Fresher's Week/Gower/Rhossili

'Hello!
Before I begin my post I would like everyone to know I am in my kitchen, eating potatos and veggies with loads of HP sauce, watching it pour rain while it is sunny, and there is a full double rainbow outside of my window.

Where to start? Last week was a week called Fresher's Week. Freshers are the UK equivalent of Freshman. It is a week full of getting acclimated to the University (or Uni as everyone calls it here) and of joining clubs, and playing your techno music extremely loudly and passing out glow sticks to everyone who comes into your house (as demonstrated by the boys who live behind me). I live in a "house". It is more of a condo where we share a wall with another "house". We have a HUGE kitchen (awesomeness!) and I have a really good sized bedroom with a bookshelf, desk, and a wardrobe. I love my flatmates. 5 other girls (besides myself) and I all live together with two boys. Raj is from Singapore, and Jim from Hong Kong. Two of the girls are from England. Rachel is from the Oxford area, and Jo is from the Black Country. Angharad (SWEET Welsh name) is from about 25 minutes south of Swansea. Gracie is from Tennesee, and so is Caroline. I LOVE all the girls, we get along great and all have a lot of fun together. None of them are too crazy into going out. We all have a great time, and see eye to eye on a lot of living situation things. The boys are also nice, but mostly keep to themselves.

Class: This week was my first week of class. Although I am a fulltime student, I only have class for six hours a week. Sweet. I am taking Theory of Persuasion and Argument, and Media Representations. Both of them are one, two hour lecture, and one, one hour seminar. They both seem like they will be a bit of a review course.

Social Life: I joined the Hiking Club. What a great decision! On Sunday, I hiked 8 Miles (they work on Miles and Kilometers here....its weird) through the rolling hills of the Gower, and we ended in Rhossili, a lovely town which is on the coast. It was a sunny day, so it was a BLUE ocean and sky. Perfect weather for hiking as well, about 65 and Sunny. I couldn't have asked for a better day! There are a few of us Americans who joined the club. In a couple of weeks I think we have an overnight trip, so that should be fun. This Saturday is the Fresher's Ball, which is like a homecoming dress up type of deal. Fun Stuff! I am going with all my flatmate girls.

Food: Yum. There is a sauce here that tastes like A1 sauce which they put on EVERYTHING, hence I put on EVERYTHING. It is SO yummy, its HP sauce, not sure if they have it in the states or not. The ciders here taste AMAZING. I wish they had them all in the states. Four of us (two other Americans and a Brit) have made a dinner club where we are going to rotate weeks of who cooks. We'll see how long it lasts, but for the time being its fun! Sunday, the British guy made us a full, proper English roast. Basted chicken, Yorkshire pudding, veggies, broiled potatos, and sausages. Their sausages here arn't "leftovers" such as in the states. They are AMAZING and 100% meat. This Sunday is my turn. I am either doing Breakfast dinner or Italian night- Homemade pizzas, salad, and a pasta bar.

Upcoming Plans: This Saturday I am going on a school trip to Stonehenge. Fun! Next weekend, I will be in Dublin. I am traveling alone on Wed. to Bristol, and flying into Dublin on Thursday to meet up with some friends who will already be there (I got a better flight deal than themm hence me traveling alone). So excited!

Well, I think that is all for now! Here are pictures from the Gower/Rhossili. Miss you all!

Me and a couple hiking pals (busting out the Spandex....of course)

The fog over the sea

From halfway up the hill we were climbing. It was harder than this picture looked!

From the top of the peak


Mud. FUN!!!
I found a secret garden!
The first peak we climbed
Mist rolling over the second peak we were climbing
Rhossili Beach
Looking down from the super high peak I was on.


Blue Sky!
Blue ocean and boats!
This is Worms Head. It takes a while to hike out there. This whole area is covered, minus the peak, when the tide is in. I guess there is a seal colony on the other side. The current is extremely strong, so they don't let you hike out there. They have signs that say when you can hike out there and when you can't.