Welcome to the UK

Pretty much sums up our whole trip 

Not our best look 

View from the room we stayed in the first night in England

Our flat! (Not our car, I wish!)

Where the rowing team trains on campus

Waiting for our ride to church in the freezing cold wind and rain!

You can't tell here,  but we have clear skies now!

My mind is full of so many things that I could type right now. We have only been here for almost two full days, and we have already had so many cool experiences. I will try to be detailed, but not make this too long. Our trip from Idaho to England was...not fun! We hardly slept at all on all the flights, and we had an 8 hour layover in Dusseldorf Germany which was pretty miserable to say the least. We were malnourished, dehydrated, and jet lagged for the entire trip. The Dusseldorf airport was FREEZING. All we wanted to do was sleep, but we had nothing warm besides a light jacket so it made it hard. We would just find a spot on the floor by some chairs and curl up and try to get a little sleep. We were looking pretty rough! I could tell I was getting pretty dehydrated and I felt really sick while in Germany, so Daniel went and bought me a water (there are no drinking fountains anywhere). The only water they had there was mineral water. Gross. Sick. I will never drink that stuff again. I think it made me even more sick than I already was! The flight from Germany to Newcastle England was pretty quick, which was good because I would not of lasted another second on a plane without throwing up some nasty mineral water. They gave us some strange sandwich on the plane that was called "Cheddar and Gherkin" Yeah...it looks how it sounds. Didn't taste it, hence the almost throwing up mineral water episode. Daniel however, ate the whole thing because he was so hungry, while he kept saying "what is this? what is this!?" We landed in Newcastle and met up with a university employee who was picking us up. His name was Albert, and he told us to call him Pottsy. Awesome, awesome guy. He took us all the way back to his house, all the while we are freaking out about driving on the left side of the road. I don't know how many times I had to do a double take because I thought a young child would be driving a car, then realizing they were actually in the passenger's seat. So funny. We drove about an hour through the beautiful countryside of Northeast England. Sheep everywhere, lush green fields, rolling hills of farmland, stone houses, mining villages. It was like a dream. I didn't take any pictures, again, thanks to the almost throwing up mineral water-so I had to concentrate on not throwing up in Pottsy's nice car. We got to his house-which was in a small mining village about 5 miles outside of our town. We hauled our bags through his little red gate and on his stone path to his front door. His house was a few hundred years old, but it was quaint and nice inside. We dropped off our bags, then walked with him down the dirt road to a little pub called The Green- a little hole in the wall pub with greenery and flowers hanging in baskets on the outside, and on the inside it was warm and cozy.There we had some normal tasting water (no ice of course, nobody puts ice in their drinks here!) and we ordered some food. We both ate a french baguette with chicken and melted cheese on top. It was good. We also had some chips (french fries), and asked Pottsy a couple million questions about everything that was on our minds, and he was kind enough to answer every one. We walked back to his house, took showers, talked to our family for a bit, then passed out. I have never slept so good in my life. In the morning the sun was shining, it was clear blue skies, and a cow was mooing right outside our window. We ate cheerios for breakfast, yes cheerios! Then we were on our way to move into our flat (apartment). Pottsy dropped us off, and we spent most of the day exploring, or 'mooching around' as a Brit would say. The grocery store is literally twenty steps from our front door, as well as a bakery, butcher, antique shop, furniture stores, and a lot more. We walked the two miles to campus, which was a beautiful walk- I love how everyone walks everywhere here! We bought a bed and a mattress from the nicest man, who offered to deliver it to our flat for us, since it was right across the street. He didn't want us to have to carry it. That is just a small example of how nice people are here. I was not prepared for how loving and helpful people are here, especially when they hear you talk and realize you aren't from around here. I was expecting people to be a little bit more cold, but it couldn't be more opposite. I love it. I think this town is a pretty special town. Once our bed was delivered we slept for 3 hours, then when we woke, we headed to another pub called The New Inn, where we met some other American student-athletes and watched football (soccer). From now on when I refer to football it means soccer. We can't say soccer here, or people will give us a hard time! Daniel is in heaven here..football is seriously a religion to people here, and the rivalries between the different teams here in the north are hilarious! People literally hate someone else if they support a rival team. It's all part of of the fun. At the pub, I went to the bar and asked for "two waters please." The bartender totally didn't understand me. He had to ask me three times what I was saying, so I said it with a little english accent, and he said "Ohhh wotah!" So funny. There is a guy here who is playing on the Durham American-football team, and he is from Idaho! Such a crazy coincidence. He played American Football at Idaho state. We sat by him at the pub, and it was refreshing to talk to someone from our hometown. There is also a volleyball player here who went to Penn State with Daniel, who we met at the pub. Our English friends were joking about how we knew more people in the pub than they did. It was pretty crazy. We ate some pizza, then got a ride home from Pottsy. We were able to Skype both sets of parents last night, it was great to talk to them and see their faces! This morning we woke up and got a ride to church from our bishop's in-laws. They were the sweetest people. We were freezing while we were waiting for them-our bodies haven't adjusted to this fall/winter weather yet. Our ward is called the Stanley Ward. Holy cow, it was the single friendliest ward I have ever been too. I have never met nicer people. It made me so excited that we are here. I love that no matter where you go in the world, the church, the doctrine, and the people are always the same. Also, hearing little kids with their little accents is probably the cutest thing in this world, "mummy, con ay ave my biscuit now?" I love the accents here. It's pretty easy to tell where a person is from just by hearing their accent. The more proper accents are from down south around London. The more heavy hard to understand almost Scottish accent is from up north where we are. We met the elders and sisters in our ward, and they are great. They are all American! But one elder who has been out for a year, has an English accent! It gave me hope, that maybe we will come back with a little accent. I know this is the longest post ever, but I just had to document everything so far, because I want to remember this forever. My posts won't normally be this long! Can't wait to go exploring this week, and take a lot more pictures.

We are so happy to call this place home.