more York pictures

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

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

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...

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...

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!

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

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!