http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , United Kingdom , Wales , Barry en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:16:56 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:16:56 UTC Due to my solid weeklong chocolate binge during firstyear exams week and my necessary habit of not actually wearing shoes anymore I'm beginning to look more and more like a hobbit. I'm not quite sure what I'm questing for but the past two weeks have been undeniably epic. It started with a escapist trip to Rosie's house in Stratford the timing of the whole thing was fantastic really because a http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-271169.html Sorry about the delay but you must understand how difficult it is to write when I can barely see through the sheer amount of freckles I've acquired in the past two days. While everyone else frantically revises for first year exams which start tomorrow. In less than 24 hours my nails will be chewed down to the quick from analysing a poem for English for two hours but I will also be on my way to http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-269630.html I'm trying to decide whether it's been an Insane Dancer Barbie or a BatteryOperated Super Mountaineer G.I. Joe sort of a week. For all the potential A.C. students coming for interviews this past week affectionately labeled 'zeroyears' by us wise worldly beyondsophisticated first years who are yes indeed a WHOLE YEAR older than them the impression was more that of a chubby purplehaired w http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-264051.html My bed or the corner where I believe my bed is looks quite simply like an archeological dig. It's like Pompeii if Mount Vesuvius had erupted a deadly river of mismatched socks and random crumpled pages of sheet music. So inspired by my visit to the British Museum as well as the fact that by typing this I'm procrastinating the actual dreaded tidying up that will be necessary if I am to find th http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-261258.html Right so this is going to have to be a short one but just so you all know what I'm doing in 29 minutes...I will be boarding a bus for Heathrow airport andseven hours and fiftyeight minutes from now I will be transplanted straight to the middle of Poland in my neon grape coloured Tour Choir 2008 hoodie and my immaculate white 5 fur coat from the charity shop. I had a bit of an ethical dilemmma http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-250987.html PreCalculus was still a complete and utter waste of my time but now at least I have enough maths skills to realise that the productiveness of my day is always indirectly proportional to the number of hours I sleep fulfilment and personal sense of achievement goes up as sleep goes way way down. Unfortunately I still can't seem to grasp the concept of addition as I haven't been able to make my http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-247237.html I did not wake up this morning to find I had turned into a gigantic insect but it was just as surreal. First of all I think I've actually got a legitimate sunburn in February. The weather is so alliteratively brilliant and balmy and beautiful that I've spent all my free time outside for the past few days I even succeeded in having my Spanish class taught outside this Thursday because I announce http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-244772.html O my clothesline I loved theeThe chainsaw wailing alertest methis afternoon to butcheryToday they cleavedst thou from thy treeO my clothesline Thou and IDidst make my bedsheets smell like skyI couldst not just suppress my cryso shouted at the workers WHYO my clothesline O what doomThou hast passed I must needs resumeMy washing in the musty gloomthat is the Morgannwg drying roomO m http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-243530.html Before AC my life was barely exciting enough to fuel a single episode of Last Of The Summer Wine and now it could possibly inspire an entire season of the O.C. On the whole my week has been quite surreal mainly because usually these sorts of things only happen in guiltypleasure teen shows. My hidden camera crew apparently started filming at the Open Mic on Saturday night at the Globe Lounge t http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-242641.html In real life living impetuously without any planning or forethought whatsoever is generally considered a bad idea. But must I remind you again that this is not real life I wouldn't exactly call my state of existence for the past two weeks 'careless' just 'carefree'. I have these moments of complete euphoria when I'm walking home from AC Musical practice and look back at the castle against the p http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-239992.html As a higher level music student not only do I get two codes free every week to just compose and free voice lessons from a Welsh National Opera star but I also get lessons on the Javanese gamelan every Sunday afternoon Last Sunday I just stuck by the huge gong but next week I'm hoping for the nong or maybe even the kanang...a unique skill but not exactly one I could take to the streets of Dub http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-236125.html OK no more photos of Wendy For those of you who complained...Right we have finally booked and the dates listed in the profile are accurate so far.... although we may change as we go along.We are off on Sunday 27th. ..........The next entry will hopefully be from Vietnam http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-235167.html Well I know I'm back at AC as no one is speaking English in the entire computer lab. I thought it would take me a little while longer to settle in but I arrived at the airport and it was as if I'd never left I was so jet lagged and exhausted I thought it was just a cliche but no...I had the classic crying baby two rows in front of me on my 7hour overnight flight that I basically crumpled http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-234687.html Another test run for all new subscribers. We are almost ready. We haven't actually booked yet But should do by the weekend. Then its visas and packing.....and unpacking and packing.....Sooo exciting. Yet more Wendy photos sorry http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-228860.html Since I last wrote I have acquired an accordion the lead role in the annual AC musical and probably a score of 1 on my Spanish exam. I sang my body parts vocabulary to the tune of Deck The Halls for DAYS when on the test we had to translate a random 5page interview with Penelope Cruz who was not ever asked questions like Do you like your elbows or What do you think is the most important http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-224886.html I might as well admit it now I'm really just sitting here typing very slowly so as to procrastinate as much as possible. The first term exams start tomorrow and in typical AC style we were given an entire day free to study even though the faculty must know that we only plan to sleep eat and go to Llantwit or for the real hardcore procrastinators Bridgend. At least I'm not under any grade p http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-223823.html My week both started and ended on Queen Street in Cardiff although last Saturday there wasnt a gigantic Christmas tree and ropes of glistening icicle lights lighting up the entire city. Some other minor differences last Saturday I was dressed as a soldier pretending to beat monks with sticks some incriminating photos might soon become available of when the police pulled me aside and took my st http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-222558.html 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 an http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-219353.html I realize I haven't written in a while but don't worry I am not dead or maimed in any other possible way. Even if I was I would know how to resuscitate myself as First Aid Week started today. While the second years are in London recovering from the stress of finally finishing their Extended Essays called the 'EE' in any language the first years get three days of training in first aid techn http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-217660.html 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 lockup duty. Granted I admit that watching all of Saw with http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-216315.html Unfortunately no other country in the world seems to celebrate Halloween like the United States does and none of the other Americans seem to celebrate Halloween as much as I do...this however did not stop me from wearing my purple wig and a neon blue striped jumpsuit to the AC Halloween party Friday night and an outfit painstakingly created entirely out of tinfoil to the AC Game Show on Saturd http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-215268.html 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 outofshape fiftyyearold man up a hill on a stretcher whilst he pretended to be unconscious. The long weekend which started exactly one w http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-214302.html Some say that the mountain I climbed in the Brecon Beacons National Park carrying CAVRA's entire water supply for six hours on my back in the sleet and the mist and the mud and the wind and the sheep is not the highest mountain in Wales. But it sure felt like it. Luckily CAVRA's emergency rations which I also had to carry the curse of being the only person in the group who voluntarily runs i http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-211791.html 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 ItookthreeStrepacilsbutIstillsoundlikea12yearoldboy voice. My equally nervous accompanist who I had never actually practiced with before the performance also gave me a fiveminute long http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-210597.html Unfortunately when you live in a house with 47 other people the common cold travels and decimates like the bubonic plague. Today was my first day ever on Sick List which I could have really enjoyed if I hadn't actually been sick. In a savage stroke of irony I have completely lost my voice and must now either croak or halfsing a la Julia Child or the gingerbread man from Shrek I cannot TELL http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-209531.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-208314.html As you all know from my last blog sports week started this Monday. I signed up for about six different sports and then promptly removed my name from all of them as I realized after five minutes of actual thought that either a.I would end up breaking or seriously injuring something or b. I do not in fact have any idea how to play rugby OR water polo. However they needed two girls on the field http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-207926.html I always seem to be writing my blog when it's raining. Not that it rains ALL the time just about 90 of it. Whenever the sun comes out I dash around like a mad thing getting my clothes on my clothesline which remains the only one on the entire campus. Granted since there's so much rain I sort of understand why no one else has one. Saturday was rather miraculous in that we had six full hours of http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-207295.html I've been easing into my official school schedule for the past week now which has gone by much faster than I thought it would. This is possibly because I finally have free time in my academic schedule for the first time in my life I've got two completely free blocks the first of which I'm relishing right now and two more free hours in the afternoon if I haven't got CAVRA or an activity. Before http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-206329.html I've never had a first day of school like this for starters it's quite obvious that no one plans out their outfits for hours the night before. Well all right one person does my friend Ollie put a lot of time into choosing his corneasearing ensemble of bright yellow skinny jeans and purple sneakers. But as far as I can tell he was the only one. After years of classroom discussions in which http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Barry/blog-205179.html