Happy Thanksgiving! (no, the British DON'T celebrate it, but WE did!)

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!! I know I did. A bunch of American exchange students (and a couple British... and one French) got together and made a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner. Everybody brought a little something; a few girls made the turkey, others made stuffing, casseroles, pies, cookies, ham, you name it, it was there (and that includes alcohol... which I brought... Dad, don't give me that look!) I helped my friend Sharadon make sweat potatoe casserole which, for those of you who haven't tried it, is pretty much sweat potatoes baked with sugar, a couple eggs, more sugar, and marshmellows on top. it turned out like thisNo, don't look at me like that, it was really good and that's what REALLY matters!!

And here's the helpers me and Francois trying to scrape off all the melted marshmellows at the bottom of the bowl. We didn't get very much, but we tried REALLY hard...

I tried to get a picture of all the food, but everyone got in the way. There were about 17 of us. (sorry I'm at the library again so you'll have to turn your head side-ways) The food goes ALL the way down the counter

I had to put 3 layers of food on my plate to make everything fit!

pretty much everyone ate and ate and just had a good time...

Those things in our hands were little party favors. You yank on both ends and a little item pops out. Who knows what you'll get. I got a tape measure. Other people got a shoe horn, magic trick, mini drum, a fortune teller fish (remeber the red celafane fortune teller fish we used to have when we were kids, the ones you hold on your palms and depending on which way it flops you may be sick or happy or whatnot? Remember those?)

Everyone also got a silver paper crown and a joke. I don't remeber mine, it was too lame so I repressed it...

ya, we had a good time...

a really good time...
happy Black Friday everybody!

Finally, a... library?

So after a few weeks of effort, I finally located Swansea's tiny public library. And tiny it is. I think I was really spoiled by Salt Lake's public library cuz this one's just so... British? Almost all the books are sappy British soap operas with pretty much nothing else. Sure it has some science fiction, but the collection is pretty disappointing. Again, everything there seems to consist of sappy British soap operas, but in space... or with dragons...? I grabbed a few books that looked somewhat promising by random, so I guess we'll see how it goes. One that seems to have the most promise is the chronicles of blarnia, apparently a spoof on the lion the witch and the wardrobe. We'll see...

It's so...dark

Just in case any one's interested, it gets very dark very quickly up here. By 4, the sun's down and by 5 it's pitch black. And it's not even the winter solstice yet! According to the locals, by December it'll start getting dark by three. Oh joy. I may be a night owl, but this is just ridiculous...

Venice!!!

Ah... so amazing. So last week, thanks again to some cheap ryanair tickets, some friends and I took a trip to Venice. And... it... was... awesome... As in, what the heck made me want to study in Wales kind of awesome... enough said, there's going to be a ton of pictures.

Well, so we happened to get there right in the middle of flood season. Hence, the two feet of water we had the privilege of trudging through. But, they provided planks to walk on, so that helped.

Sorry but all the pictures of the canals are going to have to wait. I'm using a computer in the library as mine is still in a coma, which stops responding every time I try to rotate a picture. But here's just some pictures of the buildings. There were a ton of shops everywhere! Everything from cafes to jewelry and clothing stores but more than anything, shops that sold masks! So for those of you who aren’t familiar, Venice is famous for Carnival, a big celebration where people dress up in amazingly intricate masks and costumes. So of course such masks are provided at almost every street corner for the unwary tourist. But some shops specialized in the creation of some absolutely amazing masks that sold up to 500 Euros (roughly 750 USD) take a look. We even found some made with swarovski kristalls! A shot of me in the flood waters. I'm standing just outside the Piazza San Marco. We all just really liked the pink street lampsI would have like to show you some pictures of the inside of St. Mark's Basilica, but unfortunately cameras weren't allowed inside. But here's a shot of the Piazza San Marco in all its floodwater glory And the outside of the Basilica

And a more improved one (ya, it was raining REALLY hard)

Gondola rides were uber expensive, as in about 80 Euros a ride, but we did one across the Grand Canal for 50 cents. There were no seats, so you got to stand and hope you had REALLY good balance.

The food was amazing! Dinners were kind of weird because if you didn't order at least three courses (each of which costing around 10-15 Euros) the waiters would get really mad at you. So for the most part we settled to dieting on gelatos, paninis, and hot chocolate. Now, don't go thinking that this hot chocolate was your typical chocolate powder in water concoction you get back in the states. No, this was pure melted cocolate goodness. That you drink in a tiny little cup without a lid. Christie, you would know this one, I think even Starbucks attempted it once with something called, what was it, like chantika or something? Take a look

Oh, but due to the incessant rain, a friend and I finally broke down and admitted to the practicality of owning a good pair of genuine Wellie. Rainboots (oh, and an umbrella, too. The blue one a couple picture up). I took a picture of only my feet to avoid further embarrassment.

But, day TWO!! we hopped on a train for 6,50 Euros and spend a gorgeous, sunny day in Verona (home of Romeo and Juliet. We didn't go in, but it was there) It was a really different feel from Venice, but absolutely gorgeous with all the leaves. I hesitate to say this, cuz it's not exactly true, but what made Venice so beautiful was perhaps its more rural setting? We got a good look at rolling hills with old churches on the top and the Alps in the background on the train. Everything was so green and beautiful. *Sigh, the pictures don't do it justice...

Our first stop in Verona was the Arena. Think of it as a slightly smaller version of the Roman Colosseum.

Here's a look at the inside

And that darn random person again (sorry, you'll have to turn your head for this one). Boy is she persistent!

Ah, but the city itself...

and more of it...

and more...

and more...

But back to Venice for our third and final day. This time it was sunny and fabulous!! (sorry, you'll have to turn your head for the next)

and more...

and more (look closely and you might recognize someone)...

the Rialto Bridge (lined with tons of shops)

and tons and tons of bloodthirsty pigeons...
Well, that concludes our tour of Venice, and man, I still need to do the cafe one I've been meaning to post for a while now. Hmph, too bad the photos are all still stuck on my broken laptop...

Bonfire Night

So over here on November 5th, the British celebrate Bonfire Night in commemoration the famous gunpowder plot of 1605 where conspirator Guy Fawkes failed to blow up Parliament. Now 400 years later, people still celebrate the night with fireworks and bonfires. Children stuff paper into their old clothes to create effigies of Guy Fawkes, creatively named 'the Guy'. After or during the height of the fireworks celebration 'the Guy' is unceremoniously burned. Here are some pictures!


Not so great quality, but the fireworks! (I made a movie so you could see them better, it's long, don't feel you have to watch the whole thing)

Here's us at the beach with our cider. We tried to get a bonfire going, but the driftwood was all too damp, so no luck there

our Guy effigy quite enjoying his cider
And his unceremonious tourching
Happy Bonfire Night everybody!

Yes, I know Halloween was last week but...

Yay! here it it, my Halloween post. Well, not that it's really exciting at all, but I had fun. So kids here don't really celebrate Halloween like we do in the US, or at least, not that we saw. No one really went trick or treating or carved pumpkins and whatnot, which was kind of sad. But those were just the little kids. Now the BIG kids went out and partied all night in 'costume'. I say 'costume' because about 90% of the party goers either dressed up as scantily clad devils or scantily bloody nurses. yes, even the guys. So I'm not sure if I should really call those Halloween costumes because it's not really any different than how party goers dress up on a normal night out. With the exception of all the ketchup smears. Now if only I had brought some french fries...

But here's my group with our 'somewhat' more imaginitive costume! We had a happy night of spooking until someone lost her phone and three other people wore really ouchy shoes and this really drunk guy wouldn't leave us alone...