March 7-12: A Wale of a time!!

SO. now that Italy is over, we have the rest of our March Madness ahead of us. 7 countries in 4 weeks and we have 1 down. Here.We.Go.

So the week started off fairly normal, classes both days except on Tuesday we went to the Mosque that's here in London. Scratch that, the group went, I stayed home due to illness and exhaustion. Blech. But apparently it wasn't that great anyways.

Then on Wednesday, we had another History 323 class in the morning to make up for missing one week. Then me and Emily went to the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House! The only reason I'm telling you this is because IT'S AMAZING. If you're ever in London, visit the British Museum, The Dulwich Picture Gallery, and the Courtauld Gallery. My top three favourites by far!! Along with the Victoria & Albert.

Wednesday night, we went as a group to see Madame Butterfly at the Royal Albert Hall. Now, I went in to this opera with a very open mind and stayed awake the whole time (unlike MANY others in the group) and tried my hardest to keep up with the plot line. However, Madame Butterfly is possibly the worst opera to see if you've never seen one before. I highly recommend NOT seeing this one first. I like opera just not Madame Butterfly. I hated the characters and the plot itself was stupid and stereotypical. The two main characters were so flat and annoying. Immature and selfish and, let's be honest, not thinking with their minds, if you know what I mean.. So, basically, I hated all the characters and the plot, except for the poor little boy that comes out of their stupid selfishness. I just felt so bad for him in the end being stuck with that dead beat loser dad because his mom was psycho and killed herself. Enough!

Thursday, we finally headed to Wales. But, silly me figured that when the calendar said Wales on Thursday, that we would actually be in Wales on Thursday. Logical, no? No. We did a Church History Sites tour all day and then ended up in this teeny, tiny town called Stow-on-the-Wold that we found out was STILL IN ENGLAND. Bummer. Plus, the place was super creepy and had no good food!! AHHH!!!

We have so much fun on church history
tours. yay.

Friday, we did Tinturn Abbey and Big Pit and then ended up in Cardiff for the night and got to see Cardiff Bay, ride the Carousel, and be serenaded by old people at a cute broadway-esque restaurant. It was the best. My favourite part was probably Big Pit, though. It this super old coal mine that's still in working order today and we got to go down in it! Wearing the hard hats and everything!! It was so spooky and our tour guide kept telling us these creepy ghost stories and I loved it but it was pretty eerie.

Saturday, we got to explore a little more of Cardiff aka SHOP and see the Castle and whatnot. Then the coach took us to St. Fagan's where we went to the Living Museum and got to see a real active little village of Wales. It was so cute and there were animals everywhere and the land was just so pretty! Definitely putting Cardiff at the top of my list!!

Tinturn Abbey; we're best friends

And then we came home! There's tons of other little details but with what little time I have left here in London, let's not get caught up! The days are flying by and as I write this I only have 21 days left. Yes, three weeks until I step off the plane in Phoenix and embrace my crazy family once again!

Well, until next time!!