Coming Home

Well readers, I am returning to America tomorrow after nine weeks of being away. Jon and I have been having a great time this week and I can't wait to let you all know about it. However, the time is not now as I am quite exhausted and have to catch a plane from Heathrow tomorrow in the morning. I will have a grand conclusion post once I am stateside again. I am really excited to be returning to Indiana especially as summer is not over yet and I have the beach with my mom's family, a week at my Dad's, Jon's sister's wedding, and Jon and I's one year anniversary all to look forward to before dreary old school starts again. I'll see you all in the States!

Gutentag!

Jon and I are now in Cologne, Germany and our hostel has free Internet so I thought I would have a quick update. After a morning struggling with two large suitcases and various buses at early hours, I stored my bags and got to the airport. Jon's flight didn't show up on the arrivals board and so, being my mother's daughter, I assumed it had crashed and panicked. Luckily, the case was not so and he and I had a disgusting Love Actually reunion I will not recount here.

I immediately took him to the Tower which we both thoroughly enjoyed despite large numbers of tourists. Seriously, the most concentrated area of tourists since I have been here. We also went on Tower Bridge before leaving for the airport for Amsterdam. This drunk guy with a dog wouldn't stop talking to us on the train to Stansted but other than that, all went fairly well.

We loved Amsterdam. We went to the Sexmuseum, walked all over the district, took a paddleboat on the canal, went to Anne Frank's House, and shopped for prostitutes in the Red Light District. Not really, but we did walk through the Red Light District, seeing as that was where our hostel was. Our room was also a stainless steel bachelor bad circa 1970, pictures to follow when I return to my laptop. Amsterdam is a beautiful city besides all the sin and smoke, so we had a really great day there.

We are now in Cologne about to go off to the Chocolate Museum (!) but I wanted to let you all know we are OK and having a great time. Aufwiedersein! (I know, not how you spell it, give my apologies to Heidi Klum.)

Going Offline

I am about to leave Palace Court and thus leave Internet access. I don't know when I will have it again or if I will get to an Internet cafe but I am hoping that I will. I can share Jon and I's adventures with all of you plus have some sort of blog closure to my whole study abroad experience. So keep watching for an update my loyal readers.

Last Week of the Program

Sunday I slept until noon after the debacle that was Fabric and was awoken by Molly coming to get me to go to Spitalfields Market, yet another open-air market with stalls of clothing, jewelry, ethnic food, and various other goods. We had a late start since we were waiting for two girls who had partied pretty hard at Fabric and thus were not the quickest to revive but set off we did. Spitalfields was definitely the least crowded of the markets I have been to and had a lot of really cool stuff but once again, nothing really caught my fancy. Well, except for the most beautiful vintage dress I have ever seen, but it was 250 pounds so that was no use. I am just really bad at shopping, especially in a different currency system, so came away without anything again. It was a fun trip anyway and turned out to be my only venture away from Palace Court that day. I needed the rest of the time to continue recovering from Fabric and to get things left undone accomplished.

Monday I resolved to get back out there and get things done. I left in the morning for the Museum of London which is exactly what it sounds like, a museum about London and its history. Snore. Seriously, I love history, but this was without a doubt one of the most boring museums I have ever been to in my life. Not well laid out and very dry. Plus a large section of it was off limits due to construction and there was a large group of schoolchildren. Shudder. Schoolchildren. Shudder. It had some items of interest such as an ancient lion skull (yes, there used to be lions in Britain, who knew?) and Oliver Cromwell's funeral mask but it looked like the best stuff was in the under construction portion. Lametastic. After that disappointment, I headed for the Monument to the Great Fire of 1666. Then when I got there, I decided I didn't really want to pay the 2 pounds to go up to its balcony and thus I looked, took a few pictures, and then left. I had some time until my oral exam at City but I got turned around a bit trying to reach my next museum so I ended up foregoing anything else and going early to print train tickets and such for Germany. The exam was basically just me talking to my academic adviser and internship coordinator about my internship and academic paper. No big deal at all. Just chit-chat really. I headed home for a quick dinner before heading to the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre where I had tickets for The Importance of Being Earnest.

I immediately fell in love with Regent's Park as I walked through it to the theatre. It has a boating lake and gazebos. I have a thing for gazebos. I also loved the theatre when upon entering it was decked out in twinkly lights. I also have a thing for twinkly lights. It reminded me so heavily of the Tippecanoe Amphitheater that I got nostalgic for bygone summer days at Civic. The show was very good too. Well, Act I not so much. I didn't think much of the actors playing Algernon and Jack and they were the vast majority of the first act so I didn't enjoy it much. Everyone in the first act just seemed to know they were performing Wilde and that it should be funny so they played everything more over the top than was necessary. They seemed to be telling us the audience how we should react rather than letting us react how we pleased. Luckily, the second act, really Act II and III, introduced Cecily who was my favorite performer of the evening. She overdid nothing and was a breath of fresh air to the proceedings. She and Gwendolyn also had great chemistry together, bouncing off of and complementing each other well. I don't know what it was but everyone seemed to do better in the second act than in the first, even Jack and Algernon, so the evening ended with delight rather than boredom. Though I still had qualms about the scenic design. Who thought it was a good idea to require the crew to "plant" dozens of roses on the stage floor during intermission and then take them up again between Act II and III without an intermission? Seriously, it was like the painfully long scene changes from Number the Stars all over again. The theatre also made us exit a different way than we came in so I had no idea how to get back to the Tube station. Luckily, I just followed the crowd and ended up back there anyway. Yay for lemming logic!

Tuesday was bad. I slept until 4 pm. I know, shameful, I agree but I swear it felt like I had mono again I was so tired and lacking in energy. I tried to wake up at 8 am and noon but both attempts were miserable failures. My body just gave out on me and would not let me do what I wanted until it had its proper rest. I felt much better when I finally did get up and shower and grocery shop. Plus people were going out that night and my intense sleep session left me ready and raring. We went to Sports Cafe because it was student night so we got in for free and got really cheap drinks. Some people chose to join a beer pong tournament but I opted for the dance floor instead. I had the time at Sports that I expected to have at Fabric. Great music, enough room to breathe and dance, and company to keep away the creepers. Unfortunately, a few unavoidably got in but they were dispatched as quickly as possible. I also had an interesting conversation with a Brazilian through my notebook and pen since we couldn't actually hear each other. Poor Tiago could hardly speak or write English anyway but he was nice and not creepy. It was 2 am before the others decided we needed to leave. I could have stayed and danced longer but having traveled back alone in the middle of the night before, I did not wish to repeat the experience. Really fun night at Sports and way cheaper as well.

Wednesday sucked because it was our final exam day. Everyone was studying or attempting to study all day because of course none of us had before then. This being the last hurdle to complete freedom made it all the harder for us to complete. By 8 pm, it was indeed done and time to sleep to prepare for...

CHAWTON!!!!! For those of you who don't know what Chawton is, it is the location of the Jane Austen's House museum where Jane lived when all of her novels were published and where she wrote my personal favorite, Emma. I have been looking forward to this trip since before the program even started. I missed the 10 o'clock train by a few minutes (FML) so I had to wait in Waterloo station for the 11 o'clock. Tres boring seeing as the only thing to do was go into the 50% off sale at Monsoon and marvel at how 50% off can still be so expensive. Then when I went through the ticket gate the guy asked me where I was going. I said Alton (the nearest train station to Chawton) but I said "al-ton". The ticket guy gave me a dirty "you American" look and snootily corrected me that it was "uhl-ton". What the fuck ever dude.

An hour later, I was in Jane Austen country. The Jane Austen's House website said to take a bus and then walk but after picking up a map, I figured I would just walk since it really wasn't that far. This meant I got to walk through Alton town and I liked it. It felt somewhat like Penzance in that it was small town and pretty but minus the ocean. I found Chawton with little difficulty and came upon Jane Austen's House before I even knew that is what it was. I entered through the shop, though nothing caught my fancy, and watched the intro video surrounded by stills from Jane Austen films. Jane Austen's House is a nice sized cottage with a courtyard, garden, and bakehouse. It was gloriously sunny so I sat in the garden for a bit before entering the actual house. I got to see the table where Jane Austen wrote all of her novels. I about hyperventilated with excitement and coolness. It was a very interesting place with costumes from Jane Austen film adaptations, Jane artifacts, and displays about her novels as well. You really could imagine her life even if being surrounded by senior citizens and wall plaques dampened the effect somewhat. Feeling I had paid proper homage, I decided after leaving the museum to not go to Winchester, where she is buried, but rather explore Alton further before boarding the train.

This turned out to be an excellent idea as I had a delicious meal and found an awesome secondhand book store. My late lunch was a farmhouse burger (a burger topped with a fried egg and bacon), chips (with salt, pepper, and vinegar of course), and a chocolate milkshake (my first since coming to Britain). Well worth the splurge of pounds for it. Thanks to the Alton Secondhand Bookstore, my collection of Charlotte Bronte novels is complete as I purchased The Professor there in addition to Child Star, the autobiography of Shirley Temple (50p!), and Classic Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories.

I caught an earlier train back to London, got myself an enormous Diet Coke from McDonald's, and then perused ANOTHER discount bookstore until it was time to enter the Old Vic for The Winter's Tale. The Old Vic is an excellent theater and one of the few that has managed not to burn down at some point or other. My seat in the dress circle was 19.50 because a safety rail was partially in my sight line. This safety rail was a skinny bar of metal that obscured my view not a bit. The people right in front of me had to pay 45 pounds for their seats and we really had the same viewpoint. Even the pillars I doubt would have obscured a view too much considering how small they were. So the lesson is, when going to the Old Vic, always pick a seat with something "in your way" because it likely will make no difference and you get a cheap ticket. Yay!

I had never seen The Winter's Tale performed but I knew the story and had used a monologue from it to audition on several occasions. It was very good, as evidenced by my tears at the end of the first act and the second. It takes good theater to make me cry whereas any old film or TV show can manage to do it. The cast was made up of a company of British and American actors, including Ethan Hawke, all of whom are distinguished in the profession. For all this, I was not as impressed by some as I would have thought. Leontes was not very good in my opinion nor was Perdita, Florizel, or Polixenes. Paulina was truly amazing as was Hermione and Ethan Hawke was hysterical besides apparently being able to sing country music well. The most exciting thing for me though was Antigonus who turned out to be played by none other than Headmaster Charleston from Gilmore Girls! I was probably the only one in the theater whose celebrity awe was for him rather than Ethan. All in all, a most enjoyable evening at the theater, even if it was 3 hours and pouring rain when we exited the theater.

Today is not really worth mentioning beyond that I fruitlessly went shopping and packed. For most people, today is their last day in London or their families are here, so I was in a rather interesting spot. Perhaps I should have done something more notable than visit two Primarks and various too-expensive vintage stores but really I am so tired of touring and especially on my own as most of mine has been. I am SO ready for Jon to be here so I will have someone to tour with me and I can see London afresh through his eyes. His week here will be intense so perhaps I am just resting up for that rather than wearing myself out before it even starts. It is just getting to that point where you know it is time to go home and you are ready for it. I am ready, after Jon and I's week, to come home. I love America. I love Bloomington. I love my mom. I love my pets. I love London too but it isn't home, though someday I do hope to make it so.

Last Week Recap

Last week I spent Monday and Tuesday finishing my enormous academic paper and then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were my last days of work. It was an intense week, let me tell you. I had to work for 10 hours on Thursday because we had the get in for the kids' show and then the dress/tech rehearsal that night. I got to learn how to use the BAC's Ion light board which is beautiful and far more advanced than anything I ever ran at Civic. Though running the lights comes down to the same thing really no matter what: pressing the Go button. The kids were still predictably unfocused, most especially a few of them, but the show went off without too many problems Friday night. I stayed after to have a pint with the director and two other helpers and we had some good laughs about beatboxing and George Lucas. I got more emotional than I thought leaving that night knowing it was the last time. I was sad to not be able to say good-bye to any of my co-workers because none of them were working that day and my manager Luke had already left as well. The BAC wasn't exactly what I had had in mind for my summer but I did learn things and got to work with some fun people.

The Saturday following work was the Arcadia day trip to Brighton. I was really excited to go because Mom and Maddie had a great time there 7 years ago before I arrived and have been raving about it ever since. The day was like all other days on Arcadia planned trips: cloudy, chilly, and wet. Not the best weather for exploring a seaside town but I was determined to to be optimistic. After 1.5 hours in a freezing cold bus, we alighted right by Brighton Pier but made our way to the Brighton Pavilion to collect our group tickets. The Pavilion looks like an Indian palace from the outside with onion domes and such and then is decorated inside in a Chinese style. George IV built it when he was regent as his opulent seaside retreat and continued to use it until his death where it was then used by his two brother successors but Victoria didn't like it and sold it to the city council of Brighton. It really is remarkable inside, though for one who has been to China, it is obviously a very British interpretation of Chinese style. The dragon chandelier was my favorite thing, naturally, as it was very shiny.

We breezed through the Pavilion, seeing every room but not listening to the extensive audio tour commentary (not all of the buttons on my handset worked too), and then went to lunch in The Lanes, Brighton's main shopping area of very narrow alleyways. We ate at this amazing Italian restaurant with 8.95 three course lunch but it took 2 hours to get out of there and we were seated in the family section and thus had screaming children to put up with. My mushrooms cooked in butter, garlic, and parsley made up for it though. Oh my god amazing. After lunch we wandered through The Lanes some more, attempting to shop, but nobody really buying anything. Eventually Nori and I decided we wanted to check out the pier so we left the others to go do that. I love Brighton Pier; it is like King's Island on the Water. Fried food stands, henna tattoos, psychic readings, thrill rides, arcade games, etc all await you on the pier. We had limited time so unfortunately could not partake in any of the trashy chic enjoyment and we also only got to spend about a minute on the pebbly beach before taking off in the coach. I definitely want to return to Brighton someday and do it right, hopefully when the sun is out.

This day was followed by the biggest FML night I may have ever had. Against my better judgment, I decided to get dressed up and go out to a club with people from the house. I hadn't been to one my entire stay so I thought it was about time. We were supposed to leave at 11 but it was actually midnight before we left. This meant we missed the last tube and had to take a cab. Now, 8 people had tickets to the club, meaning they could go straight in without waiting in the line. Three of those girls were in my cab, however when we arrived at the club, it was discovered that three girls in the other cab that arrived before us had taken their tickets. This made the three girls incredibly angry and upset, making them call people inside to rant and talk of going home. I, who was going to have to wait in line anyway, didn't mind but I wanted to get in the line due to it being very chilly and raining. We got in the line and almost immediately got moved to the front of it because we were four girls on our own.

16 pounds (I know, too expensive, but I hadn't gone out before and figured it wouldn't hurt that much) later and we were inside Fabric, apparently London's hottest club. Yeah...it was like being inside an aneurysm. There were strobe lights, flashing lights, and fog, so that you couldn't see anyone around you and always felt somewhat off balance. It was also extremely crowded making dancing an uncomfortable invasion of personal space and the only music playing was very bad techno. I ended up with two girls and our three guys, none of whom really seemed interested in dancing, the whole reason I came,and all of whom were trashed while I was stone cold sober. Needless to say, the night was tedious and I wanted to go home but none of them wanted to come with me. I checked my phone at 3 am and saw I had missed a text from two girls who were leaving at 2 and wanted to know if I wanted to come with them. This made me angry at the world and so when my group moved to change locations again, I refused to come and instead left to go home.

So there I am alone in London at 3 in the morning when its raining and having no idea where I am. An enviable position to be in, I know. Still, I know enough about how to navigate London to not panic and walk until I find a bus stop. Of course, one is just down the road and I hop on the first bus that comes. On that bus, I figure out I need to take the 390 back to Palace Court, so I get off at the first stop where the 390 stops. However, since it is the middle of the night, the 390 wasn't scheduled to come for 20 minutes. This meant I had to hang out at the bus stop freezing cold and wet, tired to the core, surrounded by drunk/creepy people also waiting for early morning buses. Fun. The bus was late, which freaked me out for a bit, but I got on without any trouble and made it home fine. I got in bed at 4:30 and slept until Molly came to get me to go to the market at noon. Needless to say, I have been effectively turned off clubbing and will not be attempting another such night the rest of my sojourn in London.

At last, I am now caught up to this week which really hasn't been all that exciting but that entry will follow this one and then I will be completely caught up. WOO! Let this be a lesson to never get behind on ones blog; it is quite an effort to catch up again and your loyal readers become frustrated with you. I am sure there are many things that I forgot, especially pertaining to work, but I have always been of the mind that if you forget something then it was never really all that important to begin with.

Caty Turns 20 in Wales

My co-workers and I spent four hours talking about cultural differences between the US and the UK while also looking at funny websites. I also witnessed two of them, grown men, enthusiastically playing Cat's Cradle. Class was about immigration and we got a simple math worksheet to determine who did or did not have enough points to become a citizen. Ok, now that is out of the way, the fun stuff.

The weekend of July 3-5 was Arcadia's Adventure Weekend in Wales which I had been looking forward to ever since Arcadia sent us the activities list way back in May. My love for outdoor adventure is well-documented plus I really wanted to go to Wales plus it was the 4th/my birthday. Awesome. The 9 of us going from Palace Court set off together to Paddington Station which is about a 20-30 minute walk as it turns out. We were all in high spirits for our weekend away from London and academic paper stress.

We took a train to Swansea and then changed to a train to Haverfordwest, the nearest train station to Preseli Venture. It was uneventful, as most train travel is, except for the amusing Bunny Suicides that Stacy and Phil drew and shared with me. If you don't know about the Bunny Suicides, go look it up now, so funny. Preseli Venture, the name of the company who arranged the weekend and owned the lodge we would be staying at, sent people to meet us at Haverfordwest and take us in their van/jeep vehicles. I thought they were cool because they had such high ceilings that you could stand up inside the van and not hit your head. However, the ride was rather turny and twisty and 25 minutes long and I hadn't eaten in awhile. Not fun but I survived with minimal sickness.

Preseli Venture Lodge is an isolated area of the Pembrokeshire National Park with a small village a 20 minute walk up the hill and a few farms down the road. Absolutely gorgeous green hills, wildflowers, and a peek of the cliff and ocean beyond. The lodge is made up of two connected buildings. One is for the rooms and showers and the other is for the kitchen, bar, and lounge. The rooms were actually very nice with comfy beds and plenty of storage space. I shared a 6 person room with Clare, Molly, and Nori, and got my always beloved top bunk so that was fun. We threw our stuff down and went to dinner. Preseli provides all your meals while there and it is all home cooked by their chef Jackie. Our first dinner was vegetable lasagna and I was so hungry by that time that I just started eating without thinking about the vegetables. Shockingly, it was really good and I didn't even have to pick anything out of it despite the presence of my least favorite veggie, zucchini. I liked the lasagna more than the dessert of apple pie and ended up trading Phil my pie for his leftover zucchini. I know, take a moment to recover from the shock and feeling of the world turning upside down on itself.

We had free time after dinner so we all decided to walk 20 minutes down the hill to the local beach. We got a map from behind the bar and Helen, the bartender, explained the route to us. It seemed easy enough: walk down the hill, turn left, go through the gate right past the houses, and just follow the path through some woods, a meadow, and some more woods. No problem. Most people brought booze with them too so we were a merry party setting off. The farmhouses along the way were adorable and the walk was just very picturesque. We ran into no problems until after the meadow. There was a path leading up stairs and one leading through mud into a semi-swamp. Helen hadn't said anything about stairs but she had said there would be lots of mud and we should remove our shoes so we went the way of the semi-swamp. Soon we were all over our ankles in the most disgusting mud contracting who knows what diseases from the multitudes of insects. Eventually we came to where there was no way we could walk farther, it was genuinely swamp and was covered with water. Phil climbed up the hill next to us and then shouted down to us that the beach was straight ahead that way. We should have taken the stairs and thus avoided the whole muddy mess. FML.

Abermawr Beach is my perfect beach and we were there at the perfect time. The sun was setting making the clouds yellow and pink and purple. There was a cliff on the right side and on the left side and the beach was rocky instead of sandy. I fell in love immediately. Those of us brave (read: stupid) enough stripped to our bathing suits and ran into the water. Let me tell you, if I thought the Channel in Cornwall was cold, the Irish Sea in Wales is even more so. After dunking my whole body under, I came up screaming. Your skin goes numb eventually but for a few minutes there, it is intense. After wave jumping and allowing our bodies to get used to the water, some of us swam over to some rocks and went climbing. Not the best idea in bathing suits and bare feet especially since the rocks were covered in barnacles and thus very sharp. It was really fun though and I got to sing "Part of Your World" from a rock similar to the one in the movie where the ocean crashes up behind her. We left the rocks and Phil and I stayed in the water some more before going and sitting on the sand right at the water line and just staring around us in wonder. The sky looked like a gorgeous still painting because there was no wind. At last, Phil and I left the water, the last to do so, and then everyone on the shore informed me I was bleeding. It was true, somewhere along the way, barnacles had sliced open my leg and my calf was covered in blood. Nothing serious, I just let it bleed and figured the saltwater would have done it some good. We sat there until the sun was close to down and then made our way back in near darkness. Somewhat disconcerting but we made it back fairly easily and got to see a beautiful moon over the meadow. A shower and then it was bedtime since we would be rising early to start our activities.

Saturday morning they had bacon. Not bacon strips like in America, but more ham-like bacon. Still it was bacon and I was REALLY excited about that. Made the lackluster other offerings of toast, cereal, and fruit all that much better. My morning was dedicated to sea kayaking but first we had to go to the shed and suit up. Let me tell you, wetsuits are the worst possible things for your self-esteem. They are so hard to get on your body that you can actually injure yourself in the attempt. Not that I did that. No, that was that other girl. Yeah. Anyway, I had so many layers on. Bathing suit, fleece jacket, wet suit, waterproof jacket, life jacket, and kayak skirt. Yes, you read that right. You have to wear a skirt that hooks around the opening of your kayak so excess water doesn't get in. I felt mega attractive, let me tell you.

After our struggles outfitting ourselves, fitting our kayaks, and going over kayak basics, we drove off for Fishguard where we would be kayaking. Fishguard is a very pretty seaside village with a calm harbor that is ideal for beginner kayakers even if it was the setting for first Moby Dick movie and thus made me twitch a little. Once in the water, our instructors gave us more information about how to manage our kayak and then made us play kayak polo with a tennis ball so we could figure it all out. Needless to say, I was completely useless at both the kayaking and the polo playing. We then set off for the open ocean and I discovered I had the kayak magnetically attracted to the rocks. At least, that is what I am blaming it on. I lagged behind until we got safely away from the rocks and from there I could more or less keep up with the group. Our instructors shared fun facts with us as we paddled such as when the women of Fishguard saved Wales from the French in around 1797 by dressing in their absent military husbands uniforms and standing on the cliffs so the French though there were lots of soldiers and surrendered. They also pulled up crab traps and I got to hold a velvet crab. We also explored a cave before heading back to the harbor where we had to paddle against the wind which proved extremely difficult. I was so hot and tired by the time we got back to the ramp that I capsized on purpose (It is really easy to get out of a capsized kayak contrary to popular belief) just to cool off.

Thoroughly exhausted and soaked, the lunch of delicious gammon (basically vegetable with pork) soup and bread was much needed. I took a quick rinse in the shower just to get the salt off because our afternoon activity was going to be a hike so showering would have been useless. I forgot to mention that the weather in Wales is even more schizo than in Indiana. It will downpour for five minutes and then the sun will come out for an hour and then it will downpour again and so on and so forth. I didn't mind the rain when we were kayaking because I was wet already but hiking is a different story. There were two hikes: one 7 miles and one 3.5 miles from the halfway point of the other hike, Abercastle. It was pouring rain when the van stopped and the Preseli lady asked if anyone wanted to just do the Abercastle hike. No one wanted to be the weeny who voted for the short hike so we continued on. The Preseli lady dropped us off, basically said "Have fun but be back by 6 or else we call the coast guard.", and then we were left on our own to follow the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. It poured through the first 15-20 minutes of the hike and then was sunny and beautiful the rest of the time but we were already soaked so it didn't count for much. The scenery was without a doubt some of the best I have seen with cliff after cliff after cliff, the clear blue sea spreading out to the horizon, and all manner of flora growing on long grass reminiscent of Little House on the Prairie. Had the lower half of my body not protected by the waterproof not been so wet, it would have been more enjoyable.

Now it is time for my rant about sheep shit. The path led us through pastures, as in we were in among the animals. This also meant we were in among their excrement. It was everywhere. Big poop, little poop, dry poop, wet poop, completely unavoidable. I stopped admiring the scenery and instead had to constantly look at the ground to avoid the biggest piles of poop all the time knowing I was stepping in smaller ones which made me very grumpy. They should have had an advisory or something to warn about the sheep shit or found some way of cleaning it up. Who likes to walk through fecal matter? Who?! Of course, after Abercastle, the path went through no more pastures and so if I had walked the shorter hike then I could have avoided the sheep shit altogether. FML. It also turned out that 7 miles was a bit too much for me and sometime after Abercastle, my muscles started a mutiny and I had to push myself to keep moving. All in all, the hike was a fairly miserable experience despite the amazing surroundings. I felt fully justified in scarfing down an entire tube of Pringles after finally getting back to the lodge. A shower and dinner of curried chicken and rice restored my spirits but I was still exhausted. After a game of Balderdash and a Vodka Blue, I couldn't make it even to the bonfire and went to bed early to soothe my aching muscles. Not a very exciting 4th of July but I enjoyed myself, minus the sheep shit.


HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY TO ME! Really, it wasn't a very birthday birthday since my friends said Happy Birthday to me and that was about it. Still, it was one of my favorites because I got to go coasteering. Coasteering is a mix of rock climbing, swimming, and cliff jumping, so obviously designed to be one of my favorite activities ever. After breakfast (MORE BACON FOR MY BIRTHDAY!), we had to climb into wet suits again. This is when I was worried my birthday was going to go horribly wrong. I couldn't squeeze myself into my first suit despite incurring multiple friction burns in the attempt and they had to get me a second bigger one which I required aid to get into. At this point, everyone else was not only in their wetsuit, but had their padding shorts, lifejacket, helmet, and wet suit socks on as well. I was holding up the van. Because I was too fat. On my birthday. Woo.

It all got better from there though. Martin, our native Welshman guide, took us to an old abandoned quarry right on the coast so we had a protected lagoon to start off in. The water was a shock again but winter wetsuits are awesome and really did keep us mostly warm. We bobbed about in the water for a bit before Martin led us to a rock wall and we all climbed up onto the plateau. He had us practice proper jumping technique there because it was not but a foot or two up from the water. After that, we climbed up to a ledge of the old quarry building and jumped from there. I wanted to go higher (when don't I?) but Martin wouldn't let me. I seemed to amuse him in my enthusiasm for jumping from high places and climbing up rocks. He pointed to a section of the rock wall and said "If you want to climb up the hardest way, that is it." So I proceeded to climb up that way. Twice. The only girl to do so. Leaping off a cliff into the lagoon was incredibly fun and posing for my waterproof camera while doing so was an interesting challenge. All in all, an excellent birthday activity on its own. After we were all jumped out, Martin took us out onto some rocks into the open sea. The sea was pretty rough that day but that just made it more fun. He let us bob in this "jacuzzi" between two rocks as waves came in and out which inspired much screaming and giggling fun. The only part I didn't like was the seaweed that tangled around my legs and made me feel like the Kraken was coming for me.

We returned to the lodge for a baked potato loaded down with cheese and sweet corn for lunch before getting driven back to Haverfordwest. We then spent the next six hour on trains getting back to London. I got home and immediately called Mom and Jon before going to bed. End of birthday. So like I said, not very much like a birthday, but a fun day anyway despite the obnoxious hours of traveling. I love Wales and would love to go back at any time. Being 20 is also quite strange I must say. It has been one week now and I am still not used to the idea of no longer being an adolescent and that in 10 years I will probably be married and having babies. Woah. Too much for me. But for now, I am just chilling and waiting to turn 21 since we all know that is the way more important and cool birthday, at least in America.

Dublinia

Skip and I didn't awaken until 10 the next morning. We hadn't gone to bed until 2 so cut us a break. After a breakfast of three slices of toast and milk, we made for the city. Santry, Skip's neighborhood, is about a 45 min-1 hr bus ride to the city center. You have to have exact change for the bus ticket too. Very annoying. The ride was interesting, as I got to see a lot of Dublin on the way and hear more about it from Skip.

We were dropped off at O'Connell Street which is the main thoroughfare of Dublin. It contains The Spire, a huge monument modeled after a knitting needle to commemorate the Aran sweater, one of Ireland's greatest exports. Take that Eiffel Tower, there's a new phallic symbol in town. We walked along a wide pedestrian shopping street before going by her work and then crossing the River Liffey. We encountered a creepy woman who tried to hit on Skip as we passed by and a bunch of guys dressed as fictional female characters before we saw the rainbow flags and realized the Gay Pride Festival was in town. We were super excited but didn't actually end up running into it which was sad. We didn't really go in any places but we walked by quite a few such as Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and Trinity College. We went in the Trinity bookstore where Skip knocked over an entire row of books about Napoleon much to my amusement. Dublin Castle doesn't really even look like a castle but like any other Georgian brick building with a random medieval tower attached so we passed on that too. We walked around A LOT though so I saw a great deal of Dublin including some very non-tourist areas and being with Skip was enough to make it fun. We ended up at St. Stephen's Green, a gorgeous park, before deciding to head back to O'Connell Street and get ready for our night on the town.

Much to my delight, they have Tesco in Ireland so we walked to Skip's nearby branch and stocked up on food and booze, of course. She had discovered the deliciousness of Bulmer's hard cider, just as I had, so we bought a 12 pack for the two of us for the weekend. We retreated to her apartment to drink our Bulmer's, eat cheap pizza, and watch half of Confessions of a Shopaholic before the audio got off sync and highly annoying. Her friends returned from wherever they had been and preparations for going out began. I liked her friends, though it was a bit strange being the odd one out of all of their jokes. They seemed to be the same kooky kind of people I like to spend my time with. We went to a pretty cool bar that had dancing but no cover charge. The first song they played upon walking in was "Summer of '69" so I knew the music was going to be awesome. Skip, her friend Laura, and I danced the night away implementing our own unique system of pulling and turning each other away from any creeper who tried to dance with one of us. It was a No Boys Allowed party. Skip then took me to Temple Bar but at this point it was 2 a.m., everyone was smashed, and the streets were trashed. We headed back, getting Burger King for Skip on the way. Yes, she got us Burger King cardboard crowns, yes, we wore them on the street and in the cab, and yes, we had a photo shoot when we got back. That is why Skip and I are friends. I slept on the L-shape that night which worked out only slightly better than the floor but hey, it was free.

We slept in again since we had stayed up late again. Skip mocked me for having a Bulmer's with breakfast but it was the only beverage I owned in her apartment, I didn't want to waste what I had purchased, and the Irish have a pint with breakfast all the time. I was just getting in touch with my ancestry. We got into the city center at roughly 2 in time to meet my roommate Lacey at the hostel she and I had gotten for Sunday night since Skip had to work early on Monday. The three of us then went to the National Museum. This was really cool because it had dead people. Literally. Four bog preserved bodies and a Viking skeleton. Totally gross and creepy so I loved it naturally. They were definitely the highlight of the museum along with the random Ancient Egypt exhibit with mummies (hey dead people again) and jewelry. I was tempted to buy a genuine Irish newsboy cap at the gift shop but it passed when I saw the price. After the museum, we settled in a pub to watch what we thought was a football game. Well, it was...Gaelic football. Gaelic football is the oddest sport I have ever witnessed. It seems to combine every other sport known to man. I mean you can kick the ball, dribble the ball, punch it with your arms, and there is a goal AND goal posts. We simply could not figure out the rules but it was funny to watch as well as the attractive men playing. Skip and Lacey got Irish breakfast for dinner so I got to pilfer their unwanted sausage which made me happy.

Lacey and I bid Skip good-bye after a drink in Temple Bar. Lacey and I went to another pub to watch the Brazil-USA football game but got sidetracked by who else but creepy middle-aged men. I swear, I must project some kind of midlife crisis vibe or something because the only guys who ever talk to me, excepting UQ douchebag, are overly friendly middle aged men. We weren't in the pub five minutes before a group zoned in on us and wouldn't let us go. We spent the next three hours principally with this one guy whose name I either never learned or do not remember. He kept buying drinks which I refused but I had to sit there while Lacey got drunker and drunker, eventually lopsidedly line dancing to "Cotton Eyed Joe". At least she didn't shout "DOWN WITH THE BRITISH!" Finally, I peeled Lacey away from the cesspool and conducted her safely back to our hostel. Where she proceeded to vomit, only partially in the trashcan, waking up the three other women in our room and I had to run and get toilet paper to try and clean up. All in all, not my ideal evening in Dublin. I am just too serious, at least according to creepy middle aged man, but he gave Lacey his e-mail address and a room key so I don't really pay attention to his opinion.

Lacey and I were predictably tired after our long night/weekend so Monday was very chill. We went to the Carriage Office where I found out no one had turned in my cell phone and gave them Lacey's number in case some miracle happened and they got it before our plane took off. (It didn't and I looked up my account online and someone had used my phone after I lost it. FML.) We then bought our airport bus tickets, went souvenir shopping (none of my definitely Irish family names were present on the heredity key chains and mugs which miffed me), and walked along the Liffey. We found a series of the scariest looking sculptures I have ever seen. They looked as if they were made out of the scum that forms on ships and were excessively tall and skinny. They really resembled Redeads from Ocarina of Time and thus filled me with horror. The sculptures were to commemorate the victims of the Irish Potato Famine but we took inappropriate smiling and mocking photos anyway. I know, express elevator to Hell, heard it all before. We had no problems with anything at the airport so we had time to grab food and then I found my flight was delayed again. Ironically, Ryanair is the "on time airline". Ha. That is all I have to say about that. Ha. I had also forgotten my month unlimited Oystercard expired while I was away so I had to pay 2 pounds for a bus to get to a Tube station to start a pay-as-you-go account. Slightly annoying but nothing compared to losing my cell in the cab.

My impression of Dublin was not very favorable. Great nightlife, no doubt about it, but if you are like me and not very interested in that, it is a slightly underwhelming city. Admittedly, I didn't get to go to any of the renowned theaters which might have tipped my favor a bit nor did I see near everything but what I did see did not impress me. I enjoyed Ireland much more 7 years ago but then Ireland is really a lot about its countryside and that is where I went before. Getting to see Skip was really awesome though; we had so much fun and so many laughs that Dublin could have been Gary and I would have had a good time. So I am very glad I went but I don't really have a strong desire to go back. Sorry homeland, no good craic.