Cardiff, class and the Gower Peninsula

My first week in Wales has gone very well so far, with my major mishap being that I blew out my computer’s AC adapter charger thing a few days ago and just got my replacement. That set me back a few days later than I had planned for writing again, but now my computer works and I have some time to write a new post or two!

I am LOVING it here. This country is so beautiful and the people (both American and British) whom I have met are lovely and the weather has been wonderful. I don’t know how long the sunny days and the warm but drizzly days will last,  but thankfully none have been nasty yet!

My first destination, after the half-empty and spacious plane flight and beautiful coach ride through the countryside, was the city of Cardiff, also in Wales, where my friend Beth attends the British equivalent of medical school. I spent the weekend with Beth and her four housemates who are also medic students. So much fun! Beth also helped me a ton by taking me shopping for bedding, toiletries, groceries, etc before driving me 1 hour further down the motorway and dropping me off at my new home in Swansea!

At Beth's house in Cardiff

When I arrived at my new home in Hendrefoelan Student Village I was greeted warmly by several of my new flatmates. Two girls are from America – Emily is from Oklahoma and goes to school there, and Kristin is from Minnesota and goes to school in Iowa. I live with 9 other people in one house, and aside from these two girls I have three English boys and one Irish boy who are full-time students here and keep me laughing constantly. One thing that all of my flatmates love is that I am a Southerner and apparently talk funny. My flatmate Tom especially loves to make fun of me anytime I use the word “y’all” in general conversation (which is a heck of a lot more often than I ever realized).

My flatmates: Kristin in middle, Emily far right

I finished up my first week of a pre-sessional class here at Swansea yesterday afternoon. There are 60 or so folks here from all across America taking this course that is all about the culture and politics of Britain from the end of World War II until the present. It has been an awesome and diverse course thus far – we have taken 2 long field trips and watched several British films and listened to music from groups ranging from The Beatles to The Sex Pistols to Specials. The professor of this course is very lively and interesting and I like him a whole lot. He has done a fabulous job of showing us the connections between British culture and the political eras they reflect.

On our first day of class this past Monday we went on a field trip to some of the most beautiful and breathtaking countryside I have ever seen. Right down the road from Swansea is a little village called Mumbles (so cute). Below is a picture of me in front of the Mumbles lighthouse. Afterwards we piled back onto our bus and traversed out 30 minutes or so through gorgeous green farmland to the Gower Peninsula. We went to a place called Rhossili, where we walked along some very high cliffs above a large beach. The picture of me and my flatmates above is taken at Rhossili. And according to some poll, Rhossili Beach made it to the #11 spot in the “50 Best Views in the World” contest. And while I’m skeptical of claims like these, when there seems to be no standard of why such-and-such is rated so-and-so, I do believe that this view is going to remain in my personal list of the most beautiful views I have ever experienced.

This lighthouse was completed in 1794 and still standing

A very unique and dreary British kind of beauty. I saw people surfing in this frigid water that day.

 

 

Can you imagine living in this little house, out away from everything but an ocean view?

View towards Rhossili Beach far below

My next post will be more about the town of Swansea, the two museums we went to on our latest field trip, and more about my recent goings-on here.  I will write again very soon!