Reading Week/s

Last week and this week are the psychology and business departments' reading weeks, respectively. So last week I had no lectures on Tuesday or Wednesday, and this week no lectures on Monday or Thursday. Most people are in one department and therefore get a whole uninterrupted reading week off from lectures, but since our little mashup of a program is the lovechild of the Psychology AND Business departments, we mix and match.

Wednesday last week, Cat and I took a baby road trip out to a town called Llandudno (us non-phlegmy English speakers pronounce it lan-dud-no). It's maybe a 20 minute drive east. It's a pretty little town with lots of Victorian-era looking buildings and pretty sea-front hotels, as well as tons of cute cafes, restaurants, and shops. But don't let the charming sea-front walk and palm trees fool you. It's still Wales. (ie. still mildly gloomy and possibly rainy). All in all it was a refreshing day out of Bangor with proper food and good company :)

The weekend overall was mostly uneventful, despite friday being Guy Fawkes Day, or Bonfire Night. I saw plenty of fireworks from my window that night, and then Dan and I attempted to go see some fireworks in person Saturday night, but due to the fact that it was pouring buckets, we went for a nice soggy walk for nothing. Even in Wales they cancel things for rain... go figure.

Monday, however, Dan and I went to Holyhead and Holy Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyhead) which is a smaller island off the side of the Isle of Anglesey, across the Menai Strait from Bangor. I had read that there were a number of historical/cool things to see in the city of Holyhead and around the island, so we went to check it out. Though the brochures and pamphlets were all a little over-zealous describing the "multitude" of things to see and do, we had a nice afternoon of wandering. We started right in Holyhead, walking the high street to St. Cybi's church (closed to the public, unfortunately, so we couldn't go inside), which is located on the site of an old roman fort, and thus within a stone wall. From there we wandered a bit more in town, then made our way out to Holyhead Mountain. Not so much a mountain as a really big hill, it's got some spectacular views. On our way up one of the mounds that constitute the mountain, we saw a double rainbow, including the second end of one of them!!! It was pretty cool. After we made it up to the top, we sat and looked around for a bit, then made our way back down the other side and off towards the town. All in all a beautiful sunny-ish day.

Now that we're heading into the second half of the semester, it looks like things are going to be picking up academically. I turned in my first official grad school assignment on Friday, the working title of my thesis is due this Friday, I have another paper due next week, and the list goes on...

Superstudent mode, Engage!