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.
