Oops, I've neglected my blog for a few weeks. I returned back to my flat the afternoon of May 6 so here is a rundown of what I've been up to in good ol' Wales.
- Coasteering (May 11-12): On May 11, my Colgate study group took a trip out to western Wales (Pembrokeshire) for an overnight coasteering. Most people haven't heard of coasteering before so here's a link explaining what it is from the company that we went through: http://www.preseliventure.co.uk/outdoor-activities/coasteering/. After an early morning 3+ hour bus ride, we arrived at our hostel/the Preseli home base. This hostel deserves a shout out--probably the nicest one I'll ever stay in. It had free wifi, a bar, a bonfire pit, a pool table, was eco-engineered, was recently renovated, had a STUNNING view of the Welsh coastline, awesome staff, homecooked meals, and had the coolest bedrooms ever. We had a classic British lunch of baked potatoes and then we were off to our 4 hours of coasteering! This was my first time wearing a wetsuit and I did not realize how ridiculously tight they are--such a struggle to get into! Although it was only in the mid 50s, we were in the water in a matter of minutes of getting to the coast. Scrambling along the coastal cliffs was tougher than I thought. We basically just followed our guides scrambling out of the water, up rocks, jumping off the rocks (higher than the ones I've jumped off in Vermont!), swimming to the next set of rocks, and repeating. And there was some swimming in caves involved also. It was SO much fun. We bought disposable waterproof cameras and are still waiting to get those developed--I'll update with pics when I get a hold of those. After a homecooked dinner, we spent the night hanging out at the bonfire. Great trip!
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| The loft in the hostel room. |
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| View from the hostel. |
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| 3 levels of bunk beds--I was on the top eek |
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| Hostel. |
- Suzanne visited again (May 18-20): After she finished her finals last week, Suzanne made a final trip out to Cardiff to see me and Lauren. On Thursday we made a trip to Penarth, a really pretty coastal town only 15 minutes away, did some shopping in the city center, and went out for some great Indian food. It was so fun being together again and I'm so happy we got to see Suzanne so much this semester! (5 separate occasions and 5 countries is pretty impressive considering we aren't studying in the same country)
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| The 3 of us! |
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| Pretty Penarth. |
- More castles (May 22): Lauren and I made it out to Castle Coch, a fairytale-like castle right outside Cardiff. We've never gone before because it's about 5 miles from our flats but we decided to make it into a longer run today because it is just a straight shot down the Taff Trail (biking/running trail that is just outside our flats). The castle was pretty cool and was very similar to Cardiff Castle (same family owned and restored it). We stopped for lunch at Gelynis Farm, a berry-picking/vineyard/B&B/vineyard/farm right off the Taff Trail. The farm cafe was so cute, delicious, and run by a woman from New Hampshire (!) and her two adorable daughters. So hanging out at the farm cafe, playing with the little girls, and chatting with the American woman was definitely worth the long trek on foot.
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| Welsh school field trip at the castle at the same time as us--madness. |
- A bit of studying: I have my first final Tuesday (May 24) so unfortunately I've had to study a bit for that. But I have a ridiculous amount of time to study for it (I haven't had any class since April 16) so this is 12308129 times less stressful than Colgate finals even though its worth 60% of my grade. And it gives me an excuse to go to Starbucks, which is also conveniently located a minute from some great frozen yogurt.
- Some delicious cooking: Like I said, I have a lot of free time here since I finished class on April 16 and only have finals May 24, June 7, and June 10. So thanks to stumbleupon.com (favorite boredom buster), Lauren and I have accumulated tons of great recipes that we have started to try out. Some personal favorites are the spinach burgers and coconut rice. We still haven't neglected our favorite McFlurries though.
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| Karaoke with the Colgate group--that's my professor. |
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| Finally filled my Cafe Nero rewards card--free drink! |
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| Cool flowers in the park. |
Up next:
- Spectroscopy final May 24
- FRANCE May 25-31. Going with Lauren to visit her sister in Tarbes (outside Lourdes)!
- Physics final June 7
- Kinetics final June 10
- Fly home June 10, arrive June 11!
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