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