A little home sick..

The last couple of days I have been feeling kind of homesick. As beautiful and amazing as it is here, I do miss the familiarity of home. This is the longest I've ever been away and I'm starting to feel it. I know this is one of the "stages" of study abroad or whatever as they so handily layed out for us in our pre-departure packets but that does not make it any less hard. I did not think it would be so hard because I did the "new kid" thing when I first started college so I figured it would be similar, but it is completely different. I miss knowing where I am and how to get around my school. I miss the flat campus and not feeling like I'm climbing a mountain when I'm coming back from class. I miss having a roommate to talk to at night, giggling as we're attempting to fall asleep. I miss passing my friends on the way to class and laughing with them in choir. I even miss playing my violin. Most of all I miss my boyfriend, Collin. He's my best friend and the one I look to for a laugh or a hug or a shoulder when I needed it and it's really hard not having him around. I didn't think it would be this hard to be away from him and I was extremely wrong. Somehow I thought I would be immune to this for some odd reason. You can't exactly describe this feeling in an info packet.
I still think it is a good thing I came... I'm just having a bit of a down period of missing what I know and people I love. Sorry if this sounds whiny or anything but the reason I am sharing all of this is because this blog is about my study abroad experience and this is a part of it. And I do think I will grow from this.

Now on to happier things!
I am spending my last night in Scotland tonight (will update about that on Monday or Tuesday) and then tomorrow I head back to Bangor. But last weekend we took a trip up to St. Winefred's in Holywell and Chester, England. We were all exhausted before this trip even started, I think, because energy was definitely low and on the way back at 5pm everybody was passed out on the bus. I guess registration (and pub golf for some) really hit us all hard. But anyways, St. Winefred was a young girl who was...pursued.. by a prince and when she denied him he cut off her head and it rolled down the hill. Where the head stopped a spring appeared. A priest who was walking by saw this and placed the head back on the body and Winefred was fine and became a saint. People from all over now go to this well to bathe in the water and be healed. If you want more details (that was the brief version of the story) then you should look it up on google.
Chester is a cute little town. We were given a tour of the town by this rather entertaining old man and we walked along the Roman walls. He introduced us to a street artist on the way, which was actually my favorite part of the tour. I wish I could have stayed longer to talk to him because his drawings were really impressive. We then got two hours to shop around Chester and two other girls and myself just kind of wandered around, not really looking for anything. We went into this store called Primart and I found cow footsie pajamas! Naturally I had to try them on for kicks... it was awesome! I'll post the picture when I get it from my friend, but let me assure you that it was a rather entertaining sight. Shortly after that we all boarded the bus back to Bangor and, like I said, everyone passed out. I woke up about 20 minutes before we got back to Bangor and the bus was dead silent. It was kind of funny... and as people started waking up one girl said "I'm taking a nap and then I'll meet you guys at the pub at 8!". I was just like "wow... I'm going to go be a bum for a while..". I do not know how some of these people do it! I'd be exhausted all the time if I went out that much. Share your energy, please? haha.

Chester, England

And a random side-note. The two most frequently asked questions I have gotten when revealing I'm from Texas are "where is your accent?" and "do you have a gun?". Oh, stereotypes. During the international student introduction two weeks ago we all had to stand up and say our name, say where we were from, and say something we liked. I stood up.. "Hi, I'm Melissa. I'm from Texas and my favorite color is blue" and sat back down. The director said "no, no, no... stand back up".. I'm just thinking "okaaaay...?". Then he says "I thought Texans were supposed to have really strong accents?". All I could say was "I'm sorry.. I'll work on it for you". I don't know.. I just find this all amusing and felt like sharing. Well I will update about Scotland in the next post (soon, I promise!). Until then, goodnight and sweet dreams everyone!

<3 Melissa

These Boots Were Made for Walking... And They're Waterproof!

Sorry I have not posted in a while but these last few days have been hectic. I have never walked, climbed so many stairs, and detested hills as much as I have in the last four days. Ok, the walking is an exaggeration because I used to have to walk to my job in the summers, but the hills here make it seem a bit different compared to the flat path I take in Texas.

Anyways, on Sunday (January 16th) we went on our first field trip and it was AMAZING! We drove to Llandudno (pronounced Lahn-did-no, with a little catch in the throat at the beginning.. Welsh is a very odd language) and walked on the pier. The town was built as a tourist town in the 19th century and they have maintained the Victorian era feel with the buildings. It was really cute and I loved the pier. It was raining off and on all day, hence the clouds, but somehow that just kind of enhanced it for me. Off in the distance you could see some wind turbines in the ocean too. Apparently in the next ten years the whole shoreline is going to be covered with them. The people of the town angry because it kills the view and therefor will impact tourism for the area. I have kind of a split view on wind turbines as, yes, they ruin the natural beauty of the landscape but they also provide a clean, alternate source of energy.

After Llandudno we stopped in a little town for lunch and then went on to see Swallow Falls in Betws-y-coed. Our group kind of cheated in getting into the park. There is a swivel gate that you put a pound in and it lets you through. We squeezed two people into the sections and let's just say it was extremely entertaining. And then there were the falls. Apparently you can normally see rocks in the falls but because it had been raining so much the water was just intense. It even overflowed the platform we were standing on a couple of times. It was a lot of water and it was beautiful.

This is the group right as the water is coming onto the platform (notice four of them looking down :-p )

Then, my favorite part of the day, we went to Snowdonia national park (and I was really grateful for waterproof boots on this feildtrip and the next!) It is without a doubt the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The mountains are not very high but they are gorgeous and I felt a sense of serenity hiking up to Llyn Idwal (a lake in the park). The lakes in the park are apparently filled with Arthurian legend and the scenery of area inspired Tolkein's writings. The hills are covered in soft, long, golden grass and you can hear water all around. In the valley you can see a river going for miles. There are so many colors and sounds. A picture truly does not do the place justice and I cannot wait to go back up into the park! For my outdoor pursuits class that I am going to be taking this semester we get to go mountain climbing for one of our activities and I'm super excited :-) . I am also considering joining the mountain walking society that goes up into the mountains on the weekends so I can spend some more time there. I would love to get some sketches of the park!

Llyn Idwal

Caernarfon Castle (part of it)

Cricieth Castle

Monday (January 17th) was the day of castles. We saw 3 castles, and climbed to the top of two of them (One of them was in ruins, otherwise I'm sure we would have tackled that one as well). The castles were pretty cool and we had a lot of fun exploring them. The first one we went to was Caernarfon Castle and it was the biggest of the three. It was built by an English king and the Welsh people were not allowed within the walls. It is also the castle the queen uses to induce the Prince of Wales, which actually the eldest prince of England. What I found myself thinking was how the nobles and royals could walk up and down the steps in these castles when they were actually used. I almost fell multiple times and i was in tennis shoes and blue jeans. The stairs were terrifying and I was holding on to the rope for dear life, especially in the last castle we visited which was Dolwyddelan Castle, built for one of the Welsh Princes before England overtook them. That castle was on a really high hill and from the top of it we could see miles and miles of the Welsh landscape. It was pretty awesome :-) The castle that was in ruins, Cricieth Castle, had an amazing ocean view from the hill it sat upon. Apparently we caught it on a day when the sea was abnormally calm and it was really peaceful. I was able to just stand there and enjoy the soft sound of the waves from high above and look out onto the waters. I just smiled. We also, during the day, went to see the slate mines. Slate mining was a big industry in the late 1800's and the 20th century. Now it is more of a tourist attraction, though.

                              

                                       Me on the cliff that Cricieth castle is on

Dolwyddelan Castle

View from Dolwyddelan Castle

A little waterfall we saw on the hike back from the castle :-)

Tuesday was less exciting- registration meeting and making sure my classes would transfer back to TLU. Then later that night we had an international student mixer thing, but it seemed that most of the Americans kind of huddled, though I did meet a couple of very nice people from Finland. Later that night we went out to Patrick's pub in town and hung out. It's a nice little place and I had fun.

Wednesday (the 19th) was spent getting signatures. Being an exchange student at the university means that we have to get signed off to take classes by someone in the department the class is being offered by and it was a little bit stressful. For one of my classes I got sent to three different buildings and then they wanted me to leave my paper there to get it signed by the head of the department where as the secretary had signed off on it for my other classes and I was told that anyone in the department could sign it. Finally I found someone to sign it after much frustration and then we went over to Anglesey to get another girl's paper signed for one of her classes. Anglesey is the island across the Menai straight and it was a good 2.5 mile walk from where we were to where we needed to go. We walked over the Menai suspension bridge which was a really impressive bridge.. ya know, as far as bridges go. What do I know? It was just cool, and you could see out to the ocean on the bridge and on the other side you could see another bridge, the Britania bridge.

The Menai Suspension Bridge

 After Molly got her paper signed we had lunch at this cute little bakery and one thing I have to point out here is the music. There are no real genre- based stations here and I've heard a mix of everything ever where I go. In this little bakery, run by two middle-aged ladies, I heard some oldies sounding songs and Enrique Iglesias's "Baby I like it". It was odd... but it made me laugh. After that we explored the island and found this old grave yard and a little church. Some of the gravestones were made out of slate which was kind of interesting. I've never seen that before... not that I've been in many graveyards. Actually I think that's the first one I've set foot in. Anyways... so yeah. Then we came back and walked around Bangor so all in all we put in about 6 or 7 miles yesterday. And then today (Thursday, the 20th) we put in some more miles with walking all the way to Tesco (it's like a Wal-mart) and then back into Bangor for a meeting for outdoor pursuits so that put on another 3.5 at least. A lot of walking the past few days... which is making the hills easier! Haha, silver lining. I didn't really mind though. I like to walk, especially when I have such beautiful scenery :-) Well, until next time!

The Britannia Bridge

<3 Melissa

Blown away... almost literally!

Aye, the wind be a blowin' hard. We're having some extreme wind here in Bangor with a little bit of light rain, so I've been inside all day which has been kind of nice because it has let me rest a bit.

So getting here was a teensy bit stressful. I flew out of Austin on Wednesday at about 5ish (when my plane was supposed to leave at 4:20) and landed in Georgia about 7:50 pm their time where we sat there for about 20 minutes waiting for a gate. That gave me only 40 minutes to get all the way across the Atlanta airport.. which is huge by the way. But I made it! My bags however, did not :-( Luckily I packed a carry-on with two days of clothes! And my suitcases were delivered last night. But anyways, so I landed in Manchester, England at about 10:00am UK time (4am US central time) and then we waited for the other students to land and boarded the bus to Bangor, Wales. I wish I had been able to stay awake for the bus ride. I caught some glimpses and it was beautiful!

Bangor is in a Valley next to Snowdonia national park and the Ocean. There are seagulls all over town, a couple I swear have taken steroids because they were HUGE! Anyway, so after we dropped off our stuff in our rooms we got a tour of the town. The town is kind of divided into Upper Bangor and Lower Bangor. Our dorms (or "hostiles") are in upper Bangor and almost everything else is in Lower Bangor. There are a lot of cute little shops and restaurants and some of these buildings are just gorgeous. To get between lower and upper Bangor, however, you have to walk up and down a hill called Glanafron hill, which has lovingly and accurately been renamed bitch hill by students. May I just say ow? I had been warned about this hill before coming but only now do I understand the intensity of it. Anyways, we were given some time to wander around lower Bangor and get phones and something to eat if we were hungry. Then we met up at the main building, which was modeled after Yale university and kind of resembles Hogwarts, for orientation.

A tiny part of the main building.

This building sits on top of a high hill and the view from the terrace is amazing! It overlooks the entire town and you can see the ocean not to far off.

You can see the ocean and some mountains :-)

The town

Yesterday I and a couple of other people in the class went wandering around town and actually ended up at the ocean. It was awesome and I think next time I am going to try and find the pier. Last night I went to a club with some people I met called the Octagon and it was a lot of fun. I've met 4 out of 7 of my flat mates and they seem pretty nice, though apparently half of them are at war with the other half. Hopefully that gets sorted out soon, along with some space in the kitchen. I did get some cabinet space yesterday but I still have little fridge space and no freezer space so my grocery choices are limited at the moment. But I'm sure it will work itself out soon :-)

My room is little, but cute, and my desk sits in a little nook in front of the window that over looks some green hills and trees. It is absolutely gorgeous! Tomorrow we take our first field trip to Snowdonia national park and we are going to see some lakes and a waterfall. I can't wait!

(Sorry this post was kind of a novel... :-p )

Melissa  <3

In Less than a Week

In Less than a week I will be boarding a plane and begin what may be the greatest adventure of my life. Wednesday, January 13th, I head out for my semester in Wales. I have not yet started packing, though I probably should. I just can’t believe the time is already here. It seems I have spent the entire semester waiting for it and now that it is here I am not sure I am ready. But no time like the present! I will get on that plane and I will live in an entirely different culture for 5 months. I will attempt to keep up this blog.. we’ll see how that goes as I can’t even manage to keep a journal. But I will try! So here we go..