a week in London.

Wow, it is so crazy how fast time is flying by. It is mind blowing that a week has already gone by since I have been in England and I have been loving every second of it! My first week here has been full of adventures, traveling around the cities and neighborhoods, and working for the NHS in the Broomfield Hospital nearby where I am staying. Monday is blogged all about in a previous post!

Tuesday was awesome. I was treated to a proper English breakfast, bacon and eggs- but the bacon is ham and the eggs are cooked completely different. It was delicious though! Following breakfast, I headed down to the hospital to start my first day on the job and it was great. I meet the most amazing, kind-hearted, people that were so enthralled with my Las Vegas history. I had a fulfilling time working in the Early Pregnancy Unit and also with the mothers and newborns just chatting with them and comforting them. After 7 hours of running around a hospital with destinations and orders to fulfill, I think I somewhat figured out how to find my way around this place. This was a great first day to start my time in England! To end the day, I took a walk around the neighborhood and just completely fell in love with the people, the buildings, the plants, the cars, just everything honestly! It is so beautiful here!

Wednesday consisted of total exhaustion. With a combination of eating poorly, lack of sleep, and a history of fainting, that was the end result. Within two hours of me being awake and off to work at the hospital, I got a sudden dizzy and nauseous feeling and then fainted for a second or so. After getting a better sense of balance, I went home to rest. I ended up sleeping for hours! It was much, much needed! Following that, we went on a family trip to a historic spot nearby in Chelmsford. It had beautiful gardens and architecture. The sunset was just absolutely beautiful on this day and we went and took pictures in the prettiest grass field! Seriously, all the flowers and green trees and grass here is so pretty! I appreciate Heavenly Fathers creations so much more now.

Thursday was a very relaxing day. Sophia took me all around time and we literally shopped till we dropped. She took me to all the “English” shops and told me all about the British fashions. I feel really enlightened on what the trends of fashion really are now! The style is much different here! After spending eighty pounds in one store I was totally done. I was not expecting to spend that much money but it was so worth it! Then I had to try the staple combo food... fish & chips! And they are way better here than they are in America! They cover the chips, (French fries), in vinegar and salt and oh my, they are so delicious! This was a packed day of walking around the streets of Sophia’s hometown and really getting a feel for the English culture.

Friday was a great day! I spent another long day in the hospital but I really loved it. Having this opportunity to intern and gain work experience in England has been such a great experience in just a short time. I appreciate all of the efforts of everyone I have met for making this possible for me. Throughout the day, I was in emergency pediatrics and it was interesting to see what some people come into the hospital for, and what an “emergency” situation is for them. I was able to watch a few different appointments, procedures, conferences, etc. which included a tour around the hospital which was really eye opening for me to see the behind the scenes of the NHS. There are incredible differences between American hospitals and this one that I was in particular, and everything I saw and experienced were such valuable and interesting experiences to have that I am so grateful for. Following this day in the hospital, we headed out to London for the evening. We just toured around the city and enjoyed a few tourist spots that are a must see when in London. This consisted of the Big Ben, Royal Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Hyde Park Castle, Harrods, Kensington Palace, and driving around, just purely enjoying all that London had to offer. It is such a beautiful city, and kind of reminded me of home. I love bright lights and historic architecture. This was an unforgettable night.

Saturday we woke up bright and early to get ready to go to Cambridge. WOW. In one word, WOW, Cambridge is absolutely beautiful! I could have spent hours and hours here. It was so clean and tranquil. We had a family picnic for lunch outside of the university and it was record heat for here. The sun was shining and it was a nice eighty degrees. To everyone from Vegas, don’t we wish it stayed in the 80’s? I do! We continued to walk around Cambridge and it was so darling! There were several people “punting” which looked like so much fun. Too bad it was expensive :/ that’s okay though, there was so much beauty in this place that I was soaking in at the same time. We walked in and out of all of the streets of Cambridge, window shopping, snacking, and taking hundreds of pictures along the way. As we were leaving, Sophia leaned over to me and pointed at a man ahead of us claiming it to look like one of our friends from BYU and insisted I shout his name. I did, not thinking he would actually respond, but he did! Our friend from school was in the same spot as us at the same time. Now if that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is. It was so fun running into him! After this, we ended our day by going to stake conference and ordering Domino’s pizza. I have never appreciated my stake and ward as much as I did this day because my stake center is only a five-minute drive from my home and consist of hundreds of members, whereas here, their stake center is nearly an hour away with not nearly as many active members. I am so grateful for the gospel and the examples I have in my home-town.

Sunday was great, like every Sunday. We continued with another session of stake conference at the chapel nearby and watched it aired live from the stake center. After this, we had a great pasta dinner and the Deighton family was able to Skype their son in Greece for Mother's Day. Families are the greatest blessings! Afterwards, the Elders serving in the ward came over to Skype their families at home and it was precious to see how happy it made them to see their families. To end the evening, we went on a Sunday drive to Writtle, just outside of where I am staying. We were able just to have a peaceful time walking around the area and watching cute little ducks swim in the pond. 

Week one was GREAT! Now onto the next week of this amazing adventure.

ps shout out to whoever actually reads all of this!

XO

Marley

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