a pile of rocks and A Pile of Rocks

Yet again, dear readers, I am sure the title of today's blog confuses you. Don't fear, all will be explained to you.

This past weekend was delightfully full of field trips with the study group and the Geier family. We started out bright and early on Saturday and headed to the small town of Neath, where we visited the Neath Abbey and the Neath Abbey Iron works. We then took a break for lunch, and visited Aberdulais Falls, which is the site of an old Tin Plating factory. The next day, we visited the famous Stonehenge, then spent a very pleasant and sunny afternoon wandering around the ancient town of Bath. We enjoyed high tea and had scones with clotted cream. Yum!

This is probably the briefest overview of a weekend I have done on this blog yet, and there are certainly many wonderful stories of our adventures that I could fill the space with (like me falling in the river, our charming guide at the falls, the mystery of Stonehenge and the ridiculousness of audio guides).

Instead, I'm going to take things a little differently. This weekend had a profound impact on me, for several reasons. The first, and most easily explained is how wonderful it is to be with my study group. I feel blessed everyday to get to explore with such truly wonderful people! I cannot sing their virtues enough; we had to tramp through a fair bit of mud and dog poop to get to the Ironworks at Neath, but every single person got something out of the trip and had a great time. That night, some of us got together and made breakfast for dinner. Besides it being a veritable feeding frenzy ( we consumed upwards of 36 pancakes and at least 20 eggs) we had a great time cooking for each other, sharing stories, and singing our old camp songs loudly. Very loudly. Thank you Sammy for cleaning! It is so nice to feel part of a close group, even though it is a microcosmic Colgate bubble.

The main point of this blog is the very interesting contrast between the pile of rocks that is what remains of the Neath Abbey Ironworks and the PILE OF ROCKS that is Stonehenge. These two places offered up so many interesting questions: why do we preserve what we preserve? How do we survive and make a better life for ourselves, while sustaining a balance with nature? To what extent do we alter what we chose to restore, meaning, how far do we go to reconstruct, and how does reconstruction take away from what history, time, and nature has brought to ruin? And finally, what will my generation's legacy be? Will the rather obscure history of the Neath Abbey Ironworks be lost, just like the history of stonehenge is lost?

How quickly the details of history are lost. Stonehenge has stood for thousands of years, just a blink in time. We don't know its purpose or how it was built. Now, a roped off path circles it at a modest, warning distance. Myths and stories abound and people come in flocks to stare and wonder. Soggy rocks and tourists in the middle of nowhere. Not so far away is Neath, a town that boasts its own pile of soggy rocks. Here, a bubble of history is about to burst. Nature crawls in as thick thorns and vines, covering the remains of an old Ironworks that used to be the pride of the region. Trash and dog crap layers the ground. The ghostly lives of the owners, workers, the boys whose job it was to break up coal for hours slink among the natural beauty that is sneaking its way back into this place once tamed by man. These ghosts fight the sticky vines and prickers, but they are fighting a losing battle. No one visits this site, really, except for a scrappy group of college kids from New York who read a perfectly obscure out-of-print book about a perfectly obscure out- of-use place. They ask, is this place really that important? Why go to a place no one cares about? No one bothers to pick up the trash, no one bothers to reconstruct the buildings. The ghosts are reckless. Their lives are fading, while the ghosts of the ancient people who built Stonehenge glory in manicured lawns and audio tours.

We were also lucky to be led around Aberdulais Falls by a charming and enthusiastic elderly man named Doug. He had grown up in Neath, and educated us on all things regarding the falls. He told us that when he was little, he would climb down the steep hill, cross over the ruins of the tinplating workshop that were, at the time, invaded by nature as well, to swim in the pool below the falls. He told us how he would emerge from the pool covered in coal dust from the mines up the way. He told us that when The National Trust (I think thats what its called) came in and attempted to rebuild the site, they had to pull a large tree out of the ground that had been sneaking its roots through the ruined piles of rock that was the old tinplating factory. He told us some of the stories of the people who worked there, of children who spent their childhoods wiping grease off of tin sheets. He loves this place, he loves its history. Compare this to our walk around stonehenge where we were all glued to silly audio guides. I dont think Aberdulais falls gets many visitors. Which place has more value? Can we really make that judgement?

Meet the Group Mondays! Featuring: Sammy Rocks

It's the moment you've all been waiting for! Introducing.... (drum roll please)..... Sammy Rocks!

Name: Sammy Rocks (why yes, her last name does rock!)

Major: Sociology

Likes: Saving lives (she's an EMT), knitting, knitting, knitting, pineapple, deserts of all kinds, sailing, skiing, her family, different colored highlighters, g-chatting, sleeping on boats

Dislikes: People that say they have too many friends, mushrooms, gum

Interesting Facts about Sammy:

She slept on a boat in Amsterdam.

She had a pet hedgehog, but it died because it was too fat and couldn't roll up.

She is a volunteer EMT at Colgate, which is perhaps the coolest job ever. She gets to get up in the middle of the night and drive an ambulance around saving lives!

She loves to get breakfast at Quacks on saturday mornings with Laura back at Colgate. She always orders eggs benedict with bacon instead of ham.

She really REALLY wants to watch the Olympics here in Wales, but the time change makes it nearly impossible.

A couple of my friends in Outdoor Education call her Slammin' Sammy Rocks.

She one day aspires to be a geology professor so she can be Dr. Rocks and amaze her students with the awesomeness of her last name.

She wants to have a big family: lots of little Rocks!

How I met Sammy: Sammy is one of my oldest friends at Colgate; we lived on the same floor freshman year and had an amazing time. We lived just a floor away Sophomore year, and now we are here together in Wales! yay!

Birthday Blog!: Casey Gorman's Birthday!

Hello blog enthusiasts,

This blog is dedicated to the 21st birthday of a fellow study buddy, Casey Gorman! Last week, Casey turned 21, which of course required a week long celebration. On wednesday night, we hung around our flat for a bit, and then a bunch of people went to our well loved oceana dance club to celebrate. That was all well and good, as we ushered in the day of Casey's birth. The real story is the next day.

After professor geier's class on Thursday, we set off in our usual large group of people in search of a greek/mexican restaurant for Casey's birthday dinner. It has become a theme to get moderately lost on the way to these birthday dinners, and we arrived a bit late after walking in a circle. Emotions were already running high because we were all famished. The restaurant was small and cute, with flashing lights and really bad spanish/ middle eastern music and american/ british music videos playing on tvs. The presumed owner of the joint noticed us beginning to settle in to the tables clearly set up for our large group, and she quickly (and in a somewhat alarmed manner), ushered us into the next room to wait for "just two seconds". Ten minutes later, we were seated in a veritable party zone; there was confetti, banners, balloons, all for Casey! The servers and owner seemed to think we were throwing Casey a legitimate birthday party there; they took a long time serving us because they presumed we would want more drinks, or something. The reality was, we were all starving and a bit grumpy and in serious need of food. When our food finally came, it was quite delicious if a bit overpriced. I did enjoy sitting and talking with Casey E and Laura, but the minutes dragged on into hours. We had desert, and as soon as Casey G left the table to go to the bathroom, the lively owner zipped over to us to inform us that they had a surprise for Casey and that when they brought it out, we MUST sing and dance. We all smiled and agreed, unaware of what was in store and assuming we only had to sing happy birthday and clap when she blew out the candles.

The moment of truth arrived, and the staff all brought out Casey a muffin with a sparkler and a candle in it. We sang happy birthday and the candle was blown out, and we were all satisfied with this standard birthday tradition. But then the music turned up. The maracas came out. and the tambourines. The owner prodded us all to our feet and we were forced to dance! Casey was adorned with a fake plastic grass hula skirt and coconut bra with flowers, and given her very own maraca to shake. We formed a circle, did a bit of a congo line, and then the owner took turns shoving each of us into the middle of the circle to humiliate ourselves for the birthday girl by doing a little jig. Most of us just ran in, and looked for an opening in the circle through which to escape. It was a bit terrifying; so terrifying that a pair of women actually bolted from the restaurant in fear they would be made to dance. We began to worry that it would never end, and as people dashed across the circle in an attempt to escape the owner, they would whisper "when is this going to END??"

Finally, it did. And we paid the check and skedadled out of there as fast as we could. At that point, it was 10: 20 or something like that; we had spent 4 hours in there. But it was worth it, because no doubt that will be a 21st birthday celebration that none of us will soon forget.

The picture above on the left perfectly sums up the experience.

A Day in the Life

Despite what you think, we Colgatians aren't here to just get into crazy traveling adventures. We do have class, believe it or not. The point of this blog is to explain a day in the life of a Colgate abroad student.

My schedule varies everyday depending on when I have class, so I will describe a typical Thursday. Thursdays are my days with the most class, so it may be the most fruitful if you all want a look at my life here.

7:30-8:30- somewhere in this range of time, I get up for the day! My first reaction in the morning is to check the weather out my window. Today, it's beautifully sunny again!!!

9:00- Run in Bute park. Bute park is practically in our backyard here at Talybont. Its a lovely park with the River Taff running right through it, and its a great place to join plenty of joggers, bikers, and well behaved dogs.

9:30- 10:30- Breakfast and getting ready for class. I usually eat eggs with Franks Hot Sause (yesssss) or cereal and yoghurt if anyone cares. I make myself lunch and pack my bag for a long day of school.

10:30-11:30- this is a good time to Blog, do homework, and read. I like having long, relaxing mornings.

11:30- I leave for class after checking the mail. Our mail comes into a communal house mailbox, which requires some digging. I always check because I LOVE getting mail. The walk on Thursdays is short, just a 10-15 minute trip to the Biosciences building.

12:10- Population ecology. A very interesting lecture so far!

1:10- Welsh Folklore with the Colgate kids.

2:00- 4:00pm- this is the deadly chunk of time in which I usually have nothing to do but sit and eat snacks in the Humanities cafe. People from the study group come and go, and we sometimes get our physics homework done in this block. We can get pretty bored, but we have started playing games so the time passes quicker.

4:10- population ecology again. It's a bit weird in Cardiff, I have pop ecology twice in one day, hence the large amount of class.

5:10- Geier's History of Technology is always a great way to end the school day. It is an interesting an engaging class that is just us Colgate kids. I love hearing what everyone thinks about our readings etc., and Geier is a great lecturer, even if the class is slightly too structured.

6- 7:15 pm- jackie and I find a place to eat dinner, then hop in the mini bus for kayak polo!

10 pm- We get back from kayak polo pretty late, so we dont get to participate in Trivia at the local pub with the rest of the Colgate kids. oh well. At this point, im tired from a long day. I do some homework and talk to people online, maybe book a flight or plan our next adventure.

11:30-12:00- Time for bed!

I hope this gives you a better picture of what we are up to every day, though people have been branching out and doing a lot of cool things. Casey and Ken play frisbee, Caitie, Kristi, Maria, and Sammy play the dutch sport of Korfball, ( i hear its like basketball a little bit) Margaret spends a lot of time observing starts way down in the Astronomy building, Paikin comes to kayak polo on mondays, Sammy tried sailing this week, Laura played squash and the other Casey goes out with the riding team. We are all having interesting and fun experiences; the sailing team thought Sammy was a boy, and laura awkwardly didnt have a racket, but it ended up ok. In general we try to experience all that we can and love sharing stories with each other.

Dressing (and Playing) the Part

Hello again from Cardiff,

This blog entry is going to be a short: just like the topic of this post. If you don't get it, I will explain. The first night I got here, it was 3 am and i was getting off the bus after a long trip with my parents. Coming out of the nightclubs were hoards of Cardiffians, dressed to the nines but also with nothing on. It was also COLD. The first young man we saw had no coat on, and we thought that was an anomaly. Next to round the corner were several girls, wearing the shortest dresses I have ever seen and heels that would certainly cause me to break and ankle within two steps.

<--- her legs must get so cold in the RAIN!!! everyone should wear ponchos to clubs.

Now I know, there is the saying (from Eurotrip) that America is founded by prudes, but in my mind, this was an issue of practicality. In the coming days, I learned that this was the standard for going out to the clubs at night. The girls on my study group were all a little alarmed at the shortness of the dresses the girls wear here. It just seems unwise to dress in something that doesn't completely cover your bum. Several of us have had minor panic attacks trying on clothes at the multiple shopping plaza's downtown. Jeans are a strict no no, and it is almost mandatory to wear heels. It is also impractical to bring a coat, so girls just head out bare shouldered, even if it is raining (which apparently is a frequent occurance!!). Not only do I not own heels, I find it expensive and annoying to take cabs when the walk is only ten minutes. I bring my heavy winter jacket, always wear tights, and walk home whenever I can. I also go to bed very early in comparison; clubs close at 2 or 3 which is way past my bedtime. It is also the standard to go out on weekdays and stay in on the weekends, because thats when the older locals invade the clubs.

This would all be somewhat bearable if it was not the standard to dress up for CLASS! I havent seen more than two girls wearing sweatpants since I got here. No one wears sneakers, and most girls wear dresses, leggings, nice boots, and a stylish scarf to class. I certainly am the anomaly now. I wear my ratty jeans, really ratty melanzana sweatshirt, and sneakers to class pretty much every day. Probably because I have to walk so far to get to class.

Maybe America is founded by prudes, but really, I think America is just founded by the practical. The only way to combat this outfit choice is to dress up as a chicken or cow. no joke.

Meet the Group Mondays! Featuring: Jackie Gerson

Hello all,

As I have been writing this blog, I realized that I mention a lot of names of members of my study group without fully introducing them. Well these people have already had an enormous impact on my time here, and it is their experience as much as it is mine. As a result, I have decided to start a weekly expose of each member of the study group, starting with Jackie Gerson!

Name: Jackie Gerson

Major: Biochemistry

Likes: hiking, caving, skiing, kayaking, (well really anything outdoorsy), traveling, playing the harp, saving the environment, laughing, country music, board games

Dislikes: spicy food, chocolate, plastic water bottles, lab reports

Interesting facts about Jackie:

She can't go on a hiking trip without falling over. The good thing is, she just sits there and laughs it off.

She spent a summer teaching french in Africa.

She has become the unofficial study group travel guide/ trip planner. She is really well organized and has a get-it-done attitude which is great for all the traveling we are all trying to plan.

She spent her winter break skiing in the Chic Chocs, and claims it was the hardest thing she has ever done. You try skiing uphill in freezing weather with a pack on your back!

Last semester, she helped organize a green videos contest at Colgate. She is very active in the Green Scene, and eventually thinks she wants to do research in how climate change is impacting societies and ecosystems.

UPDATE: Jackie likes sunsets and hummingbirds, and randomly brings this up in casual conversation. So you also like long walks on the beach Jackie? hehe!

How I met Jackie: Jackie and I were in the same training class at Colgate's Outdoor Education, and we became really good friends when we went on a kayaking trip with a group of people in the Everglades, Florida! yipee!

Techno Riverdance Hoedown and Trek to Castle Coch

Hello all,

This weekend has been a very interesting one, with even more adventures in the great land of Wales. Unfortunately, the weekend started poorly when Jackie and I learned that our kayak outing was canceled due to low water levels... I have not yet wished for rain, but I may have to start, even though my study group mates may kill me. Anyhoo, we started the weekend out right by attending a production of The Hobbit in down town Cardiff. Margaret, Casey, Jackie, Maria, and I are all fans of the Lord of the Rings series, so we decided to go see how The Hobbit is done on stage. We left with the conclusion that it is done quite hilariously. The cute little theatre has a nose-bleed section that is super cheap, and of course we capitalized on that. We crammed ourselves into the hard wooden seats that could barely fit your knees, but we could see the stage quite well from our vantage. Except jackie, who just stuck sitting behind a very tall woman. bummer. The show had many memorable bits to it; the scenery was awesome (especially the dragon!), the characters were great, Elron flew around like a fairy (not an elf), Gandalf was Santa Claus, and Bilbo was balding. Someone laughed when the dwarf king died in the end, mass snickering ensued. Our favorite parts were the unexpected musical additions to the show. Every once in awhile the dwarves would break into song (the same song (over and over again)) only altering the words to fit the circumstance. It was pretty funny, and Im pretty sure I could sing along at this point. Our ALL TIME favorite part was the Techno Riverdance Hoedown that occurred between the dwarves and the woodsmen. We were so taken aback by the frolicking dancing to woodsy techno music that we forgot to laugh. It was great when they did it AGAIN at the end during the bows. Fantastic.

On saturday, since one epic outdoorsy thing was taken from me, we decided to do another. Stacey, Paikin, Jackie and I hiked for about 5 miles along the Taff trail to Castle Coch. The walk was lovely, and very interesting. A lot of the way was pretty wooded, and it really reminded me of Lord of the Rings, especially after watching the Hobbit. I was a bit afraid that creepy guys on black horses would sweep in and screech at me. We may have gotten a bit off track, but we could see the castle from a distance and basically just walked across a large field until we miraculously ended up back on the Taff Trail. The castle itself is aptly described as a fairy tale castle. It was designed by William Burges and owned by Bute, who also owned Cardiff Castle. Burges is a very interesting designer/ architect, and I really like his style. he incorporates themes such as the passing of time and morals by using aesop's fables, myths, and animals, all elaborately painted in each room. After wandering around the castle for awhile, we stopped at a cafe to eat our lunches and enjoy some welsh cakes. It was a beautiful yet chilly day; Jackie and Stacey both got soup at the cafe which was probably a good call. Paikin got a milkshake. probably less of a good call :P. On the way out, we saw a wedding!

The area above the castle was forested and had nice walking trails, so we walked around for a bit and saw a beautiful view of Cardiff and the bay. We walked for quite awhile and ended up on an industrial road heading back towards Cardiff. By a stroke of luck, we wandered right up to a rail station. We hopped on the train and zipped right back to Cardiff. Overall a great day.

Budget Blog: (Trying) to Live Cheaply in Wales

Greetings,

The focus of this blog entry is to explain how me and my study group are trying, failing, and sometimes succeeding on living and traveling on limited budgets. The issue of money comes up almost everyday in our conversations, as the UK is much more expensive that the US of A. For example, we nearly had a party in honor of the fact that the pound is not doing well and the dollar is. Though we are all fortunate enough to have generous and caring parents who sent us on this adventure in the first place, we all feel as though we owe it to ourselves and our parents not to go crazy on our spending. We are at the age where we are required or feel obligated to pay our parents back for the money they dump into our happiness and growth, and for me personally, it is hard knowing that I can't afford to live here by myself. I need my parents' help. In a contradictory note, we all want to enjoy ourselves and see Europe, which means paying for expensive travel. So we try to do things as cheaply as possible, and some of us our rookies in the budget life.

Laundry- laundry here is ridiculously expensive. It is two pounds to wash (almost $4!!) and one to dry, and the washing machines aren't that large. As a result, I have taken to doing laundry in my sink. I bought laundry detergent that can take low temperatures, and things seem to be going well. I also plan not to dry my clothes that frequently. Hopefully I will find room to hang things to dry. Jackie had a little bit of trouble doing that the first week, and I have heard that Ken's roommates hang their wet clothes from the ceiling tiles in the hallway. It doesnt help that I cave every week (MESSY) and kayak twice a week (chlorine smell=icky).

Food- the first time we went to BIG Tesco, we all had panic attacks. There is a lot of food in big Tesco (the giant grocery store) and were had no idea what to buy to cook. At least I didn't. We all bought way too much food and spent way too much the first time. I have never had to cook for just myself, and it is hard knowing how to cook enough. This past week I had a bit of a fiasco with cooking. I am really enjoying cooking; it isn't something I have been able to do a lot of in the past. So this last week, I decided to cook some simple lentil soup. It came out really well, but I made a MASSIVE amount of soup, and have been eating it for days since. Classic cooking faux pas. It is also difficult to shop for just one person; the bread and produce expires extremely fast. I have cheated the system by freezing my bread. It still isn't easy, and it means frequent trips to Tesco. We also go out to eat a lot, which is a bit of a problem. Food isn't terribly expensive in pubs, but it adds up. We eat as cheap as we can, and often split meals. The biggest killer is when we sit in cafes between classes; it is almost impossible not to get a snack in the three hour break.

Travel- Travel is, of course, our most expensive venture. Thankfully, it is pretty reasonable to fly to certain cities out of Cardiff and Bristol. Certain airlines like ryan air, bmi baby, and easyjet get us flights for under $100 pounds, sometimes both ways. The problem with these budget airlines is the prices skyrocket if you have any luggage, pick your seat, or check in at the airport. We were sweating bullets on the way to Edinburgh for fear of the 30 pound handling fee that we would get nailed with if our bags didn't fit in the teeny tiny luggage bin. Besides that, we stay in hostels and actively exploit the free breakfast that we turn into a free lunch. We seek out everything free in cities, and even turn down paying 5 pounds to get into a superbowl party. Thankfully, this means we get a unique and exciting experience when we travel. Seeking out the free things often means seeking out things off the beaten track. We also try to walk wherever we can. Today, (I will blog about it later) we walked close to 6 miles to get to a castle, got into the castle free on our Cadw cards, and took the train back for 2 pounds 60 pence. Almost a completely free day trip!

There are a lot of benefits of living on the cheaper side of life. As I mentioned above, it makes for more unique travel experiences. It also helps us bond more as a group, and teaches us just a little about living. Someday soon we will be taken from the life line that our parents have provided for us, and we will need to be thrifty. By walking everywhere, and limiting our food and drink consumption, we are also being healthy and green!

So thanks parents for helping us have a great time. We will pay you back as soon as we can!

Birthday Blog!

Thank you everyone for a spectacular birthday!!! It truly was a fantastic 21st.

The day started at approximately 12 AM, when I heard a knock at my door. To my surprise, most of my study group was there to wish me a Happy Birthday! I felt very loved, and was just about to go back to bed when I heard more knocking on my flat door, and then someone saying "Are there any English... I mean, Americans living here??" Moments later Maria and Caitie were at my door wishing me happy birthday.. apparently they were straggling behind the rest of the pack because they were booking flights. hehe :)

When I woke up in ernest, I met up with my physics group and we headed down to the physics building to turn in our homework. It is a huge pain because we didn't have class until 11 but had to turn in our homework at 9! We went out to breakfast at a cute little cafe called The Plan that Sammy found for us. I had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toast, and then spilt a crepe filled with nutella and bananas, with butterscotch sauce and ice cream with Laura. FOR BREAKFAST! ( and now you know why it was such a fantastic birthday.) We headed back for class, and I was given another birthday present because class ended 15 minutes early! I then went to a cafe with Maria to sit and eat lunch, though I almost completely ignored her (sorry maria) because I was so engrossed in a birthday present that arrived in the mail for me. My boyfriend, Jack, sent me a book of all of our conversations via gmail chat. It was an incredibly thoughtful gift. :)

Next, I met up with Jackie and we headed out with the caving club for some good ole spelunking. There were two other new people this week, and one we had met before! He is from Iowa and is studying abroad in wales as well. His name is Garet (?) I think. As we walked to the cave, it started to snow and we got pretty cold, but as soon as we were inside, we warmed up considerably. Apparently caves stay about 50 something degrees even in winter. This cave was definitely one of the most intense things I have ever done. It is the same cave we did last week, though this time we went a much more exciting route. Our first challenge was traversing a huge drop; we had to clip in with carabiners and put our weight on a metal rope installed in the cave. We then had to slide across a metal bar that went over the drop, with nothing but our fearless leader Matt holding on to us. Scary. Next, we did some intense crawling through puddles on our knees, then more intense crawling through small spaces. Jackie took a wrong turn at one point and we almost got lost; I was thinking "oh great, I get to spend my 21st birthday lost in a cave." Thankfully we found our way pretty easily. At this point I was getting a bit tired, but we were only about halfway through. We lowered ourselves down a short rope all indiana jones like, and started splashing down a river inside of the cave. It was very cool to see the cave being created by the rushing water, but it was also very VERY wet! We tried to stay dry by spreading our legs out to push on either side of the cave wall, but it often failed and my boots slowly started to fill with water. At several points, the water was too deep even to walk through. Here, we had to traverse a metal pole in the water and walk it like a tightrope. It was a good thing it was so warm in the cave. By the time we got out of the river, I was soaked to my thighs, and Jackie was soaked to her bellybutton! Our last challenge was to roll on our sides like you would roll down a hill so we could get through a wide passage with very low ceilings. Im sure we looked hilarious, and I got very dizzy.

When we emerged from the cave, there was snow on the ground, but the sun was not yet down. It was a lovely sunset!

We made it back to Cardiff in good time, showered, and met with the rest of the group to walk to Mirchi, an Indian food place that has a good reputation for being good n' cheap. ( It is great how much cheaper EVERYTHING is in Cardiff, but I will talk about that later). We got a bit lost on the way, but made it to the restaurant on time. We all ordered a TON of food, and it was really really good. I got egg curry and shared some with Sammy in exchange for saag aloo. We also shared garlic naan. It was deeeeelicious, and very fun. We talked about our class that we are taking with our professor, which we all enjoy even though we complain about the workload. It was nice to have everyone together again, even if we probably overwhelmed our poor waiter.

After dinner, ten of us hopped in a cab and headed to Live Lounge, a bar/ club that plays live music every night. We stayed there for about an hour and really enjoyed the band that played a combo of 90s hits and other well known songs. Too bad they didn't have time to play Sweet Caroline! :) After that, we went to Oceana, a HUGE dance club in the heart of the city. It has a bunch of different themed rooms, and we went into the disco room first, where I got bombarded with happy birthdays from various people's flat mates. We then went to the ice room, which was mostly really loud techno music. We stayed for a bit and then left, as my ears were starting to hurt and people had class early. Overall, it was a great end to a fantastic birthday.

I had an AMAZING birthday, and I want to thank everyone, especially my study group buddies, for making it so great. You all are the best and I feel so lucky to be abroad with such great people!

France invades Scotland: 6 girls in Edinburgh part 2

Hello blog fanatics!

I will now recount the stories of our second day in Edinburgh. We woke up bright and early; too bad we were all exhausted because of the plethora of frenchmen (and women) who seemed to be constantly leaving or entering our hostel room. We pounded some coffee and nutella covered toast, then made a plan for the day. Laura and Sammy split off from the rest of the group because the plan was to go to the Castle, which laura has been to and Sammy will be going to with her family. The rest of us hiked up the beautiful path that led to the castle. We stopped to take frequent pictures, as the view was absolutely spectacular. When we got to the top, we were yet again mobbed by french people sporting all kinds of ridiculous apparel in their support of the french rugby team, playing scotland in the six nations. We bought our tickets ( I was ripped off because the ticket man wouldn't take my Cadoo card! ( which is basically a card that gets us discounts to heritage sites)), and made our way into the castle.

Future travelers, be warned; Edinburgh castle is a bit of a rip off. The views are amazing and the actual castle itself is quite remarkable, but the exhibits are wanting. We learned about the entire history of the crown jewels of Scotland with the aid of creepy life size figurines and somewhat annoying recordings. In my opinion, it took away from the actual beauty of the crown jewels rather than enhance them. I suppose its good for kids. The rest of the castle was similar, though the monument to WW1 soldiers was beautiful, and the history of the castle itself is quite interesting.

After that, we met up with Sammy, who had left Laura with her aunt who lives on a farm outside of Edinburgh. We went to a cute little cafe and ate our lunches that we mooched off the hostel breakfast. We then went to a knitting/ yarn store so Sammy could drool over some scottish wool. Our next mission was to climb Arthur's seat, a mountain on the outskirts of town that would allow us some pretty views of the whole city. To get there, we had to walk the entire royal mile, which, when viewed closely, is filled with oddities. For example, we stopped at the Museum of Childhood (or something like that) to use the bathroom, and we all left sufficiently creeped out. Life size models of children= creepy.

When we arrived at the base of Arthur's seat, I was taken aback at how weird it looked; it basically was a mountain sticking straight out of the middle of a city. As we climbed, we got further and further away from civilization, even though we weren't far from a main road at all. The paths were very muddy at the bottom and we all took bets on who would fall first. Most bets were on Jackie, who is notoriously good at falling on her bum. The climb was nice and even a bit challenging at the end; I told everyone to channel their inner mountain goat. When we made it to the top, we were utterly enveloped in a cloud, which made the whole experience quite mystical. We took some pictures and goofed around before heading down. Close to the bottom, we decided to branch off to check out a pond full of swans. Sammy said "if we go that way and I fall, I am blaming you" or something like that. Well you guessed it, Sammy fell and got a muddy knee. I guess she won the bet because she is the only one who voted for herself ! :)

The next place on our itinerary was the National Gallery of Scotland. We hoofed it all the way there and were greeted by a kindly old man who mapped out where we should go in the gallery. He also told us the story of St. Nicholas, who stood up an prayed when he was born, saved three girls from prostitution by leaving them a dowry, and saved three boys from being cooked alive. We followed his route and enjoyed the museum, even though we were all exhausted. There were a lot of great paintings of greek mythology, baby jesus, etc, with some notable ones like a Da Vinci and some nice Van Goughs. We particularly liked the section on Scottish artists. My favorite was a painting of Midsummer Night's Dream that had 165 fairies in it! On the way out, we thanked the nice man, but he decided to talk to us in french. Jackie was able to figure out that this was in tribute to the fact that France had beaten Scotland in the six nations match.

At this point, we were all so tired and hungry we practically ran to a pub. A lot of places were packed but we found a nice one called the Beehive. We ordered food and waited to meet up with Laura. We were only sitting their for a short time when we realized that a pack of men by the bar were being particularly rowdy. We gleaned from their copious drinking and singing that it was a bachelor party, done the Scottish way, which apparently means drinking out of boots. Laura finally joined us after we misled her because we thought we were in a different pub; just goes to show you how tired we were.

Next, we went on a free ghost tour that we had stumbled across the day before. It was short and very funny; our "ghost" tour guide picked on Laura the entire time practically, and he threw a rat, a bloody hand, and fake poop at the audience. Apparently Edinburgh has a gruesome past, with plenty of hangings and the like. We returned to the hostel for several rounds of cards (where I continued to get beaten), then headed out in search of a place to watch the Superbowl! Our luck was not good; all the pubs we came across either didnt have a TV or were not playing football. We walked all the way to a bar called sportsters, only to learn that it was a private gig that required 5 pounds entrance fee. We walked all the way back to another pub that had promised us earlier that they would play the superbowl. We settled in and watched the game while a loud live band played in the back. The band (and the game) was awesome, despite the frenchmen continuously trying to hit on Sammy and Casey. Go Saints!

When we finally got home, we watched the halftime show (without sound), and went to bed only to get up four hours later to jet back to Cardiff. What a weekend!

JACQUARD LOOM
Beautiful Twisty streets
First view of the Castle

our hostel

In pursuit of the Green Man: 6 girls in Edinburgh

Diolch (Thanks) for reading my blog everyone!

It may seem that the title of my blog this week is a little sketchy... what is this 'green man'? Is it some kind of illicit drug? Well do not worry, I will explain shortly and it is entirely innocent.

This past weekend, six of us Colgaters headed up to Edinburgh, Scotland, after seeing how cheaply we could book a flight on bmibaby. The trip comprised of me, Sammy, Caitie, Laura, Jackie, and Casey. We flew up freakishly early saturday morning because of stupid physucks lab that doesn't end until 5 on friday evenings. We caught our taxi at 4:45 am, and headed off to the cute little Cardiff airport. Traveling to Edinburgh went without glitch; except for our minor panic that our large backpacks wouldn't fit the tiny little bmibaby hand luggage tester thing. They were actually making people put their bags in there, and charged people 30 pounds if it didn't fit! Needless to say we were rudely ushered into the world of discount flights.

When we first got to Edinburgh, we checked into our hostel so we wouldn't have to carry our backpacks around in the misty rain that welcomed us. The Hostel was a Hostel in the purest sense of the world. The receptionists had dreadlocks, and their credit card machine and phone were broken. The place was massive, and all elaborately painted in bright, psychodelic paintings. It even had a bar called the swamp. Our first faux pas as travelers was we didn't realize that the six nations rugby match of France vs. Scotland was taking place, and that the game was in Scotland. This meant that the hostel was nearly completely booked, and we were in a dorm of 38 beds, occupied primarily be the french.

We grabbed a quick breakfast and headed out into the city. Edinburgh is truly a beautiful place; it is gothic and a bit spooky. Its real beauty is in the fact that it is on a steep hill; all the buildings are arranged in interesting ways with castle at its highest point and an elegant street leading up to it that drops off in lovely little closes. Our first stop was a lovely church on our corner, where we were rewarded for our curiosity by a brief tour by an old man who appeared to be cleaning the church. He told us about his favorite parts of the church, which let us see how important it was to him. His favorite object in the church was a delicate little replica of a church in Ethiopia (I think), that was done completely in silver wire. The insides were also completely decorated, even though they could not be seen. He also showed us carvings of angels that lined the ceiling. He loves these because each one is different: a recent discovery. We felt very welcomed in Edinburgh after this nice meeting.

Next, we headed to the National Museum of Scotland, which absolutely entranced us for hours despite our exhausted state. The museum goes through the whole history of the country of Scotland, with great artifacts and explanations. We stopped to take a break to color at a kids station. Next, we learned about Scotland's role in the industrial revolution. To our excitement, the museum had a working Newcomen engine, a Jacquard loom, as well as many other objects that we had learned about in our History of Technology Class. We acted like complete nerds. Unfortunately, we were also exhausted, which may have contributed to our craziness, and certainly contributed to the fact that Laura fell asleep while watching a video on emigration into scotland.

When we emerged from the museum after spending a good three hours in there, we were greeted by Sammi Steinfeld!!! who is studying in St. Andrews this semester and was on a class trip to Edinburgh while we were there. It was absolutely wonderful seeing her, and it is always a treat meeting up with Colgate people in other countries. Its like you are surrounded by friends no matter what country you are in. We crossed the street to the famous Elephant House, the birthplace of Harry Potter. The place was packed, but we settled into a great lunch and enjoyed the creative vibes left over from when J.K. Rowling used to frequent the place to write Harry Potter on napkins. We could see why she liked this place; we could just barely see the castle through the fog, but is was a perfect view.

Sammi left us to explore the city with her study group, and we wandered down the Royal Mile, a street filled with cute shops and museums. We went into several tourist traps and admired the kilts on display, constantly dodging the plethora of frenchmen that seemed to be everywhere. We walked to St. Giles and admired the beautiful gothic style church, sneakily taking pictures so we wouldn't get charged 2 pounds. When we left, we were all tired and wanted to sit down, so we headed back in the direction of our hostel. On the way back, we went into a whiskey shop where we sampled a tiny bottle of whisky, and Sammy and Laura bought the tiniest bottles in the world filled with whiskey. Our next goal was to find a pub so we could watch the Wales vs. England rugby match. On our way back to the hostel, almost everything was completely packed to the brim with large men watching the game.

We finally made it to our hostel and we slipped into a bar where the game was being shown. The game was great, but unfortunately, Wales lost. A few large England supporters were giving us weird looks for getting so enthused about Wales. We ordered dinner there and were served by a nice girl from Canada. After stuffing our faces with toffee pudding, we raced back to a common square where a free ghost tour was running. We decided to pass though, and went back to our hostel. It was still pretty early in the night, probably only about 8 when we got back. We played cards in the Swamp for a couple of hours, in which I continuously was the asshole in president. Then, we decided to read Neath Abbey in bed, which is a book we had to read for school.

As we settled in, we talked about how much we loved our study group and how well we all seemed to mesh. I really enjoyed our day , and was appreciative of my old and new friends in my study group. We all seemed to enjoy similar things, and we were happy to make the most of our day by staying on excellent terms with each other. It really was a joy to travel with friends; though we were just getting our traveling chops and probably made fools of ourselves, we learned a lot and grew closer doing it. So thanks guys, whoever of you is reading this :)

As we were about to fall asleep, a hoard of 4 frenchmen entered the hostel room and immediately asked us what we were doing in bed at 10 pm on a saturday. We told them, but the language barrier didn't help. They laughed at us and started throwing a stuffed rugby ball at us, which we returned to them. Jackie could understand what they were saying, and I could to an extent. Basically, they were being a bit creepy and wanted to know why we were in bed all reading the same book. They finally left us alone, but not after making us feel a bit ridiculous. While we were sleeping, they came back and laughed at us some more, which was also creepy, but we survived the night.

I suppose you are still wondering about that green man. Well, the street lights in the UK have a green man when it is ok for pedestrians to cross the street. We often get stuck at plenty of crosswalks, and we always are delighted when the green man is there for us to cross.

More later!

Can I beeeee any more outdoorsy?

Greetings from the great outdoors,

So yes, Cardiff is a city, but I have been spending surprisingly little in the actual city, which is good for me, seeing as I am obsessed with nature. Jackie, my companion in the pursuit of anything out of doors, signed the two of us up to join the caving club this wednesday. We arrived at the student union and met a really nice redhead named Niomi. It was her first time caving with the Cardiff caving club as well. We got our (DUSTY) gear, loaded up the cars, and headed out to the... you guessed it.... BRECON BEACONS! The drive was nice except for our driver and leader, Matt, who apparently smokes 25 cigarettes a day.... he smoked at least three on the drive there, and I was sitting right behind him in the car. At least it was redeemed by a great conversation with Jackie.

When we arrived in the Beacons, we learned quickly that the weather we had last weekend was an anomaly for the Beacons and for Wales in general. It rained all the way up the walk to the entrance to the cave. We took a pee stop, Matt smoked another cigarette, and then we opened and entered the small iron door into the cave. Mike and Matt, our leaders, have been to this cave a LOT of times, and didnt even need a map to get us through the cave, even though there were about 100000000 passageways going every which way.

The cave was beautiful and challenging; we saw hundreds of stalagtites and stalagmites, climbed over sharp and slippery rocks, and wedged our way into small holes. Some stalagtites were absolutely huge! There was a few points where the cave was really challenging, but most of the time it was just fun scrambling over rocks. One such point was when we had to cross a 80 ft drop by bracing our feet on one side of the drop and our hands on the other. It was a bit scary, especially for Jackie, who is short, and Steve, who is a bit afraid of heights. Another point required a bit of a drop that you could sort of clamber down, with Mike holding on to your belt. That worked fine for me until he let go of my belt, then I slid a good 10 ft and smacked my but bone on a rock. Good thing I have a "Big Bum."

The people we caved with were really fun and nice; James and Tom, both freshers, were very friendly and helpful. We exchanged some scary cave stories while waiting for everyone to cross the abyss. Steve was quiet, but friendly, and is in my population ecology class!! yay new friends! Mike and Matt were hilarious. They gave us chocolate and fresh sheep poop water.

So why caving? I guess kayak polo seems a bit more glamourous than being hundreds of feet underground. Well, caves are great for a lot of reasons. They are areas of the wilderness that are relatively untamed; there are no trail markers, no gates, no benches, no steps. You can tell people have gone through the caves before, but there is not a soul around. Caving is also a wonderful workout. If you like Yoga, I guarantee caving involves more intricate positioning of limbs. In fact, caving is a great way to become hyper-aware of your own body. You have to fit into places and climb up things and stretch yourself in ways that your body is not used to; it is both exhausting and exhilerating to be so in tune with your body motions, and to get more and more fluid in your movements.

Finally, one of the best parts of caving is the smell of fresh, outside air when you emerge. It is like seeing the world new for the first time. Caves are where light and time dont really exist, and in a way it is abnormal for a human to be down there. Your heart always beats a little harder when you think about the weight of the earth above your head. But that breath of fresh air is pure bliss!

Hike in Brecon Beacons part 2

Hello again,

Now its time for the second part of our epic adventure to Brecon Beacons National Park! When we woke up on Sunday, we met with Rob and went through our plan for the day. We had a couple of options: some less strenuous than others. We, of course, all opted for the hardest route, which involved climbing the three highest peaks in south Wales. Our drive was short and easy, despite several warnings that the hilly roads were icy and dangerous. We only saw evidence of this in the form of a car that had driven off the road.

When we reached the trail head, we started our hike next to beautiful waterfalls, then ascended steeply to the top of a long ridge. At that point we were all panting for breath and unwilling to show how nervous we were that the rest of the hike was going to be straight up massive mountains. We all made it, however, and enjoyed spectacular views of large gorges surrounded by plunging cliffs. Our views were obscured by a snow/ windstorm, but this didn't stop our hike. We continued through the almost surreal landscape of grasses, rock, and ice all the way to the top of Crybin (sp?). By now the snow and wind was almost like a good old fashioned Hamilton or Cleveland blizzard, and despite our lack of views, we enjoyed ourselves. On the way down, Jackie slipped and slid a good deal down the hill on her bum, and then just sat there laughing, as is characteristic of her personality. We took a lot of epic photos, and made it to the saddle between Crybin and Pen Y Fan, the largest peak in South Wales. We stopped for a delicious lunch of PB J in the middle of the blizzard. Much to our surprise, we were greeted by a energetic collie-type dog that made a bee-line for Paikin. Paikin attempted, but tragically failed to save his second sandwich from the jaws of George. Needless to say, we all laughed as George scarffed down Paikin's lunch. Paikin said that the dog was cute, so it was ok, no harm done.

Instead of hiking up Pen Y Fan, we decided to head down, as the weather was getting worse and our fingers getting cold. The walk down was, at first, hazardously slippery; I was the only one not to fall thankyouverymuch! After the ice, we enjoyed a long and leisurely walk down to the car park where the weather had miraculously cleared. We headed back to the hostel, all satisfyingly exhausted. That night, we feasted (meaning we scarffed down more food) in the pub again, and ended our trip watching Uncle Buck before heading to bed.

The next day, we successfully finagled the bus system, and ended up back in Cardiff so John could make it to his class covered in mud and without a notebook.

Pictures from Brecon Beacons

Hike in Brecon Beacons part 1

Hello friends and family,

I apologize for being out of touch this weekend, I was in the Brecon Beacons National Park here in Wales to do some backpacking! Though our excursion was only a two day trip, it definitely warrants two posts, just because of the sheer number of crazy, exciting, and spectacular things we went through. Bear with me if this post is long; it was a great weekend.

We left for the park on friday at 6:15 pm thanks to my unfortunately scheduled physics lab that goes from 2-5 pm on fridays. My traveling companions, John, Paikin, and Jackie, were waiting for at the bus stop at 4:15, praying that my lab would let out early so we could take the bus all the way to the tiny town of Bwlch (pronounced Boolchk). I got several texts in lab telling me that the bus was late; needless to say, I booked it out of lab only to receive another text that the bus had just pulled away. So, alas, we had to wait for the 6:15 bus that would only take us as far as Merythr Tidvyl (no idea how to spell it). When we arrived in Merythr, Jackie called us a cab. The poor man had no idea where Bwlch was, and failed to get directions from all of the other cab drivers. We took a detour to his house (where we saw his cute dog) where he got his GPS which gives directions in the voice of Sean Connery. We made it to Bwlch without glitch, and found the backpacker's hostel in town called the New Inn. We couldn't figure out which door led to the hostel, so we tried one that led into a pub. Paikin asked the bartender if "this is the place where people go backpacking from" (or something like that). Fortunately, we were in the right place, and were shown our room, which was very pleasant and had its own bathroom. We spent the rest of the evening planning our route for the next day, as well as watching Gladiator and reading Wheels, Clocks, and Rockets.

The next morning, we woke to a beautiful sunrise and perfectly blue skies for our Bwlch with Altitude hike. Basically, we decided to do a hike that had a cute little pamphlet and map with it that showed us the way to a town called Llangors, around a lake, and back to Bwlch in a 12 mile loop. We started the hike off in a minor state of confusion, because we couldn't find the trailhead. After backtracking, we finally found a gate to a small church that led up into the hills. Here, we experienced our first kissing gate; these gates are built in such a way that only one person can pass through at a time. I looked up their history on Wikipedia:

The name may be associated with a traditional game played when more than one person is passing through a kissing gate. In order for one person to pass fully through the gate they have to close it to the next person. At this point, when the two are on either side of the gate, the person in front "refuses" entry to the second person until presented with a kiss. Indeed in some circles it is considered good form for everyone passing through a kissing gate to exchange kisses in this way (provided all parties are sufficiently friendly with each other).

We walked up a beautiful tunnel of hedges that passed by horse pastures and through neighbor's backyards until the hill opened up to a awe inspiring view of the valley. We got a little lost at this point, but were able to get on track fairly easily. While enjoying the beautiful hillsides and views, we took plenty of pictures, chased sheep (Paikin attempted to ride one), chased Welsh Mountain ponies (!!!!), and stopped for many snack breaks. As we approached the northern end of our hike, the beautiful Llangors lake came into view. We didn't linger at the peak long; the wind was quite cold, even though we enjoyed a completely sunny day. We then had a long ( and sometime frightening) downhill climb to the town of Llangors, were we enjoyed PB+J sandwiches while listening to a man whistling happily from his countryside home. After lunch, we headed for Llangors Lake, which was consequently completely flooded. This didnt hinder us much, and we continued our walk through flooded fields where we completely soaked our socks. This was particularly unfortunate because we all had waterproof boots of some kind, but the water was so deep at points that it flooded over the top of our shoes. The scenery in the valley was just as lovely as it was different. The fields we trudged through were still green with great big trees and rows of hedges. In one field, we climbed a big fat tree that must have been the diameter of a redwood! We went through about 10 more kissing gates, ran into several cute dogs and their friendly owners, before arriving at Llangasty-Talyllyn. We were nearly attacked by Robin hood and his gang in the form of young local boys hiding under a bridge with carved bows and arrows. We were slightly embarrassed that we almost walked into a funeral by the old church. It reminded me of Waking Ned Devine, if anyone reading has seen the movie. We learned later from a local that the funeral was for a young man who worked himself to death. It certainly made me feel a bit ashamed for spending a long weekend relaxing in the Welsh countryside.

The next leg of our hike took us up another steep climb to an area called Allt yr Esgair. The views from the top were absolutely breathtaking; we had a full 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside and mountains, including Pen Y Big, the largest peak in south Wales. As the sun began to set, we made our way down through more pleasant hedgerows and fields full of sheep that responded to Paikin attempting to communicate with them. Our long but satisfying hike ended with a slightly frightening roadside hike along the A40 back to Bwlch. In the hostel, we took showers which were much needed to warm us up a bit, then we ate pizza and chips (french fries) like we were starving people. Honestly, the fries were the most delicious I had ever had. Maybe because they were piping hot. As we were waiting for our food, we befriended some local welsh men who were laughing at our attempts to dry our boots by the fire. It was very hard to understand their accents but they love Obama, hate Tony Blair, and hate the British. One man has a grandson who plays on the Wales rugby team! He laughed when I told him I thought I understood the rules of rugby.

After dinner, we watched 40 year old Virgin with two girls from Belgium. It was hilarious seeing their reaction to it. We then started planning our next day, which proved to be difficult; the VERY nice hostel worker offered to drive us to the mountains, but we had no way of getting back. We had our maps sprawled out on the table when we were greeted by Rob, our lifesaver. He asked where we were headed, and when we said that we had no idea, he offered to take us to the mountain range with Pen Y Big and hike with us for the day! He is getting Mountaineer certification, so he needs to hike a lot of miles in the mountain to get it. It seemed like he wanted some company, and we were delighted to provide it. We then went to bed, completely exhausted but ready for our next adventure. I learned very quickly how nice it is to stay in hostels; you really get to meet friendly and helpful people who are doing exactly what you are.