Sunday
It was my first Sunday in London, and I met a few new friends. I even found someone kind enough to watch my big suitcase while I travel (before I can move into my flat). Church starts at 1, which is good and bad. There were tons of people there, but all from another ward. Apparently my ward is starting to trickle back in now that schools have started - but unlike the US, schools in London vary on when they start, some the end of August, others the end of October. Also there was a baptism after church, but I didn't stay... sorry... Anyway, other than that, one of my new friends came with me a little out of her way, along with me on the tube. OH I did also find my school, which was exciting. It seems a bit compact, like the rest of London, but it felt like it would be a good fit.
Monday
Relatively quiet - I did my laundry... which ended up costing me a little over 13 GBP (it was a new system I guess, and it kept eating my money. So. There you go...). Then I repacked up my belongings, took the big suitcase, giant coat, and went over to drop it off at my bishop's house where my bishop's wife said she would look after it. Then, to make her even more awesome, she fed me a delicious chicken dinner, and we all went over to FHE, where we split into teams and played charades. My team won! It helped that the theme was movies, all of which were American... the funniest was someone trying to act out Forest Gump, but who'd never seen it and didn't know what a "Gump" was.
Tuesday
Took my train from Kings Cross Station up to Edinburgh. It is the closest thing I'll ever have to the Hogwarts Express, haha, so I took advantage of it, wore my Hogwarts shirt, took a picture of platform 9 3/4, and felt like a {happy} nerd. Finding my way to where I was staying was quite the challenge, but I eventually made it. My host drove me around Edinburgh for a bit, while she finished errands, so that I could see the city better. Driving on the opposite side of the road still kinda freaks me out.
Wednesday
This was a quiet day too- I found my way back to the city and went tourist shopping for my dear friend, whose family history is of Scottish descent. I found her some cute things, and then sent them via Royal Mail. It wasn't for a few hours before I realized that I had sent it to the wrong zip code... but my friend who works at the zip code I sent it to promises that she will watch for the package and make sure it gets where it needs to. Other than that, I walked around for a bit, tried a bakery, and enjoyed reading up on the politics. Scotland was voting whether or not to be an independent country the next day. Then, headed home (where I realized my error earlier mentioned), and that was that.
Thursday
Linlithgow Palace - so beautiful. I had to take a bus, a train, and then walked a long ways, lost in the city, before I found it - but I am so glad I did. It was lovely. I explored it and the grounds (or the "Peel"), for about 2 hours before heading back. I highly recommend it, it was peaceful but an adventure to explore all the passageways.
Friday
Umm... this was like my laziest day ever... but I just stayed home, cleaned up, did some yoga, I don't think I even went outside ever... I was so tired though. So... there you go. OH and I learned that Scotland voted to stay in the UK - which is good, though emotionally it would have been kind of fun to see people become independent. BUT I am really glad they didn't - so. Yep.
Saturday
Ah, my big hiking / walking day. Edinburgh is basically a series of hills. And so everywhere I've gone feels like I'm hiking... I walked the Royal Mile, saw more fun shops, and loved seeing the castle up close, and Holyrood Palace as well (where the Queen stays when she is in Edinburgh). Then, it was a mentally hard struggle to get me to climb the hill... mountain... former volcano known as Arthur's Seat. It was a bit hard physically but if you read my detailed post, I mostly struggled mentally, which was an interesting confrontation. SO beautiful. The amount of walking was really long - I walked close to 6 miles I think, in all, yesterday. Which may not be a lot to a lot of my friends/family, but it was huge for me. I'm so glad I did it but also so glad it is over... haha.
Sunday
Today hasn't been a huge adventure - except that I did not realize the buses only came once every hour... which meant I missed my bus, and then had to miss church. Which actually made me cry a little bit. I had to convince myself to go (still tired from yesterday), and then was looking forward to seeing the church in Scotland - plus I really could have used the strength I find through partaking the Sacrament, so. I came home, watched some Bible Videos, a past CES devotional, and have plans for a few more.
I think that is it for my last week. Thanks for reading along! It helps me feel not quite so alone when I can share it, at least electronically, with my friends. :)
Not the best picture, but you can see Edinburgh Castle poking up by the trees. Behind it is Arthur's Seat which I climbed yesterday. Crazy, huh? This was taken at the bus stop - about 45 seconds before I realized I missed by bus by a minute or so.
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