I really kinda stink at these...

Okay, well. Let's see, we left off last at London, I do believe. Sooo... the following week.. Oh! Yes! The following week was reading week for my Outdoor Pursuits class, so I have nothing too exciting to fill you in on there, but the Monday of that week, March 1st, was the Welsh National holiday, St. David's Day! And the next day, I, along with a few other international students, attended a reception in Wales' capitol, Cardiff, to hear the First Minister speak... kinda like the Prime Minister, but since Wales technically isn't its own country...
The venue was beautiful! The reception was held at The Senedd in Cardiff Bay, which is a newly constructed, eco-friendly legislative building that overlooks the water. We hadn't inquired before hand whether or not the reception was going to serve food, so we went to a place called, "Wagamama's." Deeeee-licious! It's an Asian restaurant, that has really fast service, but AMAZING food. I opted for a veggie dish.. something with eggplant, squash, sweet potato, and curry sauce...never really thought I'd ever just order something like that, but I was feeling pretty daring. And yes, in case you didn't gather already, it was really, really good!
So we finished up at Wagamama's and then headed to the event. We were a little bit late, but still caught the majority of the First Minister's speech. Shortly afterward, we learned that they were serving samples of tradition Welsh foods. Soooo no big deal, but we definitely went around and tried everything. My favorite was, well, I can't remember the name for it, but it was a hunk of grilled salmon in a creamy leek sauce, topped with a sprig of "fireburst," I think it was called. Normally, I would look it up and try to find the proper name, but I could not find it anywhere. Just know though it looks like a miniature stalk of bamboo, is choc-full with iron, is a little salty tasting, and grows along the coast here in Wales. Anyhow, it's good and cool, because it's kind of native to Wales and it grows wildly.
So, we went to the reception, stuffed ourselves even more, and had a chance to talk with internationals who were from other universities in Wales. It was a great opportunity to learn how the Welsh government works and to see the amazing building in which they hold their meetings.
The next exciting didn't really happen until the weekend. On Saturday, a few other girls and myself grabbed a train to Swansea for the afternoon. A couple of them just wanted to have a look around in the shops, but Anita (an international from Hobart Williams Smith in New York) and me went to go see Alice in Wonderland in 3-D! It sure was interesting. . . First, the movie theatres here are a bit different than back home. They're still outrageously priced, but rightfully so, as they have a candy buffet, preference seating, and a Ben & Jerry's on locations. Ha. I really just couldn't believe it! When I was looking up times earlier that day, I even saw the option of having a bean bag seat. Hmmm..
But the movie was great! Or at least, I thought so. Clearly, a Tim Burton film. You've got to be prepared in order to appreciate it, I think. I hadn't watched the original Disney version in a LONG time, so I watched part of it the night before to kind of jog my memory. I had forgotten how messed up that version was. But I really enjoyed the movie!
Let's see, and the last thing I'll leave you with is my hitchhiking story. Yep, hitchhiking. So, a couple of friends of mine and myself decided it would be fun to get up, pack a lunch, and walk all the way to Llansteffan, the coastal town that is about 8 miles away, that way, we could sit on the beach, eat our lunch, and then go check out the castle a bit more. That in itself was a fabulous idea. Besides the locals who don't abide by the general rule that, "pedestrians have the right-away," our walk there was pretty good! The last 3 or so miles seemed forever long, but again, I think it was because we were walking on a sort of highway (since there were no other ways of getting there). And, seeing as it was a beautiful day, EVERYONE was headed to the beach, and people were honking at us and giving us dirty looks the entire time.. sorry for walking.
But we finally made it into town, did all the fun things we went there to do, but kind of lost track of time. Woops. So, there it was, about half past four when we finally looked down at our watch, and seeing as it took us 2 and a half hours to walk there, we figured that there was no way we'd make it back into town by dark. So we set off promptly and Rhea, who is an experienced hitch hiker, started explaining all the techniques of hitchhiking.. make sure you make eye contact, smile, look more for bigger cars or those who don't have a lot of passengers, and so on. Ha, well for those who know me, you know I'm terrible with rejection, so this was a little hard at first, but then, when there were people taking pictures of us and others laughing uncontrollably, I was like, who cares, they obviously find it entertaining. So we kinda made a game out of it. We'd all take turns sticking out our thumbs and then cursing the lone drivers who passed three, well-dressed and groomed girls up. Ohhhh well..
The sun was starting to set and we were just outside of the halfway point, a little town called Llangain, when FINALLY someone pulled up, and was like, "need a ride?" Yes, sir, we do! So we climbed in, and his wife started explaining to us that they were headed into Llangain to have a drink at the pub and then they'd be headed towards Carmarthen. So we were like, yah, yah, that's totally fine. So we get to the pub, the guy PAYS for our drinks and then we sat and had a nice, long chat about where we were from, what we were doing in Wales, Barack Obama, music, EVERYTHING. Turns out, the guy is a digital music artist. He's just getting started, but he gave us his card, and so we're supposed to watch for him in the US.. he says he's gonna be there before too long!
But it was just too funny. While the guy was extremely loud, cursed like a sailor, drank, and smoked, his wife was the complete, polar opposite. She was very soft-spoken and didn't drink nor smoke. But you could see that they fit so well together. Ha ha ha. Yes, I was analyzing this the entire time.. I'm an odd one.
Anyhow, we finished our drinks and the ride into town was a short one. They dropped us off right in front of school and wished us luck, as we did them and went on their way. I've gotta say, if all hitchhiking is like that, I've GOT to do it more often! Nahh, but in all seriousness, I realize it can be quite risky, but I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't with two other girls and just outside of town. As my first experience with hitchhiking though, it was pretty awesome!
Well now, I've caught you up on a little bit. Keep your eye out for more. It's coming.. I have yet to fill you in on last week, and the activities that have already occurred this week! Until next time!