One last thing

I was talking on Facebook with one of Matt's friends in Germany about how used to things we've become over here. Both of us have had the experience of having our own voice sound "wrong" to us. I really feel like I'm the one out of place when I speak, or even think in words within my own head. It will take awhile to readjust once I'm back in the US. I don't know if this feeling of strangeness can be explained, but it is a feeling I won't forget.

Bits and Bobs

No real theme to this post, just a jumble.

After a long spell of warm, clear, sunny weather broken only by Cardiff's characteristic cool breeze we've come in to some rainy grey days. That's a bit more like Wales is supposed to be. Unlike the rains back home it doesn't commit to a heavy rain for the most part, but drizzles or is a thick mist. A good jacket is all that's needed, and the cooler temperatures don't bother those of us used to snow.

Concerning the upcoming election, I can't say that I know enough about the candidates to pick one or another. If I had to vote I would base more of my feelings on the candidates time in Parliament (which is regularly televised) than on the debates. The candidates only seem to be half debating and put more of their efforts in to a performance. It sounds, feels, and looks like more of the same sound byte crap that is usually expected from politicians. I can't say I can picture the liberal dems plan and that is a problem. Right or wrong I can't vote for something I can't understand.

I've started revision already, trying to organize my notes and read over them slowly. I've done a lot of reading for some of my harder classes to try to get my brain bubbling properly. Happily I've remembered more than I gave myself credit for, which is a nice surprise. Exams count for most of my grade, and I have six to prepare for, four of which will be for credit at Colgate. The lab grades I've received so far have been inconsistent, some wonderful and some not. It is certainly not do or die, but I have to do well since a single test will determine the whole semester. That is scary in its own way.

On the bright side classes are over. I've treated myself today by doing a lot of reading for pleasure. One great advantage of having fewer day to day assignments has been the chance to read for pleasure again. I've missed that. Somehow I'll have to find a chance to do that, along with some more music, not only this summer but back at Colgate.

We received the disappointing news that TGA will not have a pre-orientation program this evening. At the very least we will still be able to provide our usual orientation programming. I hope that we'll be able to come out with a bang regardless and will use the summer to plan some fantastic first offerings. Our orientation programming is always a big hit, and I'm sure we will be our consistently fantastic selves. I do take a little solace in the commendations offered us in Dean Low's letter.

Best of luck to everyone back at Colgate, your finals will be brief and successful, and then summer!

Classes are over

Classes are all done here at Cardiff, we're just waiting for our finals to begin.

Recent events

Man, I've been neglecting this blog something fierce. And I don't have an excuse at this point. I will finish spring break eventually, only a few days left now, but stuff's been going on since obviously.

Just down to Geier's class at this point, a bit more reading for him, as well as a beastly 15pg paper, but then it's just the 3 exams. We have a weekend trip to St. Davids and Swansea this weekend, which should be fun. We'll eat well if nothing else.

It's election time here next Thursday, and it's actually pretty exciting, even for a foreigner. John and I have been watching the debates with my flatmates. For the first one (apparently this is the first time they've done televised debates?) we had up to 14 people in the flat watching. Everyone supported different parties, so it was pretty funny watching them all argue (in a friendly way). I guess if I were to vote, I'd go for the LibDems, but I don't know how likely it is they'll win. The two main parties, Labour and Conservative, seem pretty entrenched. Watched one last night with considerably fewer people, while playing with TC's dictionary.

Been hanging out with my flatmates a bit more since the workload has slacked off. Board games and uno, bad tv, just hanging out and talking/snacking. It's been nice, I'm really going to miss these guys.

Last week was the week of terrestrial ecology hell. Wednesday was an all day trip to Porthkerry Park (I was supposed to go on another one the day before, but the prof forgot to tell me where and when we were meeting). The park is near Barry and the airport, which had planes flying into it for the first time in almost a week. It was actually a trip for a different module, but my prof wanted me to tag along to make up for labs I missed at the beginning of the year. Luckily I had two nice guys, Richard and Matt, adopt me into their group for our tree surveying. We were assigned quercus robur (oak), and had some fun running around in the woods (despite my allergies). Lunch was in the open part of the park by the golf course and the beach and really nice. Richard shared his gummyworms with us. Second half of the day was supposed to be the same exercise but in a different section of the park. Only trouble was that that part of the park held a grand total of 3 oak trees, one of which was barely living. So we had to do a different method, but it was fine. I was up all that night writing a paper for that class about sanguisorba officinalis, which is essentially a weed that no one cares about. Luckily Tris managed to find a bit more info in his horticulture library than I could in ours and sent me some scanned sources.

Friday was an all day practical for that class (about 3 hours, but it was running all day), in which we got to sit down with the 23 species we have to memorize (both normal and Latin name), and what soil conditions they imply. Spent forever drawing them all and writing notes, but hopefully it'll pay off. As I was leaving the main, I realized I didn't have my wallet. I had a paper due to the Welsh dept that day so I had been to the library, and had class in the humanities building, so I had a lot of ground to cover. After panicking around to all the buildings, I eventually found it, someone turned it in intact at security in the main. Whew.

Sat was another early morning, and another all day trip, this time to Bryn Bach Park, Garwnant Forest Centre, and Caerphilly Mountain. Byrn Bach is kinda a gross place, it used to be a coal mine that they've tried to replant and make nice. We walked around the man made lake digging holes, taking pH readings and yelling out the Latin names of the plants we needed to know. Drove to Garwnant and had lunch. They had the coolest playground ever, lots of stuff strung up in the trees, nothing that would pass US safety standards these days (so naturally way better). We tromped around in the woods, discovering that the forest we were supposed to be viewing had been clear cut. Whoops. Then into the bush, where we were warned about holes and adders (luckily I didn't trip up to badly or encounter the latter). Dug some more holes etc. Went into a stand of spruce and my allergies flared up big time, did a few more tree measurements and did some wrap up back in the park part. We headed to the mountain, and drove up, only spent about 15min there looking at a few species we hadn't seen yet.

Sunday was more of the same, but instead of forests we explore sand dunes! Our first stop was Kenfig Nature Reserve. The dunes are huge and the beach is beautiful. The thing that most blew my mind here was that they are actually trying to get their dunes to erode! They're trying to maximize biodiversity, which means maximizing habitats, which means stopping searal development in the middle stages. The problem is the system got away from them and is in the latter stages, so basically a climax community, not particularly diverse. So for once in my life I was encouraged to climb all over the dunes and erode at will. Strange. They allow horses, pets, and move the path regularly to try to cause blowouts. I think it's esp. strange since they haven't had new sand input for 50 years or so (probably because of dredging around Bristol taking it out of the system). I'd be worried, esp. with the barrage project going forward, that they might lose them all if they aren't careful.

We dug some more holes, looked at a ton of different surveys and did some quadrat counting in a dune slack (very wet, esp. since it drizzled on us that day). Finally ate lunch and headed to Merthyr Mawr. A hugeeee dune. Let me tell you, dunes are NOT easy to climb. The class (the majority of which were hung over that day), puffed their way up to look at more plants, and had a lot more fun sliding down the slope. We did more wrap up and headed to Ogmore to walk up a hill to look at a beech and a box.

This week has been a lot slower, no major work due, just reading. I went to stay with Tristan on Wednesday in Guildford. It's a nice little town, lots of horses and trees (more pollen, ugh). I met his housemates, who were all really nice. It was nice to see Cathal (the guy who put us up in Ireland, more about him later) again. Wednesday we actually got moving before noon, and drove up to Merrist Wood, where Guildford College has a lot of its programs. I got to see arboriculture area, and the pinetum that he's been working on with his class, which is going to be really pretty. It was cool to see his work first hand. We took a long walk in the woods around campus, which was full of bluebells and nettles (luckily I didn't get stung though I was wearing sandals). We had lunch and watched How to Train Your Dragon, which was actually a really good movie. We went to dinner at a really nice Italian place, which was small and totally hidden, but we found it in the end. Thursday morning and the train back to Cardiff and class came way too early.

Well, that's a lot for one go, I feel sufficiently updated. Ireland next.

Table Top Mountain: The Hike that Wasn't

A couple of days after my tour of Chepstow I took the train to Abergavenny, and from there a cab to Crickhowell. It was a beautiful day, one of the sunniest we'd had at that time. My intention was to take about a six or seven mile hike in some of the outer hills of the Brecon Beacons (a big national park like the Adirondacks, a mix o public and private land) to the top of Table Top Mountain (its steep but totally flat at the top, and was once the site of a fort for that very reason). The directions I'd found online weren't the greatest, and the only store in town selling Ordnance maps didn't have the grid I needed in stock. I brought a compass along just in case I lost my bearings. There wasn't a real path so I was looking for certain rock groups or burned out houses as landmarks. With things like that there can be a bit of error if the directions aren't updated, and I assumed they wouldn't be.

The hike was very vertical right from the get go, winding up the mountain along the main highway going north out of Crickhowell. After about a half hour I was up above the tree line, high enough to have a view of the valley as I walked. There were droves of other hikers coming back down the mountain, which I took to be a good omen. I wondered why they hadn't circled down around the mountain like I intended to, but to each his own. The top of the mountain was in sight after about an hour and twenty or thirty minutes. I decided it was time to head uphill, and after another fifteen minutes I found the farm I was supposed to cut through to go toward the peak. Apparently the owner had gotten tired of people crossing his land, so his driveway was gated and lined with razor wire. Given the extra wires and contacts on the fence it had all the hallmarks of being electrified. For all that the gate was unlocked, so, ignoring the "no public access sign" I started up the drive. My bad luck came in to play about then, the farmer pulled up the driveway. I was kindly but firmly walked off the property.

I went down the road a bit more and hopped the hedgerow at a low point, but that farmer caught me cutting through his pasture before I made it very far. I was again walked off the property. I'd been walking for about two hours and change when I finally saw a little wooden sign pointing up the path of another farm. The sign said "table top", so I thought I'd finally gotten lucky. I made it all the way to the farmhouse, maybe 180 or 200 feet from the rocky ledges that surround the top of the mountain, before I was yet again stopped. The farmer hadn't been letting anyone through his land that day (explains all the hikers coming back down to town) because he was having a party for his daughter. His daughter must have been 3 or 4 given the horde of children running around. I can understand why they guy wouldn't want strangers around in that case, though I was a bit disappointed. I argued with him half heartedly but gave up easy.

I didn't have anywhere to be for awhile, I'd told the cabbie I wouldn't be down the mountain for about 3 hours or so, so I found an open place with a good view and had lunch. I took my time going back towards town, where I briefly tried to find a way up the mountain on its back side. That was just as futile. The weather was still fantastic so I decided to accept the hospitality of my brethren in the fire services by camping on their lawn. Great spot for some sun. I took out a book I'd brought along and read until I could get some reception on my cellphone to call for a cab.

A short ride back to Abergavenny just in time to make my train home, though it ended up being delayed due to engineering. I was home about a half hour later than I'd planned but after my day it at least kept to a consistent theme. My evening was a lot of unexpected catching up with friends from home, which I certainly didn't mind. It was a nice end to a day that didn't entirely go as planned. I still got to play outside all day in beautiful weather, so I'm not really complaining.

Spring Break Rewind: North Wales Day 6

We woke up super early for our last day of the trip. Breakfasted, packed and cleared out of our wonderful B&B, gave the owners a card we made (we went on a card giving spree, it was Geier's 40th, and we made one for our awesome coach driver Dave). We napped during the longish ride to the Center for Alternative Technology. We hiked up a very high hill on stairs, and walked in. They had a very cool gift shop full of sustainable things and books. Sadly the center was a bit less interesting. I think it would have been really cool if I were a kid, but I already knew most of what they were saying. Though I did learn that sheep's wool makes good insulation (kinda obvious, but most Americans wouldn't think of that). They had extensive gardens that weren't really doing much yet, and a lot of interactive exhibits. We were all really tired and museumed out at that point. I did enjoy the human sized mole hole under one of the greenhouses though. CAT does a lot of cool things, and is really important to the area, and the whole thing is green, which is neat.


CAT- wind turbine


After buying some organic chocolate and soap, I headed back to the bus (a lot faster going down), and we headed into Machynlleth for lunch. I ended up buying a loaf of freshly baked bread and some Llangollen cheese and some chips for lunch. It was a very good call, esp. since I still had some applewood cheese left. We left the town a bit early hoping to make it back to Cardiff while we could still use printers to print out travel stuff/tickets, which we did. It was a long drive back, and most of us slept most the way, but we did drive through some very beautiful areas. Snowdonia has to be one of the most dramatically beautiful places I've ever been, I think I've said this already, but here's some pictures:

Lots of lakes and mountains
And streams

Spring Break Rewind North Wales Day 5

Yet another gorgeous day in Cardiff! Still no signs of the ash cloud here, but the pollen is deadly. I'm supposed to be on a field trip today, but the professor never emailed to tell me where and when I was supposed to meet the group, hopefully he will sometime today so I can go on tomorrow's?

Day 5 was probably the day the group looked forward to least. What did we have scheduled? A woolen mill and a slate museum. Didn't sound too thrilling, but it turned out to be a really great day.

The Trefriw Woollen Mill is still run in a semi old fashioned way, it still operates off water power, which is pretty neat. Our guide was pretty quiet and hard to hear, but turned on and showed us how each of the machines in the process of carding, cleaning, dying and weaving wool worked. The machines were crazy cool. The place held special interest for the group as most of us were in the process of knitting something. Their gift shop made out well.

The spinning machines, a huge room with this machine along both walls all working as one huge spinner.

We had lunch at Betws-y-Coed where Prof. Geier dubbed me "The Enforcer" to get his kids to behave at the table. I made some appropriately stern monster faces and it worked. The kids are really growing to like us and be totally comfortable with us, it's pretty funny to hang out with them. And they were the reason we all got ice cream after lunch on Colgate's dime, so we owe them one.

We headed to the National Slate Museum, bringing us back to the dread Llanberis. The museum was actually really cool. Our tour guide was a carpenter that worked for the slate mine until it closed in 1969. He gave us a cool take on the place, not having been a miner himself. We got to tour all the workshops, including the foundries, and pattern shop (totally a tour for my dad), and see the UK's biggest water wheel that used to power the whole place. We got a slate splitting demonstration, in which Eric (youngest Geier child) got to try it, and was hilarious. Our demonstrater even made a cicular cutting board out of slate for him to take home. It was seriously impressive to watch him just whack this piece of slate into a perfect circle pretty much free hand. Slate splitting is still a viable trade, it is one of the few industial processes that still has to be done by hand. Even Llanberis slate, which is supposedly some of the best in the world will break (up to 70% of it) in any machine made to split slate today.

Patterns in the shop

It was our last night in Caernarvon, and we had dinner free. Armed with our 20 pounds, the whole group headed out for Thai food (see we hardly ever split up). It was pretty good, and I think a good introduction to those who had never had it before. We then headed to a local pub to celebrate Paikin's birthday. We played cards and got stared at by the locals pretty hard, it being pre tourist season, and us being American. We then headed back with a rather tipsy Paikin (who attempted to study for the MCATs) where we spent the rest of the night watching Mulan and singing along.

North Wales Day 4 pt. 2

We were expecting a long bus ride. We were expecting a nap. We didn't get either, but instead arrived at the first burial mound of the day within 10 minutes. Ken still managed to fall asleep in that time. We were in the middle of a bunch of fields. We played the groups favorite game "Hey Sheep!" and adapted it to play hey cow, and then taught it to Geier's kids, who decided to play "Hey field! All the grass looked at me! I get a million points!" We then began playing a different, slightly more frustrating game of find the burial mound with Prof. Geier. We were wandering along this path, and he was convinced that what we were trying to head for was some farmer's trash heap. Needless to say it wasn't. We found it in the end, along with some very frightened lambs that ended up on the wrong side of the fence. One couldn't figure out how to get back across (not the brightest of animals sheep), and just ran around bleating and panicking its mother. Sammy almost successfully got it to jump through the fence, but it crashed into it instead, and Geier yelled at us to leave it alone.

Mound #1

The burial mound (Bryn Celli Ddu) was pretty cool, we could hunch and walk into it in shifts and look around. It's been partially reconstructed, but it was still neat. The boys found a large piece of amethyst and a burned candle from someones recent ceremony.

Got back on the bus, still a bit grumpy and headed to burial chamber #2, Barclodiad y Gawres. This one was amazing. We couldn't go in it as far, as it has a lot of cool carved rocks, which are frequently vandalized, so they keep it locked now, unless you're taken in by a guide, but not in pre tourist season. The mound has been mostly rebuilt, and in itself isn't overly exciting, but where is stands is incredible. It's on the Anglesey coast, on a cliff, overlooking some amazing breakers and beaches. The view was stunning. We also got to play on the beach for awhile after, and I of course brought a load of stones, shells and beach glass home with me.


View from atop Mound #2



Our final stop for the day was at the place that is rumored to have the longest name in the world. I don't doubt it. The funny thing is, it was named sort of as a joke and a way to grab tourists, it works. The place, called Llanfair PG by the post office is actually:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch


I'm not joking. You can ask me to try to pronounce it when I get back. The name means:
The Church of Mary in the Hollow of the White Hazel Near the Fierce Whirlpool and the Church of Tysilio by the Red Cave.


After taking a lot of goofy pictures with the many signs, we headed across the street for a wonderful dinner at the Penrhos Arms, where we again stuffed ourselves silly, and I had an amazing desert. We headed home to watch Shawshank Redemption in the common room (it being Paikin's birthday, he chose the movie). We sat around watching, pretending to do work, and knitting.



Llanfair PG!

The Spring Break Rewind- North Wales Day 4 pt. 1

Whoa, it's almost been a month since all this happened and I'm just now getting it posted, what a crazy last few weeks it's been! Lets see if I can remember what happened. It was one of our most packed days, I may take it in parts.

After another wonderful home cooked meal at the B&B (it was funny, the guy who ran the place quickly learned I didn't drink coffee or tea, and that I was pretty content with just loads of toast for breakfast), we headed out to Conwy (yep no a in there) Castle. I've noticed that I try to hybridize castle and castell, the Welsh word, in previous posts, I think I'm permanently broken on it. Conwy was our first castle where we actually had a tour guide, ours who gives the tour to Colgaters every year, was incredible. Neil carried a sweet walking stick, which he liked to use to demonstrate things like how deep into the walls fortifications went etc. He really gave us a new perspective on everything, it's crazy how many little (or not) details you miss when you just wander around a ruin by yourself. Conwy was one of the most heavily fortified castles built by the English (to hold out the Welsh) and was never taken. After the tour Neil gave, I can see why. They also had a very deep well (but the water had to be boiled, and was looking particularly rank), and a chapel that was mostly intact.

The sole entrance into the castle via land ramp thingy, there are 7 layers of defence in this one archway. Can you spot them? We sure couldn't.

Neil then led us out onto the Telford suspension bridge. This was build back in 1826, and Telford tore down a chunk of the castle to anchor the bridge right into the side of it. It looks cool, but destroyed some neat bits of the structure and would not fly today. He also altered some of the city walls which are as old as the castle. It became pretty much obsolete in the '50's as it wasn't wide enough to let any real amount of car traffic across, and now sits as a tourist attraction between the railway bridge and the modern highway bridge. Neil then led us through a cool graveyard for a rushed lunch in his favorite pub.

Telford Bridge #1 with the other 2 bridges

Back on the bus we went (after buying a mind blowing pastry in one of the nearby bakeries). A short ride later and we were at the Menai Straits which run between Conwy and the Isle of Anglesey. Anglesey is sort of Wales' breadbasket, so it needed a bridge. Good old Telford built another one there. We went to his centre, and donned safety vests to be walked across the bridge. It was incredibly windy up there, so it was almost impossible to hear our enthusiastic guides (but really how excited can one get about a bridge?). It was a pretty view though. We recrossed, and they then decided to lead us down on a walk so we could then look up at the bridge. Again, it was bridgey. Chilly and underwhelmed we got back onto the bus.

Telford Bridge #2

Chepstow Photos

Just paste the url in to your browser and hit go. The link will take you to a zipfile holding my photos. Please let me know if you have any questions.

https://www.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=897166895d6175a9a8a2

Chepstow

I had a few adventures of my own after returning from Oxford. My first was to see Chepstow Castle, the Wye river, and to hike up the river valley just a bit.

The train from Cardiff to Chepstow is a short one, just under 45 minutes. You do get out of the big city rather quickly, highlighted by the near abandoned character of Chepstow Depot compared to Cardiff Central Station. The weather was blustery but not too cold when I arrived around noon.

Chepstow, while not a small town, seems to grow once you enter its center. It is located on a steep slope going down to the Wye river. The grade breaks up your line of sight, and does make walking a bit harder depending on your direction. It had the effect of making things seem to be farther apart than they actually were. Signs for the castle were excellent though so before too long I had my bearings and had purchased entry to the castle.

Chepstow Castle guards the entrance to the Wye river valley, a major source of resources for the rest of the Kingdom, especially timber. All manner of products from the ocean also used to move through the area on land or water. The fortress is located on a rise over the river, and was surrounded by a customs wall (a wall more to control access than to provide defense). The castle had its own small dock so it could be supplied by water and land. The site was in use for years, so it has been expanded and reinforced several times as armament changed from arrows to cannon. Gun ports were added, notably a huge bunker built in to the wall facing the town. Now overgrown with ivy this port, as my later hike made obvious, is pointing straight at the easiest path down from the town towards the castle. The fortress had several separate baileys, a reinforced gatehouse (tower bases expanded to reduce dead spots and shore up foundations against mines and bombardment) with external works, and a small ravelin at its rear entrance. The castle curves slightly on the side facing town, which no doubt would have provided excellent fire coverage of the killing fields.

The castle was also a home, and featured marble columns and vaulted ceilings in the master's living quarters. The walls would have been painted and elaborately plastered too. Parts of the columns are still there along with some evidence of the vaults. The cellars of the castle are intact, and their huge vaulted ceilings suggest the glory of the past.

I had a small lunch along the castle's arcade and then wandered the walls for awhile, taking in the view and enjoying the quiet. The lazy wooded curves of the river stretched away in to the distance, disappearing quickly around a bend.

After lunch I hiked for awhile around the edge of the town, which is the embarkation point of the Wye Valley walk, a trail system stretching many kilometers from Chepstow, on up the valley. As time started to run short I returned to town and bought some post cards in a bookstore. I wasted time thumbing through their books until I had to go meet my train.

dominian.co

www.russelldominian.co.uk

The above url is for Russell's website. I was curious about his work, and he was kind enough to show me his website and answer my questions. Like many artists he is unnecessarily humble concerning his beautiful work.

Volcanic Eruption!

For those of you that maybe haven't seen the news toady, a volcano in Iceland fired off this morning, sending a huge plume of ash into the atmosphere. That plume has now drifted over to the UK and mainland Europe, disrupting flights everywhere. All UK non-emergency flights are cancelled until 7am tomorrow, (France is shut down as well) it sounds like London is in a bit of a fog. It's funny, it's still bright and sunny here in Cardiff, clear as a bell. But there's a total lack of airplane traffic or contrails, it's a bit eerie.

Oxford Day 2

We woke up early enough to say goodbye to Suzanne who was headed into London for the day. Feasted on croissants for breakfast and talked to Russell about going into town. We decided to take the scenic route and take the canal walk all the way from their house into the center of town. It was only supposed to take about an hour and be a few miles. It was just as beautiful of a walk as advertised, but took a bit longer than planned. Partly because it was really muddy and slow going in places, and partly because I had to stop and harass whatever ducks we came across (there were several) and one swan (it was huge). We got to see a lot of the long narrow canal boats that have been converted into peoples homes. Most of them were brightly painted and a lot of fun to look at.

We finally made it to town and did some exploring. We found the proper main building of the Ashmolean and barely made a dent in it. That was one seriously cool museum, I wish I hadn't been so oddly tired and that we had had more time. We went across the street to the theater Theo works at, but sadly the show for the day was sold out. We grabbed lunch at some pastry shops and decided to finally check out Christchurch. Boasting of some very beautiful grounds, a church, and locations of the filming of Harry Potter, it didn't disappoint. It was drizzling a bit, but worth the stroll around. By that point it was time to catch the bus home to pack up, but we got ourselves thoroughly lost on the way home. We did get to see Oxford Castle as a result and a few cool side streets. Russell drove us to the park and ride and we walked pretty much straight onto the next bus to London. Had enough time to grab some dinner and hop on the welcome bus back to Cardiff for a few days of relaxation and laundry.

The next few days in Cardiff were pretty unexciting. But it was nice to be back in my own bed for a few days. We did go see Alice in Wonderland, which was remarkably good. Probably the only movie I'm going to see over here in theaters. For me it was a very early morning to get to the train station the next day for the start of the last week of an amazing break.

Oxford Day.1

After a late night for the both of us, and a chilly one, Zora and I decided on a slightly later start to our day. We're getting to be pros at Victoria Station, so we didn't feel like we needed to leave ourselves all day to buy our tickets and find our bus. It turned out we were right. We completed our business at the ticket office quickly and knew right where our bus would arrive. The busses to Oxford arrive regularly, and make the trip in less than two hours. The schedule left us enough time for a leisurely breakfast and an easy walk back to the bus. We got on just in time to avoid the rain, and despite taking awhile to get out of London traffic before very long we were piling in to Russel's work van at a carpool station outside of Oxford.

The weather was a bit cold and wet at this point. The van's heater could barely punch a hole in the wet on the windshield. I wiped the passenger side off a bit to try to help. It felt a bit like I'd stumbled back in to a central New York winter.

The rest of our day moved surprisingly quickly. We dropped our bags and introduced ourselves properly to the family. They wanted to know all about us, but we were eager to get a map of Oxford and go see the town (after I'd finished my really really good cup of tea that is!).

A quick word on Russel's family: while their cartographic skills left just a bit to be desired they can only be described as kind, warm, just plain nice people. It was also nice to be in a home for awhile, someplace that felt lived in. The house shows evidence of Russel's carpentry all over. It doesn't quite fit together perfectly, but that isn't to say that it seems anything less than meant to be or well built. It's all the better that way, it gives it beauty and character. Russel is a sustainable carpenter, meaning he works with sustainable stocks of, or reclaimed timber.

It was late in the day and getting cold, so our time in town would be a bit short. We managed to sneak in to the sub building of the Ashmolean Museam. It seemed like it was in the old chemistry/ anatomy hall of one of the universities (they're more common than gas stations, McDonalds, or Starbucks in Oxford. More schools than fast food places, probably a good sign). It was full of all manner of chemical, medical, and astronomic devices. Everything from compasses that only pointed to Mecca to telescopes, to old acid drips and anesthesia machines.

Afterwards we got ice cream bars and enjoyed them outside. Things started getting a bit cold so we decided to head home.

Back at the house we were introduced to Theo's (Theo is Russel's son) girlfriend Gemma, and conversed and snacked with the family while dinner was prepared. They loved hearing about Zora's theater experience, my work in EMS, and about how expensive college is in the USA. The questioning continued over a delicious dinner (a thick and cheesy kind of pizza thing with salad). We compared Cardiff and Colgate with Theo and Gemma's schools, and fielded an endless amount of questions about fraternities and sororities. These are the things only of myth and pop culture in the UK.

Before we knew it it was late and time for bed. Zora and I were to our rooms first of all, tired out after all our travels. We wanted to make an early start for the next day so we could make the most of the little time we'd have left in Oxford.

In a later post I plan on adding to this a bit, if for no other reason than to post a link to Russel's website.

Norway in the snow- the last day

Whoa, am I ever behind on these things! It's been a crazy three weeks this break, and I've spent a good portion of it with no computer or limited internet. I apologize for the barrage of posts that are going to follow, I'd really like to get this all done. I think I'll wrap up Norway, since I'm almost done, and finish up N. Wales, then it'll be Oxford (hopefully with John's help), and Pembrokeshire, and Ireland. I can't even believe how many places I got.

Ok. So the last day in Norway wasn't much better weather wise. I got up at 5am because my two new roomates had a very early train (I had to switch rooms since I had only booked two nights, and they had people moving into my old room, which I was glad about, I escaped the snores). My two new roomies were awesome though, I didn't mind. They were both studying child psychology in Norway, but were both from somewhere in Africa (Zimbabwe maybe?) and have names I didn't even catch, but they were cool. They were extremely interested in me and my life, and more than willing to talk about theirs. It was nice being with people my own age. So it was an early morning, but I had packing to do so it was ok. Got a few more hours sleep after they left, and headed down to breakfast. I ate a ton, knowing it was going to be a long day. I checked out at about 9:30 and headed into town. It was snaining (snow+rain), and was kind of miserable. Before I reached the center of town it was properly snowing, but once in the city center it changed back to rain. And I had 10 hours to kill, while carrying all my stuff.

I still had a few hours left on my Oslo pass, so I was determined to make the most of it. I wandered through the train station to rebuy the patch I had bought myself and subsequently lost. The main problem was that being so close to Easter, all the shops were closed, as were many museums, so it was hard to find something worth doing. I did quite a lot of wandering around. Accidently walked in on a guy shooting up in a doorway, which was startling as I wasn't in a sketchy area and had a family of four walking close behind me, probably the most sketchy thing I saw the whole time I was there though.

I ended up at Akershus Slott (Akershus Castle), which also was closed, but I could wander around on the walls and look at the buildings, which was enjoyable. There was a wonderful view of the harbour from the walls, which was worth seeing. The Norwegian Resistance Museum was on the same grounds (as was the Armed Forces Museum, but hat was also closed). This was a small museum detailing Norway's takeover by Germany in WWII, and the ways the people and army resisted. It was actually really well presented, enough of the signs were in English so I had a clue of the story, and some of the artefacts were really cool, especially those for concealing illegal radios or communications. I killed a lot of time in there. But eventually I needed something else to do.

View from the Castle walls Changing of the guard

Purely by chance, it was 1:30 when I left, and this is when the whole city changes the guard. Both at the royal palace (the Norwegian royal family seems pretty cool), and here at this old castle. The soldiers were no more than kids, and still really sloppy at the drills but that just made it more interesting to watch. I headed back to the train station to find something to eat. I only had 42 Kroner left so I was pretty limited. Luckily I found a little grocery store and got something chibatta like with stuff melted on it, as well as a really good Danish. I took as long as I could eating it and then proceeded to get my fill of people watching, finished my book, and listened to music. I still had hours left. Eventually it was time to walk over to the bus station next door and try to find where I was leaving from. This proved to be tricky as I couldn't tell the difference between the departure and arrivals board, and it being the weird everything closed day information wasn't open to help. I eventually found someone to ask, but then wasn't sure what my bus was. The bus I came in on, while advertising one name, is run and listed under a different company. After worrying myself needlessly, and being approached by lots of people who had the very wrong impression I knew what I was doing I found my bus and made it on time to the airport for some more waiting around. Had my passport checked about 80 times and bought a tiny chocolate bar and a jawbreaker with my last 10 Kroner.

The flight was pretty meh, and left late for no apparent reason. I did a lot of standing around in lines. I sadly didn't get to sit with the father/ 4 yr old British team that had been amusing me in the airport, but the Norwegian father/ voice cracky team I did sit with were fine. Unfortunately there was two teen girls on their way to their first time in London who were VERY excited to be going and were drinking straight from a bottle of scotch (I think). They were very screechy and loud. We landed and I walked straight onto a bus into the city after being throughly interrogated by customs. Finally found an empty cab to the hostel John had booked. It was a nice room, but it was freezing, and there was zero heat. Slept in more clothing than I had in Norway. The next morning found us on a bus to Oxford to meet up with Russell and Suzanne, some old friends of my parents. But more on that later.

Spring Break #2: Kangaroo Island and a goose...herding sheep?

Yes. You read that correctly. A goose. Herding sheep. But before we get to that point, let's talk about Kangaroo Island. KI has conservation written all over it. They ban you from taking any honey products or any bees, any potatoes and even require you to register your cat if you enter. Dogs are banned from most of the popular hikes and tourist areas. They just don't want to damage the island that still has virgin pieces of land, untampered by human hands.

We arrive Tuesday on a ferry and then got a rental car. We took that car, bought groceries and then drove from northeast KI to South of the center of KI where we lived, near a Seal Bay park. We went out to the nearby beach and holy crap it was amazing. Icy cold waters though, because there is no landmass between KI and Antarctica. The water started to get comfortable once our legs got numb from the cold. That night we were tired so we just played card games in the back. Oh, about the house. As you'll see in the pictures, it was a gorgeous house. There was plenty of wildlife around the house too. Only 10% of KI roads were paved, so they were mostly dirt roads. It really made us feel like we were in the middle of nowhere, as if our lack of cell phone reception on the island didn't already lead us to that conclusion.

Wednesday we drove to a bee farm and tried honey, which was pretty cool. Then we took a hike to the "Remarkable Rocks", which really are remarkable. They are in weird shapes, having sharp and smoothed edges. It was on the edge of a cliff and the rocks were not connected to the ground as if they were pushed up from the earth. Rather it looked like they were just placed there, and you could even see under some of the rocks to the other side. After that we did another hike to Admiral's Arch which had a TON of New Zealand seals which was pretty cool. To top off that day, we went to Snake Lagoon which was a 5kmish walk. We walked down the side of a mountain and over some swampyish areas where apparently you can find the platypus (but the park hasn't seen them in 3 months so they're kind of worried...). At the end of the path we found this SICK beach. I think it was one of the most beautiful beaches as well as landscapes i have ever witnessed in person. I found some washed up jellyfish on the shore which was cool too. To the right of the beach was a large section of rocks, so we walked down that as far as we could and sat near the waves and took lots of pictures. After an hour or so of sitting looking at the ocean we walked back and made dinner. Then we all collapsed because we were so tired.

Thursday we started off by going to a cave tour. After we split up into two groups to do the 9km Hanson Bay hike at west KI. We drove to the beach where me and Emily started out while Kevin and the other two drove to the opposite end. The idea was that we'd meet halfway, they'd pass the keys to us and we'd drive back to the beach and stay for a bit. Now this beach was AMAZING too. Pictures will be up soon. From that coastal area we started the hike and went through a bushy area which led into an open field that had lots and lots of wallaby droppings. It seemed like a giant animal toilet zone. We then walked up a few big hills and then met them halfway along a cliff, then finally met them and got the car keys from them. We walked more and more and eventually found an echidna! It had a spiky back and a very long nose which it used to forage through the ground for food. It seemed very fond of Emily but eventually walked past her. We got a few sweet pictures of Walter (yes, we named it). We got to the end of the hike and drove back to the beach, where we played a little of 2v2 American football with one QB, and then some frisbee. After that we went on a nocturnal hike where we saw a TON of wild koalas as well as kangaroos, wallabies and possums. We eventually wandered back home and again collapsed from being so tired.

On Thursday went to random places on the northeastern area of the Island. We went to a lavender farm, a sheep farm, an alcohol distillery and then we got to an area called Duck Lagoon (I think). Now this is where shit gets weird. The entrance had old farming equipment that was owned by some dude years ago but it just sat there covered in rust as some sort of monument. We went past that and saw a bunch of sheep staring at us as we walked through an area with a few trees, eventually coming to an open area. We took a few pictures and then noticed a large group of sheep running off into one area. Then we saw a goose.



This is one of those you had to be there moments because shit was just weird. This goose/duck/whatever was literally quacking at the sheep trying to herd them across the field. I got a few videos which you will all be forced to see when I get back. After this group of sheep passed, we saw another group coming up behind us trying to follow the group, but to us it looked like the sheep were trying to circle us. Now I've seen some pretty weird things in my life, but this...this is just too much. You're thinking right now "yeah that would be a little weird", but you don't even know how weird it felt. We were probably the only humans within a few square kilometers watching this goose herd sheep across the field. We went back to the car and had lunch, and then left. As we were driving past the big open area we saw the goose herding the sheep.

...anyway, we got back to our house and then cleaned up. We watched some rugby. I've picked up on the rugby rules, and seen a few games at this point, but I will say this now: American Football is more brutal and manly than rugby, at least Rugby League. They get the ball on one side and have four chances to get the ball across the field before possession changes, but if you get tackled to the floor, the ref whistles and the other team is forced to stop tackling him so he can pass to a teammate. You basically just have to be a giant meat shield and have no skills and bam, you're a star rugby player. Rugby Union however I hear is much more brutal because there are no rules. Still, when hits like this are possible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9jgP1brUn8
Small plays with big hits. Rugby hits can be pretty devastating, but you don't get big hits that often compared to American Football. AMERICA

We came back on Saturday taking the rental car back to the ferry, taking the ferry to Adelaide and then went to a park to toss the frisbee around then went to Chinatown to that food court. After we went to go see a movie to pass the time. We saw "A Single Man" which was the only movie that could fit into our schedule. It was about a gay man who lost his lover and his struggle to cope with life. It was a really artsy and thought provoking film, and sat with us for a while. We then took a taxi to a plane, took the plane to Sydney, took a train to a bus, then took the bus to Wollongong. We missed our stop so we had to walk back to Weerona College, and that was our adventure.

Pictures will be up soon after I finish my first physics assignment of the semester.

Spring Break! Adelaide...Pancakes...Steaks!?

It's spring break! WOOOOO. We went to Adelaide from Saturday until Monday, then Tuesday morning we went to Kangaroo Island until Saturday, and on Saturday we took 7 modes of transport back to Wollongong.

Here is a map of Australia, look for Adelaide and Kangaroo Island near the bottom middle portion of Australia. Kangaroo Island (hereby named KI) isn't listed in the picture, but just look for the island off the coast near Adelaide. Three days before we left I still didn't know where Adelaide was :p
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/pacific/australia/map_of_australia.jpg
There are 7 states in Australia: New South Wales (where Wollongong and Sydney are), Queensland, Victoria, Tazmania, Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.

Back to the main story...now Friday was a school holiday so we got that off. We just hung around before our flight on Saturday. Saturday we took a bus to Sydney and then a plane ride to Adelaide in South Australia. First of all I really do NOT understand Australian time differences. I went to Cairns in Queensland, which is directly north of Wollongong. But they don't observe daylight savings time, so Cairns had an hour time difference from Sydney time. Adelaide however had a half an hour time difference. Yes. Half an hour time difference. What the shit? Why?

Anyway...we got to Adelaide Saturday night, so we just basically got to our hostel, and after a little trouble entering the building, we finally got in. We dropped our stuff off, got dressed and went out to the sweet balcony that the hostel had and drank. Then we went out on the town. We went to the main street with all the bars and clubs and we got really drunk. Wooo. We sampled a lot of bars but realized that the bar that had $10 pitchers - The Austral Hotel - was the best. We came back and then bam, it's Easter Sunday.

Me, Kevin and Kevin's roommate went to Church to impress our mothers but we couldn't find a church that had a mass time that was convenient for us. Adelaide is nicknamed the "city of churches" and here we were not able to find a church. We found a big church (big surprise, it was Catholic!) but it had mass beginning in an hour. We decided to head into Chinatown to find food. We found a Chinese bakery that had awesome breads like ham swiss baked into it and CURRY CHICKEN BREAD. My god was this good. After that we went to Church and then walked back to our hostel, then went to an Australian Rules Football (Footy) game.

Imagine if you gathered people who excelled at running fast and punting the ball (as in American football) and bam, you have Aussie rules footy. Here's a picture of the goal posts:
http://www.break-fresh-ground.com/photos/785/673/47/45876.jpg
If you kick the ball in the center, you get 6 points. Kicking it in the two side goal posts gets you a point. The score can get quite ridiculous too. You pass the ball by throwing it or more often just kicking it as hard as you can to your friend and hoping to hell that he can catch your weird ass kick. It was a fun game to watch, but it didn't seem challenging in the least.

Then we came back, bought a lot of different beers to sample them, and then went to the balcony to chill. We played a drinking game called the bus, and people on the bus got super fucked up. I'll explain the rules later, but it is not the game to play if you are anywhere near a lightweight. We went back to the Austral and chilled there...

then magic happened.

There are five of us. All really drunk. We pass by a dimly lit alley, save for the very end of it. At the end of this alley was a glorious sign that all of us believe to be a sign from some sort of heavenly figure.

If you can't read the white glorious light below the heavenly sign, it simply says "WE NEVER CLOSE". Oh dear lord what have we gotten ourselves into. We stumbled to the end of this alley and went through the door, picked up some menus and fell onto some seats and then one of us noticed a bin with sheets of paper to color and coloring pencils, and marine finger puppets. One of my friends ripped himself from his coloring duties to take the best photo I have ever seen taken with my camera. That picture is now my profile picture. We're all coloring while one of us is singing "Under the Sea" to the finger puppets. The next morning, we woke up and all went to the balcony to discuss what happened the night before. We all agreed that it was just a group dream and that this pancake place was just a mythical restaurant that never existed.

That monday we didn't do much. We went to this big asian market and ate food then wandered around for a bit and finally watched a movie at night because we had a 5AM start the next morning to go to KI.

Spelling Errors

I meant to say "I think" towards the beginning of my last post. I feel compelled to post the correction. I'm sure that "I thing" from time to time, but that is not usually the same as when I think. My thoughts are usually a bit more concrete, with a lot of stress on the usually.

An Interlude Part.6

Well, just about everyone is back for their classes tomorrow. Tesco was jam packed today since everyone coming back had their family along. I thing all of the Talybont complex went shopping at once. It took awhile to finish my shopping since things were so bumper to bumper. Personally I'm chomping at the bit to get started. I don't really want to have class but I am in the mood to get going again. Too much is up in the air right now, and I want to close the space between myself and the quickened pace of finals time. I feel like aside from the few assignments I'll have most of my time will just be waiting in the gate for the real race to start again. Like all the other local students I have 6 finals to tackle. Zora has 3, and some of the other members of the study group only have 2. Two of my finals might end up being turned in to a sort of take home essay thing, but I'm not counting any eggs until they've hatched. Wish us luck, because here we go again.

An Interlude Part.5 (Interesting People)

The weather here in Cardiff is getting to be more spring like now. The wind is still cold and if you're not in the sun it chills you, but otherwise its very nice outside. I've decided to pot some small Geraniums for my window sill. Hopefully they'll give me a bit of color before I leave.

So the next couple posts, and I will probably stick with the Interlude thread for a bit longer, will deal with my flatmates in the order I met them.

When I first moved in I was a bit nervous. People were home and I knocked on doors, but no one came to greet me. The music was loud, really loud, and there was a decent collection of porn (male and female) on the bulletin board in the kitchen. There was also a good sized pyramid of Strongbow in the common area (the other half of the kitchen has some chairs and stools in it). My interpretation of this was that things here were either going to be fine, or really crazy.

The first person to answer their doors was P.S., female, English. P happens to be from the same hometown as the two girls in Zora's apartment. Small kingdom I guess. She's a cheerleader, and she has all the infectious energy of one. I've met her sister so I can say it runs in the family. Erin, if you're reading this, her sister's a lot like you. P is a politics major, and when pushed does have a good grasp of world affairs, and the ability to explain them such that others can understand. P's levels of energy almost never fall below 110%, she also never looks anything less then put together. Within minutes of meeting me she had already made plans for me to join her friends out on the town that night. I was tired, underfed, and way underdressed to be in the company of a horde of women dressed to the 9's. I was a bit of a wreck the next day, in part from the club and in part from stumbling in the rain trying to find Zora's building at 1am. That was sort of a waste of time since it was, again, 1am. It turned out that I'd found it but couldn't be sure in the dark.

A.M., male, southern English (a distinction he'd like me to make) is in the dental program here. He will end up being here a little longer than the normal 3 years for a degree. A is an aspiring DJ in his spare time, something that apparently exempts him from wearing headphones. This means his music is usually earth-shattering, and might be so at any hour of day or night. I've consumed more painkillers because of this, and doubly worse because his room is right next to mine, than I care to keep track of. I have spoken with him about the music and his private parties, but it doesn't seem to sink in. All that aside he is a smart guy to be able to be in his program, though the detail of it doesn't even compare to introductory classes at Colgate, and he's a second year with the attitude of graduate.

M.S., male, English (have you noticed that there's a lot more English students than Welsh?) is a very chilled out guy. Of any of the people I've written about, mild mannered seems to be the easiest way to describe him. I have it on authority that this isn't always the case, and the several drunken hair mussings I've received from him suggest that there is more to find underneath. He studies marine geography, and it seems that he would rather study the bathymetry than the surrounding features like ports and shorelines.

S.H., male, North Irish (English with a funny accent and a few changes to culture, a distinction he doesn't make but its as plain and necessary as the nose on my face) is a member of the rugby team, which has led to some "interesting" team dinners in our kitchen. He's a very outgoing guy with a firm handshake and the ability to draw you and keep you in a conversation that rivals duct tape.

J.B., female, English, is a law and german major. This is apparently a very common combination. J has only recently started to open up to me, which is a shame since there has proven to be more there than meets the eye. Originally it was her bursts of personality, such as mimicking the hoovering of the cleaning staff to keep us entertain during a fire alarm at 3 am, that made up her personality. Now we've actually talked a bit more and what's been revealed is a competent, strong, poised young lady that I imagine would be able to find herself at home, or at the very least survive, what life had to offer. Some of the twists and turns of Scarlett O'Hara come to mind, without the shaky morals and drives.

People Probably Think You're... Mentally Challenged

What an irresponsible little bloggerle I've been! I come to you with updates from the land of meat and potatoes - I come from a different culture. First - too many people here speak english. Most conversations I have with someone who isn't behind a cash register (that is, someone I'll be talking to for more than two seconds) run: "Hello" "Hello" "English?" "I'd rather speak German". Why did I come to this country to learn German if everyone's gonna be so set on speaking English to me? I'm sure people are just trying to be nice, but in my already defensive state, it feels like being talked down to a lot. Along more cultural lines, I had an interesting conversation with a German guy a few days ago about behavior on the streets. I've been smiling at people and trying to break through a wall of utter coldness by saying 'hello,' but I've been informed that the reason I get such weird looks back is that, well "People probably think you're... mentally challenged." Two evenings later, I talked to some Germans about it again, who told me they say hello to people and smile at them on the street. So, what's up, Germany?

An Interlude Part.4 (Interesting People)

Beautiful weather here in contrast to the late snows back on the east coast. I miss snow to be honest so I wouldn't have complained about some cold, dry weather. It always catches me by surprise that Audi, Mercedes, BMW, these are just nice cars here, not extraordinary ones. You would be doing darn well to own one back home, here there just the car your parents own but maybe not your brother just out of grad school. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but those brands are more common here. I know it shouldn't be as interesting as it is to me, but yet it is.

J.D., female, English (and no I'm not assimilating and having gender issues) is a history major I believe. I would compare her to Becky back home, at least to a degree. She can be a voice of reason and temperance in the group, and at very least will speak her mind when pushed to it. She was one of the most openly welcoming of the bunch, I would say maybe second only to L.L. She keeps with her highschool boyfriend by going home on the weekends to visit. She does tend to be a quiet person, though that changes often, and is coupled with one of the most genuine hellos and goodnights you could ever hope to have address to you. With that voice of reason goes real and true concern.

R.O., female, English, is J.D.'s right hand girl. Its really more accurate to say they trade that status, that they are a pair of hands (or hams as the situation may be). Much the same as can be said for J.D. goes for her except that she is a bit more so. She is more animated and commands more of the room. To borrow a phrase from Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" (worth seeing by the way) she has a bit more "muchness" in my mind. I don't mean to say that she and J.D. are carbon copies, but closer to a well balanced Yin and Yang.

J.P., female, English doesn't live in the apartment but she is there so often she's worth including in the list. I believe her major is molecular bio, or at least that title describes what she studies. She is maternal over some of the guys, but not uncontrolled about it. She is also very close with the girls. She does maintain her own group of friends, but it seems that that is only for certain times or even as an outer circle. She can hang at a bit of a distance from you and then surge relentlessly close over the course of a thought.

An Interlude Part.3 (Interesting People)

I'd like to start with a quick note about the links to photos I've posted. There should be no problem downloading them as the link hasn't expired. If there is a problem I can send a link to you via email; however, it will still prompt you to download the file from the same agent as the link I posted. I would be happy to send photos on CD(s) if anyone is that interested and is having that much trouble.

I'm suffering from writer's block concerning my own flatmates so for the time being I'm going to start in on Zora's.

A word on students and studies in the UK: Students here choose their major in highschool, sometimes early in highschool. If they decide to switch while in university they may virtually have to start their studies again. This leads to some students staying in school for years beyond their original graduation date. This does lead to bitterness with some who haven't found their course of study (you apply to a major not the university itself) to be what they were expecting.

I met Zora's flatmates one at a time because they weren't all back when we arrived. I was formally introduced to the guys, but the girls and I just sort of met when they used me as an example of how T.C. should have his hair cut. I was photographed using T.C.'s phone, and I think they felt at that point they should know my name. My last name was forgotten, which came in handy in a later game of kings. They were all extremely welcoming and interested in me. Zora is lucky to live with such a wonderful group, I think she would agree that we would love to steal them back to Colgate and that they would fit in just fine with our friends at home. To some degree they are a mirror image of them, in many ways different, beautifully so.

T.C., male, English, has a perspective on the world that probably only Tim Burton could understand. I'm not saying he's dark but that he responds to things in a very logical but totally unpredictable way. He makes more sense in hindsight. T is an english major, and is a very talented writer. He generally only eats ice cream and sweets, listens to great music (or at least I like it, though he might just throw the Pokemon theme song in to the mix if he feels like it) and plays video games till all hours.

L.L., male, WELSH, would certainly have requested I put that in all caps. There is a difference and he is a good example of it (and would damn well want that made clear). His accent and physique is not typical of all the Welsh, he is a bit more rounded off as opposed to the usually thicker, blockier Welsh strains. His accent is also a bit higher up his throat and less nose driven. It tends to rise and then fall in to abrupt troughs. He looks surprisingly good in makeup and a wig, and the rest of his flat would agree. L is a chemistry major pursuing his masters, so he will still be at Cardiff when many of his friends and current flatmates have graduated. L is a happy guy, quick to smile, appreciative, and reminds me a bit of Steve back home.

L.C., male, English isn't around a whole lot. He seems to have some of his own friends; however, during his brief appearances he always has a quick comment that betrays his intelligence. He captures situations after only a few words. He has perfect hair, perfect, perfect. I can't stress how together it looks even in the highest wind or the most aggressive heave and shake on the dance floor. L turns up in some interesting places if the pictures on his Facebook page are any hint, he has diverse interests that I haven't gotten my head around. This is due to his not being around often. Not getting to know him better, not for lack of trying, is going to be a regret from my time in Wales.

S.H., male, English can usually be found watching or playing rugby. That sentence alone sums up a fair bit of S. S is a geology major, and seems to be a good one at that. He doesn't talk about it much but he does seem to know his area when he does. S says a lot but he does seem to muffle his words because of his accent, so he can be a bit hard to hear. This also gives the mistaken impression that he is a very quiet person, at least at first glance. He has surprised me a few times, as he and L can get up to some proper mischief when given the chance. Webcam roulette anyone?

The girls will be another post, I met them last of all. Best to everyone back home.

Interlude Part 3 (Interesting People)

I’ve made a few friends in class, three of them not from the UK. They’re all really great and it was pretty impressive to see them at work. I can’t imagine the difficulty trying to adjust to a new place where English isn’t the first language. That’s why I give Matt so much credit for how he’s rocking Germany.

I met this group, two guys and a girl, as part of a presentation we were assigned to complete for a class. The presentation wasn’t too bad, but we all wanted to take a slightly different approach to the material included in the powerpoint. Some of that is cultural and I’ll get to that later.

I’ll be using initials only, along with the sex and nationality of individuals. Sorry if you were looking for more, this forum is just too public. One on one, we can talk in more detail.

AH, male, German is an environmental geology major. This means that he focuses on resources and land reclamation. Both very relevant in nations like the UK and Germany that have limited greenfield land to develop. A, unlike his compatriots in Freiburg , is social and very outgoing. He does need to be drawn out a bit at first though. He is very focused on details, which is great, but it ends up hurting the overall picture and progress. He likes to have extremely clear plans before action, rather than just getting started on things. He’s extremely intelligent and his English is good. He’s very nice, open, and wanted to make friends. A clear leader, but he tends to talk a lot and then apologize for it all.

GA, male, Spanish was a bit hard to get to know due to a more limited grasp of English; however, what was clear was that this was a sharp guy. He and A were close I think because they would smoke together. We have these moments, flashes of understanding where I manage to phrase things, and vice versa, such that we understand each other. It usually results in laughing and smiles.

GAM, female, Spanish. Much like her male counterpart English could be a bit of a problem though in her case it was due to her very strong accent. Pronunciation suffered even though she was using the right words. We bonded because unlike the guys she’s from a rural area. We could take about farming, wind power, and the politics that go with rural communities. We also joked about the guys’ smoking habits and how it made them late for class once or twice.

An Interlude Part.2 (Interesting People)

If there is anything that comes of writing about the people I’ve met while abroad, its that underneath culture and personality everyone the world over has the same dreams, hopes, and aspirations. So much thought and study is put in to what is different that we often miss the fact that that’s all secondary. Every key may have different teeth but at the end of the day its still a key to open a door with.

To get to the meat of the matter I’ve met Welsh, Irish, North Irish, English, German, Spanish, Dutch, Indian, Australian, South African, and several more. Primarily I’ve been close with the first five or six of those and so can really only go in to any depth with that group. With the understanding that I’m only giving my impression and not some deep truth I’d like to start first with those people I did not really get to know but were nonetheless interesting.

It always pays to talk to cab drivers. Generally they’re bored out of their skull and would love to talk to you anyway if you give them half a chance. My cab driver from Cardiff airport was Welsh, and his description of Welsh culture and education, as well as the history of Cardiff, proved to be spot on. He was almost like having a tour guide as we entered the city. At the time I was exhausted and daunted by the adventure I was finally at the start of after two long days of travel and wasted time in airports. It was nice to have the scene set, some questions answered, and to be given some much needed encouragement.

A few weeks later I was a bit more settled in and had a brief but interesting conversation about gas prices and Tesco with an Irish cab drivers (owner and employee of Celtic Cabs). I would see him again about two weeks later on what was apparently a bad day, he didn’t want to talk. He did remember me.

My trip home from Morocco was another long day, and at the end of that was another cab driver. About halfway back home I decided to call it quits and just let someone drive me the last fifteen or twenty minutes of the walk. A loaded down and rather disheveled me climbed in the cab of an Indian gentleman. He wasn’t very talkative. I tipped him anyway since he violated a traffic law to make a turn and would likely need the tip money to pay the fine. The next night my parents and I got in to a cab at the same taxi stand, which turned out to be driven by the same man. He talked our ears off and was very gracious, he even pointed out that our destination was very close by and suggested we save our money and walk. I thought that was very honest of him and kind.

An Interlude, Part.1

Until Zora finishes the blogs about her travels I'm going to hold off on starting on Oxford. The two of us should be able to put our energies in to that in unison anyway. For the time being I want to tie up a few loose ends from previous posts as well as answer a request concerning the people I've met during my time abroad. While I'm at it, please feel free to let any of us know if there is something you'd like us to talk more about. Since we're living it certain things do get minimized unless we are asked to focus on them. With these posts I hope to catch a few such things before they fall through the cracks of my memory.

Stumble Stones of Freiburg

Embedded in the pavement bricks and stones of Freiburg are the "Stumble Stones". These are small bronzed plaques bearing the names of Jews who once lived at that address and their last known age or DOB. They serve as a rememberance of those who were deported to concentration camps or murdered outright. You are supposed to stumble over the stones, which I did a few times, look at them, and remember the tragedy and horror inflicted on the population.

Don't Look at Me

Matt made a point of the German social norm of being a bit on the quiet side in public, but most importantly not making eye contact. I sort of laughed it off at the time but it turned out to be true. When out in public people adopt a sort of sideways method of looking at other people, but direct, prolonged eye contact which we consider normal for some reason produces a very akward moment with the Germans. People are also generally quieter in public. You feel that your auditory personal space is respected more than usual. I can't say I minded that; however, you physical personal space isn't are important. Germans also don't really take turns in line. Skipping in line happens, and wherever you can insert yourself is yours regardless of the usual standards and ways of treating others. Don't even try holding a door, no one says thank you and no one will give you a chance to step through. Eventually you just have to let go and shoulder your way through the crowd. The system works though.

A few words of Welsh

Personally I haven't had much interaction with people using Welsh to communicate, though I think I just haven't had the chance to look in the right places. The only non-student to ever use it towards me was a guy at a grocery store today. He swtiched to English once I "spoke to him in clueless" and repeated his question. He was asking if I liked Cadbury Eggs (yes I do) in case you wondered. Having heard students try to manage it I will say that it sounds better, or at least more like another language (as it should) from lifelong speakers. In terms of the language Zora would be able to offer more, but those are my observations.

By and large the Welsh are very nice and very helpful. That has made negotiating all the new places a bit easier. People have also been quick to give advice, history, or other comments that have added to my time here.

The Welsh will eat outside in the rain rather happily, especially if they have a half decent bench. The parks are so pretty here I can't blame them and have joined them plenty of times. Takeout at the sandwich cafes (the general alternative to pubs for fast and cheap lunch food that isn't American fast food) is cheaper than eating in by a good margin so dealing with a sprinkle of rain is worth it.

Norway in the rain

Day three did not start out well. I overslept and missed breakfast, mostly because Ostrich and co. had kept me up/ woken me up several times in the night. It was also raining. Not pouring, but a very determined sort of rain. I ended up talking to Joan for awhile in the lobby before heading out, hoping it would let up.

It didn't. I got off at the bus at the right stop, but couldn't find the place I was supposed to get on the next one. I ended up walking down the street for quite some time, and found another bus stop, and watched the bus pass me. So I sat there for 20 minute, not knowing had I just kept walking a few more blocks, I would have made it to the Natural History Museum, one of the goals for the day. Got on the bus, two stops later got off. I was pretty wet at this point, and preceeded to walk in the wrong direction, following the signs no less. That took an additional 30min or so. By the time I found the door to the geology building I was soaked through. My feet were wet, my raincoat had leaked and had also been shedding water onto my pants, that had also wicked water up to the knee. I was cold and really grumpy, and worried about my camera.

But a few hours of wandering around looking at some very pretty rocks and some really cool fossils and bones (the paleo museum was connected), I had dried off a bit and was in better spirits. I ventured back into the rain for the short walk to the zoological museum part, which had a cool exhibition on Darwin, and almost more stuffed animals than Chicago's museum, it was pretty neat. There I found the thing I had been looking for the whole time. Her name: Ida. She is really old, extremely well preserved (think lots of fur and stomach contents), and perhaps a "missing link." She's one cool little monkey.

One of many rock pictures

Fish fossil

Ida!!

Polar animals in the zoological museum

I was running low on time at that point (I thought), ended up going into the Munch museum and deciding it wasn't worth it, and catching the bus to the National Gallery. Eventaully found it, and went in. It's a pretty small museum, I did the whole thing (I think) in a couple hours, but it was really nice. Lots of Norwegian painters (of course), so most of it revolved around maritime themes. They also had an entire room of Munch, including The Scream. The Scream is wayyy cooler in person. The reproductions really blur out the background details and eliminate how raw his style is. I spent some solid time looking at it. The museum also had an entire room of other famous artists. Manet, Renior, Picasso, Van Gough. You name it, they were all in there, and very approachable. Sadly, I couldn't take pictures. It was getting late at that point, so I headed back to the hostel for an early night.

Not having a laptop really stinks -Norway, the two days it didn't rain

I am so far behind on this blog, it's a shame. But today I'll be taking a break from the North Wales excursion and talk about Norway, since I don't have most of that written down.

Some basic facts:

1. Norwegian is almost crazier than Finnish, almost

2. Apparently I pull of a pretty good local, so many people approached me trying to talk to me in Norwegian, including people who deal with tourists daily

3. The only word I really learned was thank you -takk

4. Though one Kroner equals approx. 17 US cents, you will find nothing less expensive than 10NOK, meals cost upwards of 70 usually

5. They have really good public transport

6. A lot of my trip was me wandering around semi lost, but it was fun

So John's talked about the London experience pretty well already, so I'll pick up at the airport. Got there way early as planned and stood in line for at least an hour to get my passport checked by Ryanair. I've never seen so many people sleeping on the floor before, but there were at least 100 in Stansted. Waited in an equally long line for security. Something on me set off the metal detector and I got thoroughly frisked. Then came waiting around for my gate to be declared, which only happened about 30min before my flight was supposed to leave, a bit stressful, but I made it fine. Ryanair doesn't assign seats, which was strange. I had a nice young Norwegian girl next to me on the way there. Ryanair is extremely different than flying on any US airline. They are way more commercial, in the fact they play commercials over the intercom, have them stuck up on the luggage racks, etc. If you want anything to eat or drink you have to buy it, same for newspapers, and their own lottery scratchcards. Very hard to sleep on those types of flights, they are always announcing something or coming by selling something.

We land a bit early, I get through customs really easily, score a cool new stamp for my passport and find the bus into town. The ride is at least 1.5 hours, and I doze off again (we were up realllly early that morning, and I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before that, being too nervous about the trip). I did get to see their cool rock formations that were covered in ice and waterfalls. We get into Oslo, and the surrounding mountains and hills still have quite a bit of snow on them. I get off and try to find the bus to the hostel, but with no luck whatsoever. I wander around quite a bit, and finally find an atm (couldn't find an exchange place in Rygge, should have done it in London). I somehow end up in the middle of town (not that I knew it at the time), and spend sometime still looking for the bus (I now know dozens must have passed me), and looking at the shops. I finally gave up and took a cab that cost me 200NOK (like $30), but at least I made it to the hostel.

I checked in and moved into my room. There's four bunks, 2 of which are occupied, the room is small but clean. I put my stuff up and crash out for a few hours. I wake up to a middle aged lady walking into the room, who comes over and introduces herself as something resembling the word ostrich, I have no idea what her name actually is, but she was ostrich in my head from then on. She is from Norway (I later found out from another roommate that she is living in Sweden, but hates it and wants to come back but is having trouble selling her house there). I go take a shower, and get ready to head to the grocery store to pick up dinner (they had a kitchen).

On the way I pass this guy, we exchange awkward hellos, and I think the encounter is over. It is not. He asks me a question I don't catch and I turn back. We end up trying to talk to one another. He's from France (Nice I think) and has pretty shakey English, my French at this point is just as bad, but we muddle along. It was kind of fun. He asks where I'm going and if he can come along. I have no idea how long he's been in Oslo, but it seems like awhile (but his story seemed to change, but that could have been the language barrier), he knows the town pretty well, and buys my bus ticket for me. He takes me around and we end up in one of the many many malls where he buys me a pasta dinner from a restaurant his friends work at. Here I'm getting a bit nervous, but it seems friendly enough. It was remarkably warm. He took me through central station (where he bought me a toy moose) and down to the Opera house, which is incredible. You can walk up the side of it and look down on the fjord from the roof. I also got to see some of the cooler buildings, and where Obama accepted his Nobel Prize. The French guy, Carib, then asks me if I want to go for a drink. I am suspicious, so I say no, that I'm tired and want to go back to the hostel, eventually I get him to agree. On the train he falls in love with me. He starts trying to play with my hands, keeps telling me I'm beautiful and perfect, and trying to lean on me. I am creeped out, and it just got worse when we made it back. I manage to get him to take no for an answer after getting many unwanted advances, and adding him on skype. Turns out he's 29 and basically illiterate (though he spoke snippets of at least 4 languages). Gross. Luckily I never saw him again.

The next day I wake up early. I didn't sleep well, since Ostrich snored like a bull. Or three bulls. It was impressive. She also went to bed at like 8 at night, and was still in bed well after I left. I inhale breakfast and bolt out of the hostel (very scared I was going to run into Carib). I buy my bus ticket (confusing the driver terribly, most people don't bother, they hop on and off at will it seems, but I did get caught up in a police sweep, but I had my Oslo pass at that point). I get off in the center of town and head for the waterfront. Oslo has an amazing waterfront. I saw my first sea ice there. The fjord is awesome. I wandered along it looking at all the cool old boats they had. At some point a busker started playing the accordion, and really made the moment. Though I really think he only knew one song, and ended up moving on when someone else started rocking out on a clarinet. I ended up staring droolingly up at the Christian Radich. She's a full rigged ship, and massive. I missed SEA a lot in that moment. She might be a sail training vessel, but seemed to have younger navy guys on her.

Christian Radich

By that time (10ish) I could pick up my Oslo pass from the tourism office. It gave me free admission into all the museums I went to, as well as free public transportation. A very good deal for the money. I hopped the first bus out to Bygdoy, which took some time and much being lost. Bygdoy is a peninsula that houses some of the cooler museums. The Kon-Tiki was the only one I didn't manage to fit in. That day I almost over boated myself. It was awesome.

I started out the day with the Viking Ship Museum. It blew my mind. They have three viking ships that were discovered in burial mounds of important people. They were gorgeous. And there were a lot of artifacts (as well as horses, dogs, and in one case another person) buried with them. I took a ton of pictures. I think it's one of the coolest and easiest to digest museums I have ever been to.

The main, most intact ship. Pure awesome.

I moved on to the Fram museum. The polar ship Fram (meaning forward in Norwegian) is the ship with the record of going the furthest north and the furthest south. She is made of wood, and has spent many years frozen in both Arctic and Antarctic ice. Tons of very cool research was done on her by Amundsen and Sverdrup (!) and many others. You got to go onboard and go below. I got to see all of their equipment and their bunks etc. They also had tons of specimens that the expeditions brought back, and tons of stuffed penguins etc. I was extremely excited by it all. I also had this old Norwegian man wander up to me and try to ask me something/talk to me about something. I deeply regret not being able to understand him, I think he must have had something really interesting to say.

Part of the deck of the Fram

It was getting late, but I drug myself to the final stop, the Maritime Museum. It's not the most exciting I've been to, but offered some great views of the fjord. I also got to watch a panoramic film of all sorts of ports and small fishing villages in Norway, some of them were really beautiful. They had some very pretty paintings, and a cool collection of figure heads, as well as sample cabins from various types of ships. The coolest thing was an ancient dug out canoe they found sunk in a river dating from 2200 years ago.

The canoe

The fjord

By then, it's 4, and pretty much everything is closed. I catch the bus back to town, and another back to the hostel. I spend the rest of the evening writing postcards, catching up online (on the weirdest keyboard ever), and eating some actually delicious microwave pasta. I also got to meet my newest roomie, a 45yr old woman named Joan. She was originally from Italy, but now teaches Italian and runs and elementary school library in Berlin. She spoke great English, and I had a lot of fun talking to her and complaining about our snoring roommates (the other woman, who I saw but never met, also was pretty good at that). Went to bed semi early for another night of not really sleeping.