Harlech/Portmeirion/Beddgelert

Yesterdays field trip was very fascinating! We started off by driving about an hour to get to Harlech where one of the many castles King Edward I built, the Harlech Castle, was located. The Castle had water surrounding the outsides of the walls at one time, but is now atop a large hill with flat ground far below where the water had once covered. Back when the water reached the castle, both the Criccieth and Harlech castles acted like ports and would supply one another with necessities, traveling by sea from each castle. The front of the castle had two large towers facing the town and a drawbridge where the steps are located now. Inside the castle it was very open and still very intact. A bunch of us decided to play hide and seek inside the castle since there was so many places to go. Sarah and I were partnered up, but instead of just looking we explored the castle ourselves. While doing so, we ended up losing the game, being the one ones not to find Reid, who was hiding. During our exploring we went to the top of the castle and were able to enjoy the beautiful view of Snowdonia and the ocean on each side. Outside the castle there is a sculpture of Bendigeidfran atop a horse carrying the body of his nephew Gwern, called The Two Kings. We ate lunch in the town and stopped at a small restaurant specializing in homemade pies, but not the kind of sweet pies we think of, rather the meaty pot pie kind. Molly and I got fish and chips and a chicken pie. They were both delicious, the crust of the chicken pie flaky and very tasty and the fish cooked to perfection, with the chips topped with salt and vinegar. It was my first fish and chip experience in Wales and I loved it!

The next stop was to Portmeirion, a small secluded town built by Bertram Clough Williams, and many of his paid workers since he was very wealthy, surrounded by forests and ocean. The town was so colorful, each building a different pastel color, and had many statues resembling Italian figures as well as salvaged Italian buildings imported from Italy. There was even a Cadwalader's ice cream shop there! Tecwyn informed us that many famous people have come to stay in the Portmeirion hotel, such as Tom Cruise and Catherine Zeta Jones, located within the town. The town was so unique and it was amazing to think that one person could have designed the entire town. Clough is said to have built the town "to show that the development of a naturally beautiful site need not lead to its defilement and that architectural good manners could be good business." It was so neat walking around the small town, noticing the details on each building and personal thought put into every design.

When we all got back on the bus, Tecwyn taught us how to sing "Happy Birthday" in Welsh to Allison, since it was her birthday. It went a little something like this...Penblywdd Hapus I Chi!

On our way to the next stop we took a detour and pulled off to the side of the road to take a few pictures of the Aberglaslyn Pass. Right off the bridge there was a rocky waterfall, said to be one of the most beautiful scenic sites in North Wales. And it was beautiful, the way the water flowed off of the large rocks submerged in the water.

We continued on our way to Beddgelert, meaning the grave of Gelert, a town famous for the legend of Prince Llewelyn who is said to have left his baby son in the care of his faithful dog Gelert at home, and upon his return found the dog covered in blood and his son nowhere to be found. Llewelyn's angry lead him to kill his dog and after doing so heard a cry and found his son beneath the cradle and a dead wolf that had been killed by his faithful dog Gelert in order to protect the baby. Because of Llewelyns quick reaction to blame his dog and kill him, he built a memorial for his dog and buried him in the town. We walked through the town to the grave site, where an English and welsh gravestone was present. Further up the path there was a house ruin where it is said to be where the battle between the wolf and the dog occurred, with a metal statue of Gelert standing inside.

We headed back towards school after a day of walking and exploring. I enjoyed this field trip, especially since we were able to see so many unique and different things. Our next field trip with Tecwyn is Ireland! I can't wait for that!

When we got back we ate and got ready to go out to Academy, a dance club downtown. We got the whole group to come and had a lot of fun dancing and being goofy. At one point during the night popcorn started shooting down from the ceiling landing everywhere! It was really random and funny! It was a pretty busy day, but I had so much fun exploring and dancing with the girls=)

Tight shoes, sore hands, and Indoor Rock Climbing

This morning for Outdoor pursuits, we had no idea what to expect for our activity, especially since the weather had been so questionable the last couple days. As we all got settled in the van, Sally told us we would be rock climbing indoors due to the unfortunate rainy weather today. I was pretty excited since I hadn't rock climbed in a while, but I had a feeling it was going to be much more intense then the kind of rock climbing I was use to. We first practiced some basic rock climbing activities in the Conway Centre Rock Climbing room. We tried walking along the base of the wall, just touching the climbing rocks to guide us, then moved up to more difficult tasks, such as no hand rock climbing, climbing using the rocks under our belly to support us, a 360 degree turn on a corner, and the most unique one...climbing all the way around a table. This task seemed impossible, until Sally demonstrated how it was done, using only her legs and hands to make it all the way around a table, starting from the top, hanging from the bottom and swinging herself onto the other side. It was incredible! I was sure I wouldn't be able to do that...i wasn't flexible enough, and I had no idea what I was doing. But when it came to be my turn, I tried to follow Sally's guideline, squeezing my thighs on the table to support myself from falling off, and swinging my body under the table, and finally grabbing the other side of the table from the bottom and maneuvering my feet to the other side and pulling myself up. It was the most exciting thing to accomplish! How many people can say they can climb all the way around a table!!?

After the practice activities we grabbed our supplies and drove to the Beacon Climbing Center in Llanrug, where we would be rock climbing and bouldering all day. When we got there, we warmed up by running around in a circle throwing our arms up and dropping them to the ground. It warmed us all up and we were all laughing by the end. We practiced side climbing on the lower walls to figure out footing and holding techniques. Next we were ready for bouldering, which is a form of climbing without a rope on uneven surfaces, usually parallel to the ground, much like it would be climbing a rock outside. This climbing technique is meant to strengthen your climbing ability, which we could all feel our muscles working extra hard on this activity. We were never to high up in the air if we were to lose our gripping, and there was a very padded mat at the bottom. We all practiced this, using different colored climbing rocks to our abilities and landing properly when we jumped from the wall. Sally then introduced us to another form of bouldering, where we could use slots in the wall to climb up an outward slanted wall, and upon reaching the top, we could maneuver to the other wall directly in front of it. This was also very difficult, especially since our hands were hurting by now and we lost a lot of energy climbing slowly up, rather than climbing quickly and saving that energy.

After many attempts at that task, we moved on to the actual vertical climbing wall. We practiced our figure 8 knots and learned how to make a double figure 8 knot and a stop knot. Using the knots we had just leaned, a karabiner, and a belayer, we were ready for our first rock climbing experience at the Beacon Center. This type of rock climbing is known as bottom roping because the belayer is at the bottom of the rock wall. Each of us successfully made it to the top, all happy to have mastered the first climb so quickly. As much fun as we were having, it was time for lunch! We had good chats with Sally at Lunch, asking her 20 questions about herself as we waited for our food to settle.

After lunch we made our way to a room with two small climbing walls opposite each other, no taller than our heads. We had to warm ourselves up again, so we ran around in a circle and flapped our arms. Next, Sally gave us the challenge of racing each other across the rock walls, using a different color climbing rock each time. It was a great workout and some of the rock colors definitely challenged us.

We moved on to what Sally called the freezer room, because it was so cold. And it was pretty cold, but there were a number of various rock climbing walls, bouldering areas, and obstacle climbing areas. Megan and I tried a couple rock climbing walls, easy at first, then getting more difficult. By the end of our climbs, our hands were sweaty and we were slightly shaken up, but so proud of our accomplishments. We then moved on to a more difficult rock climbing activity, where we had to grab onto a rope ladder midair, at the top of the rock wall. Letting go of the rock wall and grabbing onto the ladder was the most terrifying part, but we each made it all the way to the top of the ladder successfully. Our last real challenge of the day was lead climbing. This involves climbing on a rock wall, while carrying a rope attached to your harness in order to attach it to the karabiners stationed vertically on the wall, and is used to ascend a route. I think I felt the most nervous for this challenge because we had more of a risk of falling if we lost our gripping. We had to take extra caution when placing our feet and hands and attaching our rope to the karabiners as quickly and correctly as we could. I accidentally got my rope caught on a karabiner below me, which was a scary situation, but with the help of Sally I fixed it and continued on my way up. Finally reaching the top was so relieving, especially since you knew you were fully secure at the bottom. It was a great feeling when I finally touched the ground and I felt much more confident in my ability to climb more challenging activities.

When it was time to head back to the Conway Centre, we took off our climbing shoes, our feet finally being able to breathe after being scrunched for so many hours. My body was definitely tight after all the activities we accomplished, but I knew I had worked hard all day long, and persevered to make sure I did the best I could. As for tomorrow...well see if I can even move to get out of bed=/

"Dont stop me now...cause im having a good time!"

It has been another eventful week, starting with Saturday, February 20. The girls and I decided to go to a movie in Llandudno Junction, about a 30 minute train ride to get there. As we bought our tickets around 2pm, our train was just pulling up, talk about good timing! We had some free time before the movie so we stocked up on candy and drinks for the movie beforehand. We got to the theater and waited in a cue for the movie "Valentine's Day", as we sorted out our various sorts of candy (we had 5 different candy bars to share...it was great!). When the movie finished we went to dinner at Pizza Hut right outside the theater, where there was also a McDonalds and a KFC...we had to laugh at the combination of restaurants because of the song related to each one. We caught the next train back after a delicious dinner and good movie=)

Monday night my flat mates invited me to go out to Paddy's Pub to celebrate G's birthday. While I was there, I actually sang two karaoke songs with Liz, Charlie, and Nikki, "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Don't Trust Me". I was by no means good, but it was a lot of fun! There was even a guy that sang Eminem and other rap songs all night long, supposedly he is famous around Pubs during karaoke night singing...you guessed it, Eminem!

Wednesday was by far the nicest day I've experienced in Bangor yet. It was probably only 50 degrees or so, but the sun was out and the breeze was warm, and it felt like spring! I went for a long run to Anglesey Island to the ancient church and cemetery on the Menai Strait, only accessible by a small stone pathway. It was absolutely gorgeous, the sun hitting the water perfectly and the small island so peaceful. I really enjoyed my run that day, and couldn't help but get excited for nicer weather to arrive later in the season.

Bending the Menai Strait

Yesterday for outdoor pursuits we went canoeing, rain or shine. Lucky for us, it wasn't snowing when we woke up that morning like the weather reports had suggested, but it was cloudy and slightly windy, which can be a contributing factor when canoeing. When we got to the Conway Centre we gathered what we would need for the day, including fire equipment and plenty of layers if any of us were to capsize. Elliot and I decided to be partners in the tandem canoes and packed our supplies in our dry bag to bring with us. Everyone got their canoes ready and in the water and we began practicing paddling and steering within the docks. I was the paddler in front, while Elliot was the steerer in the back. We practiced turns, circles, and paddling in sync. When everyone was ready, we left the safety of our docking area and headed into the Menai Strait. We paddled through the middle, within the current, trying to fight the strong current and the wind against us. It felt like it took us forever to finally make it to the bridge, but when we did, the current was even stronger, meaning that the tide had gotten higher, causing the water to flow faster. We had to veer off to the left in an eddy, which is an area on the side of the water that has no current, to avoid being pushed further back in our canoes, and made our way under the bridge staying close to the side of the pillar, where there was less current. After we all made it safely under the bridge we stopped to have lunch on a small grassy area.

As we were making our way up a small rocky area, Megan and Molly capsized and were completely soaked! We hurried to get them warm, letting them change under a kissu to keep as much body heat as possible. We set up camp, finding sticks and rocks to make a fire. I even learned how to start a fire using flint and steel. It was so exciting and I felt like I was in the movie Cast Away! We made tea in a Kelly Kettle and some of us tried Hot Orange, which was a combination of orange juice and hot water. It was very tasty and the hot drinks helped warm us up. Ashley and I were in charge of making popcorn for everyone, using whatever we could find. We had no idea what to do, being that we had never made popcorn other than in the microwave. We used a strainer devise Sally had made, placing aluminum foil on the bottom and put tons of oil and popcorn kernels within it. We set it over the fire and hoped for the best. Within minutes, we saw the first popcorn kernel pop into a fluffy white edible popcorn!! We were so excited that we had accomplished what seemed like an impossible task. After most of the kernels had popped, we sprinkled sugar over the popcorn and passed around our creation, receiving many smiles and good reviews. We also cooked marshmallows over the campfire. It was a delicious lunch after the hard work we did getting across the strong current. But that didn't even compare to what kind of activities were ahead of us that day!

After cleaning up and tying Megan/Molly's canoe with Annie/Ashley's with a large wood pole, to avoid either of them from capsizing again, we paddled our way into a near eddy. By now the tide had gotten much lower, and areas that we had no trouble paddling through we now struggled to avoid hitting the bottom of our canoe, against the rocks that were emerged now. The next task Sally had for us was breaking in and out of the current, which is where you emerge your canoe into the strong current outside of the eddy and merge back into the Eddy. She first taught the front paddlers how to bow cut, using our paddles to turn the canoe sharply out of the current and into the eddy. The people in the back were the stern rudders, directing the canoe in and out of the current. Being in the front of the canoe, I had to rely and trust the person in the back steering, Elliot, since I couldn't see or perform the tasks he had to do. It was finally our turn to try breaking in and out. Although we failed the first time trying to break into the current, by the second time around we had it perfected. Bow cutting when I needed and Elliot steering when he needed. It was nerve racking, especially if we were to miss cutting back in, we would have ended up way down by the bridge.

Our next task was to ferry glide to another eddy down the Strait a ways, passing through a small rapid. The only thing I could think about was, "what if we flip?" I knew I had to trust Elliot and myself to get us there safely. When it was our turn we started flowing faster and faster to the eddy ahead. We made it down the rapids smoothly, but we missed our turn, so we ended up having to paddle more up stream to get back to the group. Once we were all in the eddy, Sally showed us how to surf the rapids in a canoe. It was our turn and we cautiously made our way to the rapid. Once we were on the rapid our canoe stopped moving...we were surfing the rapids! It was really exciting being able to be the first group to accomplish the task. We paddled back into the eddy, proud of our success and ready for another go.

The most difficult task of the day was the next challenge Sally threw at us. We were to ferry glide down the current from the right side of the current, which seemed to have gotten stronger as the day went on and bow cut into an eddy on the left. Everyone knew this would take a lot of hard work and mental preparation. Sally went first to demonstrate, paddling all by herself. We could tell she had a difficult time with the current pulling her further down the strait, but she made it safely into the eddy and the rest of us followed. After catching the current, our canoe flipped around, so that both Elliot and I were facing backwards and we paddled like crazy to get into the eddy. I have never paddled and used my muscles so much at one time in my life, I was so terrified we wouldn't make it into the eddy. Everyone made it safely, some of us getting pulled down the strait further than others.

We headed back to the dock after a hard day of canoeing. As we flowed down the current, Sally challenged us to stand on the rims of our canoes. Initially I thought there was no way I would do something as crazy as that...but I decided this was my chance to try something different and risky, and I did it! It was very scary and at the same time rewarding. Before reaching the docks, we stopped to tie up all of our canoes to play games. We played the British version of Hokey Pokey, jumping around inside our canoes, flapping our arms and shaking our bottoms, and at one point she said to put our noses in, so I did, but I got more than just my nose wet=/ Next she told us to put our bottoms in...Annie was the only one to try this, but instead of just getting her bottom in the water, she got her back side in the water after straddling the two boats she was holding on to. We also played Strawberries, Bananas, and Apples, where we swapped places with one another whenever Sally called out our fruit. The whole time all I could think about was how ridiculous we must look to anyone watching us from shore, but how much fun we were having.

Before we knew it our canoes had floated almost completely back to the docks, so Sally gave us the challenge to untie our canoes as quickly as we could from one another and race back. When we were all ready and sitting in the van to go back to campus, Sally told us how advanced the activities we had performed today were and that we accomplished each one brilliantly. It was such a fun day of outdoor pursuits and it made me feel really good that we had all been able to accomplish the tough tasks thrown at us.

This morning I woke up to find that it was snowing outside!! I could hardly believe my eyes, so I went back to sleep. When I finally got back up and looked out the window, it was still snowing. I guess I wasn't dreaming. I went for a run, where the snow turned into rain, and then into sleet, and then back into snow again. That's Wales weather for you!

Pancake Day

Yesterday, February 16, was pancake day, so of course, we celebrated Pancake Day seriously with homemade pancakes made by Megan and chopped up a chocolate candy bar and added it into the batter. They were delicious! It seems like they take Pancake Day here pretty seriously because of all the announcements in the grocery stores and everyone we passed talked about it, except their pancakes are more like crepes and they eat them with sugar and lemon. Some of Megan's flat mates tried "our" pancakes and thought they were too sweet, and couldn't understand how we could eat up to 5 pancakes. We just laugh, because we've noticed we have a much more sweet tolerance than they do. Molly and I had to scarf down our pancakes and hurry off to track practice. We decided to walk the short cut path, which goes down through the woods behind the dorms...bad idea, it was soo muddy and we ended up sliding half the way down. But we got to practice alive, got a good workout in on the track and headed back. We ended up eating a couple more pancakes since there were some left overs. We called it an early night, since we were both exhausted from walking there and back and our workout.

This morning I woke up to a beautiful sunlight peaking through my curtains. I decided I had to take advantage of the nice day and went for a short run to the Roman Camp. Once I got there I just sat and looked at the mountains, trying to take it all in...which I think is impossible because it was just so pretty, with the snow covering the peaks of the mountains and the sun reflecting off the water. It was probably only 45 degrees of so, but the sun made it feel 10 degrees warmer. I'm so happy I got to experience that on such a perfect day.

Molly, Sarah and I got pizza for dinner with a side of large chips of course and watched the office. I'd say it was a pretty successful day=) Tomorrow we have outdoor pursuits, and according to the radar, its suppose to snow, but the weather here is so temperamental, it could be another beautiful day like today. Ill keep my fingers crossed;)

Happy Valentines Day & randoms

Saturday night after our field trip we suddenly had a ton of energy and ended up having our own dance party in Megan's flat hall way. We were dancing on chairs, and jumping around, and just making up our own dance moves. We were just being silly and it was a blast! I haven't used that much energy in a long time! And my abs were definitely hurting afterwards from laughing so hard.

Yesterday for Valentines day we decided to go out for brunch. Walking around, trying to decide where to go we stopped in the Yellow Pub. We figured out what we wanted and went to the bar to order, but they needed ID...and they couldn't accept our Iowa Drivers License. Disappointed, we wondered around downtown looking for somewhere else we could eat, trying to use broken elevators and walking to several dead ends. We finally came to Varsity and decided to eat there. The food was well worth the wait and we were happy that our first stop didn't end up working out after all.

We didn't do too much the rest of the day, besides write our journals for Outdoor Pursuits together. After dinner we made sugar cookies and decorated them with frosting and ate ice cream as our official Valentines day celebration. It was so yummy, but I definitely felt sick after eating 5 cookies=/

For the longest time, whenever I got a text message from one of my flat mates or someone here in Wales, they always put an "x" or multiple "xxx"'s at the end of their sentences. It turns out that is their way of friendly "kissing" and is just a common sentence ender. Supposedly the more x's you receive, the better your relationship is. It's always exciting getting X's from people, especially multiple x's in a row!

I've found that I miss our peanut butter at home, but their peanut butter really isn't that bad. More than anything though, I miss macaroni and cheese! They don't have the kind we have at home and it's just not as cheesy tasting the kind they have here. But...there are foods here that I know ill miss when I get back home...like custard cremes. Molly and I have this addiction where we buy a whole packet and they will be gone in less than 2 days. We've decided to hold each other accountable for our cravings, and so far it's been better...well see how long that lasts, haha

Anglesey Island Field Trip

Saturday Feb. 13, 2010

Today was our field trip to Anglesey Island and it was partly cloudy, but still pretty out. Our first stop was to the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantyssiliogogoch...and I didn't misspell it or leave out any spaces, this is a real town name! In fact, its the longest domain name in the world! But before we got there, we stopped on the side of the road to take a perfect post card picture of the Menai bridge, strait and mountain peaks in the distance. It really was the perfect picture. We moved on to the longest town name, which actually means "The Church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the Church of Tysilio by the red cave". The town didn't always have the record for the longest name though, when they built the Menai bridge to connect Wales with Anglesey Island, they wanted more visitors and tourists, so they changed the villages original name, Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll, to its long name known now. It's exciting to say that I've been to the village with the longest name in the world!

Next we drove to Puffin Island, a small island right off of Anglesey Island, named because of the Puffin birds that bred there. Just down the road we visited Penmon Priory, a monastery containing a couple of the old Celtic crosses inside, in order to preserve them. There was a well right outside the monastery that is said if you drink it, any eye problems will be healed. Annie and I didn't necessarily want to drink the water, so we just put a couple drops on our eye lids. We'll see if that helps...

Our next stop was to the Beaumaris Castle, the last castle to be built by King Edward and the only castle with a moat around the outside of the castle, though it was probably only about ankle high. Probably not too useful when trying to keep intruders out. We were able to climb to the top of the castle, overlooking the Menai strait and the mountains. The sun was finally starting to come out by then. We ate in the town before heading to our next stop, and Molly and I both stopped at the bakery to try a pastry sort of dessert. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was, but I can tell you that it was filled with whip creme, topped with chocolate, very messy, but yummy.

We drove to Marquis Tower, a tower built by his family in memory of Marquis, who is said to have had his leg blown off and not shed any emotion. He was also the first person to have invented the peg leg, after needing one himself. We climbed to the top of the tower, 115 steps and all, to an amazing view of the whole Island and even into Bangor. We were so high up and could see for miles if we wanted to.

Our last stop and by far my favorite location was at a beach near Newborough Warren. The tide was low so there was plenty of beach and sand. By now the sun was shinning and it was just so peaceful and beautiful! The beach wrapped around in a "U" shape to Llanddwyn Island, where there was a light house, and "The church of St. Dwynwen" was once located, now just appearing as ruins. From the top of the hill on the Island there were multiple crosses overlooking the Menai strait and we even saw wild ponies! It really was magical! As the day got later and the sun began to reflect off of the water, we decided to come back again sometime to camp and watch the sun set, and of course stargaze. Everything there was so perfect and everyone seemed to be so happy. Every bad feeling seemed to fade away...I absolutely loved it there!

So far, this was my favorite field trip, probably because of all the amazing views and scenery. I can't wait to show my family and friends when they come to visit. I know they'll love it just as much as I did=)

Lunch in the mountains

I woke up Thursday morning to a beautiful sunny day with not a cloud in the sky! I knew it was going to be a great day of Outdoor Pursuits before we even got there. We got in the car and Sally asked us what we thought about going mountain climbing today...of course we said yes! So we drove to the Conway Centre got our gear and we were off to Tryfan Mountain to do our mountain climbing. There was a lot of gear we needed to ensure our safety and brought multiple layers to keep us warm as the temperatures dropped higher in the mountains. We began our journey up the mountain, fairly steady at first, but it increasingly got steeper. We took a quick break looking at how far we had climbed, the cars looking like ants in the distance and herds of wild sheep roaming far below us on the mountain sides. The sun was shinning and out of no where there were 2 jets that flew past us, in between the mountains. That was the first time I have ever been higher than a plane! The jets were practicing for the air force on Anglesey Island. As we continued up the mountain we made up games and songs to keep us all occupied and motivated. During our trek up we ran into multiple icy spots and had to take alternate paths to avoid those sections. After loosing the path for the remainder of the way up we got to a stopping point where we could either start our climb around the mountain or try climbing up further into the mountain peaks, where it was very jagged and rocky. We decided to climb to the top, with Sally, my outdoor pursuits instructor, as our leader. We went two different paths, trying to reach the top, but it was just too icy and dangerous, so we had to climb back down to the flat surface. We got to slid on a bit of snow/ice to get to our flat spot, in order to eat lunch. As we ate lunch, the sun kept us warm as we enjoyed the view of the other mountain peaks and the wild goats grazing below us. I could see for miles, all the way out to the Menai Strait, and you could see and hear the jets every so often when they flew past low between the mountains. Not many people can say that they had lunch on top of a mountain. It was such an unforgettable experience. After a peaceful lunch we continued around the mountain, but in order to get to a climbable section we had to slid down a long snowy slope on our butts. It was so fun with Annie, Molly, Ashley and I making a train down and colliding at the bottom. After our exciting slid down, Sally gave us a task to climb to the stone wall quite far ahead of us. We all had our pace, but all accomplished reaching the top of the wall and finding a beautiful view on the other side of the wall. We rested for a bit enjoying the scenery, and noticed a group of people at the top of the other mountain peak making their way down. Our next task was to make it down to the path below in order to make our way out of the mountain. For awhile I was leading the pack down to the stone path. I felt like I had a huge responsibility keeping my group safe and choosing the best path to get to where we needed to go. Sally gave us all a challenge as we were climbing down, telling us we could only climb on the rocks and couldn't walk on the heather (the grassy terrain within the mountain) or the ground. It was difficult, but it challenged us and kept us occupied, and before we knew it we were on the stone path. For the remainder of the climb down, we followed the path, seeing the tiny cars in the distance until they became life size when we finally made it down the mountain. We spent about 5 hours in the mountains and climbed about 1800 ft. that day, but it was an amazing experience I will never forget. We decided to make up a team name, called Peehs, which is sheep spelled backwards, and we made up a chant for when we finished the mountain. Our outdoor pursuits group is so supportive and motivating, I know we can do any activity thrown at us.

That night when we got back we showered quick and made dinner since all of us were hungry after a physically tiring day. It was our 1 month anniversary of being in Wales so we celebrated with ice cream cones thanks to Morrison Grocery Store. The rest of the night was lazy, watching movies and making up dances to music videos, mostly Annie and Megan...they are going to be famous on YouTube someday;)

I went to bed pretty early since I was battling a cold and just as I fell asleep a loud beeping noise was ringing in my room and in the halls. It was a fire drill at 2 in the morning! I scrambled to get any form of shoe on and some sort of coat and ran out the door as my other flat mates were coming out of their rooms too. We all just looked at each other, annoyed that it had to be this night that they did the fire drill. We hurried out the door to make the exit in less than 3 minutes, the deadline for getting out of the building, or else the whole dorm has to do it again, until its under 3 minutes. As we were all waiting outside, i noticed how embarrassing i must look...i was in my pajamas, with my hair in a fro, without my glasses, and a horrible cold. The Warden gathered all the members of the dorm and told us we had all made it out of the dorm in 2min 15sec...phew! So we all headed back inside to go back to sleep, relieved that we wouldn't have to have another fire drill this year.

Climbing a mountain and a fire drill on a Thursday!? ...that's just too much excitement for one day, but never-the-less it was a great day!

Athletic club introduction

I had my first seminar for my new Apocalypse class on Tuesday and I can't remember ever being that nervous, besides when I was 80 ft. high in the air on the high ropes. The seminars are small and are really just to help you understand and learn the material better, but I was still terrified. When I finally got to the seminar and got through it, it wasn't as bad as I thought, of course it was history, so I was still pretty clueless on all that happened. I had the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted, so I went grocery shopping with Megan and Sarah. I seem to use a lot of my free time grocery shopping or walking places since everything is so spread out.

Dinner was early that night because Molly and I had a date with an outdoor track for our meeting for the Athletic club (aka track). We walked down to the track, taking about 30 minutes to get out there, half of the time in the dark and tripping over speed humps in the dark we couldn't see. We finally made it and met 2 very nice ladies, Jenny and Heather, who will be our coach for the next 4 months. I was intimidated at first because they seemed to be so in shape and I haven't been running as much as I should..oops! I'm looking forward to my Tuesdays and Thursday nights though when i get to run with the athletic club at the track.

Molly and I made it back alive, after walking through the woods from the track in the dark, and found the girls making monster cookies, so we had a bunch of those. Megan is our Aunt Jemima in Wales, always making us delicious snacks, making sure our bellies are full=)

My flat mates invited me out that night, and I brought some of the girls with me. Little did I know where we would be going. We had planned on going to the club Time, but once we got there, we found out it was a lesbian/gay/bi night. But that didn't stop my flat mates from dragging all of us into the club. It was definitely a different experience, but it was so much fun! We just danced around with each other and had a good time. I had my first Donner Kebab that night as well, which everyone says is a MUST HAVE before you leave Wales. Its basically a gyro, but they call them a kebab. It was pretty good, even though Ive heard horrible things about them from my flat mates. We got back to Megan's room and ate more monster cookie and then I was ready for bed after a crazy night!

Rugby and Scones

It's been a busy last couple of days. After Thursdays intense workout at Outdoor Pursuits, I woke up sore and found multiple bruises all over my legs and arms. Friday Megan, Ashley and I had quite an adventure trying to drop/add a class, walking all around campus for at least 2 hours. At least it was a beautiful day. After we had finished with the important work, we called up the other girls and walked down to the pier, to try the world famous scones. In the circular shop at the very end of the pier there was an old man and woman running the shop, they called us "love", and served us our scones. I got a cherry scone, and it was delicious. It was much different than our scones back home. It tasted more like a cake, but never-the-less, it was the best! On our way out I saw an ice cream shop called "Mel's Ices", so of course I had to take a picture! On our way back we stopped at a small bar and ordered a light lunch. They had amazing beef burgers and their chips were so warm and tasty. We continued on our way and ran into a group of 5 kids, about the age of 9, who were joking with us about being Americans. The 2 boys were definitely hyped up on energy drinks, but the little girls were so sweet and cute, and told us "we just love your accents". They pointed us in the direction of the Roman Camp, and we said goodbye. I couldn't believe how mature the kids were for their age and how much they knew about America, especially the fact that they would talk to complete strangers. Wales is so different than America in that way. We found the Roman camp on top of a large hill overlooking the town and water below. It was beautiful!

We got back just in time to shower quickly and make dinner before we went out to the Octagon. All us girls went out with Megan's flat and their friends. It was a blast! We got back and ended up just sleeping over at Megan's.

Saturday morning we made pancakes and did laundry in our shorts! It was probably only 50 degrees or so, but it was beautiful out and its only February! Before we knew it, it was already 4pm and we all decided to walked downtown to find a pub to watch the England vs. Wales rugby match. Of course, all the pubs were full, so we ended up coming back to one of our kitchens and watching there. England won 30-17, which was a disappointment, since we were rooting for Wales. We just hung out the rest of the night, making puppy chow, playing guitar, and watching a movie before we went to bed.

Today is the Superbowl, but it doesn't come on until 11pm, but we plan on watching and eating tons of junk food, just like we would at home=)

1st Outdoor Pursuits

Thursday February 4, 2010

Today was our first day of Outdoor Pursuits and I didn't know what to expect, especially since we were going to do high ropes and I'm slightly afraid of heights. We were up and ready by 9am and jumped in our van with Sally, our Outdoor Pursuits instructor. She's great! Very down to Earth and funny=) We drove to Anglesey to the Conway Centre, where we will be spending the next 11 Thursdays getting ready for our adventures. We were given a tour of the centre and before we knew it we were getting dressed in our gear. We wore wellies, which are rain boots, a lid, in other words a helmet, and a steamer wetsuit, since it was muddy from the last couple days of raining. We began by playing a couple of trust games, getting to know our group, since we would be spending every Thursday with each other until June. We started off by leading each other around blindfolded, taking turns, and the task getting more difficult and more trusting each time. Our final task was to run through sets of arms stretched out in front of ourselves and lifting their arms JUST before we were to hit them...it was terrifying, but we all made it through successfully.

Next we were off to the woods, practicing more teamwork activities, including swinging from one platform to the other within a matter of minutes and getting the entire team over a log suspended in the air, climbing a vertical wall and getting down on the other side, and finally managing to get a barrel through an obstacle course without it or us touching the ground in 15 minutes. It was intense, but we worked well as a team and accomplished all the tasks thrown at us.

We were then ready for the high ropes course. Before jumping right into the high climbing stuff, we started small and did a pre-course with a partner. We were only up about 20 ft or so, but it gave us good practice to prepare for the high ropes to come. When were were all comfortable with the lower ropes, we made our way to the high ropes course. Choosing partners before we began, Elliot and I decided to be partners for the high ropes. I sent him up first, keeping an eye out for his life, checking to make sure he was putting the chords on the right safety chord. It's terrifying to think that your partners life is in your hands. He made it all the way up and to the end of the course, where we flew down on a zip line. Next it was my turn. As I climbed the ladder to the course, I could feel my heart race faster. I never realized I was so afraid of heights than I did when I was almost 80 feet high up in the air! I made it all the way up, with the encouragement of Elliot and my other teammates. All I had to do now was fly down on the zip line, easy enough, but looking down at how high I was, was unbelievably scary! It was the best feeling touching the ground...alive, and looking up to see how high I was in the air! We met some kids along the way who were experiencing a smaller version of our zip line, and they somehow convinced us to put warrior paint on our faces. They were great, cheering us on as we climbed up the high ropes course. I couldn't believe how brave they seemed to be, telling us how much they would love to try the high ropes course we were doing, when they were half our size. I suppose I remember being fearless and wanting to try everything when I was their age. Sometimes I wish I still had that same mind set, but I know if I keep an open mind, Ill do more than I could ever imagine doing.

Because we got done early, we were given the opportunity to climb a Jacobs ladder, which is a set of 9 logs suspended in the air by wires, spread out between each others, with the spaces between the logs getting wider the high up you climb. Elliot, Annie and I decided to give it a go. It was easy at first, each of us able to get up to the next log on our own, but by the 4th log, we had to help one another up. Even after only 4 logs high, I could feel my body shake. We made it up to the 7th log, stepping on each others legs to reach the log above us and Elliot using his strength to pull both Annie and I up, while both of us helped stabilize Elliot to reach the log above him. It was the most intense experience I have ever experienced, and Ive never been so scared in my life. At one point I couldn't tell if I was laughing or crying, but I could definitely feel myself sweating and shaking uncontrollably. By the end of our 15 minutes all three of us had made it to the 9th log, feeling so accomplished! I will never forget the pain and fear I had climbing that high up but the satisfaction I felt the second we got back down to the ground. Annie and I attacked Elliot with a hug, so excited we had accomplished what seemed like an impossible task. I left Conway Centre with a huge smile on my face, but every muscle in my body hurt driving home and later into the night.

We had a relaxing dinner and Annie, Ashley, Molly, and I ended up falling asleep on Megan's bed. It was such an incredible day and I can not WAIT until next weeks outdoor pursuits, when I get to face my fears again=)

The Journey Home

Sunday Jan. 31, 2010

We got up pretty early in order to leave by 5:40am to catch our train to the airport. We hurried out the door and caught the train for a half hour ride to the airport. When we got to our stop we hurried up the steps to our entrance but found that we had to use our train tickets in order to get into the airport. Unfortunately they didn't work! So we had a couple of the girls walk through with other people entering the airport, but once they got over, there was no one else going through the gates for us to follow and there wasn't going to be another train with people for at least a half an hour. We couldn't believe this was happening, but we still looked for SOME way to get into the airport. We even considered trying to fit through the small space between the two gates, but found it was impossible. Just as we thought all hope was lost a man from out of no where motioned for us to follow him...we were sceptical, but we had no other choice and he pointed to an open gate we could walk freely through without having to use a ticket. We had looked at all the gates earlier and didn't notice any of the open. It was definitely a miracle and when we turned around to thank him he was gone! Ive never experienced anything like that before, and he was definitely our angel for the day. Once we were all reunited we took off for our flight schedule. Turns out we were quite early so we enjoyed a McDonalds breakfast together and waited until our gate was open.

We checked into our gate and waited what seemed to be forever for our plane to board, and then it got delayed and took even longer. When we finally started to board we walked outside to a bus that would take us to our plane. But then we were on the bus waiting for 40 minutes scrunched between tons of people and their luggage. Through the wait we met a french woman who was very friendly and helpful to us, giving us advice about future trips we had planned to take. We talked to her the remainder of the wait on the bus until we started to move. Everyone on the bus was very patient and considerably quiet, something that wouldn't happen if Americans were stuck on a bus for 40 minutes.

We arrived in Liverpool and searched for our bus to take us to the train station, where our next transportation was. There were many friendly people willing to help us find the cheapest and easiest way to our train station. We got to the station and grabbed a lunch just before our train arrived. After a 2 hour train ride we were back in Bangor! And somewhere along the way, George, Megan's flat mate, got on the same train as us, so we all walked back together to campus.

We were finally back after what felt like a long day! We all unpacked and headed off to church. When we got back we planned our spring break trip and bought tickets for Geneva and Athens! We were all pretty excited about that, but ready for bed after our 3 day adventure in Paris=)

It's the Eiffel Tower!

Saturday Jan. 30, 2010

We all for up and were out the door by 9am, just as we had planned. When we walked out the door we were surprised to see snow on the cars and sidewalks, but it was a beautiful day with little clouds and a ton of sunlight. We walked up to Sacre-Coeur and took some pretty pictures of the view with the sunlight from the sunrise. We then headed off to the Arc de Triomphe. It was so tall and beautiful! There was a large roundabout, probably 4 lanes wide, Molly and I joked that it was probably the worlds largest roundabout. We had no idea how to cross it without getting hit by a vehicle. Luckily there was an underground tunnel we could take over to it. Each of its four sides was so unique and had amazing detail! It's crazy to think people drive past it everyday and think nothing of it.

We were then off to the Eiffel Tower. We could hardly control our excitement! We stopped at a small cafe to try our first crepe in Paris. It was good...but nothing like the crepe we had later that day. Then we were off to our adventure to the Eiffel Tower again, catching glimpses of it every so often in between the alleys. By the time we got there and saw it in person, we could hardly believe how tall and big it was! We quickly got in line for a ticket to the top, huddling for warmth since it was so cold, yet still beautiful outside. After waiting for about an hour we made our way up to the first landing/floor, then walked a total of 3000 steps to the top of the second floor and spent a good hour taking in the view. I've never seen anything like the view I saw from the Eiffel Tower! You could see for miles. It's crazy to think it only took 2 years, 2 months, and 5 days to build! Somehow along the excitement our group got split up into 2 groups. When we got to the bottom we all found each other, probably one of the happiest days since we didn't have any way of contacting each other. We took many more pictures from the bottom looking out at the Eiffel tower in the grassy area, being goofy in our pictures. We decided to head back to our room because it was so cold, to get more layers and take a quick nap. What should have been a 20 minute break turned into a 2 hour nap, but we were well rested and ready to head back to see the Eiffel Tower again, but at night. We stopped at a Quick restaurant, much like a McDonalds, to grab something to eat. We all ended up ordering a Prikika, which was their specialty burger. I don't know what was on my burger, but whatever it was, it was delicious and gone within seconds! We hopped on a train to the Eiffel Tower and stopped at a vendor selling crepes a couple blocks from the Eiffel Tower. We tried a nutella crepe which was AMAZING! As we got closer we saw the lights on the Eiffel Tower. It was unlike anything I've ever seen. All of a sudden the lights began to flash and dance around on the Eiffel Tower. It was the best light show I've ever seen. Our last stop we wanted to hit was the Champs-Elysees walkway, toward the Arc de Triomphe, which the Tour de France bikes on. It was pretty seeing the lights of the cars and the Eiffel Tower lite up in the distance. We got back to our room and got ready for bed since we had an early morning ahead of us tomorrow.

The moon was beautiful that night, so bright and full on a clear night and looked so amazing next to the Eiffel Tower. It could not have been a more beautiful night to see the Eiffel Tower.

Exploring Paris

Friday Jan. 29, 2010

We ended up going to sleep around 7pm and didn't wake up until 9am! We were all so tired and had such little sleep the nights before. We all got ready, sluggish at first, and headed off to the train station in the pouring rain. Our first stop was at the Musee de Rotin, which had the famous sculpture, the Thinker. We spend most of the morning in the garden, enjoying the other sculptures and ate at a little cafe for lunch, were we also tried some delicious cheesecake. When we had to go to the bathroom, there was a woman standing at the door waiting for us to pay...we decided to hold it. There was no way we were going to pay to go to the bathroom! We found that most places you had to pay to use the restroom, so we took advantage of the free restrooms.

Our next stop was Notre Dame, and it finally started to get sunny out. It was so beautiful! The gargoyles on the top and the tall towers on each side. The inside was just as beautiful if not better. We rode the train to Musee de O'rsay next, which had two floors of sculptures and paintings by famous artists, such as van Gogh and Monet. We then walked across the Seine river to get to the Louvre. We walked through the see-through pyramid and walked through a couple of the many buildings in the Louvre. We got to see Mona Lisa, the Sphinx, the Venus sculpture and many more famous paintings. We ate at a McDonalds and headed back to our hostel after a long day. We got a lot of kisses blown at us as we hurried into our hostel. Definitely not as bad as the night before, thankfully.

That night we just hung out in our room, playing with each others hair, eating nutella, putting nutella on our teeth and lips and stomachs to make them look like abs, and played a game called "expressions" that we made up and took pictures of. By the end of the night we all crawled into our beds and played "truth" until we fell asleep. It was pretty much a girls slumber party, but by far the best night I've had here=)

Off to Paris!

Thurs. Jan. 28, 2010

Oh boy, it has been a crazy day today! We got to the train station to catch our 9:07pm train to the Liverpool airport yesterday night. On our adventure we ran into a homeless man wanting money and was angry when we told him we didn't have any coins. He cursed and walked off. We were a bit taken back by the incident, but felt better when our stop was close. When we got to Liverpool, we took a bus to the airport, arriving around 12am, so we had another 7 hours until our flight. We hung around the airport, catching a couple of hours of sleep here and there until it was time to check in. Our flight only took about an hour, but the time was 1 hour ahead in Paris so it was only 10am. We finally found our way to the train ticket area and scrambles to find our station. Luckily there were 2 young boys directing passengers...turns out they just wanted money, after they gave us cards explaining their situation. We ran into many of those people on the train. We even went the wrong way on the train and had to switch sides of the station. One stop there was a man who played his accordion. No one payed him any attention. It is sad to think that many of these people have to survive off of their talents or begging. When we got to our stop to find "Friends Hostel", it was very busy, crowded and noisy. It was intimidating having people touch and yell things at/toward us, wanting us to buy their items.

Inside Friends Hostel, we got our key to our room and found that we had 2 sets of triple decked bunk beds and our own bathroom/shower. It was actually really nice and we were all excited to be bunk buddies!

Our first adventure in Paris started by walking to Sacre-Coeur, a beautiful cathedral on top of a hill overlooking the city. The view was amazing! While we were walking up to the top of the hill, Annie got hit on by a bunch of Jamaican guys, we just kept walking. We encountered a lot of that, that day. From the very top you could see the whole city and even the Eiffel Tower! We then searched for a place to eat lunch and found a cute little Piano Pizza Cafe where we met our waiter, Mohammed, from Moscow and could speak 6 different languages. He was really nice and joked with us a lot. After lunch we walked around town trying to find the famous Moulin Rouge building and ended up in the most "sex happy" part of town. Much different than any of us were use to=/ We decided to walk back to our room since we were all so tried from such a long day of traveling. We stopped at a grocery store to pick up some bread, nutella, and other snacks, little did we know we would be surviving on that for the next 3 days for snacks and breakfast. When we got back to our hostel it seemed to have gotten even busier! People were up close too our faces, trying to sell us things and some even trying to grab our belongings! We stayed close to one another and held our valuables tight but were relieved to be back in our hostel. Ive never felt so terrified before. It turns out there was a big football (soccer) game against Liberia and Egypt, and that's why so many people were along the sidewalks. Even at 7pm I could hear the noise of the people yelling and talking and car horns beeping. It's a kind of noise I'm not use to, but at the same time it was soothing as we all went to sleep.

The cars drive on the right side here and the stirring wheels are on the left, just like back home. I found that weird since i expected them to be just like in the United Kingdom. Turns out, Britain is the only country that has the method of driving on the left side. It was the weirdest feeling being submerged in a completely different city and country where not many people speak your language and all the signs, menus, and names are written in French. We had to learn a few terms while there in order to communicate with the locals, such as Merci (thank you), Sortie (exit...turns out it was the most useful term we learned!) and parlez vous anglais? (do you speak English?). These terms were very helpful throughout the whole trip!