Monday September 27th
My first day here was pretty crazy. It started with Annika, Alaina and I, once again, crammed into Annika's car speeding down the Autobahn in the poring rain, and I mean POURING rain. This stuff was torrential. When we got to the Hamburg airport at 6 a.m. I had to sprint to my terminal in order to catch my plane to Manchester (which I barely made.) Once on the plane tho, I had a brief panic attack because I wasn't sure if it even was the right plane (which is totally bogus because that is nearly impossible to pull off... anyways blame it on lack of sleep.) I got into Manchester at a quarter to eight and was able to make it to customs before too long. The line (queue) was such a funny sight, there were a number of families who had just returned from vacation (holiday) and were sporting sandals, big, hibiscus print shorts, dresses, and shirts, super brown tans and seashell jewelry all around me. I must have been quite a sight myself in my fleece jacket, long pants and scarf. When I finally got to the customs desk there was this cranky lady who put me through the ringer and even threatened to "sit me down" because I didn't have "the right" information... anyways, eventually I got through and collected my bearings and bags. I got to the train station with a little bit of time to spare found myself some fruit for breakfast, found a seat on the platform, and let my surroundings settle in.
I boarded the train to Crewe (Crew) at nearly nine and sat next to another student, Andrew, who was from Shanghai and was on his way to go study for a year exchange in Salisbury. He was really funny and definitely took the edge off of being so tired and on a new continent. When we got to Crewe I was only seconds late for my train to Bangor, which as it turns out was quite serendipitous! You see, I wasn't the only student bound for Bangor who missed the train. Diego, from Costa Rica, had also missed the train and was just as ticked as I was. We sat together waiting for a different train that would bring us to Chester and talked about University and what we were doing for the week we had before orientation. Soon enough the train came and we boarded. Chester was just a hop and a skip away but we had to wait yet again for another train that this time would take us directly to Bangor. I met a very nice Irish woman while I was waiting with Diego. Kathleen Greene is, to me, the quintessential Irish-lady. She must have been in her early sixties, gray hair, spunky, loud, but looked like a cuddly grandma-type that you just want to hug. She asked me how my trip had been thus-far and what I was going to do in Bangor. I told her that everything had gone smoothly except for the customs woman who still had me shaking in my Keens. Her response was something like "Oh, don't you listen to her, love. She was probably one of those poor souls who was put on the midnight to 9 a.m. shift and they are never pleasant folk. Plus, I always say in a situation like that 'can't you just be nice? We are all trying to do our best and get along... just smile and be kind to other people, we are all just trying to do our best.' " How about that, just what I needed! I am beginning to think that I have really good luck with finding mom and grandma types when I need a little bit of encouragement or cheering up. So, I took a deep breath of damp air as the train rolled in and got my bags together. Kathleen and I sat very close to each other in the train car, she was sitting with another gray-haired grandma type and I was sitting with a school teacher from the North of Wales who, believe it or not, had studied Waldorf herself for some time. She and I talked about that until she had to get off. Kathleen and I then started up a conversation about knitting which led me to ask about the best place to get yarn in Wales and Ireland. Kathleen made sure that I was well prepared with a list of the best places in Dublin to find wool and fisherman's sweater patterns. She also gave me her address and made sure that I was able to understand her writing. We talked about knitting while the train flew along the green country side of North Wales, past small towns dotting the coast, and pastures filled with happy sheep that seemed to stretch on forever. The mountains popped into view eventually, rising and falling across the horizon until finally plunging into the Irish Sea. When we finally reached Bangor Kathleen wished me good luck and told me to make sure that I took care and had a fabulous time. I stepped off the train and into the bright, warm and welcoming sunshine that was my new life in Wales.
...
Everything has gone smoothly since arriving here, aside from this piece of crap cold. I spent a few days at a nice B n B on the main road and was able to walk all around the downtown, orienting myself amidst the huge mountains and the sea. The first day I was invited over to my mentor, Bryn Tomos's, house for dinner. The Tomos's, Bryn, Marian, Cartin, Rhys, and Gwenno are lovely people. They welcomed me into their home and fed me an amazing dinner. It was so nice to have a soft place to land after such an intense day of traveling (with a cold!) They offered me a place to stay before the dorms opened on Saturday, which I graciously accepted.
Bryn is a fascinating person who knows a lot about Welsh education and speaks fluent Welsh himself. On the walk back to the B 'n B where I was staying he filled me in on the past fifteen years of changes that Wales has seen in their education system. For a long time the Welsh language was suffering greatly in schools across the country-- maybe a lack of cultural interest but mostly due to the shrinking number of Welsh speakers and the disbanding of cultural ties-- Welsh was dying out. In the past fifteen years tho, there has been a rebirth of the language and many schools have began teaching either some courses in Welsh or, in some cases, like at the school where Bryn's children go, exclusively in Welsh. This was a major win for Welsh speakers, the country, and Welsh culture. It isn't often that a language can rebound like that when the statistics today say that one language dies out every two weeks... it is truly amazing.
On Friday I went to school with Catrin, Bryn's eldest daughter who is in her final year of school. It was a really fun day! I hung out with Catrin's cute high school friends and went to some classes with her (and let me tell you, I am still no whiz at Chemistry.) The school was pretty small but very well-kept. It was grades 5 to 12 I believe, so you can imagine all of the energy in that place! I was especially flattered to be asked by the head teacher of the school to speak to one of her classes, a sort of "Wales and Beyond" class that dealt with the environment, other cultures, different countries, and education all over the world. They asked me about my education in the states and how Wales was precieved by Americans. It was really funny to hear some of the questions that the students had for me after we were out of class: "Was your high school like the one in 'High School Musical' ?" or "Were there cheerleaders at your school who were like the ones in 'Mean Girls' ?" Yes... I tried to be as honest as possible without laughing too hard but we all thought it was good fun.
That night, after a long day of high school, Catrin, her boyfriend, Sean, Gwenno, and I watched "Calendar Girls" and for the first time I picked up on some inherently British things like Marks & Spencer (which is right down the street from where I am living), Yorkshire (which I can locate on a map now), etc. In place of popcorn we needed of course, as a night cap, to have about three cups of tea each with milk and honey.
Hopefully I will be able to write again soon, I don't want to get out of the habit of posting things!
Take care!
Much love,
Zoe
