Week 1 - Swansea and Cardiff

so day two begins, well three i guess, sept 8th. it was definitely surreal to wake up in a foreign country and realize that you are there for 3 1/2 months. i am pretty sure we went out back to city center this day. because we had only a little time the day before. everything here closes early. shops and even some places to eat are closed by 6 pm. i find it rather annoying but i was told it was because people start drinking earlier than we do back home so the shops close to keep out the drunks. but that may well be just a rumor. anyway we walked around and found castle square which looks to have actual castle remains and sits right in city center. we went shopping and i bought a raincoat and umbrella that day lol. lucky for me it had yet to rain. we had a couple free days since we arrived before the anything started. the first meeting would be thursday. for the most part that day was uneventful.

day 4, wed: we met chelsey that day. she along with the 6 Oklahoma girls made our way down to mumbles which is a quaint little town just west of Swansea on the coast. i had a blast with this place. we went down to the water and even climbed down the slippery stairs to walk in the ocean. the tide was so far out though we didn't really get to walk in the water. but i found a shark. it was tiny and didn't make it out to the water after the tide left. it was rather sad. i think all in all we walked the entire coast line and about 3-4 miles. it was gorgeous weather and we loved it so much. the pier was nice and we got ice cream which was yummy. Tori and i discovered we love ice cream and we tend to eat it whenever we see it lol. so after that we had a dinner to be at that night. we headed back after a full day out on the ocean. it’s so amazing to be able to see the ocean every day. obviously i never had the luxury of the ocean living in Oklahoma. i think i might fall in love with it and then be very sad to leave it. 

that evening we went to pub on the pond which is the pub that is right by the campus. it has good food and i like the atmosphere. we tend to go there from time to time still. i eat lunch there on days i have to be on campus for extended periods of time. it has an awesome lunch deal that is only 5pounds. on this evening we meet all the other Americans that are taking part in the pre-sessional. there is also a Canadian girl who got to participate as well. i think there were about 30 of us, mostly girls and mostly from the middle to eastern part of the country. after dinner and a brief greeting from the study abroad office we all were released to go mingle. a part of us went out to the ocean because we were told it was the highest tide of the year and the other half went out to wind street which is the party street with lots of clubs and pubs. not my favorite place but i have visited once or twice. it’s also where TGI Friday's is. i do hope to visit it before we go! so after the tide and a little wine we all headed back. i feel like i have more free time here than ever before. i am not enjoying not working like most people. work was always a nice way to take time up in the day and still earn money. i am anxious to get back to my job. well so that day was a success in my book. i am going to have to go back to mumbles one day and explore more. i don't think we spent enough time. the next morning kicks off the pre-sessional. 

Day 5: we have to be up early for the first time since we arrived, the orientation begins at 10 and we didn't want to be late. however some of the group here doesn't seem to be as keen on the academic half of being here. i guess since those of us from Oklahoma had to apply for a scholarship to get here we take it a little more seriously that we do well. also some of the people that came get graded purely on pass fail and not a letter grade, which takes off a lot of pressure for them. so we get a brief rundown of the way it’s going to work for two weeks and then we get to take a lunch. one thing i don't like very much about the school setup here is that we were forced to enroll one week before classes began. and some of us even had to enroll the day lectures began. it is not very well planned out and i don't understand why we could not enroll during our pre-session. that afternoon we took a fun trip out to the Gower specifically rhossili. it’s probably the most famous part of the Gower where you can see king Arthur's rock i believe it is. i have been unable to go again since the day we went it was spitting rain and cold and foggy. we weren't even able to go down to the ocean or see worms head. all in all it was another great day in my temporary home. since it was friday we were ready to go out and have a good time. i didn't join them since i had a train headed to Cardiff in the morning to visit my friends i made in Korea the summer before.

Day 6 saturday: cardiff this day. tori and chelsey and i went to cardiff to visit dan and dave! it was fun being on a train for the first time and we got boarded alright and it was even a cheap ticket. as we made our way out to the platform we saw a train that was only one car long. i thought it was a joke. how can a train be one car long especially when it’s hauling all these people. ended up being just the one car and we were all crammed in it. that first ride was tough lol but we made it and i was happy to see dan and dave! they met us at the train station and we started out with the mall. apparently cardiff has many malls and they are all huge like ours. we did a little shopping and by the time we were done we starving for some lunch. (oh i also got a phone :D) so we walked back to dan's car which was a long ways away from where we were. it was crazy how far he parked just to have free parking lol. once we got to the car we got to endure dans crazy driving skills. i honestly was scared for my life lol. he drove us out to the pier to look for food. we ended up eating Wagamama's which is a japanese restaurant it was really delicious. i couldn't even eat all mine. well worth the money we spent on it. we walked around the pier and tori and i got ice cream again. we seem to find it everywhere. after that we decided to go back to dan's house. we had a good time just sitting and talking and making fun of dave when he fell asleep. and the evening plans began to unfold. we went and got something to make drinks with and had more time at dans house just chatting away while we waited on his brother mikey and his friends to come into cardiff for the night. he arrived with jordan and greg and we all headed back into cardiff to go to a pub before it was time for me and the girls to leave. we went to the Prince of Wales. it was amazing inside and i loved the drink we got there. when it was time dave and his girlfriend sasha who is so sweet walked us back to the train station before they had to leave themselves. we waited and watched all the crazily dressed drunk people. they were a show all on their own. the train was a little bit late and we were so tired and ready to get back. once on the train we tried to find a quiet compartment and just rest until we got to swansea and hour later. it was about 1 am and it was the most amazing day so far. i had new clothes and a phone with unlimited texting and i had gotten to see two guys i wasn't sure i would ever see again! and with the end of saturday so ended my first week in swansea. it was a beautiful week and i got to see amazing views and had the time of my life. with week 2 i will start lectures for the pre-sessional.