Its London Love!

This amazing weekend is going to be a 3 or 4 part series that I will try to finish as soon as I can but here is the first installment!

I just got back from a 4 day weekend in London and it was the best time of my life so far! It started with getting there! Three other girls and myself set off on Thursday morning at 8:45 to catch our 9:22 train out of Bangor. The morning came pretty early since we were out until 2 the night before. Wednesday nights are big party nights here in Bangor apparently. Thats ok, I survived! We made it down in plenty of time to catch the train. The trip down was very uneventful since we just had to sit there, no train changes woo hoo! As we got closer we began to discuss how we were going to get from the train station to our hostel. We really had no idea what we were doing and that was I'm sure very obvious. A fellow passenger overheard us chatting about how we really had no idea how we were to get from Euston train station to an area by Hyde Park called Bayswater. So he helped us out by explaining we should get on the Victoria line on the underground to Central line and get off at Queensway. Sounded pretty easy, but he was talking to a few "stupid Americans" as we kept calling ourselves.

We arrived at Euston and we were off. We bought some handy dandy Oyster cards that a friend suggested we get to make our experience on the Underground easier. The card is an electronic swipe card you can keep refilling with money so you don't have to get a ticket every time you get on the Underground... worked pretty slick. Needless to say, after we started our trek to the middle of the earth (or so it seemed) I was getting a little nervous! We just kept going deeper and deeper and it just kept getting warmer and warmer. We finally stopped in a crowded and dirty tunnel. The wind was blowing out of the tunnel and the sound just kept getting louder and louder and just like that a train came shooting out of the tunnel in front of us! We boarded and off we went. It felt like we were going 100mph and just like that we had to get off and jump on the central line. And again before we really started we were at our stop... I thought at that point I could get used to getting around so fast!

My cubbie for the weekend

We checked into the hostel and found ourselves in a room with beds on top of beds. For 3 out of the 4 of us, this was our first experience with hostels so we really didn't know what to expect. We were given a piece of paper with tape on it to claim our spot and 2 sheets to make our bed with. So we scrambled around looking for an empty bed. I found one and taped my name to it so the cleaning crew wouldn't clear my stuff out. We made our beds and decided we had enough of the hostel already! We wanted to see what the city had to offer.

Amazing chocolate cake

We headed out with our tourist map of the city and a pocket map if the Underground! We knew we were centrally located, but in a city as big as London we weren't really 100% sure what that meant. So, looking at the map I decided our best route we be to walk through Hyde park and head southeast. After being on a million family road trips I feel like I know how to work a map pretty well! We saw many cool modern works of art in the beautiful park and eventually came out by a huge golden statue across from a theatre showing Circ de Sole. We then headed straight east,which according to our map should have led us right to Buckingham Palace, the home of current Queen Elizabeth. It felt like we had been walking forever and we came to a point where the park was no longer on our left and we were in the middle of a construction zone. This didn't feel right at all, but according to the map, the Palace Gardens should have been right in front of us but they were not! A construction worker saw we looked confused and asked if he could help. We explained we were trying to find the Palace and he looked at us like we were nuts and exclaimed it was the other way. Frustrated, we turned back and headed back in the direction we came from. I couldn't believe my map skills had failed me, but surely this man knew better than me. So we eventually came upon a bunch of shops and restaurants so we had a look around. We were all starving so we settled on a cute little cafe that cost us more than we wanted to pay, but hey, its London, and it was pretty tasty.

Having fun while shopping

After more shopping we decided to call it a night and we headed back to the hostel. We were going to walk back through the park but soon realized the gates had been locked for the night we would have to walk around. We ended up walking through a neighborhood with some really HUGE places and thought that was pretty cool. We later found out it was Noting Hill that we walked though... not sure how we got in or out but it was pretty cool! So we arrived back at the hostel and decided it was too early to go to bed so we enjoyed TV room provided for us in the basement. We watched a movie which was actually the first movie I have watched since arriving in the UK. After the movie bed was calling our names. This was a lot of fun because when we got to our room the lights were off so we decided to be polite and not turn them back on. So I struggled to take out my contacts and put some shorts and a tank top on to sleep in... in the complete darkness! After we got all settled in, several people were in and out of the room turning the lights on and off. Glad we were considerate even though no one else was! Oh well. Sleeping wasn't too bad considering we were in a room with beds stacked 3 high full of people we had never met.... Hostels... something you just have to experience I guess.

So I should try to get some sleep since I have a full week of classes ahead of me. Stayed tuned for day 2 in London!

Until tomorrow...

~Amy

Just a Quick Note... I Hope!

So today was kind of stressful. I have decided to switch from an art history class to a class called Hollywood (All about film making and whatnot). Because we are international students we have to do things in a specific way to switch classes, and the guy I needed to get my paperwork from was ill today. So I attended the one I'm hoping to get into and skipped the one I'm going to drop... hopefully I can get it all worked out tomorrow! Both classes will transfer back to Ambrose as topics in Humanities so I would rather take a class I'm interested in vs. one that I am not.

My ecology class today was all about Darwin... woot! I already know most of that stuff anyways, so that class is looking pretty good!

Things for London this weekend are looking perfect! We are planning on doing the couch surfing for housing, so apparently its free.... thats awesome! Tomorrow I will purchase my train tickets and then all thats left is to get there and live it up! Should be so much fun, I can't wait!

Well, I should do some reading for my history class!

Until tomorrow...

~Amy

First Day of Classes

So, for me personally, I tend to prepare myself for the worst when it comes to new experiences. I have listened to what everyone (Tecwyn and Emily mainly) has told me about classes in Europe and expected it to be VERY hard to transition. I love the structure of classes in the states and I like being tested throughout the semester (as much as I complain about it I really do like being tested. I feel like it is a great opportunity to prove what I am actually learning and it is a good way to show I'm getting the grade I deserve. So, when I was being told the classes (or modules as they call them) here are very laid back and not structured I was a little worried to say the least.

Today my first class was at two, so I had plenty of time to psych myself out and get really nervous before class. I knew the class I had at 2 was going to rather large because it was in a lecture hall that holds 300 people. Coming from a small school with my biggest class being around 30, that was a little intimidating. So, I arrived at ten to 2, plenty of time to get a third row seat in this humongous lecture hall! The class didn't actually start until ten after so there was even more time to psych myself out. The teacher entered the front of the class and got herself accommodated to the classroom and it was obvious it was her first time in this lecture hall also, so that made me feel a little better. I was also a little nervous about being able to understand her.... yes understand her. Even though they speak English here, it is still very hard to understand some of the people with really heavy accents. So, to my great pleasure, when she started talking I could understand her completely! Yey! Secondly, everything she introduced us to, I was a little bit familiar with since they were topics I have some prior knowledge with since I have taken multiple science classes already at St. Ambrose! Yey #2! Thirdly, I was sitting in the front of the class which made it much less intimidating considering I couldn't see the 200+ people behind me. Yey #3! And finally, I was told lectures are typically exactly what they sound like, the professors going on and on with the students frantically taking notes and no feed back from the students. This was so not true! Maybe just because it was the first day, but I hardly took any notes and the professor actually encouraged class participation! I didn't participate because I did't want to be pegged on the first day of class an American. But anyways, overall it was a great first experience to my first class, and there are even 2 open book online quizzes throughout the semester! I know I'm crazy for being happy about having tests throughout the semester but it is a little nerve racking having only one chance to show what you know in the class. The weirdest part about this class is, we will have 6 different professors teaching it, so that will take a little getting used to. I think it will be fun!

The other class I had today was the required class we typically call "Over Here". It is the class that Tecwyn teaches and it goes hand in hand with our field trips. We basically learn all about what it is to be Welsh. I think it will be a great class and it will be taught as a cross between a class in the States and a European style since Tecwyn has taught in both.

I will discover what my Celtic Angelo-Saxon Art class is like tomorrow. Should be smaller than Ecology but will be totally different from any class I have taken in the past.

Until tomorrow...

~Amy

My address

Hi all!

Happy Sunday! So for anyone who may want it here is my local address while I'm here in Bangor:

Amy Dupont
V205 y Glyder
Bangor University Ffriddoedd Site
Ffriddoedd Road
Bangor
Gwynedd ll57 2JY
Wales - U.K


Today was a semi-boring day but that is ok because there have been plenty of exciting ones so far! I went for a run/walk this morning. Well I guess it was early afternoon. It pretty much feels like morning all day long until about 5 when the sun goes down, then it feels like night time ;o) So anyways, I went for a run and I made it almost to the Menai bridge before I started walking... It was about 2 miles which is pretty good even though it was pretty much all down hill.

Later this afternoon a few of us tried to figure out plans for this upcoming weekend. I have a 4 day weekend because I don't have Outdoor Pursuits on Thursday. So I thought it would be perfect to plan a trip to London, we will see if that happens. Keep your fingers crossed.

Tomorrow is the start of classes here and everyone keeps telling me I will be fine, lets hope that is true. I think it will be hard to adjust at first, but I should manage eventually. Wish me luck!

Until tomorrow...

~Amy

The Churches of the UK

Today we visited several historical sites in the UK. It started with a stop at the Bodelwyddan church. This is a beautiful church in norther Wales that was built in 1856. It has elaborate woodworking on the inside and marble from all over the world. There are several different types of marble inside the church and it comes from all over the world including Italy and some even comes from Anglesey! Very beautiful! The stained glass on the inside is also quite amazing. Outside the church, in the graveyard, there are Canadian soldiers that died during WWI from the Spanish Flu... pretty crazy thing to die from while fighting in a war.

A little further down the road we came to a place called Holywell and it contains a Holy Well! Haha! There was this crazy story associated with the well about a girl named Winefrede and a Prince. It was said that the prince fancied Winefrede but she refused him so he cut off her head and it rolled down a hill and when it landed a spring formed. Her head was then placed back on her head and she was fine. So, moral of the story is that the well has healing powers. So now everyone comes to be healed by the water. There is a pool there now where people come and actually bathe in the water to be healed, it was a little chilly so we decided to skip this part, but cool story!

So after a few stops we finally made it to Chester! Chester is a very cool city with a lot of history and A LOT of shopping! We had some free time so we walked around a bit checking out the shops and found a cute little cafe to eat at. FYI, there are different prices on food from cafes around here. It actually costs more to "eat in" than it does to "carry out", kind of stupid if you ask me! So after some free time we all met back up for a tour of the Chester Cathedral. All I can say is WOW! What a church. There are so pretty awesome pictures I posted on facebook but again the pictures really don't do it justice. The coolest part, in my opinion of the cathedral, was the pipe organ. According to the audio tour there are like 8000 pipes (or at least I thought that is what it said) throughout the whole cathedral. There was someone in there playing it and it was the most beautiful, amazing thing I have ever heard. It just went right through you no matter where you were in the church. Great experience! After the cathedral, we had a guided tour of the city by a cool guy named Jarrod. I would describe him as a professional bullshitter! But he was fun none-the-less. Told us lots of cool stories about the city and we even got to walk on the walls of the city! After the tour we had more time to ourselves and I ended up buying some awesome boots!

Interesting fact about the churches here. They are on a major decline! One we saw the other day on our way to Cearnarfon was actually turned into a day care. Most churches are more so tourist attractions than actual places of worship. I can understand why they are historical tourist attractions, but it is hard to believe the huge decline in church going.

Until tomorrow...

~Amy

Reflection on week 1

So I have been in Wales for a full week now and it is everything I could have wished for and more! Words cannot describe what it is like here, but amazing comes close.

In the past week we arrived and got acquainted with Bangor and the surrounding areas. We have been an 2 field trips and another one to come tomorrow. I have met so many great people. All of the Americans I traveled with are amazing and so are my flat mates. Everyone is very nice and helpful.

We have done a lot of exploring and getting lost in the town of Bangor. It is a really interesting town that has everything you could possibly need with in walking distance.

The food is just OK. I expected better but maybe I'm just not ordering the right things or eating in the right places. Everything we have cooked has been really good though. I'm also found out, over all, I'm a pretty good cook when it comes to just "winging it".

Registering for classes has been a very interesting process. And they keep telling us, its not wrong it is just different. I hope classes are fun. I e-mailed my new professors to see if I needed anything special before the start of classes and they seem really nice. I am excited to meet them and get to know them.

Tonight we are planning on playing "Pub Golf" which apparently involves all the different pubs as being holes. So at each hole or pub you have a specific drink and a certain par to drink it in. Sounds interesting.... Overall, the drinks have been very good and I'm having fun trying all of the different beers and hard ciders.

It is amazing how us Americans are so obviously American. We all walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk and we speak "American" instead of "English". I never thought of it that way but that is what they keep telling us. It is amazing how confusing it can be to have a conversation with someone from the UK because we use the same words but they have different meanings. For instance, dish soap is called "washing down liquid" and they call jello-jelly and jelly is jam... so when I was referring to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich they thought I was putting jello on my sandwich.... very confusing to both sides!

I can't wait to start traveling (maybe next weekend since I will always have fridays off, but this coming week I also have thursday off). I also look forward to all the great people I have yet to meet.

Until tomorrow...

~Amy

Class Registration

So, yesterday (Tuesday the 18th) was the day we found out how to register for classes and that was crazy! We are all quite used to sitting at our computers and waiting for the exact moment to hit register to see if we got into the classes we all want for the upcoming semester. That is not the case at all here in Wales.

We started the day in a meeting with all the other international students. It is really hard to think of ourselves as international students but non-the-less that is what we are! We all speak English or American as Tecwyn says, so it is hard to think of ourselves as "foreign" when we speak the same language as the natives. So, we had to sit through this speech from Andrew, who was quite a funny guy! He reminds me of Steve the Pirate from Dodgeball, to give you all a visual image of what this guy looks like. Anyways, he had a great sense of humor and we all had to introduce ourselves and say where we were from and he picked on me to go first. Then he decided to drill me with random questions I had to answer on the spot... that was fun! Anyways, he talked really really slow and clearly because most of the students there, English was not their first language. He explained how we would all have to go around to the "schools" to find someone to sign off on the classes we wanted to take. He made this sound like it was going to be impossible and that it was going to take the entire 2.5 days he was giving us to complete the task. So, i had this horrible image in my head of everyone closing doors on me and telling me to come back a different time to get the signature I needed.

Needless to say, when I finally set out to get the signatures it wasnt nearly as bad as it sounded. We all went to the library across the street first to get our Bangor University ID cards and then to look up where the heck we had to go to get the signatures. I soon realized the first building I needed to go to was directly across the street from the library, the school of Biological and Natural Sciences... perfect! So I walked in a little nervous about what I was actually supposed to be doing, so I put on my "stupid American face" and played dumb. I asked no one in particular if they could sign my paper to approve my Ecology and Evolution class and they said sure! It was that easy! Then all I had to do was find the school of history (which ended up being in Howarts). After that I was good to turn in my sheet to complete the registration process. While in the history department I ran into a girl from Austria who was also ready to turn in her sheet and she seemed to know where she was going so we traveled together. Her name was Laura and we ended up walking all over Bangor together to find supplies. She has only arrived here the day before so she didnt know her way around. While downtown we ran into a few girls from Germany. The one girl, Fancy I believe her name was, didn't know how to get back to the flats so I took her under my wing.

Last night, there was a social gathering for all the international students so we attended that for the free food! I met a few people from Finland and also ran into Laura and Fancy again. I was just making friends from all over the world! After enjoying some food from all around the world, some of us Americans ended up going to the Irish pub to have a couple drinks. After returning to my flat, my flatmates were playing a few drinking games so I joined in! We ended up having a lot of fun getting to know each other. They taught me some games they play here in the UK and I tried to teach them a few games from the US. It ended up most of the games they play here we also play in the states, they just have different names. So that was pretty cool!

Today was a day filled with lots and lots of walking! I bet we walked over 10 miles! We walked over to the island of Anglesey. Ate at a really yummy bakery and walked around by the water. Pictures to come!

Until tomorrow...

~Amy