Day 1 :)

So, today was crazy, to say the very least. I was in bed last night around 11 ish, but couldn’t fall asleep until 2 or so. Thank you time change. We were supposed to meet at 10 for our field trip for that day, so I set 3 alarms, all to go off around 7:30 or so. As I was afraid of, I didn’t wake up to any of these alarms (impressive right?) and instead woke up at 10:10am to knocking on my door. The director was outside saying “Do you want to come today?” Luckily for me, Tecwyn is such a sweet guy, and was so understanding and gave me five minutes and waited for me. Geez what a way to start my first day in Wales right? It was funny though-I got crap for it all day.

                So in Costa Rica we spent a lot of time on a bus as well, of which the door was on the right side (obvious yes). So, this morning I went to the right side of the bus (I partially blame it on the jet lag..) and felt like a retard because the driver is on that side. So it was just a wonderful morning..haha. Once on the bus we drove to Llandudno, which was a wonderful town. It was on the pier so we walked the pier to the end. It was very windy today and also cold, (not Iowa cold by any means) in the 50s or so. I felt like I was on the set of a movie. The pier was picture perfect-it had tourist shops, vintage stores, angler fishermen at the end of it with their two long poles draped over the edge of the dock. There was also carousel music and little carnival games as well. It was all blue-why I really don’t know. But every store was white with blue trimming- I liked it. The view was absolutely beautiful-you could follow the shore down the horizon, where it looked as if it faded into the distance. The houses are also beautiful.

               Tecwyn was telling us about how the government (I believe) has very strict regulations on the town’s houses and what color they have to be. They are all either white or cream colored as far as I could tell. He told us a story about how a man painted his house bright pink, and it cost him a giant sum of money to do so, and in the end the government made him change it anyway. Interesting I thought. If you look the other way and you see a road carved out of a mountain/hill, with “Llandudno” written on the side of it. We drove this road, and it a very tight squeeze for the bus to fit through, but we managed. I don’t’ remember exactly why he said that road was built, but it had some significance. Along this steep incline lived Cashmere Sheep, which are quite ugly despite their elegant name. They live on the rocky slopes of mountains like this. They are only some of the many many sheep here in the UK.

                After here we made our way to Swallow Falls, which was pretty spectacular considering the amount of rain that Wales had received in the previous few days. Immediately I thought of swallow the bird (the barn swallow is my favorite). Dr. B would have been proud… We had to pay a pound ( I really need to figure out where the sign for that is on my computer) and go through a turn-style to get to it. Tecwyn is ver clever, and we went through 2 people at a time when possible. Grant and I got to be close friends here. Haha. Luckily I already knew him-we’re bio major buddies :) The falls were roaring-there was so much water! Honestly it was more white water than anything else-I cracked a joke about white water rafting here and a few people looked at me like I was serious. I found it hilarious actually. I guess I’ll have to be more blunt in my sarcasm. We went down these stairs to a little flat overlooking part of the falls. Since the water was quite high it flowed over the walkway a little here-thank you water proof boots (and Peter for proofing them extra for me : ).  Got some pretty pictures here as well. (It was quite cold by the falls).

                We then drove to the “Ugly House” which honestly was quite pretty on the outside. Tecwyn told us the legend of how back when this house was built, in 1475, the law was you could claim the land but you had to build a house and have smoke coming from the chimney within 24 hours. I know right? It’s like Ty Pennington’s Extreme Makeover on crack. Also, according to legend, the new owner’s land could be extended by however far he could throw his axe from the four corners of his new dwelling. Pretty cool I thought. Wales has many stories and legends like this. I’ve decided I really like them. Tecwyn also told us that the inside of the house is almost exactly the same as when it was built-also very impressive, at least I thought so. The house is now an office building, thought I’m not exactly sure what for.

         We then drove on the road known as A5. All the very important roads in Wales are labeled A 1-500, so you can imagine how important the A5 is. It is the road that runs alongside Snowdonia, and you can see Snowden (the tallest mountain the Wales) on the drive. It, as many of the roads here, is carved out of the side of a hill/mountain, and the sights while driving it are spectacular. There are hills/mountains everywhere-I love it!

       We then stopped in Betws-y-coed (the A5 runs through here-it must have been important because Tecwyn told us multiple times) where we got lunch for the day. It was still raining and drizzly which really bothered Tecwyn, but all the students didn't mind too much. Tecwyn and I went off to a cute little cafe, where we both had sandwiches on "brown" (that's wheat here) bread with tomatoes and ham and water. Since I arrived 2 days later than all the other students I missed 2 days of orientation, so I got my own private recap in about 30 minutes. Honestly I'd take that over 2 days of meetings anyday. ;)

           After this we drove a little more on our coach bus to what is known as the Llyn Idwal, which is located in the Cwm Idwal in the Glyderau Mountains in Snowdonia. It was quite beautiful, but very windy-the kind of windy that makes you cry a little you know? We passed through a scenic gate and then walked a 1/4 mile or so up stone marked paths to Llyn Idwal (Llyn means lake in Welsh). Assuming you've all seen Lord of the Rings (if you haven't then I'm watching it with you as soon as I get back :) - this place reminded me of the part in the movie (Two Towers I believe) where Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas are traveling across plains and mountains to get to Merry and Pippin who are captured. I know I'm a little bit of a nerd, but it was funny because as I was thinking it, Grant started singing the soundtrack to the movie :)  It was a nice moment that we shared..haha. It was also ironic because Tecwyn told us that Snowdonia was where J.R.R. Tolkien got a lot of his inspiration for the books as well. It was a cool feeling-almost like being a little part of history. There is a legend associated with the lake (as there is a legend associated with everything here) that says; during the 12th century, Owain, who was the Prince of Gwynedd, trusted the care of his son, Idwal, to Nefydd Hardd. Nefydd was envious of Idwal as his own son, Dunawd, was untalented. So, Dunawd pushed Idwal into the lake so he would drown. Owain the banished Nefydd from the kingdom and named the lake in honor of his son. It is said that no bird flies over the lake's surface and that a wailing voice can be heard when there is a storm. Tecwyn explained to us where the wailing actually came from, and it was the wind and how it flowed through the crevices and cracks in the side of the mountain-but still a cool story none the less. We did see a gull flying overhead while we were up there, but he was flying around the lake, not over, and we all got a kick out of that. 







   

       

After this busy day we then left Snowdonia and drove back to Bangor. I was still very tired and jet lagged-so I spent the evening cleaning my room a bit and then went to bed. Not to bad for my first full day in the U.K.