Dublin, Dublin, Dublin...

Oh, if I could only describe all the things that either went wrong or was just annoying... but don't get me wrong, it was an AWESOME trip, but here's a list of everything... strange... that happened. And the bright sides of them too!

1- our flight was delayed an hour an a half and two of my friends were delayed five hours due to "fog"
-well, at least the plane tickets were only 1 pound. (plus fees and stuff it actually turned out to be 18 ($36) but hey, what can you do?)
2- when buying a ticket for the shuttle to the airport, the clerk refused to accept the signature on my credit card receipt even though I had valid identification because the signature on the receipt didn't look like the one on my Utah drivers license. (?!)
-well, good thing I had the signature my passport. The clerk said it wasn't much better, but he'd let slide go THIS time (?!)
3- four out of six of us had colds
-I wasn't one of them
4- the RyanAir check in lady made my friend check in her bag and shell out 24 pounds ($52) even though it would CLEARLY fit into the overhead compartments because when she put it in one of those bins that say "if you're bag doesn't fit in here, you have to check it in" one of the wheels stuck out two inches. And if you're a certain someone who I KNOW will be thinking, "well maybe that WOULD in fact be a problem if that wheel prevented the overhead bin from closing completely" don't, because there were plenty of other bags much bigger than hers that were allowed on board and fit just fine.
-well, at least the bag got to Dublin ok
5- on the to the airport back to England, another friend lost her passport in the taxi
-good news is we got security to notify anyone who might have picked it up and the people who were in the taxi after us brought it back to the airport for her. She had to book a later flight, but she got home safe.
6- our flight back circuled around the Bristol airport for 2 hours due to "fog" (well, I'm pretty sure they were telling the truth this time) until we were finally diverted to Cardiff airport, but RyanAir offered no kind of compensation for anyone who was majorly inconvenienced, which happened to be a lot of people who missed connection flights. (now we know why the tickets were one pound)
-well, for us, it's actually faster to get back to Swansea via Cardiff than it is Bristol, so we didn't mind the change

But end of story, I'm back home safe and the time actually in Dublin was amazing! We stayed at a student run youth hostel, which I didn't think of taking a picture of now that I think about it, and one of the girls who worked there turned out to be from my hometown of San Jose, CA! So we chatted for a while. We rode around on one of those double decker bus tours like we did in London and went to Trinity college, the Guiness (a super famous beer) Factory, an old prison, and walked around some great parks and churches! But enough talk, here's some awesome pictures!

Here's Trinity College. It was a small campus, but the buildings were amazing! This is a picture in the Trinity College plaza, so imagine this kind of building surrounding you all 360 degrees...Here's St. Stephen's Green, a HUGE park in the middle of the cityI can't quite remember which one this was, but I think this it's Christ Church CathedralAnd a picture of temple bar, a really cool outdoor shoping center, but with a ton of locally own shops, icecream stores, and cafes.
We took a cool tour around the old Kilmainham prison, which was cool, but kind of depressing. Here's a shot of the more victorian era wing whose design, intersting fact, actually is used all the time in modern shopping malls. It has a special name, but I forgot what it was. The goal, though, is to be able to see anything and everything in the room no matter where you're standing. Makes scense for a prison.Here's a look at the Guiness factory. Everything was really touristy so you couldn't actually see them making beer. All you saw were a bunch of big huge LCD screens with movies about how Guiness made their beer so great... through all 8 floors. But you did get a free beer at the very top at the Gravity Bar where you had an amazing 360 degree view of all of Dublin. But here's a picture from the very center of the factory just to show you how big it was.
Here's some pictures at the Gravity bar. And no, I passed on my free beer because Guiness is really dark and frankly, I'm not a big fan of it. I got in about three forced sips and called it good.But just to show you a bit of the city itself, Dublin was home to some amazing architecture, street performers, and really friendly people
Here's another picture of the main streetAnd just to show I'm never too far from the luxuries of home
And as of today, classes have begun! More on that next time... and maybe a picture of my dorm.

duck beak helmet

So I've had a couple people ask me why the helmet I was wearing in my previous post was shaped like a duck beak. The answer is that if it was ever hit by an oncoming arrow, the curve of the mouthpiece deflected the arrows better than it would if it were flat. As a result, this became one of the most efficient helms during the middle ages and its design lasted for hundreds of year!

What to do when you're REALLY bored during orientation plus some other cool places

I'm finally moved into my permanent housing and once I get settled I'll snap some shots of my place. It's pretty nice; I have my own bathroom and everything's brand new since it's a new building, but my view out my window is completely obstructed by the surrounding buildings, which isn't very cool. But, what can you do. So far, we've had three fire alarms go off even just today because the alarms in our rooms are heat sensitive, not smoke, so if some unlucky person has the bathroom door open when they take a shower, off goes the alarm. Ya, THREE times today. And the sad part is, we didn't even HAVE hot water until noon yesterday (I've been here since Friday morning) and the internet kept shutting off every few minutes. Gah, but it's mostly all better now.

So anyway, back to the story, what to do when you're really bored during orientation. Easy, take very thorough notes. See below for further detailsBut, now to update you on all the cools stuff I did during the last week. First, we took a trip up to Chepstow Castle and Tintern abbey on Sunday, and then a trip to the AWESOME city of Bath (pronounced Both) on Wednesday where unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries half an hour into the trip, but I got a few shots in while it was still alive.

First, Chepstow Castle. We were lucky enough to stop by during some Medieval Reenactments, so we got to watch weapons melees and learn about what life was like. The castle was built over the course of hundreds of years, so there were lots of cool examples of different kinds of architecture. I can't tell you which is which, but take a look. This is just the front of the castle. The rest actually extends really far back.This is where the main arches were. Obviously they're not still standing, but you could still see where the pillars that held it up were.
The castle overlooked a river up on a cliff side which prevented invaders from ever successfully conquering the castle. Here's a look from the side with that random person blocking our view again
And of course characters from the Medieval reenactmentWe got to try on their armor, too!And I got to try out some weapons!
This was my target (don't worry, we were using rubber tipped arrows)
And here's Tintern Abbey. This was a really cool place with some fantastic architecture!
And, as if this post wasn't long enough, Bath! This absolutely amazing city was home to some fantastic architecture, shops, cafes, and cathedrals and in my opinion, it was way better than London. Unfortunately we only had a few hours to spend in this fantastic city, so we're all planning a return visit. But here a shot of the actual Roman baths I took before my camera battery died
So, now that I've posted all the fun stuff I'm doing, here's an academic update for anyone interested. For the past two weeks I've been participating in the pre-sessional, which is a course on British culture and politics after WWII, but now that's finished (except for the 2500 word paper I have to write) so all next week it's time to finally enroll in my actual classes (and I'm going the Dublan on Thursday!)

London!!

Today some friends and I took the bus to London where we spent the entire day touring the city on a double decker open top bus. We saw all the major touristy sites; Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and its clock tower, the Parliament building, the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge and London Bridge, you name it! Since it was out first time in London, we decided to see all the cliched tourist spots in one go, and the next time we take a trip out there, then we would hit all the museums and shopping districts. So this time around we didn't actually go into the Tower of London or Westminster, (*cough cough, you had to pay) but we got a good look at the outside. While I don't think I could ever live in such a crowded city as London, the city itself was AMAZING!! Take a look

To start, here's Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately the cool guards are only there on even numbered days (?!) and since today was the 13th, we missed them and the cool ceremony they perform at the changing of the guard! Boo hoo... next time.
Next, Westminster AbbeyA picture of some random person and the Parliament building along with Big Ben in the background. The river behind me is the Thames. I had better shots of the Parliament building, but that random person was just so awesome...
St. Paul's Cathedral
Tower Bridge, which is the one can lift up its walkway to let taller boats through underneath. We were lucky enough to see it open while we were on a boat tour along the ThamesHere's a shot of it actually opening (well, actually, I think it was closing as this point)We saw amazing sites and learned a lot of cool history and random facts on our tour. We even passed by Margaret Thatcher's house and the houses of lots of famour writers, actors, and other politicians. Next time we come, though, it's time to hit the museums!

Oh, and who could resist getting it on with James Bond?

Happy Birthday Chris!!

Well, the title pretty much sums it up, but happy birthday!!

Field trip to Big Pit and St. Fagan's

On Wednesday, our group took a field trip to the Big Pit coal mine and a beautiful historic village called St. Fagan's. At St. Fagan's we got to go into the mine and have a guided tour inside the pit. We got a first hand look at how awful the conditions were in the early 1900's and how the coal was actually mined. It was a really cool tour and we got to where miners helmets, lights, and safety gear, but unfortunately for safety reasons cameras and ANYTHING with a dry cell battery wasn't allowed inside the mine, including my watch, so I didn't get any pictures during the tour. But I did get a picture of the outside of the mine.
Keep in mind, this is a VERY small part of it. The rest of it is to the left and there's a lot more, but I thought this water pump was pretty cool. There was also a museum with the history of early mining up to the miners strikes in the 70's and 80's that was really cool. I thought this was pretty funny
After touring the mine, we headed down to a 16th century village known as St. Fagan's. Or, I should say more specifically, St. Fagan's Castle, which was built in 1580, and the surrounding town. An interesting fact is that many of the buildings were dismantled from other sites and rebuilt around the castle. The castle itself was ok, but the surrounding landscape was amazing! We even got some sunshine! Take a look, here's the outside of the gardens
Here's the castle itself, not quite what I was expecting, but yet, still a castle (I was expecting the ruins of stone walls or something) And hey, who's that silly person blocking its view?
the gardens themselves
and the absolute BEST chocolate orange fudge I have ever had!There were a bunch of other old historic buildings such as a school house, bakery, farm house, and what not with a bunch of cool 15-1600's furniture inside. It was an awesome little place, and seriously one of the most beautiful villages ever. But now, to bed for tomorrow is London!

And here's a picture of the gorgeous flowers Nikki sent me so I could have a little bit of sunshine in my room even when it's gloomy. Thanks Nikki, you're the best and I love you!!

Afternoon at the Mumbles

Yesterday some friends and I went down to Mumbles, a popular little town about 10 minutes bus ride west of the University. Here one can find coffee shops, souvenirs, a marina, and lots of other cute little shops and bed and breakfasts. Our group took a walk down the coast line to the Mumbles Pier, where the lighthouse and other little shops were located. Here's a picture of us by the PierAnd the lighthouse was pretty cool, too, but we weren't allowed to go into it. So we admired from afar.Back in town, we sampled what was referred to us as 'the best ice cream you'll ever have' at Joe's ice cream parlor, and wow, it really WAS the best ice cream I'd ever had! The flavors you'll see below are mint chocolate and turkish delight. Ya, it was awesome!
And what better way to feel welcome in a new town than to be presented with your very own boat!

Day 2, touring the Gower Peninsula

So today we all got a tour of the beautiful Gower Peninsula, but unfortunately, we actually didn't get to see very much because, well, the roads were all flooded. See below...But we did get to go to Oxwald(?) Beach, which was quite pretty. I know in the picture it looks like we're all freezing, but compared to some Utah weather I've experienced, the temperature was actually quite nice except for the wind. Here's me and my friends Mellisa and Lauren with part of the beach in the background.
And for those of you curious as to what scrumptious British food I've been eating, well, I took the liberty of taking some pictures of some of the local delicacies I've been tasting. First, yesterday's lunch: deep fried chicken strips, something you see sold at almost any street corner take out restraunt. Actually pretty good, they were seasoned with who knows what, but not at all bad. Take a look.And today for dinner, who could go without Fish and Chips! This deep fried cod was piled along with a side of chips (here in the US known as French Fries) and for some reason, peas. Interesting combination. It was suggested to me that eating the chips with vinegar was common, however, I decided to pass and go strait for good old Ketchup (sorry no fry-sauce available). Again, maybe not the most spectacular thing I've ever eaten, but the tartar sauce helped.
And no, that is NOT my beer next to the plate. But to answer another question left by a certain person, no I did not try a shanty, but did in fact try a Strongbow, which it half cider, half Guineas(?) which is a type of dark beer. Ok, but still, I mean, it's beer, and... nasty.

Out on the town!

Today the weather was better, we even got a little blue sky!

Okay, so after a hearty 'English Breakfast' at my B&B, which consisted of runny eggs, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, and two fatty slices of ham and sausages, I headed down to Swansea Campus, where at I was greeted by my somewhat old but still cozy dorm room high up on the 9th floor of what is fondly known as the Kilvey residence. It's fun, I have my own sink, fridge, and phone, which sort of works. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I'm sure I get it... soon. Here's a picture of my room!
So now, being only about 10, I had many hours to spend before meeting up with the rest of the pre-sessional study abroad students, so I took this opportunity to walk around town. My first stop was the gorgeous Singleton Park, located directly behind my building and stretching all throughout the east side of campus. Take a look, here's Singleton Abbey
And here's just some random pictures of the park: A nice tree
random stonespossibly Christie's dream houseand a cute baby girl named Hannah
My next stop was the city and it was awesome! There was a great mix of old, European style building and great shopping centers along with what smelled to be great local restraunts! Take a look
I also ran into some old castles/abbeys, but these pictures are taking too long to load so I'll post them some other time. But meanwhile, at around 6 pm, I met up with the other study abroad students to go out to a joint called the pub by the pond. Everyone's great and I'm excited to be spending the next two weeks with them all! Here's one last picture of me and just a few of the other girls at the pub that I'll grit my teeth and load.And don't worry, Dad, I resisted the peer pressure to get drunk.