Twmpath

I currently have entirely too much free time on my hands...today I had lectures from 10:00-12:00 and then the rest of the day completely free to do as I pleased so Brynne, Caroline, and I went into the city centre to the Cardiff market to get some vegetables and then to Cafe Nero for some delicious coffee. We also checked out this adorable tea room (tea means a meal in Wales) in St. John's Parish...it seemed like the best place to meet local women and just relax in a home-like air.

Since then I've been watching Burn Notice and pouring over my Wales guidebook to find fun day trips. I think I've got about a hundred now that sound amazing so its time to move on to the promised entry about the Twmpath.

On Thursday evening of this past week the majority of the Colgate Wales Group went to a traditional Welsh Twmpath which is their word for folk dance.

The twmpath was held in the student union's club called Solus (which is the welsh term for club...ha creative) and it featured a local folk band called Cats Claw. Basically the band would play welsh folk tunes while the lucky participants danced...or at least tried to...








The first dance that the caller taught us was the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DT6qRr-qu4
and it was kind of a disaster but loads of fun.


We basically just had a ball trying to find partners and make our way through the steps of the various Welsh, Belgian, Scottish, and maybe even American folk dances.

Now I think that I have found my Watson project...folk dancing throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Brilliant?!

Tintern Abbey and Castles Galore

As the perfect culmination of our first week in Wales the Colgate Wales study group went off castle hopping! We all piled onto a giant bus, which was quite possibly the scariest thing that has happened since we arrived (very small streets), and set off in search of some history.

The first castle we happened upon was the beautiful Castell Caerffili, located in the charming town of Caerphilly, not far from Cardiff. It was originally built by Gilbert 'the red' de Clare as a defense against a neighboring noble, Llywelyn the Last and has had a myriad of owners since though ultimately, like most other castles, it fell into disrepair.
I find this to be such a pity as who wouldn't want their very own castle...quite a nice summer home if you ask me...though I have to admit that moats and seriously disgusting things.
The second castle we visited was Castell Rhaglan, an impressively large and complex late medieval castle located in Monmouthshire which is also not very far from Cardiff. The castle on the site today was started by Sir William ap Thomas though it was eventually transformed into a glorious mansion in the later 16th century and I can attest that it would have been absolutely incredible. It too was destroyed though rather more deliberately than Caerphilly during the Civil War.
Fun fact: Led Zeppelin shot part of their film The Song Remains the Same at Raglan. Awesome.

The last stop on our tour (after a delicious Indian lunch in Monmouth) was Tintern Abbey. While I thought the castles were absolutely incredible I think Tintern was my favourite stop. The architecture is absolutely unbelievable and the setting is beautiful. I now completely understand the magic Wordsworth felt at the place...lovely.
The Abbey was the home of an order of Cistercian monks from approximately 1136 until 1536 when it was surrendered after King Henry VIII took complete control of the Church in the England and from then on the magnificent Abbey fell to ruin.






I think one of the most interesting things about touring ruins is how disconnected one feels from the people that inhabited them. It seems almost impossible that however many years ago these piles of rocks, however intricately designed and constructed when visible, used to belong to people...they were someones home...but then there were the fireplaces. At Raglan most of the floors of the main buildings were completely gone and so there were only fireplaces in the walls at the most unusual heights and it were the fireplaces that really hit home.










I also discovered I wouldn't like life as a Cistercian...only the Church, the infirmary, and the entrance hall were allowed fires. Brrr. It was really, really cold.

Week 1

Whew. Survived week 1...if you're counting weeks Monday through Friday, which I am in fact inclined to do.
Monday: Remember when the Cardiff kids got stuck in Amsterdam?!
Tuesday: Huw (pronounced Hugh) and the walking tour of Cardiff...also amazing Italian food...on
Colgate. heck yes.
Wednesday: Castell Caerdydd with our delightful hosts from the International Office...and glorious
pancake-esque things called Welsh Cakes...if I come back weighing 397356 stone...you'll
know why.
Thursday: Enrolment=mini-fiasco, but Jose (the only American professor in the Earth Sciences
department was really pretty nice). Twmpath (bless you?) = welsh folk dance =
awesomeness beyond belief (but more about that later). Oh and beginners Welsh. Oh
and our first Cardiff club outing... :)
Friday: Got an id card which I guess makes it official that I am a student of Cardiff University.
Go CU! Flatmate bonding and a lovely dinner with some study group girls.

Tomorrow: tri castellau (tree castehsoww) and some indian food. huzzah!

Castell Caerdydd

The grand adventure undertaken by the Colgate Wales Study group yesterday, 26.01.2011, was a tour of the towers of Castell Caerdydd or in English, Cardiff Castle. The Castle is quite an impressive site sitting straight in the heart of Cardiff City Centre and encompasses approximately 2000 years of history as is a medieval castle modified into an 18th century and then Victorian mansion, all of which is sitting atop Roman ruins.

The study group took a tour of some of the rooms remodeled during the 18th and 19th centuries and they literally took your breath away. Beautiful intricate carvings, gold inlay, and lavish furniture all designed by the famous William Burges for the richest family in Cardiff, who was oddly enough a Scottish family, but also part of the Stuart line.

The lookout:

Rachel Vinrace and Amsterdam

I must start out by admitting that Rachel Vinrace has absolutely nothing to do with Wales. Rather, Rachel Vinrace is the heroine of the novel The Voyage Out, by Virginia Woolf that also has nothing to do with Wales, or really with anything at all. Margaret Peavey and I were forced to make our way through Virginia Woolf's first, worst, and probably longest novel this past semester in British Fiction II. The novel itself is concerned with Rachel Vinrace who voyages out to South America on a ship and then finds love and happiness, but also death in a British colonies in South America.

I was not on a boat, nor was I headed to South America, nor am I hopefully destined to fall in love here and then die of a tragically inexplicable fever, however I did meet a Richard Dalloway on the journey "out." In the novel Rachel meets a gentleman named Mr. Richard Dalloway whose suave ways and intelligence provides quite a challenge and inspiration for the young Rachel.

This nice young lad, is in a way my Richard Dalloway, charming isn't he?

On my voyage out to Wales, the lovely and gentile young Alexander Korman visited me at JFK during my layover between New York and Amsterdam. He brought me a cupcake from the world renowned Magnolia's bakery and I am forever in his debt.

After this lovely sojourn into the mall portion of terminal 4 at JFK I mounted to the sky once again in an impressive Boeing 777-200 with several other Colgate students enroute to Amersterdam. The flight over was uneventful and filled with movies of Julia Roberts and Beauty and the Beast, and then we arrived in Amsterdam....where we got stuck until 2pm.

For some reason unbeknown to the Colgate study group our flight from Amsterdam to Cardiff was flat out cancelled for 'technical difficulties' so the study group was plunged into our first bonding experience after approximately 24hrs of straight traveling. Several hours, one plane ride, and for some a lovely bus ride from Bristol later we were all somewhat happily installed in our rooms in our flats in Cardiff.

I'm in Talybont Court which is the Talybont residence closest to campus which is brilliant and it is also the newest so thus far I am very happy about the living situation. Flatmates seem lovely though I haven't seen them much, so here's hoping to a great semester.




Total travel time: 28hrs.
Miles: too many to count
Time difference: 7 hrs to sunny phoenix, az.

I'm amazed at how many people here smoke, also Tesco (a grocer, all supply market) has got Walmart pwned, and American cellphones are such a rip off.

Hwyl Fawr and Pob lwc

For those of you who, like me, speak little or well no welsh my translator says that Hwyl Fawr is welsh for "goodbye" andPob Lwc "good luck," which seems to me to be about the only thing left to say...tomorrow is the big day.

I cannot actually believe that after months of waiting, planning, freaking out, planning, and freaking out some more I am actually this close to being on a plane directed towards Cardiff, Wales. What on earth was I thinking when I decided I wanted to do this?! Look at that beautiful sunset, everyday here in the valley has been a gift of beautiful sunshine, warmth, and the love of my family and some of my best friends...I keep wondering whether or not I should be institutionalized for going off to the rain, darkness, and cold, but then I remember.

Oh yeah, this could be one of the absolute most wonderful experiences of college if not my entire life and there are people out there, wonderful people, for me to meet. How incredibly blessed am I to have this opportunity, let's not waste it on worries. So then, off to the airport.

I invite you all to share this incredible journey with me, for better or for worse...Wales forever.