Wales, Rugby, and Other British Things

This past week and weekend was one of those times that I just felt all warm inside, and like a little cup of warm, British tea was constantly refilling in my heart.

And then there were times this week that I actually wanted to drink that tea so I could have some caffeine in me to make it through the night without falling asleep on my laptop.

So as you can see, it's been busy.
It seems sometimes that life never stops here. We're constantly on the run. Except for this weekend of the 22nd through 24th, which was nice and relaxed. But I'll get to that later.

 First, we'll do North Wales.

Wales is absolutely amazing, guys, and it's so sad that so many people don't make it there. It's been one of my favorite trips so far and I know it will remain one of my favorites.

I also feel that Wales is vastly under-appreciated as a country (NOTE: Yes, Wales is a different country than England. While England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all different, they are still part of the United Kingdom. Do NOT go to Wales and say "Oh, how great it is to be in England!" They'll be so offended. And then they'll probably make an aside that sounds like "Typical American..." So now you know, Wales is not England, or Scotland, or any other place in the UK. It is Wales). As my wonderful friend Katie Meek remarked, "It's like England, Scotland, and Ireland all mixed into one. In the best way." And that's true. But also at the same time, which I'm sure Katie will agree to, Wales has its own identity. And it's a beautiful one.

A lot of times, Wales is considered synonymous with England. And that's because Wales was conquered by England so long ago. However, apparently in the 1960s the Welsh identity was having something similar to a mid-life crisis. So they decided to revive the Welsh language in the country. So many people speak it there in little conversations. One time, and many times in restaurants or at football games, I heard a cashier and a customer making a transaction while speaking in Welsh. And they all switch so fluidly from Welsh to English and vice versa. It sounds and looks like this: Ddkjfoeiurenvkd. Iejkldfjljre? Skdfjdkf. With a little bit of phlegm thrown in.

We stayed by the seaside, which was absolutely gorgeous. The place we were was called Llandudno (I think it's pronounced "Lan-dud-no" with the "dud" being pronounced like "hood" is pronounced but beginning with a "d"), and it was beautiful. I seriously want to go back.

We also did so much hiking that weekend, which was definitely my favorite part. I want to hike in so many places when I get back to the States now. One of the two places we went was called Snowdonia National Park:

Oh! And I forgot to say! We also toured Caernarfon Castle in Wales! It was one of the original William the Conqueror castles, apparently. Seems legit.

 

The next morning, we woke at the early hour of 7. Which really isn't that early since we were asleep by at least 11 each night. One thing about Llandudno, Wales: everywhere closes at like, 8 pm. So the only thing left to do is go back to your hotel and hang out. Anyway, we were so glad we got sleep to prepare for this truly phenomenal hike we were to have the next morning. We hiked up this mountain that was right behind our hotel. Yeah, we had a mountain and a beach beside our hotel. Welcome to Wales. Pictures? Given.

But alas, my paradise in Wales had to end. And I had to have the arduous task of returning to this hideous manor house.

And actually, as beautiful and awesome as this place is, the stress level during the school week is pretty high. And during the school week I had mixed emotions of stress and ecstasy at different times. Stress happened when I was required to write a paper on the Holocaust, which I had to begin the night before. I'll tell you, reading about the Holocaust at 1 am by lamplight alone is not something I desire to do again. Just imagine. Freaked me out a bit. That was definitely one of those moments when I wanted to have a cup of tea for caffeine.

And then I had also had one of the best times I'd had at the manor thus far. It was a Shelley moment. That sounds really self-centered, but you'll see what I mean in a minute.

I accidentally missed the shuttle into town, so I had an hour to kill, and God obviously planned this. So I went for a walk around the grounds, which are absolutely beautiful. My parents will do this walk when they come. I'm forcing them.

Here's one of the pictures I snapped when I was on it:

 

Isn't that just magnificent? It looks like Pemberley's twin. And Pemberley is Darcy's house in Pride & Prejudice, so yeah. I also felt really magical because I was playing dramatic Downton Abbey music on my iPod when I saw this sight. So I felt pretty English at that moment. But anyways, that walk I had was just such a lovely hour and made me appreciate the fact that I am here.

I'm going to miss this place so much. 

This weekend was nice because I didn't travel. We've traveled every single weekend I've been here, so it was nice to have a weekend to watch movies, sleep, catch up on homework, and not spend money. However, I did indeed go to a rugby game. Which was really cool.

Apparently, Brits love rugby. And so do the Irish, Australians, and New Zealand. And apparently New Zealand is the best in the world at it, and the scariest. 

But rugby is a lot like American football and then completely different if that makes any sense. They throw the ball backwards, have no padding, slide on their bellies to score a "touchdown", and can keep the ball in play even if they're tackled. These guys' necks are seriously as big as my waist. They're huge. And one of their thighs if probably as big as my body width. They are rather intimidating. 

And I also noticed that British fans aren't as insane as American ones. When a goal is scored, the Brits are all like "Yeahhhhh! Yay! I'm happy!" But if someone scores in America it's like "DKLJFDLJRURELJFDK JDDJFDLKFJDLKJDK!!!!!!!! ICJEHUIERHJREJREU!!!!!! YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! GANGNAM STYLE!!!!! AHHHHHHH I'M HAVING A CONNIPTION" So they're just a tad more quiet than we are. 

 

And I felt obliged to take a video for you of the Leicester Tigers (the home team) scoring.

 

So that's what's been happening in the life of Shelley lately, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it.

This coming Friday, I travel to the land of Harry Potter. I will actually tour the Warner Bros. Studios where a bulk of Harry Potter was filmed. I know, it's a big deal. Stay calm, Shelley. Stay calm.

And also this week, I'll be hanging out with my meet-a-family and performing with my tin flute in a talent show here at the manor!

But until then, Cheers,
Shelley

An International Jesus and the Emerald Isle

I'm not one for reading my journal aloud to people, but this just puts the icing on the cake.

As Shelby Rogers, Emily Little, Samya Monem, Jake Franck, and I were sitting in the Dublin airport, waiting for our flight to leave to head back to England, I took the liberty that I had to write and reflect upon my weekend. Luckily what I wrote encompassed what I felt about the weekend prior to that as well.

"This weekend was such a learning experience in so many ways," was the very first thing I wrote in that airport, and it was so true for the past two weeks I've had.

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind, and that's precisely the reason that I've haven't written a blog post in about that time.

In these two weeks, I've attended a Christian retreat with some fantastic British university students, had a crazy week chock-full of homework and exams, and also been to Ireland. All in two weeks. Life moves really fast here. Really fast. This semester is really slipping by.

Okay, so first I'll talk about my weekend in Norfolk with the students from New Life Church in Lincoln (which is about 40 minutes away from Grantham).

British students are fabulous. All this time, I just thought that we loved them. And I never thought about the love being reciprocated. It is definitely reciprocated. And they were so welcoming.

Also, I found that I absolutely love British humor. It's witty and clever, and even a little snide. But it's great. When we played a game, I went up to the stage to volunteer as tribute and they all started chanting "USA! USA! USA! USA!" And they liked to chant that quite a lot. Also, apparently no Brits have ever heard of or danced to "The Wobble." We Americans thought we might as well take this opportunity to teach it to them, which we did. And they were in love. They kept saying that they were going to make it a trend in the UK and teach it to their friends. And then after that they sang The National Anthem. Which made me feel bad because I don't know God Save the Queen all that well.

One thing I definitely realized that weekend is that Jesus is so international. The Spirit is the same in England as it is in the States. Not that I expected it to be different, but just experiencing Him in a different country was such a unique experience for me. These students are just like us, but only living in a different country, with a different accent, and a different culture. They love Jesus like those in America to whom I look up to spiritually.

And God moved, enormously. Which is quite beautiful because we worshiped in a tiny little space.

Thanks to that weekend, I have so many new British friends who I am still talking to today. We also talked about going to visit them in Lincoln and/or them coming to the manor sometime in the semester. They're so fun to be around. Love demm. One British guy named Andrew had this hilarious South Carolina accent in which he talked like he worked on a farm and loved blueberries.

It's impossible to chronicle in pictures how awesome that weekend was. So here's just a few pictures I took of some people just being goof balls.

Sam and Josh are fun. Indeed.

GERALD!!!

Stair ball was the most ridiculous and fun game. It was one of those things that's so simple, but they play it every year just because.

And apparently G. Weezy (Gerald) had his name given to him by an American. Of course.


Okay, next, we have the picture time. Because I went to Ireland.

Wow. Ireland was so great. If you ever get the chance to go, go. But if you go, see the countryside. The absolute best part about Ireland, apart from the people.

Before departing for Ireland, I had a rather stressful week. I can't lie. I had an application due, a research plan due, and a big exam on Wednesday. All on top of preparing to head out to Ireland.

Our exam ended at 3:30 on Wednesday and we were headed to the airport by 3:45 to make it to our flight out by 6. So it wasn't a relaxing day, Wednesday wasn't.

But that's okay! Because we got to Dublin Wednesday night and had dinner at an "authentic" Irish pub called The Celt. It was really cool; they had live music! They played the song "Galway Girl", which was basically the only pub song I knew before coming to Ireland. See below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lcnvd8BNFE

And we loved our hostel. Called the Globetrotter. The staff were so accommodating and it was very welcoming.

The next day was Dublin day! We took a tour of the city and saw the Guinness Storehouse, where Guinness (the famous beer) is made. It was very cool indeed.

The best way I can describe Dublin is robust. It's a big city, with a lot of industry and history, and a lot of Irish pride. One thing I said while there was that it definitely is a man's city. It's chock full of men grunting, business-like things, and beer. Perhaps my perspective of Dublin was slightly marred because it rained all day there. Oh well. The best of Ireland was yet to come.

We went on our Paddywagon Tour the next day. Which I highly recommend doing. Paddywagon is a very well-run company and knows how to make their customers happy. And they're punctual.

On the way to Galway (a city in western Ireland, one of our destinations for the trip), we stopped at perhaps the cutest village I've ever seen. And I'm not lying. It really is. I'm not just being an American here and over exaggerating. It was called Cong and we didn't stay long, but it was great for the amount of time we stayed.

After this, we drove through the countryside of Connemara in west Ireland. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

This is Kylemore Abbey. It was built by a couple many years ago and then was abandoned and is now a tourist site. It's so beautiful, completely surrounded by mountains, trees, and a lake.

After this, we got to Galway. Galway had such a fun atmosphere. It is a bay city, so it's got a lot of water aspects, and had so much liveliness and culture. I'd love to go back. The locals there were great. I talked to this one little Irish couple in a pub and they were so much fun. We compared and contrasted America and Ireland. It was so cool to hear what they thought of us. And it was either good or true.

We left Galway the next morning and made for my favorite part in all of Ireland: the Cliffs of Moher.

Now, I must tell you a few things about the Cliffs first. They are holy ground for multiple reasons. One: they're beautiful. Two: part of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were filmed there. If you go to 1:10 in the following clip, you'll see them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0mVNFCcMXQ

The Cliffs of Moher must be on the 1,001 places to visit before you die. They have to be. It's necessary. They're so majestic and gigantic and wonderful.

I stopped trying to capture the moment in pictures and just took a video to show you guys what it looks like to dangle your feet off these things.

They were so amazing. I want to go back there as well if I ever can.

After this, we got back to Dublin and headed home the next day!

I'm so sorry this was such a long entry. I just had so much to tell! And if you're still reading this at this point, I'd also like to congratulate and thank you for coming this far and not having anything else to do at the moment but sit and read this. Glad all my work is not in vain!

If you are reading my blog, please let me know! It's nice to know if you are. And I love you.

Next week on As the World Turns: The Shelley Diaries, we'll venture to Wales! I'm so excited for it. We're going to North Wales which looks so beautiful. And this Wednesday I'm having dinner with my meet-a-family!

Love you all.
Cheers,
Shell