Tuesday (July 20) was the wettest day we've had yet. It rained almost constantly for the duration of the day. Regardless of our preparedness (or lack thereof), blistering feet and dripping hair, we came, we saw, and, after 3 castles, a museum and a priory, we finally dried off.
Coity Castle was first, but was closed so we detoured to our second stop - Margham Cross Museum. Here we found lots of tombstones and cross-shaped marking stones from 9-16th Centuries. It was pretty cool to see the synergy of Celtic and Britonic design and the new Christianity spreading across the world.
Soon we were back to Coity Castle, now open. We were given a lecture and tour by a sweet little Welsh man, who stood patiently in the pouring rain and delivered his entire speech and history of the castle to us. We should have been more attentive to him. We just stood, huddled under umbrellas, water soaking our pantlegs, and rushed to the keep and towers to get out of the downpour when we had the chance. Let me just say that climbing spiral staircases is always dangerous, and even more so when your shoes are wet and slick.
Next we went to Ogmore Castle. Much like the "Three Castles" (White, Skenfirth and Grosmont), Coity, Ogmore and later Newcastle are joined together in purpose, location and style. They are Marcher Lord castles begun as hill forts or walled enclosures in the mid-to-late 1100s, castles being built, first wooden then stone, in the 1200s. They aren't really anything special, and I hate to say that they are becoming somewhat dull and routine for us now. We've seen so many castles that these smaller and by some definitions - average - castles are easy to forget.
This one was funny because we, against our better judgment, climbed out across a small river next to the castle for one of Tom's ubiquitous "Panoramic Shots." The rocks were slick, we were cold and wet, and the river looked both gray, icy and threatening. Still, we slowly meandered out over the shining rocks and laughed nervously as we posed and carefully climbed back. This castle is now inhabited by loud sheep, so we had some fun with the bleating and baahing, and then hit the road.
By this point, we were all completely soaked. The day had just been so bizarre, because nothing we had done had worked out exactly like we'd planned or hoped for, and yet we were still just pressing right along. This culminated when we arrived at the Priory. Eweeny Priory is supposed to be an awesome 12th Century structure. Unfortunately, the public lands were privatized for a funeral, and after getting stuck on narrow hedged roads, being shut out of the priory grounds and trying to find the other group, we found ourselves standing in this tiny stone room without the walls of the priory grounds. We all of a sudden just looked up at all of the group standing there, hunched over as you do when you're uncomfortably wet, and just started laughing like crazy. I literally cannot describe how ludicrous the situation was. We couldn't stop. It had just been the weirdest day ever, and yet we were still there and still pressing on, and even having a moderately good time at that. Haha good times.
At least the gardens outside the priory were pretty!
After a brief Tesco stop for bathrooms and food, we made our final stop at Newcastle. There were one or two more places we had hoped to see, but Tom mercifully cut the day a little short so we could dry off. Newcastle was pretty, but again somewhat generic at this point. We were all so delirious and excited to be going home that we had a fun little photo shoot and then sprinted and fell down the slick grassy hill to the vans. If you guessed that I peeled off my soaked clothes and jumped in a hot shower right when I got home, you're right. The most bizarre part is that we had on jackets and used umbrellas the entire day, and somehow we all still ended up dripping. Oh well. It wouldn't be Wales without a good day of wet touring. :)
Monday (July 19) was a pretty fun day. It was cool to see things that were more modern and more ancient than the standard castles and forts we see most days.
First we toured Pwll Mawr, or Big Pit. Wales has a significant coal seam and the mining of coal was huge in the late 1800s. Big Pit was instrumental in the mining of coal that fueled the Industrial Revolution, making Wales one of the first industrialized nations. Our tour guide was way funny, and a 90 year old man came with our group. He kept interrupting the tour guide with pointless comments and irrelevant questions, triggering giggles from us every time. But for me, I loved the tour because the entire time I was (in my mind) working out a rough outline for a zombie novel taking place in a mine. It was just flowing through me. I loved every second of it. I continued the trend throughout the day in most of the situations. I will probably do it everywhere we go now. Underground station? Easy. Cloverfield, but with zombies in the tunnels instead of freaky monsters. Done. Anyways, the educational aspect of the mine was awesome too. They had great exhibits and demonstrations. Very cool. I couldn't take pictures inside the mine (electricity safety issues), but this is the exterior.
Right across the valley are the Blaenarvon Iron Works. The iron and coal was transported a few miles across the way for casting in these plants. We learned a bunch of chemistry stuff that I should remember/know from AP Chem in high school, but whatev.
Finally we headed to Caerleon, a Roman fort built when Emperor Claudius invaded Britain in 41 AD. The ampitheater and original city wall are standing, as well as the foundations of some of the barracks. We checked out a Roman Military museum with tons of cool artifacts, armor you can try on, and stick horses for our amusement. After, we looked at another museum about the Roman Baths, although not as cool as the one in Bath.
We came home somewhat early to make dinner and log in some studying time (I know you're shocked. We actually are doing SOME studying while we're here), and then Tom treated us to Toy Story 3 for "FHE." Phenomenal. It was my second time seeing it, but I still loved it. Great, great movie. We had so much fun walking there, hanging out and seeing it together. Our group is just getting more and more tightly knit and it's more fun every day. :)
Sunday (July 18) was a pretty nice, laid-back day. We walked through the misty rain to church at Coleg Glan Hafren for another bizarre but spiritually strengthening meeting. After church, Tom granted us a free day, which was absolutely lovely.
We used our free afternoon to celebrate Jennifer's birthday! Since I haven't described our living situations clearly yet, let me take the opportunity to do so now. In Penny Lane we have 8 girls
Laura
Liz
Jennifer
Beth
Jessica
Gillian
Sam
Me
The first four are in a cooking group, and us last four are in a cooking group. We easily have the best housing group, even if we do have the gnarliest house out of everyone. We all get along and have tons of fun, so it's pretty awesome.
We cooked a group dinner and had cake and ice cream for Jennifer's birthday, which was really great. In honor of our group of friends and the vibe of Penny Lane, I'm including here a list of our phrases, jokes and sayings that have become ridiculously inside and funny as the days have gone by:
Am iddo beido!
"Eat it up..."
Dongle - Dongling - Dongled
Mystery Meat Grab Bag
Umbeth
Black Currant
Neighbors blasting Journey, 2005's Top 40, and Shakira 24/7. No, really.
"He left us!!! HE LEFT US!!!"
Calendar-scheduled Sexy Time
And plenty more. :)
Long live Penny Lane, and Happy Birthday Jennifer!
I am getting too far behind on these posts. My apologies. I will try to get a few up tonight, because tomorrow through Sunday are crazy, crazy days. These may be short and mainly photos, but who wants to hear me ramble anyways?
On Saturday (July 17), we hit up 2 castles and a museum, then called it an early evening, which is always nice. :)
First was Caerphilly. It is the largest castle in Wales and the 2nd/3rd largest in Britain behind Dover and sometimes Windsor (hotly contested). I really liked it. The waterwork defenses were particularly cool, and you guys know how I love my moats.
The Great Hall was pretty cool too, and we enjoyed hanging out in there. It was an unusually cold day for Wales, so the shelter was welcomed.
Next we went to another castle preserved by Lord Gilbert de Clare - Castell Coch. This castle is known for being a typical or stylized Medieval or even fairytale castle. It's very cute and caters to kids and younger groups.
The interior design mimicks the 15 and 16th Centuries in various rooms and is very cool.
After the castles, we went to Tesco for food and then to the National Museum of Wales. There we went through exhibits about the physical and social history of Wales, which was cool. Going to so many museums and exhibits makes me appreciate the good ones and learn what to look for and what to pass by. I'm lucky to get to see so much cool stuff. This is a reindeer! A real-live (dead), Night Before XMas Rudolph!
After our adventures in London, we arrived home in Cardiff around 8:15 am. Tom had cancelled the days events and left us only a movie to watch as the requirement for the day. I came in, brushed my teeth, washed my face and absolutely crashed. CRASHED. I was in bed by 8:30 am and slept until almost 6 pm. That was probably a mistake, because then I couldn't sleep until almost 2 am.
Friday we were back on schedule and ready to see more stuff. We began the day at Bradford-upon-Avon. This pretty little town features a Norman bridge and a Saxon church. They also boasted of the "Best Loo of the Year," which is quite a feat.
Next, we traveled to a little town owned entirely by the National Trust - Lacock. This town is very popular for Jane Austen and various Bronte films, as well as Harry Potter! It was very cute and quaint.
The best part of Lacock? Lacock Abbey. This building was converted to a house and added upon by the owners in the post-Cromwell era, but still retains many recognizable features of an Abbey. It's very pretty and well-kept.
The courtyard and a couple classrooms may be of some interest to some of you...
What's up, another Quidditch-conversation-scene courtyard? Oh and hello various Hogwarts classrooms. One of my friends thinks this was used as McGonagall's Transfiguration class, 1st year, but I can neither confirm nor deny that without checking for myself, which I plan to do when I get home. I told my friends that I was going to start telling people that I was on a Harry Potter study abroad. We decided that we'd like nothing better than to get approval from the Kennedy Center to research the Harry Potter books and movies, and then plan a study abroad around those sites. As we walked out, there was a big charter van like ours that said something like "Film Tours" and Harry Potter was listed on the side. We laughed till it hurt. It was fantastic.
The main city of the day was Bath. Bath was pretty incredible. Unfortunately, it rained for most of our time there. We still enjoyed it. It's a beautiful town, and like Lacock, it's been widely used for cinema settings.
We had a lovely city walk, seeing the Royal Crescent (which apparently has some Masonic symbolism and myth. Dan Brown, you got anything yet?), several monuments and parks dedicated to or by Queen Victoria (one of my favorites) and walked through the catacombs under the cathedral! Very cool.
All over the city they have these lions that are decorated all crazy. Some are painted, some are covered in tesserae in a mosaic, this one was on top of a chocolate shop and I loved it. Made me think of my Grandma Vi! :)
Following our cohort city walk and free time (shopping....I know. I should have gone to one of the cool museums, like the Fashion Museum. My bad), we reunited with the group and took a tour through the Roman Bath. Funnily enough, the town was named after a Roman....bath. The ruins were covered and preserved remarkably well, so now there is a killer museum with tons of great displays. It was probably my favorite museum next to the British Museum, which just can't be topped.
I mean, that's an actual Roman Bath remain! How incredible is that? That's like a couple hundred years after Christ. It's amazing. Plus the museum had little 1992 cell phone-looking things that corresponded with sign numbers. You'd punch in the number, hold it to your ear and then hear a little blurb about the statue or items in the case or whatever. It was great.
Bath is a really awesome city. I enjoyed it. Even though it was raining we had a good day. And I finally got some fish and chips! Hallelujah!
When I left you last, we'd just enjoyed a lovely performance of Henry IV, Pt. II in The Globe during our London excursion. Everything was going according to plan and we were greatly enjoying our visit. Here's where the story really gets interesting. It's long. I know. Oh, don't I know. But worth it. I promise.
We meandered out of the theatre at about 10:40 and began to regroup. Tom had been hoping we could be out and on our way by 10:30 so we could walk along the Thames and see the Houses of Parliament and all that jazz at night, which I'm sure is beautiful. Our train was leaving Paddington for Cardiff by 11:30 and we decided we wouldn't have time. Instead, we walked across the Millenium Bridge.
Let me rephrase that. We SPRINTED across the bridge, yelling "The Death Eaters! The Death Eaters!" or "Avada Kedavra!" over and over, and generally having a great time. By the time we reached the end of the bridge we were breathless and laughing too hard to stand up straight. We continued walking straight to the foot of St. Paul's, which is absolutely beautiful, day or night.
Our original intention was to jump onto the St. Paul's Underground station and ride that around to Paddington. Theoretically, that should have worked beautifully. Effectively, it failed miserably. We apparently missed the turn to get to the station, so we found another station. This station was closed, due to the late hour.
A good thing to keep in mind throughout my telling of this story is that rarely during the entire episode did any of us have all of this information. There are about 30 of us total, walking in a double-to-triple file line along dark London streets. Tom and our adult leaders are in the front, and I was somewhere near the middle of the group, just following like everyone else. So I have no idea why we were walking so far. We're in great spirits though, walking and singing and talking in accents like we do about 50% of the time.
All of a sudden, the gap between me and the feet of the girls in front of me widens considerably. They're running! And shrieking! What the?! So of course my natural instinct is to sprint along after them. This chain reaction is absolutely frantic. We begin sprinting, some of us holding bags, souvenirs, food, and are completely confused as to where we are going or what we are doing. Sometimes we'd turn a corner super fast or slide quickly to the side to avoid fellow pedestrians. At one point I clearly remember the faces of two pedestrians pressed up against the nearest building, looking at us with expressions of absolute terror and confusion.
Can you imagine? A group of 20+ coed girls, running frantically, laughing and screaming through the streets of London in the middle of the night, following a white-haired man at the head of the group. I'm sure it was absolutely ludicrous to them.
After sprinting for a few minutes or so, or after coming up to a street crossing with a light, we'd all stop, crashing into one another, laughing, panting, straightening our hair and clothes. We later found that the first time the spontaneous sprinting broke out, it was because Tom was being goofy (as per his normal interactions with us) and began skipping. The lack of communication and distance between him and the tail end of the group translated to chaos only a few people behind him.
Successive sprints were a result of our unfortunate timing. By this time it was after 11, and we couldn't find an Underground station. The train leaving from Paddington was the last one for the night, and we had no other way to get back to Cardiff. Some real panic set in with our frenzied laughter. Some girls at the back of the group or who weren't physically up to our interval speedwalking and sprinting were pretty far behind us, so confusion was further heightened.
Finally, we find a suitable Underground station. It was approximately 11:22 as we came barreling through the ticket-stands and along the escalators and stairs, once again frightening everyone in our path. I jumped down the last few stairs onto the platform just to see the train doors shut 6 feet in front of me with about 1/2 our group on it. The rest of my half came stumbling down the stairs, red-faced and panting, laughing at how ridiculous we looked watching the train speed away. We thankfully had 2 minutes to sit before our train came, and the rest was welcome.
Our train arrives at about 11:26. We jump on and begin to ride. We had to switch from the Central Line to the Circle Line in order to get to Paddington, so we all prepared to alight from the train and find the nearest portal. We spilled out onto the platform, sprinted up escalators and stairs, across the station and onto a platform, then onto the correct platform, just in time to jump on the correct line. Tom and another student got on another line entirely which might get there before us so he could try to delay the train. Once we were on the Circle Line en route to the station, it was 11:29. I'm sure we looked so ridiculous. Jumping onto the train, sweating, panting, laughing, disheveled and with the nervous tick of constantly checking our watches.
Finally reaching Paddington, we sprinted up a flight of stairs (OW), through the ticket turnstiles and up a ramp, just in time to run up and see Tom standing there, defeated, and no train in the station.
Yeah. We missed it.
Somehow we beat the previous group who got on the subway before us, so they came running up seconds later and we all stood there, sucking air and blinking, as Tom relayed our options.
Wait for the 5:30 am train to Cardiff, so spend the night in Paddington Station, arriving in Cardiff at about 7:30 am.
Take a train leaving in an hour or so to Oxford, then take one from there to Cardiff so we'd be warm and comfortable during the night, but get home later on Thursday morning
We opted to spend the night in the station, so we'd get home quicker and it'd just be easier than getting on and off trains all night. I was really proud of our entire group, because no one complained or got faint of heart. We literally just stood and laughed in amazement at our situation.
The warm interior portion was closing soon (it was 11:50 ish) so we had to chill (literally) on the platform. In an act of defiance, about 15 of us laid on the platform floor, right in the middle, in a circle. Soon Tom joined us and I suggested that we go around and each tell our worst date stories. Everyone heartily consented, and we were off. Everyone was quite giggly and in good spirits, so it was a fantastic discussion. Other travelers walked by with amused and quizzical looks on their faces, and a crazy homeless man took to sitting behind us and mimicking our gestures. At one point, a drunk ginger came and laid down by us and joined the circle. We were laughing so hard, and then when it came to be his turn he began relating his worst date story. As he progressed, I began to anticipate the trajectory this story was taking, and tried to stop him.
SIDEBAR - For those of you who know me well, you will be stunned that I
Knew what he was talking about
Anticipated it in advance and
3. that I was the one who stepped in to protect the delicate ears of my peers. Ridiculous.
I suggested that his story would be inappropriate for this group, but he blurted out another phrase which was crude and awful, but I don't think everyone understood it, thank goodness. Tom at this point somewhat abruptly told him we were a church group and that he was probably in the wrong place. He left very quickly and failed to hide his embarrassment. Hahahaha
After sharing and bonding, we moved to the metal benches. By this point, it's getting quite cold. The station is more of a shelter and less of a building, and the cold tile floors and metal benches were not kind. Tom ripped up some cardboard boxes to sit on for insulation and cushion. girls wrapped in the scarves they'd bought in the markets that day, and 80% of the group clustered together on the floor to fall asleep around 3 am. Some girls cut up a poncho and used it as a blanket, others wore multiple jackets and pulled the hoods up. We looked straight up HOBO. It was so hilarious.
As for me, I was loving it. We were staying the night in Paddington Station after a crazy, crazy day in London! This was the best story EVER. Who has stories like this? Danica Budge. It was fantastic. I literally did not have a negative thought enter my mind the entire night. I didn't really feel too tired until about 5 am, and didn't try to sleep. I was pretty chipper and social most of the night and I am really glad because I got to talk and get to know everyone much better. My voice was a little worst the next day for it (as you can see in this photo I'm chatting it up instead of sleeping), but it was worth it. While some of the group slept, I talked with Tom, Anna and Zoe about life experiences, books, and movies. It was great!
Around 5 am, we waited anxiously for the sign to show that our train was on time and ready to board. The restaurants started opening so a bunch of us grabbed hot chocolate and breakfast stuff, just in time to finally board our train home! We looked so disheveled and ridiculous, but everyone was positive and happy, so we had a great time. Everyone was quite exhausted and totally crashed on the way home. My friends here were lucky to get a table seat, I had to curl up against a window and woke up even more sore. Sore from walking all day, standing during the entire play, sprinting through London's streets, rapidly climbing staircase after staircase and escalator after escalator, then huddling in the cold, hard train station, it really didn't make too much of a difference to sleep for 2 hours in an awful position against a ledge and window.
After a brief Tesco stop for bathrooms and food, we made our final stop at Newcastle. There were one or two more places we had hoped to see, but Tom mercifully cut the day a little short so we could dry off. Newcastle was pretty, but again somewhat generic at this point. We were all so delirious and excited to be going home that we had a fun little photo shoot and then sprinted and fell down the slick grassy hill to the vans.
