Sunday, March 30, 2008

Oh, Dang........

Hiya!

I feel like it has been SO long since I have updated, because I am feeling very behind on everything that I have done since Wales.... I just wanted to post a little thing as an overview of it all. After Wales, I went with Kim to the Monkey Forest, near Stoke-On-Trent, then I went to London and saw Wicked, and then to Belgium to buy the chocolate, and then York for Easter and the to Warwick Castle, and LASTLY Bath, with a Mountain Man (yeah go ask the priest at the Roman Baths) . In other words.... I am going crazy here, but having fun doing it. A freind of mine, asked me if I was really going to school here, and I am starting to wonder the same thing..... shoot :)

Kara

Thursday, March 6, 2008

My Room!


I have had several requests to show an update on my room. I have been working very hard on it. I hated it so much when I first moved in, I had no choice except to improve it. There was a poster fair at Uni, and I have been collecting things from all my trips ever since. My mom also sent my some things to help me with my situation..... I have to admit that I really love my room now, and I am glad to spend my time here. I have also included pictures of the kitchen, and the view from my window! And for you connivance I put an older picture of my room, so you can better see what it is that I have done!




Wales!!!

It is amazing to me the amount of pictures I allow myself to take. I get my camera out for 2 seconds, and the next thing you know I have taken 20 pictures! I have finally taken the time to sort my pictures into neat little files that make it really easy to find anyone picture that I am looking for, but it also overwhelms me to think that someday someone might want to hear about my England trip, and I will have to pick out just a few to show them. In the 2 months that I have been here, I have already taken more than 1000 pictures!!

This last weekend I went to Wales! My Friend Lizzie took me home with here for "Mum's Day." I am not sure why, but Mother's day is cecelebrated much earlier here, than it is in the US. I have a really cute picture here of Lizzie, she and I got to know each other really well, and I am SO glad that I got the chance.

My favorite activities were, the castle, the Museum of Welsh Life, and the Sea. I have gotten a lot more patient with the blogger, if you can't tell that I have added loads more pictures to this post, for your enjoyment of course. Caerphilly Castle, is one of the biggest castles in Wales, and I feel that it is beautifully preserved (not that I am an expert.) A lot of the castle is closed off to tourists, but we did get the chance to wander up one tower, and around the gates, and into the Great Hall. I have a picture here, where I am proving that I am Royalty...... The fireplaces in every room were HUGE!!! I couldn't believe the size of it, Santa Clause wouldn't need any of his magic to fit his entire sleigh in those fireplaces (though maybe not the chimney). I also really liked the windy staircases, I could never walk up and down those in a gown, but then again, castles really weren't places for ladies were they?


Then we saw this giant outdoor museum called the “Museum of Welsh life.” It was beautiful, basically houses from all around the country were taken apart brick by brick, and then were rebuilt all near each other, and restored to their original state, and supplied with furniture from the time period. I thought it was SO amazing to see these house that were HUNDREDS of year old, and the contents to match. I could go on and on for every about the school house, and this one red house, and the toll house(you had to pay tolls to walk on the roads, I have me looking a the toll sign, in a picture here), and the blacksmith, and the tannery, and pottery, just everything. The whole place was HUGE! I will expand on two of the things though. First of all, they took a block of miners lodging, (a row of two room room houses all built next to each other) and decorated each to a different time period, so you could see what they looked like from the day it was built until what it looked like right before they moved the buildings to the museum. I have some great pictures, I liked seeing how the houses changed through time, because they cover quite a large gap of time, like 200 years!!! The first has no indoor plumbing, and a large fireplace, while the last has a TV, and a bathtub! Secondly, the Manor house! That was neat. The man who owned it donated it to the “Welsh People” and all the land around it, and that is was is now used for the Museum. It wasn’t as big as I always imagine manor houses, but it was beautiful, and exciting to see, and imagine!!! The photo through the archway, was Lizzie's mom being "creative." I thought it was a beautiful photo. I also have a picture of SOME of the gardens. The entire garden was absolutely HUGE! but this one part made me feel like I was walking through Pride and Prejudice, and Much Ado About Nothing, and Everafter, all at once.
Lastly, the Sea! I have never seen a greyer scene in my whole life! And I guess I should be careful how I say that, because I am sure that it sounds almost like an insult! But I really don't mean it that way, it just WAS grey! Everything was! the sky, the sea, the sand, It was amazing. Here in this photo, I am trying to be as grey as the scene, hence the sad look on my face :)


I am very grateful to Lizzie on this trip, she made sure that I got into some of my own photos sometimes, which was very nice, I seem to get so caught behind the camera sometimes.

So there is Wales in a nutshell! I hope it wasn't too overwhelming!