Mountain Biking, Liverpool, and the 90's

Sorry that it's always like a week between posts... I told you I wasn't so good at keeping up journals. But anyways...

The group (minus 2): Team Thursday!

The poisonous lake we stopped by for lunch- it's filled with lead

Pictures does not even remotely do the place justice... 

Last Thursday (Feb. 10th) my outdoor pursuits class went mountain biking and let me just say... holy crap that was fun. I mean I could deal without the steep uphill parts... (my bike seat was bent back and making things a bit more difficult than usual).. but going down the biking trails was awesome. We went down a lot of really narrow, windy, steep paths over rocks and logs and mud... it was a blast! We were in Gwydr Forest (gwydr= glass in Welsh) in Snowdonia national park. The day started off pretty easy. Our instructor, Sally, taught us some necessary stances on the bikes for going down steep hills so that we would not fly over our handle bars... always a good thing. We practiced on some wider, less rocky, track. Then we really got started. It was 4 and half hours of mountain biking and I highly advise seat cushions for future reference... ow. And of course there were a lot of falls with the speeds we were going and the terrain. One girl fell off a 20 ft. cliff, leaving her bike at the top, and landed on her feet! It was pretty epic. The rest of the falls were not so graceful... On one of the last trails there were some bumps that our director said we could try and get some air if we wanted to and five of us tried. Three of us, myself included, fell and I think it's safe to say that I won for best battle wound. I fell on some rocks coming off my jump and it left a good bump and some cuts on my leg. Another fall was actually an almost fall and it was pretty awesome. One girl was coming down the hill on the single track, lost control of the bike and almost went over another cliff but the instructor was standing there and grabbed her back wheel as her bike was doing an almost hand stand. It was pretty epic. But the best thing about the experience, I have to say, was just being there in the park. It just smelled of life and the air was so clean. There was moss on the trees and the ground was spongy and soft. There were little bubbling streams and waterfalls everywhere, you could always hear water. And everything is so green here! I cannot wait to see this place in spring! It was an amazing day.

battle wound

Then Saturday was a trip to Liverpool to visit the largest Anglican cathedral in Britain, a funky Roman Catholic cathedral, the docks, and the Beatles Experience. It was an hour and a half bus ride from Bangor... and I fell asleep. While I was asleep we drove through tunnel that went under a river... kind of wish I had been awake for that. Anyways, so our first stop is the Anglican Cathedral and the thing was huge. Definitely the biggest church I've ever seen. This building was designed by Sir. Gilbert Scott in 1901, building started in 1904, took 75 years to build, and stands 500 feet tall, towering over the buildings of Liverpool. The architect had said "Don't look at my arches... look at my spaces" and they are indeed impressive. The central area of the cathedral can hold a few thousand people. It was really a beautiful building. I know that Sir Gilbert Scott said to look at his spaces, but I thought the arches were beautiful too. It really was just a gorgeous building. 

After the Anglican Cathedral we stopped for a peak at the entrance to Liverpool's Chinatown and then it was off to the Catholic cathedral. It was extremely modern, built sometime in the 1980's, and sort of resembled something out of a sci-fi movie. The inside showed some beautiful stained glass, though, and I really loved that the building was a circle. Also, from the top of the stairs to the cathedral you could see a good chunk of Liverpool and tower of the Anglican Cathedral. It was a really cool sight. Then we rushed off to the dock to the Beatles Experience. It was an audio tour about their history. It honestly was not as good as I was expecting but it was still interesting. After that we had some free time and a couple of other girls and myself decided to go on the ferris wheel by the river. The Anglican Cathedral was taller than Liverpool's "sky scrapers".. the thing is huge! We also saw some kids in plastic bubbles on the water and it was hysterical. Then after the ride it was dinner and the bus ride back home.

That night I went with some friends down to the Menai bar for karaoke and we did some Britney and Gaga. It was a lot of fun. When we did Britney some guys came up to the front and started doing the dance to 'Oops I Did it Again' and it pretty much made my night... until I went to my friend's flat. There we just hung out and listened to music and it turned into a nostalgic Backstreet Boys dance party and, I have to say, it was pretty amazing and quite hysterical. Good friends, beautiful place, goofy music, all make a great week!

* amendment*
Oh! I forgot to mention that last Wednesday for my brain and mind class I got to hold a real human brain! (gloves on, of course...). It was gross.. but fascinating at the same time. Apparently we are the only undergraduate students that get to do this. What an experience!

Until next time!
<3 Melissa

Scotland!- Days three and four (January 29th and 30th)

My third day in Scotland was filled with seeing some of the local landmarks, such as Calton Hill and the Scot Monument. But first, the farmer's market! After getting up and eating some cereal, Molly, Swede, and I set off for the farmer's market at the end of Prince's street. It was really fun to look at all of the little booths. There was even a chocolateer there who had all sorts of different chocolates that he makes himself. He even had chocolate shoes. I wish I had gotten a picture because I was rather impressed... I don't know how he did it! The only things that really disturbed me were the butcher shops that had pictures of the animals alive and happy right next to their stands. I don't know... maybe it's just me and how I separate things in my head, but it bothered me.

Scottish-Ameican Soldier memorial

the unfinished monument on top of Calton Hill

After the farmer's market we started towards Calton Hill. We made a couple of stops along the way, one of which was a graveyard. I wanted to go in because it had a statue of Abraham Lincoln peaking out of the top which I thought was bizarre. Apparently the statue was in memory of all of the Scottish-American soldiers who had fought in the civil war. I was not even aware that they had fought in the civil war, but you learn something new every day! Just was not expecting to learn some of my country's history in Scotland. We looked around at some of the graves and we found one that was older than the United States of America. I couldn't read the words as the gravestone had eroded so much that they were illegible, but the date was still clear. It was just amazing to me. Then on to Calton Hill! There were a lot of monuments on that hill, one of which was an enormous, Colosseum-type thing that was never finished because the government ran out of money. Molly and I climbed (with Swede's help..) onto what was there of the monument for some epic pictures and it was a lot of fun posing like goofs... actually we didn't really know how to pose and just kind of stood there as Swede took pictures. The view from the hill was great. You could almost see the entire city! A pink balloon went up into the air and all three of us had our eyes glued to it, trying to see how high it would go. Eventually we gave up and walked around the hill a bit more.

Arthur's Seat off in the distance

Molly and I on the Monument

A shot of Prince's street from the top of the Scott Monument

The Scott Monument

Next was the Scott monument...and that thing is deceptively tall. Also, I think the stairwells were made for really tiny people.. or at least the ones on the top tier. The other tiers were okay. There were four levels on the monument and we climbed up all of those spiral stairs! The more twisting there was the more anxious I became, especially on the way down.... but anyways. The view, of course, was awesome. I snapped a picture of Prince's street with a ton of buses on it. There is seriously no need for cars in that city because there are so many buses and bus stops. Yay public transportation! Can we get some of that in Texas, please? :-) After that the sun started going down and we headed back for the flat for some chill time and to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail while eating banana sundaes! It was pretty awesome.

My last day in Scotland, Molly and I tried to do some shopping. I wanted to find some winter boots, just because I was getting tired of my tennis shoes, and Molly was on a mission for jeans. Molly won her mission. Me? Not so much. But that's okay! We walked back to her flat so I could pack up my stuff and we began our walk to the train station. On the way we stopped in a discount electronics store because I had been in desperate search of a cheap fan (the noise helps me sleep) because the cheapest one in Bangor was 14 pounds (roughly $25) and I did not want to pay that much for a little desk fan. So I found a used desk fan for 5 pounds! I was so excited! But oh, this fan. I carried that thing on 2 trains, a bus, and then another train. And what do I do? Of COURSE I left it on the last train! Go me. But c'est la vie, at least it was cheap... though soon I may break down and go buy the 14 pound fan. Anyways! So after the shop we pop in a couple of Scotland shops- I wanted to find a couple of post cards... mainly one for Collin because he always makes fun of me about thinking cows are cute. So I got him a post card with a hairy coo on it... licking its nose. I thought it was appropriate.

We then headed to the train station. There were hugs and sad faces as I was leaving my friends, but I know I'll see them again soon. Then I boarded the train back to Bangor to start my journey home. When I got off my first train to switch I found two of the other Central study abroad students from Bangor who had also gone to Edinburgh for the long weekend and I was super relieved because there were a lot of train changes and, having very little experience with trains, it was nice to have people with me. So we stuck together for the rest of the trip. For our third "train" the lines were down so they put all of us on a bus. I met a guy named Ben who lived on Anglesey who looked freakishly like my Dad in his 20's... but he was cool so we talked the rest of the way back. Hannah, Meghan (the two other Central students) and I flew off the train and hailed a taxi back to the dorm site. Had it not been 11:30 at night and I hadn't been on a train for 6 hours I probably would have walked, but right then I really was not in the mood to walk up hill in the dark with a heavy bag. So we were back at the dorms by 11:40 and I was in bed shortly there after. All in all it was a very successful trip! I absolutely loved it!

<3 Melissa

Scotland- Day Two : The Day of the Hairy Coo! (January 28th)

My second day in Scotland was filled with The Hairy Coo highlands tour and I have to say it was probably my favorite part of the trip. It is a free, alternative highlands tour and it just takes donations at the end. I wish I could have given them more because they really deserved it, but anyways...We met up with the tour bus at 8:45 Friday morning to see a man in a kilt named Donald standing next to a burnt orange bus with two horns on the top and a smiley face with a tongue sticking out on the bottom... they had painted their bus like a hairy coo! (by the way, coo=cow in Scotland). We hop on the bus and Donald introduces himself. He asks if everyone speaks English, to which we all reply yes, and he says "Oh, well that's fine but I speak Scottish!". He was a hoot the whole tour. We had people from so many different countries on the bus (a "mini League of Nations" as Donald called us). It was a very odd feeling to be the only Americans, because here in Bangor the Americans all came in a group and we kind of stick together a bit, but it was very cool. We drove through some of the less-traveled streets of Edinburgh and Donald gave us some history. One big thing that stuck in my mind was this school that is in town that is now one of the most expensive private schools in Scotland was originally built to teach orphans. Oh, how things change! I think it was called Fettes college. *Side note- "college" in the UK is actually the last two years of high school in which students can either choose not to participate and leave school or continue on focusing on only a couple of subjects of their choosing and then they proceed onto university.* He also asks if anyone has any Scottish ancestry and, if so, what clans. I spoke up and said "McAlpine" and he looked surprised and said "I should have known! We have royalty on the bus! McAlpine was the first king of Scotland". So that's right folks, your reading the words of Scottish royalty right here ;-) It was amusing.

The Forth rail bridge

From the hill of the Wallace Monument

Our first stop on the tour was the two bridges- the Forth road bridge and the Forth rail bridge. The rail bridge was built in the 19th century and is still standing strong. The road bridge, however, was built in the 1960's and has to be replaced soon. Just an interesting tidbit... Then we drove up to Sterling and saw one of the Wallace monuments, dedicated to William Wallace- the "braveheart" of Scotland. It was on a hill and the view from the hill was amazing. Donald gave us the history of William Wallace on the bus ride which was a good story and, shocker, different from the Hollywood version. 

The Wallace Monument

Clacking Coconuts at Doune Castle!

And what was our next stop? Doune Castle..a.k.a the castle used in the filming of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. I was probably the most excited person on that bus.. especially when Donald pulled out the coconuts for us to play with if we so desired. And yes.. I skipped around clacking coconuts in front of the castle like an idiot and I loved every single minute of it. I even got Molly to clack behind me like Patsy so I could be King Arthur for a picture.. because we are just that cool. (Side note: "doune" actually means castle... so the castle's name is Castle Castle...) Then we stopped in this cute little town called Callander in the highlands for lunch and ate at a bakery called "Mhor Bread". I had steak and haggis pie with mashed potatoes. That's right people; I ate haggis. And it was actually pretty good... the spices were a little strong for my taste but it was still pretty good. Also.. when I was eating it I couldn't help but think about Sweeny Todd... lovely mental image when you're eating, I know.

Molly as the Patsy with coconuts and me as King Arthur :-D

steak and haggis pie with mashed potatoes

Hamish

Next up? Hairy coo! We stopped and paid a visit to the most famous hairy coo in the world, Hamish, and his expecting girlfriend, Heather. We fed him parsnips. Hamish was actually personally saved by the queen. There was a disease going around all of the highland cattle a few years ago but they could  not vaccinate all of them so they decided that they would only vaccinate coos 7 years old or younger and the others would be killed. Hamish was ten at the time. The lady who owned Hamish started a petition and with all of the people who visit Hamish on a daily basis she received thousands of signatures. The petition landed on the queen's desk and the queen, being a Hamish fan and a lover the hairy coos (she has her own herd of them), granted Hamish a royal pardon. Hooray for Hamish! Then we stopped by a couple of lakes (or "lochs") and they were gorgeous. One of them was frozen solid and I was oh so tempted to try and walk on one. But then I decided that would probably be a bad idea and refrained. 

Loch Katrine

Me with a mommy and baby coo :-)

Last main stop? More hairy coo. SO excited! (I think they are beyond adorable...) We found some right along the road behind a fence and I was beyond thrilled because there were two baby coo too! There was also one that Donald designated as the "Justin Beiber" coo (see the picture and you'll see why...). The coo's real name is Kyle. So we fed them some carrots and a flock of sheep came running over. They quickly gave up when they realized they were not going to be able to get past the coo. Then we hopped back on the bus and began our journey back to Edinburgh. We made a couple of scenic stops along the way and he told us the story of Mary Queen of Scots. Something about driving though, especially when it's dark out, makes me sleepy and I woke up just in time to hear "and that's the story of Mary the Queen of Scots"... sad because I actually wanted to hear the story. We met up with Swede after that and got dinner at a place called "Garfunkle's" and then headed back to the flat around 9:00 that evening. We were going to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but Molly and I were really tired and we just called it an early night. 

Justin Beiber Coo

Justin Coo with his flock..

Some earmuffs I found in a gift shop :-p

So that was my second day in Scotland and it was probably my favorite. Don't get me wrong, I liked the city too.. but I'll always be more of a nature girl. I loved the landscapes I saw in the highlands and, of course, gotta love those hairy coo :-) I'll post days three and four tomorrow!




<3 Melissa

Scotland!- Day one (Janurary 27th)

Soooo this post is a bit later.. but whatever! Last weekend I had an extended weekend since my only Thursday class didn't start until this last Thursday (Feb 3rd) and we did not have any field trips scheduled
with Tecwyn (our program advisor) so I took the opportunity to hop on up to Edinburgh and see my lovely friend, Molly Miller, who is studying in Edinburgh for the year and has been there since August. I left my flat at 4:30 in the morning to walk down to the train station. I had never been on train before and was not sure how early I had to be there for my train (which did not leave until 5:14). The train station was not too far from my flat, but I kept Collin on the phone with me from the US because I'm not going to lie, an empty town in the dark with strong winds is a bit freaky. So anyways, I was a bit early but that is ok because the train came soon enough.. and I slept for a good portion of the way up. I changed trains in Crewe where, while I was waiting, I saw a guy with a fold-up bike! I didn't even know they made those! Anyways... I got on my next train and was in Edinburgh at 10:21am and when I arrived Molly and her Swede (whose real name is John but is affectionately referred to as Swede) were waiting at the top the stairs.

View of High Street (the ocean is at the end, but hard to see)

We hopped on a bus back to their flat so I could drop off my stuff and then it was off to breakfast. After that we all got back on the bus (a double-decker bus, might I add!) and just looked at the town. We ended up at one of the campus sights for Edinburgh Napier University and it was this really pretty old building with a marble staircase and some pretty nifty rooms. Then we left there and just walked around High Street where we ended up at a chip shop purchasing the delicious monstrosity known as the "fried mars bar". We shared it between the three of us... I honestly do not think I could eat one by myself, but it was yummy. There was also a photo shoot in a red booth- a requirement when visiting the UK, I think.

The fried Mars Bar

Edinburgh Castle

The Ross Fountain (click to see bigger)

By then we were near the castle so we went ahead and walked up there, hoping that the guards wouldn't be there so we could go in for free, but, to our lack of surprise, there they were. So rather than pay the 14 pounds to go in (roughly $22) we wandered around the outside and found entertainment in the gift shop. I have already seen three castles since being in Wales and there are many more on the list so I figured it would be ok if I skipped out on this one. Then we walked down Prince's street and ended up in Prince's gardens. It had a beautiful view of the castle and at the end there was this gorgeous
water fountain sculpted by John Baptise Klagmann in Paris that was shipped over to Edinburgh. There are mermaids at the bottom and the four women on the middle tier represent science, art, poetry, and industry and then at the top a figure is holding a cornucopia (cup of plenty). I wish I had seen it running, but I guess that had the water turned off because of the recent winter storms. It was beautiful nonetheless. But what turned out to be even more exciting than the fountain and the castle? An empty playground nearby that made our inner-children jump for joy. Played on the jungle-gym and this spinning bowl contraption and Swede tried to go down the slide... it didn't work so well but he still had a smile at the end. It was a lot of fun to just let go and goof off.

                                              

Playing in the gift shop

We called it an early night because, well, I had been up since 4:30 in the morning and was extremely tired. We all just chilled at Molly's flat and ate some pizza. Seems silly to go all the way to Scotland and eat pizza, but who wants to follow the rules? There may have been nerf gun fights involved that night as well... I then made myself a little bed on the floor out of an exercise mat and the cushion of a chair and went to sleep, ending my first day in Scotland.

(I was going to make this all one really long post but then it was getting really long so I'm breaking it up into days)

Day two up soon!

<3 Melissa