Wales: Day 29 & 30 Hostel Takeover

(I'm writing this like 2 1/2 weeks after it actually happened, so bear with me.)

Sunday (Aug. 1) was fairly normal and uneventful. Church, nap, hung out with my friends, and then a program meeting to prepare for the coming WHIRLWIND of a week.

Monday (Aug. 2) we hit the road. Tom being gone we left around 9 am, instead of our usual 7 or 8, so that was quite welcome. The entire week was to be spent traveling the north, beginning with the "real" Wales - Aberystwyth. Cardiff may be the capital, but that is only because of the historical importance of the port, and the southern location. If there were a "Welsh" capital of Wales, it would probably be Aberystwyth or somewhere near there in North Wales. Aberystwyth is a pretty cool coastal town, but we spent very little time there.

First me and my friends went into the National Library of Wales (of course I went to a library), which is like the mecca of all things Welsh. It made me miss my office and my LAO peeps like crazy. This library, while not as cool as the HBLL, was legit. They have a manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, an original copy of a letter from Owain Glyn Dwr, and a fantastic art gallery featuring a Picasso and some Durer engravings. I loved it.

We didn't have time to check out the castle, but we did walk through downtown and along the pier for lunch, which was really pretty.

Climbing back into the van, everyone was in great spirits, I was DJ Danica in the front seat while running the GPS, and we partied on the long van rides all day long. (This is my teddy bear, Tegwyn. Never really had a teddy bear before, but I got this little guy, and yes, I've been sleeping with him.)

UPDATE. I have a new favorite castle. And it's this one.

Harlech Castle. Loved it. Built as part of the Iron Ring of Edward Longshanks (I), its position on the coast was once strategic, and now is picturesque. This is one of my most favorite views I've encountered. It was just stunning. And the fact that I had to hike up a steep and winding road and STILL enjoyed my experience at the castle is huge. The experience was enhanced by a couple scoops of Belgian chocolate ice cream as we headed back down the hill to the vans.





After plenty of directional crises and tight squeezes on the narrow north country roads, we made it to our final destination for the day - Conwy. This coastal town is structured around the castle, which is also really, REALLY cool, and the huge city wall still stands and runs throughout. More will be said about this in the next post, because we visited Conwy on Tuesday. Our hostel was pretty cool. We had a great view, and the common dining area had the best view. We hung out in there a lot. Our room (Me, Jessica, Gillian and Sam) had a bathroom and shower, which was convenient, but also made it kind of smell. And it was MOTH CENTRAL. We seriously killed over 20 moths in our 3 days there. And my duvet situation was less than desirable.


Tesco run for baguettes and hummus (yesssssss). Dinner with everyone in the awesome mess hall. Finally, we decided to watch Jurassic Park, which I have on my laptop, because we'd been quoting it like crazy and several people hadn't seen it. We commandeered the entertainment room, clustered together in front of my laptop, and laughed like crazy.


My hair is super straight so I haven't been blow-drying it at all, and I can sleep on it wet, no problem, so I volunteered to shower before bed so that it wouldn't be such a traffic jam in the morning. The shower was really narrow, probably about 3x3', and weird to get into. I turned it on and WHAMMMM! I was being blasted with the craziest water pressure I've ever felt, EVER. It was like a fire hose. And COLD. My whole system froze up (ha) and I was freaking out for a second before I could turn it off. I stood there, almost collapsing to the floor of the shower, laughing so hard and panting like crazy. My roommates were laughing and knocking on the door asking what was going on and if I was ok. I explained the oddity of the crazy instant water pressure, and my inability to move out of the direct stream due to the small volume of the shower and the freezing cold.

You have to understand - water pressure we'd experienced there had generally been really weak, and often the showerhead would cut out or reduce to a drip. This was completely unprecedented. Soon I learned that you have to instantly turn the dial all the way to 6 or it's cold, and it doesn't drain fast enough, so you are repeatedly turning it on and off during the shower. Violent, yes. But efficient and quick? Absolutely.

Wales: Day 28 A Fish and Chips Farewell

As I write this, surrounded by my half-packed luggage, bags of souvenirs and piles of papers, I'm a little down. This has been an incredible six weeks, and it's so strange to think that it's already over. Tomorrow I'll be seeing my family and friends, and I can't wait for that. But if I'm still in Cardiff, is it too early for nostalgia to set in?

We got home late from Stonehenge, but I was pretty wired still, and everyone back home was online so I stayed up for a few hours chatting with my friends and answering emails. I finally collapsed into bed around 3:30 am -ish. I woke up feeling pretty well rested, but not wasted like I'd grossly overslept. I figured it was about 10 am and I was pretty happy about that. I stumbled out into the hall rubbing my eyes and shaking my hair out of my face, meeting my roommate on the landing. She laughed and said "Well, Good Morning, Danica!" I smiled and responded cheerfully, "Good Morning!" I furrowed my brow and cocked my head to the side as she continued to laugh at me. "What? What is it? Oh gosh. What time is it? Isn't like 10 am?" She laughed harder.

"It's almost 2 pm."

Well. That was a great morning. I must have been much more tired than I thought. I always feel like an idiot after I sleep away an entire half of a perfectly good day, but despite the colossal waste of my morning, this turned out to be one of my most favorite days here.

My roommates had the excellent idea of making a photo slideshow of the Kings and Queens of Britain. We've been pounding their names, dates and stories into our heads for weeks now, and so many of them are weird or funny, so it was going to be fantastic. We decided to put it together and give it to Tom, our director, as a farewell present. Tom is the man. He is the best director ever. He was invited to teach English at a university in China, which is awesome. Unfortunately, he was required to attend a mandatory training session in Provo for two weeks: the last two weeks of our program. We were all pretty sad about him leaving. He's awesome.

Our last night with him, this Saturday that I had nearly slept away (July 31), we were all going out to the Crwys pub for dinner, so it was a good venue to share our work. We used only props we had with us or found in our "rape hut." The rape hut is this creepy, CREEPY little shack in our backyard, filled with old couches, piles of garbage, lots of alcohol, decaying food and definitely something dead, because I've never smelled anything worse. Anyways, we found a bunch of hilarious and ridiculous props, including a nasty flag and tons of scarves we bought in London, and re-created some of the finer moments in British royal history. Here are a few of the highlights.

Constantine

Sweyn Forkbeard

Edward I (Longshanks), Edward II and his "friend" Piers Gaveston

Richard the Lionheart

Henry VIII and his unfortunate wives

Bloody Mary

After laughing our way through each photo session, we got ready and headed to Crwys pub to meet our group. We had a great time chatting and eating some traditional pub food; I had fish and chips, which were delicious. It was bittersweet, but we had so much fun joking about all the inside jokes and random occurrences we'd experienced during our month together.

We showed Tom the slideshow and he loved it. We were glad he appreciated all the little touches we tried to put on every photo.


Tom stood up to give his final speech and declared that "surprisingly enough, Danica had the second highest score," to the amusement of the group. I goof off quite a bit, so I'm sure everyone thought I was a bit of an idiot, academically. My good friend Allison had the high score, missing LESS THAN A WHOLE POINT. Geez. Tom got us these hilarious cans of food as a reward. Mine is this gnarly looking "breakfast in a can," with an assortment of meat, sausage, beans, etc. It was pretty funny.
Later in the evening, a few of us went to the Cardiff Festival, which is exactly like our carnivals at home. Literally the same. Except more people are drunk and instead of cotton candy there are fish and chips stands everywhere. We had such a blast. We rode this INSANE ride that was kind of like the Samurai at Lagoon, and we just could not stop screaming and laughing. I love roller coasters and crazy rides, so I was eating it up. Some weird kids my age started talking to us walking around, and I almost got kissed against my will, so we bounced pretty quick after that. I wish the fireworks here were as good as the ones we get back home, but fireworks are one of my favorite things in the world, so it was nice to get to see SOME this summer.

Wales: Day 27 Like A Stone(henge)

Friday (July 30) I woke up early to go over my notes one more time, catch up on some stuff and get ready. We walked over to Harriet at 10 for Judgement Day. Everyone was kind of giggly and nervous, because we didn't really know how Tom was going to test us, and figured it wasn't going to be easy at all. The sheer number of terms we needed to know was daunting. A bunch of stuff was really Welsh, which was a problem for the non-Welsh students, and all of us felt like we didn't know as much as Tom expected us to when he'd ask us questions at sites we visited. Still, we had studied so much and were kind of just resigned to the fact that we might not pass.

Thankfully, Tom pulled right from the flashcards - which was the main tool I'd been using to study. I passed the quiz, missing 2.5/60, so that was a definite relief. The quiz was much easier than we all worried and anticipated. Most people passed or nearly passed. Those who didn't just had to work with Tom on giving a verbal history, so it wasn't too bad. I fist pumped outta there.

We were all pretty excited afterwards. We went home and got ready for an excellent afternoon. Due to some real estate issues, we hit the road for our sites almost an hour late, but it worked out ok. Our first stop was Stourhead. This is a huge 17th C. estate with the most fantastic garden/grounds I've ever seen in my entire life. The Palladian villa was gorgeous. I'd absolutely love to live here.

The grounds are designed to always keep something from the viewer's eye. No matter where you stand, you can't see everything, and there's always something to keep drawing you further into the grounds. It's pretty amazing.

For anyone who has seen the latest (Keira Knightley) Pride and Prejudice, this place is pretty unbeatable. The scene when she runs across the bridge and is proposed to in the rain by Mr. Darcy was filmed here. Yeah, we re-enacted it several times.




After getting our fill of Stourhead, we rushed to head for the main event of the day - Stonehenge. Yeah, THE Stonehenge. We have all been pretty excited about this for a while. It's not super fun or anything, just one of those awesome buckt list things that you HAVE to do. We were all starving and it was starting to get cold, but we had a timed reservation so we had to drive like mad straight there. WORTH IT.


It was awesome. We had a blast! We had the entire place to ourselves. So what did we do? Donned our brand new matching hoodies (courtesy of the judicious financial wizardry of our director, Tom) and took a bajillion photos.

Of course we did a pyramid. Thanks for asking.

This was another one of those days that I just can't describe adequately. We were all just on. We just have so much fun together. Everything is funny, we're all friends, and nothing can get us down. The friendships I have formed here are quality AND quantity, and they aren't just a result of being stuck together for 6 weeks. We've done and been a lot for one another. I'm so lucky to have the opportunity to make these great friends. Not to mention enough inside jokes to last a lifetime.


Starving and chilled, we drove a short ways to the Sainsbury in Salisbury. I know, right? Sainsbury is a grocery store. Salisbury is the city. We grabbed some "Meal Deals," and headed out to the park outside to finally eat. Grocery stores here generally have some great "Meal Deals," which include a bunch of deli sandwiches, wraps and salads, chips or fruit, and a beverage. For like 2 pounds! We love those. Afterwards we walked down to the Salisbury Cathedral, which was absolutely beautiful at night, but due to the darkness I couldn't get a good picture.

As mentioned above, most people passed the quiz, we were all just on, and we purchased an FM transmitter for iPods, so dancing and singing were pretty prevalent all day. While people were going to the bathroom before we left Salisbury, we pumped up our favorite tune here - The Club is Alive by JLS - and GOT DOWN. It was really awesome. Parking lot dance parties sound so gay when you talk about them later. I know that. But in the moment it was literally the best decision we could have made. This photo is from Stonehenge, but you get the idea of what we did most of the day. Loved it. We didn't get home till about 1 am, but it was so worth it.

Wales: Day 25 & 26 Row, Row, Row, Row a Pirate's Life for Me

I am so far behind. I realize that. Sorry for anyone who reads this regularly. My dream was to catch up like my second week here and then post daily. That way the detail would be fresh and all that jazz. Well. I never caught all the way up, and then last week we were in hostels every night and exhausted, so I'm just a mess. My apologies.

So. Back on track. On Wednesday, July 28, we also had nothing scheduled. The unscheduled days just flew by. We'd sleep in, but then once we were awake we were in this strange mode of panic-meets-exhaustion. I'm not really sure why sleeping too much just makes you tired, and not doing anything all day leaves you just completely fatigued. Whatever. We spent the majority of our free time studying like crazy for the quiz scheduled for Friday morning. If we passed the quiz, we would automatically get an A on the final and not have to take it. Which, needless to say, would be THE BUSINESS. I felt really behind because I hadn't taken the prep class, and most of these people had. Not to mention, I was somewhat convinced that everyone thought I was stupid and I wanted to prove otherwise.

I grabbed another hummus and salad baguette (seriously can't get enough of these things) for lunch. I'm gonna miss that so bad at home. Tom then took anyone who wanted to go to the park for rowing. Roath Park is really pretty. I was really impressed. Who knew that Cardiff had such a beautiful area just a few minutes from the gnarly streets we pounded each day?

We rowed around, despite the cloudy skies and a light drizzle, and had an excellent time. It was the best break from my alternating current of studying and dozing off.

At one point, we had a run in with a rogue rowboat. They called themselves "Pirates." Psh. Losers. They had a tennis ball and would throw it to splash us. Little did they know I've still got SOME deadly aim in my arm from years of softball. Yeah. I drilled a few people. But despite my best efforts, my flip flops were stolen right out of our boat! Don't worry. My crewmen defended my honor and a fight ensued which was talked about all day long. Laura, one of my roommates and good friends here, practically jumped into their boat to retrieve my shoes. Love her!

After rowing, we couldn't resist the open grounds of the park. You know us. We have to do pyramids at any available moment.

The park episode was lovely. We studied for a couple hours and then went over to 57 to be treated to one of the most delicious homemade meals I've ever had. One of our girls is going to culinary school up at Weber, so she is amazing. She made the most delicious pizzas ever. We were LOVIN it. And it was just so great for all of us to hang out and have a good time. Our house was in charge of dessert, so we brought one of the generic Tesco brand chocolate cakes that we can't get enough of. Secretly, two of my roommates hollowed out the middle portion of the cake, so when it was cut into, it just collapsed. Hilarious. We were dying. It was just so fantastic to have a great time with the group before the big test the following morning. We have a great time together. :)

Oh and Day 26. Thursday, July 29. Didn't leave the house the entire day. Seriously.

Wales: Day 22-24 Got Myself A Home Life

Cardiff on Sunday morning is an entirely different city than the one we walked through at 11 pm on Saturday night. When we all filed off the train from Dover, a large number of inebriated men were waiting to board the train. As girl after girl stepped down, they all catcalled and cheered and laughed at the number of young single females that this traincar contained. We smiled and laughed. This kind of good-natured teasing and attention is nothing. We walked through downtown Cardiff, through pub and club queues, multiple "hen parties" and were the target of many shouted invitations and descriptions throughout our journey.

I'll just say this. According to my observation, there are no good-looking people in Cardiff. None. Everyone is SO GROSS. Women dress in these tiny, tiny, tight dresses that do not suit their age or body type, climb onto teetering heels, wear too much makeup and walk around with uneasy and uneven steps with their bodies spilling around everywhere. Sorry. That's what it is. Oh and a "hen party" is a group of girls that dress up for a bachelorette party. Usually even more outrageously inappropriate than the general populace.

The men are pigs. Generally. I'll just say that. We don't need to go into detail. Don't worry, Dad. We didn't feel unsafe. We were in big groups, and hello, has anyone seen me when I get fierce? Psh. A fumbling drunk Taffy is no match for Danica Budge. And Katie. Approximate number of inagropes = 1. So that's pretty good.

Walking to church taking a very similar route less than 12 hours later was just so amusing to us. Still gross, though. Cardiff is hands down the grossest place I've ever been. Some parts of Provo or Salt Lake I thought were pretty ghetto. Mesquite is significantly white trash. Other cities I thought were really crappy or awful don't even compare. I've been pretty hesitant to actually describe how gross and retarded Cardiff is, because I didn't want anyone thinking I was in an unsafe environment or that I was complaining. We're in a SKETCHY part of town and I will never complain about another city ever again. But don't get me wrong. It's adding to the experience and we just laugh and laugh.

At one point last week, Tom left his camera somewhere and I happened to be the last one out of the area and noticed it lying in the grass. I snagged it. Didn't tell him. We took it back to Penny Lane and proceeded to take pictures of all the grossest stuff in our house, and took several action shots of the things and people we encountered on our walk to 57 (one of the other houses the program has). Highlights include the ubiquitous piles of garbage on the streets, broken street and store signs, and - my personal favorite: A woman dragging a big cardboard box down the sidewalk on Albany. hahaha We couldn't stop laughing. When we got to 57, I sneakily slipped Tom's camera back into his bag and he had no idea. Can't wait till he sees the excellent photos we took for him. We told him earlier that we want him to post ALL his pictures, so hopefully I'll be able to get them and post them here so you guys can experience The Joys of Cardiff.

Anyway. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were unscheduled. The Welsh students were taking an all day, weeklong class at the University, so we had free time to study for the big quiz and to work on our projects. Hence the studying abroad. I was able to catch up on my sleep and get a lot of studying done, which was nice. If we passed the quiz, scheduled for Friday morning, we didn't have to take the final and automatically got an A on it, so everyone was studying super hard for that excellent prize. I left the house very little this week. I don't mind though. A few days this week I got up and walked down off Albany to a little fresh produce Farmer's Market and my favorite sandwich shop for a hummus baguette (my favorite). Good stuff.

We did, however, take a break on Tuesday night and went to see INCEPTION. Everyone has been FREAKING OUT about it and asking me about it. I am a movie freak. I love them, see tons of them and love to talk about them. But I'm out of the loop here! I need to see a ton. I've been going through cinema withdrawal. Hulu. Netflix. Nothing works here. So it was awesome to go see it. I really, really liked it. I'd like to see it again. It was entertaining, fresh and witty. Loved it, even.