Saab Sonett III Project

Home, no not that home, the REAL Home

2005-12-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

So I am back, if you don't know already. Iceland was ok, nothing to brag about, in fact we loved it so much we left a day early. Catie's dad picked us up from the airport, we surprised caties mom and sisters, and then i drove home. I surprised my parents, at 12:30 at night, and they were quite shocked. I was hoping i wouldn't get shot walking into the house, and i didn't so that was good. It is good to be home and i am settleing well. It will be hard to readjust because what is firmilar is new to me now, so it will take a little while, but im sure i will manage. Hope to see you all soon, whoever you all may be........

Truckin' got my chips cashed in
Keep truckin' like the doodah man
Together, more or less in line
Just keep truckin' on

Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on Main Street
Chicago, New York, Detroit and its all the same street
Your typical city involved in a typical daydream
Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings

Dallas got a soft machine
Houston too close to New Orleans
New York got the ways and means
But just won't let you be

Most of the cats that you meet on the street speak of true love
Most of the time they're sitting and crying at home
One of these days they know they gotta get going
Out of the door and into the street all alone

Truckin' like the doodah man
Once told me "Gotta play your hand
Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime
If you don't lay them down"

Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long strange trip it's been

What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
She lost her sparkle you know she isn't the same
Living on reds and vitamin C and cocaine
All her friends can say is ain't it a shame

Truckin' up to Buffalo
Been thinking you got to mellow slow
Takes time, you pick a place to go
Just keep truckin' on

Sitting and staring out of the hotel window
Got a tip they're gonna kick the door in again
Like to get some sleep before I travel
But if you got a warrant I guess you're gonna come in

Busted down on Bourbon Street
Set up like a bowling pin
Knocked down, it gets to wearing thin
They just won't let you be

You're sick of hanging around, you'd like to travel
Get tired of travelling you want to settle down
I guess they can't revoke your soul for trying
Get out of the door, light out and look all around

Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long strange trip it's been

Truckin' I'm a going home
Whoa, whoa, baby, back where I belong
Back home, sit down and patch my bones
And get back truckin' on

Truckin', The Grateful Dead

THE END

Just as I predicted...

2005-12-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Plans changed, Catie and I are poor so we are leaving tuesday to go to london, spend the night and go to Iceland the next day. Scotland would have been a pain in the ass to get to, and probably not worth the money we would have to spend. So just as i figured plans changed. Also could anyone who hasn't writen a comment and has read this write one, because i would like to know who all is actually reading this, just out of curiosity, and so i can say thank you when i see everyone again. Also if you don't do it now you may never have a chance to again, considering im leaving in like 3 days. Thanks :)

Down to the wire.....

2005-12-08T02:54:00.000-08:00

It's getting down to it now. I have no more classes left, a couple papers to do, and two more countries to see. I sent off post card 2 weeks ago, dunno if those got there, mail isn't reliable, so they tell us, im optimistic. This week was our final week here. Yesterday for ODP we went kayaking in a river. I have decided i love kayaking in moving water, so if you find one at a garage sale that would be great. It was cold but still fun. It would be really fun to kayak some of the rivers in northeast iowa, you can go it some really tight spots with them. Today and tommoro are going to be homework days, saturday is our last shopping and going to church day, sunday is pack day, and monday we are going to Scotland. We will stay there until Wednesday morning and then get a train to London to pick up our 1:oo flight to Iceland. Stay there until saturday and......then.....finally.....GO HOME!!!! ( band play, banners fly.....YEAH!!!!!!) At least that is the plan, so who knows what will really happen. But i expect everyone to be at the airport, if not none of you are my favorite cousins anymore..........just kidding..........not really..........pleeeeeeeaaaasssssseee come :)

Lets recap....

2005-12-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

So this week I got the first of 4 papers i need to do done, hopfully i can get some more done today and tommorow. Wednesday for ODP we had our survival day, it was cool, i would tell you more, but for those that may read this that havn't done it, i would have to kill them.... its a secret. Other then that today we went to the National Museum in Cardiff, they had a really good Natural Science section and some interesting things, including the world largest leather back sea turtle on record. Then we went to St. Faggons a outside museum with athentic working buildings from Welsh history, like thatched roof cottages and gardens, and even a black smith. I had to watch people ice skate today in Cardiff, they had an outdoor rink. They only allow so many people in each sesstion ever hour, they were sold out when we got there :( O well, i recalled a time when kevin, josh, cole, shaun and i were contemplating driving to south dakota to buy a zamboni....never panned out, yet, i mean how cool would it be to have a zamboni, do you have a zamboni? didn't think so.

Ready to go home

2005-11-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

Well we only have three weeks left. Doesn't seem like it but we do. As of this moment my parents are on a plane back to Detroit, Caties sisters, who were here for the weekend are on a train for London, Catie is somewhere is south wales because her train got delayed, she will be ok, and i am working on the first of my four papers I have left to do before i can come home. So things at the moment are bleek. But we are hoping to travel more the last week we are here, since classes are done in two weeks. I added more pictures to prove my parents actually did come to Wales, and didn't just tell you all they did. I hope they had a good time, i did. They left Sunday for London and spent the night, then caught the train this morning. Caties sisters fly out tommorow. And we will be back in the good old US of A in 19 days and counting. If i knew how to add it i would put a countdown thing on the website.

Its a great day for America in Wales

2005-11-25T03:59:00.000-08:00

Team America and two welshmen defeated the entire of Trinity college... and a group of soccor hulagans. Even with the constant battering experince prevailed. We were highly out numbered, at least 2:1, but we won. What am i talking about....Snowball fight. Yes, we got two inches of the best snowball packing snow/ice stuff that i have seen for a long time. It started out as a sleet when we went to bed last night. And, i have to stand corrected, wales does get lightening and thunder....but only when it snow apparently. Most up us were awakened by a large crash, and they sound of sleet. In the mourning i was woken up to partake in the festivities of the morning. With our experience with snow we scared many a poor soul that dared to challenge us. It was quite a site to see, and even better to be on the winning side!

Water in Wales is cold in November

2005-11-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

For outdoor pursuits today we went kayaking on a lake in south wales. It was a good time actually i enjoyed it and never tipped over. So since i never tipped over, nor did any of our group except 1, when a run a way kayak slid off the bank, i volunteerd to go get it. As we all know i am hot blooded and the cold doesn't bother me. I was about as cold as the mountain lake in Colorado i jumped into, but the air temperature was about 40 this morning. i survived and actually swam around a little it wasn't bad after a while. My parents spent most of today with catie helping her cook pies. They seem to be having a good time. Yesterday they came to the Union and found out what we really do at night, o well all my friend here love my parents and think my dad is funny that good. When you are younger you don't want your parents around because you think they will embarass you, which they usually do, but when you are older it is like having a puppy, when they come everyone gathers around them, it was nice. But now the truth is out....uh oh......hope they don't blame anyone for my behavior here......a couple people come to mind from a little further north, i love you and you will get a post card (sorry!!!! i have been swamped)...you know who you are :)

Back from Ireland....again?

2005-11-21T04:57:00.000-08:00

Yes, they are here, both Mary and Terry Sandberg are now in Wales. They got into Carmarthen at around 5 last thursday. I took them to a nice place for dinner, and then they went to sleep. They were quite tired. The next day we woke up, took a train to Pembroke Harbor and took the ferry to Ireland. We ended up in Dublin that night. Saturday we woke up spent some time walking around then headed to the train station. We decided to go to Waterford. We got there pretty late, found a good Chinese place and called it a night. The next morning we caught a train to the ferry and came back yesterday. I took them to Pembroke Castle because we had a little layover before the train came. Hey if they are going to be in Wales they have to see a castle. Last night we went out for a couple pints, and I showed them a real Welsh pub. It was a speed trip to Ireland, but it is really hard to see a country in just a couple days. We debated staying until monday but we decided not to. Guess they will just have to go back.. o well. They are hopfully wondering around Carmarthen at the moment, it is 1 pm here. I don't know what will go on for the rest of the week but i will keep everyone posted.

Its been a long week

2005-11-13T03:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not writing before this, its been a long week. On monday our group was the only group to have ODP, which is outdoor pursuits, but it got to long to say so this works better. Tuesday was uneventful. And wednesday was the start of the long week, if you can believe it. The reason we were the only ones to have odp is because our group had our camping trip this week. It was on the Pembroke Coastal path, a path that runs along the coast of Wales, imagine that. We had about 11 miles to walk in about a days worth of walking time. We split into two groups, one walked from the north the other walked from the south, so we would pass each other. Then we had to camp out, cook and stay alive. This to me didn't seem that dificult, and it really wasn't other then the walking. I have camped and cooked out before, not that big of a deal. So we walked on wednesday, found a place to camp, after passing the other group. We set up our tents just as the begining of a storm was rolling in off the ocean. We got dinner cooked, and it was just really windy. We all laid outside and looked at the stars, until we couldn't see them anymore. Then our group of five, Me, Dan, Ashley N. Andi, and Danelle cramed into a tent and played a game of euckre. Then we went to bed. Dan and i were in a tent together. Were we put these tents at, is usually a no no in the US, only because we get lightning. But they don't have lightning in Wales. So we were on top of a bluff sticking out onto the ocean, it was really pretty, but as we found out, probably not the greatest idea. The wind was terrible, there had to have been gusts over 30mph. It was really bad, however nothing blew away, and the tents stayed were they were so it was good. We slept in until about 10 and left around 10:30, later to find out the other group left around 8. The last portion of the walk wasn't very good, it was hard up and down. Plus the wind was not helping any, we made it to our destination, got on the minibus and came back. Two blisters and windburn later im ok. It was all in good fun. Friday I went to Swansea to hopfully find a movie to help me do one of my papers, and i couldn't find it, so i was kinda bumed, but friday night we all took a bus to Cardiff and watch the Wales vs Fiji rugby match. It was quite interesting to learn about rugby, there are no plays, you just go with the flow. Wales wond 11 to 10, but Fiji should have one, most Welsh agree it was not a good showing. Yesterday I got an entire paper done, and hopfully I can do the same today. Have to get all my homework done before my parents get here, so they won't pester me about it....mom....If anyone has anything they would like to send with my parents for me, that would fine, i have no problem with that :)

The Queen is a lot taller in person....

2005-11-07T03:14:00.000-08:00

Ok so I didn't see the Queen, but I did she were she lives, among other places. After everyone from the Friday group of Outdoor Pursuits was back we left for London. TGFI Thank God For Ipods. It was about a 5 hour bus ride to London, which was fine because I like long car rides. We got there about 9ish got situtated in our repective places of residence, and decided to call it a night and meet in the morning. Not all 31 of us went to london, probably only about 2/3rds. Saturday morning Catie, Rebecca and some other girls had to go to the museums all day so they could write a paper for a class, so me, scuba, dane, joe, and ashley went off by our lonsomes. We we all met at the Changing of the Guard which is really drawn out and lame, so we watch an hour of that then left about the time the Guard had just gotten done playing the Grease medley....yes thats right. So we split up and we took off for Westminster Abbey. Its basically a big indoor cemetry. Everybody is burried there. There are busts and shrines and statues all over the place, you couldn't take pictures, but it was still intresting to see. While waiting in line a guy from Central, who is on the program from the Netherlands walked up and said hi, small world, and while we were at the Palace, we found the people from the Spain program. After the Abbey we walked over to Big Ben, not two blocks away, and Parliment. Then crossed over the Theames river near the London Eye, the big fairis wheel. We mulled around for a while then at McDonalds, it was quite good, we called the other part of our group and made sure they didn't want to go on the Eye, then I stood in line for a half hour to buy tickets, which was fine..because I had my Ipod.....until the battery died, but I was at the front of the line by then. We took the ride on the Eye which is a hell of a view then walked down to meet up with the other group by the Globe Theater. We met up with them, crossed back over the river and decided to go get some food. It had been previously decided to go get mexican. We ate at the Texas Embassey. I had chicken quesadilla's and a margarita, it hit the spot. Afterwards, our group split up again, our usually group went to the Times Square of London, Piccadilly Circus, and shopped around, a few of us were tired by then so we turned in early. The next mourning we slept in a little then met back up with the group. We went to the Tower Bridge and decide then were going to go shopping, I had a place I had to go The North Face store, which is entirly North Face products, if you didn't know that. So Catie and I went off by ourselves and found this cool part of town where the store was. We had a lovely Sunday, had some creps went the the North Face store, then accross the street so another really big outdoor store, which had its own indoor Ice climbing wall. After decideing that I could easily without trying spend $3000 between the two stores, we left for lunch. We found a nice little hole in the wall noodle chinese place, ate lunch took the tube, that would be the subway, back to where our bus had dropped us off on Friday, and went back to the Shire. We ordered take away when we got back, had dinner. We were all pretty beat, and then went to bed. London was really cool, and I enjoyed the big city feeling after being in a small town for so long. It was good to get out. I added new pictures too. We had a really good time. And for those of you keeping track, as of Friday Catie and I have been dating for 4 years, thats FOUR, and loveing every second of them.

What I did today at school.

2005-11-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

So I was rock climbing on the ocean cliffs of Wales today, and I thought to myself, self....what would you rather be doing today...mens nights came to mind, for a good long time, but climbing was fun, not near as funny though. So I did that today, Monday Catie Rebecca and I went to church, then came back to get ready for Halloween. I dressed up as a golfer/scottish/irish sheepherder guy, ill get pictures, and did that, we have a party on the top 4 floors of our dorm, then went to the student union. Tuesday nothin really happened, i did laundry...that was big. Tonight i think we are going down into town to some pubs, havn't been down there in a while, our local friends probably think we feel in. I have new pictures up, those should keep you occupied for a while. ;)

Tuesday to Friday

2005-10-28T03:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while, hasn't really been much going on. Tuesday I went to a new class, because one of my other ones didn't work out. It is a religon class, What is Christianity. It seems like a good class, we just have to essays for it, so that is good. Wednesday was cool, we went caving with Outdoor Pursuits. I don't know why but I was nervous. Close spaces never really bothered me. I was fine when I was in there, I really enjoyed it actually, but on the way there, and even the way home, I was like "wow that was tight" even though the lowest we had to crawl under was a normal dinning room chair. O well, it was fun. So now... I have Thursday and Friday with no classes. Yesterday I didn't really do much. We played Euckre last night. And today I think we are going back to Swansea. Catie has Outdoor Pursuits today, so as I type she is in a cave in South Wales. She is doing fine Im sure, she is completly capable. Its cheap to go to Swansea and it has more then Carmarthen, so that is probably how we are going to spend our afternoon, and this evening. We have a field trip tommorow, other then that, its been pretty quite in the little country with a heart bigger then the old British empire.

Fieldtrip!

2005-10-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

So today I went on a fieldtrip with my Impacts of Tourism class. We left at 9:30 and went to a future site of a proposed "Holiday Village". Holiday is basically the UK equivalent of a vacation. This would be a private upscale resort. It would have a private village for guests only, and then two public centers, and waterpark, and a sports facility. The website is here http://www.bluestonewales.com/
We had the head of Marketing talk to us. As of right now they are in legal battles. (Here is the environmental science section of his blog) This is such a big deal economically and environmentally. There plan has the village being built partially in a national park. A brief history on UK national parks. The parks are all privatly owned, they are just designated as parks. So the people that live there, still can, they just can't change anything, however, it is agricultural, they can still use it as such. There proposed site would be building on fields on the edge of the park, leaving the trees, and exisisting flora. I asked, of course, if environmental studies have been done which of course there had. Entimologists and the EPA equivalent, said the area is ecologically dead. This makes since considering it has been in agriculture probably longer then the US has been a country. This being said, there are friends of the National Parks, the National Parks approved the site plan, and thinks it a good idea, but there "friends" that are in no way associated with the Parks dissagree. They have lots of lobbying power and it has gotten very political. From an economic aspect this would bring many year round jobs, almost 600. This is very different because the main job market is 6 months because tourism, the main source of income, is only popular during the fair whether months. This is only because the areas of interest are not geared for year round. In their planning, which has been being thought up for almost 10 years, they plan to incorporate local foods, venders, and many other aspects of the Welsch countryside. In the end being able to promote it as being "from wales entirely". It is a very interesting well thought out plan. I would love to do this kind of work later in life. I find it very interesting.

Back...finally

2005-10-23T05:13:00.000-07:00

So, I am now back from both Snowdonia and Bath. We left monday morning in mini buses to go to North Wales to the Snowdonia Mountain range. We stopped a couple times along the way for lunch and to get food for the whole week. Each group, there are three, had to cordinate and get enough food for there own groups. Our group has 11, and is the largest group. After spending 1.5 hours and a heck of a lot of money, none of which we had to pay for, the program covers it, we set off for our final destination. Our hostel was nice they were divided up girls and boys from all groups. I went with Tecwyn and Ian a man in his 70's who orignally started the course for the Americans, to take Tecwyn to his house. On our way back, Tecwun called that he had forgot his keys, so Ian and I were going to drive all the way back and have to go all the way back again, luckily he caught a taxi instead. Ian gave me the history of all of the mountians we passed along the way, it was really cool. I have climed in the same range that Sir Edmund Hillary trained at before he did his famous climb up Mt. Everest. The first night we relaxed and layed around, we cooked forzen lasagana from TESCO, which was acutally quite good. We played Trivial Pursuit the British Genius edition, we knew most of the answers but some we had no clue. Tuesday we all got up and were ready to go by 8:45. We set off for our first day of hiking and scrabling. Scrabling is a hybrid between hiking and climbing. You and climbing hand over hand but the angle of assent is less then vertical. It took us most of the day to get to the peak of the mountain, we have a slower group because we have 11 amoung other things... On the way down one of our leaders, Ian, who is in his 70's missed a rock and sliced his hand open. He actually has the same birthday and I do. He said he had a feeling I was a 13 too, January was that much more coinsidental. That night I learned how to play Euchre. I have always heard about it but never knew how to play, but now I do. It is 500 with less cards and you don't bid. That became the game to play the whole week. We cooked chili, it tasted really good, because on our way down it started to rain. The next day we had to back off a little because of some of the people in our group. We started off the day thinking it was going to be rediculously easy, which made, those of us that wanted a challenge really mad. Turned out that we "changed our path" and were going to do some scrabling. So we went up a ridge to get to the summit of Snowdon, that tallest mountain in Wales. This gave us a great veiw of the wall Hillary trained on, don't worry I have pictures. So I got to the top of Snowdon and called my dad :) Then we went down the way we were going to come up. A couple of us were able to go ahead and that made our decent quite fast. That night we played more Euckre and cooked spagetti and potatoes, it was ok, but we didn't have enough sauce it was still good. Thursday we woke up figuring we were going to have a really easy day, because everyone was tired and probably didn't want to scramble anymore. We were happily mistaken. Our guide Andy gave us a choice those of us that were tired could go with Ian and hike, and those of us that didn't want to hike could do a really difficult scramble. I scrambled and it was really fun, hard but fun. It was very technical and quite steep and high. We were tired by the end of the day. As we were coming down we watched that other 2/3rds of our group drive off in the mini bus. We knew they would be back, and it would give us an opportunity to see another famous climbing place. There is a little hotel with a pub in it that has been there for a long time, not 5 mins away from were our bus was. So we walked in and had a drink...of lemonade. This was the hotel Hillary and his party stayed in when they trained. And where they went to celebrate the aniverseries of there climb. The names of them, and other famous climbers are in the ceiling of the pub. It was really cool. That night it had been decided we were going to have hamburgers and use a grill that was in the main house of our hostel. After making the patties, and running over to the house in the rain, only to find the grill was broke, a alternative was quikly decided on. I would break out my made stove top broiling skills. So I proceeded to cook 20 hamburgers useing a frying pan, oil, lots of water and a spatula. They were, really really good. After that, we had been promised a trip to a pub. We went down to a little pub, spent some time there, came back and went to bed. Friday morning we all woke up early to clean before we left. We stopped in a little tourist town and shopped around for a little bit, there was really cool outdoor stores, but I didn't buy anything..but it was hard not to. We got back around 2:30 and had a choice of 3 trains 3:30, 4:30, and 5:30 by the time we got around to figuring out what to do, we took the 5:30 train to....Bath. We got ther around 9ish checked into our YMCA hostel and headed out for food. We had really good really cheap Indian food, then we all crashed because we were tired. This group included, Me, Catie, Andi, Dane, Rebecca, Joe, Matt, Taylor, Ann, and Ashley. The next morning we were going to shop around Bath and go to Stonehenge in the afternoon, Joe made a few calls and some guy would give us a private tour for the same price and another tour that was full, but we had to leave right then, so we did. We drove about an hour to Stonehenge, through the area that the US GI's were at before the D-Day invasion, it is still used for training, we saw a "Tank Crossing" sign. Our tour guide was really good too. We learned were a majority of phrases and names come from, which are mostly from around Bath. Stonehenge was really cool, it is just kinda out in the middle of no where. We decided for a little extra we could go down to Salisbury. We went down there, there market had been running for every saturday since 1215, and has never missed one saturday, even throughout the 2 world wars. We saw the Cathederal there, which has one of the 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta. So that was cool. We took a different way back to Bath and got some homemade Strong Cider, Mom and Dad you will find out what Stronge Cider is when you come. It is quite tasty. So back to these phrases. The Earl of Pembroke, which is a town in Wales, used to play cards with two fellows. One had a servant, that he told, if he didn't bring him something different then his bread with butter, because he was sick of it, he would have him killed, so his servant stuffed meat and butter inside the bread. His servants last name was Sandwich. The other fellow always wore a sweater, but never took it off over his head because he was afraid the others would cheat. So he finally put buttons on his sweater, and his name was Cartigan. There are about 10 other things like this our guide told us, it was quite interesting. We got back to the "Shire" as it is now lovingly called about 9pm. We order some food and had it delivered, then went to bed. This morning we woke up, Caite, Rebecca, Dane, Ann, Andi, and I went to church and then had lunch. We are now trying to find cheap ski resorts so we can go skiing in the Alps the weekend before we go home, who knows how that will turn out....I will get pictures of these trips up soon. Later

Back to Swansea

2005-10-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Friday night Andi, Dane, Rebecca, Catie and I hung around campus while the rest of our group went to Exetor. Apparently it is supposed to be pretty, but none of us were really sure why we were going, because there was nothing there we really wanted to see. So we didn't go, and saved $60. The next day we went to a Car Boot sale, which is a garage sale out of the trunks of cars. It was really cool. I, being trained in the ancients ways of the bargan hunter, found a bunch or new car magazines for £1 and a set of small speakers for my Ipod for 50 pence. So I figured I did pretty good. That afternoon we decided to go to Swansea. It cost $6. Once again we are doing pretty good. There was a sports store we rememberd that was having a going out of business sale so we went back and spent a good long time in there, I ended up with some wind pants and a soccer ball for £14. We walked around and decided we would find the bowling alley, aparently they have those here...who knew.. That was gunna be expensive, so instead we went to the movie theater to see what was playing. The movie that all of us wanted to see was Domino and it started at 8:45. The last train to Carmarthen leaves at 11:20 it would be close, but o well. We went back into the downtown area and got McDonalds, then dinked around until movie time, which we already had bought the tickets for. Now the begining of UK movies is different then ours, there is a good 20 mins of advertisments, like commercials before the previews, not like our rolling advertisements, but actually lights dark full sound ads. Then there were the previews and the movie actually started at about 9:10. So we were kinda nervous. The movies was very good, thus far the three movies I have seen over here i have been extremly impressed with and will buy them all on DVD. The movie got over at 11:04. We jogged to the train station and were fine. But we did find out one thing...the 11:20 train back from Swansea to Carmarthen is definatly the drunk train. It was quite amusing all the way home. We made it home in good time and went to bed. This morning we woke up Rebecca, Catie, Taylor and I went to church, finnally the kids were not crying. I could comment on parenting in Wales, but that is better left to Catie. Then we came back ate lunch and decided to go for a swim. Ashely Nicola, is a certified life guard so she got a key to the pool and we can go whenever we like, if it is not open. Our whole group swam around and played some games, it was good exerise. But before that Joe, Dane and I played soccer with some 15 year olds out on a astroturf field we have on campus we won 10 to 9, but it was interesting to play people that actually knew how to play. Then tonight Catie and I are just going to relax and watch a movie. Tommorow we are leaving for our week long trip to the mountains of northern Wales for outdoor pursuits. I should be good, hopfully it will be fun with good whether. Keep the comments comming I love reading them. Later.

Football

2005-10-13T04:49:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to a soccer game in Cardiff. It was against Wales and Azerbaijan, one of those used to be USSR countries. We had really good seats, and best of all, the roof was open. This was in Millenium Stadium, the one we toured. It was really cool to see the roof open and rain raining into the building. The grassed looked really good, and you could tell the players liked playing in the rain. Wales won 2 to 0. It was still a really good game. Unfortunatly the game ment nothing because Wales is already out of the World Cup running. But it was still cool to see a professional game. I also had my first outdoor outdoor pursuits outing yesterday. We went "hill walking". Which is hiking. We went up a total of 1500 or so vertical feet, so it wasn't easy. It was rainging all day, but luckily the wind wasn't blowing. It was a good field test for all my gear I got before I left. It all works very well. I really like my boots. Kept me very dry. The only thing I need now is a waterproof backpack cover. But other then that it was a good day. It was really foggy too. So when we where at the peak, which was right over top a tarn, which is a lake up in the mountains, you couldn't see down, if was just a cliff and then fog, really erie.

New Pictures

2005-10-10T04:39:00.000-07:00

I put on new pictures this morning. They include our tour of Wales, and our week trip to Germany and Italy, I would have had more but lots of them turned out dark, you can still kinda tell on them though. Enjoy.

Thats all I have to say about that.

2005-10-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

I find it appropriate at this point in my travels to comment on culture and the over all atomsphere, and clear up some myths. Myth one, everyone outside the us hates/loves the US. This is completely a personal feeling of the people in all of the countries I have been to. However the German point of view is this, Germans like Americans, Dutch, and Luxumbergians. Luxumbergians like the French, and the French hate everyone. Now I hope you can all take this for what it is worth and not hold me to it, this is somewhat true, but there is humor in it to. In my experience, which have been in no way sheltered, and I have talked with many many people the general consensis is if they dislike the US it is not the people it is the gov'ts decsions about what has happened over the last 5 years. They minority are the ones that lump American with the decsions of the gov't and therefor come off and "hating" Americans. Nuff said about that. In all though, many people will have a open conversation about politics with you. It is actually quite funny what they say about Tony Blair. Also the people of Wales are some of the best people you will ever meet and they are very exsepting, and if they are they will tell you they aren't and why, so at least they are forward with you. Ok enough about politics, had to be said, this is just my observation and my opinion. I will not type anything about it again. Also if you want to ask some direct questions in the comments about wales or something in general or what I thought of things feel free, everybody knows I love a challenge. Cheers.

Getting settled

2005-10-07T03:53:00.000-07:00

Well I am actually starting to get settled. Meeting some welsh students, and people from the town. I have had some pretty interesting experiences overall and i wouldn't trade it for anything. I think i may go try to find a job today. But who knows. If anyone knows someone from Carmarthen Wales...and hasn't told me yet...now would be a good time. Ideally i could find a GIS freelance job, but that would be pretty lucky, but we all know "the lord works in mysterious ways Elwood." so who knows. Otherwise i may end up working at TESCO, which is the Walmart of overhere, except with better business practices and seems to sell everything from Ice to Car insureance. I will keep everyone up to date. And i got my Ipod back!!!! i had a little situation with erasing my Ipod early on, so i shipped home and got my songs put back on it, thanks Chase. and then got it back, now i can finally listen to my music again :)

Classes

2005-10-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

So here is my class breakdown. Monday at 9 i have this really cool outdoor class called Outdoor Pursuits. That lasts two hours and then i dont have class again until 2. Impacts of Toursim will be a really good class, i should learn alot and it will be interesting considering half my grade is based on a 2000 word essay over a poem, and the final seems to be opinion. Then i have the required class about Wales at 5. Tuesday i have nothing until 6 at night which is a continuation of the Monday night class. Wednesday i have the applied part of Outdoor Pursuits, that would be actually doing what we learn, ie rock climbing, kyaking, caveing etc. Thursday i have a 2 religon class that lasts that whole afternoon, and i have nothing on friday. I am looking for a job but who knows how that will go, extra spending money would be great.

What a long strange trip it's been

2005-10-03T03:13:00.000-07:00

There is really no better way to describe it. It had its ups and down, trials and tribulations, but in all it was good. That being said, we left the college at about 9:30 last saturday morning and walked to the train station, we had previously bought tickets for. After three train rides, one subway and 7 hours later we were at our airport. We said goodbye to Amber, Rebecca, Dan and Taylor, and Catie and I went and checked into our flight. We got into Amsterdam at around 8 their time. Sohpie was there to pick us up. For those of you who do not know Sohpie she is a friend who was an exchange student at Catie's high school. She picked us up, and the only part of Amsterdam I saw was the airport, o well. We drove to her moms house just over the border in Germany, had some rolls, and homemade sausage burgers and went to bed. The next day we woke up early and went to Colon. We just happended to get there at 9:50, and mass was starting at the Cathedral, I have pictures, its was amazing, even though the mass was in German. We left Colon and drove down to see Sarah another one of Catie's friends from high school, but she is from MN and is in the Army and is stationed in this town, which is just basically the base. We got to see her new baby Bjourn and spent the day with her. Then we drove to Trier where Sophie goes to college and spent the night in her school aparement which was really nice. Monday we woke up and drove over to Luxumberg, which aparently is a country? news to me, we hung around there, went back to Trier hung around there, Sophie told me Karl Marx was born there, so that was cool.... in a weird communist way. Then we caught our night train to Milan, and I think about here would be where the first up started to go down. The train ride was fine, we where in a sleeping cabin with a older quite Italian guy. The girls played card and i just sat around until through gestures we mutually decided to go to bed. Sometime through out the night the Germans asked for our passports, then a while later the Swiss asked for our passports, then...the Italian asked for our passports. They spent about 10 minutes looking at the Italian guys passport, then asked for ours, we didn't even have them all the way out, and they said ok, so that was weird right away, between these checks we turned the light back out and fell back asleep, Then about 30 mins later they knocked on the door, it opened the light came on and in comes this German Shepard drug dog. I was on the top bunk of one side, catie was in the middle of the same side and sophie was on the bottow of the same side. Apparently sophie doesnt like dogs, but not an over all fear of dogs, it just really bad when they are hostil. So it starts clawing at a bag, Catie's bag. Anyway, this guy comes in in all black, but not a cop uniform, he is like "you have marjiuana, you have hashish?" over and over, after Catie told him it was her bag. So he is staring at him, and he is becoming more and more stern in his tone, so finnally she says no, they look it in it and there was nothing. She did have chocolate, so later we figured it was that. So we get into Milan and mil around the train station walk outside, see a McDonalds and go for it. A little while later we go back price check a ticket and we are on a train to Rome. Now we had everything planned up until Milan. So we get into Rome, but on the way I text messaged Ashely and Dane because i knew they were going to be there. I told them when we where getting in and where we would be. When our train got there i called her and they were just at the Cullosium and they would be there in about 5 mins, the subway ran right to both. So about 30 mins later after playing Marco Pollo on cell phones we found them. They told us about the amazing tour guide they found and a hostel. So we went back to their hostel and it was booked, we walked 200 ft found another one for cheaper and got it, showered, met back up with them and off we went. We met up with this guide for a night tour, This was around 6 at night. A little background on Jason our tour guide... he has his Masters from Yale in Theology, that is all ya need to know. This guy blew me away, he knew everything about everything. It was the most comprehensive tour i have ever had. We went to all of the lessor but cooler stuff right in the middle of Rome. We saw Rapheals grave, not the Ninja Turtle the painter, in the Pantheon, and their capital building, and also the building that Mussilini had all his speeches from. Then we saw the old old old old ruins, basicaly Jason said western civilization as we know came from this 3 city block of old pilars and walls, on top of all that it was back lit and really cool. We asked and found a good place to eat, so we walked by the Collosium at night an found a place to eat then called it a night because we were beat. They left then next day and we decided to get up early because they was a papal auidience the next moring. So we got up at the ass crack of dawn and we to the Vatican City, which is also a country, but i knew that. We were the first standing row behind all the prepaid ticket seats. The Pope rolled up in his popemoblie and started the audience. At first we though we would not be able to see because the people were standing on their chairs but once the Pope got up to his chair everyone sat down, so we had a killer view. We have pictures and 880x digital zoom movie. This is when i called mom and jan, sorry for waking you up but i figured you would like to know after the audience we met Jason and started our tour of the Vatican City. St Peters is huge, and massily cool. St. Peter is supposedly barried there, and Archeologists have said it is about 90% true, so that is cool. The Sistine Chapel was ok, but it was really hiped up. If i went into as much detail as Jason did we could be here for days, so this is my general thoughts. We did see the tomb of Pope Pius. We could have saw John Paul but there was a really long line. Pius is right in St. Peters. After this we finally got a call from Rebecca and the girls, they had gotten into Rome that moring but had not been able to get a hold of us, they found our hostel and there were rooms, which we had previously told them. So we all went out to dinner and then called it an early night again. The next moring we found a train to Venice and went for it. We really didnt like Rome because it was crowded, and not very clean, the history was cool, but the atomosphere wasnt. But then there was Venice..... That brought the mood back up again, in the first 5 mins we were there we liked it better. We met a dad and a son from CA on the train and they told us about a camp site hostel out of town for cheap so at first we were going to do that, but then once we got to walking around we wanted on right in town. So we found a guy at the airport, Roberto, that told us to go to his hotel not 5 mins away from the train station, so we got that for two night, and we reserved one nght for the girls. So we walked around Venice all after noon and night and eventually just had a pita and a big slice of pizza, and called it a night. The next we got up walked around and met the girls at the train station. They didn't expect us to be there because that last they knew, we where going to a small town before going to Venice, this was changed when we couldn't decide on a small town, and train was going to leave in an hour for Venice. So they were surprise we were even there, we had heard them talking about which train they would catch so we knew. They were even more surprised that we had a room for them. The room was not ready, so they left their bags in our room and we started out for around Venice. We made it to a popular square with a bunch of pigeons, so i fed them for €1, best euro i spent it was fun. We made our way back and ran into Brian so we hung out with him for the rest of the night. Then next day we got our tickets to a late train at 5 instead of the one at 3 for cheaper because the majority of the group wanted to spend more time in Venice. So we walked around for the day then caught the train. At the station we had to change on to get to Bergamo, we just missed the earlist train. So we had to wait an hour and a half in a tiny, very shady station. We got to Bergamo and missed the last bus to the airport, and decided we would walk in the general direction of the airport to make the taxi cheaper. We walked to the airport.. it was only about 2.5 miles, i didnt mind, and neither did most of the other girls, but after a couple slow moving cars and a couple of backtracks we had to do we got there, it was surprisingly well advertised there where signs with arrows quite often. We got to the airport at about 2 in the morning. And it just started to rain. We had to stay in a smaller building until the airport opened again at 4 am. So I slept maybe and hour then went into the terminal and since it was 4 i might as well stay up until the food places opened ay 5, so i did and then i might as well stay up until 8 when we can check in. The way our flights work is if you checkin in first you get on the plane first, so our group was the first people to check in and almost the first people on the plane, we got good seats all together in front of the engines. Once we got the airport it went up again. We went through customs and got our work stamps!!! yay, now i can get a job mayhapse. Then we caught an earily train and where ahead of scheduel by an hour until we got to Swansea then the train to Carmarthen was in and hour, o well can't win them all. So Dan I and went for a walk to find some food, we came upon and Indian resturant that had a Sunday special buffet :) it wasnt really a buffet, you ordered a main dish and a side and got it for a set price. So we did that and ran to make sure we didnt miss the train, which we almost did. but if was wayy good. We got back to Trinity at around 8 i took a long shower put Catie to bed because she was tired and didnt feel good, then went to the Student Union with Dane and the guys listened to a live band and went to bed at 1:30 so the running total for no really good sleep is......40 hours....cool. Then i woke up had our first Outdoor Pursuits class at 9 which is going to be really cool, and probably really easy but interesting, started typing this, went to a class i thought i had, but it is a research time so we didnt have it, came back to finish typing this, then i am going to eat lunch with Catie. So all in all it was good, and the total tally is at...13 trains, 2 planes, one bus, and waaaay to much money later and im back, finally.

Pictures

2005-09-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Finnally! I have pictures! It took a while. If you go to the links, then you can browse through them, you will see the most recent ones first and the older ones last, the older ones will eventually get phased out because the site only allows me so much room. Enjoy!

Back from Cardiff

2005-09-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

So we are back from Cardiff and doing laundry at the moment getting ready for a 10:30 am train to London to go to Amsterdam. Yesterday we went and visited a castle and a really cool old Catholic Abby. It was really erie. All that is left is the skeleton, and there is no roof, I have pictures once I get that set up, which I am very close to. Last night we were in Cardiff and went out to dinner, it was ok, then we went and saw Revolver, the new Guy Richie film, it was unbeliveable. It was one of the best movies I have ever seen, it was definatly a mind movie, it makes you think, even after its over. This moring we went to the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. It is a really cool, really new stadium. We got a complete tour, and they are just putting in the pitch and grass for the soccer and rugby matches. They just held the opening and closing of the Welsch Rally. They held a round in the stadium. After that we went to a really cool old manner, with character dressed in the style of the middle 1600's. They spoke in accents, and told of the poeple that lived there. It was really cool. Well I am off to Amsterdam tommorow, so hopfully I will be able to get to a computer. And maybe, just maybe, you will finally get some pictures....

Tour of Wales

2005-09-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took it easy and just kinda hung around. In the moring we got our intro to the Outdoor Pursuits class that we will be having. The guy that teaches it seems really cool. He runs an expidition company and has military background. The first week we will be rock climbing and kiaking in the pool, which we have and i did not know. Also we have a rock wall in our gym. So that should be cool. We went to a moster truck/dirt bike show at the fairgrounds which was interesting and different. Today we started our tour of Wales. We did a day trip just around Wales, we went to the National Library which has copywrite rite, or somthing, anyway they have the rite to get any and every book or peridoical or whatever that is published in the UK or Ireland, but they do not exercise it because then they would run out of room. Currently that have over 3 million books, and over 1 million historical maps, and yes they are starting to put some into, and use GIS. Apparently a law was passed in 2004 that anyone coming in can get a stamp in there passport and can work for up to 20 hours. Central was apparently supposed to tell us this, but choose not too. I will look into this further. And i did leave out two things from my trip in wales, the first is that on our last morning in Dublin before we left Catie, Rebecca, Taylor, Amber and I were walking around and ran into a local radio station. We were going to see the Natural History Museum but got sidetracked because this new bus the radio station had, said Science Challenge on the side. So we figured we could win somthing, but it turned out just to be a sponser of this new bus/radio station on wheels thing, and that is why they were there to promote this new thing. And we were told by some guy that works for them, who was cool, that Ms. Ireland was inside and they were going to be doing a photo shoot of her and their moring show DJ's. Long story short we hung around for an hour and a half, never got to the museum, but i did meet, and have my picture taken with Ms. Ireland. :) Then next thing was very displeasing Rebecca, Catie and I went to church saturday at the big cathedral in Kilarny. The mass was 45 minutes, not because the priest was good, but because it was the most monotone, boring canned mass i have ever been to and Rebecca and Catie agree. Everyone just went through to motions, it was very dissapointing. We will be leaving for Cardiff tomorrow and spending two days there.

The Tour of Ireland

2005-09-19T06:09:00.000-07:00

So, it was a busy week, but well worth it...(big breath) Last monday we left at 12pm our time to go catch a ferry that crosses the Irish Sea. The boat was huge, and was really cool, there were 5 decks that had food and lots of places to sit. The view from the top deck was really cool. We got into port at about 6:30 and took about an hour to get to Dublin, that would be the capital of Ireland. Our hostel was really nice. We all went out to see what we could find, went to some pubs and made it back for a fairly early night. I stayed outside the hostel and talked with 3 girls from Belgum and a hippy guy for Colorado, who was orignally from New York, not that i cared, but he felt the need to tell me that. The next day we had a walking tour of Dublin. We started form our hostel which, was right in downtown and walked past the Post Office. Which is famous for the Easter Monday rising that happened there in 1916, unfortunatly they were renovating the front so i could not see it, the bullet holes from the rising are still in the stone. Then we walked over to Trinity College of Dublin. This place was really cool. We went into the library, which is exactly what you picture an old library to be tall ladders, wood work, but this is a famous library, just some of the authors we saw (and yes these are all first editions) Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, Pastuer, Euclid. It was really cool to see, we also saw the Book of Kells, which is the oldest book known in the Celtic language, it is the four Gospels. After that we walked throught the Temple Bar area, which is a famous pub part of town and then on to the mother of all pubs....the Guiness Brewery. The tour was really cool, it was self guided, and you didn't go through the actual factory, but you saw the history of Guiness and Aurther Guiness. The land he originally bought in 1759, he has a 9000 year lease, no that is not a typo. Then at the end of the tour you end up in the skylight lounge area, which is the highest point in Dublin and you can see all around, plus you get a free pint, i got two because Catie didn't like hers :) We spent the rest of the day walking around then Catie, Rebecca and I went to eat in the Temple Bar area at a italian place, not too bad, but i had better. Then the highlight of our Dublin trip we went to see the "The Importance of Being Ernest" by Oscar Wilde at the world famous Abbey Theater....for a whopping 10 bucks, as compared to 30. The play was unbelivalbe it was extremely well done, and was an all male cast, which made it even more hilarious. Then next day we left for Galway, which is right i put Donagal in my last entry, i dunno why, but we went to Galway. We got into Galway and had walking tour just around the town, it is a cool port town with some really neat places. That night after Catie and the girls made spagetti, we ended up at a pub that had open mic night, we didn't sing but we made sure the people we liked the most did win. They sung Sublim and Tom Petty, so they had to win. The next day which is Wednesday, we went to the Aran Islands of Ireland. This was also a very cool day, we took a ferry for about an hour out the these islands. Then we rented bikes and biked up to this old ruins from about 900 bc. they are situated on a clif that is 600ft straight down, you have to crawl to the edge to look over, because the winds are so strong. It started raining on our way there and continued unitl about mid-afternoon. We shopped around the little port town (there is only about 400 on the big island) and got the ferry back at around 5. Catie, Taylor, Dan and I went out to eat at a really good seafood place. Then Us, and some other went to see a movie, we saw Green Street. i dont think we have it in the states, but when it comes out i will buy it. It is a awsome movie, violent, but really good. Then we all went out for one pint and then back to the hostel. The next day we traveld to Kilarny. Our hostel was once again right downtown. We sat around the begining of the night and played cards, and bought some wine and other stuff and out local supermarket, TESCO. TESCO is the walmart of Europe with better morals and only supermarket stuff. We all went back to the hostel and decided to cook food. We went out and i made taco meat for about ten people. It was quite good. I cooked over 5 lbs of meat, i just did the conversion, but it was still cheaper then going out. And we finished it all. Then me and another guy went out. We found a really cool pub with a great live band. They played all american rock songs and it was a really good time. We got home around 3 in the morning. Then next day we took a bus out to the Dingle peninsula. It is a narrow road drive out to the heart of old Ireland right on the Atlantic Coast. It was some of the most beautiful scenery i have ever seen. We stopped and a supermarket, gots some sandwiches and continued on. We stopped at a beach for lunch and games on the beach, Catie and I with then other girls walked around for a little bit and decided it was too beautiful we had to go for a swim, luckly we brought our swimsuits, so we changed behind some rocks, (not and the same time) and went it, it was a little cold but you got used to it, it was sunny out, which made it better. The waves were huge and if you did it right you could ride them all the way to shore. It was alot of fun. We all went back to the hostel and decided to treat ourselves. Our group that has been hanging out, and the "we" i refer to is Me, Catie, Rebecca, Ashley N., Dane, Scuba Steve, Joe, Matt, Dan, and Taylor. We went to a Chinese place that was pretty good and then out to a local pub Catie and Amber didnt feel good so they went back to the hostel and we stayed at the pub. A popular thing, aparently, is to have a bar with some music, but then later in the night, open up the dance club after last call at the bar, this was one of those places, but if you went into the club before a certain time, then there was not cover. We danced the night away and again got back at around 3, but we didnt care because it was our last night in Ireland. Sunday morning we woke up and got on the bus to come back to Wales. We made two stops, the first was to Blarney, castle. We went up and kissed the Blarney Stone, so now i can pursuid poeple to do things.....send money.... Did it work? Then we stopped in Waterford, home of Waterford Crystal, this is the most expensive glass i have ever seen, and i see no difference between it and the stuff you can get at Target. We caught our ferry at 9 pm ish and that took about 4 hours, but it was well worth it. I spent the first hour or so on the top deck, it was a full moon over the Irish Sea, it was very cool. We got back to school at around 2 am, so we were all very tired. Today we met our outdoor pursuits professor, he seems really cool, and the class should be a lot of fun. I am still working on pictures, i have not found the time yet, but soon. All in all Ireland Rocked.

In Ireland

2005-09-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

As of right now i am in Donagal Ireland. We were in Dublin the last two days. That was really fun. It isn't the Ireland you think of but it is still interesting. We toured the Guiness brewery, which was a highlight, and just hung out. We will be going on a bike tour in the Aran Islands tommorow. I am glad to hear everything is going well at home. If i get a chance i will try to call. And once we get back to Wales i WILL get pictures.

Off to Ireland

2005-09-12T02:20:00.000-07:00

Will we be leaving at 12:00 today, take an hour to get to the ferry, spend 3.5 hours on it, and arrive in Dubin at 9 or 10 at night. It should be really fun, the weather is good so the ferry crossing should be smooth (knock on wood). I dont know if i will have computer access while i am there, but maybe. I will take lots of pictures and expect a lenghty entry when i get back. We went and sang kereoke last night at one of the pubs, songs american students sang: Sweet Home Alabama, Margaritaville, The Devil Went Down to Georgia, and Lil' John Yeeaahh. It is every Sunday night so we will probably be regulars.

Comments

2005-09-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for leaving comments, and keep it up i love hearing from you. Sounds like Lisa and Chase are really moving alongs, as are my parents, its great that everything is going well. But not to fear i have a fan now! i finnally found one, i guess it never crossed my mind that the hot weather here is not hot for me or would be to you all, but it is a heat wave, so all the fans most places are sold out, go figure, but i was able to get one, and it works quite well. Today we are probably going to take it easy, did not do much last night, just hung out with catie. She is doing good too. I am going to mass for the first time here, so we will see how that goes. We met the sister from the parish Sister Carmel. She is a little Irish lady, that reminds me of Aunt Veronica, very soft spoken and funny. Mass is at 11:00 on Sunday, and they have a 5:30 on Saturday, we didnt get back in time last night to go, so we are going this moring, its nice because we can sleep in, and nothing really happens on Sundays over here, we leave for Ireland tommorow, i am really excited.

Reality Bites

2005-09-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

Today we visited some really beautiful places. We went to a coastal town and stood along huge cliffs with really cool out-cropings. Othere then that we just rode around, looked at another castle and came back(tough :) ) I am now starting a fund raising effort for scott, you may remember it the "Save the Scott Foundation" Because the UK is cruel and unusual things are way to expensive, so we are now taking donations. No dont send me money, well you can, but im not begging i just have to pace myself. I figure the the first couple of weeks are going to be the most expensive becaue i cannot get into a set routine, so spending will be spuratic. It is missleading here becaue the prices are what they could be at home, they are just in pounds £. Example a pop costs 60p (there are 100p in 1£.) A pop at home would cost 60 cents, so i think the British are reading the suggested priceing and forgetting it is in cents. I will work on talking to someone about this, and getting this entire misunderstanding figured out, until then, spending will probably continue, because money talks and that bites.

Back from Swansea

2005-09-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

We got back from Swansea, first off, the address i posted below is probably not right i have yet to get a straight answer on what the right address actually is. I bought a matress pad and a shower caddie thing in swansea, but i still can't find a fan! It is killing me, i figure my room would be less damp and smell better if the air was constantly moving, tommoro we are going to another castle, which by the way, we have seen 3 so far. All pretty cool, some more then others. We should be along the south coast of wales tommorow, and we leave at 9:30 and get back at 1am, ouch, but it should be fun. Then we have sunday off, and leavr for the motherland on monday, i can't wait.

Back to Swansea

2005-09-09T02:22:00.000-07:00

Today we are going back to Swansea, so us old pros know where everything is. On the list of things that would be great to have; a fan, a dehumidafier, 2 more pairs of shorts, and 6 more t shirts, so if we can get them all for under £20 that would be great, but not likly. Catie had a great birthday, and as far as i know is feeling ok this morning, but i have yet to see her. It rained last night but spirits were still high, our friendly neighborhood barkeep Will made sure Catie got introduced to some new things, one i have no idea what it is but it was 40%, actually not too bad, more to come later.

Participating in the social aspect of the Welsh

2005-09-08T04:20:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know, the pub is where the majority of the UK and Irish population goes to meet up with others, we go to church, but it works... That said we Catie, myself, Dane, Ashely, Joe, and Scuba Steve met up with a welshman and a brit last night. We hung out with them for about four hours and three different pubs. They were very proud and very funny. They talk with us about cultural things from the US and we all had a good time. We were out when Catie turned 21 so she got a free drink and lots of kisses on the hand. It was a good experience, and our other new friend Will the barkeep and the Blue Boar also hung out with us, once his pub closed. The welshman and the brit are traveling painters that go all over the UK to paint, what they paint im not 100%.

Here I am at Trinity College in Carmarthen Wales

2005-09-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

We got picked up by the bus with all the other students on it. They all seem really cool and judging by the first night out we will all have a lot of fun. On that note, beer is expensive, dont worry mom i wont drink to much, but i wiser man then myself once told me that beer is better for you then pop, which by the way tastes different over here. Coke is less sweet, Pepsi is a little sweeter, and Dr Pepper tastes even more like Amaretto. A pint, which is how beer comes over here, unless you want a half pint, which is just a waste, costs between £1.75 and £2.70. A good rule of thumb is to multiply it by 2 to get US dollars. So it is expensive, but good, and Guiness is 100 times better here. Enough about beer, because mom is getting even more worried.
My dorm is the tallest building in South Wales. It is square and has 11 floors, 5 rooms on each floor, 1 student per room. The rooms are very spatious, not too much smaller then my room at home, but a little, so it is nice. I get a bed, that is good for sitting on but sleeping will have to do for now. A desk, a book shelf, and small end table, and a building it shelf and clostes, along with....a sink. So it is very comfortable. Everyone shares a toilet and shower, that shower is nice and hot and the toilet...works. It is actually about 80 here. It is unseasonably hot, i am looking forward to the rainy cold weather i have heard so much about. The food is really not that bad, it just takes some getting used to. Lots of really nice cars, i have seen a hand full of Ferrari's and a dozen Porches, BMW is very common, so are deisels. I was listening to a radio program, yes like soap operas on the radio, and the main topic of the plot was a farmer dealing with organic farming which i thought was cool. Catie is doing well, she gets along really good with the other girls from homestay, so thats good. Mom if you are the only one reading this email the web Address to other people so they can read it. The town is a trade town and most of the stores close around 5 or 6. there is a 24 hour grocery store calls Fasco, its like Hy-Vee. Cellular phones are nicer here, i havnt explored the possiblities with the phone i bought from a previous student, i may end up bying a nicer one, then i can bring it back and it will work in the US. We almost bought a car for £175 (that is pronouced Pounds, by the way) it was a VW polo. The bus systems are very good here and handy to use. In all it looks like the greatest expences here will be food, beer, and maybe transportation, but not so much. Stuff is actually quite cheap if you shop around, you can get nice polo shirts for £1. But there is also expensive close too. Shoes are really cool here, the style is more tight around the foot, and not bulky like some of ours, i have a pair i left at home, i will make sure it is put in the first box to come from home, the address here is;

Tecwyn Vaughan Jones

American Office, Scott Sandberg

Trinity College

Carmarthen SA31 3EP

Wales

So i will be expecting packages daily from everyone. Catie lives in a cool condo type housing, she has a nice room too. I am on the 6th floor of my building, its called the Tower....

I will hopfully be putting pictures up, i am still working on how to do that. Tonight, Tuesday, i will be unpacking and settling in. I will keep everyone up to date as much as i can, check back often.

Scott

2005-09-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

So I am now at school. Just a few housekeeping things before i continue to share my experiences. The little comment thing, you can click on that and talk back to me. I am going to put lots of stuff on this blog (on line journal for those of you that are unclear about that) some people will understand references to things, because they were there (inside jokes) if you dont get it, don't ask me to explain it. Plus there will be lots of random things that pertain to all things i am interested in, so who know what will show up.

Here I am in Wales

2005-09-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

At the moment i am in swansea wales i have yet to talk to anyone because phone cards suck. i am on the internet in a phone booth. everyone is very nice and my host lady is really cool, here she is about 60 and her older sister is always over, reminds me of someone i know ;) so hello to everyone and i willupdated this as much as possible, o ya the flight was very good, and we had no troubles iceland is flat and plane. we went to a little village of rhoilla or something it was on some bluffs overlooking the atlantic ocean so we went down and waded in it, we had fish and chips at a pub, and hopfully yet tonight i will have a pint. i will call as soon as i can, later!

I wonder if this works....

2005-08-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

blah blah blah, can anyone see this?