what the future brings

Currently I am in Charlotte, NC for my first week of break. In total I have 5 weeks of break. Thursday I will be flying to Athens, Greece to arrive Friday around noon. Then on Monday, the 30th, a group of 11 of us leave on a Greek Island cruise. We arrive the same day in Mykonos, then its off to Kusadasi, Turkey and Patmos, Greece. The next day we are at Rhodes. Then Thursday in the morning we are in Crete and in the evening Santorini. Then its back to Athens, where we are staying an extra night before flying to Paris. We are in Paris for three days then are taking a train to a city, undecided as of yet, in Switzerland for two days. Then Munich for two days, Prague for two days, Vienna for one, Venice for one, Rome for three with a partial day trip to Napoli/Pompeii, then Florence for one. Finally to fly home to Swansea, Milan to Bristol on April 20. Then its back to school unitl May 8. I'll let you know how each city goes!

Daffodils bloom

Ok, so its been over a month. My apologies to everyone. I some how just let the blog posting slip my mind, but I'm going to try to be better about it!

So, where I left off. After Valentine's weekend. The following Monday I went to CU, Christian Union, and we set up our first Bible study for that week. The meeting went great and we were able to really establish a great group. That weekend I started to get sick, I had a terrible sore throat and a fever. I did go down to the Mumbles and explore with my two new friends from Bible study, Hannah and Kathleen.

Hannah and Kathleen both happen to be from North Carolina, and both of their dad's went to NC State. Both girls also happen to live with in 40 minutes from my Charlotte home. Hannah goes to Columbia College in South Carolina and Kathleen goes to UNC Wilmington. We have all become really close and are excited to also spend the summer together as well!

Since that weekend, every Sunday I have been going to church at Parklands with those two girls and some other American girls as well. After church we attend the student lunch where I have met and made lots of new Welsh Christian friends, which has been great. After lunch the 5 of us girls head over to a lady of the church's house named Ms. Faye. (her first name is Faye, but to be polite we call her Ms. Faye). One of the American girls is living with her for the semester. Then we hang out and she makes us dinner. Following that we all watch together Dancing on Ice and Wild at Heart. Brilliant shows, its loads of fun.

I went to London just two weeks ago for a few days with Hannah. We went and saw all the sights in less than 48 hours, it was a tight squeeze of events. We made friends with some guys from Philadephia at the Buckingham Palace and all went out to eat together, for some pizza. Oh, how American. :D They were really cool and of course we are now all friends on facebook. We stayed in a nice little hostel in Bayswater where we met some guys from South Africa that were really cool too. Hostels are really neat experiences. Of course, however, the high light of the trip was stumbling upon the end of a movie premiere and watching Reese Witherspoon and Keifer Sutherland walk to their cars. Now that was neat. Then we had some amazing ice cream and made friends with some paps, and their going to keep us informed of all the cool celebs coming in April so we can go see them too!

The weekend immediately following our adventure to London, Hannah and I joined our church for a weekend away. We went up to Pembrokeshire (I think...) and stayed at Long Barn, which is an old barn turned place for youth groups and such to stay. We had a great time! Saturday was a grand photo scavenger hunt, and of course, Hannah and I proved the competitiveness of Americans and our team won! It was so fun! Then Sunday morning before we left we were able to see a baby lamb be born, that was awesome! And she had two babies just before that and the farmer needed help to move them to another pen, so we each got to carry one, and yes they were slimey and gross, but still so cute!

Then we have caught up to St. Patrick's Day. Which I spent in London with my friend, Nonie, who is studying there. She and I were roommates at dance camp two years ago. That was a long day though, I in the morning had to turn in an essay and then take a 3 hour train to London only to get on an hour tube ride! So, needless to say all we did was get dinner then just relax. I left then at 6am to go to the Gatwick airport. I then flew back home, to Charlotte, NC. I arrived Wednesday around 4pm. And I have been here since. Home has been a really nice place to be. Nice and relaxing and great to see everyone and my pets!

Okay so... Daffodils. Just in case you were wondering about the title. The flower of Wales is the daffodil and people literally wear pins of them on their shirts all the time. Right now in Wales they are in full bloom and are beautiful. They are everywhere, everytime you see green you pretty much see yellow with it! It's so lovely.

Get back to you soon!

City of... Bicycles

So, last weekend I went to Amsterdam with about 80 other Americans. It was absolutely incredible. We left Thursday evening around 5:30 via coach and ferry, and we didn't arrive until 9:30 am Friday morning (8:30 am British time). We watched Under Siege, which is actually a very entertaining movie. We weren't able to move into our rooms until after 2pm, so we were able to store all of our stuff into a room the hostel has. So, a bunch of us decided to go ahead and change in the restroom before going out. The people that I was planning on hanging out with ended up being in the second hostel, so I just joined another group where I really only knew these two guys. So, we all went to breakfast at this place called the Pancake Corner. It was lush, I had the Dutch specialty of Pofferjes, they are like tiny pancakes with powdered sugar. It started to snow at that point. And, we had to decide what we wanted to do for the next 3 hours that didn't include being outside. Most of the people wanted to go to the Anne Frank House, but for the price it didn't really peak my interest, so these two girls and I decided to go to the Van Gough museum. It was awesome, sadly though they had the Starry Night and blue phase in a special section that was not very obviously advertized, so we missed that. However, it will be flown back to New York soon, so it will be on my to see list. Then after the museum we explored briefly and then headed back to the hostel to move our stuff back in. After that it was right back out to walk around and see the city. We just walked the streets. The funny thing about Amsterdam is that each street pretty much is all one type of shop, for instance, we found antique shops and the whole street was full of it with all different focuses, like clocks versus tiles. It was really cool, I bought a swan figurine for ,50 euro. Which most of the places were around 700 euro for a tiny tea pot, granted it was from the 18th century. Then we went into the best priced souvenir shop, and the lady was talking to us and her son is currently a student teacher in Indiana. Which was cool because the girl I was with is from Illinois. And, this lady made all her own chocolates, but at this point we had to pass, but promised to come back Saturday. Then we found the largest floating flower shop, oh my, the flowers were gorgeous. We also, decided to go into a Cathedral. She had never been in one, and I wish it allowed photos, because it was exquisite. It was full of color and had 3 story high ceilings. It had beautiful stain glass windows and paintings on the walls. We each bought and lit a candle for someone we knew that had died. I lit mine for Grandma Daisy. Then we were going to meet up with some other people for dinner, but they didn't know where it was that we were telling them to meet. So, we just ended up going to this Italian Ristorante and had mushroom pizza, it was super tasty. Then after that we met up with two guys that came on the trip that are German, but also attend uni with us. And, we pub hopped our way to the middle of the town where the red light district was. We just briefly walked through it, just to see what it was. The funniest thing was that the canal in the middle of it there were swans just swimming around, they were absolutely beautiful. Then we made our way back to the hostel. I originally didn't want to go to Amsterdam because I was afraid of all the drugs since they were legal. And, well, people can't legally do them on the street they have to do them in a 'coffee shop', so it was extremely easy to avoid. The pubs/bars are not allowed to serve or let people do drugs in them and the coffee shops don't allow alcohol. So, I suppose since they regulate it its safer, I'm not sure. But, I was able to avoid people trying to sell stuff to me. There were plenty of people who did decide to try stuff. This girl and guy friend of mine tried for the first time a hash brownie, and since the marijuana is so much more pure there, it really ruined their night. They were in bed by 7:30, and it caused them to be ultra paranoid and the girl had an anxiety attack. Well, the girl they were with was staying in my room and she didn't do any of it and decided to babysit them in our 7 people room, which then meant 9 people in the room. So, turns out see felt like it was only fair to ask to share my bed with me, so needless to say I didn't get any sleep that night, and people decided to wake up at 7:30 am. But, Saturday was great and made up for it. First thing we did was rent bicycles and go to breakfast. Where I had a banana pancake with cinnamon. YUM! Then we biked from the west to the east, we were going to go to the zoo, but when we arrived we realized it was wayyy to expensive. So, we just rode around, which it was so nice rather than snowy like the day before. I had to, however, by a hat and gloves because it was a bit too nippy for anything but that. We also had the best hot chocolate at one place, and the night before I also had a chocolate mousse cake and before that a chocolate non-american style doughnut. They had the best desserts! Then that night I met up with all the other girls that I planned a secret Valentine's dinner with. There were 19 of us. We all met up and switched our gifts for our Valentine then went to another Italian ristorante. I had wanted to get Greek, but some of the girls had never had it and were afraid. So, currently remembering this I am now craving some Greek food. Anyways, then afterwards we all just sat in this Irish pub for pretty much the rest of the night. Later around 2am, a group of us decided to get pancakes from the Pancake Corner. Which then I banged my knee into a cement post, what happened is there was a huge group of people we were avoiding running into and had to move over, but in order to not walk on the streets had to weave in and out of these posts, well the two people I was behind quickly at the last second moved to avoid it and I didn't even see it at that point and BANG! So, that was discomforting. Then the next morning we ate breakfast at the hostel and made our way one last time on our bikes, we went and saw the windmill and came back, we only had an hour and a half. It was a lovely time. So, bicycles are the main way of transportation in Amsterdam, they have special bike lanes and lights. Also, it is so safe that no one wears helmets. And bikers have the right away even to pedestrians. They also have trams that run like buses, reminded me slightly of San Francisco. The canals are what separate every block and it is just beautifully set up. And, the architecture was so neat, between all the different houses and such. Oh, and they had public urinals, so weird. But, I guess to keep it clean. Also, bikes are locked without a rack, I mean they have them, but what they do is lock the back tire and the front, so then no one will be able to ride off with it. And, since no one really has cars they can't steal them that way. It was really cool. Anyways all in all it was an amazing city. And I recommend it to anyone. The bus ride home seemed to take forever, I was in and out of sleep. And, knit most of the time I was awake, I'm almost finished with my scarf. We also watched a whole season of Montarage (spelling?). It was interesting. Anyways I was put in charge of convincing the bus driver of dropping us off at the place where we all live, the guy in charge tried and the driver wouldn't listen to him, so he told me to try. I'm not really sure how it worked, but I luckily was able to convince him, the other bus wasn't so lucky they all had to get taxis or walk 2 miles back. So, school came back fast, I had most of my lectures on Monday, and then went to the CU (Christian Union) that night. Then today I woke up and ran with my friend Molly. And, tonight we are going to have a Bible study in Woody's, the local pub, I know the managers and they are going to let us in before hours, so we have a quiet, clean place to meet. Then after that I might go to this speed dating event which is entirely for charity. My friend and I were going to make up fake names and tell funny stories the whole time. Should be a blast. Anyways that's about it for now!

Bitter Sweet

It's been a while since I've updated, I'm going to try to update more often. The weekend after my birthday I came down with an awful cold, running a fever and everything. Every American seemed to get sick, some are still starting to get sick. I suppose we just aren't familiar with the germs over here. I'm finally getting over the toll of the sickness, just still have the sniffles. Then on Monday last week it started our week of snow. Classes were cancelled Tuesday through Thursday due to around 3-4 inches of snow. On Tuesday we had a massive snow fight in the student village, there were 100s of people running around throwing snow. But, once that was over we were all over the snow. Yesterday was the first day it didn't snow, but it rained. Which we were very thankful for. Last weekend was a very relaxing one, more of just rest and hanging out. On Saturday 7 of us ventured to town to Indian food and the cinema. We saw He's Just Not That Into You, which I must say is one of the best movies I've seen in a while. It was fantastic. Next on our list is Bride Wars and Seven Pounds. Sunday my friend Leslie came over and we had pancakes and just hung out talking, then later I made shortbread cookie cake (cuz there's no where sanitary to roll out cookie dough) and it was lush. I made that with Courtney. Monday I had lectures, 1 one hour World History - we learned about the Reformation of the churches; then an hour break, then one time only seminar class for World History where we read a part of Luther's Appeal to the Princes. Then off to my favorite class, Intro to Dante's World. Which is two hours long. So, that was a very long day. Not to mention the fact that I ran to lectures that morning at 8:20, it's 2.25 miles. Then a bunch of us met to discuss the cruise that we are planning on going to for spring break. It leaves out of Athens on March 30, and is only 4 nights, and has two stops in one day sometimes, its just of the Greek Islands and Ephesis, so it should be amazing! The rest of the trip hasn't been planned out quite yet, but it is 4 weeks long and the cruise is the second week. I also made chicken pot pie (which Tam loved) which is going to last me until Thursday when we leave to go to Amsterdam for the weekend! A bunch of us girls, 19 to be exact, are going to have a dinner on Saturday (Valentine's day) and we drew names and are having secret Valentine's just to make things a bit more fun! We also plan to see the Van Gough museam and Ann Frank's house. It should be a great trip! Today I'm going to do my pilates work out and then head to town with Julie and Bethany and we're going to find some bleach and highlight my hair because the roots are awful, and we're going to create our own scattegories so that way we don't have to buy one! Should be tons of fun!

Wow, Sorry I'm behind!

Mmmm this past week has been busy!!!! We finished up the last week of lectures for the American students only, and today started our courses. Here's a quick run through up til now. Last Monday was mainly just classes and going out to town. I make American pancakes and the girls I live with thought they were just lush, they had never had them before, their version of pancakes is the rest of the world's version of crepes. Which I also made this week. Tuesday was just a day of exhaustion, I could have attended an inaguration party and been on the news here, but I was absolutely knackered. So, I just took a really long nap instead then played some pool. Then Wednesday I was supposed to go to the boys' rugby game, but it was rained out, so a bunch of us, Americans, went to town, Jori and I went clothes shopping and then to Tesco. Then I made some brownies, which I'm going to make a different kind in just a bit. Then we went out to town again that night, but this time I left a little early with some friends and we signed up at this casino which gives you 5 pounds free for signing up, so we just gambled that and then left when it was gone, it was fun. Thursday was yet another day of relaxation, there was supposed to be karaoke at the pub, but it was cancelled since people were still in exams. So, next week. Anyways so my roommate and I decided to just watch a movie, then the other two girls joined us. We watched She's the Man. Friday night I couldn't be asked to want to stay out late, so I got ready to go out, but everything was so crowded that I didnt even stay to go in, I just came back with another friend who didn't want to wait either. I also decided to wash my clothes that day, quite the fun time, I washed them in the bath tub after cleaning the bath tub, cuz the machines are worthless and expensive, then I went to bring them down to the dryer just to pay for the heat not even to turn off, so just an hour of rolling my clothes, so I had to put them up in the boiler room, which is now going to be my standard way of washing clothes, hand wash and hang dry. Saturday we went on a field trip to the lovely city of bath. Oh, it was so fun. We were able to see these natural hot spring baths that are ages old. Then we walked around town, had a Sally Lunn bun, which is a famous place apparently. Then we went to this area where there are really nice homes called the Circus and Royal Crescent. Also, every building there matched, a white stone look, its so pretty. Then we played putt putt, it was so cold yet sooooo fun. There was one point when we were waiting for the green and I was standing on the number post, then when it was our turn I jumped down, not thinking oh wet grass it'll make me slip, and I did slip and land right on my bum in the mud. It was soo funny, great times. Then right before we left we stopped at this lovely, lush fudge place, named what? San Francisco Fudge. Oh they love American food here. Then that night I watched the Shining and part of Forgetting Sarah Marshall with my roommates before deciding to go to bed. Sunday, next week I am going to church with this new girl from Colorado that I met on Wednesday, she's really sweet. But this week we still didn't know of anywhere to go, so its our mission to find somewhere before this Sunday, which is superbowl Sunday! Anyways yesterday I went running, which I haven't been on a run in what a year and a half maybe? A long time. I ran to the beach with my friend Nathan who runs 15 miles often. It was a slow more like jog though, which was better on my ankle. It was 2.5 miles to the beach and then a 2.5 mile walk back. It felt so good though, even though I'm in so much pain right now from it. Then the rest of the day I just sort of lounged around with my roommates. Then at midnight the pub in our Village gave me on the house (its nice to know all the employees) my first drink ever. I had a slushie with a shot of cherry vodka and a shot of smirnoff. I didn't drink all of it by myself mainly cuz I hate slushies, but it sounded the best at the time. I told everyone to take a sip, so really I hardly had any at all, but it still counts. All in all its been a great week. Tonight we are going to TGI Friday's and then out to town again, and I started classes today, World History 1500-1800 and Intro to Dante's World (which seems really awesome). Oh yea, and Happy Chinese New Year, and its my birthday, 21! :D

rainy days of fun

So, yesterday we went to Cardiff for a few hours. It was really fun, except we were all shattered (really tired). There was an hour ride to this Welsh museum which was really cool because it was really just this old little village that you could walk through. And ceiling and door heights signaled status, so some of the door frames were less than a half inch taller than me. It was a lovely little play and it also had a "castle", which really was just a mansion house and beautiful gardens. Some of the girls and I just took our time mosing around this lovely place, it would be even more beautiful come spring when everything is blooming, but just imagining helped as well. Then we went to City Centre of Cardiff and walked around in all the shops looking for clothing deals, I didn't really find any that suited my budget and size and taste but a lot of others did, so it was fun to get on the bus and see what everyone chose! We were shattered because Friday night we went to the club on campus, can you believe it ON CAMPUS! It'd be like a club in Talley. There were a ton of people there but we mostly all knew each other. That's the best thing about a smaller school! Anyways so we came back from Cardiff around half past 5 and everyone split to go home, but almost all my flat mates went home for the weekend, so my neighbor mates and I decided to go play a little pool at the lounge area bar which is located in the student village where I live, best comparison would be Wolf Village but with a bar. Only students are allowed in this bar so its a very chill place just to hang out with some friends, watch rugby or music videos, play pool or fuseball. And then last night after heading down to Woody's (the bar) I met this girl from UNCW, UNCW sent around 15 students over here. Anyways the wild thing about meeting here is, well I didn't know this until just now, but... I left UFCA in the 8th grade, and I remember hearing about the new girl that came in 9th grade, well what do you know I meet that girl in another country! How wild? I'm actually excited to tell her I too attended UFCA. For those of you who don't know UFCA is a small private school, less than 30 to a class, so to have attended the same school is pretty rare! She's coming out with us for my birthday! Which is in a week, I'm so excited, everyone every day reminds me of the countdown. I made an event today and already almost 30 people are going to attend, its so awesome to have met so many amazing people, they are all just so fun loving and a great joy to be around! I also finally unpacked and organized my room, well most of it still a few more clothes to put away, but at least they aren't in suitcases. And already I have a load of laundry, that's what happens when it rains all the time and your trousers get muddy quickly. Oh, and another fun detail, one of my flat mates, Matt reminds me of my cousin, Kenny. It is uncanny, they make the same facial expressions and everything its great! Miss everyone talk to you all soon again!

living in a dream world

Class is quite neat, we are learning about British history, politics, music, cinema and culture. Last night most of us Americans we went out to the town, it was quite fun. A few of my welsh flat mates attended along with us. Tonight is going to be more of a quiet night, and hopefully going to sleep early. I have a feeling that it may turn into a girl night since one of my flat mates just broke up with her boyfriend today. Last night the girls straightened my hair, I forgot what I looked like with straight hair, and wow my hair is so long now! It's very exciting. There are a bunch of birthdays coming up in the next few weeks including mine, so its going to be very exciting! I love the language here, they say things like lush and call snobs posh and just all these fun words. I'm friends with practically the whole rugby team, so next Wednesday we're going to the rugby match, I'm excited to see my first match! Right now everyone is revising for their term finals, a lot of people are going home this weekend for a day or so. Their grading system if funny, the highest grade is a 70, so you have to get a 40 to pass. The phones are nice here, you don't have to pay for an incoming call nor incoming texts, only when you call or text someone yourself. And text is cheaper than calls, so text is the number one form of getting in touch with someone here, which is way different from how I'm use to. I also find myself saying darling and love all the time now, its funny how things just start to catch on. They comment all the time how when I'm not even trying to sound British (which I do on occassion) that some words I say are now always British. So, its a fun experience. If you have any specific questions shoot me an email and I'll be sure to answer them! xxx (the British thing to do at the end of a message, it means kisses aka much love!)