Wales for the Weekend

Last weekend I went to Wales! Elliot is studying abroad there; I had not seen him for about a month and it was Valentine's Day, so perfect time for a trip. By planning ahead, I managed to get a return train ticket (which means round trip ticket here) for 25 pounds. A pretty good deal! Since I had been bragging to Elliot for two weeks about all the excellent produce here in London, I went to the market to get some fruits and veggies on Thursday to bring along for the weekend. I got potatoes, green beans, pears and apples. While I was wondering through the market I ran into the meat section...big mistake. I saw and smelt things that made me want to vomit! First to catch my eye were 5 huge octopuses hanging off a fresh fish display. I don't do seafood and dead, slimy octopuses are quite disgusting. Next I saw a whole, skinned pig head in a cooler that was FOR SALE! Then I saw rabbits and pheasants hanging in the middle of the market un-skinned and ready to purchase. I managed to get a picture of this (below) because I could not believe it! I was only in the meat section for 3 minutes, who knows what I would have discovered if I stayed longer. On Friday morning I had to get up very early to catch my 07:10 train to Bangor, Wales. I got up around 06:00 to get ready because I was planning on leaving Vandon House at 6:35 to give myself plenty of time to take the tube to Euston Station, where my overground train departed from. It is usually about a 15 minute tube ride from my closest station to Euston Station and when I bought my ticket I was informed to arrive 15 minutes prior to the train's departure time. Well by the time I got ready in the dark (because my roommate was still sleeping), got all my bags, and my produce from the kitchen; I was running about 5 minutes late. It was still dark outside so I took the long, but most safe route to my tube station. Of course, it had to be raining this morning too! When I got to the tube I was surprised to find it busier than I expected at 06:45 a.m. By the time I finally made it to Euston Station I was within my 15 minutes of my takeoff time. Since the tubes are underground there are usually a series of escalators or stairs to get to the top of the actual station. Euston station is one of the rare stations that has lifts (what they call elevators here). Well as my luck would have it, the lift line was massive. I was getting nervous about missing my train and decided to take the stairs. Silly me, I forgot that I had a backpack, shoulder bag, purse, and sack full of produce to carry up those stairs too. 283 steps later, my American thighs were cramping and I was literally sweating and panting. The lift had probably gone up and back down 3 times by now too. Permanent mental note: always take the lift! After all this, I was bound to catch my train; I mustered up enough strength to run to the departure boards, find my platform and board my train with 2 minutes to spare. It was quite the morning! It is a 3 and a half hour train ride to Bangor, Wales from London so I had time to relax. I later found out that I was supposed to be on Coach A, but I rode the whole way on Coach B. I only had to change trains once, which was fairly simple to figure out. I enjoyed the country side the entire ride to Wales. I have never seen so many sheep in my life. The grass is quite green here and there were a lot of pretty, little country homes along the way. At one point on my trip my train went straight through a huge mountain!

I was in Wales by 10:45 and Elliot was waiting for me at the train station. Of course he laughed at my "London fashionable" dark jeans and leather boots and said I was overdressed for Wales. The atmosphere was much more country. Welly's (which are what they call rain boots) are all the hype in Wales. We dumped off my luggage and went to get a bite to eat! Elliot took me to a restaurant called Yates, which had a special for 2 meals for 6 pounds. This was a very good deal and I soon found out that everything in Wales is a lot cheaper than London. I had BBQ chicken and chips (over here french fries are called chips, crisps are what they call potato chips). I think it was the best meal I have had since I have been here. Afterwards we walked around town. It was a great day and the sun was even shinning. Elliot showed me the pier, as Bangor is right on the Menai Straight, which leads into the Irish sea. We also walked through the town center and browsed some shops. After I got the tour of the town we got some groceries to complement my vegetables for supper. Elliot lives in the dorms on the Bangor University campus, so he shares a flat with other British students. About 6 of them share the kitchen. They definitely do not keep the kitchen neat and tidy, but that is college for you. We made chicken breasts and green beans for supper. We both thought it was nice to have someone to cook and eat with, as we both usually cook alone. That night we went out and visited some other Central students that are studying in Wales. It was nice to see more familiar faces and talk about different experiences. Picture of the Pier below.

The next day I went on the field trip with the Wales study abroad students. I was just going to explore Bangor for the day, but the Wales program director insisted I come along so I could brag about my fun experience to my program director in London. Since Elliot had already shown me the entire town of Bangor the day before I decided to go. Everyone boarded a mini-bus for the field trip around Northern Wales. I was very glad I did go because I got to see a lot of interesting things! We visited the town with the longest name in the whole world, of course it was in Welsh. Wales reminded me a lot of Hawaii, with all the crazy Hawaiian town names I couldn't pronounce. Next we visited an island with a light house and a very old church. We also went to a castle, which was extremely impressive. There are a ton of old castles in Wales. Our last stop was a beautiful beach; it was amazing. On one side there were mountains, then giant forests of trees and the sea. The whole group explored for about 2 hours. We walked a mile or two along the beach to get to a lighthouse. Along the way we saw some wild horses. This was so cool, like something you read about! Actually I think they were wild ponies and someone must feed them because they were kind chubby too, but still cool! There are pictures below. It felt great to get some fresh air and see the vast country side. I also got to see the United Kingdom's January flower, called the snow drop. That night we made chicken breasts and potatoes. We put cheese on the chicken breasts and it made a great meal. This night we went out on the town to some of the popular college bars with Elliot's friends. I noticed that nightlife is a lot cheaper here too. The people in Bangor were more outgoing and drank a lot. Afterwards, we stopped at a small pizza place and got an 8 inch pizza for less than 4 pounds and it tasted amazing!

Picture of castle (top left), Wild horses/ponies ( top right)

Picture of the lighthouse with mountains (bottom left), Elliot and I at beach (bottom right)

On Sunday, we had planned to climb a mountain, but it was pouring rain so instead we stayed in and also explored some more of Bangor. Elliot and I planned a trip to Scotland together and I beat him in the card game, Speed, many times. That afternoon Elliot asked me to trim up the back of his hair. I thought I could handle this easily, but not such a great idea. Before we knew it, snip snip... he had a hair cut. It actually turned out pretty good though! That night we made pasta and more green beans. Then he took me out for dessert, which tasted very delicious.

On Monday it was still raining, but we decided to go climb the foothills of Snowdonia (largest mountain in Wales) anyway. It took us about 45 minutes by bus to get to get to the bottom of the mountain. The scenery was excellent. Climbing a mountain is harder than I thought, but good exercise with great views. There were sheep all over the mountain. At one point we were walking up a path and a few came over the hill and ran right past us. They are quite funny animals and we got some good laughs when one started jumping as it ran. It was 4 and a half hours to get up the top of the mountain, but since it rained the entire time we only went half way and just admired the scenery. It reminded me of scenery that I have seen in a movie based in Ireland. We made chicken and potatoes for supper again before Elliot had to go to his night class. I got some homework done while he was out and then he brought back a pizza from the little shop again! I arrived safely back in London, greeted with rain and rush hour on the tube. I love the city, but had a great weekend in Wales. Pictures Below: Wales scenery (left), Sheep (right). Click any picture to enlarge!