Island Rubies: We Plunge into the Big Pit

This was another one of those weeks where I can't remember what happened in the beginning. Monday seems like it was a month ago, and we probably did do a month's worth of stuff. I thought we had no time in the beginning, but that was nothing compared to this. But I'm loving every minute of it! Well, I guess not so much the minutes that involve writing papers.

So, as per tradition the week started with Monday. Monday and Tuesday we had a church history trip, so we got up super early and got onto the coach as usual. We were half awake only 10 minutes away from our first destination when BAM! they tell us what we're doing. Professor Wimmer was just doing his normal little spiel about where we were going when all of a sudden we finally get the details about what we'll be doing. We knew we were going to a coal mining museum before, but what they had failed to mention was that the mine is the museum, and that it's 300 feet under ground. That woke us all up pretty fast. I'm actually glad that they didn't tell us what we were doing earlier because I don't think that going into the coal mine was something I would have wanted to think about a lot. Oh, by the way this is in Wales and was at the Big Pit. Look it up. It's still considered a working mine. It was funny because when we got there we had to wait in a line first, and the line wrapped around and there were several TV monitors where you could see other people about to go down and stuff and we're all like "it's just like Disneyland!". And then we realized that this was actually real. Minor difference. "Miner" difference. Haha. Ok, I got that out of my system. Basically this place ended up being awesome. After waiting for a little bit we went over to the lift where we were given real hard hats with sweet lights and packs to go around our waists equipped with the battery pack and an emergency air filter. We knew this place was legit when they made us hand over our cameras and other electronics that had batteries so we wouldn't accidentally start an explosion while we were down there. Then we got to descend down into the pit all packed into an elevator that Amber wouldn't have liked at all. Being down in the pit was the same and different than I imagined at the same time. It was really dark, so you couldn't see past where the group was, but the lights on our helmets actually lit up the area pretty well. The mines themselves were pretty damp, and the majority of the time we were walking around we had to duck our heads because the ceilings were so low. When you weren't too focus on not hitting your head or stepping in a mysterious black puddle you could see the veins of coal in the sides of the walls. All of the tour guides are former miners, so we got to hear all sorts of first hand stories while we were down there. He started working in the mines when he was 18 in one of the smallest parts of the mines. He had to lie down to saw at the side. Apparently the whole time it was wet and the water would run down through their shirt and come out of the bottoms of their pants. Another story he told was about the rats. They kept live horses down in the mines (we got to see the stalls where they were) so they would feed the horses down there, which would attract the rats and there wasn't really anything they could do to get rid of them. So apparently he was working down there one day when all of a sudden he heard a massive group of them coming his way and they just all swarmed over him. He said that all he could do was get down and put his hands over his face. That doesn't sound like much fun at all. He told us the story when he was talking about the little boys that they used to employ to open the doors. They didn't give the boys any light, so they would just stand there in the complete dark with a cheese sandwich in their pocket. And then the rats would come. Not fun. It was while he was telling us these stories that we got to experience total darkness. We turned off all of our lights, and all that was left was the dark. You seriously couldn't even see you hand in front of your face. I tried. And then you just heard the dripping coming from down the mine... I loved going down there. Once we went down I was actually perfectly comfortable, but I couldn't imagine working there all day every day in the dark. It's one thing when you're on a tour, but it's another when you're working their day in and day out in horrible conditions. Not to mention how dangerous it was. They told us a story (while we're still down in the danger zone of course) about a single spark that set off a massive explosion in one of the mines. 400 people died-- almost the entire community. I couldn't imagine that kind of devastation. And then even if those types of accidents didn't happen just breathing the air and being down there was horrible for your health. Our guide said that he went on strike for a year to stop the mining practices in England when Margaret Thatcher was PM. There are still some smaller mines in operation, but in England at least mining is pretty much a thing of the past now. When we were talking to someone at another stop later in the day he remarked what a special experience it was to go down in the mine now because we were able to go down with someone who used to work in the mines, but that in 30 years or so there wouldn't be anyone left with that first hand experience. Going down there was by far the best part of the trip. It's hard to fully appreciate what it would have been like to work there until you see it for yourself.

Ok, we're still on Monday but that was such a massive paragraph that I figured that I better split it up or else everyone would be so intimidated they wouldn't even try to read my blog. Oh, a little side story before I move on to our next adventure. While we were waiting for the lift to take us back up our guide did what everyone here seems to do-- he started talking about the election. Seriously as soon as we start speaking and they figure out we're American the first thing they start talking about is politics. And I'm not even talking about just this week, it's been the entire time we've been here. It doesn't matter where we are either. I've had the exact same conversation at the art gallery, Chartwell, at a street vendor, in the bottom of a coal mine... It's really interesting to hear what they say. First off, they all love Obama. They also think that someone is going to assassinate him. Their conspiracy theories can be quite entertaining. Most of their views tend to be kind of hypocritical though, and it's really starting to get on all of our nerves. They tend to think that they know everything. We've had several ranting sessions to vent our frustrations so we don't take it out on the next innocent Brit who tries to make casual conversation about the election on accident. But enough of that. We'll now return to Monday's activities.

After descending into the pit we wandered around the mining buildings for a bit and then went to the Natural History Museum in Wales where they had a ton of buildings from all different time periods. It was pretty cool. We got to explore and take more ridiculous pictures. We learned that houses back in the day were really dark, but not nearly as dark as the coal mine.

We crashed for the night in Cardiff, which would have been pretty cool since it's the capital of Wales, but unfortunately it gets dark insanely early now (like 4:30) so by the time we got there you couldn't see anything. We attempted to find our way into the city from the hostel but we only made it as far as Tesco (a grocery store) where we bought candy. So we just spent the night avoiding doing our reading for class by talking in the hostel.

Fortunately the sun did come up the next day, so we were once again able to go out in the world and do things. We didn't stick around in Cardiff though. Instead we headed for good ol' Tintern Abbey because I'm with a big group of English majors and Wordsworth wrote a poem there. I think the real objective of this program is to retrace the steps of Wordsworth and Jane Austen. The ruins were really cool though. I like ruins. They're way more fun than un-ruined things. So we got to explore the grounds there, and of course the gift shop as well. No stop is complete without a trip to the gift shop. We also had a really nice moment when the group all came together and we started singing hymns in the center of the abbey. Even though the roof was gone the place still had fantastic acoustics. That was probably the best part.

Then we returned to England, where we stopped in the sweet little town of Ledbury to scavenge for food. I got a tasty smoked chicken and apple sandwich at a little cafe with Michelle, in case you're wondering. It was quite enjoyable. We also went into a little homemade chocolate shop where I got the best mint truffle ever. Then we all met back up as a group to start our church history tour of the area. We actually met up with the same tour guide we had in Preston, so that was pretty cool. We started in town, and then we got back on the bus and drove over the the Benbow farm, which was nearby. The Benbow's were early converts to the church in England and their farm is the center of a lot of church history in the area. The church had a huge amount of success in the area, so a lot of what happened there ended up shaping the church back in the states as people immigrated to Utah. We also got to see the first chapel that the church had. It's pretty much the cutest little church I've ever seen. The church actually didn't own it anymore for a really long time, and then just a few years ago some members in the area saw that the farm the church sat on was for sale and they all came together to raise money to buy it at the auction. Apparently before someone had just parked their tractor in there. Now it's been all refurbished and people can go to visit it like we did. Oh I forgot, prior to visiting the church we hiked up this huge hill/mountain where the apostles would meet and reflect on things. It was absolutely gorgeous. You could see for miles up there.

That was then end of the trip. But don't worry, this chapter of my blog is not yet over because there are still five more days left to report. I told you that we did a lot. Wednesday was a pretty normal day. From what I can remember (which isn't much) I just went to class and did homework until dinner. Boring, I know. But don't worry it gets better because after dinner I went to see Zorro the musical! Those of you who are acquainted with my Zorro obsession (all of you need to watch the 1950's TV show now) will understand what joy this brought into my life. It's a brand new musical that just started this summer and it's awesome. There was fire and fencing and stunts and flamenco dancing and it was basically all one giant fiesta. Definitely one of my favorite things that I've seen so far. Viva El Zorro!

Sadly Thursday did not involve Zorro, but it was a great day nonetheless. We had class in the morning, but then afterwords I finally went to St. Paul's (the program went the day I was sick). It's massive and beautiful. All of the design on the inside is just so intricate and detailed. Also, yesterday just happened to be it's 300th anniversary. They had a huge festival and people got to go in for free. But I didn't go then so let's backtrack to Thursday when I did go. I basically just wandered around, and then wandered up the millions of stairs to the stone gallery where you can get a great view of London. The very top is closed until February, but I got to go to the almost top, which was almost as good. After St. Paul's I went to the science museum for my British studies class where I got to see some of the first steam engines. They're huge and can't even produce as much power as a kid on a tricycle, but you got to start somewhere. So I stayed there for a while and then walked home through Kensington Gardens to get back in time for dinner. After dinner our program went to the Mousetrap, which has been playing continuously for 56 in the West End. Crazy, I know. It's the longest running show in the world. It's an Agatha Cristie mystery, so that was pretty fun.

Friday was a good day. More class followed by going to get tickets to Hairspray and then returning for dinner and then going to Hairspray. It was fabulous. You really can't stop the beat. Nor would you want to. It's also fun because some of it is different from the movie.

Saturday was quite possibly one of the best days I've had in a long time. We didn't have anything scheduled for once, which was glorious. I probably should have used all of that free time to write my three papers that are due this week and start studying for my test, but that would have been lame. Instead me and Annie decided that since everything always closes early we could go enjoy the day and then just work on homework at night. So part one of our grand day out was the Lord Mayor's Show, which is a parade that has been going on for 400 years. The grand finale of the parade is the Lord Mayor (riding to somewhere important to do some traditional thing ) riding in an carriage made of real gold. The English go all out. We got soaking wet (like literally soaking wet. My shoes were mush) but we decided that it was totally worth the experience. Plus, the only parade Annie has ever been to was in Ogden, Utah and I'm pretty sure that does not cut it. I have to admit that as fun as this parade was though that I still like the Rose Parade better. But, I am a loyal Oregonian.

After we saw the golden carriage we went to the Tate Britain, a art museum, where we were good students and looked at the paintings we were supposed to for humanities (of the romantic era, for those of you who were wondering) while attempting to dry off a little. We succeeded a little bit, but unfortunately it was raining even harder on our way back to the tube station. But, when we arrived at our next stop, the National Gallery, we emerged from the underground to find that the sky was temporarily blue. So we smiled and then looked at the rest of the paintings for class in the gallery after running into one of our professors. By the time we were done at the gallery we were starving, so we headed off to Covent Garden where we decided to go have fun because we're fun loving people.

I officially love Covent Garden. On Saturdays they have a market set up there with all sorts of entertainment. They also had toy stores. I LOVE toy stores. I bought a toy mini cooper to add to my collection (I believe this will be my fourth little one to go with my big electric one. Now I just need someone to give me a real one) and mostly just loved life. They even had a classic little store that looked like it came straight out of the 1800's, which it probably did. Just to give an example of how awesome this place is, when we came out of one of the toy stores there were street performers outside. But these aren't just your ordinary street performers. No, there was a five violin ensemble playing classical music, with the occasional opera accompaniment. Where else does this happen but London? So we just had a fantastic time completely losing ourselves to the atmosphere and forgetting about all the stress of school and trying to find out where to live next semester and enjoyed ourselves. We even got the most delicious beautiful looking cupcake. It was banana toffee and came from a adorable little store. I decided that life couldn't get much better. The sun went down though, and so we decided to head back and do "homework" after we ransacked Mark's and Spencer for food (including a tub of cookies) for Sunday. Then we went home and took wonderful warm showers to get the feeling back in my toes and watched two movies (Penelope and Casino Royale) while "doing homework". It was seriously the perfect day. I could live in it forever. Did I mention that I love London?

Finally we make it today, Sunday. It was a much more relaxing day. We had stake conference so we went to that, and then I locked myself in the library where I attempted to write people on facebook back and stuff. I really apologize for being so bad at that. Please don't take it personally; I barely have time to check my email. But know that I love you! Consider this blog as a personal letter to you. These things seriously take me like four hours to do since I have so much to write about and the internet here is about as fast as a snail.

Well, until next time! Enjoy this assortment of pictures. I'm going to sleep.