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Travel to, in and from Wales.
Departing to Wales we had to first fly out of Oklahoma to Washington D.C. That flight was simple and fast. I read my book, Slaughterhouse Five, and before I knew it we were in our nation’s capital! That airport was large and honestly quite scary, I’m just grateful to have a big group to find our terminal with. From Washington D.C. we flew out to London, U.K. Our airplane we flew was United and the flight had an excellent selection of movies and beverages. Even the airplane food wasn’t half bad!
After arriving in London we drove to the Norton House Hotel in Mumbles Wales. It wasn’t until this ride that I was able to find any sleep; I was cursed with not being able to fall asleep on any airplane. After arriving at our hotel we received our bus passes, this was our key transportation around Wales for the week. The buses in Wales arrived close to their promised times, I noticed waiting over ten minutes once for an expected bus but that really isn’t that bad. Of course the public buses only run during the day, so at night when
myself and fellow students hit the night scene in Swansea Wales, the area near the university was the hot spot, we all squeezed in the taxi’s and spilt the fare. This can easily get expensive so I would definitely plan extra money on transportation costs.
One day in Wales we, students and professors, took a tour bus all over Wales. This tour bus is worth blogging about, at least my experience was. The bus driver was an elderly man and was once caught texting while driving! Besides that, I sat in the back of the bus, which was a poor decision for me considering I get motion sickness. The way the drivers drive in Wales is a bit aggressive and a lead foot on the break. The streets are so narrow there that the drivers will whip around the corners and when they see a fellow car they have to literally slam on the breaks and do this scooting action to get around each other. The breaking and scooting is an experience within itself. So, with all this breaking and swerving, my motion sickness became bad. When we stopped I threw up and thought I was all better, but
I still had to take the tour bus back to Swansea University where I’m guessing all the jet lag and motion sickness caught up because I literally collapsed at the university. Moral of the story is, if you know you have motion sickness do not sit at the back of the bus.
Upon leaving Wales we took a bus back to London and flew from London to Washington D.C. This flight with United was not as pleasant as the first. The plane looked older and cheaper, the movies weren’t a touch screen selection but instead we had to flip through the channels to find one. After arriving in Washington D.C. we were all ready to get back to our home in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, after we loaded the plane we quickly saw what I’m calling “interior fog” because something happened in regards to the air filter, United promised this was a minor issue and we had to get off the plane. We then had to wait two hours. It was a long two hours and a few of us were quite nervous about boarding the plane a second time. Either way, we arrived eventually safe and sound in Oklahoma!
Culture and the reason we are in Wales.
For Spring Break in 2011, I went with UCO to Wales U.K. as a part of a Media Production class. We were divided into two groups to work on two different nonprofit organizations. I am the only Public Relations major of my group and we got assigned to the nonprofit organization Discovery, which is based out of Swansea University. During the weekday I wrote and designed a brochure for Discovery to use to attract new volunteers. The afternoons were more about relaxing and taking in the culture of Wales, what struck me as a P.R. major was the cultural differences with the Welsh people and how we must be aware of these.
I am hoping to do international work one day and I feel it’s important to not only go into other countries and cultures with an open mind, I feel it’s vital to get a great grasp of it in regards to the Public Relations field. With that said, I’ve always thought you can experience a culture by their food. So my first breakfast in Wales I tried the Full Welsh Breakfast.
The Full Welsh Breakfast was
a meal I feel most American southerner’s would like, due to most of it was fried! The black pudding part in the breakfast was not my favorite to say the least, black pudding is made of blood and bone marrow among other things from animals. I appreciate the Welsh using the entire animal but it was too much for me.
I adore Wales and the history that is everywhere, the buildings and the stories, just maybe not their breakfast.
London or what we saw of it.
As a part of the trip to Wales we were awarded with a day and a half in London. In London we stayed in the Sheraton Hotel near the airport. The food was so expensive in the Hotel and the only nearby food within walking distance was McDonalds or a local pub called the White Horse. Unfortunately the pub was expensive so most of us students ate dinner and breakfast at McDonalds, I never eat McDonalds but this was our last days in the U. K. so none of us wanted to spend all of it on food.
It’s worth noting how hard it was to get around in London.
None of us had enough money to spend on a taxi to take us from the airport area to the heart of London. Instead, all of us hung out in the lobby and we all vocally stated how we missed Wales and the accessibility Wales has.
Next day we all have our underground subway passes and we all get off at Green Park Station. We all only had this one day to see London so a large group went off on a bus tour of London, I skipped this option since I’ve been to London before and have seen the historic sights, not to mention my new fear of buses in the U.K. Another group of students went to the punk scene of London, which I almost went to but I opted to go with a group of four other students to the Oxford circle area, also known as major shopping area!All the groups only had time to do exactly what they choose and nothing else. I only got to shop and eat, but I was amazed at the five stories of Urban Outfitters, H&M and Top Shop. There was a whole floor of just female accessories at Top
Shop, it was intense!
We all met back up at the Green Park Station. We spent our last meal in the U.K. at the first and original Hard Rock Café in London. The food was amazing, the service was ok and slow, but the memorabilia was exceptional and fabulous. An excellent end to an extraordinary spring break!
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