Foggy Day(s) in Londontown

I know I kind of just got back to Bangor, but I really needed to get away. Fortunately for me, Cat and her family are lovely people who are/were more than willing to have me out to their home. Thanks to convenient scheduling, we had some time between our last exam and the start of semester 2, so Cat and I hit the road out of Bangor and to her house for a bit of a sightseeing vacation. It was exactly what I needed.

We left Wednesday around noon for a 4-5 hour drive headed out to Guilden Morden, an adorable village full of thatched roof cottages and a super old church.

Very picturesque. Cat's family actually lives in the old school which, from the outside looks like it belongs in some other era, but on the inside it magically looks like it could be anywhere in the modern world. That first night we had dinner with Cat's parents and then her brother, Em, came in after attending a filming of Top Gear. (If you're interested, it was the episode that aired Sunday. Apparently you can see him grinning in the audience).

Thursday and Saturday were London Days. Friday was Cambridge day. I won't lie, my pictures from Cambridge are not very impressive, so I'll leave it to a description. Cat and I had plans to do some walking and sightseeing around Cambridge, as well as some shopping at a cute-and-cheap store called Primark. This place was a big success. Think H&M but cheaper. After we spent an absurd amount of time there, we set out for a walk around town. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty gross (cold and damp) and we were not really dressed for it to be as cold as it turned out to be, but we made the best of it. We wandered all around seeing the various colleges of Cambridge Uni, some cute shops, and a really old and round church. It's a great town and I'm looking forward to going back sometime when the weather is a little nicer- we're going to go punting!!

As for the London days, we saw quite a lot. Friday we started out at the Tower of London which, as I hadn't realized (not that I had ever really thought about it), is not just a tower but a little complex of buildings. We looked around there and saw the crown jewels which were incredible. How they keep 15th century pieces looking brand new is something I'll never fully comprehend. We also hopped on a guided tour to learn more about the stories and history of the tower (or as our tour guide would be proud to hear me remember, the 20 towers). Some really interesting tidbits! Not to mention the very entertaining beefeater guide :)

After the tower, we had tickets for an open-top bus tour of London. Though we didn't actually get an open-top bus, it was a really great way to see the city and get an idea of what was there to see and consider doing when we came back on Saturday. It was also a good opportunity to get some practice in with my new DSLR camera. The pictures are a little fuzzy given that they were shot on an unfamiliar camera through windows on a moving vehicle, but well worth the efforts. After the bus tour, Cat and I headed to the West End since we had scored tickets to Les Miserables. I've seen it a couple of times before, but Cat had never seen it despite being a big theater nerd so were were both really excited. And it was phenomenal. Our seats were great and the cast was fantastic. A superb end to an already great day.

Saturday we began our day with a ride around the London Eye which in and of itself is a cool thing to look at, but then it also gives you some spectacular views of the city. From there (and after some lunch) we set off on a long walk all over the place. We made our way down along the Thames to the site of the Globe Theater (not as exciting as it sounds... they only built this replica a few years ago), and then across the Millennium bridge to St Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately, they were charging ridiculously high rates to go in and there was a huge line so by those two factors combined, we made do with the outside views. After that we went over to Buckingham Palace (by underground, not walking) and spent some time around there, then walking down to Trafalgar Square to get a better look at things than we got from the bus. The sky over London during those two days was just incredible in the evenings and made for some great moody-looking pictures, particularly there at Trafalgar. After all of that Cat and I were pretty tired, so we had some tea then called it a day and headed back to her house for dinner.

After those few days of running around and seeing lots of things, we took a lazy morning on Sunday and relaxed a bit before having to hit the road to come back to Bangor. It really was a fantastic few days away. Much-needed comfort and distraction before hitting the ground running with the second semester. And a great excuse to play with my new fancy camera!

There are lots more pictures where these came from too.... stay tuned for the albums on facebook!

First Semester: Check.

We're officially (and finally) done with Semester 1. That's right folks, exams are over! We had our last one yesterday. Save the worst for last? It was alright, but unfortunately we all seemed to go into it feeling like our heads were empty from trying to cram so much into them, and walked out feeling even emptier. Our brains felt so mushy afterward that some of us weren't even up for celebrating in the pubs! Well, not for too long anyway.

Today, Dan and I buckled down to get a whooooole lot of things done towards our dissertation project. Considering our intentions to start running trials at the start of Semester 2, we had been supposed to get our ethics approval submitted around Christmas time. We ran into some snags there though in that as masters students (as opposed to professors or PhD students) we were unable to open our own application online. So we had to get in touch with the appropriate person in the department to do that for us, and then we finally got access to the application a few days ago. In the middle of exam time. So despite our mush brains just wanting to relax, Dan and I went to it, working on the application itself as well as all the supporting documents that we have to provide along with it (Participant Information, Consent Form, Debriefing form, and all questionnaires and scales to be used). It was a lot to get through but we were super productive... eventually.

It's really good we got so much done, because tomorrow I'm off on a mini vacation with Cat! Semester 2 doesn't start til Monday, so we're taking a few days to get out of Bangor. She lives in a village outside of Cambridge (http://www.guildenmorden.gov.uk/ adorable, right?), and she's taking me home with her for a few days to spend some time in Cambridge and London. It should be a really fun few days. I plan on taking lots of pictures, especially given my amazing Christmas present of a DSLR! I'm not too great at using it yet, so we'll see how they turn out, but it's a great opportunity to practice! Be prepared for next week's blog to be pretty long and picture-ful.

I don't have a whole lot to say this week which I'd say is a pretty accurate reflection of the past chunk of my life. I've pretty much been hunkered down studying or procrastinating studying since I got back here. Not a whole lot of activity.

See you next week with reports of the more metropolitan side of the UK!

We're Baa-aaaack

After an almost 3 week break which absolutely FLEW by, I am back in Bangor and gearing up with exams (unfortunately, these crazy Brits still think it's a good idea to have final exams take place after Christmas break rather than moving them to before it like us brilliant Americans do). Being back here feels almost like normal. Almost. I can't say I'm perfectly happy here, but I'm definitely happy to see my friends again. If I didn't miss Bangor, I most certainly missed them.

Since this is a blog to recount my thoughts and experiences in Wales to everyone at home while I'm away, I took a break for the few weeks I was on break. It didn't seem to make sense to keep it up and write about my time at home when the people reading it would be the people with whom everything occurred. Nothing short of silly. However, due to this little holiday-based hiatus, the few days between last post and arrival home fell through the proverbial cracks of blogging. Not that they were necessarily all that gripping, but there were some fun things for sure

 We had a little Christmas/Goodbye party one night after everyone had turned all their work in so we could relax together and see each other off. This was most important with a few beloved Erasmus students who were only here for the one semester. Thursday was my lovely Parisian's departure, so I met her for coffee and a snack in the morning and hung out til a couple of us walked her to the train station to say goodbye. Not cool, but the best excuse I've ever had to get back to Paris! That night I was invited out with the other Erasmus girls to a "Silent Disco" for their last night out, which I couldn't even think about turning down. Here's the concept: you go to the club, pay a cheap deposit and get a headset, said headset has 2 (or more) radio channels on which the DJ plays different music. Inside, the club is silent except for the sounds of people singing along and dancing to different songs. This sounded weird to me at first, but turned out to be one of the most fun nights in Bangor thus far. Not to mention the fact that it had snowed a little while we were inside, so high street was a clean white wonderland when we came out. A day or two later, the girls decided to have an "everything but the kitchen sink" dinner, so we all brought together the last bits and pieces of groceries and had a fun night with very random assortments of food, and sad goodbyes at the end. A bittersweet few days, to say the least. But I promise that's not the last I'll see of them if I can help it. Sunday was my day to head to Manchester where I had a hotel for the evening and a flight to catch the next morning. Lucky for me, a friend and his roommate were heading to Manchester for the day and allowed me to tag along with them to the Trafford Center (a big schwanky mall) and home with him to meet a bunch of family and be fed a delicious home cooked Indian meal (absolutely AMAZING, I might add). And that was it for me in the UK. I caught my flight the next morning out of Manchester despite the weather on both sides of the Atlantic trying its best to make things difficult, and I finally made it home.

 

Photo lovingly stolen from Zoe. I will miss these girls very very much this semester. Bangor will not be the same without them!

Fast-forward a couple of weeks through some very busy, very fun, and very blurred times with family and friends and we arrive back in Wales and heading into exams. To be honest, I didn't really want to come back. There have been some real ups and downs with this whole experience. Most of you have heard at least a little of my gripes. Don't get me wrong, I'm still happy with my decision to come here and I still very much think it is worth it in the end, but there are a lot of things that made me, in a way, dread having to return. Some of that we'll put down to classic lazy student syndrome since coming back meant studying and exams and then papers and whatever else. The rest, well, I've probably vented to everyone enough times to not have to worry about explaining it again here. Doom and gloom aside, now I'm trying to forget about what makes me unhappy and instead focus on what's good and just generally be more positive about everything. It's going to be a long 6 months if I don't!

So now I'm back, I've had one exam already (today: Quantitative & Qualitative analysis- it went alright, about what I expected), I have an assignment due tomorrow which I actually completed ahead of time (shocking!), another exam on Thursday for Marketing Strategy, and then my third and final exam on Monday for Consumer and Applied Psychology. It's going to be a busy few days! By Tuesday I will most likely be some combination of tired, brain-melted, giddy, and relieved. That blog entry should be interesting. Stay tuned!