Blogs from Barry, Vale Of Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe - page 3

It's the middle of November (the CAVRA code word for the letter n), right? So why are the trees still green? Why is there no snow? I've sort of been comiserating with the Norwegians for the past week over the unfortunate Welsh lack of our favourite white fluffy powder; it sort of further creates the illusion that we're all living in a bubble, a sort of odd time warp where the leaves never fall and it's impossible to go skiing, EVER. I broke out my huge puffy down Vermonter coat for the first time tonight, causing a chorus of giggles from the Swedes who are still jogging about in tshirts but a smile of recognition from our lone Fijian girl, who is still miserable in five layers of furry jackets and scarves. Strangely enough, the onset ... read more

Well, I've done it...I've explored the third most haunted castle in the United Kingdom, at midnight, on Halloween (but not alone. Otherwise, I'd still be shivering). Even though it's two days later now, nothing that's happened in the past 48 hours even begins to equal this TRUE STORY of my St Donats experience with two other Americans on lock-up duty. Granted, I admit that watching all of Saw with my roommate and my two best friends immediately before may have colored my perception of these TRUE, shall I repeat completely TRUE events, but still...on lock-up duty of the castle (which we signed up for in advance, of course) we are required to close the doors in all the most notoriously haunted rooms of the castle - the Old Staff Common Room where a fire in the ... read more

Just because I haven't written for a week dos not necessarily mean I have dropped off the face of the earth; this time, it means I've been to Oxford, London, Llantwit Major, and (today, for the CAVRA exercise) Rhoose Point, where I had to carry an extremely out-of-shape fifty-year-old man up a hill on a stretcher whilst he pretended to be unconscious. The long weekend - which started exactly one week ago and which on the whole required significantly less effort than dragging the fat man 200 yards - was amazing, mainly because my roommate has houses in both Oxford and Oxford Circus in London. I can't really say 'the heart of London', as I discovered that London is sort of mind-bogglingly huge and could not possibly be fully explored in the 24 hours that we ... read more

Well, my performance for the Dutch royal family yesterday was completely worth the effort, if only for the looks of shock and horror that crossed their faces as soon as I began to speak in my groggy, I-took-three-Strepacils-but-I-still-sound-like-a-12-year-old-boy voice. My equally nervous accompanist (who I had never actually practiced with before the performance) also gave me a five-minute long disclaimer, which was sort of daunting as I only ended up singing the one song anyway. The music department, thank goodness, had a Plan B,filling the 45 minutes with other (in my opinion, far more interesting and cultural) musical acts with me at the end singing Someone To Watch Over Me. Apparently I still impressed them, however, so I'm officially singing a full concert for the next royal and/or fundraising visit. I've also been chosen for Madrigals, ... read more

Basically as soon as I got here, fabulous oppurtunities started throwing themselves into my path like the deranged squirrels that flock all over campus (they FLOCK. I had never seen squirrels do this before, and it's quite creepy). Tonight I'm actually escaping the evil greasy clutches of the cafeteria for the third time today and going out to a reportedly amazing restaurant in Cowbridge, with my Zimbabwean roommate and her link family. Which really is a fabulous opportunity, if you knew how bland and fatteningly boring the cafeteria food was here. Going out for dinner also allows me to escape the Sports Week basketball game, which I was forced to join after the Ultimate Frisbee surprise, where I would easily be a foot shorter than everyone else on the team. However, the REALLY fabulous, completely unexpected ... read more