my first couple days of classes

Hello everyone!

Today is my first day without and classes and I am so glad. I definitely slept in. It was amazing!

My classes are going great! On Monday morning I went to my first class which was Ecology and Evolution. It started and 9 but here when they say that the class starts at 9 it really starts between 905 and 910. So its okay to be a little late for class. The ecology class was interesting and I learned that we only have 3 tests and there are about 12 recommended text books. Wow! I ordered three and am going to share books with other people I know in the class. I had ecology twice that day. It also started and 1 in the afternoon. The second session that day was taught by someone completely different and that was weird but I liked her teaching style better. For my ecology class we have 6 different lecturers and I am definitely not used to that but it does not seem so bad now.

After my two ecology classes that day I went to my Animal Behavior class at 3 in the afternoon. I think this will be very interesting. There is one required text book and 3 recommended for this class. I have ordered 3. I decided not to order the last one because even the professor said it could be a little too confusing of a book. I only have 2 tests in this class. I cannot wait for everything to get started.

Finally I had my last class on Monday's at 630 and that was my Welsh History and Culture class. It is taught by the Central College program director, Tecwyn. I think this will be my most fun and informative class. We have a lot required field trips for this class. I have already been on 4 of the them. My previous posts tell you about it. All we did in this class was go over the syllabus and take a survey. It did not take to long and so it was a good first class.

Yesterday, I only had one class and that started at 1 in the afternoon, Ecology and Evolution. It was taught by the same lecturer as my last class, so i enjoyed it very much. Then for the rest of the day I was running around Bangor trying to get my railcard. My railcard will give me a discount every time i ride the train. That's pretty cool. I had to go and get my passport photos from Tecwyn and then I had to go get my passport and then I went and got my railcard. This took long than it sounds. haha Bangor is a very hilly place, so I probably lost about 20 pounds doing all of this yesterday. After I got my rail card I stopped into Morrison's, the grocery store by where I live, I got some much needed food because I was running out. Then the rest of my day was spent just hanging out watching movies and stuff.

Today I am on a mission to do a little homework and get a book from the library. Oh and I am also making chocolate chip cookies tonight with my friend Adena from across the hall. I will let you know how good they are.

Talk to y'all later!!!

Oh and I would also like to add a shout out to one Paul Allan Riser! I love you!!!!

a very eventful weekend

I took this today and its my favorite! I set it as my background on my computer!

Hello everyone!

Friday night was the international students social. That was pretty cool. Free food and drinks!!! Andrew, the guy who is in charge of all of the international students at Bangor, handed out copies of our registration forms and that was pretty much all that happened. We hung out for a little while and ate and drank. It was pretty cool and a good idea to get all of the international students together.

My second weekend is almost over and it has been packed full of sightseeing and climbing.
On Saturday we had a field trip.
We went to the Marble Church in Bodelwyddan. All of the columns and many of the other architectural aspects of the church are carved out of marble, hence the name. It was beautiful and outside was a graveyard and many soldiers from a war were buried here.This is the church!!!!

After visiting the church we went to visit St. Winefrede's Well in Holywell. We were able to listen to the guided audio tour which was pretty cool and gave us all a lot of information... maybe too much. The well was interesting and we learned that it is a big site of pilgrimage for people of the Roman Catholic faith. People bathe in the well (which looks like a swimming pool by the way they have designed it) and it has been known to heal people.
This is St. Winefrede's well and the chapel above it.
This is a better picture of the part of the well that people bathe in and the changing tents.
This is a picture of a man bathing the in the well. I'm not too sure if I was supposed to take this or not (like a privacy thing) but it was cool to see.
These are crutches people have left after bathing in the well and being cured of all their ailments.

After visiting the well, we headed off to Chester. In Chester we went on an audio tour of the cathedral and then a guided walking tour of the town. The cathedral tour was my favorite part. We were able to walk around and take it all in which was pretty cool. The walking tour was a whopping hour and a half! I got kinda tired. It was really cool though. Chester was first established by the Romans. There were still fragments of Roman boulders, used to make the city walls, that we could see. This was really cool. There was also an old amphitheater the Romans built. That was just discovered within the last 10 years. Chester is also the only place that has streets lined with shops that are have two levels. These date back to the 13th century and are called "the Rows". Chester was a pretty cool place but it was quite crowded. We also ate lunch in Chester. I went with about 4 other people to a little Italian place and the food was so good! I enjoyed my spaghetti.Chester Cathedral!
Me inside the Cathedral. A huge cool stained glass window behind me.The stained glass window!
Pipe organ inside the cathedral.
Once we got home Saturday night, I ate dinner and went right to sleep. I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open during dinner.

On Sunday we had another field trip.
The first thing we did was travel into Snowdonia and visit Llyn Ogwen and Llyn Idwal. Llyn means lake. We took a hike up about 20 minutes and saw one of the lakes (the other was located by where our bus parked). It was rainy and it snowed/sleeted on us as we walked up but the scenery was so beautiful that I did not care. Sadly I forgot my camera in the car and did not get any pictures of the lake but many other people did and I will be able to borrow. I am thinking about going back to the lake to take my own pictures. After this we quickly stopped to look at a Welsh house that was very old and built in only 24 hours. It was called the "Ugly house". This is the Ugly House. I do not think it is ugly at all. That's just my opinion.
Next we visited Swallow Falls. Swallow Falls is a small series of waterfalls and as we were there the sun started to come out and it was beautiful!The main part of the falls!Jim, Russel, me, and Adena on a viewing area of the falls. It was so pretty there!

A video of the falls.
After Swallow Falls we headed into a little town called Betws-y-coed for lunch. I had chicken nuggets and chips. It was good. Then we walked around the town for a bit and got onto the bus. We then went to Dolwyddelan Castle. This castle was located on the land of this old lady. We heard she was not very friendly but luckily she was not there and we were able to go up to the castle with and hassle. (haha that rhymes). The castle was beautiful and the sun was out and there were sheep all around! The view was awesome!A view up that what is left of the castle!A view down from the top of the castle.Me on top of the castle! I was pretty freaked out but I managed a good picture!Me with the sun and she terrific view!!Me with the mountains in the background and yes that is snow at the top of them!
On our way back to the bus from the castle we stopped at another smaller waterfall and were able to touch the water and take some pretty cool pictures!The waterfall!Another view of the waterfall!Me touching the water from the waterfall!
After this we went to our final stop of today's field trip, the city of Llandudno. We walked along the pier and went and played some arcade games and a lot of people got a snack of some ice cream. The pier was pretty and I took a couple of cool pictures!A view down the pier!That is the name of the city on the side of a cliff that I could see from out on the pier. Cool!Me on the pier with the cliffs in the background!

After this we went back to our dorms and were free to do as we pleased! This weekend was really fun and I enjoyed myself! I can't wait for tomorrow though. As lame as it sounds, its our first day of classes and I cannot to learn! I'll let you know how it goes!

Have a great day!!!

spring semester classes

Hello Everyone!

These past week, since Tuesday, has been devoted to making my class schedule and getting it approved! I was very successful! I am taking 15 hours or 60 Bangor University credits, all of which will transfer back to TLU. YAY!!! My schedule is pretty nice, I do not have Fridays off but I'm sure I will be just fine.

Class Schedule:

Monday: 9-10 Ecology and Evolution
1-2 Ecology and Evolution
3-4 Animal Behavior
6:30-8:30 History and Culture of Wales

Tuesday: 1-2 Ecology and Evolution

Wednesday: NOTHING!!!!

Thursday: All day Outdoor Pursuits

Friday: 11-1 Global Christ
3-4 Animal Behavior


Other than the whole class thing I have just been relaxing and trying to get more acquainted with Bangor. Yesterday, a small group of us ventured out to find the pier (again) and we were able to locate it this time. However the tea shoppe at the end of the pier was not open and would open the next day.
This is a picture I look on the pier looking back to the gates where we entered.

Look how clear the water was when we looked down. You can see the bottom!
There are rules you have to follow while enjoying the ocean and the pier. I took a picture of the "Seashore Code".


This is a picture of Russel, me, Rebbecca, Keeley, and Dani on the pier. It was pretty awesome!!!

After our adventure to the pier we had to stop at Morrisons. The grocery store closest to our dorms. We decided to make tacos that night and all eat together. The tacos we made were delicious and there are leftovers for another night.

Today, I am doing my first load of laundry and I hope all turns out well. haha After that I plan to make my first visit to the post office and maybe stop the the pub Rascals for a baguette sandwich. I have heard they are very good and cheap! Tonight all of the international students have a social evening. I think this should be fun! I'll let you know how it goes in my next blog!

Have a good day everyone!!!

1st field trip and some other stuff!!

Hello everyone! The last few days have been pretty busy but let me catch you up on everything that has been going on here in Bangor!

Sunday was our first day when we did not have anything planned. I slept in and thankfully got some much needed sleep! Later in the afternoon, I went with Allison and Rebecca to explore the town. Our main goal was to find the pier in Bangor but sadly this did not happen. We were not really sure of where we were going so we just walked toward the ocean. It turns out there is this little street on one side of town that you need to walk down to get to the pier. We found out a little too late but we were able to see lots of boats! It was a pretty fun adventure we had walking around.

On Monday, we took our first field trip to Caernarfon Castle, the city of Cricieth, the Llechwedd Slate Mines, and a short stop in the city of Blaenau Ffestiniog. Everything we saw was so amazing.

Caernarfon Castle was pretty amazing! It was build by King Edward I. The castle was built on the same site as an old Roman fort and later old Norman castle. The Eagle Tower is the tower of the calstle that is closest to the water. It is called Eagle Tower because there are eagle carvings on the top. This represents the Roman of this place and allows the Welsh to remeber how fond they were of the Roman people.

This is the Eagle Tower while standing inside Caernarfon castle.

Caernarfon castle is also the castle in which the Prince of Wales is crowned. There is a huge circular piece of slate in the middle of the castle upon which every prince has been crowned.

Sandra, Jenny, and I standing on the slate where the princes have been crowned.

After our vists to Caernarfon, we traveld down the coast to the city of Cricieth. We stopped along the beach and were able to go out and take pictures. Some of our group went to get icecream but I stayed back and walked along the beach. It was surprisingly nice becasue the sun came out for the first time that day when we were on the beach taking pictures.
Me, Russel, and Rebecca in Cricieth with the beach and Cricieth castle in the background.

After our short stop at the beach we made our way to the city of Llechwedd. There is a huge slate mine here. It is 25 miles long and goes at least 14 stories underground. We took a tour of the mine and it was so amazing! We first rode underground in this subway type thing on an incline. While inside each room they led us into was enormous and I did not expect it to be. I cannot even explain how this mine looked inside. It was alot bigger than I thought it was going to be. While we were down there I could not help but think of all of the people who used to work there everyday. It was pretty cool experience.

This is a picture of the above ground part of the mines and the gift shop.

After our tour of the mines, it started to snow and for all of us from Texas that was really cool! We left Llechwedd and stopped in Blaenau Ffestiniog for a short break and luckily there was lots of snow on the ground here too! It was so much fun playing in the snow! It was a good ending for our first field trip!


Today was not as exciting as the past couple of days. We went to orientation and found out how to sechedule our classes and then we were off trying to find all of the professors we needed in order to sign off on all of our classes. I am still in the process of getting courses approved. Hopefully I will be done by my next blog!

Thanks for reading and have a great day everyone!

Getting to know Bangor

Allison, Becky, and I on a hill we found while exploring the city.

I have been in Bangor, Wales a total of 3 days so far. It is so different from what I am used to but everything is so exciting because it's new.

So far I have been attempting to get settled in. My attempts at making my room comfortable, buying groceries, and finding my way around Bangor have been pretty successful. It is a nice city that is full of hills. I get a workout every time I step outside.

I still need to find my way around the campus. It is so spread out that I can't tell if its the history building next to me or a shopping center. Hopefully by my next blog I will have everything sorted out.

It is very cold here but it is still so pretty! I can't wait until I have the chance to go down to the pier and see the ocean. There are many spots around town where you can see it and it adds to the charm of Bangor.


I took these pictures after we decided to take a little detour. We wound up at the top of this little hill and this was the view! Pretty amazing, huh?