Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! 

Well Easter monday at least.. I went on a mission today

 to try to find a chocolate bunny (for half the price of course) but it seems as though they don't really exist here - all I've seen are giant hollow chocolate eggs. I decided that would not do so I went to about 5 stores today to find a bunny. Unfortunately, I didn't find any so I found the next best thing - a chocolate teddy bear (it's just not the

 same eating hollow chocolate if it doesn't have a face). The packaging is clearly designed for someone under preschool age but I don't care it tastes good!

Otherwise today I slept in, took a walk to the big Sainsbury to do some food shopping - it was nice to get some fresh air - and then I went around the corner to the Troubador cafe (pretty cool place - check out the website troubador.co.uk - famous people used to play there before they got famous) where I got a pot of tea and was able to get access to the internet. I just needed a change of scenery from my stuffy apartment and I needed table space so it was great to spend a couple hours there. 

Had a pretty exciting weekend though, went on a Preseli Venture trip in Wales where for 2 nights me and 7 other Syracuse students (along with various of other groups) stayed in an Eco-lodge which had dorm-style rooms, a bar, living/dining area, woodstove and outdoor fire pit. Coffee, tea (and biscuits), juice and water

 were always available for free and we were served all of our meals which were really really good. 

We got to the lodge around 6:30 friday night after taking a train from London earlier that afternoon and after moving into our room (me and my roommate Jenni snagged a loft) we were served a hearty meal of vegetable lasagna and bread. After that we hung around the living room playing Jenga, p

ictionary, and card games. There was a stag party there, which was pretty amusing because they had ridiculous games and every now and then we'd look over at them and one would be wearing

 a costume, another one without a chair, and another one standing outside with minimal clothing. We also met a bunch of kids also studying abroad in London. 

Saturday morning we got up around 8:15, had a breakfast of hard boiled eggs, crumpets and toast, cereal, and baked beans and then we split off into our adventure activities. I did sea kayaking with a couple other people from SU while the others did surfing. Sea kayaking was really fun - we got suited up in wet suits and helmets (see picture!) and learned how to secure 

ourselves in the kayak with a skirt before loading up the bus and heading down to the water. Once afloat, we paddled around various rock formations and

 went through a couple swells - 3 people capsized but thankfully I was not one of them! It was really fun though, we had really nice weather and the views were amazing. After a couple hours we headed back for a really good lunch of veg

etable potato soup and bread. 

In the afternoon all 8 of us from SU set off on a self-guided 7 mile coastal hike. We got dropped off at a particular location and then basically 

followed the coast back to the lodge. That was really awesome because we were basically walked across hills, nothing too intense, and occasionally we'd walk through sheep fields (apparently it's not illegal in the UK? they have special fence doors so people can walk through but sheep cant get out). We were right on the edge of cliffs so we had great views of the landscape. (everyone from SU in the pic to the left!)

After a couple hours and couple sheep fields later we made it back to the lodge early enough to shower before dinner, which was chicken curry and very good. Desert was a cheesecake/creamy pie of some sort with jellied berries on top...  yumm. After dinner we hung around, hit up the bar and they made a bonfire outside so we were all able to enjoy that. It was a really nice night, I was in a sweatshirt and was comfortable, and there were lots and lots of stars. After a while we headed inside where there was a woodstove which made us sleepy... so we headed to bed not too late. 

The next morning we had breakfast and then got suited up to go coasteering! Coasteering involves swimming, climbing rocks and then jumping off them! We wore wet suits, additional shorts and vests for extra warmth, socks, sneakers, gloves, life vests and helmets. It must have been a funny site - there were other people on the beach - watching 10 people in wet suit gear striding into the water and awkwardly trying to climb over slimy rocks while not letting the current take you away. It felt like we were on a secret mission and were trying to sneak through the water. It was really fun though, and once we got in we started to swim around the coast and stopped at various rock formations. We started off small - first 5 ft jumps and some small climbs and then onto bigger jumps. I think the highest jump I did was about 12 ft - pretty good, considering I had a hard time jumping off the tower at camp. But it's really hard to do all the swimming and climbing and then not jump off - it's a really strange thing to be in all this gear and a helmet and jumping into turquoise water. Along the way our instructors talked about various birds and where the seals come to lay their pups. We also swam into a little cave opening that is open or closed depending on the tide. It's really cool to be inside a rock and hear the waves crashing and feel the current drag you along. After swimming and jumping we got out of the water and climbed up a big hill that connected to a bath that lead us back to the beach where we started. Again, I think we started 2 hikers who saw us soaking wet in all our gear walking along a field. But all in all it was really fun and something I would never have done on my own!

After lunch (jacket potatoes, corn, cheese, coleslaw, salad..) we packed everything up and enjoyed about an hour of sitting outside before we were dropped off at the TINY train station and began our 7 hour journey home!

And now, back to reality, as I just realized I have 2 projects due next Wednesday....