Pembrokeshire: where even the rocks are pretty.

Hello! I survived the Pembrokeshire Coast with all ten fingers and toes intact. Although, I think my toes were seriously thinking about freezing off when we were camping! Ha ha ha! But seriously, if you are ever anywhere in the United Kingdom, be sure to make time to travel over to western Wales. It was absolutely beautiful! And we got SO very lucky with the weather. I think the forecast called for rain on Thursday and snow on Friday. Well, we had beautiful, mainly sunny skies on Thursday and partly cloudy, but no snow on Friday. Perfect hiking weather!
So I still haven't quite figured out a good way to organize these pictures on here, so there are only a few, but if you have Facebook, you'll have to be sure to check out my album on there! The pins in the first picture mark where we hiked during the two days. We started at the southern most pin (at a place called Awelfor), camped out at the pin on the far west side (just a ways from Whitesands Bay), and then our final destination was the northern pin, located at the town of Abereiddy.
Gah! I can't get over how amazing everything was! I wish I could explain to you in words the overall beauty of everything, but I can't and so I suppose I'll settle on telling you about the more concrete things that went on during our two day trip.
So we set off around 11 in the morning after driving about an hour to get to Awelfor. Simon, one of our instructors walked us to the path, showed us on the map where he would be waiting for us, and then sent us on our way. We didn't get very far until we stopped for our first photo op (the third picture). We stopped shortly after at St. Non's, one of Wales' smallest towns. However, we finally made it to our destination in decent timing, even after many more photo stops and a nice, long lunch break. Whitesands Bay, where we stopped for the night, is well-known for its surf. I'll definitely be going back there regardless. And it's not too far away from the town of St. David's, which we will be taking an international trip to in about three weeks' time.
So, we made it to our destination and met back up with Simon, who was waiting for us with our tents, our sleeping bags, and our gas cookers. So we took a minute to warm up by having a quick, hot beverage from the nearby cafe and then set out on the short, fifteen minute hike to get to where we were going to set up camp.
We had to hike up a little hill in order to get to camp. But once we got to the top, Simon pointed out where we would be camping and it couldn't have been more perfect! It was a little, flat area overlooking the small beach below! Since it was already 5 or so, the sun was setting and we found ourselves with very little time to get the tents set up and fire wood collected before it got dark. So we split up into two groups: the tent group and the fire wood group. I was in the firewood group, so we went down to the beach and scoured it for driftwood. Surprisingly enough, we found quite a lot. Or, at least, enough to make a small fire later that night that kept us somewhat warm. After the wood was piled up and the tents set up, we got our gas cookers out and made dinner: chili con carne and bread. I was absolutely starving at this point in time so not only did I have my can full of chili, but I'm pretty sure I ate 5 or 6 pieces of bread. Ha ha ha. My instincts kicked in.. had to eat enough to be warm for the night. Unfortunately, none of us thought to bring any marshmallows for the fire, darn it. But someone did bring a bottle of wine, so we divvied it up between the five of us and toasted to the success of our first day.
The entire time, sitting by the fire, I just couldn't wait to go to sleep to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach below. What I didn't realize at that point in time was just how COLD it was. I got back up to my tent and changed into some warm pj's and hopped into my sleeping bag, cozy as a caterpillar in its cocoon. This was at 10. By 11:30, I still hadn't quite fallen asleep, so I adjusted the best I could and tried again. I got about an hour or so in before my cold feet woke me up. They were absolutely freezing! I couldn't understand why because I had two pairs of socks on and the rest of my body was warm. So I tried my best to pull my legs up to my core in the limited amount of space I had, thinking that would help. It didn't. I don't think I fell back asleep again until a quarter after one or so. And when I did, I only slept restlessly for about two hours before my feet woke me up again! At this point I had to do something, or else I'd be awake until morning. I finally got the brilliant idea of pulling down part of my second pair of socks to make another layer on top of my feet. It worked fairly well! My toes, which were still exposed, were still a little chilly, but my feet, in general, were happy enough at that point in time to allow me to sleep until 7.
So I was up at 7, bright and early, which allowed me to get some pretty cool pictures of the sunrise, or rather, the colors in the sky, since the sun rose on the other side of the hill. Since we weren't technically supposed to camp off the trail, we had to hurry up and get our tents down as quickly as possible so that we wouldn't be questioned if someone had happened to come along. So we packed everything up, ate some breakfast (I had oatmeal with brown sugar and dried fruit, absolutely delicious), and headed back to the car park where we dropped off our heavy stuff with Simon and then set back onto the trail again to Abereiddy.
This part of the coastal path, the northern part, was a bit more challenging than the southern part. Although, this could have been because I was now hiking on a little more than 4 hours of sleep and with tired legs. The weather wasn't quite as nice either which made it not as enjoyable, but it didn't rain or snow, so that's always a plus! And, after we took a long lunch break, basking in the sun, I was much more apt to take on anything that lie ahead. The rest of the hike wasn't too bad! We really thought we had quite a ways to go still after lunch, but we made it there in about 2 hours! I'm pretty sure we were all completely exhausted because it didn't take us long to get our stuff into the van and get on the road.
So now, I've got two days to recuperate and re-energize for this upcoming week at Snowdonia! Snowdonia's a national park about 4 hours away and is home to the UK's highest peak, Snowdon, standing at 3,560 feet, and yes, we're hiking it to the top. Well, that is, as long as the forecasted snow doesn't prevent us from doing so safely. It's supposed to snow/sleet all week, so be prepared for an interesting entry when I get back! Annnnd, I'll be sure to update you on London as well! We're heading there for an international trip this weekend! We get back from Snowdonia on Friday around 1:30 and then we leave for London at 2! Craziness! So it will all have to be one, great, long post, but get excited! There should be TONS to fill you in on! Until next time!

Whoa! It's been almost a week since my last post!

Wow! A). It's been a little while since I've last written, sorry about that! And B). I feel like I need to apologize for that last post as well. It was poorly written and done so in a frustrated state. In fact, that post was originally supposed to be about how well I've adjusted since I've been here, but resulted in nothing but a vent session. However, things have more than smoothed over since then. So, to now update you on EVERYTHING I've left out over the past few weeks; all the highlights of the weeks I've been here so far as well as the steps I've taken to become better adjusted.

Where to begin. . . well, seeing as my last legit post was over a week and a half ago (I'm not counting the terrible one I wrote a week ago) I guess I'll start from there. After our expedition on Thursday (we hiked up to Pen y Fan in the Breacon Beacons), I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got back, but I got talked into going out to Metros, which is the club in town that offers unlimited drinks for 10 Pounds... so, I had to give it a try. Honestly though, it wasn't too awful exciting. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but from now on, I'm definitely saving that 10 pounds/week to put towards my future Easter Holiday travels. So, that was Thursday night.

Friday, I can't exactly remember what I did, to be honest. Probably slept in and watched "Reba." I lead such an exciting life, don't I?

Saturday, however, we had a trip planned to visit the Big Pit! The Big Pit used to be one of the numerous coal mines in Wales, but was recently shut down and transformed into museum. We had a tour arranged and so we had the chance to suit up and go down into the mine, 300 feet underground. Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous at all. This could be a good sign for when we go caving later on in the semester with my Outdoor class. Anyway, we split up into two groups and one group went to see the new part of the mine while my group explored the old part of the mine. While the temperature tends to remain stable underground, it was still cold, and got even colder when we entered the narrower parts of the mine where the air circulated through more quickly. But we got to see how everything worked and learned the importance of the ventilation system. And then back up we went in the lift and were released into fresh air.

Then Sunday was, of course, the Superbowl! The Union was opened all day for the Rugby match as well as a Soccer game and then stayed open late into the night for us good ol' American football fanatics. We made quite the scene too, let me tell you. We all stood up and sang the National Anthem and we were very intense in our cheering (and booing too, in some cases). We got a lot of weird stares, but who cares, it was the SUPERBOWL! So, other than the Colts losing (which put a small dent of disappointment in my night), the rest was quite fun!

The following Monday and Tuesday brought classes yet again. However, I was uber excited when I learned that I had a PACKAGE waiting for me at the Porter's lodge! I practically ran over there and had the absolute biggest, most dorky grin on my face the entire way. Again, I got looks and the porter even mentioned that I must be excited! That I was, because I knew who this package was from (Mr. Jake Weinstein), and I was patiently awaiting its arrival! Let me tell you what, Jake, you just really know how to assemble fantastic care packages, that's for sure. He included some Easy Mac (I've had a relentless craving for this since I've landed here), endless amounts of candy, movies, puzzles, all kinds of GREAT things! So, my thanks again, goes out to you! You're the best!

Then Wednesday, I made a trip into Tesco to purchase some things for our upcoming overnight trip and it was there that I learned that it had been canceled and postponed until next week. Bummer. So instead, I picked up extra cans of corn and beans and salsa, and went home and made a giant crock-pot full of chicken tortilla soup! I ate that for every dinner up until last night when I finally succumbed to my burnt-out taste buds and froze the soup I had left over for another time.

So Thursday rolled around and since we no longer had our trip out to Pembrokeshire, I slept in and didn't do a whole lot, I don't think. Again, can't really remember...

Anyway, moving on to Friday night: there was a Fancy Dress party at the Union. Again, I got talked into going out, even though I didn't have a costume to wear. But luckily, I had enough time to get a little creative. I remembered this past Halloween when one of my sorority sisters, Jess Au, went as a Hawaiian tourist (as she's originally from Hawaii), and I had thought it was BRILLIANT! So I kinda copied her with what I had available to me. I constructed a sweet fanny pack out of construction paper, wore my hat and comfy clothes and tennis shoes, of course, and then tied my camera around my neck. It was the perfect idea! I was comfortable the entire night and had a reason to take as many pictures as I wanted!

Then came Saturday. We took at trip to Swansea and Gower. Both were absolutely breathtaking in different ways. The drive out to Gower, which is just a small coastal town, was SO COOL! We took a very scenic route and it was nothing but twists and turns and trees and the occasional glimpse of the ocean. We finally made it there, after about an hour and a half and only had about that much time to explore. The first thing that caught my eye when we got there was this GIANT point way off in the distance, so that's where I headed first. Unfortunately, my depth perception was WAY off and it was a lot longer of a walk than what I imagined. I discovered that the only way to get to that humongous peak was to cross a rocky terrain at low tide. And once you did, it was another good 30-45 minute hike to get to the absolute furthest point. So, I went as far as I could, and compromised that I would come back and visit again so I could hike all the way out there.

Swansea was the extreme opposite of Gower. As the second-largest city in Wales (next to Cardiff), there was traffic and shops and people EVERYWHERE! Before we took the trip, I was expecting it to be a bit like Lafayette is compared to Delphi, but it's more like Indianapolis, okay, maybe a little smaller. I think the commute from Gower to Swansea took a little longer than expected because we only had 2 hours to spend in Swansea. Seeing as none of us had eaten since breakfast that morning, the majority of us were off to find somewhere good to eat! Again, we passed up the Burger King's and McDonald's and Starbuck's and ended up in a pub that was playing the Wales/Scotland Rugby match. All of Lacey's (note: for those of you who don't know, Lacey's my friend from school who's currently studying in Canterbury, England) talk about baked beans for breakfast finally persuaded me to try a hearty Welsh breakfast: two eggs, sausage, bacon (ham), chips (fries), mushrooms, baked beans, and a tomato. And I was so hungry I ate just about all of it (save the tomato)! It was filling, to say the least. The rest of our group wanted to order dessert, but Brittany (a friend I've met here at Trinity) and I wanted to have a little look-see at the shops Swansea had to offer. I bought a purse as a Valentine's Day gift to myself (or rather, Mom did/is haha) and then was passed out on the bus on the way home before I knew it!

So, that leads us all the way up to yesterday, Sunday. I am so very proud to say that yesterday, for the first time, I woke up at 9:30 a.m. COMPLETELY on my own. Seeing as I only have class a few days a week, sleeping in had become quite the habit for me. I'm usually not one to sleep in past 10:30 back home (and tend to make fun of those family members who do.. cough cough Roxanne!), but my sleeping/eating schedule has just been so far off that there were many days in the past month that I had slept in until 11 a.m. to as late as 2 p.m. one day. Lame, I know, I'm kind of embarrassed. But, I think I have finally adjusted in that area and so hopefully, I'll be able to soak in some of that early afternoon sunshine instead of missing out on it. So I was up bright and early and decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go for a run. That's something else I've been doing a lot, or trying to at least. I've finally found a semi-flat route to run. It's nice because there are neighborhoods off to the sides that have the tendency to extend up a hill, so I can challenge myself if I choose to, or I can just stick to the main route and go for any easy run. However, the only set back is that I do go down a large drop when I first start out, so no matter what, I know that I have to go back up at some point in time. But, I've almost got it mastered. I think I'll be ready for that hilly half-marathon in Lafayette this October, Tom. Bring on those hills!

But when I got back from my run, it was still too beautiful to sit inside and do work, so I packed up my reading and searched for a place to read outside. I found a bench spot-dab in the sunlight and settled in for an hour or two until the clouds started to move in. Dang clouds. So I headed back in for the day, but at least I got my reading done!

Wow. That is probably the LONGEST post I've ever written. Sorry, I won't leave a week's worth of information to catch you up on ever again! If you've continued to read this entire thing, thanks for bearing with me! However, I'm pretty sure that's all for now! Until next time!

Learning never ceases

A few things that I've learned:

Wales does NOT believe in the grid system. Every place you go, you find yourself taking the scenic route. A few examples:
1).The Cardiff Airport-We unloaded off of the plane outdoors (since it was just a little hopper plane) and came into the building on the ground floor. Right away, we headed up some stairs. Makes sense, right? Well, then we proceeded to the left, down a long, narrow hallway, then down some stairs, turning this way and that, then again, back up stairs and so on and so forth, until we finally reached the customs area, after about a good 10 minute walk. Not even kidding.
2). Trinity College Campus-I wish I could draw a map for you, but just imagine a campus spread over about 4-6 acres. Then imagine that half of this campus is only accessible through one little gap in the wall between two buildings that are, for some reason, still connected on the second and third floors. I am not joking here. This is the only outside way to get to most of my classes. Now I could cut through the buildings that surround it, but again, those paths are like mazes.
3). The city of Carmarthen-I wrote in an earlier post about getting lost on one of the first nights I was here, well the lack of organized streets is definitely the culprit. The main, one-way road that runs through town runs, of course, crookedly. So, there's really no use following it. However, I've found that there are many hidden paths and shortcuts that take you to places you would have never thought possible. But, if you're an out-of-towner, in Europe for the first time, this may be hard to get used to. Point in case, the night I got lost. I asked 3 different people and they all suggested different routes. No wonder I was lost. But now, I've discovered and learned these shortcuts and I've found that I can reach Tesco's in about a 15 minute walk!

Another thing I've learned is that roundabouts are not going to disappear, so I might as well get used to them. Even on the "motorway," there are roundabouts connecting other major motorways. Talk about lame. Especially when you're on a bus trying to catch some shut eye and you can't go for more than 10 miles without slowing down to stop at a light at a roundabout. Ahhh, oh well. They are sort of amazing to go around and try to figure out how you made it around without getting hit.

Along with the aspect of driving. Passengers enter on the left side of the vehicle, not the right. So, when I come home and attempt to climb into the driver's seat instead of the passenger's seat, you'll now know why.

I've also learned a lot about myself since I've been here. Being capable of spending most of my summer savings in one semester at DePauw, I've definitely learned to control those impulses to buy things that just sound good and to plan out my trips to the store in detail in order to eliminate unnecessary purchases. I bought a crock-pot last week and then Mom helped me come up with a list of recipes to try in there and so we then made a list and I organized it according to sections of Tesco, and let me tell you, it helped tremendously! Not only was Tesco's more manageable, but I was able to spend WAY less on food that was healthier for me and would last longer!

That's another thing. I'm kinda learning how to cook. I attempted potato soup last week. Didn't quite turn out exactly how Mom's does, but hey, it was a good, first try. So, determined as I am, I tried making beef stroganoff this week. It was much better. That may or may not have to do with the fact that I don't know what real beef stroganoff is supposed to taste like (other than Hamburger Helper), but I'd say it turned out pretty good! I was quite proud of my mashed potatoes! They were absolutely delicious! So, I figure, if I keep improving this much every time I cook, I'll be the next Paula Deen by the time I get home! Next week, I'm gonna try chicken tortilla soup. Now this one, I've made before, so hopefully it will be quite tasty! But I'll keep you updated.

Hmm, what else? Oh, well, I can finally appreciate why mom doesn't like me cooking in the kitchen in the first place. If I left half the mess my flatmates leave when they're in the kitchen, I'd want to wring my throat! I took the time to buy new "rubbish bags" for our "bin" the other day, ones that had the drawstring on them and we could tie up. Well, let's just say that the UK doesn't have anything comparable to "Glad" trash bags. It seems no matter what you buy, the bags are thin as can be and if stuffed full of trash, they tear quite easily. Trust me, I know this from personal experience. It seems that no one has the time to take out the trash in our flat. It would make sense if the person who put that one piece of trash on the top that clearly did not fit into the trash container itself, would go ahead and take the trash out. Oh no. On flat 5, we try to see just how much trash we can get to balance on top until it all topples over to the floor, causing quite the mess. So, I've now taken out the trash twice in one day, (a new record), because no one else does. It's starting to get a bit irritating seeing as no one has time to do anything else in that kitchen either. I mean, yes, there are times where I leave my dishes and forget about them overnight, but first thing in the morning, I get them clean and put away (if there's a clean towel). But I spent over an hour tidying the kitchen up the other day, (washing down the walls, wiping off counter tops, and doing all the dishes, regardless of whose they were) and by the next morning, there were more dishes to do, crumbs on the counter top, and splatters in the microwave. So I'm getting kind of worn out with it all. I may consider moving my food and my crock pot into my room and washing all my own dishes in my bathroom sink. Okay, maybe I won't be that extreme, but it's killing me to see it get so messy! But I guess I just gotta learn to roll with the punches. I'll be gone for two days this week on an expedition and then again for an entire week towards the end of February, so maybe they'll get it together and clean up a bit once I'm not there doing it for them. Or maybe not. Who knows?

So, I hate to end on such a poor note, but my clothes are finally done washing, and I've got to get them hung up to dry! Another fun task! At least my room smells great! I'll write again probably this weekend and let you know how my overnight camping trip goes, and about our international trip to Swansea (the Lafayette of Wales)! Until next time!

The Best, Most Miserable Day EVER!

So today, we (the outdoors group) headed back to Brecon Beacons National Park to do a bit more hiking. While we were warned that today's hiking was going to be a bit more intense, I figured that it'd be more intense in ways such as more climbing over obstacles and using our navigation skills. Well, we did get to use our navigation skills a lot more today, but we sure didn't have too many obstacles except for a few, MAJOR ones. Our objective for the day was to hike to the highest point in Southern Wales... 886 meters above sea level. So we set off, from a point about 400 meters above sea level and at that point in time, it was neither raining nor cold. If you do not know this about me already, I would say that I probably have the lowest tolerance level EVER for being cold and wet. I cannot stand it. Ever since I went to Kings Island with Select Singers in 6th grade and let Whitney Dyer borrow my sweatshirt because it was 45 degrees and raining, I have never liked being freezing cold and soaking wet again. I mean, really, who does enjoy it? But I'm a big baby when even my feet are cold. Anyway! We started off dry and warm. The wind had started to kick up, but what was a little wind? Well, that wind picked WAY up and blew some nice, big, old rain clouds in, along with some fog to help us practice our navigation skills, of course. And, as we climbed, it naturally got colder. So after taking the LONG way around, because, as I told you, we are pretty much the best group ever, we finally came to the bottom of our ascent, shoes muddy, waterproof rain gear soaked, and cheeks red from the beating they took from the wind. Thank goodness for that fog, because if I would have had a decent look at what we were about to climb up, I would have turned around right there and said, "Meet yah in the car!" Okay, maybe not, but I really would have doubted whether or not I could have hiked it. I had gone out a little bit too robust for the first part of our hike, practically racing anyone who tried to take the lead from me. That was up the little hills, that I thought were big at the time. The type of hills you'd go sledding down and then were always so much fun to walk back up. The type of hills that are common in southern Indiana. Yah. Hint to self: Those weren't big hills. Nor were they steep AT ALL. The massive hill we now faced, which I knew just from looking at the map, was probably 10x worse than the previous hills. Although the fog helped disguise a lot of its sense of foreboding, it also made the hike up the side seem never-ending. And to boot, the drop off not far to the left was pretty much a cliff and the wind was picking up more than ever! So all this made for a real fun walk up to the top. The altitude up this hill alone rose somewhere around 200 meters in the distance of approximately 1 km. I, being the terrible planner I am, didn't have enough sense to store my gloves in an easily accessible place in my backpack, so by the time I actually needed to put them on, I wasn't able to maneuver my frozen and numb hands to get them out. Pretty soon, the wind and rain and fog really started to take a toll on me as we climbed. Not only was I worried my hands were going to fall off from neglecting them, but I was deathly terrified that the powerful wind gusts were going to blow me right off the edge. So when we finally reached the top, I was completely exhausted, my hands were frozen, and my nose just wouldn't turn off. And then I was HIGHLY disappointed when Graham told us that we had just reached the top of the hill before the highest peak. Dang. Really? We hadn't even made it to the top yet? Ahhhhh... okay. This is the point in the trip where I had a little conversation with myself and came to the conclusion that I needed to suck it up! "Really? I am complaining that I am wet, cold, and miserable.. but HELLO! I'm in Wales for crying out loud! That fact alone, and the experience within itself definitely makes up for anything else." And so I was rejuvenated, ready to tackle this next hill/mountain. Little did I know, that hill we just came up was the toughest part. From there on out, the remainder of the climb to the peak was short and gradual in comparison to the massive hill we had just conquered. So, lesson learned: Sometimes, when you think the hardest part is yet to come, you learn that the things you've endured leading up to that point have more than prepared you for what's coming and you'll find that they have more of an impact than succeeding at the challenge itself.
From that point on, we began our descent. We stopped for a quick lunch on the side of a hill, out of the wind, in order to munch without having to worry about our stuff getting whipped away. Let me tell you, going down was a lot easier than going up. Not only was it easier for the obvious reason, but the rain had stopped, it seemed to have gotten warmer, and the wind was finally to our back. All in all, we hiked around 8 km in the 4 hours we were there. Not too shabby, given the weather conditions and what not.
But as of right now, I'm still not completely warmed up. The bus ride back was chilly, so that didn't help. I've also taken the longest shower of my life trying to warm up, and that helped a little, as did the coffee. But my right hand, from my thumb to half way up my forefinger is still numb. Probably because that was the hand that was getting pelted by the wind and rain. But I shall survive. I've got to. Got to keep exploring and updating as I go! Until next time...