I don't think you could ever understand how much it moves me...

I am in love with Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera". I grew up with the soundtrack with Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford. We used to listen to it during road trips. When the movie came out in 2004, I was so excited to see it. My parents had taken my brother and sister to see it on stage in Seattle, but I didn't go for who knows why. It's been a lifelong dream of mine to see it on stage, and the movie was one step towards the real thing.

There are aspects of the movie that I do really enjoy, but I still wanted to see the real thing. When I went abroad, our teachers were able to get enough of our money together for us to be able to do something extra in London. My lifelong dream was finally realized! Not only was I able to see "Phantom" on stage, but I saw it in "Her Majesty's Theatre" -- the place it was originally performed.

It was magical! Just hearing the music gives me chills. I don't even know how to describe how much I am moved by the musical. I get so wrapped up in it, and I always want to cry for the phantom....always. Even when I read the book (in which the phantom seems more cruel to me), I thought I would not feel bad for him in the end, but I still nearly cried.

I could go on and on about specifics and comparing the movie with the stage production, but I don't think I'll do that at this time. Just trust me, you must see "The Phantom of the Opera" on stage before you die.

To make the dream even more awesomely fulfilled, when we went to Paris, Megan and I found The Paris Opera House, where Gaston Leroux's novel takes place!! It was hard to get good pictures of me, but it is beautiful. You can't see all of the opera house, but there are still stables and 17 storeys (or something close to that). Something else we learned is that there actually is a lake underneath the opera house.

The infamous chandelier!!!

So there is a brief look at a dream fulfilled.

Congrats class of 2009! My little brother is all grown up and graduating from high school. He was one of the first to walk out of a class of about 600. Now what am supposed to do while i wait? Maybe i'll try tickling megan. That might be fun or possibly painful as she will no doubt punch me in the face as a result.

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Two beds, some cup of noodles, and great anticipation

Megan and my adventure actually started the day before we boarded our plane. We took

a van to Salt Lake and settled in to room for the night. We had to keep ourselves entertained for a few hours and what better to do when you're in a room with two queen sized beds then to jump on them and take awesome pictures!! We took a lot so I hope you're ready to look at a bunch of crazy pictures!!

After we got tired of jumping, we ate some cup of noodles, snuggled up in our beds and watch the disney channel. The next day we departed first to the JFK airport and then (like 7 hours later) we got on a plain for Ireland!!

This is why we avoid family fun night. We were all enjoying a lovely game of settlers of catan when megan stole my phone and capture dads true side.

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I'm back!

Hello, hello!! I bet you were all thinking I would get taken while I was in Europe and you'd never hear from me ever again! I did have to fight off some crazy guys with my ninja skills, but I made it out okay! Unfortunately, I don't have the cord to get all my pictures (over 2000 of them!) onto my computer so I can't post any of those at the moment. I plan to give you a summary of the trip a little bit at a time so you can share in the experience. Right now I'm staying at my aunt and uncle's house in Lehi, UT. Tomorrow we make the long drive back to Washington. I'm excited to go back home! It's weird to think that just yesterday morning I was in Paris, a metro ride away from the Eiffel Tower and a stroll around the corner from the Arc de Triumphe. It was quite an adventure and I definitely don't regret going on it!

To be continued...

I am standing in the salt lake airport. In a couple of hours i will be on my way to new york and then ireland!

So Close!

I'm starting to gain even more excitement for leaving on the British Literary Tour. I was having my doubts, but now I feel back on top, and I'm ready to go! I'm beginning to feel that I'm connecting with my group. Maybe there won't be any lasting friendships, but that's okay. I feel comfortable with them, I can be myself, and the next month is going to be amazing. No regrets. I'm excited just to feel the spirit of some of these places we are going to. I really wish we had the opportunity to go to Germany as part of the trip. I'm determined to go there someday as I feel like there's a part of me in that country since that's where half of my family is from. I wish I had more to say, but I really can't think of much. I will take lot's of pictures and report on the experience when I come home. Things just seem so good in this moment as I'm sitting here in the library using their computers since my laptop is miles and miles away. I feel that I have so much to be grateful for. I won't bore you with a list :) I should probably get going. I have a goal to read Othello tonight and possibly get some writing requirements done. I'm willing to bet I will get distracted by the T.V. though. Curses... By the way, for those of you who don't follow mine and Megan's Finer Things blog, we saw this amazing movie last night called "North & South". Why don't you step over to my other blog and check it out :)

And just for the heck of it, here are some pictures to give you some idea of what else we've been doing. I'll let you interpret them for yourselves!! Haha! Okay maybe I'll explain later.