pretty farewell party. pasties, tea, roses, pretty linens and macarons.

thanks family for a fun weekend! yaaaay.

on sunday i remembered:

this place in paris:

which sells these:

has a location here:

in london.

best. news. of my life.

eight days after the day i really thought it would come...

i was very surprised when i opened my call on thursday night because i was called back here:

to the england london mission! i still can hardly believe it.

here is the uk:

 

according to this breakdown of the island, england london mission is mostly east anglia, and then the southeast part of the southeast region, plus london. i just read some things about it and apparently it's mostly rural (surprise), is flat, and is essentially a huge bog! yay. my middle school was built over a bog.

this is kind of the only region that i have not really been to at all--the east anglia part, so that's cool.

 

honestly, i was pretty surprised that i was called to go somewhere that's been kind of the focus of my studies for my college life. i was expecting anything that would be
random, that i had no connection with, like most people who open their mission calls. but, this is so good too.

so. back to western europe for the fall?

there is a bag of frozen pees on my knee.

that's why you are not seeing pictures of sunriver, the place we go with some families that is next to a big ski resort. we come here for the snow, because we usually don't get snow in eugene. i went snowboarding and the snow was very ICY instead of wonderful like it is in utah. i fell on sheets of ice and fell squarely on my knee. it is huge and puffy, and i feel like naming that swollen area of my body that jiggles a tiny bit when i walk and makes me go up stairs only stepping up with my other leg. YES.

but here are some pictures to make you smile:

from nottingham. yes, THE nottingham:

thank you tourism industry:

thank you rioters who prevented me from seeing the robin hood statue:

thank you rioters from the seventeenth century who burned down the castle and only left this part of the wall here:

some things to drool over...

chatsworth

my favorite estate i've ever been to.

i guess some people think it was jane austen's inspiration for pemberley

and they used it in the 2005 film verion of pride and prejudice.

i've never seen a place so happily situated






the only sad thing was that it was having restoration work done:



i did my best with my imagination to make it go away, as well as using the cropping tool on iphoto. but really, it was a good thing that the grounds were not under reconstruction. now that would have been a real misfortune. would it not?

had to get some documentation that i was there.

Back to England Tomorrow!

Packing right now, and these will be the only things in my blue study abroad backpack tomorrow when I head to England:

one short-sleeved shirt
one long-sleeved shirt
one cotton dress
black tights
sleep shorts
t-shirt to sleep in
two pairs of underwear
one sport's bra
one journal
two pens
one novel
passport
ipod
debit card
one small bottle shampoo
deodorant
one toothbrush
one camera

and that is IT. marshall would be proud. maybe. but seriously. it's a lot less than it looks, if you think about it.

i am wearing:

wool socks
chacos
black skinny jeans
brown shirt
zip-up hoody
leather jacket
scarf

when I was at Wordsworth's house, Dove Cottage, last Spring in Grasmere in the Lake District of England, our tourguide showed us the tiny briefcase Wordsworth would take when he was traveling for sometimes weeks all over Europe. Apparently he basically only brought a change of shirt and writing paper. I thought about doing that, but I don't think Corrine's family would really appreciate that. Or mother may disapprove. With reason.

Back to England I say! With a new pair of Chacos strapped to my feet, the same smart wool socks, and a study abroad backpack comfortably on my shoulders!

boring/annoying post unless you went to england in the spring avec moi.

even though i really feel like i have no reason to be wanting to do anything except what i'm doing right now,

i do miss doing this tonight:

and this:

I miss not being embarrassed by using my study abroad backpack.

but mostly, I miss being with these people:

even this guy:

and i miss my guitar. even though this is chris bennion's guitar:

it just seems almost unreal that we were all in england together. ugh i hate myself, because i was trying to overcome nostalgia in that trip to england. it follows me. maybe i follow it...and maybe i'm just letting it smooth out any annoyance i had, all of the boring, problematic parts in england, but really, i don't think i am that much.

ps if you came to england with me and are not pictured here, please be not offended. it has only to do with facebook. blame it on them.

i expect to see all of your faces in december. i guess the rest of your bodies as well.