First Day of Classes

5 July 2012

We started classes the day after we got to London. After two weeks of non-stop traveling, it was hard to sit for two hours and listen to a teacher. But I guess we probably should do some studying on our study abroad.

We had our classes in the church building, and when we walked out and crossed the street, a man stopped us and said, “Where are you girls from?” We told him we were all from different parts of the States. Then he said something like, “Well you know, there’s a church that teaches that there is a preexistence and that Jesus Christ is brothers with the devil and that Blacks are cursed with the mark of Cain.” He didn’t get very far before we all realized what he was doing. He had seen us come out of the LDS church and waited for us to get closer, just so that he could tell us why Mormons are bad. We all turned and started to walk away, and as we did, someone said something about how we’re Christians. Then this man yelled back at us, “Then why are you going into the Mormon church? Shame on you!” We all kept walking, but it made me so mad. Does he honestly have nothing better to do with his time than stand outside our church and tell people why they shouldn’t join it? And shame on him for tearing down someone else’s beliefs. It’s probably a good thing we didn’t stay and talk to him. If he were to keep poking at us, I would have gotten really upset and probably would have said something about it.

Anyway, the rest of my afternoon consisted of reading a book for one of my classes, the history of English. I should have read it before I came…but I didn’t. And I had to have it done before Saturday (which was two days away) because that’s when I would be presenting on it. So I read like crazy, and I got through more than half of it!

Later that night, I had the incredible opportunity to go see The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Oh my. It was SO awesome! I couldn’t take pictures, unfortunately, so you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that the set was amazing. They had a trap door and a track for a boat to ride on and all sorts of things! The actors did a wonderful job! Raul’s voice was absolutely beautiful (and his face wasn’t too bad either!), and the Phantom was creepy. It was great! At the end of the rooftop scene, when Raul and Christine are singing “All I Ask of You,” the Phantom just appeared from behind a cherub that was hanging from the ceiling. He was there the ENTIRE time, and none of us ever noticed! He did something similar in the cemetery scene. Basically, the whole show was amazing, and you all should go see it sometime. Seriously.

Just outside the theatre with my ticket!

Alexis, Meg, me, and Palmer with the stage in the background

When we got out of the play, there was a huge crowd of people, so we went over to see what they were all looking at. It was a street show! Four guys were break dancing, and it was way cool. Pictures were hard to get (most of them were blurry), but this one's not bad:

Anyway, that was my whole day. Things aren’t quite as exciting, since I have to go to class and do homework. But I’ll be sure to make time for sightseeing in London!