Croeso i Gymru: Welcome to Wales

The bus ride to Aberystwyth University allowed me to get quite a few pictures of the Welsh countryside.

Here's a quick tour:

Here's a pretty clear shot of a field with some sheep. I didn't ever get any clear shots of sheep, but in case you were wondering, they do have them.

There were little streams or rivers running through the countryside. A lot of them had alterations.

Much of the ride, the view was blocked by foliage, so here's a bit of what it really looked like.

Here's a shot of the hills along with some more streams.

There were some coniferous and deciduous forests.

It was a bit cloudy and rainy on the first day.

This here looks like a slightly more elevated version of the Flint Hills in Kansas. <3

We passed some logging along the way. There were also some villages and small houses, but I wasn't able to get any shots of those.

The next week or so was filled with me exploring the town and the campus, shopping, and getting paperwork and some introductory lectures out of the way. 

Most of the shops are little one-room establishments at the side of the street, though there are quite a few larger ones too. I saw this and thought it ought to be shared. That's a uke with the Welsh flag superimposed on it.

This is the Old College. It has some of the music and art programmes in it, and it's down by the shore. Apparently, it's going to have some of the archives moved to it in the next year or two as well.

This is the ruins of a castle that was destroyed in the English Civil War.

Here's the view of one of the pier businesses and some buildings up the hill.

A view of the beach.

This is up by the castle. I didn't make time to read up on it yet, but I will eventually.

This is a panorama of the coast taken by one of the other international students.

This is a shot of town and the ocean from the Arts Centre.

The entrance to campus and an example of the hills I'll be walking for the next year. The National Library of Wales is down this hill and to the left, then down another hill and to the left again. If you don't take the second left and keep going down the hill for another twenty minutes, you'll be in the heart of Aberystwyth.

I'm excited to make this place my home for the next year as I study Archive Administration. I'll be doing a module that includes Latin and Medieval and Post-Medieval Paleography. I'll keep the blog updated as much as I can.

In love, from my desk at Aberystwyth,

Justus

From the New World: Thoughts about Wales and Anecdotes of My Trip

     One never overcomes the fear of new things. Whether, the fear is specific to a certain type of new, or left to a general anxiety regarding anything new, each person has some fear that revolves around an experience or a concept they have never tried. I recently faced the general anxiety of facing many new things as I set out on a journey to Aberystwyth, Wales.

     I had never set foot in a country foreign to my homeland before I came to Aber; though I have been on my own before, and I have traveled before, it is difficult to prepare for every change I will go through as I become accustomed to this country. However, I am thrilled about the opportunities I have as I look forward to a year abroad.

     I chose Aber and Wales partly due to the programme, partly due to the scenery, history, and culture of the country, and partly due to its centrality in much of the literature that has defined my formative years. Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, the Time Quintet by Madeline L'Engle, faerie stories, and Shakespeare's works all contain hints of the wonder that Wales has imparted on the respective authors as they came into contact with the country's rich culture, and I hope that wonder will influence both my own writing and my outlook as I find paths that are older than most in the New World.

It took me nearly two days to arrive in the UK. The trip itself was fun, though I had a lot of nervous energy that caused a little bit of discomfort in parts. Some of those nerves still remain as I'm getting adjusted.

     My first layover was in the Cincinnati Airport. There I spent some of my time looking at the local museum's impressive collection of fossilized mammals. Then I connected to the JFK Airport in New York. (This airport is very big and very efficient, but aside from shopping, there isn't much of interest. I spend most of my time charging my phone for my first flight out of the country.) The flight to JFK was mostly uneventful aside from one or two pleasantries from a woman who had a flight to Ireland in JFK. In JFK, I had a little adventure, while I was trying to keep my money secure in a belt pouch that fit under my clothes. When I changed from $ to £, I tried to put it in and thought I had succeeded. I walked back to my gate and suddenly felt the money all go down my pant leg. I bent down as though I were tying my shoe, and was able to retrieve the money while covering it with my jacket. I then went into the restroom to put it away safely, leaving some in my wallet so I wouldn't have to worry about re-enacting that SNAFU.

 My flight to Iceland was interesting because I had a touch screen showing movies, TV shows, the flight details, and a music player. I decided against watching a movie and put on a Brahms symphony and went to sleep after looking at the flight details for a while. (I was happy to see a blanket and a pillow were provided on this flight as it arrived at 7 AM local time.) After I woke up I realized the symphony had restarted, so I looked back at my options and found Dvorak's From the New World. It was epic breaking through the clouds to that music. I recommend it if you have a flight to Iceland.

     The Reykjavik airport was much more interesting than JFK. When we first landed, it was so early that the airport looked almost like it was empty. At first, I thought it was a lot smaller than it was, but once I picked up my bags after following the winding trail to the claim, I saw that the section I had passed opened into the main portion of the airport where all of the business was conducted. There were several art exhibits there including an experimental video titled something like "Brain" that showed a lot of cool abstract images and shapes overlaying MRIs and videos of people. They also had self-service for check-in luggage. Since I had to change airlines here, I printed off my luggage tag and brought the bag over to the place where I was supposed to drop it off. By this time, there were lines in all of the person-operated checked bag sections, so I thought I'd try the self-service line. I stood at it for a few moments trying to figure it out when one of the airport employees came up to me and showed me how it worked. (He said it was easy as falling off a log, and I agreed.) For the rest of my time there, I bought a keychain at the gift shop and looked at a lot of the different folk writings they were selling at the bookshop.

     The next flight was to Copenhagen, and as I settled in, I saw a very tall, very Icelandic-looking man coming down the aisle looking for his seat. His son, around five years old, came over to the seat next to mine and he sat in the aisle row. My neighbors on this flight kept me entertained for the entire trip. At first, I found two things about the five-year-old: he didn't speak English, and he liked Superman. He was carrying a Superman Pez dispenser around like an action figure and smiling up at me. He would turn to his dad and say something in his language, then continue what he was doing. Occasionally he would drop something, and if he couldn't reach it and it was on my side, I would hand it to him. I spent perhaps half an hour alternating between watching him interact with his toys and his "papa" and watching out the window at the clouds. Eventually, the kid got some yogurt from his bag, which he dropped before he could open; I picked it up and handed it back to him. He smiled at me and turned to his papa who thanked me. This whole time, I and the father had been silent to each other, and I thought he may not speak more than a few words in English. He offered me chocolates which I gratefully accepted when I handed the son back the Pez dispenser. After having returned the yogurt, I was surprised by the father asking me where I was from. We spoke the rest of the flight about the US, what he was doing in Iceland, and what I was doing in the UK. He was a big fan of Marvel, so I spoke a lot about Marvel movies, and eventually, we started talking about genealogy, Norse Sagas as compared to American tall tales, and finally about some parts of Iceland he had been to.

     The Copenhagen airport was big, but I was too tired to do much exploring, so I bought a Coca-Cola in order to compare European soda with American. According to my palate, it was bland, but I didn't dislike it. I slept for most of the trip to Birmingham, England, and it was cloudy, so I only got to see ground right before we landed.

     I got through customs unscathed except that when I was getting one of my documents, I couldn't find it because it was folded. Once I picked up my bags, I found a taxi and went to the inn where I had booked in a suburb called Coleshill. The Red Lion doubled as a pub, so walking in with a suitcase was somewhat awkward, but the owner was efficient and kind. I was shown to my room and paid, then I came back down and had dinner. The pub reminded me of Tolkien's descriptions of The Prancing Pony. I felt like a very tired Shire hobbit in a very crowded place full of Breelanders. I also had a bit of stomach trouble from the nerves and the jet lag, so I didn't finish, but the egg mayo sandwich was good. (I was caught off guard by the bacon. If you're ever across the pond, don't forget that bacon means something slightly different over here.) It was cool that night, so I got good sleep.

     I returned to the airport after a continental breakfast served by the inn. The lady working that morning called a cab for me, and I spoke with the cabby on the way to the airport about what I was doing in the UK, (as I had with the cabby the night before). When I arrived, I had my first experience with counting UK currency. I was working on the cab fare, and when I eventually got enough sorted out, my difference was £10.10. I had just finished fishing out a £0.20 coin (twenty pence) and told the cabby he could keep the extra ten. As I was getting my luggage, I realized that his surprised look was because he thought I meant I was giving a £10 tip. I corrected myself, and we laughed at it. I was really flustered, so I forgot to give him more than the ten pence. I wish I'd have given him a couple pounds at least because he was very helpful in giving directions for me when we arrived at the airport.

I waited for about an hour at the airport for the greeting team to arrive, and we boarded the bus where I met a few of the international students. I got quite a few pictures on the bus ride, including one of a double rainbow. (One of the other students had mentioned wanting to see one a few minutes before, so it was well timed, though the top of the rainbow was difficult to see.) Wales is beautiful. More to come.

In love, from my desk in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales,

Justus