Days 21-25: A week full of food, realizations, cultures...

October 28, 2010


Day 21 (Monday, October 11, 2010):


And the second week of classes begin! I had a lecture from 9am-11am and then another lecture from 2pm-5pm. (Yay for 3 hour lectures...)  My second lecture always has a screening for the last hour or so, but it almost always goes over the 5pm frame, so being the good student that I am, I've been leaving early! On this particular day, I had an arrangement to meet with my International Exchange partner; I had missed the actual International Interchange night because I decided to something else. I contacted my partner in advance and we scheduled to meet up with one another on this day instead!

The International Interchange event is basically something that the International Society here at Cardiff arranged for Internationals to get to know one another. Prior to the event, we were asked to fill out a form online indicating which languages we are fluent in and which languages we would like to learn. I put down that I speak English and Korean natively and wanted to learn Spanish (I really would have liked to practice the Spanish that I haven't practiced since high school). Our partners were emailed to us the night before the event - I was matched up with a Korean student and a Chinese student and sadly, no Spanish-speaker. :(

Anyway, so I met up with my Korean buddy at City Centre where we headed to Starbucks to chat! She is a postgraduate student studying business. She was really fascinated to hear about the fact that I was a Korean raised in America (since she was born & raised in Korea). We talked about our families, the Korean culture, what it means to be a 1.5 generation Korean living in Los Angeles, the differences between London and Cardiff...and it was really nice. I think she felt a different kinship just to meet another Korean so far away from home (and the size of Koreans here is...really small).

Day 22 (Tuesday, October 12, 2010):


I ended up missing my first lecture for my Media & Gender module this day (one of many to come). I had a massive headache and just could not get up! I did make it to my first Tele-fictions seminar, which was lovely. I met up with Alana at the SU for lunch...and I can't really remember what I did the rest of the day, but in the afternoon I met with my Study Abroad girls to go to dinner!

We went to Wagamama, a Japanese noodle chain restaurant. I ended up ordering some sort of fried rice with a bunch of different things in it; others got noodles. Everyone seemed to really enjoy their meal. I noticed that there were some differences between a British-fusion Japanese noodle restaurant and what you'd find in America. It was definitely less authentic here in the UK than in the US - they had fried soba noodles, which I had never seen! I was always under the impression that soba was meant to be eaten not fried, but I might be wrong.

Yummy Asian Food!

A really awesome pat of the meal was that they gave cups of green tea for free with every meal order! This free deal helped me save my money and not order Sake...hehe.

We ended up going to this Crepe place (I think they called it a Pancake House or something) for dessert. We got into this awful habit of always having dessert after dinner - BAD for the wallet and BAD for the health! But oh-so-good for the taste bud...

I ended up getting a nutella and banana crepe while the rest of the girls got some good Welsh ice cream.

Day 23 (Wednesday, October 13, 2010):

 I was supposed to go to the Medieval Village with Alisha and Alana on Wednesday but that ended up being canceled because the girls had some problem with their schedule. I ended up meeting Joanna (a British Asian yay!) at the Woodville Pub for dinner. At 7pm, I went to the CU meeting at Julian Hodge. The CU had a "fayre" (fair) with all the different ministries it supports! There were some really cool outreach projects, and once again, I felt that the Christian fellowships at Penn should really get a move on with this whole outreach thing. I ended up signing up for  Revive, which is this really great ministry that works with churches in the Valleys of Wales where there is extreme poverty and high unemployment.  I am not exactly sure if I'd be actually be able to do Revive since I'm only here for 3 months, but I really would have loved to get more involved if I had been an actual student here at Cardiff.

When I was at CU, I got a call from Elmira (one of the study abroad girls from America) who felt really sick after her volleyball practice and wanted to rest at our place (since Talybont is so close to where all the sport people practice). I directed her to my flatmate Alisha who let her in - I came home to find them having a cuddly chat with some tea. Elmira ended up sleeping over and (from what I can remember), all three of us had some interesting chats, which is always lovely.

Day 24 (Thursday, October 14, 2010):

I had my first Writing with Light seminar this day, where I was utterly surprised to find that we had not needed to do the readings. In fact, the readings did not even come up! This seminar was more like a supplementary lecture where we were able to put to practice what we learned earlier in the week. 

I was supposed to meet up with a British friend that I made, but that didn't work out, so...I really can't remember what I did (probably came home and napped).

At 6pm, the CCCC English Fellowship had a "welcome party" at the Chaplaincy - oddly enough, this reminded me of RCF back home. The main difference was that people here were much more willing to serve each other (yeah, we really need to work on that), but I hear that RCF has gone through some magnificent changes in this semester alone, which I am looking forward to joining when I get back in the Spring. GOD IS GOOD. ALL THE TIME. :)

It was also interesting to essentially become a freshman all over again. Since sophomore year in RCF, we were being trained to be an upperclassman so in welcome events like this, we were expected to bring food, readiness to be friendly (haha) and prepare a skit usually. It was nice to just observe and receive (that sounds really selfish...haha). I kept recalling our Ice Cream Social for the freshmen last year...

Another main difference! People in the States are more concerned with "classes", as in Class of 2012, 2013, and so on. People here don't really associate themselves with their graduating classes (not at all actually). So there is less of emphasis on "class unity" as we stress so much at Penn (and in RCF). I think a part of this has to do with the fact that people here have a great emphasis on their "courses" since it is much more rigid than our "majors and minors" system and depending on their course, the amount of time before graduation differs. It's a different system, but I do miss all the class-specific activities Penn would sponsor (I kept getting emails for Amy Gutman's 2012 Halloween Party and was massively jealous even though I usually never go to those events).  I also miss using the words "Freshmen", "Sophomore", "Junior", and "Senior" - sometimes these words slip out of my mouth, and people here look at me like I'm crazy!

Day 25 (Friday, October 15, 2010):

I have a 9 o'clock lecture in the morning on Friday (yuck...) but it's Tele-fictions, which is one of the more interesting modules so it makes it tiny bit easier to wake up in the morning. I was supposed to go to morning prayer at 8 in the morning, but that did not happen because I woke up with a massive headache.  I was proud to have made it to the 9 o'clock lecture, since I tend to miss class a lot in general (I can't even count how many I didn't go to at Penn last semester). 

After my lecture, I had a seminar for my Media, Racism and Conflict module, which was good. This class is looking to be very structured and such - here, we signed up to form groups for student-led seminars. I ended up being assigned in the first group to present (more on that on Day 32, a week from October 15th)!

I ate lunch at the Woodville Pub with Alisha and Alana - Alana and I ended up getting dessert (SUCH a bad habit). We got their Belgium Waffle which is so. darn. good. 

I ended up going to the Big Tesco's afterwards to buy some stuff for my WEEKEND TRIP which was to...BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND!! More on that on next update...

Sorry for this text-heavy, little-picture update...but I promise the next update will have lots of pictures from Ireland!

Days 18-20: Weekend here in Cardiff

October 22, 2010

SO BEHIND.

Day 18 (Friday, October 8, 2010):


I had my first seminar on this day for the module Media, Racism and Conflict - I actually like the system here better regarding seminars. Seminars are small groups the equivalent of "recitations" (as we call it at Penn) or "discussions" (as other US Colleges call it). The biggest difference is that here in Cardiff (I'm not sure about the entire UK), seminars are actually led by the "lecturers" (professors) that teach the "module" (classes).  In the States, recitations/discussions are led by TA's (Teacher Assistants) who are Graduate students. I like this system so much better, since in the States, in order for a professor to know your name, you need to actively go find them during their office hours.  Also, this forces you to make sure you have done the reading since you should be actively participating all the time during the seminar.

After classes, I had a little pub date with the usual Study Abroad group girls - and then I decided to go out with Alana (one of the other Americans) and her flatmates. It was quite fun to dress up and get ready with friends (since I hadn't done this since the end of Spring semester at Penn). We ended up just going to the Student Union where a party was happening; I had fun but it got me missing Penn and APO unofficials...a lot.

Day 19 (Saturday, October 9, 2010):


Dee Dee (a new friend from Hong Kong!) and I headed to the marketplace that opens every Saturday in Cardiff to check out the food and to hang out! It resembled the farmer's market, but it was quite small.

Lots of people checking out the different booths

I ended up buying lunch from this place:

Welsh Mountain Meat!

I'm not even exactly sure what Welsh Mountain Meat is supposed to be, but the burger was really yummy!

I love, love, love meat that tastes really juicy not because it's been seasoned with a million different spices, but because it's fresh and natural.

Afterwards, we were supposed to go to the Cardiff Bay, but we went to three different bus stations and we STILL weren't able to catch the bus! Apparently, there was an event going on at the Millennium Centre (or Millennium Stadium, can't remember which one it was...) and therefore the bus routes were all messed up. Instead we ended up going shopping!

Town was bustling with people:

I ended up buying a casual dress and a short-sleeve cardigan! Oh, and this is where I ended up buying Caerddyd Dragonwhales (that I mentioned in this entry). Here is a recent picture of us, hehe:

I cuddle with him every night! He looks so goofy, I love it.

After shopping, I headed to the SU for the "welcoming party" for CCCC, the Cardiff Chinese Christian Church.  I know, I know...all of you at Penn are thinking: whattttt? It's kind of weird that I ended up joining a Chinese church all the way here in Wales, but I really feel that they have a tight-knit community that seems fitting since I'll only be here for such a short while.

The welcoming party was conducted in both Cantonese and English - I had no idea what to expect at first, but I think they were able to pull it off well. The party consisted of some ice breaker type games, dinner, mingling, introductory videos, a sermon, and small groups. To be honest, I was surprised that there were quite a few people who were not Christian but checking out a church event. I don't know if they were there because of free food or because they wanted to mingle with people from the same area, but it must be a blessing to have them just be exposed to the Gospel. I think Christian fellowships back at Penn are so internally focused whilst I have found out that the CU here is much more externally focused. I think I am learning valuable lessons from here - of course it is important for us to grow spiritually during our four years in university, but I think it is equally important to reach out to the communities surrounding us. I mean, Philadelphia is such a broken city and in every corner, we can find a need.

I guess that is why I joined APO, a community service fraternity, and while APO does reach out with soup kitchens and other events in Philly (and as much as I love APO), it isn't a Christian-based organization. The gospel is SO freeing and magnificent; I think God is really teaching me through my time for a new stage in my walk with Him. I think it's time to step out of my inner shell and be more active in kingdom-building.

Day 20 (Sunday, October 10, 2010):


An overload of updates! I thought I might as well finish up the weekend. On Sunday, I checked out another church - Mackintosh Church on (appropriately) Mackintosh Road. The church was very small and filled with really friendly elderly individuals. They were really welcoming and embracing. I enjoyed a cup of coffee and some biscuits before the sermon. The sermon was about defeating the monsters in our lives, just like David and Goliath.

I got lucky this day because it was the day of student lunch! Basically, a family from Mack Church hosts a student lunch every month. Thus, after service, a bunch of us headed over to a family's home down the street from the church where we were fed with amazing food. I mean, starting from appetizers to dessert it was amazing! I was really able to feel the dedication and love that went into this meal.

From my personal experience in the short time that I have been here (omg, a MONTH has passed by already - since I'm writing this entry on the 22nd of October...), the Christian community really seems to be willing to serve one another. It's really beautiful because I think this is an area that we really need to work on at Penn. I am certain that churches here have their own weaknesses as well, but (like I wrote earlier) I am realizing and learning so much from Cardiff.

Anyway, after lunch, I met up with my Study Abroad girls to plan for our weekend trips! We ended up not planning and going out for lunch instead (I just got a drink since I had already eaten). We then roamed around Centre longer, shopping (again). We ended up going back to Uni Hall (one of the student residences here) and cooking Mexican food! It was delicious, despite some initial problems with avocado:

hello burrito!

It was a taste of home. I loved it.

Dear time, please slow down...

Diversion #2: Just a list...

October 15, 2010

Diversion #2 today and a quick post because I suddenly felt homesick:

I miss.........

• Having good Korean food right around the corner
• Big, wide streets
• DRIVING [on the correct side ;)]
• Authentic Mexican food / EL TAURINO'S
• A P O (need I say more?) (website curtesy of my Little <3 )
• Staying after exec meeting, not working when we should be working, "studying" (aka singing Disney songs), random trips to Wawa at 3am, being trapped in the APO Bubble and going to eat at random Thai restaurants, celebrating when it's not raining/dreary for once in Philly, throwing really bad surprise birthday parties, having email chains with big "meow" and "rawr", yelling at Omar/Christian.....(the list can go on forever)
• Walking through the Penn Bookstore to get to class
• Skipping class for various reasons ;)
• Staying up literally all-night because of really good conversations
• Studying at Meyerson until 5am (I hear it's been renovated? whattttt?)
• ^ Going to McDonald's to get coffee at all hours of the night (I want coffee SO badly right now)
• Walking down LOCUST WALK. I even miss flyering on it! Oh my...
• Doing random things like: going to FroGro at 1am to buy a blender and make smoothies, going out for walks in the rain, making snowmen instead of studying...
• Going out to BYO Dinners with the group!

There is so much more, but I'm stopping now because I really need to go read for tomorrow's seminar...

Although it is true that I miss Penn and home a lot, I know for a fact that when I go back, I'll be missing Cardiff like crazy. I guess this just goes hand-in-hand with my last entry (diversion #1)...

Clarification: I still really, really love it here. :) I'm SO thankful for SO many things right now, including all the people I've been blessed to meet here and all those that are back home, supporting me no matter what. 

A little diversion to the side...

(A small diversion from my Study Abroad "Day Journals"...)
Time is flying by, slipping away from my fingers, fading by way too quickly.

Strange how these thoughts came up when I am sitting right now in a coffee shop (that has become my favorite since day 1 here in Cardiff) and doing some work. I am reading an article by Stuart Hall on cultural representation and race...the meaning of differences and all the theories behind them. It's quite interesting and something that interests me very much (that's why I am a communication major). Throughout his article, Hall mentions Roland Barthes a lot - which is continuously reminding me of my internship over the summer at the ICI.

I miss interning at the ICI a lot.  It was such an amazing experience of cultural analysis, discussions that would get my brain flowing like none other. I met such great people.

I'm struggling to make a decision about staying here for an entire year or leave as planned in December after just one semester abroad. Whenever I am meeting new people or hanging out with some people whom I've become very fond of in such a short amount of time, I really wish I can stay for a whole year and get the full-on experience of student life at Cardiff. This struck me especially when I was looking into the different ministries that CU runs yesterday (yeah, I'm not there in my "day journals" yet...I'll get there eventually) - there are things that I would have started this semester but would never be able to see how it ends.

I received an email from a friend back in Penn with some mischievous(?) happenings of our group of friends that got me wishing I could be there and here simultaneously. Then, I felt: "that's where I belong." They've become my home at Penn. But I've started to establish a home here too. Walking down the street and hearing, "Hi Ellie!" from a new friend (everyone calls me Ellie here...I started introducing myself as this pet name at first because Alisha and my names were so similar that people got confused, then I realized that Ellie is much easier to pronounce...now it's just gotten stuck) makes me feel like I am home here too.

Where was I going with this entry...?

Oh yeah. Time is flying by. I don't like it one bit. Life has become all about readjusting...adjusting from LA to Penn, from Penn back to LA, from LA now to Cardiff - and in the future, whenever I decide to be back, from Cardiff to Penn. It's so weird how I'm already forgetting what Penn is like as university life here has overwhelmed my so-called "college experience".

One thing remains firm though, whether I decide to stay here for a year or leave after this semester: studying abroad was the best decision I ever made in College, along with joining APO.

:)

Days 14-17: Classes, Dragons, and a Giant Ship

October 13, 2010

Day 14 (Monday, October 4th):

Classes started! Dun dun dun...I had my first lecture, "Writing with Light", early in the morning. "Writing with Light" is a "module" (class) I'm taking that analyzes photographs throughout time in relation to history and media. I am really enjoying it so far!

I then had a couple of hours for break, which I spent very wisely back in my room napping (I was tired from the weekend's adventures). I then had my second lecture for "Media, Racism and Conflict" - this was a full-blown lecture (not an introductory one) to my surprise! I ended up having to leave early and could not stay for the movie screening, but more on that later...

There were two big differences I noticed between classes at Penn and here in Cardiff. 1) To sign up for modules, there wasn't a process like Penn's advanced registration (this might be because I am an exchange student). It was kind of confusing. I had to log-on to Cardiff SIMS website and request "optional" modules, then wait for approval from the school. My first choices got rejected and the assistant told me to come in to talk with her. When I went to see her, she basically had to call different "lecturers" (professors) checking whether a lecture had space...once we checked through and chose the ones I was most interested in, she told me to go back through the online SIMS system and that she'd approve them.

Signing up for "seminars" attached to these lectures (seminars = recitations in Penn terminology) was very informal too; there basically was a wall of sign-up sheets and you just had to sign up with a pen. How weird is that!

Another big difference I noticed was that student didn't bring their laptops to lectures!!! That was very different for me since at a given Communication lecture at Penn, 90% of the students bring laptops - half of which are on Facebook or chatting the whole time. I have 3 hour lectures here in Cardiff and is sincerely worried about how I'm going to survive without my laptop (this is kind of sad, I know).

I think it's good in a way that people don't bring laptops to class - it is very distracting.

After lecture, I headed to Taly Social to meet up with other CU people living in the area for "Grub Crawl" - it was a lot of food, fun and meeting new people :) We basically went to two different houses and ate...and ate...and ate.

Days 15 & 16 (Tuesday, October 5th & Wednesday, October 6th):

Nothing more exciting on these two days other than classes, more CU stuff and hanging out at pubs. On Tuesday, Alisha and I headed to the postcard to finally mail our postcards to people back home - it cost around 67 pents for international mail, which isn't too bad at all. They also have these "international" stamps which are convenient (so you don't have to count 67 out with a bunch of different stamps or anything). I sent around 7 postcards (if you received one and didn't tell me yet, please do let me know you got them safely!) I've really gotten around to buying postcards from everywhere I go, so expect lots of postcards!

On Wednesday, I went to the CU international cafe, which was very nice - the CU at Cardiff hosts an International lunch every Wednesday at the Chaplaincy for international students. I've gone every week - it's a great place to socialize and meet new people (and free food)! I hung around in a pub for a while with friends and then headed to the CU Wednesday meeting - I'm realizing a lot of things from CU here and how it differs from RCF back at Penn...I wonder how it would feel when I get plugged back into RCF in the Spring (or Fall 2011...).

Day 17 (Thursday, October 7th):

Since this entry has thus far been very text-heavy (I really need to take more pictures of everyday happenings), I'll include Day 17, which has lots of pictures!

On Thursday, my seminar had not started yet (since it was week 1), so we planned a quick trip to Bristol! The day started out absolutely BEAUTIFUL:

We took a train to Bristol, which took about 50 minutes or so. The Bristol Temple Mead Station was absolutely gorgeous:

The city itself was quite similar to Cardiff (at least from what I can see). It was cute and small. 

We initially had planned to go on this full replication of John Cabot's Boat (when he sailed to Newfoundland) but ended up going on the S.S. Great Britain instead:

The ship was magnificent :) It was the first iron-clad ship in the world, had traveled over a million miles (I think...) and was now displayed for us to see. We got to see the inside and outside - even go "under water".

I could not get over how tiny these rooms were.

Here's first class:

Second class:

Third class:

The First Class rooms were so tiny as well. 

After exploring the ship for a good couple of hours, we went to explore Bristol, which constituted of eating, looking at pretty buildings, you know the normal stuff.

OH! Exciting new addition to my family here in Cardiff. Introducing...

CARDIFF THE WHALE.

Alana and I had fun the entire way to Bristol and back with Cardiff the Whale...and naming my (at that time, still nonexistent) bigger dragon. After much contemplation, we decided to name it...

CAERDYDD DRAGONWHALES.

Yeah, they're called Whales because of a word slip on my part, but now it's become pretty much an inside joke.

I ended up buying Caerdydd Dragonwhales a few days later - more on that on another entry!

Days 11-13: Traveling Non-stop (literally).

October 13, 2010

Wow, it's been really way too long. A LOT of things have happened since I last updated - things have been quickly picking up speed, and I barely of time for myself! Picking up after where I left off...

Days 11 & 12 (Friday, October 1st & Saturday, October 2nd):


LA girl arrives in London. I went to London to attend the UPenn-Brown-Cornell UK Centre's first meeting (it was more of an excuse to go visit London). I woke up early on Day 11 to catch the Megabus at Cardiff City Centre (which takes about 30 minutes on foot from where I am staying). It was raining like never before, and the sidewalks are quite low here so I was literally splashed by cars as I walked at 7:00am! We left around 7:45am with the intentions to get to London by 11am (more on that soon). Here is a picture of the City Hall I took on the bus before leaving Cardiff:

You can see how dreary and rainy it was! Okay here it goes. I was happily listening to my iPod and falling asleep when the bus driver alerted us that there was an accident on the road and we might have to "divert" (I had no idea what he meant by this). Basically, we went around this one bridge where there was an "accident"...later we found out (the bus driver found out from a text message from his daughter) that a guy was threatening to jump off a bridge that stood between London and Cardiff, leading to the closure of lanes, causing a massive traffic jam! I was supposed to arrive in London at 11am, but I ended up getting there at 2pm. Poor Christian was supposed to pick me up at the London Victoria Coach Station, but I didn't get there until 2pm, and he had a seminar at 2pm. Thus, I arrived in London and had a few hours to kill on my own. Christian suggested that I head to the Natural History Museum of London.  He gave me directions on which subway lines to take on the "Tube", but I was too exhausted by that time and quite scared by the majesty of the city that I opted to take a cab instead.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Natural History Museum! It's really too bad that I didn't get to take a shot of how beautiful the exterior of the building was...it looks like this:

Credits to Wikipedia

But it was raining like crazy the whole time I was in London (go figure) so I really didn't have the luxury to snap a shot. I really enjoyed the exhibit on dolphins and whales since I think they're fascinating:

Inside the National History Museum in London

The best part of it all - it was absolutely free!! It was really amazing :)

After a couple of hours, I got a call from Christian instructing me to take the Tube to King's College (where Christian is studying abroad for the semester) - I ended up figuring out the underground subway system in London all by myself (yes, very proud of it)! It utterly shocked me when I found out that it cost £4 for a one way ticket on the subway (that's approximately $6.50)! This is a shot of King's College library:

It was quite beautiful, although I did not capture its beauty very well in this shot. I hate it when rain interferes with my ability to do anything...

Afterwards, we met up with some other Penn-ers and went to this trendy Thai-British Pub (it was kind of strange)...and then we headed to Jenn's place. Christian and I called a bunch of people on my phone that night (yay for free International minutes bonus plan with Orange UK) - needless to say, we had quite a bit of fun. It was awesome for me especially because I felt like I could breathe with people I knew from back home!

The next day (Day 12), Christian and I headed to where the meeting for UPenn, Brown and Cornell was located. We were on King's College London Campus if I remember correctly. The meeting wasn't too boring - we received a bunch of booklets and tips on safe traveling and successful studying (you know, the typical abroad stuff). Afterwards, we really didn't have much time, so we tried to look for a pub or somewhere else to grab a bite. It was nice to walk around and see the city a bit:

A train station, I think..

We took the Tube multiple times throughout, and I ended up getting this rechargeable Oyster card. Here is a picture:

You can't really tell by this picture, but I was utterly shocked at how many people were waiting for the train!

Here's the shocking news: It took another 6 hours for me to get home because of an accident (this time, a car accident, not a guy threatening to commit suicide). It took (literally) 3 hours to get out of London. I thought I was going to explode during my time sitting on the Megabus. I arrived back in Cardiff City Centre late at night, probably around 11pm or 12am; the bus dropped us in front of the Student Union, which is about a 25 minute walk from where I live, but by this point I was so exhausted and just wanted to go home that I opted for a cab instead.

My final reflections on my first visit to London: the city was way too busy for me. To be honest, it didn't seem like I was in London. I guess my expectations for the city was way too high. It was almost completely opposite of when I first visited New York. New York was everything I imagined: filled with majestic, towering buildings, busy streets, lights everywhere...London was just...not what I expected. I'm not even sure what I expected it to be like, but what I found was definitely not it. Granted, it might be because I did not have any time to do touristy stuff at all, and I was drained from the 6-hour journey. Whatever the reason might be, I'm planning to go to London at least 2 more times during my time here, so we'll see!

Oh, on a side note...to be honest, I was extremely frustrated with the whole situation when I had to stay on the Megabus for 6 hours instead of 3 because of a guy threatening to jump off a bridge in the middle of the day. I was so upset because I felt that he was so selfish and made so much trouble for everyone. On the bus back to Cardiff, I had a chance to briefly speak to another  Cardiff University student - we shared our grief for our 6 hour endeavor on the way back to Cardiff. I told her about what had happened on my way to London, and she sympathized with me...then she asked if the guy was alive. I told her that yes, I heard that he had not jumped - then she said something that kind of surprised me: "That's really great. I mean, what's 3 hours compared to saving one person's life?" I paused and thought about it. Her words kind of took me aback because I had not even thought of it in that way at all. She's right. One person's life is so much more precious than me being frustrated for 3 hours. I am glad he survived, although I really, really hope that he didn't do it on purpose to gain people's attention.

Day 13 (Sunday, October 3rd):

I might as well go on to include Sunday in this travel-heavy update of the blog. I initially wanted to stay in London until Sunday but had to leave early when I remembered that I had signed up (and paid for) a tour of Cardiff hosted by the Cardiff University's International Office. We went to the Caerphilly Castle and St. Fagan's!

The road there was absolutely beautiful. After visiting London, the ride was a nice reminder that I was back in Wales:

SO. MUCH. GREEN. I love it!

I really love it here. I am so glad that God put me here in Wales instead of London because London was way too busy for me. Cardiff is such a cute, compact city; it has everything you need in it, but is not crazy busy!

We first headed to St. Fagan's National History Museum. This "museum" was set-up like a village, with places that represented different parts of Welsh history.

You can't forget sheep when you're talking about Wales!

They had people dressed up as people from the specific time and everything! They were very friendly with us and talked to us about the history and everything.

They had the cutest little shops where I bought some Welsh cider and sheep figurines:

Here is a picture of the Celtic Village:

We got to make little pottery on our time there! Here is a picture of Alisha's and mine:

Then, we headed to Caerphilly Castle! It was absolutely gorgeous. The interior wasn't much to see, but the moat was so amazing! It is the 2nd biggest castle in the UK (and the biggest in Wales).

It was so magnificent.

the view from the Castle to the village

There was a festival going on when we went, which was awesome! They had a "fayre" with lots of little shops and people dressed in Medieval clothing. We enjoyed a lovely crepe made with Welsh organic honey and banana as well as a Shredded Pork Sandwich with stuffing and apple sauce (omg, I'm going to be addicted to these!) 

the top of the castle,  WALES represent!

I'm really happy here. Can you tell? :)

Sigh, I'm still a whole week and a half behind in updates! My "course" has started (basically, classes have begun), so I am overwhelmed with a TON of reading (even though assignments aren't due yet). I've also been busy with meeting up with people, CU stuff, and planning travels...it's been quite a busy few weeks! I hope I'll get a chance to update sometime tomorrow before my memory dies permanently. :)

Days 8-10: Enrolment, Pubs, CU, Cultural Differences

October 4, 2010

Oops. How did I get this behind in updates? Must hurry up and try to catch up...

Day 8 (Tuesday, September 28, 2010):


It's seriously getting to a point where I can't remember what I did unless I look through my schedule book...and even then I'm not exactly sure! Well this day, I was supposed to have gone on a day trip with Alisha (we were thinking Bristol since it's close by), but due to scheduling (or "timetable" as they call it here) and class (or "modules") issues, we had to scrap that plan for another day. I ended up not going to the JOMEC enrolment session as advised not to by the assistant in the office...only to receive an email later saying that I "urgently" need to schedule an appointment with my "personal tutor" (an advisor as we'd call it in the States) as I had "failed to attend" the session on Tuesday. Oops? I had to take care of some "timetable conflict" (scheduling conflict) in the morning...and then Alisha, Alana and I checked out the Local Companies' Fair where we were bombarded with ads and flyers. I honestly can't remember what we did the rest of the day...this is kind of sad, I just checked my text messages and I remember now!

Alisha, Alana and I went to the Uni Hall Pub...where we were joined by Elmira, another American study abroad student that I had spoken to prior to coming here. We each had our first fish and chips (YAY) which was absolutely delicious!

First fish & chips...served with "spirals" (curly fries) and peas - photo credits to Alisha - I didn't take my camera

Afterwards, we proceeded to play Jenga - we quickly discovered that Tipsy-Jenga is the best thing ever!

Day 9 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010):


I had to take care of some module stuff again so I went to the JOMEC building to sort out some issues and sign-up for seminars (the equivalent of "discussions" or "recitations" in the States). I had a few hours to kill before my next event, and I ended up going to a cafe that has already become my favorite and writing a blog entry there. Around noon, I headed onto a CU event - the CU here in Cardiff hosts an International Cafe every Wednesday afternoon - a great place to meet new people and get to know other Internationals! I got to meet new people and chat up some people I had met last week, which was very nice. Afterwards, I got directions to a Korean/Japanese market near/on campus (we don't really have a campus) and I finally found it! I had been looking for it all week after passing near it by chance. Honestly, I stepped in and almost cried. I thought I wouldn't miss Korean food so much, but I really do crave it! AHH! I bought some non-smelly food for the sake of my flatmates (so pretty much just ramen) but I think I'm going to go back to buy some seaweed and gochujang to make bibimbab. I would love to have some spicy food!! I chatted with the nice Korean owners in Korean for a little bit - it was awesome just to be able to chat with adults in Korean again (I know, I know, despite the whole "I don't like Korean people" thing, it was still a taste of home just by encountering some Korean adults).

I got back to my dorm just to leave again to Tesco's with Kristin (seriously, I go there so often). She ended up buying some very needed groceries and I bought some food as well - on the way back, we ended up stealing a "trolley" (shopping cart) ;) Well, we had to insert a pound to get the trolley out in the first place, so it wasn't really stealing! I'm not exactly sure what Kristin did with the trolley afterwards, but it was funny to see everyone watch us as we rolled the trolley right into our dorm premises.

After Tesco's I headed over to meet up Izzy, one of the British friends I was able to make through CU. We were trying to figure out where to grab dinner and ended up settling at this Falafel place...where we encountered this super creepy guy who was hitting on Izzy so we ended up heading out. Then we tried sitting on the steps of the business school when a cat came upon us and both of us flipped out! That was quite a memorable meal!! Afterwards, we headed to the CU main meeting for a time of worship and meeting new people! After the CU meeting they had "open house", where CU members opened their houses up for tea...that was more mingling and very lovely :) I met really cool new people, and it's always very nice to be surrounded by native British people as opposed to other study abroad students (although I <3 my study abroad group)!

Day 10 (Thursday, September 30, 2010):


I realize that these entries are getting extremely long because I keep updating them in masses, but I still think it's important for me to update on a day-to-day recap method because this is really for me to capture my experiences abroad. I am so forgetful that it's ridiculous how much I don't remember - this way, I'll have it in writing!

On Thursday, I had my main JOMEC (my department here in Cardiff) meet-and-greet session that I had to attend. In the morning, Alisha and I headed out to grab a quick bite at the coffee store and then headed on to the Societies' Fayre. "Societies" pretty much are equivalent to "clubs" back in the US, but the main difference is that many societies require you to pay a fee to join. It's slightly more formal as there is an entire process to join a society whereas back at Penn, joining a club is as easy as attending meetings and getting on the listserv. I ended up signing up for the CU and the Korean Society (I am craving Korean bad SO badly) - everything else didn't seem to catch my eye. I then headed to a very quick 2nd year JOMEC session...

After the JOMEC session, I rejoined Alisha and Alana who were eating at an Italian restaurant in City Centre. I am becoming OBSESSED with Irish Coffee:

Such deliciousness. I am definitely going to miss being able to have Irish Coffee down the street!

We wandered around City Centre for a bit where I ended up doing some major shopping (sigh...). I bought a new pair of boots (I know, I know) but they ended up being a worthwhile investment as they're waterproof and comfortable! Those two characteristics are NECESSARY in the UK where we do so much walking and it's constantly raining.

After City Centre, we headed to Uni Hall, where Alana, Elmira and Dee Dee are staying (all Internationals) - we ended up at the Pub again where we played games!


Whew. I'll end tonight's updates for now here - up next is my weekend in London & some more traveling!

On a side note, I can't stand that there are people screaming out my window every single night. I really hate being woken up every night at 3am/4am by giggling girls. They literally party every single night here and while I am totally a proponent of partying MODERATELY, I seriously wonder if people here know how to have fun without drinking. But then again, we are living in a primarily freshmen-dominated dorm and freshmen are always annoying no matter where they are...it just takes a year or two for them to realize that they don't need to be partying every night - you can "live it up" in other ways. I'd much rather have a slow night in with a close group of friends than be out in a packed club with strangers. But I guess freshmen will be freshmen. Don't they get tired??? I guess I must be old now...hehe.