Update! :D

Hey all!
Sorry I haven't posted anything in days. :-/ The internet's been slow and dodgy at every hotel, and I have't had a ton of time. So when I do get time, I just download photos to the laptop, and then upload them to Facebook!

But here's what I've been up to, and what I've enjoyed the most.

Let's see...

Day 3. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral. ABSOLUTELY. GORGEOUS. It was unbelievable. So much beauty, and all to the glory of God! Astounding. And it's so old. It's so cool how it survived WWII and became a beacon of hope to the people of Great Britain during such a difficult time. Then we went to Westminster Abbey. Also so beautiful. I love Gothic archicture, it's so awesome looking. Another great building all for the glory of God. It was neat to be in a place with so much history, too. I stood and walked where royalty have walked--for coronations, weddings--so cool! After that some of us went to the British Museum and saw THE Rosetta Stone, and statues from THE Pantheon! And then went to Covent Gardens, which is like a covered shopping center. Also, today was my first time riding a tube (subway).

Day 4.
In the morning we went to Greenwich (pronouced Gren-ich), and the Royal Observatory, and stood on the Meridian line--0 degrees latitude and longitude--so I stood in the East and West hemispheres at once. Then we sailed down the Thames (Tems), which was really cool (and kinda cold). Then we went to the Tower of London, which was AWESOME. Loved it. Saw the Crown Jewels, SOOOOO SPARKLY. O.O :D Then we rode on the London Eye, which was also pretty cool. After dinner and another visit to Covent Gardens, a couple of us went down to 221B Baker Street. !!!!!

Day 5.
In the morning we went to Windsor Castle. Also LOVED this. The Queen was there, but we didn't see her. Queen Mary's dollhouse is unbelievable. The castle is just so neat. I loved castles. <3 :) Then we went to Oxford and ate at The Eagle and Child Pub--WHERE J.R.R. TOLKIEN AND C.S. LEWIS MET. YEAH. REALLY. !!!

Day 6.
Toured Oxford, which was pretty neat. Went in Christ Church College, which was really cool looking, and where a lot of famous people went, but it's late and I can't think of names right now. For Harry Potter fans, apparently some of it was filmed there. Then we went to the Cotswolds, which is like an area, the closet thing I can think of would be a county. We went to Bourton-on-the-Water, this lovely quainty little town with a peaceful stream full of ducks running through it. It had lots of little shops and little places to have tea right by the stream. We had afternoon tea with scones. SOOOO yummy! Loved that.
Then we went to Stratford, birthplace of William Shakespeare, and saw an magnificent performance of Julius Caesar. All the original dialogue, but it was set in modern-day Africa. It was incredably well done. There were a few scenes where one or another of the actors were shirtless, and you could clearly see their excellent diaphram work (which only theatre people care about, haha). It was a small, three-level theather with a thrust stage, round theather. I had an excellent seat, and really enjoyed the play. I was also thinking in Shakespearian-like rhetoric the rest of the night. Also, a couple of the actors have been in Doctor Who (one of them was Martha's mom) so I was about 25 feet from an actor from Doctor Who!!

Day 7. Today!
We went to Lutterworth and visited St. Mary's Chapel, where John Wycliffe (Morning Star of the Reformation, translated the Bible into English) preached, and where he was buried until his bones (possibly, it could very well have been someone else's bones) where dug up, burned, and thrown on the river Swift. Then we went to Epworth, and saw where Charles and Susanna Wesley lived, and learned more about them. That was pretty neat. Then we drove to York, passing NOTTINGHAM (couldn't see it, but there were roadsigns) and SHERWOOD FOREST! We attended Evensong in York Minster Cathedral, which was pretty cool. Very beautiful, loved hearing them singing and the huge organ playing in that great cathedral. I'd so love to sing in there!

Anway, it's 11:30. And I have to be up early for more touring and awesome things! Can't out any pictures on here now, maybe after I'm home. So. Adieu, for now!

Days 1 and 2!

Chilly high above the Atlantic at 2 in the morning!

G'morin' from London, everybody! It's 7:10 here in Great Britian, midnight for most of you, so by the time you see this, I'll  be well into Day 3 of my United Kingdom adventure.

The flights went well, over all. I made it through security just fine, waited around forever at DIA for my 1st flight, and then (after repeated warning for everybody to turn off all their electronic devices, apparently someone didn't want to cooperate) rode in a plane for the first time ever. I loved it. The rush as the plane increases speed, then climbs into the sky, higher, ever higher, leaving the world behind. There were clouds around DIA. First we were below them. Then they got closer, they were so beautiful. And then we went right through them. I just sat there, staring out the window, grinning, as we soared high above the clouds. ABOVE the clouds! And then the midwest stretched out below us, a giant patchwork quilt. Full of perfect circles in Kansas. What's with those, anyway? Huge circles in the middle of boxes. Sometimes they overlapped, but both were still perfect circles. Weird.

I landed in Terminal C in DFW. I then got to ride the Skyway all the way around the airport to almost the end of Terminal D. I thought the Denver tram was fun, but it was even funnier to be ABOVE GROUND, above the landed planes, even, on the Skyway.

My trans-Atlantic flight was fairly smooth. A few spots of turbulence, but nothing terrible. We got beverages, dinner, and breakfast. The back of the seats had monitors with movies, tv shows, audio, games, and the flight path, which gave up-to-date information on altitude, speed, temp. outside, where we were, what time it was where we were, and how much futher distance and time-wise we had until London, which was all very cool.

However, I don't sleep well on planes. Horribly uncomfortable seats for sleeping in, or to sit in that long at all, actually. I got my back and shoulder all knotted up, but after some advil and stretching last night and an excellent night's rest at the hotel, I'm doing much better.

For the first day in London, we went to Hampton Court Palace, where we ate in one of the king's kitchens, then went on a tour. It was beautiful! I took lots of pictures before the previously-used batteries in my camera died. Good thing I brought a pack!

One of the coolest things about Hampton Court was that, among many other kings (and their queens) who have lived there, King James I lived there. We stood in the very room where he commissioned the King James Bible, (pictured right)  and saw a copy of it in the Chapel Royal. (Sorry, no pictures allowed in the Chapel).

Then we came to the hotel, which, although smaller than our American hotels (as I knew it would be--still, a little surprising), is quite nice. At first I thought the bed a little overly-firm, but I sleep wonderfully. I'm hoping that wasn't pure exhaustion and I'll sleep as well tonight.

The weather's a bit rainy off and on and chilly, but not horrible. Traffic in London, however--they're all insane. ;) I know this cuz I was riding in the front with Rowena (tour guide and roommate) and Colin, our driver. Which means I also got to listen to her East London slightly Americanized accent, and his north England accent, which isn't too far removed from Scottish.

Anyway, I'm off to breakfast. We leave at 8:30 for another day in London-town! :D

1 Week Until Take Off!

Geez, I'm getting all weirded out at how fast time flies. I kinda already waxed poetic on my last post about it being June, so I will do my very best not to turn all Bilbo-after-meeting-Elves-and-randomly-says-deep-and-confusing-poetical-things on you. Not that true poetry is my strong suit, anyway, but I might get all wunderstruck and crazy because the reality that at this time next week I will be on an AIRPLANE headed to LONDON is blowing my mind.

I am so beyond excited! And a little scared. But in a good way. Almost in a "I've never felt so ALIVE!" way. Not quite, but, by the time I'm all by my lonesome on that plane flying further away from home than I've ever been before (insert Samwise: "If I take one more step, I'll be the furthest I've ever been from home.") I'm sure I'll be at that point.

It's weird, that all this wondering and thinking and imagining is about to become real. After all this trying to picture myself there, I'm left wondering 'what will it REALLY be like?' Oh, right, sorry. I said I'd try not to get all deep and musing. (In David Tennant's voice "I am so, so sorry.") (On that note, I've become totally addicted to Doctor Who. Those of my family and friends who are worried about me meeting a charming British guy and falling in love with him only need be worried if he's David Tennant or the Doctor himself. Or possibly Colin Morgan, but he's probably in France filming Merlin. ;) :P haha)

Anyway, I've got a bag of stuff under my bed that just needs to be put in my suitcase, I've got all my outfits picked out, I've got a list of everything I need to make sure I have ready and packed that I've been working on for the last couple months to make sure I don't forget anything, and I'm so ready for this trip!!

Here's hoping I can actually sleep the night before I leave!

It's JUNE!

Iona, Scotland

It's finally JUNE!

It's crazy. After years of dreaming of going, wanting to go, praying to go, trying to picture myself there, getting my hopes up and then seeing things not work out, until eventually it was beginning to look like I would never make it. And then--I found an excellent tour! And then...I could AFFORD it, and I could go! And then--the tour got enough people to be able to go! Of course, then there was the wait. Months of waiting, still trying to picture myself there, the actual trip still feeling forever away... And now--it's June! And I leave on the 20th! In 18 days, 14 hours, I will be leaving on my way to DIA. And then, THEN I will ACTUALLY BE in the United Kingdom! I'll ride in an airplane for the first time, I'll see the ocean for the first time, I'll leave the state without my family for the first time, I'll leave the country for the first time, and all that wondering about what it will be like to go to England and Scotland will be replaced with the REALITY of being in England and Scotland! I'm sorry, I'm doing a lot of shouting here, but I'm SO EXCITED! And a little scared. That's a lot of firsts, if you didn't notice. And large crowds of people and lots of ways to mess things up (like airports) kinda scare me.

So I'd like to ask for your prayers. That I won't get stressed out and anxious, that my checked baggage won't get delayed or lost, that everything at the airports will go smoothly, and the trip will go well in general. Thank you in advance!

And a HUGE thank you! to everybody who helped me get here:
Mom
Dad
Uncle Daric
Aunt Mary
Grandma Carol
Grandpa Jim
George (for letting me mow your lawn)
Kinsey
The Carr Family
And everybody who has supported and encouraged me and who have gave me gifts for graduation that partially went toward this trip.