Snowdonia Fieldtrip

Today I woke up to a somewhat rainy and foggy day, but there was no way I was going to let it ruin the field trip today! We headed off toward Llyn Ogwen in Snowdonia where we got to walk the paths of the Snowdonia mountain to the Idwal lake, a beautiful clear lake surrounded by mountains. As we walked back down the mountains, we could see the fog taking over the peaks of the mountains slowly until we couldn't see them anymore. We then drove to the Ugly House (Ty Hyll), which is said to have been built by 2 brothers within 24 hours, and by dawn of their 24 hour construction, they had smoke coming out of the chimney. The house was small, but it's amazing to think that it was built in just one day and was very much functional! Our next stop was at Swallow Falls, right off the main street, Holyhead Road, near Betws-y-Coed. The falls were magnificent, with two separate falls, having large boulders making it look jagged. We stopped for lunch in the small town of Betws-y-Coed along the way where Molly and I got the most delicious ice cream dessert! It was called the Belgium waffle sunday...enough said. We then stopped at the Dolwyddelan Castle which we actually trespassed into=/ but Tecwyn was the leader of the pack so we didn't get into too much trouble. As we walked up the steep hill to get to the castle, the clouds slowly passed letting in the sunlight and an even more beautiful rainbow. The view was amazing from the top of the castle, being able to see for miles the hills and pastures. Our last stop was in Llandudno, popular for its shopping centre and Victorian themes town, having the longest pier in the United Kingdom overlooking the waters and large windmills sitting out in the middle of the water.

When we got back to campus, the girls and I got ready to go to a church we heard about that had a 6pm service and a free dinner afterwards! It was called Penrallt Baptist Church. The minister was so friendly and it really was a great service. We had to laugh during service though when the minister was talking about the struggles of first learning to drive and when you accidentally grind the gears...most cars are manual while all of us drive automatic, so we had never had this problem. The people were all so open to visitors and surprised by how many Americans had attended the service that night. We talked to one of the singers in the band and he was telling us that only about 1 in 100 people go to church in Wales. I found that very surprising because of all the beautiful churches and cathedrals they have around campus and the town.

After getting back to our rooms, and I was ready for bed, Liz invited me to watch some episodes of "Glee" with her and the other flat mates. We ended up watching episodes for 3 hours, and before I knew it, it was midnight! It was a pretty eventful day and I had so much fun! But now classes start tomorrow, so I have to prepare myself for actual work ahead of me.