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!