Unsure of where Wales is? Don't worry. Here's a map!
I'm just below where the W in Wales is!
For those of you who don't know, Great Britian is made up of four countries: Scotland, NORTHERN Ireland (only the part in green!), England, and Wales. I've now been to all 4 countries. Yay!
Here's some fun facts about Wales:
-Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Burton and Dylan Thomas are all natives
-Mount Everest was named after Sir George Everest, a surveyor (someone who examines the conditions of land and/or buildings)
-Wales has more castle per square mile than anywhere else in the world!
-It is the home land of the *mythical* King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
-The population of sheep is four times greater than the population of humans in the entire country.
Although about only 20% of the country can speak it fluently, Welsh is one of the national languages of the country. Everything here is printed twice, once in English and once in Welsh. You would think you'd be able to decipher the translation, but it gives me a headache just thinking about it:
English is on one side, Welsh on the other
The school I'm working at this week, Swansea University, is pretty much an equivilent of Pepperdine in the sense that is is right on the beach. After each ceremony, the school hosts a reception, and while this is the norm for most universities over here, I am blown away by Swansea's...it's probably nicer than my wedding will be! Live jazz band with people dancing, tons of free food, FREE DRINKS (champagne for days!), and a fun photo booth with props, etc, as well as tables and chairs out on the lawn with games for friends and family to relax and take pictures and all that typical graduation stuff!
I didn't have too much of a chance to go exploring this week, partially due to operational hours were shorter than my work schedule and partially due to the stomach flu putting me out of commission for 2 days (PS want to know what hell is like? It's being sick while abroad)! Regardless, the picture above is of Swansea Castle, which remains in tact as a reminder of Wales' history while the city centre (downtown/shopping) was constructed entirely around it--directly behind this castle is a Five Guys.
Above is a (low quality) snap shot of the town of Mumbles, just next to Swansea. Beautiful bay with boating and a cute, seaside town vibe!
I passed this each day on my walk to work. Although I may be biased by being an English teacher, it stayed in my mind throughout the week. As I mentioned earlier, Wales is home to the poet Dylan Thomas, who is the author of this gem:
Do not go gentle in to that good night
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
This isn't the poem in its entirety, but has become popular lately as being referenced in the film Interstellar and the novel Matched by Aly Condrie. In essence, it pushes the message to fight hard against the end of life, which has gotten me thinking about both dad and mom's fights with cancer--especially at the very end. I know my dad was in such pain those last few days, but as I had just moved from Arizona days prior, he fought hard to hold on until I was safe in North Carolina (where his mom lives) to pass away because he didn't want me to be alone. Likewise, mom tried so, so hard to make it until baby James was born so she could meet him. If you followed Layne's blog entries, you know how unrealistic it was for mom to still make it as long as she did. These acts of love reminded me how lucky my sister and I were to have parents who were willing to fight for us in mind. Without being too morbid, it sort of re-ignited my purpose for taking this trip--hopefully to find myself again and rebuild a life thats worth fighting for.
Anyway! Off to Berlin to start the first leg of my "trip trip"--work is done, now it's time to relax and enjoy the ride. The school year starts back up tomorrow in Chandler, and I maybe am 1% sad I'm not there, but 99.999999% happy to take my gap year. Sorry, Bogle-ites!
Cheers!
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