Rainy Days and Mondays..

Monday.
For those of you who are wondering why I put this title, I have a few explinations. One, Karen Carpenter is playing, and the song just happens to be "Rainy days and Mondays". Two, it actually is a Monday, and go figure it is raining. Pouring. So here I am, sitting at my desk infront of  the window, wearing a stripped long sleeved and drinking afternoon tea. Oh, and watching this girl bite the curb (Apparently it is bad to wear heels and run in the rain? I'll keep that in mind).

Let's talk about the past week.
On Wednesday, Chris, Adam, Kyle, Bianca, Jen, Jacqueline,Conner and myself went to Rhossili Bay and Worm's head. Played on the beach..had a mini photoshoot with a shipwreck from 1888, and went hiking. Jackie and I hiked all across the monumental Worm's head and saw seals. It was a delight.

Then, Friday rolled around. Normally I love weekends, but since I am done with classes on Wednesday, weekends are no big deal anymore. Still cherished, nonetheless. But anyways. Friday. Friday we went to a Mexican restaurant. Divine. And by we, I mean Dave, Yushi, Allison, Cristen and Courtney. I naturally had a Margarita and a Long Island. My tapas was ok, but nothing to write home about. Afterwards we went to an indoor playground, and our 5 year olds came out. It was a blast. BLAST.
Saturday, Courtney, Cristen and I teamed up again for a day trip to the Mumbles. God, I love that city. There was this one shop, the name escapes me, but it was fucking adorable. Totes adorbs. As per my usually drill, pics will be added. Then, we had a good chill at a coffee shop. Since it was a tad breezy, I had a hot chocolate with Bailey's, and some delish coffee cake. DELISH is the word to describe the food. Well, and delightful.
Sunday. A shopping trip to this vintage fashion fair, it was a fur coat extravaganza. I'm still smelling Mink coats. But, I did buy some Christmas presents, so it was productive. Then to Tesco's. The night ended with chili and cheesecake for Conner's bday, and a delightful talk with Allison over hot chocolate.

Today, while only half over, hasn't been that bad. I do secretly LOVE rainy days, and class was interesting. And then there of course was that hour of Pan Am...another thing I love is that magnificant show.

ICH BIN EIN BERLINER

Greetings!
Let's start with the translation of this title, followed by a history lesson (the teacher is coming out in me). "Ich Bin Ein Berliner"- translates to "I am a jellydoughnut". Now, some of you may ask- why make that the blog title? Why call yourself a jellydoughnut? Here's the history lesson. In 1963, JFK went to Berlin and made a famous speech regarding the construction of the Berlin wall, and the divison of Berlin. In his speech (besides verbally attacking the East Germans by saying "We [America] have never had to build a wall to keep our people in") he famously said "Ich bin ein Berliner". We all know that JFK was educated, and probably ment to say that he was a Berliner, but in his translation he must have forgotten that Berliner actually means jellydoughnut. But at any rate, the West Germans, and the rest of the world, ate that up and its now a famous quote to come from the 20th century.

In case you have not figured it out yet, I am fresh off the boat from Berlin.

We left bright and early (6:20 am) on October 13th for lovely Berlin. We arrived roughly at 7pm, and after checking into the Amstel House Hostel, we departed for our first night of dinner and the Festival of Lights in Berlin. We ate at this amazing restuarant-and I had two much needed Vodka-Cranberries. We spent the rest of the night exploring the heart of the city, and enjoying our first taste of the festival.

Friday was a depressing-but educational and humbling day at Sachenhousen Concentration Camp with Allison, Caleb, Conner and Taylor (who came all the way from France to see moi!). It was such a humbling and eye opening experience. While it did make me pretty sad for the rest of the day, I am so so glad that I was able to see it and walk through a concentration camp. Some of the stories to come out of those places...its astonishing that anyone survived the Nazi horrors. That takes real strength and willpower to live. Afterwards, we met up with the other Americans (there were 14 of us total) and went out for another night of lights in the city. Thursday night kind of sucked...but Friday night was fab. As usual, expect pictures later.

Saturday, we went to the market explored the city for the first time in the daylight. What a difference! If you think Berlin is beautiful at night, it is gorgeous in the daytime. We saw countless monuments- my favorites being the memoiral to Hitler's book burning and the Brandenberg Gate. We also went to the Memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe...what an experience. Again, more stories and pictures to really make the Holocaust hit home. Not gonna lie, I got emotional and had a few tears. But like I said earlier- I am so greatful to see these things.  We all met up again at 2 and went to Sans Suci Palace- home to Frederick the Great. This was marvelous. All I can say is, I found my future house/palace/mansion. Saturday night was more of the festival.

Sunday...our last day in Berlin. We explored more of the city, took a double decker to the Oktoberfest, and had a relaxing day (thanks in some part to the alcohol laced ice cream). We boarded the flight at 17:20, and was home and in bed by 2am.

Berlin was a fabulous experience, now go do it. I've already told you what to do, so basically its already planned for you.

Inside the storybook Cardiff Castle

Cardiff was yesterday. It was amazing! I went with Cristen, Caleb, Courtney and Melissa. We left around 9am from Swansea, and arrived about an hour later in Cardiff, the capitol city of Wales. Once there, we wandered around some of the arcades. Arcades are alleyways that are lined with shops, and it was adorable. My favorite shop, of course, was an antique shop. But it was a little too pricey, so I just looked and lusted. Then we ate at this awesome Chinese place "Wok to Walk"- its basically a fast food version of Hu Hot. I had some whole grain rice with chicken and sweet and sour sauce- divine. Next was Cardiff Castle-aka my future summer house. It was GORGEOUS. The keep (which is where they stored things for the castle) dates from 1130, and is surrounded by a moat. Also on the grounds is wall remains from the 14th century, underground war tunnels, and the main living house and clock tower from the 18th and 19th century. Thats the part that was marvelous. The insides looked like something out of a storybook. Words cannot describe it, so I'll post pictures.

Once we finished at the castle, we went over to a tacky yet awesome tourist shop, and bought things. Then next door to this 1950s looking Gelato/Coffee shop. I had a vanilla chai and some peanut butter gelato (doesn't sound like a good combo, but it WAS!) We finished the day shopping and wandering around. I bought a beautiful wool sweater, and a 12 pack of Mt. Dew...for 16.50 pounds. I was desperate. Don't judge.

Oxford Pictures

I seriously have 200 picutres on facebook, so check them there.

On Saturday, we went boating in Oxford.

Here's my reason for not updating in a week. Or two. The weather here was amazing. We had an Indian Summer- highs in the 80s (or 20s for you Brits), and it was SUNNY. Not a rain cloud for days. Lovely. It was also or 'Fresher's Week'- which is really just a week of orientation during the day, and constant parties at night. We went to a rave- with 3000 other people. Ironically, it was called "fresh and free". And it was definatly a great oppertunity to let loose. The rest of the week was followed by meetings, scheduling problems (waiting in queue for 2 hours to find the class is full, FML), and Friday ended with a Ball. It was basically the rave, with nicer clothes. So, we ended up spending more time out on the patio talking than inside dancing. BTW, I really REALLY miss American music. Techno just doesn't do it for me.
On October 1st, we went to lovely Oxford. It was devine. (Notice how I'm throwing in those British phrases like 'lovely', 'devine', darling'?) Oxford is probably my second favorite place that I've been to since I got here, I don't think anything can compare to Bath. We left via taxi for the train station at 4:40 am. Now, the ball was the night before, so when I say I went to Oxford on no sleep, I really mean I had NO sleep. Except for a few catnaps on the train. There's a picture of me at an ice cream parlour and I fell asleep. Awkward. But anyways, Oxford. We arrived in Oxford at 8:30 am, and went straight for breakfast at this Art Deco cafe called Cafe Coco. I had a spinach and feta omlette. Tasty. We left there and went wandering around. Our first stop was the magnificant Ashmoelan Musuem. Bianca and I were in heaven! It was 5 floors of things dating from ancient Rome to modern art. Simply fantastic. After 2 hours there, we met up with some other friends and had a lovely lunch at the pub Eagle and Child- which is where C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolken wrote their novels. We even ate in their booth. (this is where Caleb was in heaven). We also went around churches, monuments, and to Christ Church school- which is where much of Harry Potter was filmed, and ironically Emma Watson is said to attend there. Probably the best part of Oxford however was punting. Punting is boating. You are basically on a gondala, with a pole as your way to move the boat. All of us tried our hand at it, but Jeffery was the best at it. I was not. (shockingly) It was so nice though! We finally left Oxford around 8pm and returned home at midnight.

Classes finally started on Monday, and so far so good. I have 'Ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture 'from 9-11 on Monday, and 'Politics and the People' at 3. On Tuesday, I have ' From Reason to Romance: Britain 1650-1800' at 9, and then another lecture of politcs at 3. Wednesday is the easy day with a second helping of Reason to Romance at 9. Then I'm done for the week! Besides my lectures, we also have seminars and tutorials throughout the week (some are not every week), so while some lectures are only once a week, they are supplimented by small group seminars. In all, they are all very intersting classes, and it shouldnt be too terrible. The 4 day weekends make up for it :)