A Week With No Heat (Part 1 of 1, aka this is really long)

(Mom-grab a diet coke and cuddle in on the couch-this is a long one!)

So, as previously mentioned Tuesday night I went to Joshua Radin in concert. It is a well known fact that concerts are stinky, sweaty affairs-as is anything where so many people are jammed in so tight a space. Throw in the weed and people drinking and you your stink factor increases drastically. As all of us came in and gathered on the stairs to chat and brag about our evenings one of the other girls comes in, a little confused and utters the words that would have ruined any other night:

"There is no hot water"

Say what? You mean to tell me that the 20 of us that smell like dealers on a Friday, with sweaty hair and little patience can't have hot showers.

Now, any other day of the week I wouldn't have minded. (Mikhael Doe stop reading here...) If we're being frank, my shower habits are not the very best here anyways because of what an ordeal it is to shower here in the first place. However, this was a night that I needed desperately to shower.

When I finally came upstairs I turned on all of our showers just to check. Ice cold. Literally, had I left it running we would have had ice lollies in the morning. Dave, our resident director, assured us that he fixed it and that hot showers would be had by all come morning.

Morning came, and we all loaded the coach sans showers. Still ice.

It didn't stop us from having a great day though! We got to do all sorts of fun things. Our first stop was a Jane Austen's house. There Jessica and I took this picture: which is super unflattering but now a gem, considering how much trouble it got us in to. Let it be stated that their were no signs warning us against the use of flash photography.

Some girls even got to play the piano there. It was a lovely experience to learn about the woman behind the novels we're dissecting so intently (Up now is a close second favorite-Emma!)

And after that it was the best time of any field trip day, Lunch time!

Note the delicious looking sack lunch. Complete with fruit, biscuits, crisps, pb&j, and a Galaxy bar. The greatest part about lunch on the coach is that after you usually have time to plug in the ipod and take a nice little nap!

Not too long though because we soon reached our next stop, Salisbury Cathedral:

Here we toured all around. We even got to see a legible page of the original Magna Carta. It was amazing. I even found my name in it.... well my last name, which I guess is kinda famous around here.

Our final stop of the day was pretty cool I guess.

Just kidding it was awesome. Literally, I was in awe. Because we saw this:

Don't let the seemingly good weather fool you however. It was actually freezing. So cold that now when I get super super cold I think "Well, at least it wasn't as bad as Stonehenge."

So cold that I've been in freezers warmer.

So cold that Everest seems doable.

So cold that I think Jack and Rose are officially whimps. She so could have held on.

Seriously. Cold.

After walking around, taking it all in, and enjoying the beauty of it we headed back to the city. We dropped our stuff off and headed down to Whole Foods for dinner. They are a health food store, but upstairs there is a cafeteria style place to eat. It was there that I got my first burrito in over 2 months. It was a little bit of heaven. I was a little bit in love.

As we got ready for bed that night (still no hot water) we realized that it was also freezing.

Literally, I swear once I could see my breath while laying in my bed. Ok, maybe that an exaggeration, but only a little. Also, I was coming down with a bit of a cold so my options were:

1-bundle up, get under my covers and stay there or

2-take an ice shower and risk getting pneumonia and dying

I kinda promised my parents I'd make it back alive so option one won out.

Thursday I slept late. I went to class in sweats, and wrapped in my blanket. Saint Tate even checked on me to make sure I was still ok, I was. I was just cold. Freezing to be exact.

I had to get some humanities work done so I headed out to the N.G. by myself to look at Hogarth's Marriage a la mode. The national gallery was warm and I've never had such a strong desire to move into that place.

By that night it was apparent that the heater and the hot water were both broken. And Dr. Seeley, at devotional suggested we fast for 5 minutes before dinner was ready for them to miraculously be fixed. So spiritual here.

The next morning brought more... ice.

Luckily we were doing another day trip! So, on to the coach we headed and Tony was as accommodating as ever and not only blasted the heat but brought us Master and Commander to watch as we headed to see this:

The victory. Thats right, the Victory. The one that fought in the Battle of Trafalgar, the one that Admiral Nelson died on. That very one! Taking a tour of this amazing ship is one of my favorite things we've done here. It was so interesting, and I learned so much by doing this! For example, did you know that we get the term Spanish Omelet because the cannon balls would puree men's heads and have their remains splatter against the sails? Thats what I learned.

We also stopped at a Cadbury outlet :)

Before heading to Brighton! Lets just say I now understand Lydia's desire, and Kitty's jealousy much more. This place is awesome!

Notice that there is no sand, all the beach is little pebbles! It is so different. I was giddy with excitement at seeing such a fun place. And you want to know the best part-it was all free time! Free time to explore=adventures I'll always remember. Including rides on the pier and crepes!

There were also vicious seagulls. Gross!

It was gorgeous though, and I had so much fun playing around here!

As we were heading back to the city we had one stop left. Tony came over the speaker and said "I hope your enjoying this beautiful scenery, because in about 2 miles we'll be coming up on something that should be.... familiar to you."

And it was. Familiar is the perfect word to describe how I felt.

Isn't it beautiful. Familiar without being there? Amazing right?

Now, I had wandered all around the grounds, which are truly stunning, when one of my friends sought me out and said that anyone that has their recommend is welcome to stay and do baptisms. Well, I was in luck-I had my recommend.

I wandered inside and apologized for my clothing. A very sweet brother told me that as long as I have my recommend I'm worthy, and thats all I need.

(Note the Sperrys, and traveling pants I wore into the temple)

I felt so out of place in such clothes. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes. It's true that that is not the important part though, and once I was in my clothes I just felt peace. I was able to take some quiet time there and reflect, read and ponder. I felt renewed, happy and peaceful. It was exactly what I needed.

It was warm. It was familiar. It was home.

And that night when we finally got back from this temple trip we had hot water. I've never been so immediately blessed for going to the temple!

It really was a great week, especially considering how cold it was!

And yes, I did shower. See, this story has a very happy ending!

(I know this was a long post but lets be real, I'm selfish. I write these for me more than for you, whoever you are. And I fully expect the only other person to make it through this to be the woman that gave birth to me! So, don't worry!)