From Gentlemen to Thugs in only 2 Short Weeks!

Time has been flying by, sorry I have not posted in a while. The weekend right after my parents left a big group of us took a train down to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, on Friday afternoon for the Wales v. Canada rugby match. With every stop on the way to Cardiff more and more people were getting on. By the time we reached Cardiff the train was packed, every seat was filled and the entire isle and doorways were crammed with people standing shoulder the shoulder. Nearly everyone on the train was wearing Welsh rugby apparel. When we finally arrived in Cardiff the town was crazy, I have never seen anything like it. The streets were all blocked off and there were people everywhere and everyone was decked out for the game! There was little vendor shops all along every street selling jerseys, shirts, scarfs, hats, and much more. There were people in the streets selling stencil face paintings. The pubs were overflowing into the streets. We picked up our tickets, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and checked out the vendors and then headed into the stadium. We had amazing seats and the stadium slowly filled up, it was neat to look around and everyone was wearing jerseys. Jeff, a boy in our class, is from Canada so it was fun to have him along as a "rival". None of us really knew anything about rugby, lucky we were sitting by really nice people who were more than willing to explain things to us. And they gave us the quote "Rugby is a game played by thugs watched by gentlemen, football (soccer) is a game played by gentlemen watched by thugs." The game ended and Wales beat Canada 34-13!! We rushed back to the train station hoping to catch the train so we could make it back by 2am! We got on the first train but missed the 12:30 connecting train by a 1/2 hour, and the next train did not go out until 6:30am so we had to spend the night in the cold train station, but made it back to Bangor just after 8am!
That Sunday Tecwyn took us on a fieldtrip just across the straight to Anglesey. Our center for OP is in Anglesey so it was nice to actually get to tour it. On this fieldtrip we stopped in the town with the world's longest name, it has 58 letters! Tecwyn tried to have us pronounce it, but I think it just sounds like a bunch of hacking. We then went down to a lighthouse near Puffin Island which had a pretty neat view. From there we went to the Penmon Priory, this was a neat place that had some of the ruins from the actual priory and still had its holy well. The church at this sight is still used for services, we had to wait for the service to finish before we could go in and look at it. This was a neat little church with a lot of Celtic symbols inside. Near this priory was a dovecot that was built in 1600, it could hold over 1,000 birds. We then got to go tour another Norman Castle, the Beaumaris Castle. This castle was very large and in ruins, but it was one of my favorite castles because it still has a real moat around it! After the castle we went to the Marquess of Anglesey's Memorial Column. We climbed all the way up a dark spiral staircase. Once we were on top we had an amazing view all over Anglesey and Bangor. We then went to one of my favorite places Llanddwyn Island, which really isn't an island. We had amazing weather and the scenery was beautiful. We walked along the beach with the mountains on the other side of the water and foresty trees on the other side of the beach for miles. We then followed a neat little path through ruins of the Llanddwyn Chapel which lead us up to a rocky cliff area with a lighthouse that looked over the straight on one side and the ocean on the other. I got some amazing pictures that seem as if they were previously downloaded on my computer. We spent hours just relaxing and taking in the scenery.
On Tuesday for OP we went on a mountain hike and camping trip. We each got big hiking backpacks and loaded them with kit; sleeping bags and mats, lots of layers, food, stoves, logs, and head lights. At first the hike was just an easy walk along a trail in the mountains. We stopped for lunch on the mountain side and ate in our group shelter which reminded me of making a tent with a parachute in gym class. Then as we were reaching a peak of a mountain the clouds rolled in and we couldn't see more than 10ft around us, the ground was swampy, and the wind was blowing at our sides at nearly 60mph! This went on for what seemed like forever, and if it was not for the fence we were following I could see how peoople would get lost. Once we reached the peak we started to go down the other side, which seemed like it went straight down, and we had to walk making Z's to keep from falling on our bums. We then reached a stream and followed it to our shelter. We stayed at what is called a Bothy, they are stone shelters throughout the mountains for a hiking association. Laura said this is one of the nicest ones she has seen. In one room there were 3 bed frames, a fireplace, and a table, and the other room was just a big open space. The Bothy was located near a stream where we got our drinking water and did our dishes. We had about an hour of light left when we got to the Bothy so we quickly set up our sleeping area and got out the stuff we would need to cook. We then had a warm cup of tea and socialized. Later we started the fire, lit candles, and had head lamps and started to cook rainbow stew, which is a meal that one of our group members makes in the summer when he works on trail. We spent the rest of the night just playing games and hanging out. I did not sleep well at all that night, I was really cold and uncomfortable. We woke up before it was light out and packed up and headed out. Since the sun rarely shines here we didn't see the sunrise we got to see it get light out in the mountains though. This was beautiful scenery. We then got picked up by a bus and brought back to the center where we had a breakfast and cleaned up. We ended up hiking 13.5 kilometers.
This past weekend Jason, Andy, Alicia and I went to Liverpool for the football (soccer) game against Fulham. We had an amazing time. We got there early and went to a pub down the street which was "The Birthplace of Liverpool Football Club". This place was like 3 pubs joined together and was packed shoulder to shoulder of people in the middle of the afternoon all in Liverpool jerseys and scarves. We also had time to wonder around on the streets because there were vendors selling game day stuff all over, we also found this vendor selling really good footlong sausages for cheap. We decided to head into the stadium and find our seats. I was pleased with our seats, and the stadium was really neat. It had an open top, but all of the seats were covered with an overhang so it was warm enough to not wear our coats. The game was amazing! The crowd was literally chanting and singing the entire game! We saw at one of the street vendors a CD of songs and there were over 50 tracks of these songs and chants they sing at all of the games! Unfortunately the game ended 0-0, but it was still an amazing experience!
Yesterday in OP we went gorge traversing. This was totally different from what I expected. We put on wetsuits, lots of layers, waterproofs and wellies, helmets and harnesses. Then we basically scaled a waterfall. We were hiking through a rocky gorge that had a waterfall flowing through it. There are many different routes you can take up, and Laura decided to challenge us and take us up a route where we got very wet. We had a lot of fun, but the water was freezing and there were times were we all fell in. There were also difficult moves that required Laura to go ahead and set up a belaying rope system and for us to tie in and climb up through the waterfall. This required us to really work together as a team to make sure everyone was safe. We all had a lot of fun and it was a cold awesome experience! I can't believe that I only have one OP class left! Things are really flying by and I'll be back in the States before I realize it. I hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving!

Sorry for the problmes with my pictures on my last post, I have fixed it so you can look at them now.

To look at more pictures from my adventures just go to this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30488030@N04/sets/72157610182764272/detail/

I saw London, I saw France, I saw the Queen just by chance!

After hours of traveling my parents arrived safely in Bangor. I met them at the train station on Thursay afternoon, we then carried their luggage all the way up the hills to my flat. I was very excited and surprised to see that over half of my dad's suitcase was filled with Amercian food for me! We spent that first night wondering around Bangor going out to the pier, looking at all of the shops, and ate at a local pub. We then went back to my flat where my parents got to meet most of my flat mates, they even got to see a few of Andy's famous dances! They were very tired from all of their travels so they stole my bed and called it a night while I stayed up to hang out with my flat mates. The next morning I woke up and went to class, and then came back and we got all packed and took off for London for the weekend.
We had quite the trip to London. We had some complications with the train at Chester causing us to miss our connecting train. We ended up arriving in London over an hour later than expected. Then began our journy of trying to find our hotel, which was not as easy and convenient as it seemed online when I booked it. We took the undergroud to where we thought would be walking distance, found out we needed to take a bus and with the night traffic we would not be able to check into our hotel and make it back into town for the play Wicked. So we turned right around and went to the theatre where we freshened up in the bathroom, and got lucky that they had a cheap coat/luggage room. We really enjoyed Wicked, it was amazing! We finally made it to our hotel and order in some pizza and called it a night. We woke up the next morning grabbed some breakfast and then took off for a big day in the city. We started off the day by going to see Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey. Then we wondered toward Buckingham Palace, and the old Palace where they will be playing sand volleyball for the Olympics. We also wondered through St. James Park and Green Park. Unfortunately my parents got a taste of England/ Wales weather because it was cold and rainy most of the day. We made our way to Camden Market which is a crazy part of town with all of these little souvenir markets where we got a bite to eat and did a little shopping and I got my cute wellies (rain boots). We then caught the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral where we got lucky that there was a little production going on inside so it was free admission all day. This Cathedral was huge and spectacular. It is where Prince Charles and Princess Diana got married, and where Winston Churchill's funeral was held. Just down the road from the Cathedral was a parade with Scottish men playing bag pipes. We then made our way toward the London Tower and Tower Bridge. Here we got to see parts of an old castle and then toured Tower Bridge as it was getting dark. We got an awesome view of London all lit up, and Bonfire Night Weekend (a national holiday over here) so there were fireworks lighting up the sky. We also got to see the bridge open and close which was really neat. We then decided to go back and see Big Ben and the Parliament all lit up. We then wondered toward the Palace again where there were a small group of 50 or so people around the gate so we decided to join them. After waiting for awhile we were about to leave because no one knew what was going on, just then the gate opened and the block went down and the police on motorcycles left with their lights flashing, and then cars began coming through the arches of the palace. One of the cars had all of the dome lights on, and inside was.... THE QUEEN! She waved right at me, no big deal! But because we were to busy waving back at her we didn't get our camera out quite in time. You may not believe me, but this is a picture of the back of the Queen's car. After we saw the Queen we got back on the tube and went to Picadilly Circus, no this is not where little robot animals bring you pizza, this was like a mini time square in London. We grabbed some food and then called it a night. The next day we got up and went and rode the London Eye, this is like a big ferris wheel where you get to see great views of London. Accidently found China Town, visited Leicester Square where the movie premiers are held, and ate some gelato, which is a form of ice cream. We then went to a couple fun little market places. Then it was time to catch our train back to Bangor. I had a lot of fun in London with my parents, even though the weather was not the greatest we got to see and do a lot of neat stuff. And by the end of the weekend I had worn them down, they are not used to walking as much as we do over here.
We got back to Bangor pretty late and went back to my flat and got the rest of their luggage and carried it down to their bed and breakfast where we all called it a night. The next morning we got bus passes for the day and tried to go to one of the castles that has been restored just outside of Bangor to find out that it had shut down for the season the week before. So we got back on the bus and went to Caernarfon where we toured the castle, which is the one where Prince Charles was invested. We then wondered around the town and got a bite to eat and a cute little pub from the 17th century!(Sometime you should ask us what the name of this pub was and what my dad had to eat at it!) We then got on another bus and went to Llanberis where we just missed the last bus out to the foot of Snowdon (the highest peak in the UK). But this was a cute little town at the foot of some of the mountains, and some of them have slate tips. We then caught a bus back into Bangor just in time to grab some groceries and get me to class on time. The buses are a great way of transportation, but I do fear for my life everytime I ride in one. After class a few of my friends and my parents went and hung out in a local pub.
On Tuesday I had OP so my parents took their rail passes and went up to a couple of little towns recommended by Tecwyn and I. They got to explore on the walls of Conwy and around the roman and medieval town of Chester. They had a lot of fun. For OP we got to learn how to properly canoe, and then took our new skills and went down the Menai Straight. It was beautiful weather and scenery. The trees are all the colors of fall, we went by a castle, the sun was shinning on the water, and the mountains were in the distance. After canoeing it was time to grab some lunch. We then talked about next week because we are going to do an overnight camping trip so we had to look at all the kit we will need. After all of that we went back out to the high ropes course. We went to the catwalk, the first one was a log 15ft up in between 2 trees and you are suppose to walk across it, the only thing you are connected to is a rope on the back of your harness is connected to a pully system to the people on the ground belaying you. I did this one okay, but then the 2nd one was 45 ft up, and I just love heights! I ended up doing that one too, I just never looked down! You just walk across then back to the middle, do a finale move, and then get lowered to the ground. After OP I met back up with my parents and we went out for a nice meal with a couple of my friends. Then got everything figured out for their transportation for the next day and then called it a night early. We woke up super early the next morning so they could catch the 5am train. We took a taxi to the train station and said our good-byes, and I went back to bed. I had so much fun with my parents showing them where I have been living and a few of the amazing things that I have experienced and seen. I can't believe how fast that week went, and also can't believe I have less than a month until I am back in the States.

To check out more pictures from my week with my parents click on this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30488030@N04/sets/72157609229943523/detail/

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles… and a Bike!

Bonjour! The last weeks have gone by so fast! Last week for OP class we went Seaside Traversing. Many of you, like I was at first, are like what in the world is that? It is similar to rock climbing. We were scaling on these rocky cliffs over the Irish Sea. It was a cold day making it hard for my numb hands to grip the rocks, and one time I did not reach the handhold and slipped off of the rock right into the Irish Sea, it was a very cold fall. Even though it was hard and the majority of the time I was scared for my life it was an awesome experience. The scenery was beautiful, and there were a few times we would look out into the Sea and there were seals swimming only 20 yards away from us! Unfortunately I do not have any pictures from this day because it would have been impossible for anyone to have a camera on them during the activity. This week we got to go Mountain Biking. Our leaders Steve and Laura took us to some really great mountain bike trails. Here we learned how to properly control your bike while going downhill, standing! Also learned how to do some jumps over objects, and how to come to a complete stop and start back up again without touching the ground! We would bike up big hills and then get to go downhill winding through the woods on a very narrow rocky path. I had so much fun, and never fell off of my bike!
Last weekend my friend Alicia and I took off and went to Paris! We took just about every kind of transportation to get there. First we traveled through the night on Thursday to London by train. We ran into some complications as our first train was late causing us to miss our connecting trains. We finally made it to London to find out the underground was closing, but we ended up catching the last train there to get us close enough to walk to our bus stop. Walking wasn't so bad because we got to walk by the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliment, Westminster Abbey all lit up. We caught our bus over an hour late, and it took us right to the airport. Here we tried to get a couple hours of sleep on the airport floor, we then took off at 6am for mainland! Once we got to Paris we took their metro system and found our hostel and then the touring began. Our hostel was just down the road from Sacre Coure. There is a beautiful view of Paris from the Sacre Coure, and it is amazing inside. While we were there we got to watch some of Mass take place. We then took the metro to visit The Arc de Triomphe. I was surprised at how large it was, and it is surrounded by a 12 lane roundabout! Lucky there is an underground passage way to get to it. We then ventured to the real Moulin Rouge just to see it. Next we got on the metro and went to the Eiffel Tower. It was not a very nice day so we could not see the top because of the fog. I so surprised at how huge the tower actaully was! After taking pictures and standing in awe we decided we would save going to the top for when it got nicer out. Later that night we made our way to the Norte Dame. It was fun to see it lit up, and the inside was magnificent. While we were in there they were getting ready to start Mass, so we decided to stay and join. It was quite the experience, the entire thing was in French, but they did give us the literagy in English so we could follow along. Afterwards we decided to go see the Eiffel Tower all lit up. Then after being away for hours upon hours we decided to return to our hostel and catch some sleep. The next day we woke up on time to find out the weather still wasn't very nice. We decided to start our day by going to the Louvre, we were very excited because are both huge fans of The Da Vinci Code. I was amazed at how huge the Louvre was. We spent over 3 hours there and did not even get a third of the way through! I felt bad walking by all of these awesome paintings and art and only giving them a glance. We did see the Mona Lisa, surprisingly it was very small on its own wall! I had a lot of fun here. Afterwards we found a little outdoor cafe and decided to have our favorite "French" meal, nutella crapes with a fanta. We then decided to head back towards the Norte Dame and see it in the day time, it was All Saints Day and they had a celebration going on. We then just spent time wondering around looking at all of the sights. We went back to the Eiffel Tower for like the fourth time of the weekend, finally going all the way up! We decided to walk up the stairs for the first 2 levels. Once we got to the first level we found the post office and dropped off some post cards! When we reached the top the entire tower began to flash which was pretty amazing! After the Eiffel Tower we got a bite to eat and decided to call it a night. The next morning we had to wake up early to catch all of our forms of transportation. We started by catching the metro then the train to our airport. We had a really hard time getting through the airport, and waiting in line forever in securtiy when all of a sudden they decided to switch our gate 10 minutes before take off! With all of the problems with our flight in the airport we ended up taking off over an hour late. Luckly we caught our bus just in time, we then caught the tube to the train station. Unfortunately the train we had tickets for was full so we had to wait for nearly an hour to get on the next train. While on the train we got diverted, causing us to have a long day of travel and finally arriving in Bangor late at night. We had a blast in Paris even though neither of us can speak any French which made it hard for us to communicate!
We just had Bonfire Night here in Bangor which is a holiday in the entire U.K. and there was a huge firework show the other night which was a lot of fun. My parents arrived safely today, we are already having a blast together and I can't wait for the rest of the week!

To check out more pictures just go to this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30488030@N04/sets/72157608713633760/detail/