Days 40 & 41: Penn Londoners' Adventure in Wales

Day 40 (Saturday, October 30, 2010):

The day started out with a large brunch at the Taf.  We each had a version of the English Breakfast:

This is a typical English Breakfast meal - beans, eggs, toast, bacon, sausages, and tomatoes!  It's similar to the American breakfast, minus the pancakes plus beans and tomatoes.

I had originally planned to take my friends to Tintern Abbey and another castle that I had never been to, but due to transportation issues we just ended up going to Caerphilly Castle instead.  I had already visited Caerphilly Castle (as can be noted by this entry), but it was still nice to visit.  We were blessed with gorgeous castle weather.

As I had mentioned on the previous entry, I managed to break my camera in the pouring rain in our venture to pick Christian up from the bus stop.  We discovered that the camera was still functioning but the screen was broken.  Although I couldn't see what I was taking pictures of, I ended up clicking away anyway.  It was interesting to just let go for once and have some fun while taking pictures - I feel like often I get so caught up on how it looks that it becomes more like a chore.

Gorgeous Caerphilly Castle

Picture credits to Jen

Photo credits to Jen

I feel like I rarely take pictures of the ruins; I always try to take pictures of the gorgeousness instead of the damages that years have done to these historical sights.  Jen's pictures have given be a different perspective on things, which I guess is good if you've already seen Caerphilly before in my previous entry.

We have some hilarious pictures from this trip; we spent literally 20 minutes trying to take a 'jumping' picture of the 4 of us.  We put Christian's camera on auto-timer and tried to jump at the correct intervals.  We utterly failed.  It's quite hilarious to see the pictures on Facebook, where you can click really fast through the album - it looks like we're doing some sort of weird dance.  I wish I could share it on this blog, but I don't put up pictures of people due to privacy reasons - if you are Facebook friends with me, try to go find it!  I think Christian put that particular album to public...

We headed back to the Cardiff Bus Station in time to go to the Medieval Village.  We were joined by Alisha, Suwei and Alana - but the trip was actually quite disastrous!  The Medieval Village was having a special Halloween event on that night, but due to the rain we ended up coming back early...and we were completely soaked.  Waiting for the bus to come in the pouring rain with only 3 umbrellas to spare among the seven of us was quite momentous!

We came back to my room and somehow managed to fit all six of us (Alisha had gone to see a movie) in my tiny little place.  We were all drenched from the rain so it probably worked to our benefit that the room was so cozy :)  We had plans to go out to the Union that night and although none of us felt like going out after the adventure in the rain, the tickets were paid for so we had no choice.  We pre-gamed a little bit in my room to our song of the night - Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA".  Yeah, I know.  I think all of us had been missing home...

We then headed to the Union; I almost always have fun with people from home, so it was really nice :)  Christian and I did the usual routine of calling friends at home - we definitely took advantage of my free bonus International minutes that night ;).  I think Christian left Brittni (one of our friends back home) a song on her voicemail about how she wasn't picking up...that's our group for you.

Here's a picture of the party scene, stolen from Alphonse's album:

The rest of us except for Alana came back to my room to play some games afterwards :)  We had fun, to say the least!  Christian and I ended up walking Suwei back to her 'student accommodations' (aka dorm); we then had a nice chat on our way back where I realized how much I had missed a good friend's company. I'll forever appreciate such walks when I get back to Penn!

Day 41 (Sunday, October 31, 2010):


The day started early despite the fact that we had stayed up quite late because Alphonse was leaving at 9am.  I took a quick shower and walked him back to the station; then, I walked back to wake Christian and Jen up.  We ate at Wok to Walk, which was an interesting British fusion Asian food...we then got on a bus headed to St. Fagan's!

It was my second time going to St. Fagan's...but this time around, we discovered the Buttery Castle, which somehow I had missed on my first trip there.  St. Fagan's was gorgeous with all the fall colors:

We also had toffee apples there, which were absolutely delicious:

Christian even had two :) I bought one for myself and one for Alisha, which we enjoyed after dinner that day.

When we came back, we had some trouble with the bus so we couldn't have dinner.  I escorted them back to the bus station, came back and had dinner with Alisha at the Taly Social.

That pretty much ended the weekend!  I'm so, so behind on updates but hopefully I'll be updating again soon :)

Days 35-39: Budgeting, Studies, Korean Food, & London Visits Cardiff :)

Days 35&36 (Monday, October 25, 2010 & Tuesday, October 26, 2010):


This Monday was a typical Monday - two lectures and hall group meeting! I can't remember what we did at hall groups.  I started budgeting this week after realizing how ridiculous my blind spending had become.  I was literally draining away all the money I had saved over the summer and during the school year from working nonstop. I started writing down everything I spent and keeping track of where the money was going - it really helped me to be conscience of my spending.

 On Tuesday, I attempted to actually get some work done (surprise!) by going to Starbucks with Alisha.  I had such difficulty focusing that I think I read only about 2 pages of my article.  It really didn't help that I had brought my laptop with me either.  On a side note, I really love that the Starbucks here as a more of a 'cafe' feel to it since it has real cups!  I don't understand why the Starbucks's in America don't have that system - after all, Starbucks is American.  Also, the McDonald's here is so much nicer.  It looks so fancy inside, and the workers wear these super formal skirts and everything.  There's a more elegant feel to it, which is strange.  A McDonald's I went to in London even had digitally streaming news headlines on the side; another one I went to in Paris even served fancy macaroons.  I don't understand why our McDonalds' are so broken down and often really uninviting...

I also bought a travel mug from Starbucks so I could make coffee from home to bring along to my classes (yes, I'm one of those people who live on coffee).

Anyway, I have written on my notebook that Alisha and I came back from Starbucks to cook spicy Korean noodles that I bought from the Cardiff Japanese and Korean Market!  It was her first time having Korean food, and she absolutely loves it now :) Yay for introducing new people to the cuisine!

Days 37 & 38 (Wednesday, October 27, 2010 & Thursday, October 28, 2010):


On Wednesday, I had my debriefing for my previously mentioned seminar group presentation; we got a '65' on the score (which means a D in the American system but is actually equivalent to like a B+ here...), which wasn't bad (but of course I would have liked an A).  Honestly, I don't understand why they work on such low percentages, but I guess it means there is always room for improvement.  I knew that the system was different here, but my heart still sank when I saw the '65' - at home, my heart would sink at like an '80'!

Afterwards, I went to the CU International Cafe, which is always a nice place to grab lunch and meet people from all around the world (mainly Malaysia...).  I headed to the Korean market again this time around to grab some more stuff; I bought some instant rice packets, gochujang (spicy sauce), sesame oil and some dried seaweed.  Mixed together with rice, this sauce is heavenly - I discovered this quick fix during my freshman year at Penn, and it has saved me once again at Cardiff!  So simple, yet so heavenly.  I also bought stuff for my Korean cook-out that happened on Thursday (more on that very shortly)!

I ended up leaving my newly bought traveling mug at the Chaplaincy after International Cafe (typical)...

I came back to my room and attempted (very hard) to do some work, which...failed. I went to CU that night, which was (probably) a sermon and hang-out (can't remember)...

I ended up marinating the meat (Bulgogi) for the day after at like 2 in the morning, but that went all fine. :)

On Thursday, I had one seminar and then invited some CCCC people over for Korean food before our meeting later that night!

The dinner had three components: 1) Kimchi-Jun (Kimchi Pancakes), which are really easy to make, 2) Spicy Sticky Noodles (Jjol-Myun) and 3) Marinated Beef (Bulgogi)!  As a bonus, we had crepes for dessert (which has nothing to do with Korean food, but it was still fun).  Alisha and I were super busy running back and forth - thank God I had her to help me :)

Elmira dropped by with a suitcase filled with a spare blanket - I needed it for friends who were coming over for the weekend from London!

In the midst of our cooking and eating, we had a fire alarm - that really sucked since we had guests over. I felt really bad :\ , but it wasn't anything anyone could foresee.  We were running late to the CCCC fellowship meeting, so Alisha had to do the leftover dishes. :( I felt really bad but thankful at the same time!

I was able to retrieve the mug that I had left at the Chaplaincy on Wednesday at this time - it was really convenient since CCCC is also in the Chaplaincy. :)

Day 39 (Friday, October 29, 2010):

My Friday started out extremely early with morning prayer at the Chaplaincy with the CU.  I went with Jordan, who lives in the house next to me.  It was such a blessing.  Morning prayer definitely has a different power to it - it's amazing how God moves your heart when you get up in the morning to just praise him.  We prayed for people around us to come to know God, for ourselves, and for other issues at hand.  It was just awesome; I came out of it feeling completely renewed and refreshed.  I love, love morning prayer, but I really don't do it enough.

Afterwards, I went to my 9 o'clock lecture and my seminar immediately following it; I was excited because I had some friends from Penn visiting over the weekend!

It was kind of ridiculous because all three of them arrived at three different times even though they were all leaving from the same place!! We're all absolutely nuts. :)  I picked Jen up first immediately after class; we had about an hour to kill before Alphonse arrived, so we headed to the Welsh National Museum.  This was the first time that I went to the National Museum, and it was pretty cool.  Alphonse came soon after; we all headed to my room from the SU to drop off their stuff.

I was housing three people over the weekend in my tiny room:

Yeah.  That's pretty much all the space I have!  It's small and cozy for one person, but to house three people it was kind of crammed.  Jen ended up sleeping on the floor while the two guys slept on my bed - they (at least one of them) were quite resistant to the idea at first but relented when they saw the situation.

We headed to the Woodville Pub to grab lunch - they were mesmerized by the cheap meal deal it has (£4.99 for a burger+'chips' +beer) since London is so expensive!

We did manage to take some really nice pictures once the rain cleared up:

Photo Credits to Jen

So pretty. Photo Credits to Jen

We hung around Town for a while and did a little bit of shopping.  Earlier in the day, the zippers in my boots had broken, so I ended up buying new boots - which was devastating to my budget since I had started keeping track.  Boots are such a necessity in this weather though, and I am really glad I got them.

We then came back onto campus to the Taf, which is a pub at the SU.  We got a couple of drinks (I think I got dessert) and just hung around since we were waiting for Christian to come.  Christian was arriving really late (at around 2am), so we had lots of time to kill!  We decided to go to Tesco's to grab some stuff - on the way there, we ran into a couple of people from my hall group who were playing hide-and-seek (haha).  We came back extremely exhausted but still had to wait for Christian to come.

At around 1:30am, we trekked across the city to pick-up Christian from City Centre; afterwards, we all came and pretty much crashed.  I didn't know until the next morning, but I ended up destroying my camera in the rainy walk to pick-up Christian... :(

More on their visit on another entry!

Oh and an update on my Bucket List:

I decided that I want to visit all the 50 states!  Lots of people have been asking me about the States since I've been here, and I always feel kind of sad when I tell them that I really don't know much about the other states since I haven't been to most of them!  Thus, I shall make it a point to visit every single state in the US...

Elisa's Bucket List (so far) - in no particular order
Last Updated 11/30/2010

1.   Fall in love & never, ever let go.

2.   Go to an H.O.T. concert

3.   Go on a short-term mission

4.   Go skydiving

5.   Hike the Half-Dome

6.   Fish a shark

7.   Learn to swim

8.   Go swimming with dolphins

9.   Watch a solar eclipse with someone special

10.                 Go on a road trip

11.                 Donate to a university in the form of a scholarship

12.                 Open a bakery

13.                 Travel around Europe

14.                 Visit a pyramid

15.                 Go to the Great Wall of China

16.                 Have children

17.                 Cook a Thanksgiving meal (from start to finish by myself)

18.                 Finish the BBC 100 book list

19.                 Be in a musical

20.                 Play the piano at a church

21.                 Study abroad

22.                 Pet a baby tiger

23.                 Have a library in home

24.                 Visit the 50 States (layovers don't count): 

AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI,
MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN,
TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY

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. :)