Not in Kansas Anymore

We made it! (train station)

I'm in Wales.                                       ..... I think.

It has been an interesting few days here, to say the least. Beyond just the traffic moving in opposite directions and varying British accents everywhere, there are a whole lot of things about Bangor and living here that have made it mildly difficult to get settled.

The first, and absolutely most important thing I could possibly say about the past 6 days is ohmygod if it weren't for my mother. Having her here has been amazing. I'm pretty sure I would have curled up and cried and been utterly overwhelmed if she hadn't been here helping me figure everything out. The serious lack of connectivity (no access to the university network til yesterday and close to zero wi-fi in Bangor) in conjunction with a general sense of confusion on the part of everyone I've encountered has made getting key information very difficult. No one seems to know what's going on, and that's not just the students- staff and townspeople as well.

A big issue we've discovered is that no one is very forthcoming with any information whatsoever. If you want to know something, no one is going to see you are confused and approach you to enquire how they may help. To get any information at all, you have to go right to a person and ask the direct and specific question, and then they will engage with you and give an answer. At first, this came off as though the people here were just very unfriendly, and I was getting concerned that I had made a terrible choice and was going to be miserable here, but as the days have passed, we've come to understand that the people are not unfriendly at all, but rather just need to be approached first rather than them coming to you.

On the subject of people, a much lighter topic: I've met some really great people just in the last day or so around my dorm. Many of the people I've met in my building alone happen to be doing the same program as me as well, so that will be cool to know people in my classes already when they start on Monday and to have helplines if I have any trouble. I've been amazed at the diversity of nationalities here even in the small sample population of people I've met: one girl from India, a guy downstairs from Texas, a guy from Colombia, a guy from Costa Rica, a girl from England, a girl from Germany... it's incredible, really. Very cool to think about the experience of all those cultures together.


And now for pictures!!!

Bangor Crest

Main University Building (I call it the castle)

Inner courtyard of the Main Arts Building

Snowdonia view from Ffriddoedd Road (where my dorm is)

More Snowdonia, over a church steeple

Bangor Pier over the Menai Strait (Isle of Anglesey across the way)

The pier through the silver gate

 Ta Da! See? I really am in Wales. :)