Out on the Towns

Writing again soon... I don't think I will be doing as much as soon as these first two weeks are over! Yesterday afternoon we took a bus out to the Gower Peninsula which was absolutely beautiful. It was about an hour away and we went through some very rural areas. I sat by a German student named Fabian... he is really great. We didn't get as much as time as was necessary to explore the path and the area but it was still a really nice afternoon. Then after that we went down to the city centre to Tesco (Wal-Mart ish but better) for some groceries and necessities. It was also one of the girls 20th birthday so seven of us went out to dinner and we found a nice place offering 50% off main dishes so we were very pleased with ourselves. We are still adjusting to the time change; I was up last night from 2 am to 3 am which was slightly frustrating so we are all staying up later tonight.
This morning a group of us went to breakfast and planned out our afternoon at Mumbles. Alison, Adam and I decided not to go back to bed and went downtown to do a little shopping and to go to the Swansea Market. There were a ton of people out so it was fun to see the city a little more alive than it had been, and the sun was shining which felt like a mini miracle. We decided to try out a few Welsh delicacies... namely laverbread. This is really unexplainable... it is like seaweed trying to be bread... it was just awful. To save our taste buds we got Welsh cakes which were, thankfully, delicious. Welsh cakes are some combination of scones and pancakes with currents and sugar dusted on them. There was also a ton of fresh seafood, meat, and lots and lots of fruit! We are planning on going whenever possible.
Then this afternoon we had a huge group go out to Mumbles which is a nearby village just around the bay from Swansea. It was the best weather we have had since we have been here... which I guess is not saying a lot, but it was sunny and around 65 degrees. We visited our first castle, Oystermouth Castle, which was built by the Normans. It was really pretty and there was an older gentleman who gave us information about the castle as well as relaying the message that there was a hurricane headed for the UK. (We found out his information on this was not the most accurate though...) For lunch we went to Joe's ice cream shoppe and sat on the stone wall next to the beach looking out at the bay. I would have to say that this might end up being one of my favorite memories.

This evening was our pub crawl... we went to Divas, an on campus club for two and a half hours and it was just the 28 of us or so US (plus German, plus Dutch) students so it was really fun. We tried to go to two other places, one being the second biggest club in the UK but it was getting late and things were a smidge bit unorganized... But for now that is all! Sorry again about the length!