missing: sissy

eyjafjallajokull

funny name, right? well, it really isn't that funny.

this is the name of the icelandic volcano that has been erupting since thursday.

the result?? all airports in england are closed, indefinitely.

it sure has been fun to have the BYU students here longer.

but, my favorite older sister charlotte was supposed to arrive early this morning.

thanks to eyjafjallajökull, our fun plans for spring break have vanished.

i imagined that it would be more fun than our amazing trip that we took to disneyland last august for her birthday:

these were big dreams too, because that is a hard trip to beat. really really hard.

i had even bigger imaginations about what this week would be. we were going to go and see the west end musical the lion king. she was going to try all of my favorite places to eat... nando's, tortilla, hard rock, gbk and wagamama. we were going to visit hampton court and kensington palace. we were going to go to borough market, camden and portobello road. she was going to tell me how my cats are doing. she was going to bring me some spring clothes to mix my wardrobe up a bit. we were going to speak with british accents and people watch in hyde park. and we were going to go museuming. it was going to be the absolutely bestest week of the entire year. but, this perfectly wonderful week will never occur now. and it makes me so depressed.

last thursday at 5:15 pm, after finishing my culture and community final, i started getting really really excited about charlotte coming. this is how i felt:

i had heard that there was a volcano, but i never imagined that the airports would be closed for SIX days. i mean, seriously. now, after realizing that she really can't come i feel like this:

charlotte is supposed to be here with me.

i miss my sissy.

you are missing in the sissy picture. where are you sissy??

finals. check.

i am DONE with finals. after i took my fifth and final exam this afternoon this feeling of freedom rushed over me and i had the realization that i have absolutely nothing that is due, there are no classes to attend and there are no tests to study for until august! it is an incredible feeling. also, after countless cokes and dr. peppers, late night runs to the food and wine, spontaneously dancing to william blake's cosmology, a lack of sleep, a facebook fast and a general loss of sanity at the center, i am excited that finals week is complete.

however, this is really sad news at the same time. the winter study abroad program is over. it happened so fast and ended even faster, i can't believe it. thanks to the volcano eruption in iceland my friends might be staying two days longer. you have no idea how happy this makes me. all flights to and from london have been cancelled. clearly this is a sign saying that we need more time together in london.

other than studying, this is what i have been up to...

i was in TWO places at ONCE. seriously. here i am at the prime meridian in greenwich.

baptisms at the london temple. it was so beautiful.

a visit to the houses of parliament, the cabinet war rooms and the winston churchill museum.

tonight i went to les mis for the second time. it was just as amazing and i loved it. anna and i were excited when we heard that barricade boy was still in the show, and he was as beautiful as ever. we decided to hurry out of the theater to wait for him at the backstage door. this was going to be great. he was going to be happy to see him, we were going to strike up a clever conversation and then he was going to offer to take a picture with us. after waiting for 15 minutes for him, we about had a heart attack when we saw him coming out of the door in all of his barricade glory. but, he was cold, aloof and unapproachable and our dreams were shattered.

also, i have also had to start moving over to the other side of the center, to my parents flat where i will be living for the next two months. it is sort of sad, actually extremely depressing. but i guess all good things have to end. maybe i will talk anna, arrin and karalyn into staying for the spring term. i don't think caroline would mind if they moved into our room.

five days up north.

i had been looking forward to the north trip all semester. it was viewed as one of our big trips as a whole group, and was also the longest one. i didn't really know exactly where we would be going, what we would see or what we would do, but i was still very enthusiastic about it. however, on sunday when i was faced with packing for our five day long coach trip with weather forecasts of winter weather all of my excitement was gone. i hate the cold, i hate the coach and i hate how i still have not finished any of my major school assignments. but, the trip turned out to be a great success and i loved everything that we saw. here is a really pathetically short summary trying to encompass all of the things that we did.

monday:

chatsworth house: a huge, eighteenth century estate house that is commonly known as 'pemberley' in the newest pride and prejudice movie. i LOVED this. not only because of my recent obsession with all things jane austen, but also because every single thing about it was incredible. the walls, the ceilings, the carpet, the guidebook. i loved everything. the only things that i didn't love were that we didn't have a whole week to spend there, and that it was raining and i didn't enjoy the gardens as much as i wanted to.

bronte parsonage: wuthering heights is a favorite book of mine. some people find this weird because it is a sort of dark, gloomy and depressing book, but i seriously love it. the story of heathcliff and catherine is so intense and emily bronte is a great author. going to her family parsonage was especially cool because it was exactly how i pictured it would be. it is located immediately next to this creepy graveyard and the moors, and it was a cloudy, foggy, gloomy and freezing day. just how i have always pictured the setting of wuthering heights to be.

tuesday:

york: this is such a great town. i especially loved walking around the complete and fully functioning roman wall that exists there to surround the city and looking around york minster.

fountains abbey: beautiful, old, enchanting.

durham castle: we stayed in the hotel this night. seriously. it was creepy and the cathedral bells woke me up promptly every hour throughout the night. i also am convinced that the castle is haunted. i think i have proof.

evensong: we went to evensong at durham cathedral and it was beautiful. the combination of the amazing voices with the magnificence of the church was a wonderful experience.

wednesday:

hadrian's wall/housested's roman fort: it was snowing, no joke. but this was one of the highlights of the week. standing on the wall, almost being blown off by the wind and screaming was so much fun.

dove cottage and rydal mount: the houses of the poet william wordsworth. so cute, such a perfect location, really explained why he wrote about the things he did regarding nature. i definitely enjoy his poetry a lot more now.

the lake district: i am convinced that this is the most beautiful part of england.

thursday:

hilltop farm: the home of beatrix potter. the cutest place ever. i forgot home much i loved the tales of peter rabbit and jemima puddle duck and friends. those were some of my absolutely favorite stories from my childhood. the walk to the farm was so nice and i loved walking around the lake and up the hill.

church history in preston and the preston temple.

friday:

liverpool

maritime museum and the international slave trade museum: both amazing museums.

beatles experience: i love the beatles, their music is great. seeing the music solely devoted to the beatles and their lives was one of the coolest things that i have done in a long time. i loved the feeling of having all of their songs blasting while i walked through the realistic rooms and buildings from their career. i loved every single thing about it and have been listening to their songs all day long.

quick summary of the trip: 24 hours on the coach. 4 authors homes. 2 hotels. 1 castle. 1 hostel. 4 churches. 4 great movies. hundreds of pictures. thousands of great memories. success.

i am happy to be back in london, it feels like home. finals are rapidly approaching and my time is getting shorter and shorter, which is really depressing. but, i am looking for the visit from jess in june! officially she is coming to visit me in london on the tenth of june, and i am insanely excited. we have a long list of things we have to do in the few days that she is here. i can't wait.

j'adore paris.

well, the trip to paris was amazing and full of interesting and great food, a million works of art, incredible churches, creepy men, a lot of stairs, great views of the city and sore feet. but, i LOVED it!!!!

if i tried to break it down day by day it would probably make me remember how stressed and tired i was each day, so i'll categorize my adventures and everything that i loved (and hated?) about my four day trip to france!

tour de eiffel

view from notre dame

museums:

museums in paris are better than anywhere else. i am personally a fan of impressionist art. if all art was impressionist, i would be happy. and what better place to see impressionism than in paris? there isn't a better place, so i was happy. the louvre was really stressful. too many people, too much to see, too much to learn. so...here are my top 3 museums:

1. musee d'orsay: no question. this was my absolutely favorite thing that i saw. as i was thinking my trip from three summers ago, i immediately remembered that the orsay was my favorite thing in france. the museum is huge and completely full of impressionism. some of my favorites? monet, manet, renoir, pissaro...etc. i bought two prints of my favorite works so that i can frame them and put them in my room. i am very, very excited.

2. l'orangerie: this is a very small museum, but definitely breathtaking. monet's waterlilies are displayed there, and they are incredible. he had these two oval shaped rooms built for him that perfectly fit these 8 huge panoramic paintings. i could stay in there all day, they were so beautiful.

this was one of my favorites. but, they were all favorites.

3. musee rodin: i loved how some of the sculptures were on display in the gardens and also in the house. all of his sculptures are great.

cathedrals:

i love gothic architecture. it blows my mind thinking about how they had to lift all of the materials and had to design the huge, beautiful churches. in france we saw some really great ones:

notre dame. great at night, great during the day. always beautiful. i also loved climbing the towers and getting a wonderful view of the city and seeing the famous bells.

chartres. clearly, incredible.

sainte chappelle. the upper chapel has walls that are practically entirely made of stained glass, on all four sides. it is gorgeous, especially with the sun shining in!

food:

crepes, pastries and croissants have been the basis of my diet for the past few days, seriously. i ate five huge crepes and now think that nutella and banana crepes are my favorite food. i wish that they were healthier. oh, and this is a big deal.... i ate escargot! amazing, right? even i can't believe that i, leslie paige macfarlane, ate a snail...that was green. WOW. i feel very accomplished and proud of myself.

yes, i promise that i ate it. there are six witnesses.

definitely the most delicious ice cream in the world AND it was shaped like a flower!

top five other favorite things that don't really fit into a category:

1. seine river cruise: a beautiful way to see paris by night.

2. eiffel tower - amazing view! and since it is march for march i had to take the stairs. ugh.

family at the top.

3. arc de triomphe - stairs, again, but a great way to see the city.

4. versailles - i wanted to go last time i was in france, but ran out of time. it was so fun to see!

5. the SUN! it is refreshing to know that it is spring in some other part of the world while it is cold and foggy in london.

well, paris was wonderful! we saw so many great things. i loved going back and seeing new things and other different but great things. oh, i got to witness my dad almost beat up a guy for trying to steal his wallet, that was scary. and i made it through border control! yay. when i saw the immigration officers i got really nervous, but i didn't appear to be a threat, so they let me through. our semester here is over in less than a month! it is really sad. i am super lucky and get to stay here two months longer than everyone else, but it is still going by way too fast! i have to start getting busy with my london to do lists before i completely run out of time.

mr. darcy

i am currently searching for my mr. darcy.

if you know who/where he is, i would really appreciate it if you told me.

this past week for our day trip we had a jane austen extravaganza.

what else could a girl ask for?

it made me want to read all of the books and see all of the movies again, which i plan to do soon.

stourhead landscape gardens was our first stop of the day.

this might look familiar from the 2005 pride and prejudice movie. remember the rain scene? where mr. darcy and elizabeth almost kiss? that was at stourhead, the most incredible, expansive and beautiful gardens in england, possibly in the world.

also, it was a sunny day! this is rare, but made our experience there so much more amazing.

"i love you. most ardently." -mr. darcy

we then stopped at jane austen's home in chawton. i love jane austen. i have read pride and prejudice, sense and sensibility, emma and northanger abbey, but after visiting her house i want to reread all of those and her other two. i realized that i am obsessed with the worlds that she creates for her characters and would absolutely love to live in that time period. if i were elizabeth bennett i would find mr. darcy and live the rest of my life with him. life would be bliss.

jane austen died while living in the little town of winchester, and is buried in winchester cathedral. she originally had this really simple gravemarker on the floor of the cathedral, but when her books became more accepted as great literary achievements a more elaborate plaque and large stain-glass window were added.

also, in winchester at the great hall they have a 12th century round table. like king arthur's round table. it was very cool, massive (it weighed 2400 pounds) and so old.

midterms have been keeping me very stressed, tense and busy this week. but, i had the amazing opportunity last night of seeing the london philharmonic orchestra perform at royal festival hall. the concert hall was the biggest one that i have ever been in and the concert itself was amazing. the piano soloist, although she was dressed in an owl dress, was absolutely incredible. i loved sitting there for a few hours with my great new london friends enjoying the music and getting away from the stress of school.

i am sort of depressed with how quickly time is going by. it is already time for our trip to paris next week! i am unbelievably excited though. i went to paris for a few days almost two summers ago, so i already know things that i want to do again. i can't wait.

and here is my favorite quote currently:

"when a man is sick of london he is sick of life; for there is in london all that life can afford."

-samuel johnson

march for march.

march for march is this new thing that we are doing in dorm 3.

basically, we walk up all of the stairs at all of the underground stations. and, if there is an escalator, we walk up it too.

you are probably thinking that this is not a big deal, but it is. i mean, it is so easy to be lazy and just casually stand on the escalator and get to the top. where is the fun in that though? also, the amount of stairs that we actually confront is out of control.

this goal for the month of march is much harder than i ever would have anticipated. yesterday we encountered a 320 step staircase. once i got to about step 60 i realized how far 320 steps really is. i endured though, and was the first one to reach the top. my legs are sore today.

last week we went to wales, and it was unbelievably beautiful. we had the best trip. here are some of the things that i absolutely loved about our trip:

•tintern abbey:

we had an english assignment to take 10 minutes and reflect on our surroundings and write them down in the style of william wordsworth. after a few minutes thinking only about the nature and the remarkably kept 13th century abbey, i started to really enjoy the experience.

•the big pit:

when i heard that we were going to be almost 100 m underground for an hour for a tour of a coal mine, i began to feel claustrophobic and stressed. the mine was really cool though, and i am glad i went. also, as a plus, we had to wear these awesome head lamps and helmets:

•museum of welsh life/cymru:

this was basically a welsh version of nauvoo. there were friendly and informative authentically dressed people available to share knowledge and information at all of the little huts and workshops. i learned so much about wales. also, at this same stop of cymru, there was this huge manor house that we saw that had the prettiest gardens. i am beginning to love all of the parks and gardens here so much.

•the hotel:

this seems trivial. but, was definitely at the top of my wales highlights list. having a huge room with giant beds(NO BUNKS!!), a spacious shower and only one roommate was a very welcome change for the night. i went to bed early and had my best sleep of the year.

caerphilly castle.

church history tour:

i loved this. it was so amazing to see all of the places where many prophets and apostles converted so many people and started the church in england. hearing their stories and singing the spirit of god in the first church building in england was one of the best experiences of the trip. climbing to the top of hereforshire beacon was great too, but so so windy.

at herefordshire beacon.

oldest chapel in england. amazing experience.

other exciting things that have happened in the last week include a trip to stratford upon avon. we saw a great performance of king lear and saw many shakespeare sites. it was a great day trip. also, it is almost spring here! it has been pretty sunny all week!! i love it. also, i got to skype with jess and hannah a couple of days ago! also, i went to the tate modern museum. i am trying to decide if i like modern art, i really don't understand it. also, my family and i went to lunch at tortilla today, and we loved it and will definitely be returning soon.

things that i am looking forward to:

jane austen day trip on wednesday and the trip to paris in one week!

seaweed, i'll be yours forever.

hairspray is the most amazingly fun show i have seen in my entire life. i have never smiled so much or been so happy. ever. the songs were so incredible. tracy's parents were hilarious. (i was laughing so hard i cried). the gay dancers were so good and funny. tracy had an amazing voice. basically, i just loved it! if i had to pick my favorite musical so far, it would be hairspray. oh, i forgot to mention that i fell in love with seaweed during 'run and tell that.'

caroline and i at hairspray

for our day trip last week we went to blenheim palace and oxford university! it was a great day. there was surprisingly good and semi-warm weather, so the grounds at blenheim were especially beautiful.

blenheim palace and fountain.

anna and i in the gardens.

being in oxford was such a great experience. there were many different highlights.

first of all: moo moo's. there are over 200 flavors of milkshakes at this little place in the covered market. for me, the most indecisive person in the world, selecting which kind i wanted was one of the hardest choices of my life. after ordering mine, i was really disappointed because i saw at least 10 flavors that i would have liked more. but, my bueno bar milkshake was so delicious. no regrets.

my milkshake was better than hers. much much better.

second: i don't have a picture of this, but i love my new oxford hoodie. somehow i thought that i would be able to survive for 6 months without a hoodie. bad idea leslie. so, i fixed that problem. i wear it everyday now.

third: christ church college (aka hogwarts). i am not an obsessive harry potter fan, but i still loved seeing the school where they filmed ALL of the movies! it was so cool. but, want to know the coolest thing? we had tea in THE great hall. there were no candles hanging from the ceiling, but it was definitely the great hall. we spent the afternoon quoting the movies, practicing our spells and feeling sorry for ourselves for only being muggles! it was such a fun afternoon!

christ church college

other than that i have been busy with homework, camden market, nando's, dr. johnson's house and the lovely bones. if you haven't seen the lovely bones yet, be prepared to be creeped out. i came home with nail marks in my hands from clenching my fists and i was also very tense throughout my entire body. the movie stressed me out. so intense and so scary.