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