A Wales of a Tale

Well, I am sad to admit that I made my first big fat American blunder, it took me far too long after being in Wales to realize that it was spelled Wales and not Whales. I've only ever had to spell the animal name so I didn't think much of it. Once I thought to myself 'that looks a little wrong, no, its probably just my imagination' well it wasn't. Just a nice heap of American stupidity on my end.

I loved Cardiff, it was beautiful, I feel like that isn't even the word for it, I just got so caught up in the city it was captivating. I don't think I will have a chance to go back during the time that I am at Keele (I'm trying to save money to go to Paris and Ireland) but, it is officially on my "when I'm rich and/or old I must go back here." I cannot express how grateful I am that I was able to do Cardiff (student style) this time around and develop friendships through the experience. Seriously, there is nothing like getting slightly (walked past the same set of buildings 5 times) lost after dark in a foreign city to bring 5 girls closer together.

It was recommended that I start at the beginning so prepare yourself for a long winded blog post. I was the last to join up with this group, but essentially the plan was to take advantage of the fact that most classes don't happen on Freshers Week and go away for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The problem is the bulk of the master planning for this get away happened Sunday night. So we sat around with our computers and figured out that Meredith and I would come back Tuesday pretty late (so we could have most of the day in Cardiff) so that I could still attend class on Wednesday and Meredith could read Shakespeare for her class.

So the next morning when the alarm went off far too early we were up and off on a bus. Then another bus and then another bus. The third bus was my favorite not for anything the bus specifically had (all the buses were cold) but for the fact that Alyssa would yell out every time she saw an animal out the window. It made me ponder to myself about what people from other countries take pictures of when they travel on I-5 for the first time, cows perhaps?

Once we got into Cardiff we dropped our stuff off at the lockers in the Tourist information center. The Meredith and I ran off to the Doctor Who Experience (because it is filmed in Cardiff) which was really fun and then also had a museum with all sorts of Doctor Who goodness. It made me excited to watch more of the episodes with Mykel when I get home. That evening we went to Prince of Wales for dinner and I had seriously the best chips (fries) ever. I'm hoping that pub fries in this area will be just as good. Then we wandered around, went shopping, and headed to our hostel which took us quite a while to find and when we finally did it was worth it because for the price it was really nice. It even had the English version of continental breakfast which is basically toast (and butter and jam.)

The next day we went to Cardiff Castle, which was probably the most wonderful part of the trip for me. Not only was it full of history but it had so many great views and lovely decorations. I just couldn't believe it. I think the thing that really made the whole experience for me was surviving the scariest stairs I have ever climbed to see one of the greatest views I have ever seen. We shopped at a store named something along the lines of "All Things Wales" then it was lunch (some yummy mini pizzas), shopping, and a photo shoot in the park. Finally Meredith and I were back on the bus and the bus and the taxi and back to Keele around midnight.

Coming soon on facebook far too many pictures from these wonderful two days.