I will now attempt to recount all the crazy adventures that I went on with my fellow study group buddies ( and the Geier family (and Dave, our coach driver)) in North Wales. This trip was a week long, and its purpose was to get to know Wales better and get to learn more about technology, since that is the topic of our class led by Geier in Cardiff.
We started our journey bright and early on Sunday, March 21st (SO long ago!) by meeting the Geiers and Dave in the parking lot outside of our residence area. We have been trying to beat the Geiers to this meeting spot every time we go on a group excursion, but we always fail. If the meeting time is 8:45, we get there at 8:35, but we never manage to beat the bus there. It became a bit of a competition with the Geiers (unbeknownst to them), and we only managed to beat them once, and it was to dinner. This story sets a theme for the whole trip: Professor Geier's ability to be hyper organized, and our ability to center our lives around eating.
Our first stop of the day was Big Pit National Coal Museum. We got there and promptly suited up for a tour of the mines by a man who had previously worked in the mines. We crammed ourselves into the lifts with out heavy battery packs and helmets with headlamps and descended through down the mine shaft. Our guide told us the lifts usually ran much faster back in the mining days; I thought it was plenty fast enough with us tourists in it. When we got to the bottom, we heard the other half of our group laughing in the lifts; apparently the miner in that lift found Maria hilarious because she had a cousin who lost his/her hearing from an ear infection. Random.
The tour was great. We learned all about how coal mines used to work with the help of our mini assistant tour guide, Professor Geier's son Eric. He was used as an example to explain how young boys used to have to stand in the dark and open and close doors for miners to get through. He did a great job opening and closing doors for us the whole tour and also demonstrated how the miners communicated by connecting a circuit with a metal bar that makes a bell ring. We learned that horses were kept underground and were treated better than the miners since they didnt have to be paid. We also learned about how they used lamps to test for dangerous levels of methane gas. It seemed like a safe place at first, but as we went along on the tour, we learned of all the dangers and hazards associated with mining. Despite the fact that it was backbreaking work and very dangerous, the miners who gave us the tour remembered their mining days with pride and nostalgia. This painted a different picture of what we always thought of when we thought of mining.
After the tour, we wandered around the grounds and enjoyed the sun, and Professor Geier laughed at my new sunglasses ( which are awesome). We went to a display on modern mining, which was pretty goofy with flashy displays showing us the modern, scary looking machines that are used to mine. We also checked out the mine baths, which were an essential addition to mines later on; they prevented the miners from going home filthy, which made a huge difference to the wives.
After roaming, we had lunch at the "canteen." i had greasy fish and chips and apple pie with A LOT of whipped cream. Sammy got her apple pie and turned around to tell us that the serving girl was her new best friend (because of the whipped cream). The girl heard and laughed.. I bet that comment made her day.
We went to a really well preserved Ironworks after the coal mine. No one was really in the mood for learning, so we goofed around in the workers cottages and pretended to sell each other plastic bacon at the fake mine shop. The shop was really quite sad though; miners and ironworkers were forced to buy their food and supplies at the shop, but the goods were vastly overpriced. We also climbed around into the blast furnaces even though we werent supposed to, and then we made paper planes of our maps and took naps out in the sun.
When we finally piled onto the bus for a 3 hour drive to Llangollen, everyone was ready for a nap. We all started out with good intentions: reading, knitting, enjoying the scenery, but we all started falling asleep, one at a time, until I think I was one of the only people still awake. The landscape was beautiful, and when we arrived in Llangollen, mist was hanging over the valley and the sun was setting over a pretty river that ran into the town. We arrived at the B&B and were absolutely thrilled at how beautiful it was! Casey and I were so excited that we locked ourselves out of our room. The rooms were huge and very comfortable, with free port for us to try and an amazing breakfast.
We met up with the group and had an amazing dinner at the Greenbank restaurant where the server made fun of us for not ordering alcohol with dinner. Apparently we dont make great university students. Dave the bus driver sat with us and regaled us with stories of other groups he had driven around. He has driven a coach everywhere!
No comments:
Post a Comment