Conwy Castle/Colwyn Bay

Today we got up early to go on a field trip to Conwy to visit the Conwy Castle, the favorite castle of King Edward's, and Colwyn Bay to the Welsh Mountain Zoo. The bus dropped us off at the harbor of Conwy, where many yachts and boat were stored. The harbor was really pretty with the sun shinning off of it and the castle in the background. Conwy was actually one of the most important pearl fisheries in the country at one time. Musseling is still carried out the traditional way in Conwy, making the harbor such an important aspect of the town. Along the harbor we also got to witness the smallest house in the UK! It really was pretty tiny...probably only about 1.5x my size with 2 floors. Talk about cramped living=/ Next we walked along the medieval town wall connecting to the Conwy Castle. It's amazing to think that the walls were still standing and once defended the largest of Edward's Welsh Frontier towns and protected the castle itself from attackers. The views from the stone walls were magnificent! From one angle the Wales country side could be enjoyed and from another angle the beautiful harbor could be admired. We made our way to the Conwy Castle and walked around the different rooms/chambers throughout the castle. Conwy castle was especially interesting because of its Prison Tower that held captives for ransom, which none of the other castles we had visited had. From the top of the towers you could see the draw string bridge and train tube bridge over the Conwy River, connecting Western Wales with Eastern Wales. During the thirteenth century this bridge would have not existed in order to protect the castle. For lunch we stopped at a small fish and chips shop to try what Sally refers to as "the best fish and chips"...boy have I heard that a lot=/ But it was actually very good! I don't think I've had any bad fish and chips experience since I've been here though.

After lunch we headed to Colwyn Bay to visit the Welsh Mountain Zoo. We wandered around looking at the different animals, especially enjoying the baby Welsh Mountain Goats galloping around by their mom. We also got to see Przewalskis Wild Horses, who look very different from most horses, with their short manes and long, dark line running along their back. We watched the penguins and seals for awhile since they were both having fun splashing and swimming in the water. We even saw some Guinea pigs! They looked a lot like the kind of Guinea pigs you buy for pets. It was kinda funny to see them at a zoo, along with the Red Squirrels breeding programme. There were a variety of monkeys, including the Cotton Top Tamarin, which looked like miniature gremlins almost, and the Red-Faced Black Spider Monkeys, which had a snake like tail that could hook on to objects and swing from them. We also got to see a large Mississippi Alligator that was almost twice my size and touch a corn snake from North America. Before leaving we pasted a camel exhibit that was pretty unique for Wales. The zoo was a lot of fun and we got to see a bunch of different animals that zoos in America wouldn't have. It was especially interesting to see what kind of animals a zoo in Wales would have since the conditions are different and what kind of animals people are familiar with.

Tonight Megan, Will and I went to Annie's choir concert. It was really neat! The choir, orchestra, and soloist sounded amazing, even if it was all in Latin. I couldn't believe how much talent these students and older residents had. It really is true that Welsh people have beautiful voices=)

Last Outdoor Pursutis Sea Level Traversing

Yesterday was our last day of outdoor pursuits. It was weird thinking that we had had 10 other outdoor pursuits and this was our last one in Wales. We were all excited to see Sally as soon as we got into the van and she immediately gave us our options for the day. Originally we were suppose to go sailing, but this morning provided little wind and was very cloudy with sprinkles. She gave us the option to go climbing in the mountains or go sea level traversing again. In the end we choose sea level traversing because we had plans to BBQ and Sally had plans to take us to a cave called "Soup Dragon". We were all happy with that choice, a little disappointed that we couldn't try sailing, but knew we would have a good time like always. Iwan came along with us for the day to help set up the activities. We got to the Conway Centre and gathered out supplies without the help of Sally since we knew what we needed for sea level traversing from the past and changed for the day. We drove to Penrhyn Mawr in Holyhead, the same place we sea level traversed last time, but we started from the other side of the edge. We left our BBQ supplies and dry bags on the beach nearby and walked to the side of the cliff to begin our adventure. Our first challenge right away was abseiling. We had all abseiled before when we had rock climbed outside, but with the guidance of Garreth, and this time Iwan wanted us to be in complete control. We all took turns abseiling down the steep Atlantic slabs, which were flat vertical rock slabs surrounding us in the particular area that we were in. After watching a couple of the other girls make it down safely, it was my turn. I checked my squeeze test and began abseiling down the rock. It was nerve racking at first being in complete control and I began very slow, but progressively got more comfortable and reached the bottom. Sally instructed me to go all the way to the bottom of the rock till my butt touched the water, so I did what she said. But when she told me to let go of the rope, I didn't let go because I knew I would fall in the water. Turns out that was her plan all along, and the only person she got to fall for her trick was Megan, haha. As we all gathered at the bottom of the cliff and waited for our other teammates to reach the bottom Sally instructed me to lead the pack to the opposite side of rock she was sitting on. I was able to guide the group along the edge sea level traversing, finding safe paths and passing along helpful advice to those behind me. When we were all gathered again, Molly lead the pack around the edge of the cliffs, staying close to the sea level, helping all of us get around some pretty difficult parts. There was one area where it wasn't safe enough to climb near the sea level, so we had to climb higher up on the rock edges. We had to be very careful and were reminded how to fall safely if it came down to that. When we finally reached the Soup Dragon cave opening we had a difficult gap between the two rock edges. Sally demonstrated how to get across safely and Molly followed, with me right behind her. It was really important to instruct the person behind each of us so that we could each get across safely. As soon as we got across we jumped into the water to enter the Soup Dragon cave. We were all swimming around deeper and deeper into the cave, having fun splashing around and reached the back of the cave. We could feel the tide getting higher as it pushed and pulled us back and forth. We had a blast pretending we were on a roller coaster ride and people could probably hear us yelling from miles away. Some of the girls were really nervous about being in a dark cave as the tide gradually rose. Surprisingly I was comfortable because I knew Sally would never put us in a dangerous situation. After so many activities with her I have grown more confident and have gotten over many of the fears I didn't think were possible. We made our way out of the cave and continued to sea level traverse until we were close to the beach for lunch. It was much more difficult this time around, with certain area where we really needed to focus on our footing and hand placement. I felt much more confident in my ability to sea level traverse after doing the activity already, as did many of the other team members, which made the day go by a lot smoother. Our last challenge was a large gap between the two cliffs where we had to reach our leg all the way across to the other edge. It was really difficult, trying to hang on and move without falling into the water. I successfully made it, being the only girl to have made it, and Molly and Annie followed right behind me making it across. As soon as we were across we jumped into the water and swam to the beach to begin our BBQ. I had a really great time sea level traversing, and the sun had even come out for part of the day. We enjoyed our last lunch together as a group and packed up to go back to the van. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to the Conway Centre after we had spent so much time there but went away with a new outlook on life. I have had the best experiences in Wales because of Outdoor Pursuits and I can't wait to take everything I've learned back to America and share it with others.

Last night we met up with Sally and Laura and the other Americans at Varsity to have a few drinks and spend one last night with our Outdoor Pursuits instructors. It was a blast! We had drinks, talked, laughed, took pictures, and just enjoyed each others company. After spending almost 3 hours at Varsity we all decided to go to Academy to dance for a little, even Sally and Laura came with! We danced all night with Sally and Laura and had fun being silly with them, just like in Outdoor Pursuits. We didn't leave until 2am when Sally and Laura both left for the night. We gave them hugs and said our goodbyes. It was really hard saying goodbye after spending so much time with them and it made me think how hard its going to be when I leave in June. Sally was such a great inspiration for me and taught me so much, pushing me mentally and physically past what I would expect of myself. She taught me to be confident in myself as well as never giving up in any situation. I hope that I made as big of an impact on her as she did for me=)

Karaoke

Yesterday all us girls and the guys went to Bar Uno to sing karaoke for the last time in Wales. We sang "Wanna Be" by the Spice Girls while the audience helped sing to it, which helped a lot with my nerves at least. It was a lot of fun! We signed the guys up for "Man I feel Like a Woman" by Shania Twain...they were pretty good! And they also sang "Stacy's Mom"...making a few changes to the song itself. There was one character last night that was no doubt gay from his squeaky voice and singing "I am Woman" and the girl version for "Summer Nights". He was fun to listen to and watch sing. We had fun making fun of ourselves and listening to the other more drunk singers perform their karaoke songs. It was a great night out with all our friends=)

Surfs up!

Waking up this morning the weather wasn't very promising...no wind, cloudy, and cooler. But that didn't stop Sally from taking the chance to take us surfing! We were all so excited on the van ride to the Conway Centre ready to give surfing a chance. We gathered our gear hurrying to beat the high tide so we could check for waves at the beaches. We drove about 30 minutes to Rhosneigr on Anglesey and checked out three different beaches there for the best waves, finally parking at Broad Beach where the waves were about 1-2 feet tall. We carried our surfboards to the beach, set up our wind breaker for our supplies and during lunch. We immediately began our surfing adventure, first learning how to lay on the board, about the center so that the front wouldn't nose dive and the back wouldn't sink. Before hitting the water Sally had us stand up on our board with one foot straight forward and one sideways in the back. As soon as we were ready we raced into the water excited to test our new techniques. We had to get past the bigger waves and wait for a break, which Sally informed us was about every seven waves. As I turned my board to face the shore I paddled as hard and fast as I could and took two big strokes just as the wave began to carry me and lifted up with my arms, surfing the wave! I was really proud of myself for successfully riding the wave and being confident in my ability to do it. The next couple attempts to surf I was trashed by the waves, swallowing a lot of salt water along the way. It scared me going under the water for that short time and not knowing where I was going to end up, but Sally taught us to hold tight to our boards because they were our main buoyancy aid. I learned to keep my mouth closed when the waves came and blow out of my nose to avoid that awful experience again. Before long I was able to ride the waves on my knees, working my way to being able to stand up. I didn't want to stop, I was having so much fun, even after crashing multiple times, I wanted to keep trying until I got it. It was great seeing all the other team members successfully riding the waves, a couple even standing up already! We were all so cheerful of one another, encouraging each other even after a bad crash, making the experience so much better. I had a lot of close attempts to stand up on my board, but all of them ended with me falling over. It was frustrating at times not being able to stand up when it seemed that everyone else was having no problem. I knew that if I was patient enough and had the confidence to do it I could stand. But it would have to be after lunch since it was that time to reenergize our bodies.

None of us realized how hungry we were until we bit into our sandwiches. We were just having so much fun we didn't want to take a break. After lunch we were feeling much colder now that we had stopped exercising so we played a couple games to warm ourselves up. Sally entered us in a Winter Olympics Game testing our skills by cross country skiing, speed skating, snowboarding, bobsledding, and even curling! It was great fun and helped get our blood flowing. We continued playing games that included making a HUGE pizza together and bum wrestling. By the end of our activities we were ready to head back into the water to continue our surfing skills. By this time the tide had gotten much lower, revealing more than twice as much of the sand than when we first got to the beach. This time around I was determined to stand up on my board. After countless failed attempts but still having fun learning I finally stood on my board! It was the best feeling being able to stand after all the hard work and determination I put into it. Sally cheered me on from the beach and I couldn't help but smile at my accomplishment. The rest of us continued to catch waves, struggling as the day went on since the tide was so low and the waves weren't as big. I didn't want the day to end but Sally soon called us into the shore. She gave us a couple buddy challenges to do on the surf boards so Elliot and I choose to be partners. Our first challenge was to ride a wave together on the surf board. It took many of us several attempts, but Elliot and I finally caught a wave both staying on the board. The next challenges consisted of standing on the board, doing a headstand, and somersault on the surf board while the other partner held the board. Last but not least we tried flipping our boards upside down, under water and flipping it right side up again, a helpful technique if one's board were to flip. After the activities everyone was pretty sore and weak after surfing all day and getting beat up by the waves. I had the greatest time surfing and would have never imagined myself being able to surf, let alone stand up on the board! I can't wait to try this activity again someday. This summer or spring break next year possible?

Other exciting news...this last Tuesday Elliot, Molly, Sarah, Annie and I walked down to the Bangor University Business Building because the Queen was coming to visit there. Yes...the Queen of England! We were within feet of her as she was sitting in the backseat of a car that took her to the building. She waved at all of the viewers in her bright pink matching coat and skirt outfit. It was so exciting to see the Queen in Bangor at our University! We caught more glimpses of her as she passed from one building to the next and got a couple pictures to prove it. This week was definitely filled with exciting, eventful things=)

A weekend in Cardiff

Friday morning all the Americans left to head to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, with Iwan, Tecwyn's replacement since he was still stuck in America due to the volcano ash. We rode along the English/Welsh border. Before getting to Cardiff we stopped at a couple places including our first stop in Hereford where we checked out the Hereford Cathedral where the Mappa Mundi is located. It's the largest surviving complete medieval world map. Although we didn't get to personally see it, we did get to walk around the Cathedral, crypt, garden and the town. The headquarters of Bulmer's cider is also located in Hereford. The next stop was the Wye Valley where we stopped to see the Tintern Abbey medieval monastery ruins. The Abbey was so magnificent with the sun shinning through the window holes at the top of the peaks and lighting up the grass below. It felt so magical! We continued on our way to Cardiff passing by the Severn bridge, a mile long bridge connecting Wales to England. It was crazy how long of a bridge it was and how sturdy it must have to be. We got to our hostel realizing we had a front door view of the Millennium Stadium right across the river. The whole group went out for Mexican food that night and afterwards walked around the city and eating ice cream before heading back to the hostel for the night.

The next morning we all walked to Cardiff Castle and got a guided tour of the inside that was all furnished and decorated the way it would have been during that time. One room cost 2.2 million pounds for the gold painted on the ceiling alone! Next we walked to the Millennium Stadium, just down the road and got a guided tour of the stadium by Garreth. We walked through the locker room/changing room and came out into the stadium to hear a loud roar of people cheering! I felt just like a rugby player getting ready to play a game for my country. We also got to see the box seats and the Presidents room where the Queen once sat to watch a game. We continued on to Cardiff Bay where the National Assembly for Wales is located. We stopped at Harry Ramsden's Worlds best fish and chip shop there and enjoyed our meal outside by the bay. It was delicious, though I couldn't tell you if it's the world's best fish and chips. After walking around the bay for a bit we got back on the bus to head to St. Fagans to see the National History Museum set up like an open air folk museum. We were able to walk around the large area to see the St. Fagan's castle and beautiful pond area. The weather was beautiful and I really enjoyed the many scenic areas throughout the museum. We got back to the hostel and made our dinner before heading out to shop around the city. That night a couple of the girls and guys went out to Y Mochyn Du, the pub our Millennium Stadium tour guide, Garreth, suggested we go to. We even saw him there and talked with him for awhile. There was a rugby team there that we got to know pretty well. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed talking to the locals there.

Our last day in Cardiff we drove to the National Museum and Gallery of Wales. We were able to learn about the history of Wales and see many Impressionist paintings by famous painters. Before we knew it we were heading back to Bangor after a busy, site-seeing, eventful, and fun experience in Cardiff. Cardiff definitely didn't feel like a big city, in fact, I felt very safe in the town and it reminded me of home.

Star Gazing and Kayaking

Last night Nikki, Charlie, Megan, George, Josh and I walked to the Roman Camp to watch the Lyrids meteor shower. As we were walking there I looked up to see a meteor fly right over my head! I couldn't wait to get to the Roman Camp to enjoy more star gazing. After getting there and finding a comfortable spot to lie down we waited...and waited...and then waited some more and never saw any meteors except for a couple stray ones off to the side. Although we didn't see many meteors, I did enjoy star gazing and pointing out the constellations we knew and spending time with my flat mates and Megan=)

This morning we knew we only had 3 more Outdoor Pursuits classes left, leaving kayaking, sailing, and surfing left on our to do list. We all had different ideas of what activity we would be doing, but found out soon enough after getting into the van with Sally that we were kayaking. Sally was telling us that Prince Williams had came to the Conway Center to kayak yesterday and that one of us might even be lucky enough to wear his same wetsuit or even use the same kayak! Most of us thought is would be pretty similar to canoeing but we found out that it was very different as the day went on. It would be interesting trying a sport non of the group members had ever tried before. This meant that we would really need to pay attention to Sally's advice and be supportive teammates. We collected our gear and kayak, each of us adjusting the leg length at the bow of the kayak. Laura came along with us to assist our large group. We drove about 30 minutes to Rhoscolyn Bay in Anglesey and carried our kayaks to the shore. Before getting into the water we did some exercises with our paddles to warm up and ran around getting loose. Sally taught us how to hold the kayak paddle, different from a canoe paddle because it has a paddle on each end, and turn it keeping our right hand tight and leaving our left hand loose to rotate the paddle. After we were all warmed up we got into our kayaks and set off into the bay. The kayak was different than the canoe because we each had our own kayak rather than working as a team when we canoed and we had to sit with our legs straight in front of us, under the sides of the kayak. As soon as we were floating in the water I could feel the wobbliness of the kayak and it made me very tense not to make any sudden movements, afraid to tip over. Before getting too far into the water Sally taught us that if we were to capsize we needed to remove our knees from inside the kayak and push off from the sides. The thought that the kayak kept you in place even if you were upside down underwater made me nervous, but I felt better knowing how to get out of that situation if the time came to that. We paddles around, learning how to paddle forward, backward, make circles, and stop. After everyone was comfortable we played a couple games like sardines, freeze tag and follow the leader giving everyone a chance to lead the pack in single file. It was great practice before stopping to eat lunch on the beach. As we were eating lunch the tide continually rose, reaching our beached kayaks. Throughout the day the tide continued to get higher.

After lunch Laura joined us to rock hop, meaning we would be kayaking along the rocks into the Irish Sea. We kayaked through small rock passages, having to paddle quickly when the tide was highest. Some of the girls got stuck on the rocks when the tide went out, so it was important to time it perfectly. We reached some areas where we had to pull up our skag, the rudder in the bottom of the kayak to help steering, to avoid it catching the rocks below. We then began to make our way to the Beacon island where we had to ferry over a couple strong currents, just like we did when we canoed. Sally told us the best way to stay balanced was to paddle hard and consistently over the rougher areas. As soon as we reached the island we made our way around the outside. We even saw a seal along the side of the rock shore! The tide was still rising, making it more difficult to find safe areas to kayak through. We had to make sure to stay in single file to avoid accidents or overcrowding that could result in capsizing. As we made our way back to shore we had to cross over a very strong current. We had to paddle as hard as we could at an angle to avoid being pushed down stream. At one point Elliot got stuck on a rock and capsized! Sally helped him empty his kayak with water and get him back into the kayak as quickly and safely as possible. It was scary knowing that we were in a strong current and Elliot could have gotten pulled down the current, but Sally was quick to act and saved the situation. Laura instructed us to raft up, connecting our kayaks side by side, to keep us from drifting off until Elliot joined our group again. Once we were all in a group we paddled non stop to get back to the shore, using our stomach muscles to maximize the power of our paddling. My arms and back began to ache but it was my responsibility to keep paddling and stay with the group to make it safely back. Before ending the day we played one last game, rafting up and trying to walk across the kayak fronts to switch places with another group member. The game ended in many flooded kayaks and wet people but we still had lots of fun! We paddled back to the beach sore from working hard paddling and our legs being crammed into a tiny space. Everyone did very well today for never kayaking before and were supportive and helpful when there were tricky situations. I enjoyed the challenge of starting from scratch with an activity I had no experience with or knowledge of. I felt that I was able to improve my water confidence through the success of this activity.

Cadbury World!

Yesterday we went to Cadbury World....yes, Cadbury, the famous chocolate of the UK! The factory and actual Cadbury World building is located in Birmingham, England, so we caught a train there and started our adventure to eat chocolate...and of course learn about Cadbury chocolate. Once we arrived in Bournville we followed the purple gates and signs leading us to the building. There sure was a lot of purple in the town! As soon as we saw the building our pace started to pick up and we walked in to find that the World's Biggest Cadbury Shop, just waiting for us to go inside. We explored for awhile, looking at all the different varieties of chocolate and huge chocolate bars! Soon we started the 14 zone exhibition through the building, but not without our free chocolate that was being handed out=) The exhibition started from the very beginning when the Mayans discovered a use for cocoa beans and lead into the introduction of cocoa to the UK and eventually to where it is today. We got to see how it was made and even witness workers in the factory working hard to make Cadbury chocolate perfect. Within the 14 zones we got to ride in a mechanical car that took us around "Cocoa Land", where cocoa beans ran free and were content with the fact that they would be made into Cadbury chocolate...it was alittle odd....but interesting to see the beans skiing and fishing throughout the ride. After 4 hours of chocolate eating, exploring, and walking around Cadbury World, we were ready to get head out. But first we had to make a trip to Essence, where we were able to "travel back in time" and make our own chocolate concoction. We each picked out a topping and they filled a cup full of melted Cadbury chocolate and we got to eat it! YUM! I don't know if I've ever eaten that much chocolate in one day, but we were ready for some real food, so we ended up walking around the whole city just to find a New York style restaurant called Franky and Benny's and got some delicious burgers there. It was so warm outside so we were pretty excited to go into an air conditioned building...unfortunately for us, their air conditioning was broken in the restaurant...so it was pretty hot=/ But we couldn't complain, we had just had a wonderful time at Cadbury World. After a long train ride home, and a couple train switches we were finally back in Bangor ready for bed. Cadbury World was amazing! Defintiely aimed for little children, so we may have enjoyed our experience a little too much;) Can't wait for our next adventure!