Sunday, February 28, 2010

WALES. my homeland.

I am a little proud of myself right now as it has been less than a week and I am already updating you. That was a joke… but seriously. I am not proud of myself for only posting once a week as I am often finding myself doing more and more lately but I am finally posting which is a plus. I like to think of my life as hectic but I really have a lot of spare time that mostly gets devoted to hours wasted on the black hole, formally known as facebook. I am also, as I know I have previously stated a professional procrastinator. I think the only reason I write every so often is to keep my family entertained because of my lack of cellular device and communication on my part. If anyone else reads this… let me know so I don’t feel like I am just boring my loved ones.

So now on to the good stuff…
Tuesday was a good and calm day, like my whole week had been so far. I had class at 8:45 until 10:45 and then again at noon. Around 1:45 I went with my civ. Class to the Victoria and Albert Museum. This is by far my favorite museum. We only spend about an hour there but I am going back as soon as I have a free afternoon. After visiting my favorite section, the vintage fashion section, Jenny, Katie, Britin and I went the most adorable ribbon shop called V. V. Rouleaux. It happens to be where the costume designers went to get all the ribbon to make the beautiful and elaborate designs for the film, Young Victoria. If you have not seen this film yet, you must! When I brought the ribbon I picked out to the measuring desk I asked if I was able to just get three fourths of a meter and the woman working looked at me like I was an idiot. She then said, “You mean three quarters of a meter?” This is not the first time that my American accent and the way I say things has made me feel a little on the dumb side.
Me Jenny Britin and Katie at V.V. Rouleaux!
Tuesday night was spent passed out in my cozy corner bed. I am turning into an old lady.

Wednesday was a bore. I honestly cannot recall a single thing I did so I had to look on my flat mate’s blogs to figure out how I spent my day, pathetic I know but that’s what I get for not taking any pictures all day. After some research on my day I remembered that I went to the Imperial War Museum to see the Holocaust exhibit and at night we went to see Twelfth Night. It was very funny but our seats were at the very top of the theater and it was steamy hot because of the amount of people packed into that tiny space. Very boring day, not much to say and yes that was a tiny poem not meant to be one.

This week was the half way point of my stay here in the greatest city in the world. Very sad to think that in a short month and a half or so I will be on a plane back to where I came from. But honestly I am excited to go home. I mean I am only half way through my program here and it has felt as if I have been here for a year.

Thursday morning we awoke at the early hour of five. Yes, yes I Macy Falke woke up at five, and you thought eight was early for me. The reason for this loss of three hours of sleep was that we were going to Wales!! I was excited to get back to my roots, haha. Our first stop after what seemed like the longest four hour drive ever, was Tintern Abbey. This place of almost ruins was beautiful. We walked around and I took about ten minutes to myself to just reflect on things.

After our short stay there we then drove to the “Bit Pit” coal mine. Oh yeah you heard me right, a coal mine, hilarious! “Cough cough, I think I’m getting the black lung Pa… cough cough merman” –Zoolander. We went down into the mine and toured where, until 1980, the Welsh mined for coal. Our tour guide of the mine had worked in mines his whole life. “Hi ho hi ho it’s off to work we go…”

Our next stop was my favorite of the day. We went to St. Fagan’s Museum of Welsh life, the “Columbia” of welsh life for those of you who are from California and know what that is. St. Fagan’s is a 100 acre representation of what old Welsh life was like. We walked a little ways through the little town and then to the manor house. It was beautiful with gorgeous gardens, fountains and ponds.

Once our two hours were up there we drove to Cardiff, where we were staying for the night. We were assigned roommates for the night and I was paired with Jen. She is a doll and I was happy to be her roommate. Maddy, Jen, Tori, Karli, Eliza and I went to a little pub for dinner and I had fish and chips. Then I came back to a steamy shower and luxurious queen bed for the night. I slept like a baby.

Friday started off with chocolate croissants and a coach ride to Caerphilly Castle. Audrey, Caitlin, Emma and I had fun walking around and using our time for a photo shoot as we usually do at most places.

I know just how much you love the videos of my little friends here so here is another one. I think it's quite funny.

Our next coach ride was really long so I took a nap and woke up with the worst pain in my neck. That’s what I get for not having a neck pillow. The rest of our day was spent going to various English church history sites. We were taken to Hill Farm, Herefordshire Beacon, and Gadfield Elm Chapel. We had a lovely tour guide named Peter Fag who told us all the things to know about the places we visited. The most memorable part of our little history lesson was when we were at the chapel. Sweet sweet Susan got up and instantly started crying, creating waterfalls of tears on each of our faces, she then requested that we should sing “The Spirit of God”. It was one of the most touching moments I have had here, being in the same chapel where the early saints of Britain would meet and where many Prophets have stood. I am so thankful for my foundation in the church laid out by my parents and grandparents. I honestly don’t know where I would be if they had not joined the church.


Saturday I slept in, lovely! Then after a short work out and shower Audrey, Caitlin, Emma, Jenny and I headed to my favorite spot in London, Borough Market! After eating two ostrich burgers on previous visits to the market I thought it was about time to try something new for lunch so I had the amazing yellow curry that I have tasted every time and it was delicious! I then proceeded to empty out my wallet a whole twenty pounds on yummy fruit, truffles, Turkish delight and a loaf of rye bread bigger then my head. I did not plan on buying bread but the gorgeous man at the stand had other plans for that five pounds.

Emma and I with our delicious Malaysian Curry
My heaven will have a Borough Market in it.

We then, went to the London Aquarium. It was such a joke, but this is coming from a girl that is used to the amazing Monterey Bay Aquarium. It literally had a section on the fish that live in the River Thames, ew. There was also one shark tank that they had you walk by about ten times throughout the walk through from different angles. If you are in London and want to see fish, stick with the kind that comes on a dinner plate, that kind will actually be worth your money. The best part of the Aquarium was walking out to see Big Ben and Parliament.

I will never get sick of seeing this...
Cheers!

3 comments:

Kristy said...

Oh how fun my dear. I thoroughly loved every word of your update, especially the part about keeping your view time of fish in London to the kind that grace a dinner plate. True Macy! Love you. Dad

vocalise said...

You are too funny. Love that cute photo of you in front of the colorful market sign. The other photos of England and the greenery could all be postcards. You sure are covering a lot of ground!

Kristy said...

Wonderful to hear about your week Macy Moo! I wish that I knew more about Wales, but I did find out that my mom's dad's side was from Wales. Listen to these places in Wales: Llangyfelach, Codaxton, Liandebie, Pentregwenlais and Alltwen. Do any of those places sound familiar? I looked on Family Search and found his ancestory back into the 1780's. Pretty cool that you were there where your great, great grandparents were from!