Semester in Wales

May and My Last Week in Swansea

2011-05-29T07:04:00.007-05:00

At the beginning of May, we started going back to classes. These classes were mostly review for exams that are held at the end of May and the beginning of June. I finished up my essays that were due and turned them in. The last three weeks I have mostly been experiencing Swansea, which has been nice. I went out on my last trip to the Gower Peninsula last week, which was beautiful. Specifically, I went back to Rhossili, which is first place I visited outside of Swansea. You can see a picture of me there in January in one of my first posts on this blog.

On the 14th, I went to London to visit everyone who went on RSU's London at Large trip. It was really great to see some familiar faces. We went to Harrod's, which is a famous store, as well as watch the FA Cup final. The FA Cup is a soccer tournament in the UK. It was a full day for me, as I left Swansea at 7 and returned at 12:30.

Now, I am entering my final week here in the UK. This semester has gone by very quickly. I'm definitely glad I got the opportunity to study abroad! It is truly a life changing experience. This week, I will start gathering my things and making preparations to go. It will be difficult to fit everything in the suitcase I brought with me, but I am going to try my best. However, the toughest challenge this week will be studying for and taking my exam on Friday. I have so much I need to do before I leave! I leave June 6, which will be a long day. My train to London leaves Swansea at 7. After the three hour train ride, I then get on a plane for 9 hours to Atlanta, then 2 more hours till Tulsa. I think after the time traveling, plus layovers, my total time traveling will be 21 hours. It will be tiring, but I think I will be glad to reach home.

Some of the things I think will take some getting use to when I get home are:

1) Temperature- It has gotten into the 70's here some days, but that is it. Usually it is rainy and in the high 50's. I'm sure I will be baking when I get back to Oklahoma.

2) Sales Tax- They have VAT here, which is already figured into the price that is shown on a menu or on a label. At home, I will have to adjust prices for sales tax. This may seem like a 'duh' moment, but I think it will be hard to get use to that again.

3) Shorts- The locals here wear shorts sometimes, but rarely. Young people here wear jeans, almost exclusively.

4) Use of a Cell Phone- I have a prepaid phone I use here, but it is totally different from my phone back home.

5) Car- As a part of my scholarship here, I received a bus pass that lets me ride any bus in Swansea for free. This has been invaluable. It will definitely be weird getting behind the wheel of a car. Even when I have ridden in a car here, it has been on the left side of the road instead of right.

My Last Trip: Milan

2011-04-30T09:55:00.003-05:00

This week, I got back from my last trip out of the UK: Milan, Italy. We left Swansea Sunday the 24th of May for London Luton airport. Our flight was at 6:25 in the morning, so we stayed at the airport overnight, because there was no way to get to the airport early enough to catch our flight. We flew over the Alps on our way there, so that was really cool. Milan is situated in Northern Italy, and really isn't that far from Switzerland. We got to Milan about 9:30 their time (they are an hour ahead of the UK) so it was about a two hour flight.

The weather in Milan was excellent the entire time we were there. It wasn't too hot or too cold. Just perfect. The first thing we did after we got there was eat some Italian food. How could you not? The food was very good. I had all of the pizza, pasta, and bread I could handle. We explored around Milan's central station for awhile and then went to a local park and people watched for about an hour. This was really interesting because you can learn a lot about a culture from watching people's actions. A lot of the shops were closed down because it was a Monday and I guess that must be a day off for people or part of the weekend somehow. However, we were able to find a gelato stand in the park that was open, so that was great. Gelato is the best ice cream ever.

The 2nd day, we went to Milan's Duomo, which is a large cathedral. Also, Milan is a European hub for fashion designers, so there were Prada stores, Versace stores, and the like. We walked around more of the city and eventually came upon Sforza Castle. It was right in the middle of the city, so it was a very unique sight.

Overall, I had a great time in Italy. I really want to come back there someday. Now, I only have a month left of classes at Swansea University before I come back to the United States. My flight home is June 6. Classes start back next week, but I can tell I am dreadfully out of practice because we have had a full month of break.

My Third Trip: Paris

2011-03-29T12:37:00.004-05:00

My third trip while I am here was to Paris. I left Thursday morning (24/3) from Swansea headed toward London. On our way to London, our train was delayed by about 30 minutes because there had been a fatality on the tracks ahead of us and all of the trains to London Paddington (a major train station in London) had been stopped. When we finally arrived in London Paddington, we had to hurry through the train station and hop on the Underground to St. Pancras International (the international rail station in London). They were announcing the last call for Paris as we were arriving at the gate. We were going to St. Pancras because we took the Eurostar train to Paris. It took a little over 2 hours to get there. Which is actually faster than Swansea to London, which takes about 3. The Eurostar was very cool and went super fast. I think it gets up to a top speed of about 186 mph. This is the train that goes underneath the English Channel and into France.

Our total journey took around 5 1/2 hours. We had to set our clocks forward because France is a hour ahead of the UK. The first night we were there we walked around the area by our hotel and ate. The next day was probably my favorite. We woke up in the morning and went to Versailles. This is a huge palace with lots of

grounds to go with it. It is very ornate. Because I like French revolutionary and imperial history, this was particularly wonderful for me. The palace is over the top with decorations, pa

intings, statues, pools, and gardens. You haven't seen a real palace until you have seen Versailles. We ate lunch on the steps leading out into the main grounds. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Our next stop that day was the Eiffel Tower. We walked around the base taking pictures and eating our French desserts. After this, we went to the Musee de l'Armee and the Tomb of Napoleon. The tomb is very extravagant. It was great to be there. To end the day, we ate lunch at a French restaurant and sat by the Eiffel Tower at night to see if light up.

Saturday we went to the Louvre (pronounced 'Loov'). This was great! I saw the Mona Lisa, Liberty Leading the People, Hammurabi's Code and much more. This museum was huge. We got lost a couple of times in there. Someone could spend days in the museum. Of course, we got to see the glass pyramid on top of the Louvre! It reminded me of the Da Vinci Code. We got to

spend 3 and a half hours in here, which was not nearly enough, but we had other things to see that day. Next, we went to the Arc de Triomphe (pronounced 'tree-umph'). We got to go to the top of this. The view was absolutely great. Around it is the famous roundabout that you have seen in movies before. It is a colossal figure. After this we went on down to Notre Dame. The architecture of this cathedral was truly amazing. It was also very ornate. We ate dinner in the Latin Quarter that night. After dinner, a couple of us went to go find the Moulin Rouge. It wasn't terribly far from our hotel so it wasn't a bad walk. We also went to Sacre Coeur.

The last day we were there we went back the Eiffel Tower. But this time we actually went up into it. We took stairs (very exhausting) to the first level. The view from here was great. Many restaurants are on this level and there are signs that give a lot of info about how the tower was built and what it has inspired. From here we went to the second level. We took stairs this time too. You have the option to go to the top, but there was a huge line and there is only one elevator, so we started back down. We ate our last meal in Paris at a great French restaurant at which I had a chocolate mousse that was so delicious! We then hoped on the train back to London and got back into Swansea about 11 at night our time.

An interesting tidbit: the time change actually didn't occur over here when the US changed their clocks forward. It happened the weekend we were in Paris, so Sunday morning we had to move our clocks forward again and then move them back a hour when we got back into the UK.

My Second Trip: London

2011-03-08T11:53:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone!!! Last weekend I went on a trip to London. I've already been there before, but it was great to see some familiar sights. And who wouldn't want to go to London?!?! Since I had been there before, it was very easy to navigate. We used the London Underground or the "Tube". The first day we went to Westminster. Here we saw Big Ben and Parliament, as well as Westminster Abbey. We started off by riding the London Eye. This is a giant ferris wheel which gives people a great view of London. Next, we were able to go inside Parliament and into the House of Commons. This was particularly interesting to me because my major is Political Science. We also went through Westminster Abbey.

We then went to Trafalgar Square to eat lunch. Here, we saw the fountains there and the National Gallery. We also hiked on over to Buckingham Palace, which is always cool to see. It wasn't too busy, so we got a good view of the Palace and the grounds around it.

The next day, we woke up and went to Portobello Road Market. This is a huge market. It has nearly everything and stretches for some ways. We only spent about two hours here because we had to rush on over to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. This is where the Royal Guards switch and it is a very extravagant ordeal. Later on that day, we saw and went into the Tower of London. It isn't really a tower, but it is a castle. This is where a lot of famous prisoners were kept and executed like Anne Boleyn and Guy Fawkes. We also got to see St. Paul's and the Millennium Bridge, as well as Piccadilly Circus (that is like their 'Times Square').

On our last day there, we went to the Imperial War Museum, which I had not been to previously. It was very interesting. Here, they had many exhibits about World War I and World War II. World War II is still a big deal for the British because of the amount of involvement they had in the war, including the German blitz of London. My favorite exhibit was one on spies throughout British past and how MI5 and MI6 came into being. Next, we went to the British Museum, which is one of my favorite places in London. Here they have parts of the Parthenon from Greece and the Rosetta Stone, which allowed us to interpret Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Overall I had a blast in London. It's a great city and I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to travel somewhere. It has so much history and you can learn something new every time you go back.

My First Trip: Amsterdam

2011-02-21T10:02:00.003-06:00

I went on my first major trip since I have been here. There is a student travel shop at the university that can help plan trips and they have pre-organized trips that they advertise at the beginning of the semester. When I first got here, one of the trips they were advertising was a weekend trip to Amsterdam and I was interested. The trip included a lot of Americans. There was about 40 or so students that went and at least half of them were from the United States.

We left at 5 on February 17. Since we are in Wales, we had to travel across the entire UK. We drove to Dover, UK, which is famous for its cliffs. However, we didn't get to see them because it was dark. Dover is a major port in the UK and it services cars and trucks across the English Channel to mainland Europe. It took about 4-5 hours to get there from Swansea. We drove onto the ferry, which was really huge. It took about 90 minutes to get to the next port, which was Calais, France. There was no border stop here, since the UK is in the EU, we drove straight off the ferry and into France. We didn't stay in France for long; it took us about an hour to get to Belgium. We drove through Belgium and into The Netherlands. We got to Amsterdam Friday morning, at 8:30.

The first day in Amsterdam was a long one. We were tired because it had been difficult to sleep on the bus. We jumped right in: we purchased tickets for the Canal Boats. Amsterdam is divided up by canals and you can use these to get around. The tickets lasted for 24 hours. Throughout the day, we used these as a 'tour.' We would take pictures from the boats because they went by a lot of cool things and areas. We also walked around the city. At first this was very difficult because Amsterdam has a ton of bike traffic. Nearly 1/2 of the city gets around on bikes. They have bicycle traffic lights and lanes. When you cross a street, you have to cross two lanes of bicycle traffic, two lanes of auto traffic and a tram lane. The trams would often go right down the middle of the street. We ate lunch at a Dutch restaurant that day. The portions are significantly smaller than in the US and even Wales but it was surprisingly filling. We walked around and saw Centraal Station, the main train station in Amsterdam, and we saw many other buildings. The varied architecture in Amsterdam was probably my favorite part. We also saw the Anne Frank Huis and went inside. That night we ate at an Italian restaurant. This may seem weird, but Italian restaurants were everywhere here and they are very popular.

The second day we started at the Rijksmuseum ( I don't know how to pronounce it either). This had mainly Dutch paintings and paintings that depicted Dutch culture. The main painting of the museum was 'The Night Watch.' The building itself is very striking. We then ate at another Dutch cafe, which was good. We walked around some more and saw the sights. Here we did souvenir shopping as well. We saw the palace area and the main square which is called the 'Dam.' That night we ate a Greek place, which was very good as well.

The way back seemed to take a lot longer, as we had nothing to look forward to, but they trip was fun all the same. We traced our route back to Swansea by going through Belgium and France and then up into the UK. However, we did get to stop at a chocolate shop in Belgium and I got some Belgium Chocolates. I haven't eaten them yet, but I think I am about to.

More From Swansea

2011-02-08T16:28:00.003-06:00

I have almost been here a month! I can't believe it. It only seems like yesterday that I got here on the train. The days go by so fast! I am finally getting used to the driving here. It seems normal to me now to drive on the left. Haha. Let's hope that doesn't come back with me when I get back to the United States.

We started the actual term last week. I have two modules or classes: War and Peace in the Nuclear Age and British Atlantic World. Both have been interesting so far and I have enjoyed them. War and Peace in the Nuclear Age is basically an overview of international relations since 1945. It is interesting to hear a different point of view on the Cold War and I have heard of concepts that I haven't heard before. British Atlantic World is an overview of early modern Britain and its relationship with its Atlantic colonies. It stops at the end of the Seven Years' War.

As far as travel goes, I went to Cardiff and Bath with my pre-sessional class. Those were really fun to go to. Bath was especially cool because of the Roman baths and ruins. It was terribly cold when we went there though. I am going to Amsterdam next week, February 17-20 with a school sponsored trip. This will be my first time to continental Europe! I'm really excited. Me and a couple friends here are planning a trip to Paris sometime towards the end of March. This is really exciting for me because I am a big history geek. Haha. I really want to go to Versailles.

Swansea so Far

2011-01-26T12:01:00.002-06:00

I have been having fun in Swansea!!! I'm just about to used to everything now. Let's see.... I have been here for about 11 days so far. The introductory class that we have to take is almost over and I have to write a 2500 word essay for it that is due Feb 7. That isn't too bad. I am mostly worried about the format of the essay. I think I get it though. Last Sunday, a couple of us went to Mumbles, which is a coastal town about 3 miles away. We went rock climbing and hiking. It was really fun and was probably the best day I have had so far. Afterwards we were able to find the Bears/Packers football game. Most of the people there were Americans, as you could guess, but there were some British people there. It was funny because some of them didn't know about the game and we had to explain it to them. It was evening here when the game came on, like 8.

I think that I want to try hiking more. I enjoyed it a whole bunch and they have really beautiful places here to be outdoors. We might be going to Three Cliffs on Sunday, which is another place by the ocean.

Wales!

2011-01-20T10:05:00.002-06:00

I got here last Saturday. My travel was kind of hectic at first. My original flight was scheduled to fly out from Tulsa at 6:00 Friday night to Atlanta, where I would pick up another flught to London. Well, it didn't turn out that way. I was notified THREE hours before my flight that my flight was delayed and that they had stuck me on another. One that was leaving on FORTY MINUTES. I was rushing around, but then I thought "Wait. A person can't even check in forty minutes before an international flight." Turns out I was right but we were already on the way to the airport. Good thing too, because the flight desk person put me on a flight to Detorit. So I was happy. Until I learned that the Detroit was delayed too. And that I would miss my London flight. So I went BACK to the service desk and they just put me on a different airline that took me to Dallas and then over. I then took the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station (which was easy for me to figure out, thank goodness I had been through there last time I went to London in May), then on to Swansea. That was about a three hour train ride. When I got to Swansea, it was kind of dark and misty. Then on Sunday and Monday it rained quite a bit. I met the rest of the American students on Monday; orientation course on British culture together. I have made friends with all of my "flatmates" as well. I'm still getting used to the time change and the culture change. It is aggrevating when you can't find out how to do the simplest of things. And I get hungry at wierd times. And sleepy. But I guess that comes with the journey. We went to Rhossili on Monday, a point on the peninsula. I got to see the Atlantic ocean for the first time!

Busy, busy, busy...

2011-01-13T20:44:00.002-06:00

Right now, I am preparing for my trip to Wales. I'll be gone for quite some time, so I have to pack for a changing climate. I've been really busy arranging everything and packing for my trip. I'm very glad that I have had time to see all of my friends before I left. Thank goodness for Skype and Facebook. Even though I am going to miss everyone, I am excited to go. I can't wait to experience the differences in culture and tradition. I am planning on traveling being an integral part of my study abroad experience. I want to travel as much as possible.

My flight leaves tomorrow at 6pm. I'm going to Atlanta and then over to London; I will be in Swansea by Saturday night. I will be writing this blog during the whole time I am there!

Technology represents all that is wrong with the world

2010-11-01T09:55:00.003-05:00

Hello. I’m very sorry I have not posted in a while. My computer has decided to go into early retirement/die forever. I’m hoping it is just taking a breather but I fear the worst so please don’t be upset if my posts are a little uncommon.
So lately a lot has happened. I went to Stonehenge and Bristol. Bristol was a really nice city to walk around and I don’t really know what to say about Stonehenge. It is one of those things that is really amazing because you have heard about it all your life but at the same time it is a bunch of giant rocks piled in a circle so what is there to say? It was really pretty and I loved it. That’s about all I got.
My friend Summer and I have booked a ticket to Venice! We are actually going to go for five days and we are planning to make it a big trip and go through Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Italy. I’m ridiculously excited because it sounds amazing and I have always had this desire to be able to say I’ve been to Liechtenstein or “When I was in Liechtenstein…” or “Liechtenstein is lovely that time of year.” Liechtenstein Liechtenstein Liechtenstein! It is just a really fun one to say.
I know other stuff has happened but I don’t really remember it all right now so I will have to get back to you on that. Hopefully I will get a chance to post before I head off to Liechtenstein (haha I used it).

What do I miss the most? Mexican Food!

2010-10-12T09:31:00.006-05:00

Ketchup on nachos is just wrong! I don't know what to do with my hands :(

Last week was my first week of classes and I think they are going to be pretty interesting. The class style is very different from what we have at RSU. Here everyone meets in a giant lecture theater and the professor talks for an hour and then we leave. There is no possible way the professors will know all of the students, luckily I am fairly easy to remember because I’m the yank (not really but I guess). I think it is nice for a semester but it definitely makes me miss RSU and all of my professors at home with our wonderful in class discussions.
Possibly my favorite experience in Wales so far happened recently. Last week was my friend Summer’s birthday so for her birthday lunch I took her to a “Mexican” restaurant. It was absolutely awful! Probably the funniest meal I have ever seen. I’m really glad I went just so I can honestly say I have had the worst imitation Mexican food ever. There was ketchup on everything. Summer and I laughed the entire time. It was everything I could do to hold myself together when the guy was taking out orders in his welsh accent. I don’t know when the last time you got ketchup in Mexican food was but it was a first for me. It was surprisingly decent to eat but I wouldn’t quite call it Mexican. I think the worst part was when I told the people I live with they didn't seem to see anything wrong with it.

Instead of rice and beans I was given "chips" and ketchup mixed with salsa

There were potato wedges and ketchup in Summer's chicken quesadilla

On Saturday I got to go to a castle in West Wales. Apparently it was one of the last castles built by a prince of Wales. It was really neat and then I had tea in a fancy house on the castle grounds and walked through a little museum type of thing. You could tell it was a bit interactive for kids but I think I enjoyed it more than the two little boys I was there with. I really liked the castle because it isn’t a big tourist destination. It is mostly locals that go there for a nice day out so it was a bit less crowded and a little more laid back. I think my favorite thing was when one of the little boys wanted to play hide-and-seek. Turns out a castle is an amazing place for hiding.

2010-09-29T08:48:00.001-05:00

So much has happened lately I don’t even know where to begin!
1. I finished my two week class on British Politics and Culture (Post WW2) on Thursday so I am trying to write a 2,500 word essay for that. The good thing is we had the option of choosing one of six questions to answer and one of them is about literature. I am not too concerned. The writing style and formatting are going to be a little different but what I am the most nervous about is the British spelling. Honestly I’m not that great with American spelling so this could be a disaster.
2. The other day I went to Bath. It was so amazing! I walked through the Roman Baths and even got to visit the Jane Austen Center. I read Persuasion over the summer in preparation for this trip and it was wonderful. I think I gave myself away as a nerd by the excitement I showed about going.
3. I moved into my house in the student village on Wednesday. Each house has three floors and holds ten people. Six other people moved in yesterday. Five are from England and one is from Northern Ireland. I like everybody so far. We all hung out in the kitchen yesterday and talked. I was informed by one person that if I had not been there they probably would have all sat around in silence because British people are “reserved”. Oops. Well I’m American and I can’t survive an awkward silence.
4. I booked my trip to Paris! It’s the first weekend of December so I hope it is decorated for Christmas at least a little. Christmas is my favorite!
I know I forgot something but for now that is all.

Field Trips :)

2010-09-16T15:53:00.004-05:00

So today the weather decided that it would not rain but it was completely necessary for it to be cold. There is no use arguing with it so I bundled up and I am glad I did because I went to Big Pit and St. Fagan’s.
Big Pit is an old coal mine that has been transformed into a museum. We took a tour that was guided by a former miner through the actual mine. So we went down the mine shaft and walked all through the tunnels. At one point the tunnel kept getting smaller and I felt like I was in a really dirty version of Willy Wonka. The farther down we went the colder it got. It was really creepy but also very interesting. Mining was huge in Wales and is still to this day a pretty big deal.
After that we went to St. Fagan’s which is this area where they have taken old buildings from all over Wales and reassembled them. It represents a wide span of time. My favorite part was the castle. It was so pretty. I also really enjoyed the chapel. It was really cute. We only had two hours there which is not enough time to see even half of the buildings so I definitely plan to return. It really did feel like a place right out of a movie. There were tall hedges on both sides of the path for quite a bit of it so I felt like I had entered the Triwizard Tournament.

Easy like a Sunday Morning

2010-09-12T15:50:00.002-05:00

Today was a great day! I went with a few friends to church. Afterwards they invited us to stay and have coffee and tea. I had tea and they put milk in it. I thought that was odd but it turned out to be pretty good. A guy named Owen said “Okie” sounds like some sort of dog biscuit. It was really funny.
After church a couple of friends and I went out to the Gower Peninsula. It was quite the challenge to make it to the bus on time. We walked from campus to the bus stop that would take us out there. We had to power walk to make it and as we came around the corner the bus was about to leave. We thought twenty-five minutes would be enough but for future excursions I’m going to say it isn’t because we were booking it and barely made it in time.
It was so pretty where we went. I can understand a lot better now the joys of taking a drive in the countryside because it is gorgeous! The thing about driving is the roads are tiny and the busses are huge. At one point we were six inches from a stone wall on one side and six inches from another bus on the other. That was after reversing until we found a place in the road both busses could fit. The good news is we made it. The place we went had these tall cliffs with a beach below. We didn’t have enough time to go down to the water because we had to make it back to the bus in time but we climbed all over the top. It might just be the prettiest place I have ever been. I just wanted to lay in the grass and listen to the ocean all day.
When we got back to town we grabbed food from “Yummy Yummy Chinese Takeaway” for dinner. I love the food over here because they have everything. Chinese, Dutch, Indonesian, Indian, Thai, Italian, and just about anything else you can think of except Mexican. This is sad but I get a kitchen in a couple of weeks and will probably try to make something mexi-ish then. Tomorrow I start my two week class about British culture. I’m pretty excited for the class but I’m not looking forward to being stuck inside instead of out exploring. The weather has just been so amazing I feel like I’m wasting it every time I set foot indoors.

Sunny Days :)

2010-09-10T17:45:00.004-05:00

I have made it safe to Swansea and the weather has been amazing so far! I was expecting it to be horrible, cold, and rainy from the moment I got off the plane but that has definitely not been the case. I have done so much already that I don’t even know where to begin. For the past couple of days we have been exploring Swansea, a few wrong turns can go a long way. We got lost a couple of times but I think it was all part of the experience and now we know our way around a lot better.
Today we went to Mumbles. It is a cute little part of Swansea right along the rock beach. It was a really low tide but it was still really pretty. We walked along the rock beach and ate ice cream on the pier. I guess there is a really big Italian influence here so the ice cream was amazing! Then we had to go back to get ready because today the rest of the American students arrived and we were all supposed to meet for our welcome dinner. We went to a place called Pub on the Pond. It was pretty good and most importantly right by campus.
For the first two weeks I will be taking a class that is for American students studying in Swansea and we are all living on campus. The class is about British politics and culture. At the end of the two weeks I will be moving into my real housing and will be living with anywhere from eight to twelve people. That is when the real term will start. I’m a little nervous but mostly excited to get started.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow!

2010-09-05T15:24:00.002-05:00

In the past few months I have tried to prepare myself for my fast approaching stint in Europe. A couple of months ago I decided I would try to like seltzer water. I don’t know if this is because I wanted to be able to say “I’d like a bubbly water” and feel really cultured or if it was so I could go ahead and kill all of the taste buds in my mouth. Needless to say this failed and I returned to my good friend sweet tea. After the epic failure of my first attempt, on the fourth of July I watched a rugby game which consisted of a group of giant hairy men in really short shorts colliding in attempts to retrieve an incredibly awkward shaped ball. This is beyond my grasp but fairly entertaining. I have listened to Beatles music, read Jane Austen, and reread the Harry Potter series. I would have done all three of these anyway but they seem related. Perhaps the most successful of my attempts has been to go to my first full soccer game. After much confusion and explanation from my friend I still did not understand the game at all but it was an enjoyable experience all the same. I get the basic idea and now know some of the sacred terms like corner kick and free kick. So at this point I have given up fitting in and am just hoping to get a Welsh Corgi out of the deal. I’m an Oklahoma gal who likes football, sweet tea, and is not afraid to say it. I have already determined what I will do at the first sign of trouble. I will simply say “Well gollygee. Sure am sorry about that.” or “Dog gonnit. Could you gimme a hand here?” I’m just joking. I’m really excited to go. I’m crazy busy with last minute preparations but soon it will all be over. Tomorrow I board the plane and by this time Tuesday I will be in Wales!

Cambridge and Brighton Beach

2010-05-22T14:18:00.011-05:00

Yesterday, we took a train to Cambridge, which is a rival college to Oxford. The atmosphere is much more relaxed and laid back than in Oxford. There were many students laying out tanning in the lawn of the college! We went punting down a river, which was awesome! Punting is basically using a long pole to steer a small, shallow boat that looks somewhat like a canoe. It's amazing how many bicycles there are, people young and old just fly down the street on the bike.
Today, we went to Brighton beach by train. When we got there, we were so cold because we had worn shorts and were ready to lay out in the sun. It did warm up after about an hour after we got there and it made things much more enjoyable. They had a pier with rides, shops, and huge arcade that we spent several hours on. Sara and I got temporary tattoos of the UK's flag. The beach was really crowded and a lady ran into me and smeared my tattoo before it was completely dry, so that put a damper on things for a bit, but you can't be upset when your in such a beautiful place with friends! We only have one more day in London, then on Monday it's back to America!

Oxford and London

2010-05-20T11:52:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday we went to Oxford. It is a famous university here in England that is composed of many colleges. We got to go into some of them. Every building there seems to have history behind it. Oxford is about an hour and twenty minutes away from London, via high speed rail. The countryside is really pretty. Some of the scenes from Harry Potter were filmed here, because many of the places look similar to things you would find at Hogwarts, haha. We also went by the Eagle and Child, which is a place where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien would discuss their books with one another and exchange ideas.

Today we went back into London. The first thing we did was got to Buckingham Palace. There we took pictures and witnessed the changing of the guard. That was pretty cool. After that, we went back to Parliament, where we actually got to go inside for awhile. We weren't aloud to take pictures though. We also went on a cruise down the Thames River, a river that runs through some London.

Liverpool- Home of the Fab Four

2010-05-18T15:00:00.006-05:00

Today we got up early and took a two hour train ride to Liverpool (home of the Beatles.) On the way there you can't help but notice all the yellow fields, there are yellow flowers that are just everywhere! We went to two Beatles museums that had original memorabilia such as John Lennon's glasses. They even created a "yellow submarine" for you to walk through. We also went to the Cavern club which was where the Beatles used to play quite frequently. Liverpool is also a dock, and the Titanic sailed away from there and was intended to head to New York. We got our fill of Beatles music and headed back to the train for another two hour ride back to London.
We decided we were ready for dinner and had been craving something American, so we found an old fashion 50's diner with milkshakes, burgers and fries. It was just what we were looking for to end our day!

2010-05-16T12:57:00.002-05:00

London has been super fun! On Friday we went to Trafalgar Square, which is the center of London. There were many cool buildings around the square, including the National Gallery, which we got to go in. The National Gallery is home to many famous paintings and included work from famous painters such as Michelangelo. After that, we went to St Nicholas in the Field, which is a famous church in Trafalgar Square. We listened to a concert there, which was very good! We then went to a section of London called Marble's Arch. It has many shops and a park. We found a particularly good store called Primark. We ended up buying a lot of stuff from there because the items were relatively cheap (not just London cheap, most of the clothes were cheaper then they would be in the US.)

On Saturday we went to the Market on Portobello Road. This was a famous market, that has been in many movies throughout the years. It was really, really big. Shops and stalls lined the road for some distance. They had antiques, new items, food, and clothes. After that, we were able to watch the FA Cup championship in a restaurant here in London. It was crazy because people were wearing jerseys and yelling at the tv. They are really serious about their football!

Today we went to the Tate Modern art museum and viewed Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globbe Theater. The art museum was very cool, it is made from an old power station. It had seven levels of modern art that included artists such as Dali and Picasso. Macbeth was really cool. We stood in front of the stage while the play was going on. Many times the actors would come down here and made people part of the performance. I have had a lot of fun so far! Our trip is about halfway over. We have another week left: it should be fun!

Yesterday was Amazing.

2010-05-14T02:36:00.007-05:00

I woke up this morning and realized that I had in fact seen Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and The London Eye yesterday and no it had not been a dream. I cannot begin to put into words how awesome it was to look inside the Abbey where so many Kings, Queens, and even Charles Darwin are buried in beautiful, ancient tombs. The Abbey has super high ceilings, stain glass windows, and to imagine the different things that took place there so many years before is just mind boggling.
We also took many pictures of Big Ben, but pictures can't really do it any of these things justice. The sheer size of them is enough to stop you in your tracks, until you nearly get ran over by a speeding double decker bus.
We rode the London eye, which gave us a panoramic view of London. The "flight" as they call it took about 30 minutes to go all the way around. I got an ice cream cone from a street vendor afterwords and walked along the Thames river. London has been a whirlwind of experiencing a different culture, like when we asked for silverware the waiter was like "uh I'll get you picks and shovels." :)

2010-05-13T15:46:00.001-05:00

London- Day 2

2010-05-12T11:42:00.002-05:00

We spent the day touring the British Museum, the British Library, and some of the streets in the city. After waking up from 12 hours of sleep, we got to eat an English Breakfast instead of a Continental Breakfast, which includes Ham, eggs, and baked beans. It was sunny this morning, but now it is cloudy and sprinkles on and off. We used the underground to get to the British Museum. The museum was really cool; we got to see the Rosetta Stone, pieces from the Parthenon, and other things from throughout history. The museum was really large. They had many pieces from ancient Egypt, as well as Ancient Rome and Greece, and Europe.

After eating at the museum we went to walking the streets of London. This is a HUGE city. Everyone is always busy and in a hurry. We went through many shops. A lot of them were souvenior shops but we also went into some electronic stores and clothing stores. We walked for a long time. We decided to go the British Library, which has a lot of historical exhibits. We went through a map exhibit and the histories exhibit. The map exhibit was really cool; it had maps that were really old. Even though the old maps were not as accurate as ours are now, they were surprisingly accurate with what they had to use to make it. The history exhibit had a lot of old documents that the British Library had collected. I saw the Magna Carta, notes from Da Vinci's notebooks, and illuminated manuscripts. We weren't allowed to take pictures there :/.

We went into King's Cross Station and walked around for sometime. That is a famous train station in London. Then we took the underground back to the hotel!!! It has been a really fun day. I'll post some pictures later on!

First Post from London!

2010-05-11T13:03:00.020-05:00

I'm Kate and I will be updating you about our two week trip in London (May 10-24th.) Jacob will also be blogging, but even though we are on the same trip it's nice to have different perspectives. I'm majoring in Community Counseling and I am a transfer student so that makes me a junior at RSU.
There are 5 students and Dr. Ford who is keeping a good eye on us. We met in Tulsa Monday morning and our plane left at 10:50a.m. central, we arrived at 12:30p.m. in Houston, TX and had a few hour layover. We took off at around 3:45p.m. and were in the air a little over 10 hours which was an hour longer than planned! We arrived at the London Heathrow airport (which by the way is the third busiest airport in the world)at 7:45a.m. London time (which is six hours ahead of central time.)
The plane was very large and each person got there own interactive T.V. screen so that you could play movies, T.V. shows and games. I played pinball for awhile then decided to watch some food shows and the movie "It's Complicated." I then attempted to sleep which lately has been extremely unsuccessful :-/ If I can manage to get over the jet lag it should be smooth sailing or rowing for that matter since I hear we are going to try that in a few days!
We checked into our hotel, it's clean, friendly, and very small, but that's to be expected in the here in England. We rode the underground or what the everyone calls "the tube." I didn't realize there would be small things that I needed to be mindful of such as when you are walking down stairs or the street you always keep to the left. This is exactly opposite of how we do it in the United States!
The people in London seem to be very friendly, but they all are in big rush! There was a man in a nice suit who was in such a hurry, that he fell right in front of us coming around the corner, he got back up and started power walking again!
We got to eat at a pub just a few minutes ago, they serve everything you would imagine they would chips (fries), English peas are a side for a lot of meals except of course they call just them peas. We rode on a red double decker bus and I'm going to upload some pictures from that and just walking down the streets.

tales from the road...#1

2009-04-03T03:31:00.001-05:00

ok, so here is the deal. We have been traveling for right at two weeks today. Currently I am in Vienna, Austria. As it stands I and two of my friends from Swansea University, Will and Davis, have made it to Barcelona for two days, Nice-2, Rome-2, Florence-2 1/2 (for me), Venice-2, and now Vienna for 2 (give or take). We had to make some changes because originally we had planned to visit Marselle instead of Nice, but we couldnt find any good train routes from Marselle to Rome. We have also finally met up with mz good friend from Swansea Universitz, Nate, here in Vienna. From here I dont know what will happen. Plans may change? I´ve had a strange urge to break from the pack and travel the rest of the trip solo. Like this is something I need to do for myself. Does that make sense?

Barcelona,

So, we started in Barcelona and honestly didnt reallz see a thing...(fyi if i spell anzthing with a z instead of a y, it is because the kezboards in mz hostel are a little off), ok mmmm, oh zeah, so we are in Barcelona and all we really did is take in the scenery. We hit up the beach, walked Las Ramblas (sp?), ate some tapas, sweets, beach again, got lost in a beautiful city....I walked up the highest hill surounding the city and tagged my name on a metal rail. Sure, it sounds terrible, but i figured i had too. I was coming down from the top of the hill where they had these lifts that could carry u over the bay and I came accross these kids with a spray can. They were about to tag this rail along a dirt path when I came accross them. They saw me and began walkin away like they didnt want me to see them tag stuff. So i did what any responsible adult would do....I asked if i could tag my name on the rail. They all laughed and thought it was cool that I would suggest something like that. Needless to say, they gave up the can, I did my work and got a picture of the kids (that they were all to happz to pose for) and continued down the hill/mountain. Barcelona was more about getting our feet wet for this trip and experiencing the culture more than anzthing. I dont feel too bad not seeing any museums. I made up for that in Rome and Florence. We hung out in our hostel and I made conversation with our roomates from Rome. It was a mother and daughter, Pilar and Poema, on a weekend holiday. They gave me some pointers for Rome and we mostly chatted about Barcelona and so on. They gave me their info and I was suppossed to contact them when I got to Rome, but I couldnt make out the email so I gave up. Barcelona overall was wonderful! It was warm and sunny. I ate some squid out of a can, had squid tapas, had some McDonalds, had some....doughnut-e thing that was wayyyyy too sugary and some desert that had kiwi and strawberry with a creamcheese-ish paste on it. Not the best food, but it worked. As soon as I get back to Uni I will post pictures too. The best source of internet has come from internet cafes along the way. And let me tell u. Depending on the city and how close to the tourist places u are, they can be quite expensive for fifteen to thirty minutes online. This is the first hostel that has had a computer for free available in the lobbey, and supprisinglz it didnt have anyone on it. I do need to wrap up this post for the time. We have lots to see in Vienna. I apologize in advance for not being able to upload pictures right now, but I promise I will get to it when I get back to the University in Wales. There isnt even a spot on this computer to plug in a memory stick from mz camera. Next time I will update on Nice, and Rome. I will say this....Florence was by far my most favorite place to visit this far. Coming from an art background and studying art historz for nearly the last fifteen years made Florence like being in the pressence of gods and monuments of the gods. I woke up at 4 and 5 every morning because I was so excited to go out and see the city. And I will point out that my travel mates said that Florence was their least favorite spot. They have absolutely no interest in art and were ready to leave. I wound up staying an extra half day after they left in order to see Michelangelo´s David. Let me tell ya....I lost my breath on multiple occasions looking at it. It was quite overwhelming and magnificant. Okay, i gotta go, my mates are staring at me. I think I´ve burned up too much time writing/facebooking etc. etc. Plus I´ve been trying to school my mother on some travel tips by email. She and my father are planning on meeting up with me in Paris. They have a mini-trip planned from Rome to Florence, to Mareselle, to Paris. I wish them the best of luck! Later All!

I'm at a loss

2009-03-20T07:49:00.000-05:00

I have no pictures for this post....only thoughts. You have heard me mention on a couple occasions about easter break, well the time has arrived. I leave in a few short hours for possibly one of the most amazing, astounding, moving, lengthy, trying trips of my life. We are leaving on a four week journey through Europe with a 12 city list of stops along the way. Barcelona, Mariselle, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris. This list may change as we go. We have tentatively planned on spending two to three days in each place. I feel as though I am prepared in some ways but not at all in others. I've got my passport. I've got my air up pillow for sleeping on train rides. I've got my Eurail pass that gets me into 21 different countries by train and all paid for. I've got my large travel bag with a removable day pack that I have bought since I came over here. I have my travel pants with tons of pockets and zippers to carry my essential and important items. I'm packing three shirts and two pants. One bandana and one hat. A ipod, sunglasses, passport, id's, tooth brush/paste, deodorant, and some paper work to work on an essay while on the road. We have made few plans to book hostels or train rides, because we don't know how or when exactly we will be moving to a new city or country. I am packing light. I need to be able to be on my feet with a large pack for extended amounts of time. Our plan as of right now only gets me from the city of Bristol in the UK and on a plane to Barcelona. We will arrive around 1 am. We will spend the first night sleeping in the airport. Then we will have to track down a hostel and transportation. There will be three guys other than myself traveling together. Others will join and disperse along the way. Most students plan on roughing it. We will smell bad and look worse by the end of this journey. I hope all goes well. I am excited, nervous, and not packed. I leave in two hours to catch a train for Bristol. Do I have all that I will need for four weeks on the road? I dunno? It'll be great fun. I sure don't wanna lose any valuable ids or info. That would be wicked bad. Since I have been overseas my eyes have been opened to the world. I no longer see only inward in my own little town, in my own little country. This is the best time in my life to attempt such a trip. Does it sound like I'm not ready? I am. I'm ready to tackle the unknown. Physically I think I will be pushed to the edge. All trips thus far have been two to three days and generally it is wonderful to be 'home' to my dorm. We don't know other languages. I know some dirty/slang spanish from working in a restaurant with Mexican cooks. I don't think that will help. I will try and blog along the way. I will have access to internet hopefully in hostels. I'll have to pay for that. I'm about to see what its all about. I'm about to take a month and see more of the world than most could dream of. I'm so very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to be here. now. I can't wait. Peace out!

Pony Mountain, Mumbles, and Gower/Worm's Head

2009-03-20T06:59:00.000-05:00

In the last couple of weeks, since London, I felt I needed to lay low and consider reading a few of my books for my classes. I also am trying to prepare for the 'giant...daunting...over-the-top...out-of-control easter break trip. In doing so I need to conserve some money, because I spent WAY too much in London. Which by the way is very very expensive. Oh, fyi I had some amazing Leboniese food. Oh and in chinatown I ate some shark fin soup that was way over priced and tasted just like egg drop soup and I had some fried eel that tasted like some old school fried catfish back in Oklahoma. Okay, enough of that tangent. Um...so I'm laying low the last couple weeks....kinda. I had some great local journeys and my very best friend, Daniel Clark and his girlfriend Kinda Wilson, from back home in Oklahoma were able to visit me. In fact, they just left this morning. They both stayed in my small peanut sized room for the last three nights and I gave them a guided tour of the full Swansea experience.

First off: Pony Mountain

So, it isn't really named that. It happens to be a large hill that is directly behind my dorm and from the top it has a beautiful view of Swansea, Mumbles and the ocean. I/Daniel so aptly named it Pony Mountain because of the beautiful, yet hairy, ponies and horses residing on its peak. Its only about a fifteen minute hike from behind my building and along the way is a very cool, albeit scary mansion. Here are some pics:

Secondly: Mumbles

I've been to Mumbles a few times and this was the only time I was able to remember my camera and actually take some decent pictures. We visited the castle in Mumbles and visited some of the shops and delis. The best part of Mumbles is walking the boardwalk and going out on the giant rock islands and lighthouse off the pier that are only available when the tide is low, and if you don't make it back in time you can be stuck on out there until low tide or the next day.

Thirdly and certainly most impressively: Gower/Worm's Head

Words and pictures CAN NOT describe the beauty to be found at Rhossili Bay. This is the bay located in Gower that leads to Worm's Head. All I can say is that it is awe-inspiring and at every new turn and cliff I stopped and thought too myself that it was the most beautiful place/view in the world. I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking, but bear in mind that these in no way capture the shear scale and impressive boasting that this coastline deserves.

On a final note...

You'll notice the bearded man with glasses hanging from cliffs and posing with his girlfriend to be Daniel and Kinda. The pier that can be seen in the pictures is from the top of the giant rock islands in Mumbles. It is a most impressive climb and the view from the top is humbling!

Nick-2, London-0

2009-03-20T06:28:00.000-05:00

I visited London for a second time recently on a weekend when I had nothing else planned. I decided last minute after spending a weekend at home after Amsterdam that I absolutely did not want to just sit around and waste another spectacular weekend. So booked my train and hostel a little last minute, but still didn't have to pay too much. I went with will, one of my friends from Swansea University. I'd seen mucho the first time I visited London, but of course that was the first day I arrived overseas. I knew after leaving the first time there were quite a few things I had to go back and visit. I accomplished most of these things this second time around. We spent Saturday, Sunday, and some of Monday touring London. We arrived at Paddington and navigated our way through Hyde Park through south central London past Harrods and the Science Museum finally finding our way to our hostels after a couple of leisurely hours looking and sampling some tasty treats at little bakeries along the way. The hostel was a bar on the bottom floor and all the rooms were upstairs. It was a great looking hostel with some intimidating bathrooms.

I fully felt capable of navigating despite the fact that our map didn't show far enough west to allow us to see how to get to our hostels.

This time 'round Will and I saw the Natural History and Science museums, and since I'm a nerd for dinosaurs and science, this was particularly special. I hadn't ever seen a full dinosaur skeleton put together in all its magnificent glory.

We made our way around to Harrods, where I had some amazing chocolates and sweets,

then to the London eye and caught the most spectacular view of London from the great ferris wheel.

/I saw the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliment for a second time, we ate some eh....sketchy and pricey food in the chinatown district of London. We went back and around Piccadilly Circus, which I feel is somewhat equal to the feeling of being in Times Square in New York City. We went out for drinks on Sunday night with some friends of Wills in a pub in central London near Piccadilly Circus. I really enjoy riding the London Underground (the tube), it is the easiest and far cheapest way to travel. So, once again I have conquered London. It all went seamless, and I am happy to be able to check a few more spots of the

list

more amsterdam

2009-03-12T11:23:00.001-05:00

We've got everything here from random wooden horse sculpture pictures, to the back of Nate as we are riding our bikes through the streets of Amsterdam, to The Bulldog 'coffee' shop, city centre, and lots and lots of bicycles.

I AMsterdam

2009-03-12T10:33:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure I know how to talk about Amsterdam without getting myself in trouble, so I believe I'll stick to the basics. We took a bus to Amsterdam from the University on a Thursday evening at 5:30. We arrived in Amsterdam the following Friday morning at 9ish a.m. Needless to say it was a long bus ride, but we got to take a ferry from England to France. We took two charter buses filled with students from all over Swansea University, so not just Americans this time. Once checked into the hostel, we were all set free to do as we pleased in Amsterdam. We had the opportunity to choose our roommates for the hostel. So, the crew that I most generally travel/hang-out with here all roomed together. That'd be Nate, Katie, Jeph and myself. To start, everyone was tired and hungry, so just about everyone set out for breakfast. Beyond breakfast, there was no time to rest, so we ventured into the city. Amsterdam is a very artsy city and fairly expensive as well. We visited the Anne Frank museum, the Van Gogh museum (and yes I saw Starry Night!), the Red Light District, Hard Rock Cafe, numerous windmills and outside markets. The absolute best way to travel in Amsterdam and I highly recommend, is by bicycle. The most noteworthy thing about Amsterdam was that it seems to be the bicycle capital of the world. I've never ever seen so many bikes in my life. Cars and pedestrians alike all give way to bikes. Bicycles have their own street lanes, traffic lights, road ways. It is unreal! It is without a doubt the best way to get around the city though. It seemed very complicated to navigate the intense roadways, traffic, and people on a bicycle, but it becomes very natural after a while. I got to experience and see so much more of the city by bicycle. The only downside is the high bicycle theft rate. It is very important to lock up your bike every time you stop, which became somewhat of a nuisance. The Anne Frank museum, though I was skeptical about visiting, especially with the high entrance fee, was jaw dropping. The whole museum/house was very well designed and interesting. The Van Gogh museum offered almost every one of Van Gogh's most important works of art. It was a real treat to see them in person. The red light district was exactly as I had imagined it would be from the movies. It isn't quite as 'shady' as you might expect. During the day, parents and children alike all walk through the district. Prostitutes parade around the window rooms dressed in lingerie at all hours of the day and it is quite the popular tourist spot. At night is when the district really shines however! I learned that you must always stay cautious in a city like Amsterdam. People offered drugs on the corners of streets and friends of mine had close encounters with pick-pockets. By all means, don't misunderstand me, I loved Amsterdam, you just have to use caution. Although I haven't been to Venice yet, Amsterdam seems to resemble the same type of set up. The main centre of town is surrounded by water-ways splitting up the city into sections like a stadium. The food in Amsterdam was also a treat. They had fantastic pastries such as doughnuts and pancakes (which is more like an American crepe). On the way home we stopped in Belgium at a small diner where I had the most amazing Belgium waffle's in the world and at a Belgium chocolate shop. I fully understand why they are known for their chocolates and waffles. mmmmmmmm I enjoyed them for days after the trip was over!

more York pictures

2009-03-12T10:07:00.000-05:00

Starting from the top left:

-Me getting cozy with the viking in our hostel

-The last nights dinner our group had in York. (that'd be Fiona, me, Audrey, Jeph, Katie, Nate, Ethan, and Jared)

-We played truth or dare in the car. Fiona's dare was to run around the car in the middle of Manchester waving her arms around in the air three times.

- Um...that small top one, above Manchester United Stadium is my room in the hostel.

-The of course is Manchester United Stadium. We only drove through Manchester on our way home from York.

-Purple living statue riding a bike. He wasn't a very good statue. He moved all the time. But it is a cool idea with the bicycle.

- The next three photos...me, me, me all acting dumb in a castle museum in York and getting arrested.

-The final photo is one of the York sightseeing boats that was docked up on the shore. I thought it was quite peculiar how they dock them!

Up to date

2009-02-11T18:30:00.001-06:00

On someone's front door in York. She, the owner, was checking us out from the window.

view from the tip top of York Minster

from the bottom of the minster

gargoyle on the minster

supposedly you rub this cow's nose for good luck!

I couldn't resist. These doors were intended for hobbits.

About half-way up the minster

One of the coolest old, haunted pubs of York.

First day in York. That would be Jeph and Katie!

Oh, yeah we drove. Ha ha ha!

Let the games begin...

I hope I can summarize this chapter better than the last. So, I'm enrolled the first week, start my classes which I managed to get down to just two days a week, Tuesday and Friday. I go to class Tuesday and meet all my teachers, and my Friday teacher cancels my Friday class. Sweet! I only have one class my first week. But...I also had that stinking paper due the following Monday. I was supposed to go to Stonehenge that weekend, but my alarm made that an impossiblity. Honestly that was fine. I needed to do some serious work on my paper. I had tracked down some sources, but had not opened them yet. The paper was due in like two days. I spent my Saturday doing research for my paper instead of going to Stonehenge. I wrote my paper on Sunday and turned it in Monday. I hate waiting to the last minute, but I just work so much better under pressure, Ha Ha! That was the only weekend I did not leave the city. The next week...which happens to be last week, played out very well. It snowed...hard. The United Kingdom has had the worst weather its seen in a very long time. The biggest hit day for the snow was...you guessed it, Tuesday. All my classes were cancelled. I witnessed and took part in some of the biggest, most incredible snowball fights I've ever seen. The students in the village went nuts for the snow and they played/faught in it all day and into the wee hours of the night. It was fantastic!

York!!!! The original

Okay, so we are just about summed completely up. This last weekend, I went to York.

We drove. I drove. York is about a five/six hour drive north of Swansea and in England, not Wales. We rented a car and myself, my good friend Nate, and Jared, Kate, and Jeph all piled in. The most wonderful thing about this travel thing is all the people and friends you make along the way. Each weekend brings new people. I might hang out with completely different people from week to weekend and travel new places with new people. It's been fantastic forming all these great friendships. Okay, so I knew all the people in my car, but we were meeting with some other people. Friends of Nates. Fiona, Audrey, and Ethan. The eight of us navigated all the way north with no problems driving or with directions. I personally enjoyed the challenge of driving. Think about it: other side of the road, other side of the car, stick shift all kinds of backwards, traffic signs that I have no clue what they mean, and a really lousy map (which we virtually did away with for the ride home). It was great! York was beautiful. I had previously loved Bath, but I enjoyed York much more. They are completely different styles. Bath has more Roman qualities, while York is very old English. We stayed in York at a Youth Hostel. It was very nice and clean. Much better than I had anticipated. The rooms only had two bunk beds each. I've heard that many hostels rooms have anywhere from 10 to 20 beds in a room. The first day we took a small tour of the York, we went to the museum, went on a ghost trail, and ended the night pub hoping to some old, haunted, and really cool pubs in York. We finished at a club which was an Asian restaurant that converts to a club in the evening. It was kinda weird and funny thing was we all got the feeling it may have been a gay club. No worries, I had a good time with my friends and we had an awesome first day in York. Second day: We walked around and did the tourist thing; took lots and lots of pictures of each other trying to look candid. Our group split off and my group went and visited the castle museum. It was okay. I took some funny pictures in there, but that was about it. I honestly wanted to get out of there fast, because there were so many other places I wanted to see. After the museum we met up with everyone else, ate lunch, and decided we'd split off and do our own thing. I went by myself and visited the market, various shops, people, places...i dunno? I saw what I wanted. It was good. I like York. period. We drove back and hit a tremendous snow storm in mid-trip. I could barely see the lines on the road. It was a tad bit nerve-racking but I managed. We stopped in Manchester (and saw Manchester United Stadium), and Leeds. I was pretty exhausted, and excited to get back to my room. I knew then how much things have changed. How comfortable and at home the village and my friends have become. It's a good feeling to feel completely settled in. I am staying very busy still. I have reading for classes to keep up on, Amsterdam this weekend, shopping for more travel gear for the BIG Easter Break that is a month long (I'll elaborate more on this as information presents itself), keeping up with friends and going out. I've had some fantastic fish and chips and some really lousy food too.

Food fight...

I'm not too big a fan of the food here. There are alternatives though; indian and chinese are fairly accessable. Everything, even the stuff that is very clearly American tastes different. They have different laws on food here. So there is no high fructose corn syrup. We put that in everything in the states! They use only sugar and believe me it makes a difference. The meat is very lean here. I guess I prefer a big fatty burger over a lean burger. Ketchup is off, Coke is off, Burgers are off, Fries are off, Cheesecake is off. I had the most amazing cheesecake last week. It was a vanilla bean cheescake, served at a pub called Comercials, which also served me the best fish and chips I've had. Yes, the cheesecake was off, but still really really good. They don't use as much sugar in the deserts here. But, in this case it worked very well. It was a mild, flaky, delicate cheescake that melted in your mouth.

Wow...

Okay...um that about sums it up for now. If I can just get down to making this happen once a week I won't have to be so long winded.

Pre-sessional and the first two weeks

2009-02-11T18:29:00.001-06:00

I love all the living statues. Cardiff is the capital of Wales. Cardiff city centre!

I took this picture at a protest in Cardiff city centre

Cardiff Castle

Bath. Not sayin I need one, but this was at the Roman baths in the city of Bath.

Fast-Forwarding...

Pre-sessional. Blah. Don't get me wrong, the pre-sess was not a bad thing. It was just somewhat exhausting and intensive. With the first couple weeks rolling on in my new 'world,' I began to settle in, but it was a very strange first weeks. Here's why! Busy, busy, busy. We had the Pre-sessional, which was a two week course for anywhere from four to six hours a day for the first two weeks. It was an entire course on the politics and culture of Britain. I learned a lot about the U.K. and how everything runs, which has been fantastic for helping me understand the people and places I have been. While that course was going on, I met tons and tons of people. Mostly Americans. It is easy for us all to migrate to each other. We are all misplaced souls looking for someone to relate to. Then of course, there was the pub, the bar, the clubs! It was all very much a social mixer for the first couple weeks. Getting to know people, going out, pint by pint by pint. It made it much easier to meet people. During the second week of the pre-sessional was the inauguration of President Obama. That turned out to be a really big deal on campus. The BBC came on campus and interviewed a handful of the American students on both the radio and tv. I got interviewed on the radio, live while watching the inauguration on a large projection screen in the lecture theater. I never heard the interview, but another girl did and she said she heard me. That's really all I have to go on. I've never found it. Plus she said that she saw me and some other people on tv in the background. It was like a big party. They hooked us up with free champagne and munchies, then interviewed people. Um, plus during the first couple weeks is when you find out all those little things that you forgot to pack when you leave home. I spent many a day and many a dollar...er pound in the city centre buying things I had not had the foresight to pack. Really though, I knew I'd have to buy some things. I packed very lite. I had only brought two suitcases with me. Like I coulda survived for nearly six months with the few measly pairs of socks and underwear and clothes that I had brought. Finally, each weekend was a field trip, including the first weekend. So I had three weekends that we took trips to different sites within the city and other cities. First weekend (the day after I arrived in Swansea, completely confused, but incredibly ready to tackle it), we go to Mumbles/Gower and see Worm's Head and the stone King Aurthur supposedly pulled the sword from. But would you believe I didn't bring my camera. I had no idea what to expect. Meh? I'l go back soon enough. I actually went back to Mumbles today and watched my friend Nate do some windsurfing with the windsurfing club (which I plan on joining after I get my hands on a wetsuit). It was incredibly cold and they all said the water was freezing but I'm still down to go next week after Amsterdam. Second weekend: Cardiff, the country's capital. Third weekend: Bath. I'd like to say more about these but I don't have much to say. Cardiff was nice, Bath was beautiful. I mostly walked around and took pictures. So I'll post those pictures separately for your pleasure. So, to recap the first two weeks: 1. British Culture and Politics class 2. Need to meet people/make friends 3. Pints 4. Going to town every other day/nite to buy 'necessities' 5. Fear of the impending paper due one week after the two week course finishes. Oh, did I not mention that earlier. Yeah, I had a roughly eight page paper, due the following week the pre-sess ended. This was not nearly enough time for a research paper. Plus I am not a real big fan of writing papers. Plus we had to enroll in the regular semester classes Friday, which started Monday after the pre-sess ended on Thursday.

Just when you thought...

2009-02-11T16:35:00.000-06:00

I'm gonna do my best to summarize for you the details from my first few weeks here at Swansea. Sure, this seems like a daunting task, considering the enormous amount of fun I've been having, but I believe this will lead to only the most interesting/entertaining moments I've had. But first, I'd like to point out that I will be going to Amsterdam tomorrow and I believe I will get in to as much trouble as possible.

In the beginning...

I arrived in Swansea by train, then hired a taxi to take me to the University. Bear in mind that I had just been all over London and my legs and feet were in an incredible amount of pain still. Sure, I know it sounds like I am complaining, but my legs legitimately hurt and I was in a considerable amount of pain for the first week or so, until I managed to toughen up. So, I get to the Uni and with all my bags and suitcases I begin to walk all over the campus trying to find out where I check in. Turns out I was supposed to go straight to the Student Village to check in, which was about 2 miles up the road. I took the bus. I check in finally and manage to make it to my flat. Once arrived at my flat and into my room, I feel as though this is going to be a very long semester. My room smelled...odd, very pungent. The carpet has the residue of many years of gum and other 'substances' all over. My heater didn't work and the shower was broke. I was a little worried. Fret not my friends, as my room and I have greatly come to symbiosis. All is well in my room and it feels like 'home.' Heater-check, shower-check, not having to continue bathing in a tub-check, carpet---well the carpet still looks kinda gross, but I have learned to love it. Smell? Well I guess I learned to either deal with it, or I put off a pleasant aroma that has nullified the previous smell. Of course, I have been using various scented sprays and smelly things bought from the Pound Store. Okay, so my room is great! I have completely settled in, everything works, I've put pictures on the wall and so on. I like it here.

What we gots here aren't anything too special. Basically this is the village. You'll notice, the Spar which is a convenience store. Idol's which opens in the student village from in the evenings every day till either two or four in the morning. They have really good, greasy, but really bad for you food. The bridge I walk across everyday on my way to my building/flat. It is also the path that is directly behind Idols and the Spar. The other pictures show the buildings that house the students and the laundromat and Woody's bar. I spent the better part of the first two weeks in that pub. Don't worry, I've since ventured out beyond to village to bigger and better places to see. Assuming of course I'm not staying in doing homework. I included a couple pictures of the University also. Then there is the white chocolate. Mmmmm they have a good selection of white chocolate here. There is the bathroom in my flat. I haven't got any pictures of my room yet, but I suppose I can take some, once I've cleaned it. That's about it. These are some very basic pics that may, or may not give you some vision of my surroundings. I think I'll take a good go at taking more pictures of the University and the Village at another point. Weather is always an issue. Rain or snow, it rarely lets up to be a nice enough day to take pictures of either.

London...

2009-01-23T09:44:00.000-06:00

Hmmm, I suppose ya'll have been wondering about my goings on over the last couple of weeks. Let me tell ya, it has been very busy, exhausting, sometimes trying, but overall it has been an enormous blast and I wouldn't have it any other way. I believe I'll stick with London for this blog and my first few days as an international man of mystery.

To start things off right, I must point out that travel was more pleasant than I ever believed possible. I left with very little pre-planning, choosing to leave most of it up to chance, as that is where the adventure begins. I was sooo very lucky to fly first class all the way from Chicago to London. I arrived in London at 10:30 pm, which would make it around 4:30 Oklahoma time. One interesting thing to point out as I flew that day, was watching the sun rise and set from 30,000 feet. Since London is six hours ahead and the sun sets around 5:30 in London, I saw sun rise and sun set within a few hours of flying. I had no Internet, no direction, and limited phone communication after arriving that evening. I had a few vague texts from my mother directing me to a Boston Manor Hotel, everything else was a learning experience. I asked for a few directions and found my way to the London Underground. My first experience on the subway. It was quiet, except for a few foreigners who were having an argument on the train. After exiting the train, I continued on foot, catching my first glimpses of a foreign country. As I walked with all my luggage on a nearly fifteen minute walk to the hotel, I couldn't help but have a stupid grin on my face as I looked all at the cozy houses and tiny driveways of the city. I couldn't help my excitement. It was exactly as I had dreamed. I was in a new country that I had only seen in books and television. I had dreamed of this and it did not disappoint. Exhausted and sore I checked into the hotel and found my way through the tiny hallways of my hotel into my tiny room. It was very quaint but comfortable. After flying for nearly ten hours, I went straight to sleep.

The next morning I woke up early planning to take Thursday as a day to explore London. I made my way back to the Underground and jumped on the first train I found that I believed headed in the direction I wanted to go. I hadn't looked at any maps, and had not changed any of my currency thus far. I rode until I saw the exit "Piccadilly Circus". Never having been to London or having any prior research, I just got off here because of the peculiar name and it seemed to be somewhere near the middle of the city. What a wonderful stop! I couldn't have picked better. From the dazzling lights and shops of Piccadilly Circus, I made my way down the road, guessing directions, but believing I had a pretty good sense of direction. I managed through the park and to Buckingham Palace. After Buckingham palace, I made my way up and around Wellington Arch, and met a very friendly Brazilian girl named Lorena. We both had been aimlessly wondering London. After some introductions, I asked if she'd like to travel together. We made quick plans and set out to see some museums and other touristy sites. It was all spur of the moment and made for an amazing trip. We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum (we were supposed to go see Kensington Palace too but we also wanted to see all the museums before close), the Natural History Museum where I got to see my first dinosaur skeletons/fossils and a beautiful skating rink near the museum. After that end of town, it was back to the underground and towards Big Ben, the Houses of Parliment and the London Eye (that giant ferris wheel from Fantastic Four). Finally, back near Piccadilly Circus to the National Museum for some of the most beautiful artwork I have ever seen. You name the artist, that museum probably had it. I lost my breath on several occasions upon realizing the monumentous artists at which I gazed. I wish I could have taken pictures in there, but my first attempt at doing so came with a shrieking yell of un-enthusiasm from museum peeps. After visiting all the museums and sites we could muster in a nearly 10 hour day of walking in London, Lorena and I sat down to a nice dinner of fish and chips at a cafe in Piccadilly. We said our goodbye's, Lorena going back to Brazil the next morning, and I back to my hotel room. My feet and shins and thighs had never hurt so bad. I covered lots of ground and mostly by walking. It was a wonderful day and I can't wait till the upcoming weekends that I have freetime to visit London one or two more times. There are soooo many more places that I want to explore, but they can wait.

Friday morning I woke in time for breakfast, found directions to Paddington Station from the Underground and caught the first train from London to Swansea. It was an almost 3 hour trip, but the seeing the beautiful English and Welsh countrysides made it entirely worth while. It pays dearly to book your trains the same day. I paid out the *** for my train ticket. I understand booking in advance can cut the price in half at least. But it's all about learning as I go. That's the way I intended it to be.

Two days and counting, and this is my first blog...ever!

2009-01-05T12:27:00.000-06:00

Hello All,

My name is Nicholas (Nick) Michael, I will be taking over the blog that Desiree Mitchell had started from her adventures in Wales. Now on to more introductions. I am a Graphic Design student at Rogers State University. I am an artist, designer, photographer (kinda), bartender, and student. I have lived in Oklahoma my whole life, and even better, I have lived in Claremore my whole life too. As an artist, my experience has been limited. I have dreamed of seeing the world and believe that any experiences I encounter in Wales will make me a more talented artist. My passions have always involved all kinds of foods, design, history, science and art. I can't wait to see Europe! I hope to be inspired by everything that surrounds me in there.

As I said earlier, I will be taking over the blog for Desiree. I have been very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to travel to Wales and study at Swansea University. I leave in two days and have been...uh we'll say "slightly" stressed out trying to accomplish everything before I leave. I have had certain graphic design jobs and projects that I am rapidly trying finish before Wednesday when I leave. Like Desiree had mentioned in her first post, I have been diligently working towards gathering all necessary material for my almost six month stay in Wales. Passport, bank statements providing information on how I plan to support myself while in Wales, luggage, packing, tons and tons of paperwork proving my enrollment in the University, are just some of materials I will need to travel. Of course, I had to do a lot of shopping; Camera, new iphone...which is only the single greatest invention since the automobile, clothes, blah blah blah, there has been a ton more but I will spare you the details.

My goal is to be able to comfortably travel to some of the most beautiful places of Europe while studying at Swansea. The greatest opportunity for these trips will be on the weekends, Easter break, and after the semester has finished. What is wonderful about the spring semester is the nearly month long Easter break that runs from March 21st thru April 19th. I am so very pleased to know that both my parents Greg and Lynn Michael, and my best friend Daniel with his girlfriend Kinda will all be trying their best to visit me on the Easter break. Also, when the semester ends on June 10th, my little brother Sean will be joining me for another two week journey through Europe before I depart for the USA on June 27th.

Sadly, but happily I did the one thing that I never ever believed I would have to do, I sold my 1967 Mustang Fastback. It was a hard hard decision, but one that I believe was the best thing for me to do. Sure, I believe I would have been just fine with the savings that I had, but there were a couple things I wanted to make sure of. First, when I am in Europe I hope to see and experience everything with no regrets and no financial hurdles. Secondly, it just seemed like the responsible thing to do. My Mustang had seen better days, and although I have held on to it for the last 12 years, it seems like this is the opportunity for it to go to a better place and receive really good attention. Overall, I am happy to have sold it to a good home and I know that my journey's through Europe will be all the more successful now.

So, this is the first blog that I have ever written. I hope to make it as entertaining as possible.

I am a newbie photographer and only recently finished my first black and white photography class. This is one of my favorite pictures from that class. I hope that I can capture all the beauty of Wales and Europe so that I may share them in this blog. Before I wrap up this preliminary blog, I would like to take a moment to thank a few people for making this all possible. Thank you first off to Bryce Brimer for all the help and for the initial introduction to the possibility to study in Wales. Bryce contacted me this summer with information about the program and has been working with me the entire fall semester to get everything in order. Special thanks also to Carolyn Taylor, Sharon Kern, Taylor Finney, and Nicole Nascenzi for their extra work and support all semester to help bring this all together. Thank you Desiree Mitchell for giving me extra tips for traveling and the financial help to pay for the semester. Daniel Clark, my roommate, you more than anyone have had to listen to me blab about this trip for the last six months and you have never once complained. I know you have probably gotten tired of listening to me talk about it. I do hope you can make it over to see me in Europe. Last and most certainly not least, my mother and father. They have been my rock and I know that they have done and would do anything to help me accomplish this trip, I love you both very much!

That's all for now folks! Next time you hear from me, I will be in Wales and the adventure will begin. I hope this becomes a life changing trip!

Dublin

2008-12-20T14:39:00.000-06:00

ah so Dublin was a lot of fun! I stayed at a pretty cool hostel in the four courts area, which was so nice. my hostel was very near the Temple bar district and city centre and all that jazz. The oldest pub in Ireland was right near my hostel, too. I went there with a friend that I met and we got to see a traditional Irish band play. A man sang a song about World War I and like almost every man in the room had tears in his eyes or was just crying openly. It was nuts!

Yeah so I met a girl at Gatwick who was also going to Dublin for a few days. She's from Canada and she was really cool so we hung out while in Dublin. She has a friend who lives there so her friend showed us ropes haha. It's always nice to have an insider's view of a city. I found a really neat bookstore while there too and bought a book to read on the way home. I was amazed at how artistic and cultural of a city Dublin is. I didn't realize they had such a big theatre district and little book markets everywhere and stuff. It was a lovely surprise

The trip home was interesting. I flew out of Dublin airport and got to Newark with no problems. However, we got stuck for a couple of hours in Newark because of plane maintanence problems. I missed my connection in Denver because of the two hour delay in Newark and was forced to stay overnight in Denver. Then I had an early flight home but it also had plane problems and then got delayed and then cancelled so I didn't get to leave Denver until pretty late and got home pretty late at night. It was all very interesting to say the least. I really miss Swansea, though. Ugh I hated leaving so much! It was all so depressing to have to say goodbye to everyone. Everyone made it home safely, though, which is really good. I definitely see myself going back to the UK to live for a while, though. Hopefully sooner than later!

aw goodbyes :(

2008-12-12T16:42:00.000-06:00

ugh and so it begins. everyone pretty much is leaving here today or tomorrow. most are going home. some are doing some traveling and then leaving but either way, it's so sad! I'm leaving for Dublin tomorrow morning and then I'm going home on Tuesday. I've had such a blast here! I so don't want to leave but I am so ready to see everyone at RSU and be back there again.

I am excited to go to Dubin, though. The land of my people! haha and I'm so excited to be finished with all of my classes, too! I finished my paper for one class, took my final for German and did both of my online classes (A's in those! woohoo!)

I can't believe I'm all packed up and cleaning my room and everything to leave. It doesn't really feel over and like I'm leaving. It's beginning to feel more real today, though.

I feel so lucky to have been here at all! The American Studies office has been wonderful to all of us. I've met some amazing people and gotten to experience so many wonderful things and see so many great places that I've always wanted to see.

My friends and I went out to a final dinner the other night. It was nice. we went and ate some Indian food and had fun.

I went through the botanical gardens on campus again today for a final time. it's such a gorgeous place!

Well anyway I'm going back to packing and getting ready to leave all bright and early but will definitely write about Dublin!

hmm..I should probably be writing a paper...

2008-12-07T16:10:00.000-06:00

Well yeah about the title. I should be writing a paper but I'm taking a break to eat some more dinner and write on this thing, ya know? haha my brain needs a rest anyway.

So I'm officially finished with my two online classes. Yay! I took the finals already and so now it's just a matter of finding out if I made A's in them. Though I'm pretty certain I did haha!

I take my German final on Wednesday and all I have to do for my other class is write this massive paper. Luckily, I'm not really much of a procrastinator at all so it should be fine. I've already done quite a bit for it, but it is a bit challenging. oh well. I'm sure it'll all work out.

I'm mailing some luggage home on Tuesday so that I don't have to cart tons of stuff around with me when I go to Dublin. Hopefully it all ships fine and everything. It's not too much different than if I were to have it with me when I left. It's getting there by airplane either way; this is just more convenient. It still makes me nervous, though, to give my suitcases to a stranger and trust a bunch of people to get my stuff home for me...eek. I've already paid for it and everything so as long as the truck shows up on Tuesday (and in time for me to not be late to class) and everything, we should be good! hopefully...

I just ate some more British food. I had beans and cheese on toast (yeah I'd so never heard of that before I got here) and it was actually pretty good..strangely lol. I also tried corn(ed?) beef pie. yummy! My flatmate made it! ah the things we do to procrastinate from doing our work haha. It was strangely delicious, as well. I had a roast thingy at the carvery across from where we live the other day. It was pretty delicious, as well. It took me a while we I got here to acquire a taste for the food but maybe my tastebuds are acclimating. hmm.. haha

Well anyway, I put some more pictures from Freiburg here and now I suppose I'll get back to my work!

ich liebe deutschland!

2008-12-02T14:47:00.001-06:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. A bunch of my friends and I had thanksgiving with our wonderful British friends. Hopefully they enjoyed our lovely little holiday.

so I have returned from Germany. woohoo. we had a blast there. the way down was pretty great. We all got a good amount of sleep and arrived at a wonderful hotel! super cheap and super wonderful. the way back was not so good, though. we got basically no sleep because of loud people and were home for a very short amount of time before a fire alarm went off and woke us all back up. so yeah last night was not a good one for sleep. eek

but yes Germany was very cool. We had wonderful food. Freiburg is a really neat little city, too. We went to the Christmas market and went on a hike up a mountain in the black forest. We walked all around the city. Our hotel was a little out of the way, but it was ok because we just walked to and from it every day, which was really healthy and allowed us to get a good view of the town. aw our last trip together. sad sad sad :(

it's crazy to think that in like a week and half, I'll be leaving wonderful Swansea to go back to wonderful Oklahoma. This semster has flown by so quickly. it's just crazy

Deutschland!

2008-11-27T08:58:00.000-06:00

so tonight my friends and I are leaving for Germany! we'll be spending a few days in Freiburg, which should be super awesome. we're going for a Christmas market. Freiburg is supposed to be one of the best places for Christmas markets, and I'm sure it'll be amazing! it's right on the black forest and right by France and Switzerland so there should definitely be an interesting mix of cultures and stuff there.

Last night I went to a comedy show here in Swansea. The last Wednesday of every month there is a comedy show at the Swansea Grand Theatre so I went last night since it's my last time to see it before I leave. They're not doing one in December so last night was the Christmas one (meaning the best one, duh!) It was absolutely great. I highly recommend it for anyone who has a chance to go. I had a blast. All of downtown Swansea is decorated really pretty and everything, too. They have a fun little carnival type thingy here that I will hopefully be checking out soon! It's so pretty here this time of year. It's still green here, too, which is nuts to me! I don't understand how it's almost December and it's super cold but still so green. wow!

So yeah here are some more pictures from Paris and of my new hair! I got it cut in Paris and then I put color in it yesterday here in Swansea. yayyyy!

wonderful weekend in paris!

2008-11-24T05:00:00.001-06:00

Well we just arrived back in Swansea last night from Paris! We had a great weekend there. We spent Friday just kind of exploring the area around our hotel and parts of the city. We had a great dinner and then went to the Louvre! We got to go for free, too, because Friday nights they have a deal for people under 26. That was amazing. I saw some amazing art, including some of my all-time favorite paintings (the Mona Lisa, Liberty Leading the People, etc). I saw some Picasso and some Delacroix...it was great!

On Saturday, two of my friends and I went on a biking tour of Paris. It was amazing! The tour took us to many places in Paris that are off the beaten path so we got to see a lot of the unknown parts of Paris. After the tour, we went to the Catacombs. That was just nuts. So many bones! It seemed like the catacombs went on for miles or something. We were just in awe of how many people must be down there. After the catacombs, my friends and I went shopping! We actually didn't really buy any clothes or anything but it was awesome just to look. We didn't really have enough time for shopping, though, so we only looked around for a bit. Then we went off to the Eiffel Tower! We found a nice place to eat very near it, too. Love French food! It was funny, though, because there was a family sitting next to us at dinner that were obviously American so two of us took a bet to see who could get closest to guessing their state. I won! They were Texan and I just knew it! haha so that was fun. Then we went up the Eiffel Tower...that was scary. Very, very, very high. It was windy and cold, too, which was a bit disappointing, but it was totally worth it!

We really didn't get to do anything on Sunday since we had to leave so early. But that was OK because we were able to do a lot while we were there. It would've been nice to have more time, but the time we had was definitely amazing!

Paris!

2008-11-17T14:20:00.001-06:00

We had our meeting for Paris today. It's so exciting that it's happening so soon! We are leaving Thursday evening. Getting there is going to be an adventure. Rather than flying, this time I'll be traveling by bus and ferry. hmm...should be a new experience. It's really going to feel like a school trip or something since we're going by bus. We travel at night, as well, which will be really neat so I can sleep and have lots of energy when I get there (hopefully!) but yeah, we're leaving Thursday and getting on a bus to take to the coast. Then we transfer to a ferry to France, where we get on another bus to Paris. interesting... It's really nice, though, that everything is basically figured out for us on this trip and whatever we do once we get there is up to us, which is also great. I have so many great friends that are going, too, so it's definitely going to be a fun trip.
Right now I'm trying to eat lots of my food that will expire when I'm gone. It's difficult. When I went to Venice, though, a lot of my food expired while I was gone so I'd rather not have that happen again. Food expires so much more quickly here than at home because they use fewer preservatives. It's better for you but it's just hard to get used to!

2008-11-13T07:57:00.000-06:00

I decided to post some older pictures that I have from the various places I've been. I can't believe I'm leaving here a month from today. That just seems way way too soon. I'm not ready to go yet at all! A month from today I fly off to Dublin, though, and then onward back to Oklahoma a few days later. I'm going to miss so many people so badly! Not that I'm not missing people back home right now, and not that I'm not ready to see many people from home again, but I'm just not ready to leave! Time is just really flying by for me here.

I've been preparing for law school lately, which is just crazy. I can't believe that I'll be doing that next year. I've been corresponding with a human rights attorney in London since that is what I'm interested in. She's being quite helpful to me! Applying to law school is such a stressful process, but it makes me feel like a senior in high school again or something. It just really takes me back to applying for college! Hopefully I end up at a law school that is as amazing as RSU has been for undergrad. I really hope I find a place that I love as much as RSU! I'm going to be applying for my internship in Uganda soon, too, as soon as the applications are online! I can't believe I'm enrolling in my last semester of school, too! craziness!

EEK! so I'm off to Paris a week from today! I leave late Thursday night! I have a meeting for it on Monday! So exciting! This time I'm going with a huge group of people, which is neat. It's through the student union here. They went to Amerstam a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't go on that trip. Couldn't pass up Paris, of course, though! I plan on getting my hair cut while I'm there, too. My friends and I are going to the Louvre and on a bike tour of Paris, which will be awesome! This is my first real trip with a huge group of people since I've been here, too. Edinburgh was just four of us and Venice was just little ole me! Venice was amazing, though. Waking up in sunny Venice (when it was supposed to be rain) and finding out that Obama had won was just a once-in-a-lifetime, indescribable feeling!

Blah..I need to go to city centre and do a little shopping for various things, such as band-aids! (or plasters, as they're called here...) ugh but it's raining (of course) and I just don't want to go out in the rain again today! It rains so much here! rainiest city in the UK!

So everyone should know that today is the second annual "to write love on her arms" day. it's a great organization that everyone should know about and read up on!

Well I'm off to brave the weather!

venice

2008-11-07T10:26:00.000-06:00

aaah I am now back from Venice! I had a blast! words can not describe how amazing that place is. it's like a little microcosm or something. it's a bubble that is practically isolated from much of the influences of the world. I love it! you can not compare Venice to any other place because it's so profoundly different. I'm proud of myself, too, because I didn't get lost! I went by myself and didn't get lost at that. everyone was warning me that getting lost is just part of it.

I stayed in a very interesting hostel. It was really small and used to be a museum. There were only about seven of us there at any given time. It was absolutely gorgeous and was all marble. The people who ran the hostel gave us breakfast and dinner every day so that was awesome! I met some really cool people and hung out with them while I stayed there (they all got lost, though, getting to the hostel for like 2 or 3 hours).

it was supposed to rain while I was there but instead it was like 65 degrees every day and so sunny! I loved it! it was like a mini summer break. Now I'm back to the cold and the rain, though. No..I'm actually glad to be back so it's ok. I've come to love this place and think of it as home!

Yeah I had a great, pretty inexpensive little trip to Venice. I would recommend that to anyone. It was my first time on the Continent. Defintely awesome. I feel so proud for going alone and not speaking the language or anything. yay bravery!

Now it's just 2 weeks until Paris!

happy halloween!

2008-10-31T13:04:00.000-05:00

hope everyone is having a great halloween! things have been very fun here. there have been tons of things going on for halloween! they don't really decorate or make as big of a deal of it here as in the states, though. it's my favorite holiday so I was wishing for some more like festive decor at places!

so just a few days til the election! yay! I'm getting everything ready for Venice so I've had to do a ton of homework to get ready and I'm having to take a test early and stuff. this school is so great for people who like to travel, though, because they work with you so much when you're gone and everything. it's really great.

well anyway I have more Edinburgh pictures!

edinburgh!

2008-10-28T18:43:00.000-05:00

so I had a blast in Edinburgh. and I'm going to venice next week! elections are a week from today too so hopefully you have all voted or are going to in a week! obama 08!

anyway, so yes Edinburgh. We stayed at the Globetrotter Inn, which is probably the best hostel in the world. I'm not positive about that because it's the first one I've ever seen but still...it was pretty dang amazing. The view was awesome from our hostel and the place was just so cool! There is a photo up there among the pictures of the view from our hostel; it's of the Firth of Forth, which is a body of water...sort of like a bay or something. anyway it was so cool to get to see the water from our hostel and we're pretty sure we saw Nessie that first day we were there...of course, we had been up since 4:00 am...so maybe it was just a duck or something....

I absolutely loved the city! I was actually more impressed than I thought I would be. We went to two museums, saw the awesome castles, and did the Scotch Whiskey Experience, which was wicked cool. It's like a tour that teaches you about how Scotch Whiskey is made and like the different areas that it comes from and then they put you on a little trolley type thing and you go through a tunnel and yeah it's just really neat. it was only like 7 pounds and was definitely worth the price!

there is a store here that..ladies...if you ever come over here, you must check out. it's called Lush and it is freaking amazing. it's like bath and body works to the 10th power. my skin is so soft right now! I'm recommending Lush to you all! also, Primark...it's super cheap! Primark and Wilkinson's have become our friends haha. lots of cheap stuff. like an equivalent of wal-mart or something.

So the new Snow Patrol and Lovedrug CDs have come out and everyone should check them out! these albums are amazing.

I will have more pictures of Edinburgh up soon!

edinburgh tomorrow!

2008-10-23T09:56:00.000-05:00

so tomorrow my girls and I are heading off to Edinburgh! yay! tonight is karaoke again! so fun! I've been like a crazy madwoman trying to get all of my homework done since I'll be gone all weekend. it's been pure craziness. but I'm offically finished with all my homework and it's only four so yay. thank goodness for no class on Thursday lol. but yeah I've basically had no life all week and it's been lame. especially since so many people have been sick but I havent been sick yet! haha knock on wood! but yes my completely healthy self has been stuck in front of my computer all week doing homework. boo! but it's ok because it's all over now and I can go laugh at people at karaoke tonight and then we're off at like five tomorrow morning for edinburgh! I plan on taking a ton of pictures! I've been charging my camera like crazy but I feel like my converter is killing my battery charger because it's not looking like it's charged yet....grr. it better not be or I'll be freakin ticked! haha
I would very much love to go running but it's raining. isnt that just the way it always is? it's actually been clear and beautiful weather almost all week except on monday when I had plans and now today when I would love to actually go run and not just do homework. blah. no fair.
anyway I'm off to go clean or something! I don't even know what to do with myself!

aaah fun trips!

2008-10-19T08:59:00.001-05:00

The pictures today are of my backyard. The sky was so pretty that day. Also, I went to the movies with one of my friends and watched Burn After Reading. Amazing! Afterwards, we went to Eddie Rockets and ate delicious burgers. American burgers better than most places in America! haha. Also, that food up there. yeah that's some amazing food that my friend Jenn made. We eat dinner together all the time and it's always amazing! One of her flatmates had his birthday the other day. the big 1-9 haha and we had a party for him with a pinata! it was super fun!

so on Friday, I'll be setting off for Edinburgh! yay! we're going to have so much fun! then like two weeks later, I'm going to VENICE! yay! then about two weeks after that, PARIS! then Freiburg, Germany, the next week! my final trip will be right before I go back to Oklahoma when I go to Dublin. I'm super excited for my five big trips haha. I've certainly gone a number of places in the UK since I've been here, though. There are so many more places I wish I could go, but, oh well. I can't go everywhere here and I'm getting to see some of the most amazing places and places that I've wanted to see forever so I'm very happy with what I'm doing and just feel lucky to be over here at all.

This week was pretty low-key. I've mostly just done homework and cleaned and watched movies and other low-key things haha. I also went into town with one of my friends to look for halloween costumes and found a few cute things but nothing in my size that I want. everything is too big! grr. but also, I couldn't even try things on and I definitely want to try on my costume haha. But yeah, I've had mucho homework this week and weekend because I know I won't be here next weekend and I need to get ahead right now. Most of my homework, though, is from my online Oklahoma classes, since we don't really have homework here.

pictures, trips, and mumbles

2008-10-15T11:12:00.000-05:00

This weekend my friends Carla, Allison, Jenn, and I went to Mumbles to see the pretty sights. It had been a couple of weeks since I had gone and I wanted to go again so yay for that. The four of us are also going to Edinburgh in about a week and a half or so and we're also going to Germany in November! A week before the Germany trip, though, I'm going to PARIS! yay! I had a trip to Milan and Venice sort of planned but it didn't end up working out with all of our class schedules so that's ok. I do want to go there, though, and also to Barcelona. They have so many good deals on flights here that I'm sure I can get a good flight. One of my friends is going to Gibraltar, too, and has asked me to go with him and I want to so badly. That's a more expensive trip, though, so we'll see about that. I booked my flight home :( sad. I'm leaving here December 13 and am going to be back in OK on December 16 because I'm spending two days in Dublin before I go back home. It was cheaper than flying straight home from London! haha I am a travel genius folks haha.

Yesterday I had an interview and some pictures taken for an article about Oklahoma. It is to help promote the relationship between Swansea University and Oklahoma so I was more than happy to help out with that!

I'm going to be volunteering with the American Studies office here on campus. They needed an intern or a couple of interns and were offering academic credit but I already have a more than full schedule so I said I would do it for no credit. I'm going to help out with a fair that they're having in November and will be making presentations for British students who are going to America, as well. Also, I might help out with things in the office from time to time. Seems like it will be fun and it's certainly something to keep me busy!

update!

2008-10-07T19:59:00.000-05:00

hello there world! it's been a minute since I've written on here eh? well I had a humongous paper due and then I had my LSAT this weekend in London so yeah. I know right? LSAT. eek! second and final time to take that!

so funny story actually about my LSAT weekend in London. I got into London on Friday night and stayed the night in a hotel right by Paddington Station because yeah it was late and I just wanted to get a room and study and take a very LONG hot shower and relax and everything before the test. So anyway on Saturday, I wake up to go to my test and get all ready and everything and go to the lobby to have the girl behind the counter call me a cab. She calls me a cab and a few minutes later this really nice Volvo shows up and some guy in a suit gets out. I thought it was just some London guy in his car because it didn't say taxi anywhere or anything. Yeah it was my cab, though, and the guy comes in and takes me out to the cab and is running around opening doors for me and everything. I just thought like "wow I really lucked out on this cab! this guy is awesome!" So we're driving and he's telling me about how he drove around all these models for fashion week and blah blah blah. I thought he was just telling me all this because I'm a girl and so I must like fashion (true story...I do but whatever). anyway when we were almost to my destination, I realized that he ONLY drives around models and that apparently the girl behind the counter thought that I was a model (all 5 ft 2 inches of me...) and had called this company to drive me. Why she thought this, I don't know but whatever. it was a wicked cheap cab ride and the guy was freakin awesome so whatever but I thought that that was nuts. I'm not sure if he ever figured out that I wasn't a model but I was trying to explain to him that I was on my way to a test but he kept asking if I was on my way to an agency or a photoshoot and stuff. yeah it was pretty hilarious to me but whatever. I find out Oct. 27 how I did on my LSAT but I actually feel pretty good about it so I guess we'll see. I met some really fun people at the LSAT and hung out with them in London after the test and so that was fun. It was mostly American students and other American people who had to come to London for it. There were people there from Sweden and Ireland and stuff who were studying or living there that had to come all the way to London.

Hmm other new stuff. Ah classes. I started classes recently and they 're going pretty well. I have two now that my presessional is over so yeah. I have German and "Artists and Warfare." The professors are cool and it's pretty fun and I have friends in both of my classes so it's not bad at all.

I'm having such a good time over here and it's so fun. It's amazing how many people I'm meeting from such different places and all the new words I'm learning and the new ways I'm learning that people use words like "sorted" and "wardrobe" and "queue" and "smart" and ugh yeah it's just crazy. I love it, though, and time is flying by so quickly. I've made like so many amazing new friends already, both local and American.

hmmm so yeah new pictures time!

so we went to Bath, England (home of Jane Austen for a little while) and I went to the Jane Austen center, which was cool, and had tea. I'm not at all a tea drinker so I'm experimenting while I'm here and attempting to like tea. It's a long and bumpy road for me haha. Also, I had Indian food for the first time like a week or so ago, which was amazing! I'm officially in love with Indian food!

aaaah enrollment

2008-09-21T09:05:00.001-05:00

holy crap! today was the beginning of the fall term here so it was madness! I had to be at my orientation at 11 today so my friend and i headed down to the bus stop here at ten so that we could get to campus early and avoid any potential issues. or so we thought..... yeah we waited in line or an hour to get on the bus! there was a line soooooo long of little 18 year olds and lots of americans. no worries, though, everything was ok. we got to orientation about 2 minutes late but other people were about an hour late so we were good!
the enrollment here is wicked different than in america so it's a much more complicated process for americans, but it's actually not too bad. i'll be taking two actual classes here now so i enroll for one tomorrow and one on wednesday. i'm taking german 1 and weimar germany, which is scarily similar to what my schedule back home would've been anyway but whatever haha.
I definitely think that being on campus today with about 15,000 people crammed into a few buildings made me realize just how well we have it at RSU. I was LONGING for that place today when no one could move because so many people were trying to get to the same place at the same time.
anyway I'm off to work on a paper for my presessional class!

aaah the student village

2008-09-21T09:05:00.000-05:00

so we arrived at the student village a couple of days ago. the americans were the first to arrive so we had the place to ourselves the first night. we're all separated now, which is bittersweet. it's nice to be around the british students but i miss living with a lot of my friends! we're all very near each other, though, so that's good. i'm the only one of our group in my building but the buildings around me have a bunch of my friends in them. the other american students from london or the ones who didn't do a presessional have started arriving, too, so I've met a lot of them. most of the people who live here are wicked young. all the girls in my flat are like 18 so that's strange. it's ok, though, because a lot of the younger kids here are cool. I feel so isolated out here because it's off campus and away from city centre and the mumbles and the beach, but the place is really nice and there is a mini grocery store here and a launderette (haha I like their word or laundry mat).

before we came out here, we all took a trip to the city of bath in england and we saw the roman baths, which were awesome. the city was really neat. I liked it so much and we saw the royal crescent. people live there now, which would be like absolutely amazing to say. a few of us also went to the jane austen museum, which was really neat and drank tea (yuck!) and ate little snackish tea food (YUM!). I also bought an amazing coat...I HAD TO! my other coat ripped so I had to get a new one....hehe. it was a really fun day and one of my favorite trips that we've taken so far.

next month, I'm going to endinburgh! I'm so excited because I have always wanted to go to scotland and I'm going with some of my wonderful friends so it'll be an absolute blast!

enrollment starts tomorrow and I'm so confused as to how it all works but I have an orientation in the morning (well 11...haha) so I'm sure it'll be fine and I'm just ready for school to finally start! our presessional class is over, and I'm kind of sad about that because I really liked that class and our professors were so cool! now we all have to write a paper for that class and I'm definitely doing mine over the british music of the 1960s because yeah I love the beatles!

abertawe!

2008-09-14T15:53:00.000-05:00

haha the title just means swansea in wales, but it's part of the welsh i've been picking up. very little welsh but still, i'm trying!

so recently we've toured a coal mine near here and two castles and an abbey. the first castle we toured was st. fagan's and it was pretty neat, but i loved the one we toured today. it was the chepstow castle. the town was super neat and the castle was huge! it was super neat and then we toured an old abbey today, as well. it's just crazy how old these things are compared to american buildings.

last night my friend and i went to the last of the proms in the park. it was amazing. they had the welsh national symphony there and some opera singers and it was so fun. everyone was waving their welsh flags around and stuff. they are so proud of their country! it was a really neat experience.
my other friend and i went to the beach the other day and i did not bring my camera and hers had just died when we saw a huge, gorgeous rainbow...so we totally missed the chance to take that picture.

the presessional class we have is amazing, and our professor is so awesome, as well. the class is really fun but we learn so much and it's right up my alley as far as how it connects the social world with the politcal world.

the weather has been gorgeous for a couple of days but i think that that is over and we're going to be back to lots of rain and cold and wind soon...yay...
oh and i'm totally craving a coney or some like tuna helper or something...i'm sick of fried, british food!

dwi intrigued!

2008-09-09T05:01:00.000-05:00

so yesterday was our first day of the swansea presessional class. finally on somewhat of a schedule! our professor for that class is wicked cool. he's absolutely hilarious. i love it! the class is very interesting, as well. it's all about british society and politics in the post-world war II era. in other words, we discuss movies and music and how it has related to the politics of britain after the 1940s. that's pretty freakin cool haha. yesterday we watched a funny movie about scotland and whiskey. twas fun indeed!

all of us (the americans) are getting along really well so far. there are about 40 of us and yesterday we made tacos! i'm already sick of nasty british food haha. it's as bad as everyone always said it was.

we really can not wait to move into the student village but i'm actually enoying this dorm life for a little while. i've never really experienced this kind of thing before, except maybe at camp or something.

so pretty much every day we go into city centre or the mumbles, both of which are awesome. the mumbles is an absolutely adorable part of town near us where michael douglas and catherine zeta-jones have a house. there are various little delis and pubs and ice cream shops with little clothing and shoe stores everywhere. you can do some serious window shopping there. it's very fun in that area of town and it's so pretty because it's near gower peninsula so you can see the cliffs and the bay very well. (but really you can see that from our windows right now so...) but then there is city centre, which has the market place and the quandrant centre. the quandrant centre is a big mall. we do all of our grocery shopping at city centre because there is a tesco's there, which is like a big target or something but with not nearly as much stuff.

so the pictures at the top are of the area around mumbles and the gower peninsula. the other pictures were taken in city centre. one of is of some hare krishnas that were walking around and handing out fliers the whole time we were there one day last week.

another day in paradise!

2008-09-06T13:26:00.000-05:00

so today was very fun. a goup of us went to the mumbles near campus (where michal douglas and catherine zeta-jones live) and looked around and ate very good ice cream. afterwards, a few of us went to city centre and looked for various things that we all needed. i didnt get anything because i couldnt find what i need anywhere but i'm sure i'll get my things soon enough!

a few of us decided today that we prefer the american system in restaurants where you get seated and a waitress takes care of you because over here, you seat yourself and you order at the bar and various people bring you food. the problem is that it's not efficient in the least!

oh and picture time!

one of these is of me in front of the thames river in london and the other pictures are the view from my window

here!

2008-09-05T11:35:00.000-05:00

well i have finally arrived! the travel was awful! such a long flight and i didnt even get to sleep really.
I spent a day in london with kristen, an RSU alum who lives in london now! we had lots of fun! i stayed in her flat with her like nine roommates. it was quite the european experience! so now i am in swansea and it's gorgeous! the ocean is right by campus, which is lovely.
I have pretty much no access to an outet, though because the ones in my room are not working and probably won't work for over a week and there are no outlets in the bathroom so i've been wearing a hat instead of doing my hair! it's crazy.
today is the first day i've had acccess to the internet, too. i've been so out of touch with technology lately!
anyway pictures will be coming soon but i should get off of here for now since i can't charge my computer yet!

ayo technology

2008-08-29T14:13:00.001-05:00

there are officially very few things left to do in preparation for wales! This feeling is definitely exciting. I'm still a bit stressed and I still feel that many things are left to do or are up in the air but really, I'm pretty much ready.

I was having difficulty in deciding whether or not to buy train tickets off the internet before I got there but I decided to wait to buy train passes until I get there because I don't want to buy something that will really not benefit me. So for the first couple of days that I'm in london, I'll have my lovely friend kristen help me decide what is best. Then...maybe I'll buy a 2 month pass that they offer. it's always based on how many days (4, 8, etc) in 2 months so really if I buy one for november and december (on the discounted website I found), I'll be fine and maybe I'll get one (at regular price...blah) for september and october after I get over there, but I'm not getting a discounted one off the net before I get there because I'd rather pay full price for something I actually need than to get something on sale that will do me no good.

Yesterday I went to radio shack and bought my adaptors for the appliances and today my lovely ghetto phone arrived in the mail. This phone is like straight outta 2001 or something haha. It's my temporary phone while i'm in Europe! yay! how fun! It really is so ghetto though! Here is a picture of my incredibly ghetto phone and of my adaptors for all my american appliances!

crunch n munch!

2008-08-24T11:06:00.000-05:00

a week and a half! how exciting! i still feel as though there is so much to do but i really do think most everything is taken care of. i still have more packing but it shouldn't be too bad. i did this whole packing routine last year for DC so i am now very, very experienced in packing a semester's worth of life into very little luggage! still, i shouldn't procrastinate, it's just not my style!

so now to explain the title of this post. it's a story i simply must tell everyone and hopefully it'll translate well when spelled out as opposed to having been there. i decided before i left to have an extremely american experience. one last bit of americana before i leave america for a while. so to a redhawks game we went. my friend and i decided to spend a day in the city and we stayed in a hotel the night before the game. at breakfast (after being in the hotel) i realize that i don't have my rings on. my class ring from high school and another, brand new really pretty ring. for some reason, all of my other jewelry is on and in but not the rings. so i went back to search for them in the room to no avail. we asked the front desk people if they had found them. they said no. they would call if they did, though. the day progresses and i just can not find my rings and it's becoming quite upsetting. lunchtime rolls around and i'm a bit emotional about the whole ordeal. my mother couldn't find them in the my house when i called her. well i was sitting at a table before lunch like seriously RACKING my brain about this ring situation when it occurred to me that i might have figured out what happened. surely not, though, because what i was considering was way too weird and there was just NO way that it could be true. there was a bag of crunch n munch ripped open all down the side on the nightstand next to my bed in the hotel room and what if the rings fell in there? i mean, that could happen right. my friend humored me and we went to look in my car and see (though neither of us was hopeful or actually believed it could possibly be true). we opened the bag and were looking and were about to just give up when...NO WAY! OH MY GOSH! they were in the crunch n munch bag! what? how does that even happen? but yes we (or at least i) were very excited!

after that ridiculous ordeal i proceeded to enjoy my big, american day at the mall and olive garden and had my last american baseball game experience at the redhawks game.

so anyway that is my story of my day of americana and crunch n munch ridiculousness!

two weeks!

2008-08-19T13:39:00.000-05:00

I must say that it is quite surreal that in exactly two weeks, I will be boarding my first international flight...to London! I will spend a day or so there and see some wonderful sights. Oh, and I will scout out where my October LSAT will take place! That's also a crazy thought: a month after my school starts in Wales, I get to take my second LSAT...in London!

Hmmm..I suppose some introductions are in order. My name is Desiree Mitchell and I will be RSU's first student to study abroad in Wales at Swansea University during the fall semester. While I'm there, I'll be blogging for RSU to let you all know what is going on in my exciting, and now international, life! I'll show you all plenty of pictures and tell some exciting tales of what school and life are like in Swansea, Wales!

I must say that preparing for Wales has been quite a process. I had to get a passport, of course and have a plethora of pictures taken for the passport and my student ID and who knows what else! I've had to book my flight, of course (I got a great deal on it, though!). I've also faxed TONS of paperwork. It seems like every other week I'm getting some package in the mail to fill out and fax back to them. They've been great, though. The staff there is really taking care of a great many things for us. It's quite surprising actually because I've been stressing out about taking care of everything, and then I'll find out that it's already taken care of. Enrolling has been interesting, though, because their website was down for a while, and then I couldn't log in. It turns out that they had my birthday wrong so that is why I couldn't log in. Also, it turns out that students enroll once they arrive there, and I only needed to pick out a list of classes I WANT to take. Also, they don't take as many classes as I'm used to taking so I'll be taking a couple online from RSU because, apparently, three classes at a time is just not enough for me!

There are certainly a number of things that you have to find out for yourself when you're the first student to do something. It's somewhat difficult not having anyone to answer your questions so I hope that I can shed some light on the process for future students who go! Well I look forward to talking to you all soon!