Conquering the Elements

You can even see one of the guys standing on the board in the background!

It's been two weeks since my last post and I have a lot to share! First of all, Thursday February 17th I did something I never thought I would do. I went surfing! And when I say surfing I mean I got to my knees on a nice, non-threatening sized wave... but hey! Standing is next! And yes, the water is exactly how you expect it to be in the middle of February in North Wales. Lucky for me they have these things called winter wet suits that kept me from getting hypothermia. The way they work is that they actually trap water in the fabric of the suit and use your body heat to warm it up, so I was actually very comfortable in the icy ocean. Well, except for my feet and hands. The hands weren't covered and the boots were no help. I could not feel my feet for a good while after we were done and it took a 15 minute hot shower to regain full feeling. But I would do it all again in a heart beat. It was exhilarating! We were in the water for about two hours, took a break for lunch, and then attempted to head back out but the waves died so we left. Changing out of the wet suits on the side of the road was fun... or something. The girls ended up changing in the trailer taking turns holding towels over the opening and the guys changed in the van. Wet suits are tight and there was much clumsiness. I was sad to leave and believe you me, had we had more time I think I could have stood on the board! Two of the guys in my outdoor pursuits class actually managed to stand on the boards so kudos to them! It is definitely something I am going to try again some day because it was a blast.

Long Way Down...

Then that Saturday, February 19th, I climbed to the summit of two mountains (Pen yr Ole Wen & Carnedd Dafydd) with Bangor University's mountain walking club. How cool of a club is that?! Started off the day pretty light with just walking around the edge of the lake but if you're gonna climb to the top of the mountain you do eventually have to go up. So we started up the marshy mountain side. Walking up the marshy part was honestly more difficult than climbing up the steep, rocky part. Climbing up the rocky part was actually my favorite part of the climb! I was so glad I decided to go because it was just beautiful. There were small streams and waterfalls everywhere. As we got closer to the top we were actually in the clouds! It was amazing. I mean, obviously it blocked the view.. but we were INSIDE a cloud. I thought it was cool. Also as we climbed higher we came upon snow. Not so bad. I feel I dealt with the snow pretty well for a Texan... at least climbing up. We spent some time at the top of the mountain before beginning our descent which was.. interesting. If you ever want to work on your balance and reflexes just try to walk down the snowy side of a mountain. I think I fell a total of five times and slid down some of the way on my imaginary skate board. Note to self- wear gloves. My hands in the snow felt like daggers! But it was so worth it! As we walked along the river back to the bus the sun was setting and we were in this absolutely gorgeous field in the valley. Towards the end we even got close to some sheep and a really friendly horse who I took a few minutes to say hello to. I cannot imagine a more beautiful place. After we got back I and two of the other Central Abroad students, Molly and Shawn, made tacos and called it a night. It was an awesome day.

So as of late I've decided I should get out a bit more because I realized I did not actually know that many people outside of our American group so I decided to check out dance society. I used to do some dance in high school and loved it so I thought this would be fun. On Tuesday February 22nd I tried out the jazz class and was not too crazy about it. On Wednesday, however, I tried out the contemporary dance class and absolutely loved it and will definitely be doing it again. I also tried out street, just for giggles, and let's just say it's not my thing. It was fun to try though! We did not have Outdoor Pursuits that week because Anglesey, the island that the class is taught on, had some kind of school holiday.

Yes, it is possible to pronounce.

Speaking of Anglesey, this past Saturday (February 26th) was our tour of Anglesey field trip. We started out at the place with the longest name in the UK and one of the longest in the world. This town has nothing really special about it except it's name and it's name was in fact created to attract tourists in the 19th century.

Foyl and the lighthouse

Next was the Anglesey lighthouse. From the beach you can also see Puffin Island which used to be covered with puffins until rats were introduced to the island. But the rat population has been decreased and the puffins reintroduced so here's hoping they make their comeback! Tecwyn brought his dog Foyl on the trip and that made the trip so much more awesome. I absolutely love dogs and Foyl is adorable and so playful! Then we stopped by a Holy well and an old dove coup. There were some wild daffodils popping up all around and it made me smile. Spring is coming! And then after that was Beaumaris Castle. It has a moat! That was exciting. I had a lot of fun wandering around inside the castle. The way they built it is actually very clever in that you enter the courtyard on one end but you have to go all the way around the castle to actually get inside. Good protection strategy I think. So that was fun. We wandered around the town after that, heading down to the pier and into a souvenir shop and then it was back on the bus to the Marquess of Anglesey's Column. We climbed 115 spiral steps to get to the top and boy was the view worth the disorientation! Everything was so green and I could see the Menai straight. It was just gorgeous. But the best was yet to come.

View from the Marquess' Column

Wild Daffodils :-)

Llanddwyn Beach

Next was Llanddwyn beach and that place just simply filled my heart with joy. I had missed the beach so incredibly much and I was so happy to be there. We walked along the entire beach to see two light houses at the end and a giant Celtic cross. On the way we encountered some wild ponies! They were just standing there completely oblivious and apathetic towards our existence, but they still made me smile. When we reached the light houses I ended up climbing around on the rocks down by the beach and that was a lot of fun. I could feel the mist from the ocean and it was sheer bliss. I did not want to leave and fully intend on taking a bus back sometime soon. On the way back to the bus some of us picked up some sea shells. There were a ton of these really pretty blue ones and I grabbed a couple. Then when we were waiting for the rest of the group we saw this family making giant bubbles with two sticks and a piece of string called "dragon bubbles". I don't know if I was just really tired or something by then or if they were just that awesome but I thought it was incredibly cool and really wanted to try. Oh yay for the inner child and may mine never die. All in all it was one of my favorite days since I've been in Wales.

Wild Ponies!

Today (March 2nd) I had my first exam which marked the completion of my 5-week Brain and Mind course. The test was not as bad as I thought but leading up to it was a little terrifying as it is worth our entire grade for the class and I had no idea what to expect. But I survived and got free pizza from Domino's (yes we have a Domino's here. Weird, right?) with some of the other girls in the class. Woo hoo for free dinner! Tomorrow I am supposed to be climbing another mountain with my Outdoor Pursuits class and I'm super excited to get back into the mountains! Well, until next time!

<3 Melissa