So Much To Do, So Little Time

     There is a lot going on right now. Some people from Scotland FYSAE are visiting(including my old roommate, Claire), exams are this week, and we are actually sightseeing again. On Friday night, Melissa convinced us all that going on a Jack the Ripper tour would be fun. So, we took the Tube to Tower Hill(having to run through the Underground to avoid being late) and got the London Walks Jack the Ripper tour. It was actually really cool and very interesting, we learned a lot. Our guide took us around London and told us the story, letting us imagine how scared London must have been in 1888.
     Then on Saturday, after spending the day going on walks in Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens and skyping my family, we got to watch the first episode of Doctor Who since December. It was beautiful, as it always in, and it was amazing that we could watch it before everyone in America(and without commercials; go BBC 1!). At seven, after the episode ended, Stephanie, Sarah, and I went to King's Cross Station to pick up Stephanie, Cynthia, and Claire(the girls that are visiting from Stirling, Scotland). It was really nice seeing them and hearing about their time in Scotland. We brought Claire's huge suitcase up the stairs and put a mattress in my room for her.
     Today, as it is Easter, I went to mass at the little Catholic Church down the road. After that I met up with Claire and I took her to Sainsbury's to get some food for the week. Later, Sarah, Stephanie, and Cynthia, came with us to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street, which was extraordinary. It was decorated exactly as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described it in his stories. It was so amazing; Sarah and I had trouble controlling ourselves. Now, I am back in my room trying to prepare for my exams that are on Friday.

Stephanie, Sarah, Angelica, and Melissa as we waited for our Jack the Ripper Tour

The Old London Wall, which was important as their is a different police force for either side of it.

The Sherlock Holmes Museum!

This is from Sherlock's Room

Sherlock and John's study/sitting room. There was a medical bag that said J.H.W on it! Sarah almost fainted...

A letter from John to Sherlock.

John's room. It was so normal compared to Sherlock's.

This is Mrs. Hudson from her room.

They had really creepy wax figures showing scenes from his most famous stories.

Ms. Irene Adler and the Prince from A Scandal in Bohemia.

The Sherlock Holmes statue outside of Baker Street Tube Station.

Rocks and Romans

      On Saturday, my friend Stephanie and I braved the cold and the sow to go to Stonehenge and Bath with an Arcadia group. We met at the Arcadia London Centre and go on a coach. It was about a two hour drive to Stonehenge where we got off. While Arcadia bought our tickets we all stood out in the freezing cold. I could not believe that it was so cold and snowy in late March. We were allotted an hour at the sight, though many of us spent a lot less time than that walking around. It was very interesting to see, and we had an audio guide to tell us the history and such, but it was actually not as impressive as a lot of us thought it would be.  After stopping at the gift shop and getting a bit of warm lunch from the café, we were back on the coach again. It was another hour to Bath, during which it got a little bit warmer. When we got to Bath they gave us a brief tour of the city, showing us all the major sights and such, and then let us loose. Stephanie and I went to the Roman Baths  which was really cool. I love the Roman era and I find it fascinating that they were so advanced. When we stopped off at the gift shop, I had to stop myself from buying a copy of Harry Potter in Latin (Harrius Potter). I know that I would not be able to read it though and saved 15GBP. Then we went to Bath Abbey, which was beautiful. I love European churches, especially really old ones. After that we walked around Bath for a bit before getting some Italian gelato before we got on the coach.
     On a side note, this is the last week for Arcadia classes here and exams are next week. My City class has a few more weeks of class and the exam in on the16th of April. We have already started picking classes for next year and are doing housing stuff. It is exciting.

Stonehenge!

Side of Bath Abbey



Roman Baths

This is called the Royal Crescent

Inside the Roman Bath.

This is the head of their goddess Minerva

This former Bath has coins lining the bottom.

Bath Abbey

Return to Wales

Stephanie, Jillian, and me

     No, I did not go back to Wales (Although I would not mine going back to the beautiful country). Jillian and Stephanie got our photos developed and they had them put on a disc so that we could put them up. This post will have the pictures on it and I will put my commentary on them so that you know what is going on.

Us getting ready to go coasteering.

Ahh! I am jumping off a cliff!

It was fun, I will go again.

It is so beautiful, despite the cold.

Time to go kayaking.

It was fun, but at this point my arms were really hurting.

Some of the spectacular views during our hike.

The yellow flowers were so pretty.

My camera had dies, but Jillian took my picture anyway. Wales was so beautiful.

Land of the Dragon: Part 1

This story starts quite a few months ago, back before I even left for London. I received an email over Christmas or Thanksgiving break (I do not really remember which) about signing up for some Arcadia planned trips. I picked a few that I thought looked interesting and then a few weeks later I got another email telling me which ones I got into. The two that I got into were the Wales Weekend and the Bath and Stonehenge Trip. The subject of this post will be about my trip to Wales. Last week a few days before the trip I got an email about what we would be doing and what I needed to bring. It was then that I found out that this would be a very outdoorsy weekend and not at all involving museums or touring like I thought that it would.  I was going to be coasteering(I had no idea what this even was), kayaking, and hiking. They told us to bring many pairs of clothing, a bathing suit, and many pairs of shoes(some that could get wet). This frightened me as I am not a big nature person. But, as I had paid for it, I was determined to go and enjoy myself. So, Thursday afternoon I packed up my backpack and my Tesco grocery bag(full of towels and shoes and jackets). We were supposed to meet at Paddington Station at 1, so at about noon Stephanie, Jillian, Dennis, and I headed off to the station via the District Line. We were the only FYSAE students to go, but about twenty other Arcadia study abroad students(from all over the country, as many universities send students through Arcadia to study) were going with us. When we all met, Kimberley, who was the RLA that was going with us, gave us our tickets and then we headed off for the train. We had a four hour train ride to Swansea, where we switched trains and then headed off for another two hours to Fishguard and Goodwick. Once there the Preseli people, who running the weekend, picked us up and then drove us to the lodge where we were going to be staying. As it was dark, we could not really see where were going or where we were. It turns out that we were in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which is in the southwest. We were randomly put into rooms, and its turned out that I was put with roommates that I did not know. They were very nice and we had no trouble deciding which bunk bed each of us would sleep in. Not long after we went to dinner, which was in the lounge. The lodge was beautiful and very very nice and dinner was amazing. They always gave us huge portions, yet we were always so hungry that we ate most of it. On the first night we had shell pasta filled with cheese with a side of bread and spongecake with ice cream for pudding. After dinner we all sat in the lunge and relaxed. It was beautiful, we were talking, playing board games, reading, drinking tea from the always on urn, snuck biscuits from the jar, and listened to music that they played. There was a wood stove that was burning in the corner. I met a lot of new people and made some new friends.

Our bedroom. I am on the bottom bunk.

Lounge and eating area.

Other side of the lounge. The hole on the left, is where they gave us our food.

View from the courtyard. 

Welsh Words that I learned (while walking around):
Cymru- Wales
Araf- slow
Allan- Exit

So Many Sheep...: Part 2

Saturday:
 The day dawned bright in early and as we had to be at breakfast around eight, we got up at seven so that we cold get dressed. My group was going coasteering and we read the paper about what we were supposed to wear. First I put on my new Primark bathing suit, and then put my clothes on top of it. We had an English breakfast of beans, ham, eggs, and bread, along with various cereals. After that the three groups split up and my group of about ten went to the garage with Jon and Jess, our guides. They told us about coasteering, which is basically a combination of swimming, climbing large rocks/cliffs, and jumping off those said cliffs. As we were going to be in the water we were not allowed to bring our cameras, so Jillian, Stephanie, and I bought a waterproof camera that we need to get developed this week. I apologize for the lack of pictures that there will be. We put on our gear, which took forever; bathing suit, wet suit, extra wet suit pants ans vest, wet suit gloves and socks, and then a life jacket. It was so hard putting on all the gear and it took a good hour probably. Over the socks we put on our own gym shoes and then we piled into the van. They took us to Abercastle, the town, where the beach was. We just walked into the freezing water and headed for the rocks. We went through a cave and swam around the bay. They took us along the cliffs and we jumped off of them occasionally. It was so much fun, despite the freezing wind and water; the wet suits kept us decently warm. We were supposed to head across the bay to the large cliffs, but the surf was too swelly and rough, so instead we headed back to the beach. Once on the sand we changed into our dry clothing, knowing that we would be sea kayaking later and get wet once again. We went back to the lodge and dried ourselves off as best as we could and then went for lunch. They gave us homemade vegetable soup and homemade bread. It was amazing and we all inhaled it. It was a lot of work coasteering and we were cold. After lunch about 1:30, we went back to the garage to get geared up for sea kayaking. We were wearing similar gear; bathing suit, shirt, sweatshirt  overall wet suit, gloves, tag, jackets, and wet suit shoes. The two groups we fitted for kayaks and then they loaded them up and went back to the beach. The group before us had had four people capsize and we were nervous. I had only kayaked once before, but it was not too hard, I was just really tired. We kayaked around the bay and then out around the cliffs. We saw the Dragon Cave; water goes in and then is blown out as mist and it looks like dragon's breath. After two people capsized(which is not bad), we headed back to the bay and went back to the beach. We got out of the kayaks and then began changing again. Once back to the lodge we all cleaned the gear(like we had that morning) and then rushed to the showers. The thing about the showers is that you press the button and the water stays on for 5 seconds. You are in an individual room with a toilet, sink, and shower. So, every five seconds you have to press the button a few times. The shower was wonderful though and warm. After that we had a dinner of curry and rice with naan bread and brownies for dessert. Some of us read and others played Monopoly (London edition), while others talked. They built a bonfire later in the backyard. There was a beautiful horse out there that was popular among the group and always looking for food. We went to bed early, exhausted from the day's events.

Sunday: 

We had it easy that day. We woke up to another huge English breakfast. The other two groups were going coasteering, but my group was going hiking. They gave us a map and the option of either a 4 mile hike or a seven mile hike; we choose the seven mile one. They dropped us at the top of the cliffs and from there we walked along the cliffs to the beach where we had been the day before. From there we walked back along the coast, through sheep pastures and cow grazing areas. We were literally walking next to sheep. They were so cute! Unfortunately my camera died half way through the walk, so I do not have many pictures. Our walk back to the lodge took about 3 hours. It was very mountainous and we had do walk along steep cliffs. It was so beautiful though and we had a great time. When we got back we packed and then went back to the train station. It was not till about 9 that we got back. I was really sore and I went to bed around 10. I slept like a rock, but I feel great now.

Ruins that we found

SHEEP!!

That rock in the very left tip of the cliff is one place that we jump. Only about 10 feet or so. 

The always friendly and hungry horse.

They are Taking the Hobbits to Ireland

I am sorry about the title, but it just seemed right. For some reason the four of us-Taylor, Sarah, Melissa, and I- were talking about which hobbit we were from Lord of the Rings. I am apparently Sam, which is awesome. It is Sunday night and we are all watching We Bought a Zoo together in the lounge. Earlier today we got back from Ireland! It was extraordinary, and so amazing. I shall go day buy day to make it easier and make it two posts.

Day One: Friday
    This day was rough as we had to wake up at 4 AM so that we could get to the airport buy our nine o'clock flight. It was fine because I went to bed super early, but waking up that early is never easy. We took the Tube at 5:30 to Liverpool Street station and from there took the 45 minute train ride to Standsted Airport. We were flying Ryan Air so we only got one carry on(they are very strict about it.) So we only brought a backpack each. It was fun though, going out on our own on an adventure. We navigated the aiport fine, and as the most experienced traveler, I led the way. The flight was only an hour and a half we landed in Cork, Ireland. It was so beautiful which we could tell on the bus ride into the city. When we got there we walked around a bit, just to get to know the city, because we could not check into the hostel till 1 or 2. At first we were a little hesitant  we did not know what to see or what to do and we just walked around. Once we got some food though and checked in we were better. The hostel was actually really nice, not much different from a dorm and we had a room of four all to ourselves. After a little break we walked around the city and then out of it along the Lee River. We saw the University of Cork, which Arcadia has a program at and one of my friends is looking at. We walked all along the river looking for the elusive gaol that we only ever saw from across the river. It was a long walk and everyone was in a lot of pain by the time we got back to the hostel. For dinner we went to a pub that we saw in a broucher, but it did not have food so we eventually went to a resturant that had good food. Then we went back to the hostel and went to bed...very early.

Melissa and Taylor at 5AM on the way tot he airport.

Sarah and me

Cork Airport. It was so cool, everything in Ireland was in both Gaelic and English. We heard so many people speaking Gaelic.

Ireland...the Lee River

Taylor said that every time that she said "That is beautiful, what is that?" It was a church, so here is one of them. 

Entrance to the English Market. It was a market with shops and food and stuff. It was amazing, we bought giant brownies there that were delicious.

Our room in the hostel. 201, it was nice. I had to sleep on the top bunk though. The mattress was super comfortable and the blanket was heavy and warm, but the pillow was terribke. 

The University of Cork

Walking along the river and exploring.

We walked for a very long time.

Nice, scenic paths. 

Taylor and Melissa being cool.

My dinner, a tartlet.