oops

So, two months later I update. I do not think that I can even begin to describe what had happened in the last two months. I can reassert that I love college. It is a lot easier then I thought, and I really only have to worry about waking up with my alarm clock, getting into the showers before they are all full, and remembering to bring my room/building keys with me whenever I leave.

Grade wise, I am getting mostly A's and B's/B pluses. No A pluses, but that's what I will aim for next semester. I am done with all of my papers, and I have one assignment due on Tuesday, and then there are finals! I have three finals, as two of my classes are full year. While my finals are nicely spread apart, they do end late. I have one on the 14th, one on the 17th, and my last on the 22nd. I am lucky that I am not in any sciences or maths, so that there is not much to study/memorize. I think my finals should go pretty well. In one class, its worth 50% of my grade.

I went back to Minnedosa two weekends ago and had a lot of fun. Lots more time with horses and cows!

I am really going to miss all of my friends that are exchange students. There is a group of twenty, maybe more, that I hang out with, eat dinner with, and so on. There are a couple of people in that group that I hang out with a lot, watch movies with, have girl time with. Since all but three people are leaving after this semester, I am going to be at a loss at who to hang out with or go out with. For some reasons, I really get along with exchange students. Same thing happened in high school. This is why I someday plan on going to Sweden someday and staying with all of my Swedish friends.

I am really looking forward to my classes next semester. At the end of this year, I will have 21 credits going directly towards my major. Classes for next semester: Russian, Ukrainian Short Story, Ukrainian Literature and Film, History of the Byzantine Empire and the Slavic World, and Sociology.

Hopefully I will begin updating more frequently. Hopefully. I do plan on posting about the trip to Guatemala when I come back.

Some Photos-

The Time Does Fly

Hee hee. So I really meant to write sooner. Really I did. And I do not know why I didn't. I have wasted so much time doing nothing, that I could have at least considered being productive.

I went horseback riding!!! This was two weeks ago? Wow. Time really does fly. I went with my next door neighbor and a friend back to their houses. I spent a night at each house. Horse back riding was amazing. I can now say that I have galloped. And that I have fallen off a horse. But do not worry, I did not get hurt. Since we were riding through the fields, I fell off into a pile of canola. And my horse stayed put and gave me the funniest look ever.

I think she was wondering why I was on the floor and not on her back where I was supposed to be. I got right back on, as soon as we fixed the saddle that had slid to the side. Apparently I hadn't cinched it tight enough, even though I re-cinched it multiple times.

I rode for 5 hours with a break about half way through. I cannot wait to do it again. One morning for breakfast Heather, (next door neighbor), brought me to the bar/hotel/restaurant where she used to work. In a town of 400, everyone knows each other and they all greeted her excitedly and wanted to know what University was like, and how she felt about staying in such a large city. I had the most amazing breakfast there. Yum yum yum! I recommend butter tarts to all who have never had them. Delicious.

That was a really fun weekend and I am glad that I was able to go.

Classes have been going well and I am settling into a routine, even if it is a bit wacky. I still need to figure out how to go to bed at a good time, but I am okay for now. I have been going to the gym! Not extremely often, but often enough that I am getting less sore after each workout. The gym has rock climbing facilities and I cannot wait to use them.

Sorry for any typos. I really should go back over this and edit, but I am too lazy for that. I just glanced up and saw a sentence that ended four words too early. I fixed that and then saw some major typos. Oops. But at least those two mistakes are corrected.

I am coming home! Just for a weekend, but I am so excited. Oh, and me and my boyfriend will have been dating for a year on Tuesday. In case any one was interested...

Hope all is well with everyone, and that everyone is nice and healthy. I finally am.

Classes

So this term I am taking Sociology, Russian, Women in Media, History of the Soviet Union and Environmental Concepts.

The teacher for the Women's studies class is kinda scary and spent the first lecture warning us about all the things we shouldn't do and then re-emphasizing the point by yelling it. Looks like an interesting, easy class that calls upon my strengths as a reader and an analytical thinker.

Environmental concepts, while it contains interesting topics (climate change, pollution, water quality etc.) is boring. Very boring. I have no idea how the teacher manages to make me feel like falling asleep while she is dramatically asking us if we would give up our way of living so that someone in a third world country could have a better life.

Sociology seems decent.

History of the Soviet is really interesting. The teacher reminds me of Grandpa. If my Grandpa spoke with a Russian accent. The teacher is white haired and hilarious with a subtle, slightly stinging humor. His lectures are what remind me so much of my Grandpa. His storytelling skills are amazing. He spoke about what makes a leader "Great". In the process he gave us examples of great leaders from the past and it was all so interesting that I was just itching to write notes. I hate taking notes. But I would gladly do it for this class as I want to remember all of the super cool things he spoke of.

And to save the best for last.........

RUSSIAN!!!!!! is amazing. I love my teacher. She obviously loves to teach which makes the class so much fun. I have learned so much in my first two days of class, not only how to read Russian, but also a lot of the culture. This is already one of the best classes that I have ever taken. I cannot even explain how much fun this class is.

She somehow manages to teach without even trying. While she was introducing herself I learned some Russian. She is Russian, so she has a Russian name so when she was introducing herself she wrote her name up on the board and showed us what the different parts of her name meant. Like part of her last name is her dad's name, and how most people are called by a diminutive of their name. So awesome.

Life as a college student has been pretty good. My sleep schedule is all wacky, which is why I spent two hours of my afternoon sleeping. I have yet to do laundry, which I kinda really need to do. I have cleaned up my room though. It was getting a bit messy. The food is pretty decent and I have managed to avoid going near the dessert table. Except for today. And the weekends do not count. I think I will manage to avoid the freshman 15, thank goodness. I also got a gym membership that I am even using! It helps that I go with my friends.

Its really surprising how many people from Minnesota are here. There is a girl on my floor who is California, two people that I met today who are from England, some people from Mexico, my next door neighbor from Taiwan, a girl from Chile, and then people from lots of other places like Croatia and Finland. And then there are the guys from France that me and Heather run into everywhere. We met them the first night and I swear that either I am unconsciously stalking them or they are stalking me. Seriously. They are everywhere!!!

I really need to go do my laundry.....

I am now a College Student--- Maybe

I spent the month that I wasn't writing this blog doing lots of things. I babysat a lot (I love those girls), biked around the city waiting for it to get warmer, packed, and hung out with people. Like Hollis. A nice way to end summer, even if it did fly by and I wasn't able to go swimming cause it was too chilly.

I would call this a productive summer. Went to a new country, saw a decent amount of friends, got a tattoo, learned lots of new things. But now summer is over and here comes fall and with it comes college.

Since I was bringing so much stuff, we had to rent a minivan. I liked it and felt like a terrible person for liking this gas guzzling machine. It was so comfy and had lots of space. The ride went by quickly, even though the stop at the border took forever. I now have a pretty piece of paper saying that I can reenter Canada whenever I want.

I did not expect Canada to be hot. But it was. Today its been raining which is actually a relief from all of the heat and humidity I have had to deal with. Several days have been in the 80's. Where are the lakes???? I need to find one and jump in.

The mosquitoes are horrendous. There are bajillions. I have so many bites spread all over my body. That made the moving in process not so fun. Who wants to be carrying loads of boxes while trying not to faint in the heat, and then on top of that trying to swat away the hungry mosquitoes? No fun.

A nice surprise was my room. ITS GIANT. Its even bigger then some of the doubles that I have seen. Crazy. Its a really long and skinny room with reallyreallyreally tall ceilings and I even have a walk in closet. Nice and classy. I have soo much extra room that I really do not need. I do need to print out some more pictures or at least get some posters to put on my walls. I was not expecting this much wall space so I didn't bring much.

It was a tearful goodbye. I cried. A lot. Its no wonder when not only do I have to say goodbye to one person, but when I have both parents, a brother and a boyfriend to say goodbye to, it adds up. Sad sad.

I eventually got unpacked. It only took a couple days. Haha. But I made a friend! A super awesome friend. She is right next door to me and we met my first night here. We were both homesick and had some choice things to say about the music booming from down the hall. We eat dinner/other meals together, split groceries and lots of stuff. When she had to do a load of laundry, but did not quite have a full load, she took some of mine. And she folded it!

Through her I have been able to meet some other people. She is good friends with a third year student and he has been amazing. He took us to all of our classes before hand so we would know where they were, drove us to the grocery store, took me to the bank twice so I could open an account, and lots of other stuff. And through him we have met some RA's and other older people that are handy to know.

I have had so much fun. As soon as I got to know Heather, life became a lot easier. I am loving this college life.

I MADE IT INTO BAND!!! This is so amazing I have to say it again.

I MADE IT INTO BAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so happy. So so so so happy.

I never thought that I would be good enough to play at the college level. YAY. Whats kind of funny is that the band is at the same time and day that community band is. It will be like being back home when I would look forward to Tuesday nights from 7 to 9.

I had my first and second day of class and that went well. I can feel a lazy spell coming though so I think I will post that at some other time. I am enjoying myself greatly and am meeting lots of cool people. In case you didn't pick up on that.

To Finish

So its only been a month and two days since my last post.... and what a crazy month!

To finish off my Wales trip-

IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!!!!! I climbed a mountain. Me, my cousins and my aunt and uncle made it all the way up. We started at 1000 or so feet and went to the tip top which took 3 or so hours. The mountain, Snowdon, is the tallest in Wales. It 3000 something feet. That may not sound very big, but when you are almost at sea level its really tall.

I am so glad that I was able to experience it. The way up wasn't tooo bad. We ran into the clouds not long after we started our climb so we had no good views. That was very unfortunate because apparently the view is spectacular.

The way down was a lot harder. For the first 45 minutes or so (I had a hard time keeping track of the time) we went down this terrible steep part. Not only was it really steep, but there were a lot of loose rocks that slid out from under our feet. My younger cousin looked like a mountain goat. No matter how many times he was told to slow down and just walk, he still kept leaping down the hill. My aunt, my older cousin and I went on a much more sedate pace. A pace that led us to lose sight of my Uncle and my younger cousin. We did not have much visibility, so it looked like we were walking in a completely white world. All we could see was the rock under our feet and a few meters in front/behind us.


We walked all the way down that mountain, right to the base. While the way up was full of people, the path we took down was almost empty. Of course my aunt would trip and fall right in front of the only large group of people we saw. I got so scared, but she was okay, just a little embarrassed.

When we got closer to the base we saw some beautiful landscape. Everything was green and growing. There was a river that people were jumping into and riding the current. They would jump off the small waterfalls and just float along. I wouldn't do that, even with a helmet on like they had.

We were all sore and tired by the time we got to the bottom. Our feet had blisters and our knees ached from going constantly down hill. And our youth hostel was still a mile and a bit away. My uncle decided to go and get the car and drive back to pick up the rest of us. I offered to go with so we went off walking quickly. I got kudos for doing that.

The rest of the time passed quickly. I managed to stay awake for a good portion of both car rides. I got to see my first Welsh built castle which was super cool. It was so old! From before the 1100's.

We got back home and then it was time for me to say good bye to the boys and finish packing. My uncle said goodnight around 11, but me and my aunt stayed up late talking until 1:00. Then she went to bed, but I stayed up making a card and talking to Hollis on Skype. I slept for a half an hour and then it was time to get up!

My uncle drove me to the airport where I struggle to stay awake. I just managed it. I had such a hard time believing that I was leaving this beautiful country and going back home to Minnesota.

A few hours later, I was on the plane. And I didn't sleep for longer then a half an hour. Grr. Saw a few good movies, wrote some things and read a bit. Ate some decent plane food amazingly enough. And then all of the sudden the plane was in Minneapolis. I was home.

I collected my bags and walked out the door and I could see Hollis and my brother waiting with their back to me. They later told me that they had been trying to figure out how to surprise me. They were so busy doing that that they didn't realize that I had walked up beside them. It was my turn to surprise them!

And that was my wonderful, amazing trip to Wales. My uncle wrote up a summary of what I did each day, so I will post that later today. And I still have to let all of you guys know how college has been! Good, by the way.

I cannot wait to return to Wales. Perfect company, and awesome adventures. Of course I have to go back!

Finishing up Tenby

I made a pizza! Two, in fact. They would have been perfect if not for a set of issues. One, I am used to garlic cloves, not minced garlic so I had to guess how much went in. Two, the microwaveable measuring cup was not in cups, so I had to try and figure out how much water was needed. At least my aunt had some measuring cups. Every one here uses ounces or grams, not cups.

The third, biggest problem was that me and my aunt could not figure out how to use the oven. Instead of words, like bake, broil, or whatever, that knob only had symbols. We had absolutely no idea what a lightbulb symbol meant, as it did not make an oven light. We guessed at a symbol and guessed wrong. I accidentally broiled my pizza instead of baking it which meant that the top was all cooked but the bottom was a bit doughy. It tasted pretty good though.


By the way, that was in Tenby. I am only a week behind...

We went to this beautiful cathedral called St. Davids that was right next to the ruins of the old Bishops Palace. And what a palace! I never knew that men of God were supposed to have so many worldly possessions and money. Those bishops lived well.

The cathedral was also rather huge. The lighting was not that great for photographs unfortunately but I did take quite a few. Once again, photos will be posted later. And later will be when I am back home in Minneapolis. Tomorrow!!!

Heatherton is like no amusement park that I have gone to or even heard of. It was like summer camp, with lots of activities like archery, shooting, but like an arcade with arcade games and paintball. There was mini golf, baseball, go karts, fishing, this tree adventure thing, and lots of other things. My cousins had a blast. My feet got tired following them race from one thing to the next.

Me and my aunt joined my cousins on one activity, the bumper boats. I got soaked and it looked like I had peed all over the back of my dress. At least it was sunny and I dried pretty quickly.

Another day we went to explore these arches in an island that is right off the shore. At low tide, you can walk all around the island, but at high tide its a proper island. I have never seen so many star fish! They were so cool. I felt like I was looking at the tide pools at the Minnesota Zoo. There were thousands of shells and lots of star fish, and even a big dead dog fish that my cousins picked up and waved around. Uck.

I think that that covers most of my adventures in Tenby.

Except! Ice cream parlour that I said I would talk about! It was too yummy for its own good. They would create ice cream things with wafers and whipped cream and chocolate flakes and other things and it would be a person! Or a train! Or something like that. I stuck to the more basic things, but after getting ice cream there twice I finally told them to put less whipped cream on.

Seriously, they put mountains on the ice cream. Half the time they put more whipped cream then ice cream. Even one time my aunt agreed that there was waaaay too much on her ice cream creation. Super yummy. But I am looking forward to my medium butterscotch dipped cone with the crunch on it when I get home.

The thing is... AGH. Those three words have sprouted into every conversation, every sentence, and it feels like every word. It started with my older cousin using it to explain why it wasn't his fault, or why he could not do something, and then my aunt or I, or my younger cousin would point it out to him that he was saying it for the millionth time. AND THEN. It spread like an epidemic. Now me and my aunt are saying it all the time and I am super self conscious about it. Every time I start a sentence with "The thing is..." I clam up. I was just on the phone and Hollis said it and I almost said "HAH! The thing is!" but I didn't. Thank goodness.

I think that Tenby is now officially summed up. Now lets see if I can get another post out while still in Wales...

I come home tomorrow!!!

Summary Summary of the Summer

Well, not a summary of my whole entire summer, but just this past week. I have already forgotten which day I did which thing, so I will instead speak of all of the events.

We all went to Pembroke Castle for our rainy day. It was gigantic. I really cannot imagine anyone living in it. Its too big! I really appreciate seeing models and diagrams of what the castle might have looked like when it was whole, as I have a hard time trying to fill in all of the open space with walls. The only bad part of the castle were the rooms that had dummies. They were too life like and gave me the shivers. Scary! I am a total wimp with scary things. I kept imagining that they would come to life. Silly, I know.

I went to another castle this week for a Grand Fete. Its basically a town fair that was held in Manorbier Castle. This castle was more then a little run down. And it had dummies in it again! Agh. Muy scary. There were all sorts of stands doing luck games like tombola, pick a number type of thing. The money was for different charities and I played a couple games. All I won were a pair of sheer tights. One, I don't where them. Two, they were not my size which I didn't realize till later when I offered them to my aunt and she pointed out that they were too large for both of us. At least I won something? I think this teaches me never to go gambling.

There have been a few festivals this past week. There was one at the Harbour in Tenby with live music and food and drink. Me, my uncle, and my two cousins went to peep at the festival but ended up going somewhere else to get ice cream. I will soon tell you of my first experience with an ice cream parlour. But I still think that I like Dairy Queen better. Sad, I know.

The second festival had better weather and was fun. It was the Fireman's Parade and fundraiser. There were a few floats but most of the parade was made up of people dressed up to different themes. Some of these little kids were so cute in their little outfit. The people on the floats (back of trucks) did their best to soak the crowd with water guns and buckets. My younger cousin was on my uncle's shoulders to see better and he got soaked.

That also culminated with music and food down at the Harbour. The music played till at least midnight as I could hear it from an open window in the upstairs of the flat. Every place that I have gone and there has been live music (beer tent at Kelmarsh, the Grand Fete, both festivals in Tenby), the same music has played. Maybe a few differences, but not much. Its a bunch of pop/rock hits from the last few decades. Not that I mind, but I find it strange at the lack of musical diversity on the radio and open public.

I assume that there is some underground station that has more variety such as the Current, or at least some sort of music scene somewhere in Wales, but I have yet to see or hear of it. I must say that I am very glad at the lack of hip hop and rap. Sorry guys, but I really dislike hearing it all the time at dances and on the school bus, plus in many of my friends cars and houses.

Hee hee. Complete side note--

I brought wild rice for my aunt and uncle as it is very expensive and hard to get here and of course one of the packages split on the voyage over. Since the first day that I got here and took the wild rice out, I have had bits of wild rice all over my room. I think that I will have gotten it all cleaned up, and then I will find more. I just found some on my bed, and I have been here for over a month.

Okay. Back to Tenby.

Me and my aunt and uncle had a movie night where we watched Hogfather, an adaption of the Terry Prachett novel. I have not read that book, but I have read many of his other books which were introduced to me by my aunt and uncle. When I say that we watched the Hogfather, I should clarify and say that my uncle watched the first half and then turned it off as I had fallen asleep 15 minutes into it and my aunt not long after.

I remember trying to stay awake for as long as I could, but my eyes just kept closing on me! Its like they had heavy weights attached to them and were being dragged down. So a couple nights later we attempted to watch it again. This time I stayed awake the whole time.

I think that I have proved to my uncle that yes, I do need a crazy amount of sleep. The only reason that I have been falling asleep in cars so much and during movies is because I have not been getting enough sleep each night. 8 hours and less are not enough for me. For two or three nights this past week I made sure to not stay up late talking to my aunt and uncle and headed to be bed before 11. I caught up on sleep finally. Too bad I cannot keep that routine up.

Its great that I have so much fun talking to my aunt and uncle, but its not so great how fast the time flies and I realize that its after midnight. I am like the carriage, I will turn into a pumpkin. We tried to have another movie night last night, but I did not last long. But I managed to stay awake long enough to say goodnight and go up to bed instead of falling asleep on the couch.

I think I will save another post for the last few things of the week. My fingers are getting sore. Ha ha.

Hee hee

So ya know how I said that I wouldn't have internet for a week? I caved into internal pressure and bought wifi credit. Anyway, I need to tell you about my awesome adventures that have included some first attempts at body boarding, digging gigantum sandcastles, defending said sandcastle from the tide coming in, and a rainy day trip.

Wonderful day!!!! The train ride to Tenby was uneventful. If it wasn't, I wouldn't know because I was fast asleep for the last 40 min. The weather forecast for the week was dire-- high of 62 and the only spot of sun was on Sunday. Every other day was wet and cloudy. When we arrived it was wet and cloudy. Uck. We had a lovely dinner (I ate too much garlic bread). I also went to bed a bit too late as usual and did not wake up till half past 11 the next morning. I woke up just in time to see the sun shining in.

Yay! It was forecasted to be so icky and it wasn't! I did some morning stuff and then went down to the beach to be greeted by sunny sandy loveliness. A huge sandcastle was waiting for me to put sand towers on. So I spent the rest of the day playing in the water and enjoying the rarely seen sun. I have got a bit of a tan! I have felt super pale lately because I have not felt the rays of sun.

Sunday was spent much the same except I got up early and helped build the sandcastle this time. I even have the blisters to prove it. It wasn't as big as the one from the day before, but it was a lot taller and thicker. That proved handy when the tide came in later and we tried to protect it by shoveling loads of sand. We lost to the sea. Of course.

It was nice and sunny on Sunday but there was a wind that hadn't been there the day before. That made it so much colder that it was less fun playing in the water or even just being on the beach. The evening was finished up with half a pint and fish and chips. We came home early enough to watch a movie and we saw a Knight's Tale. I actual really liked the movie and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.

It was kind of funny to watch after being at a reenactment where everything is very authentic, because I am pretty sure the song 'We will rock you' was not performed before jousts. Another thing that I wanted to mention earlier but forgot, is that I am amazed how adapted I am to the Welsh weather. The first day I arrived I was freezing in the sunshine and wind while wearing a very heavy sweater.. On Saturday I was frolicking in the waves of the sea and running around in just a bikini. I would like to think that that first day must have been loads colder then Saturday, when in fact, it was quite a bit warmer. Us humans are strange, no?

Well, off to play with the internet some more. I better take advantage of my 24 hours.

The Gower

Pictures for Hurry Hurry (except the Gower)

Hurry Hurry

Gah! I am going home so soon! At least, thats how it feels like even though I have two weeks left. But when I am talking about internet access, I only have two days left. Unless I go to an internet cafe in Tenby, I will not have any sort of internet until August 7th, next week Friday. And that will be for one night, as the next day we go to Snowdonia, where there will be no chance of internet.

The day we get back from that I will be frantically packing to get all of my things together as my plane leaves the next day at 6:10 in the morning. Which means that we will have to leave around 3 in the morning to get to the airport on time. I will be exhausted when I get home.

Okay, to finish catching up. Monday was a lot of fun. Not only did the weather cooperate, something to appreciate greatly as I have already learned on this trip, we were able to go as an entire family to St. Faggans, a super cool place. It has a castle that is intact for the most part and some rooms were completely furnished.

There were beautiful gardens that reflect what it would have looked like in the early 1800's (I think). The rest of the extensive grounds had houses from across the centuries that have been moved stone by stone so that they look like what they would have how ever many years before.

There were these strip of terraced (row) houses that had the furnishings of different years about 40 years apart. There was a 1850 house, 1890, 1918, and 1950. And I am only slightly sure that those are the right dates, so give or take 10 years.

There were several churches, stores, and farm houses. It was really fun poking around and getting a glimpse of what life was like back in the day. The only thing that was a replica was a Celtic village. Johnny, it looks just like Asterix's village! That was really cool. It even smelled all smoky and a bit sour. I cannot believe what people could get done, especially when it comes to all of these buildings, without the help of machinery. The giant castles that I have been seeing were all created stone by a time. Crazy.

Tuesday we (me, my aunt, cousins) went to my older cousin's stammer/stutter group and were planning on going to a castle but the weather was icky enough that we did not want to. So we went home with a stop at Starbucks on the way.

Of course, my uncle prodded us to go to the castle so we went anyways later that day and braved the wet and cold. It was super windy. I think that I spent less time at that castle then at any other. Surprise surprise.

I think something else happened, but these days blend a bit together if I do not write them down in time.

Wednesday was a sleep-in day. Super lovely. I slept in till 10, and did not even notice when my younger cousin sneaked into my room (cough cough the study) to play runescape. I love sleeping. Which explains why it is almost 1 in the morning and I am still up.... oops. I watched the boys while my aunt went out in the afternoon, and then my older cousin had a doctors appointment. It was going to be a day where I stayed indoors all day until my uncle came home and whisked me and my younger cousin to the Gower.

I have heard loads about the Gower, mostly people telling me to go there and that there are few beaches across the world that are better. Remember the woman I met in the cafe in Swansea? She waxed about the beauty of the Gower and said that in all of her wordly travels she has not seen anything so beautiful. It was pretty amazing.

The sun was on the process of its descent and the tide was out. I have some really good photos as well as some really bad ones, but those are going to have to wait. If I have some time tomorrow before we go on the train, I will try to post them. Walking down to the beach involved a nice walk down a huge hill/cliff. The beach that we were on was not the beach beach that was all nice and sandy. We were at the part that was all seashells and rock. Beautiful. My trigger finger agreed and I took a little over 150 pictures. Hee hee. I have edited down a bit though, so do not worry.

We stayed at the Gower for 3 and a half hours, late enough that it was eat quick and straight to bed for my cousin. At least we had a pasty (better then the ones in the UP. Hah.) to tide us over. Yum yum meat and potatoes. And its po-tay-toes, not po-tah-toes. Grr. All of these people talk funny. They say garage silly-ly. Like saying garbage without the b. Of course, I sound even more strange.

Thursday (today! I have caught up!) was nice, if a bit stressful. I think the boys have been indoors a bit to much lately, not that the weather has allowed for outdoor activities, and so they were very very very wound up. I am so glad that I have only one brother and not two. We went to the stammer group again and this time played cards while we waited for the group to be over. Old maid, crazy 8's, and snap were all taught to me. I reminded my Aunt how to play rummy 500, and I taught them Ethan's Magical Conquest game, otherwise known as Egyptian rat slap.

We then went to another castle, Laugharne, pronounced "Larn". See! Funny pronunciations. I got to see Dylan Thomas's boathouse and have a cream tea. Yum.

This evening I was able to go back to the house that we had the barbecue at a while ago and take photos of the garden. Hahaha. Another 127 photos. But I already edited it down to 67! And then we came back to get ready to pack. Eek! Its late. Gotta go to bed. Well, post again maybe tomorrow, but most likely next week. I will make rough drafts so I do not forget what happened though.

Adios!

Kelmarsh Photos Plus Castle we saw on the way there

Swansea Photos

Cardiff Pictures

Caving Pictures!

From the second day that I was here--

Kelmarsh!

Super Super SUPER fun weekend. We (my aunt, uncle, cousins, and my uncle's friend previously mentioned and me) drove the what should have been 4 hours to Northhampton in two cars that were filled to the brim with camping supplies and authentic dress. I looked super cute as a 17th century boy.

Why the ride was not 4 hours was because two sections of the freeway were closed and we had to take back ways. That would have been fine if not for the fact that every else seemed to pick that way to go as well. We were stuck in a traffic jam for over an hour while we covered only 3 miles. Grr.

I was in the car with my Uncle and my younger cousin at that point, (me and my uncle's friends had switched cars so each of the kids and adults could have the pleasure of our company. I wasn't much company cause I slept through most of the ride), and had a fun time singing with them. My cousin sang in Welsh for me. He is ridiculously adorable! And he hates it when I say that. I learned a new song. One man went to mow, went to mow a meadow. One man and his dog--woof-- went to mow a meadow. Two men went to mow, went to mow a meadow. Two men one men and his dog --woof-- went to mow a meadow. And so on and so forth. Lots of fun.

For most of the ride, or at least the bits that I was awake for, it seemed like we were chasing the rain. We kept driving through puddles of water that littered the motorway. It never rained on us till the end, but we were able to see a double rainbow which was really cool. I have not seen one in ages, and my cousin had never seen one.

When we arrived it was cold and wet. We sent up the tents without too much trouble, a big one for my aunt and uncle plus the kids, one for me, and one for my uncle's friend. The friend is pretty tall, like 6"4' ish, and he barely fitted in his tent. I had problems getting into mine and would always trip and lunge my way in. That night was cold! I was able to meet some of the rest of the people in the group which was nice.

I just realized that I never mentioned what Kelmarsh was. Its a hall, huge manor place, and on its land a huge history event takes place every year. Its a big reenactment from different periods, with tents set up to show what life was like in so and so period, battles like those of the Romans and World War II, and lots of other things. Shops as well. Its like a very authentic Renaissance festival. I managed to refrain from buying much, thank goodness.

I was in the civil war section (English civil war, not American) and had loads of fun quickly learning all I needed to know for the battle that was take place on Saturday. I really liked meeting some more people, even though most were not near to me in age. One guy had just turned 21, but everyone else was in their late 30's and beyond.

Saturday was a beautiful day. A day where you could actually get sunburned, surprisingly enough. Of course, this was in the warm midlands where it stays semi dry, unlike west Wales. Drill was in the morning with the actual battle at 1. I had some time to wander a bit and soak up the sun.

The actual battle was fun, if really loud from all of the cannons and muskets going off. The pike men and cavalry also were quite loud as they yelled while attacking. I really had no idea what was going on, but that was okay. I just followed orders and did my job. We lost the battle both days, which is silly cause the Parliaments won in the end and it was silly for the Royalists to win both battles if they lost overall. Usually we lose the first day and win the second.

Campfires are not allowed this year on the campsite. No one enjoyed this new piece of legislation. When it gets all nice and cold at 10, 11 at night, people want a campfire to gather around. To make due, there was a grill that was filled with little candles. Not much light or warmth though. Luckily wearing lots of layers of wool clothing came in handy, even though I was sweltering on Saturday when it was so warm.

Sunday was a lot colder and there were some small rain showers. More wandering about, and I watched the boys as well. I felt terrible because I was constantly yelling at them. "No, do not touch the daggers" "Put that DOWN!" "Stop hanging on the tent ropes, it will collapse" "Stop wandering off!" "Wait for us" "Be Careful" "No, you can't buy that"

It was a good thing that I did not have the boy's money with me or they would have made a lot of impulse buys. The older boy is better with that, but my younger cousin wanted everything in sight. They both had to wait to buy things until my uncle went on a round with them as he held all of the money. One of the daggers, which was really just a miniature model of a sword, that my younger cousin kept touching, was actually bought in the end. Since then I have been frequently threatened by either cousin with it. Its so dull, that even if it was sharpened 800 million times it would not be a real threat. Thats good because coordination of children that age is never very good. I am talking from personal experience.

We ended up going home on Sunday instead of Monday because of some terrible rain that was on the way. Wet tents are no fun, so we packed up just in time, because it started to drizzle which later turned into a fairly heavy downpour. Fish and chips for dinner. I have never had fish and chips like those before, and I am not sure that that is a good thing. It tasted funny. And they gave huge portions of chips (french fries). 4 days later and we have just finished them after eating them at what seemed like every meal.

So Kelmarsh was a big success. I cannot wait till I come back again and hopefully attend another muster.

Swansea and the Sea

My uncle took me to Swansea with him on the way to work last Thursday. I saw the sea!! I ran down to the beach, passing through sand dunes covered in plants, some of which I have never seen. I had fun taking pictures (of course). Dad, I am becoming worse then you! I have already taken over 600 pictures and I have only been here for 6 weeks. I better start editing down...

Of course, as soon as I crossed the beach and ran to the water, it started to rain. Grr. So I ran back to where my shoes and bag were and scrambled through the dunes barefoot since my feet were covered in sand. The rain kept pouring down and I was doing my best to not step on brambles. I finally made it to the cement and the rain kept coming down. I walked back towards the National Waterfront Museum and found a place at the dock to put my socks and shoes back on. Now it was all sunny and it looked like it had never rained. Oh, Welsh weather.

I stopped at this little cafe and had some lovely tea and a welsh cake, the most yummy things ever. It started to downpour just as I was considering to leave. Another woman was about to leave as well but she said that she might as well wait till the rain stopped. I started to talk to her about the weather and traveling and all the places that I have so far seen. She was very friendly and well traveled. I wish by the time that I am her age (about 60) that I will be as much of a world explorer.

It stopped raining (again) and I went to the museum. It was the coolest place ever!!!!!!!!!
I am not used to museums being that fun. Everything was in Welsh and English and most of the interactive activities also had sign language. Apparently there is braille as well, but I didn't see it. The displays were objects with placards, but on the side were videos showing the use of the objects in every day life.

I saw the importance of music in Welsh history, as well as how jazz appeared in Wales. I heard a first hand account of what life was like in the late 19th century, jobs that children could have, and what the docks were like. I spent over 2 hours there and then went downstairs to a cafe and curled up on a big comfy chair and read a book while listening to my ipod until my Aunt came to get me.

I never made it into the city center, but I am okay with that. I am pretty sure that I am done with my present buying. Dad, I cannot figure out what to get you!!! AGH.

My aunt then took me and the kids to the Egypt center at Swansea University to explore a bit. Afterwards we went to the park next door and planned on going on those boat thingys that you move by pedaling. Of course, it was closed. So we did mini golf instead with me taking score and my aunt and cousins playing. My aunt won by a landslide. Afterwards we played at the playground which was a lot of fun. I went on a few too many spinning rides with the boys until even just swinging on a swing made me feel nauseous. Ick.

That night we had some super yummy currry at the local Indian restaurant. One of my uncle's friends joined us. He had just come back from Japan for a visit. It was nice having more people to talk to. I really love curry. Mom, you should make more. And I am bringing some Balti home for you.

Friday we left to Kelmarsh. But I will save that for another post, hopefully done by tonight.

Gerflankel.

My trip has been going on long enough that I feel like I am completely assimilated. And then things happen that remind me that I am just a newbie. I went to Cardiff today and had a bit of a shopping spree and a huge exploration. It was lonely though. I had such fun looking at everything, but it was not much fun doing it alone. I was fine doing the shopping bit, (Hollis I found you a present), but walking around, having lunch, getting a castle tour lacked something without having a companion.

It was on the way back that I had some issue. I managed to go to a different train station that I got off on, and was very, very confused. The place I needed to go to, Taff's Well, was not on the list of stations. Like the way the lightrail says "Mall of America" in one direction and "Downtown" in the other, but does not have the stations in between. Of course, you can just look on the map, but the Cardiff Central station had several lines, and I saw 7 platforms, but I think that there were more.

I made it to the right place in the end thanks to the help of some random people and train workers. It helps to ask. I always feel so in control when it comes to directions. I love reading maps and do not mind getting lost. For awhile I was actually trying to get lost in south Minneapolis so that way I could find my way around.

Thats why I was not prepared to the terror I felt when I realized that I did not know where to go. I have no cell phone, no real knowledge of the area other then a map, and no one to share my fear or to help me. Its things like that that shake up my confidence in myself. Makes me feel more like a tourist.

Other then shopping, I went to Cardiff Castell (castle), which was lovely. I paid extra for a guided tour (my uncle recommended it) and I am really glad that I did it. Through the tour I was able to see a lot of rooms that no one else could see. They were all lavishly set up and one room was worth a huge amount (I cannot remember how much) because the ceiling was made of Welsh gold and lots of expensive marble. I have loads of pictures and will make a separate post with them.

Feeling a bit tired, so I will finish this post later.

Water Park!!! And schooling

On Sunday I went to the LC2 in Swansea with my two cousins and my aunt. The place was awesome. Three different slides, a wave pool, a current pool, a hot tub, some regular pools, a kiddie pool, and a couple other things. So much fun. We spent two hours there enjoying the water. It was my first water park. I promised Hollis that I would go to the Water Park at MOA with him. I am looking forward to doing that when I get home.

I have gone two days without taking a nap! Amazing. On Monday, I went to the Waterfowl Wildlife Centre and had a wonderful time seeing lots of very tame animals. I took waaaaaaaay too many fowl pictures.

I do not know which picture is my favorite. But here are a couple that I liked. Which do you like?

The weather was actually pretty good which made me happy. Out of the 14 days I have been here, it has not rained for 5 of them.



This one reminds me of some sort of ornament. I felt inclined to poke it but I refrained from doing so.


Yesterday I also got to go to a 6th form college-- basically 12th and 13th grade. You have to pass a test to get into a college and then you need to take another set of tests, A Levels, to get into a University. So you can finish school after 11th grade, 13th grade, or after university. Also, by the time you get to college you are already very focused on your subject. If you want to be an English major, you take almost only English classes. And its like impossible to switch focuses or to have a double major or any of that sort of thing.

The students take so many tests that its ridiculous. I was talking to one girl who took 18 in one year, while her friend took 24. I thought we were tested a lot, but apparently not.

It had a nice campus and was pretty big. It has the same amount of students of South but much more space. Of course, most of their classes only have 5 to 25 students in them. I am jealous.

Apparently my uncle's friend who was showing me around liked me. I got invited back to his house to have lunch and meet his family. That was really nice. Their two sons were adorable, and the older one was surprisingly good at piano for his age. The younger one was ridiculously adorable. He got married three times while I was having lunch. First was to this figurine, then to a toy spider, and then to a wall. Soooo adorable.

I watched Fierce Creatures last night with my aunt. I think that that was my favorite out of A Fish Named Wanda and Clockwise.

I have to go. I am babysitting the boys and we are going on a run. Wish me luck!

Castle Pictures

I have quite a few more pictures, but this might be enough for now. Haha. I am a bit trigger happy when it comes to cameras.

Friday Fun (but not the fun house) and a super Saturday

My aunt went to help at my younger cousin's school, so I got to babysit him. We had fun playing connect four, jenga, the card game war, and a few other things. And I got to watch Scooby-Doo. I felt lucky. Again, the problem of not writing things right away leads me to forget right away.

After making a few inquiries with my aunt, I have learned that I have forgotten nothing. Friday was a lazy day where I got to sleep in and read. I mentioned a few posts ago that I am sick. I am finally recuperating, and Friday helped a lot. It stopped raining in the evening long enough for me, my uncle and my older uncle to go on a walk before dinner. It was very fun. My uncle led us to the town cementary and we spent a fair amount of time wandering around and looking for his ancestors graves.

Each gravestone had several names on it and I wondered how there could possibly be enough room for every one listed. The headstones were spaced apart just enough to let one coffin barely fit, and no way could three or four even consider fitting. I asked my uncle to explain this and promptly wished that I hadn't. I am used to Lakewood, a cementary with so much space. The UK on the other hand is very pressed for space, and with some gravestones from the 1800's, the people did not want to waste space like we do.

The graves have not one coffin in them, but rather three or four stacked on top of each other. As each new person was added to the gravestone, the grave was dug up and a new coffin was placed on top. My uncle said that thats why most cementaries are raised above the road because there are so many bodies in them. The ground is full of the deceased. EWWW. I think that I rather prefer our method.

On the way back my uncle teased that me and my cousin were going very slowly. To make some sort of point I decided to run the rest of the way home. I got my cousin to join in and he did quite well considering that he is not very active. Even though we were running, my uncle almost beat us to the house because he took a short cut that I was unaware of. Not fair. My cousin and I have decided to start running which is good for both of us. Its so rainy most of the time that one does not feel like going for an invigorating run. Lets see how this plays out.

Saturday was extremely busy. In the morning was puppet practice. I had no idea exactly what this meant before I went to the practice. The people in the group, mostly kids, use muppets to tell a story that is prerecorded. Kind of like lip synching, but so much cooler. They gave me a little performance at the end and it was awesome. There was one girl that was able to manipulate the puppet brilliantly. It seemed like the puppet really was talking and dancing around. I wish I was here to see a performance, but that is not till the New Year.

The church that my aunt goes to is very old by my standards as it is over 150 years old. As it is so old, it is also very cold in the morning. The walls are so thick and built with stone that it takes forever to warm up. The ceiling is very high up which I think contributes to the cold.

My uncle then picked me and my older cousin up while my aunt and my younger cousin went to gymnastics. Us older ones (excluding my aunt) went for a great bike ride. As the path we went on is along the coast, the headwind we experienced was severe. I was looking forward to the ride back when we went with it instead of against it.

What I was not expecting was that on the way back there would be a huge sponsored bike ride. Oh, excuse me, cycle ride. Haha. People were dressed in the most ridiculous costumes. There were a group of guys in only togas and thongs. How I know that one of the guys was wearing only a red thong between him and his bike seat is not something that I wish to recall. Basically, I did not need to see that much of a rather hairy rear end.

The big problem with this sponsored ride is that they were completely taking up the path. Excuse me's went no where. I quickly got separated from my cousin and uncle. I was stuck for a long time behind this large group of people who would not let my pass. I couldn't go on the grass either because the sides were hills and I am not that confident with my biking skills. Finally I saw an opportunity to pass and said politely, "On your left" as I am accustomed to doing at home. While I managed to fit through, I was yelled at and mocked. Really, is that necessary? Cries of "On your right, On your right" and gales of mean laughter followed me as I tried to catch up to my cousin and uncle. GRR.

I finally found my cousin who had assumed that I was ahead of him. We stuck together, and it was a very, very long time until we caught up to my uncle. At least the way was mostly straight forward so we did not have to worry much about getting lost. By the time we got home I was very sore. I am used to my very comfy seat. This was a less then comfy seat that left me chafed and aching. Ouch.

We made it home in time to go back to church, this time for a leaving service for one of their ministers/preachers. It was a nice service, but the cookies (biscuits) and tea afterward was even nicer. I was able to meet a lot of my aunt's friends which was really nice. We got home where I went straight to bed. I had a nice 45 minute nap only to get ready to leave again. We went to a barbecue at a friend's house.

The father is a gardener?landscaper? well something to do with plants, and he had an amazing yard. Most of it was filled with plants that he uses in his job, but it was all layed out so well. Dad, you would have been very jealous. There was a greenhouse, a gazebo, and an open area in addition to a beautiful garden.

The food that followed a wonderful conversation was incredible. YUM. I have yet to have had a not so good meal since I have arrived. I am lucky in knowing people that cook so well. I am proud to say that the meat only got grilled because of my fire efforts. I built the fire up from its smoking smoldering origins and brought it to lovely coals. I love fire.


We had homemade hamburgers and homemade sausages. I am usually not a huge fan of sausages but these were a delight to eat, if a bit hot. But that was my fault for not waiting for it to cool down. There were all sorts of veggies and other miscellaneous appetizer type food to complete the meal. My stomach is still happy.

We all were having such a fun time that we did not get back home till almost midnight. The boys had been behaving themselves very well even though it was way past their bedtime. They get along very well with the son of the people whose house we were at. Today though the boys were a bit cranky and short with patience from their lack of sleep.

My younger cousin has a habit (one that I do not mind) of coming in the study (also known as my bedroom) at some early hours of the morning and playing runescape online. He does his best to be quiet, and I go back to sleep easily. He comes in, I wake up, attempt to make some form of a hello but only manage a grunt, fall back to sleep, and then wake every once in awhile if he makes some noise. We have this system down.

Well, this is getting long, its late for me, and I am almost caught up. I think that I am allowed to finish catching up tomorrow. I will post those pictures tonight hopefully.

A catch up

The problem with not writing a post every night, or at least the day after, is that I quickly forget what has happened. Wednesday... hmmm.....

I have no recollection what we did in the morning. I think we went to Swansea for something, but for what I cannot recall. BUT! I did get to see Harry Potter with my older cousin while the younger went to Ice Age 3 with my aunt. I loved every minute of it.

Of course, me not being able to tolerate the slightest scary bit, means that I am ashamed to tell you that I screamed loud enough to crack the walls. Or at least, thats what it felt like. It was the part, well, you know, that one part. I would say, but for y'all who haven't seen it yet, I won't spoil it for you. I did get quite a few pointed stares when I screamed.

Even the movie theaters have some differences. All of the good seats, the ones a few rows up and in the center, are "reserved". These seats have headrests and have more leg room in addition to being in a good viewing area. To get one of these seats, you have to pay a lot extra. And the prices were already as high, if not higher then the prices at home. And the volume is up so high!!!! I thought that the theaters at home were loud, but this blasted my ears.

I remember what I did on Wednesday! I went with my aunt to the University of Swansea and went to the library. It was interesting, but not very pretty. A part of it was gorgeous, the Abbey. I wish that I had taken a photo of it but I didn't. The roof was beautiful, the brick was rich with color, and their were miniature towers (at least to my eye).

Thursday was my younger cousin's last day of school. I went to a town library with my aunt and spent a few hours there. Only 3 people came in during the whole time I was there. Afterward we went back to town and attempted to do a bit more shopping. Even though it is rather cold here, there were no sweaters for sale!! I need something light, something that I could zip or button up. The one thing I found was 20 pounds, about 37 dollars. Not going to pay that much!

So we went and got some things that my aunt needed, and then..... got my cartilage pierced!

I have been wanting to do it for ages, but I had to wait till cross country was over, and then wait until rugby was over, and then I didn't want to do it at the same time that I got a tattoo, because that would be more unnecessary pain on one side of my body then I needed. I pierced the left side, which is the side that previously only had one piercing, as the right has two. Now my piercings are mostly even.

Thursday was a busy day. I went to my first castle. It was lovely. I will have a separate post just of pictures, since I have so many beautiful ones.

In a 24 hour period this week (I think it was Thursday to Friday) we had over 3 and a half inches of rain. Looks like I brought lovely weather to Wales! I think that it has rained every single day here for at least an hour since I have arrived. One gets used to it.

Tuesday Adventures

Sorry for the delay! I wanted to wait to post until I put my pictures on the computer so I could include them in the post. I will just add them in later. I do that often, so make sure to check earlier posts to see if I put in new pictures.

Tuesday gave me my first posse. I went along with my Aunt to my younger cousin's field trip to Pembrey Country Park. Its right on the coast, so I was able to finally see the sea up close. Even though it was very sunny on the beach, two sweaters were necessary. The wind was so strong that the people flying kites had absolutely no problem. I am glad that my hair was up in a bun, otherwise I would have had to cut out all of the knots.



I was able to see my first jelly fish. I accidentally stepped on one and it was all squishy. There were many shells of all different shapes, sizes and colors. And there were these cool seaweeds that had a bunch of bubbly parts to them. One boy found a flag that had washed up onto shore that had so much seaweed or some other green thing growing all over it.



We next went to see the sand dunes and were taught about the effects of introducing foreign plants. The sand dunes have been taken over by sea buckthorn. I thought that amusing because I know that a lot of our forests are being taken over by buckthorn as well. When will people learn? Just like the rabbits in Australia.

The park had lots of open fields and a big playground. I have been so tired lately that I have been taking naps whenever I have the opportunity. I fell asleep in a far off grassy corner of the playground. I was so tired that I fell asleep right away to the lullaby of screaming excited children, and I did not even realize that I had about 6 girls sitting around me.

These girls are the aforementioned posse. They were all Year 4, and were calling me "Erika from America". The way that they say it has a nice ring to it, I must say. Well they all crowded around me and squabbled about who got to hold my hand, who could wrap their arms around me, who could sit next to me or on my lap and so on. It was very funny if a bit tiring. By the last two hours, (we were there about 5 and a half) I constantly had at least two girls firmly attached to me.

At least it was a nice and sunny day for the most part. It rained a couple times, but we either went under trees, or went to the inside area. We got ice cream, and I got a coffee as well. I watched the kids play cricket, a sport that I still do not understand. We took a coach ride back with a girl on either side of me.

I had loads of fun. Pictures later!