobello Road it was time to go see Billy Elliot! I was so excited! This would be my first actual broadway musical that I have seen so I was super stoked! Anyways, the musical was amazing and did not disapoint! It was incredible and yes I cried twice! The little boy who played Billy was amazing and far more talented then some of the adults, it was so much fun and I'm so glad that I got to see it in London.

July 24th

2009-08-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Today was a free day so we were able to sleep in a bit which was really nice and very much needed. We decided to go to Leicester Square, which is were they have movie premires and such, to buy tickets for the musical Billy Elliot! We were able to get them super cheap and we'll be seeing it tomorrow night, I'm so excited! Its supposed to be really good, its won all these Tony Awards. I've seen the movie and I really liked it so it should be pretty good. After getting the tickets we met up with some of our friends and went to the National Gallery. They had a really cool exhibit there called Carot to Monet. They had a big collection of Western European paintings. It was pretty cool to see paintings that you've seen in your textbooks and then to see it in real life, I'm very grateful and lucky to be here. After the National Gallery we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, its the origional Hard Rock Cafe which is super sweet. They had a ton of Beatles memorbilia, like there clothes and Paul McCartney's fiddle, and I just love the atmosphere, its so fun. Its been a pretty fun day. Can't wait for tomorrow.

British Museum Pattern

2009-08-18T13:58:00.001-07:00

Tate Modern Museum Pattern

2009-08-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

V & A Museum Pattern

2009-08-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

While here in London we were given the assigment to design patterns from what we see in the V & A Museum, the Tate Modern, and the British Museum. This one is from the V & A.

July 23rd

2009-08-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

Today was so much fun. Early this morning we took a train to Cambridge. It is the coolest college town, they say there are more bikes then there are students, I totally believe it! I wasn't worried about getting hit by a car, it's the bikes you got to watch out for! In Cambridge we met up with our tour guide Sally, who was the sweetest lady, loved her. She took us all over Cambridge to places like King's College, All Saint's Church, and the Fitzwilliam Museum. I love Cambridge! It is what I've imagined a traditional English town would be like. Plants growing up the walls of buildings, flea markets, the old cathedrals, and everything within walking distance. It would be a dream come true if I was going to school at Cambridge, anyways, inbetween all of our touring we went to the Eagle Pub for lunch. This pub has been there for a few hundred years, they say the Shakespear has preformed and eaten there, and also the double helix of the DNA was also decovered there! Pretty neat huh? They are also famous for their fish and chips, oh my, it was so good! After lunch and our tours, we were able to go punting down the river in Cambridge. Punting is kind of like a gondola but instead of moving the boat with an ore the punter uses a long pole and pushes the pole against the river bottom and pushes the boat through the river. It was so much fun! Our punter was really cute too, Orlando is his name and he is a student at Oxford. He was so cute and nice and gave us the history of Cambridge as we passed by buildings. It was so much fun. After our punting ride Beccah, Malory, Jenna, and I went and looked around at all the shops for a while before heading back to London. We took the train back to King's Cross station in London so we stoped and saw Platfor 9 3/4! So cool! they actually had a cart halfway through the wall so we took some pretty funny pictures. It was a really fun day, the next three days are free days! Should be fun we have lots of fun things planed.

July 22nd

2009-08-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

I am so tired! This morning we woke up at 4 to meet Darrin at 5 30 to catch a trian at 6 45 to Birmingham, which was about an hour ride, then from Birmingham we got on an hour bus ride to go see Brintons Carpets. Brintons Carpets is one of the oldest carpet companies in the world, they've been in business sence the 1700s. They've done carpet for places like Buckingham Palace and lots of casinos, it really high end carpet. It was so cool, they split us up into four groups and they had us do rotations. The first rotion was the archives. They have patterns from as early as the 1400s, it was way sweet, the lady was awesome too, she let us look through their archives. After about an hour of that we went with one on the designers and he showed us their newest designs and a little bit of how they design a pattern on the computer. They then provided us all with lunch, it was a really interesting lunch, not quite sure what it was to be honest, but we were grateful and we ate it. After lunch we got back into our groups and we got a tour of the factory. It was way neat to see the process of making a piece of carpet. Our last rotation was well, to be honest, I was so tired that I drifted in and our of it a lot. I felt so bad but I was so tired from getting up so early this morning. It was an awesome day and I learned so much. Brintons would be a great company to work for. I don't have any pictures today because they wouldn't let take any inside and I was sleeping on the bus and train so, there you go. When we got back into London it was like 8 30 so we came back to the flat and made dinner and now we are doing laundry. Good times!

July 21st

2009-08-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have to tell you about the Underground(metro) here. I love the metro here, its so easy to understand, its so very nice. Everytime you get on or off the train an announcer gets on and says, "mind the gap, mind the gap between the train and the platform, mind the gap" over and over, its pretty funny but seriously the gap is pretty big. This morning we went to Sir John Soane Museum. John Soane was a famous architect in the 1800s and he turned his home into a museum to show off all of his relics from all over the world that he had collected over the years. It was really neat he had statues from Italy and an Egyptian sarcophagus, every inch of wall was covered in relics of the past. After the Soane Museum we made our way over the the British Museum of Natural History. It was so cool, they had stuff from all over the world, each continent and culture had their own section in the building, they had real mummies and the rosetta stone which was awesome. I also really enjoyed the African and South American sections. We had like three hours to look around inside until we went to St. Paul's Cathedral where we were able to climb up to the domb where they have the Wispering Gallary. Its so cool! When you wisper against the wall of the domb the sound travels all the way around so we wispered to our friend Amanda who was on the other side of the domb and she could totally hear it! Freaky deaky!! It was so cool, the secerity guy that was there he would show us how to do it and he would say in a british accent "wisper on the wall like this!" He was so cool and such a nice guy. After the Wispering Gallary we headed the rest of the way up to the top of St. Paul's and got awesome views of all of London. Its been a fun day.

July 20th

2009-08-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

Can I just say this I am in love with London! This is were I belong, I'm seriously going to live here someday! I was really meant to be british. Ok so our refridgerator is on the fritz, I swear we have a phantom, seriously! Well it froze all of our food and has ruined a lot of it! Shiz!! Thats so anoying, so we had to move everything from the refridgerator into the freezer, maybe we're just stupid Americans but I swear the refridgerator was the refridgerator and not the freezer. The over was a fun one to figure out too, we were trying to back something but it was on broil the whole time, needless to say our pizza was crispafied. Sorry guys, cooking was never my strong suit. Oh well it makes for a good journal entery. This morning as a group we walked to the V and A Museum, its not far from were we live. At the V and A Darrin and Susie split us up into groups of 4 or 5 and we had to take pictures of patterns and things that would give us inspiration on designing our own patterns. In my group there is Josie, Brady, Amanda, Becky, and myself. They are awesome designers, I'm glad that they are in my group. The V and A is awesome! In my group we decided to divide and conquer so we each had a floor to cover. It was so cool because I was the only one on my Floor and I was able to go at my owm pace and think to myself. It was really nice, we could only be in the V and A for about and hour and a half because we were going over to the Tate next. On the way over to the Tate Modern Museum we got to see and cross the London Tower Bridge, we also got to see and go inside the London City Hall. It's a really cool modern building made of glass. We finaly get to the Tate Modern, its full of modern art. I really enjoyed it, it had some of Andy Warhall's work which is just so cool! We weren't allowed to take pictures but I snuck one with Bec, Mal, and I with the pink cows and yellow wall. After the Tate we all wanted to go see the new Harry Potter movie! How cool are we!? We're going to see Harry Potter in freaking London!! We were so excited, it was a great way to end the day. The theatures are so cool, they are much nicer than the ones at home. They're huge, its more like a nice concert hall with a stage and curtain. It cost about 11 pounds to get in which is about 16 US dollars, it was so worth it though!

July 19th

2009-08-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

Before we headed off to London we woke up early to go check out the flee market in Paris, it was fun, I bought a really cute shirt and Bec and Mal got really cute dresses for super cheap. The rest of the market had everthing from jewlry to fresh fish. It was really neat to be out with the locals and soak in our last moments of Paris. This morning around 10 we left for the train station to get on our way to London. London or bust!! I'm so excited! It was only a few hour train ride but it was cool because we went under the English Channel, you can't see anything just a dark tunnal but its cool to think that you're on a train under water, pretty amazing. We arrived in London around 1 and then we had to take the metro, or as the english call it, the Tube, to South Kensington were our flats were located. The Tube here is so much better than Italy and Paris, its so much easier to read and understand. I can't even tell you how nice it is to look at a sign and be able to read and understand it at the same time! It's really nice, ha ha! We get to South Kensington and walk to our flat, we are on Mansion Place #13. The outside looks awesome and charming, kind of what you see on Harry Potter when the building separates. When we got to our flat they brought us inside and had us go down to the common room for a meeting. The RA just told us the rules and gave us an orientation about the building. I'm in Flat 11 with six other girls, Beccah, Malory, Jenna are in my room and Megan, Becky, and Michel are in the other room. Hopefully we all get along, thats a lot of girls in one flat, I guess not as bad as 13, one flat has 13 people in it! No thank you! The flats are not the greatest, its pretty dirty and old to be honest, its going to be an interesting 2 and a half weeks. It's all part of the experience right? After our orientation we were able to unpack, funniest thing happened while unbacking at poor Jenna's expence unfortunately. We were unpacking and Jenna was putting her big heavey bag on the bottom shelf of her armoire and the wait of her bag made the armoire fall right on top of her! All we hear is a big crash and a quiet "guys..." ha ha! We hurry and left up the armoire and I was expecting her to be really hurt but luckly she's so tiney that she was able to curl up in a ball and not get hurt. Poor Jenna! Ever sence then I swear our flat has a phantom! Lots of wierd noises, toilet doesn't flush very good, and the shower will randomly turn on about every half an hour...spooky. It doesn't want us to be here! After we unpacked we went to the grocery store, its called Salisbury. It was really nice to be able to buy food so that we can save some money. Later that night we met up with Darrin and went on a walking tour of London, we saw Westminister, Trafalgar Square, the London Eye, the Memorial Bridge, we walked everywhere! Its been a good day, I am ready for bed though, super tired.

July 18th

2009-08-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day in Paris. Paris has been suprisingly fun, I'm so glad that I was able to be hear for the week, I've seen some really neat and amazing things and I'll never forget my experiences that I've had here. Today we had the first half of the day free so we wanted to go see the Opera House and shop a little before we went to Fontainebleau and the Vaux Le Vicomte. The Opera House was way cool, I wish we could have spent more time there but I'm just glad that we were able to go. It totally reminded me of the Phantom of the Opera. We heard that there was good shopping by the Sacre-Coeur so we took the metro, while on the metro there was a man playing a guitar and harmonica. It was pretty cool, its been amazing to see what people will do for money. Anyways, we went shopping and it was fun they had a bunch of stores with really pretty jewlry and scarves. On our way out of one of the shops we were accosted by these men from Aferica wanting to make us braclets on our arm. Its just like one of those friendship braclets that you learn how to do in 4th grade, anyways, they were pretty agressive and insisted that they make one for me even though I kept telling them that I didn't have any money but he did it anyways. So me and my friends are all getting a braclet wondering how we are going to get out of this. The man that did mine was very nice, he's a smooth talker alright, but i'm grateful for the cool experience. By the time we were done it was time to go meet at the hotel for our next adventure. We took an hour bus ride to Fontainebleau where we were able to have an audio guided tour. Fontainebleau was like a get-away palace for the Kings, where they could go hunting. It was really pretty inside and greatly influenced by the Italians. After Fontainbleau we were able to go to the grocery store and get some food to pack dinner for our candle light tour of Vaux Le Vicomte. We rode the bus about another 30 minutes out to Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. When we got there we found a nice pavilian with picnic tables and ate our dinner that we had packed, after eating we headed over to the Vaux and had our really cool tour by candle light. It was really neat, it really was litteraly by candle light, it was a little creepy at first but the way they set it up was really neat, you could even go out to the gardens at night too, but enfortunately it was raining so it was pretty cold. We got back on the bus around 11 30 so we didn't get into our hotel until about 1am! Crazy, it was so fun though. I will miss Paris but I'm so excited for London! I love the UK, at least I hope I do!

July 17th

2009-08-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

This morning we took about an hour train to Versilles. Versilles is one of the most beautiful achievements of 18th-century French art. It started as Louis XIII’s hunting lodge before his son Louis XIV expanded it, moving the court and government of France to Versailles in. Each of the three French kings who lived there until the French Revolution added improvements to make it more beautiful. It really is a beautiful palace not to mention the hundreds of acrs of gardens. Louis XVI loved his wife Marie-Antoinette so much that he gave her the Hamlet which was a genuine and picturesque village and also the Petit Trianon, which had a little theature, surrounded by beautliful gardens. It was really neat to learn the French history, our tour guide was awesome. I can't remember his name but he was so excited to tell us everything about Versilles, he had a really cool accent to especially when he would say "Louis XVI". We spent most of the day at Versilles, but came back to Paris for dinner and we wanted to climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc was so cool and I was so proud of myself that I was able to get to the top. It was so worth it! It was a good time. After we got down it started to rain but it was so fun walking in the rain at night in Paris. It was a good day.

July 16th

2009-08-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

I thought yesterday was crazy, today was nuts! This morning we took a train to Poissy just ourside of Paris to go see Le Corusier's Villa Savoye. It was so neat, I really love the modern architure, very simple but complex at the same time. We were able to go inside, the interior I think was really neat too. All of the furniture was also designed by Le Corbusier. After looking inside we all sat outside and sketched the house for awhile. We got back onto the train for Paris and we went to this really nice restraunt for lunch called Kong. The interior was designed by Philp Stark, who also designed the famous Ghost Chair. After lunch we got to go see Notre Dame. The stained glass is gorgeous and the massive building was really quite impressive. It is one of the best examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. We then walked over to the Musee d'Orsay, it was quite the walk and by this time my feet were hurting so bad and I kept falling behind the group. It was really frustrating that my feet were holding me back but I managed to catch up and I made it to the museum. The Musee d'Orsay is so cool! One of my favorite museums, it used to be a railway station. It holds mainly French art including paintings, sculpture, furniture, and photography, it has a large collection of impressionist masterpieces by painters like Monet, Degas, Renoir, and Van Gough. It was pretty cool, I just wish that my feet didn't hurt so bad, it was so cool to see paintings by Van Gough and all I could think of was that I just wanted to sit down! Thats so bad and I hope that when I think of the d'Orsay I don't think about how badly my feet hurt. After we were done looking around we decided that tonight would be the best night to go to the Eiffel Tower. Well we got there and the line was freakin long! But it was so worth the wait! We had quite the experience on the top of the tower, well we were enjoying being up at the top and off in the distance we can see some lightening but we didn't really think anything of it. Pretty soon the wind started picking up and it started to rain, just a few minutes later the wind was blowing pretty hard and the rain was coming down pretty good too, and no joke, the tower was swaying back and forth! It felt like we were on a boat and at first it was kind of fun getting wet and swaying but there was this lady that started to scream and was freaking everyone else out. Its funny now but it did get a little scary for a bit. So we're standing in the line to get on the elevator to get back down for about an hour and a half, but we finally get down and by then I am just exhausted! My feet hurt so so very bad! We tried to get a taxi but there were so many people trying to get one it was just impossible. so we started walking back to our hotel and we got a little lost and I'm just hurting so bad that I start crying like an idiot! I was so embarrassed but my friends were so sweet and we got a taxi, we were only like a few blocks away from our hotel but I honestly don't think that I would have made it. I have a tone of blisters and my ankles are the size of grapefruits! I hope I feel better tomorrow.

July 15th

2009-08-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

Oh boy! What a day! I'm exhausted! Today was full of walking, cathedral, walking, museum, walking, another museum, and even more walking! This morning we went to the Cathedral of St. Denis, it has beautiful stained glass windows, flying buttresses, and gargoyles. Its a lot different than the other churches that we've seen in Italy. We were only there for a short time and her headed to the Pompidou. This is by far my most favorite museum that we've been to thus far! The picture of me, Bec, and Mal in front of a building with the stairs on the outside is the Pompidou. Just the way they designed the inside and outside of the building is incredible and ingenius to me. Inside it is full of modern art from artists like Picaso, Mondrian, and van Gough...who if anyone knows me knows that he is my absolute favorite artist! We were only able to spend about an hour and a half inside which is sad but that just means that I have to come back someday. After the Pompidou we stopped at this amazing little crep place. I got a crep that had nutella in it. Oh my gosh! It was so good! Best thing ever! We made our way over to the Louvre Museum. It was indredible and oh so overwhelming!! The glass pyramid by I. M. Pei was really neat, such a modern building in the middle of such an old building, its a really awesome contrast in design. Inside the museum we saw a lot of Egyptian relics which was really cool. We also saw the famus Mona Lisa painting by DeVinci. Its so much smaller than I imagined it, it was really neat to just stand there and admire it for a bit, I had my own little Mona Lisa moment. We spent about 4 or 5 hours inside, we were so exhausted by the time we got out, as you can see by the picture of Malory laying by the window in the Louvre. Ha ha! We didn't even go through half of it that is how huge it is! We came outside and soaked our sore and blistered feet in the fountain just outside the museum. Oh my word my feet were so sore! After resting for a bit we found a really cute cafe with really good food and at some dinner. French food is amazing, I didn't think that I would like it but it is so good! Its been a good day, can't wait to go to bed!

July 14th Bastile Day!

2009-08-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

BASTILE DAY!! HAPPY BESTILE DAY!! Today was such a fun day! This morning we went and tried to go see the parade but there were so many people and it was litterally impossible to get in and see anything! It was a little sad and disapointing but it was fun to be out in the crowds and paticipate in France's Independance Day. So we decided to head back to the hotel and "do homework" until we went back out and stake out our spot for the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. Well that was the intent of doing homework but I fell we all fell asleep and had a nice nap. After we woke up we headed over to the Eiffel Tower to see if we could find a good spot for the fireworks and there were already a TON of people there and there were no spots left on the grass so we found a good spot just off to the side near the curb. It was a great spot, we could see everything really well. Well we got there like 6 hours before the show so Beccah and Malory went and got a blanket and some treats while Jenna and I stayed and saved our spot. While the girls were gone so many people came and the area was filling up pretty fast so we were really grateful that we came when we did. Bec and Mal came back and they brought cards to play games and treats. It was so much fun, we had a good time with my camera too, hence the fun video, don't worry because that is just one of like three i think of videos. It was a good night. Just a few hours before the show we spoted some of our friends from the group and they came and sat by us, I'm so glad that they found us, it made it that much more fun. Anyways, the fireworks eventually started and oh my...the best firework show that I've ever seen! It was so cool and it was longer than your typical show. It was incredible! My other video is that last part of the finally. Its been such a good day, its been so much fun!

July 13th

2009-08-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

The night train was quite the experience, our compartment was so tiny! There was the four of us (me, Beccah, Malory, and Jenna) and its made to sleep 6 people! We barely could fit the four of us! It was fun though, its all part of the experience right? We stayed up and talked for awhile and then we went to bed around 11 or so. Luckly I was so tired that I slept pretty soundly on my board of a bed with these really nasty pillows and blankets that we were provided for us. "Just don't think about it...", I kept telling myself. We woke up and got off the train about halfway down the length of the train Bec just realized that she left her computer on the train! So she sprinted back, and its a long way back but she was super fast in sandals too! I was very impressed, good job Bec! We left the train station and took a bus to our hotel. I like Paris so far, it is stinky but the architecture is very cool, both old and modern buildings. Definatly different from Italy. We checked into our hotel but we were early so they didn't have all of our rooms ready for us so Darrin took us out and we walked to the Eiffel Tower. Its huge! We all found a spot on the laun and Darrin had us sketch the Eiffel Tower for a while and then we put our sketch books out for everyone to look at. We have some really talented people in our group, I was so impressed by all of the different interpretations of the Eiffel Tower. After sketching we went back to the hotel and finally got into our rooms. We were given a few hours of free time to go get something to eat so a group of us went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Paris. It was so cool! I hadn't ever been to one before so i was pretty stoked, it was so good! Bec and I shared this really good burger and fries and all you can drink (soda that is!). After eating we all met up with the group and headed for the canal for a boat tour of Paris. That was really cool too, it seemed like everying was centered around the canal. It was really neat to see Paris all lit up, the city never sleeps here which is really cool, although I wounld really recomend staying out too late, its a little creepy. By the time we were done with the boat ride it was pretty late so we all headed back to the hotel. I'm rooming with Malory and Beccah, its going to be a fun week. You can see the top half of the Eiffel Tower from our room, very cool! Tomorrow is a free day because its Bastile Day! Its like their independance day, I'm excited should be fun, we are going to try and see the parade and we heard that there will be fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. I hope so, that woud be awesome!

July 12th

2009-08-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day in Venise, I'm very sad about this. I wish we could have spent more time here in lovely Venise but I'm excited for our next adventure in Paris. I heard that it's stinky but I guess we'll see. Today we went to church. It was an amazing experience. The members were so nice and friendly, we were given headsets and this brother in the ward translated for us. The speakers talked abour temples and eternal families and we sang Families Can Be Together Forever. The spirit was so strong, half of us were crying by the end. It was really neat. The church building is really neat too. Its like a little villa with a court yard, it was pretty cool. After church we headed back to St. Marks to go up the tower to see amazing views of Venise. It did not disapoint! The views were spectacular! City, red shingles, and ocean as far as the eye can see. We spent awhile up there and took lots of pictures, it was a good time. After the tower we walked around Venise and shopped. I found this really pretty blue ring made of glass for only 3 euro. Not bad for vanician glass. Anyways, then we headed back to the hotel and now we just waiting to leave to go to Paris. We are taking a night train, I'm kind of excited, should be an interesting experience. Its like a 12 hour train ride but luckly we'll be sleeping through most of it.

July 11th

2009-08-13T00:57:00.000-07:00

Ok so today is probably one of the best days of my life! It's been such a good day! Well this morning we took a boat to go see the Mazzega Glass Factory were they make real hand blown vanisian glass. The boat ride was so much fun as you can see in the picture of Bec and I. I was actually cruzing on a boat on the ocean, so cool! Anyways, we get to the factory and they demonstrated how they do it. It was pretty cool this man made a horse, he was pulling the glass like it was taffy to make the legs, head, and tail. It was way awesome. Then we got to go into their show room and its incredible!! I was so afraid of breaking something though, it is very expensive. After seeing the factory we decided to stay on the little island for a bit longer and look around and we found this building that had was painted this bright yellow. Bright yellow wall + cool island in Venise + 6 girls from Utah= the greatest opportunity for pictures!! We took so many pictures it was probably illeagal! It was so much fun though. After our photo shoot we decided to head back and go to St. Marks, so we hoped on the water taxi and it was the longest ride ever! It took like an hour to get were we needed to be, but I didn't mind it was a really nice ride and it was cool to see more of Venise. We finally get to our spot and went to St. Marks Basilica, its a really good example of byzantine architecture and is covered in mosaics. When we were done looking inside we hurried and got some dinner so that we could go on a gondola ride! Yeah boi!!! That ride has been the highlight of this trip so far! It was so incredible and magical! That sounds so stupid but it was, it was awesome! Our gondalier was very handsome...yes please! He gave us the history of the architure and he even sang to us! I almost cried it was that good! Sadly our ride was over too soon but what a wonderful way to end the day. I think that I may leave my heart in Venise. I'm sad that we are leaving tomorrow night for Paris. I can't believe that we are already leaving Italy, its a bitter sweet feeling.

July 10th

2009-08-12T23:32:00.000-07:00

This morning we had the chance to go tour Rubelli Fabrics founded in 1850s, they produce hand-made fabrics using traditional techniques as well as highly sophisticated textiles of all kinds. Rubelli is also considered one of the top 3 or 4 home furnishing fabric firms world-wide. It was a really neat opportunity to tour their studio and learn more about the history. We also got to tour Fortuny Fabrics. I really loved their fabrics, I loved their designs and colors, the process of how they produce the fabric is still a secret today so we were only able to see the show room, we were able to look and feel all the fabrics. After our tours we were given free time so we walked around and tried to find somewhere to eat. My feet were killing me today! We had to get dressed up today for those tours that we went on so I had to wear my cute but very uncomfortable shoes, oh my word...it hurt so bad!! I'm so very glad to be sitting and putting my feet up. It was so funny, Beccah decided to use the beday to wash her feet and shove her legs! Ha ha! Thats how we do! How anyone can use those things is beyond me, so gross!

July 9th

2009-08-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that I LOVE Venise!? It really is a beautiflu, romantic, and magical place! I'm so happy that we are here! This morning Bec, Mal, and I went to the Duomo in Florence and sketched for a bit and decided to get one last gelato at our favorite place called Grom. So good! Then it was time to head over to the train station and get on our way to Venise. It was about a three hour ride, a perfect opportunity to catch some zz's. When we got to Venise we took a water taxi to our hotel. We got to our hotel and from the outside you wouldn't think that it's a hotel, the buildings kind of all mesh together, but it's oh so very nice inside! The nicest hotel that I've ever stayed in and it has internet that is half-way descent! It is such a nice suprise after staying in that not so nice room in Florence. After putting our things in our rooms, Darrin took us on a walking tour of Venise. Oh my gosh! I just love it here! Its a city in the water, so there are no cars, just boats and gondolas. I can't wait to ride one! It is very easy to get lost though so it should be interesting. After walking around for awhile we got some dinner which was pretty darn good! I had this amazing salad, it was so fresh and yummy! Now Bec and I are just sitting here in our wonderful room with AC and really soft sheets...ah!!! This is the life, I don't ever want to leave!

July 8th

2009-08-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

Another good day in Florence. Today was a free day, so a group of us got together and decided to go see the Pitti Palace. On our way there we spotted a man selling his art work. His work was so amazing and he was so cute and charming, the whole group of like ten girls bought a piece of his work. I'm sure we made his day, he made my day, now I can bring home an amazing piece of Florence and a good memory attached to it. We eventually made it over to the Pitti Palace, inside the palace had a bunch of different gallaries like a costume gallary and a "modern art" modern meaning paintings from the 1800s. It was pretty neat. The picture of myself, Beccah, and Malory in front of big lips was at the Pitti Palace. We spent awhile inside the palace and then we just wondered around Florence and tryed to experience everything we could. There were tons of artists out selling and demonstrating their work. There was one guy drawing with chalk on the street, it was really neat to be out and soaking in everything we were seeing. Florence has been neat but I am so ready to leave, tomorrow afternoon we are going to Venise, I heard that Venise is a magical place. I just hope the room is better and that it has AC! Venise...hear we come!

July 7th

2009-08-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

Today was packed full of amazing coolness!! Despite our living situation, Florence is beautiful! This morning we went with our tour guide Tanya to Accademia and Uffizi. In the Accademia lies the famous statue of The David. Its huge! I had no idea how big it was, its amazing to think that Michelangelo sculpted it when he was in his twenties! Very impressive! The Uffizi Gallery was built by the Medici family in 1560 as offices but parts of it was turned into a gallery so the Medici's could show off some of their vast art collection with paintings like The Birth of Venus. It was pretty sweet to see these in real live. After our tour Darrin had us sketch some buildings and bridges in Florence. It was really nice just to sit and get lost in your drawings, and soak it all in. When we were done sketching we climbed up this massive hill with a ton of steps and walked to this church that I can't remember the name of to hear the monks sing. It was so worth the climb! It was very cool to hear them sing in latin, while we were at the church, outside there is incredible breath taking views of Florence as you can see in my pictures. We spent a little while up on the hill and then headed back down to find a place to eat. We found this amazing little restraunt that had the most amazing italian food, not to mention live kareoke! It was very entertaining and it was a great way to end the day. Oh yeah, my poor roommate Jenna is way sick, I hope she'll be ok. We're going to go do laundry now, should be interesting! Oh! One more thing, how could I forget!? We also went in the Baptistry today too! It was very cool! Everything was guilded in gold...very cool.

July 6th

2009-08-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

Oh boy! It's been a long day! This morning we got up pretty early to catch our train to Florence. It was not a long trian ride, only about 2 hours. When we got into Florence it started raining which wasn't too fun considering that we had all of our luggage with us. It's all part of the experience right? We walked to our hotel and when we got there, there was a mix up in booking our rooms so we got moved to a sister hotel to the one that we were supposed to be staying in so we walked a few more blocks to the hotel and put our things into two rooms because they hadn't finished getting the rooms ready for us. In the mean time Darrin showed us a few places were we could have lunch before we had our tour later on in the day. So we had lunch and looked around at some of the street vendors shops before our next walking tour. At 3 we met up with everyone for our tour, which was led by Ms. Tanya Gregory. Honestly, the whole walking tour was kind of a blurr, I was so tired! We did see some really neat things though, we saw the Baptisry doors, the Duomo, Arno River and bridges, just a pretty good walk around Florence. Florence is a lot different than Rome, the roads are more narrow, if thats possible, but they are...super skinny. The style and design is very different from Rome, Florence has more paintings than mosacis, its pretty neat. We finally got into our rooms...they are...really nice...should be an intersting next few days.

July 5th

2009-08-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Today was such a fun day! We started off the day by taking a taxi to church. The taxi ride was quite the experience, I thought it was very exciting, I hadn't ridden one until then. Anyways, church was awesome! It was fast and testimony meeting so it was really neat to hear the testimonies of the faithful saints of Rome. We had a missionary from america sit inbetween us and translated. Their testimonies were simple and direct but very strong and stalwart. The church is true no matter where you're at! After church we took a taxi back to the hotel and changed and headed out. I was able to see the Pantheon and enjoy the culture of Roman life. There were street preformers and artists out selling their paintings and drawings, it was an amazing atmosphere, and such a good way to end our time in Rome. Tomorrow morning we're heading to Florence, I'm excited, should be fun!

July 4th

2009-08-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

This morning we met up with Antonella for our tour of the Vatican, the museums, and St. Peter's Basilica. We first went through the museum that is literaly about a mile long, it's full of Roman antiquities like sculptures and paintings, and it eventually leads you to the Sistine Chapel. I imagined it a lot bigger and brighter, more lighting. Despite my expectations, it was very awe inspiring. It was amazing to learn about the stories that are depicted and interesting to learn about how Michelangelo was forced to paint the ceiling. After the chapel we headed into St. Peter's Basilica. A basilica is a large Catholic church that has a central nave and two side aisles formed by rows of columns. It was probably the largest space that I've ever been in! It was masive! The sculptures and columns match the scale of the building as well, just one of the letters writen on the wall was over 6 feet tall! It was quite impressive. After touring the basilica everyone was given the chance to climb up to the top of the domb and get amazing views of Rome, I unfortunately didn't go, I'm not feeling too well today so I decided to hang out with Darrin's (my teacher) family and headed back to the hotel were i later met up with my friends and went swimming. It was really fun, I was excited to get a chance to use my new swimming suit. The hotel pool is very nice, its funny because they make you wear these blue caps if you go in the water but luckly they were out! Tomorrow is a free day so I think we are going to go to chruch, should be fun!

July 3rd

2009-08-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Today was packed full of things and places to see. Earlier today we got to go inside the Colosseum. It was fantastic! It amazes me that people hundreds of years ago were capable of building these masive structures without the technologies of today and have it last for hundreds of years later. The Colosseum used to be covered in marble, over time people took it off and used it for sculptures and other buildings.
Later on in the day we went on a Off-the-beaten-track tour of Rome, our tour guid was awesome! Ms. Antonella she took us to three different churches and showed us around Rome. The first church we went to was St. Clement, church of St. Peter in Chains. It was a very old church, it was so neat! Underneath the church are anchient alley ways of Rome! So cool!
After that we headed to our second church St. Maria Maggiore, this church was a lot bigger than St. Clement and not as old. It was full of mosaics and sculptures. The third church, St. Carline was much of the same.
After the tour we were lucky enough to see the changing of the guards. It was quite the production, they had a marching band and everything! It was pretty sweet. When that was finished we headed over to Trevi Fountain. It was so much fun! We all got a chance to throw a coin over our left shoulder. Legend says that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Two coins will lead to a new romance and three will ensure either a marriage or divorce.
Its been a good day, I'm super tired and exhausted but so happy to be here! Can't wait for tomorrow!

July 1st and 2nd

2009-08-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

July 1st and 2nd 2009
Europe or Bust!!I can’t believe this time has come! I’ve waited years and months for this trip, lots of preparing and saving this past year. Our trip started out with meeting at the Salt Lake International Airport at 4:30 in the am! From there we flew to Denver, CO and had a three hour layover until our next flight to Detroit, MI, and then from Detroit to Rome, IT. The flight to Rome was an interesting one…my cute friend Kaitlyn was sitting next to me and she decided to take an ambien! It was hilarious! She was so loopy and funny it was quite entertaining. I also got to try the airplane food…it was even a mystery to me! We finally arrived in Rome at 11 am by this time I’m just exhausted! It was really hard to sleep on the plane so I was so happy to get off when we landed. From the airport we took a bus to our hotel. Rome reminded me a little of California, palm trees, and the hustle and bustle with cars and people. Drivers in Italy are crazy! I was a little afraid for my life a few times, the lines on the road are more like guidelines or its optional! We arrived at our hotel the Villa Pamphili, it is a really nice hotel. It has a really nice pool and AC in the room, which is so awesome because it is so hot and humid here! We put our stuff in the room and headed out for the Coliseum! So we hopped on the metro which has a wonderful aroma of BO and urine! Good times… we got off the metro and all you can see is the Coliseum! It was so amazing!! It’s huge!! It’s everything I’d imagined it would be, its an incredible feeling to see these amazing structures that you’ve been studying about for so long! Shortly after taking a few pictures of the Coliseum the weather turned for the worst and the next thing we knew we were being pelted by serious hail and rain, we all tried to huddle under umbrellas and ponchos. It lasted about 30 minutes, by the time it was over we were all just soaking wet and walking through ankle deep water!! It was a really great first day memory. After the storm was over we walked around and tried to take in all that we were seeing. It was very cool, by that time it was time to head back to the hotel. Its been a good and very long 2 days! Can’t wait to go to bed!