BEACH WEATHER!!!

The past few days in Swansea have been incredible. Its been really warm here, up to 80 degrees, and we all just can't keep off the beach! My days have been full of ice cream from Joe's, walking down the beach, watching the sail boats go out from the marina, and a trip to Three Cliff's Bay! Result: a pretty wicked sun burn...but SO worth it. I think the pictures speak for themselves (and deserve to be bigger than the others!).

Varsity 2010: Swansea vs. Cardiff

Sports aren't always a big deal at Swansea, but on one day a year, they are they biggest deal. Varsity is an all day event against our arch-rivals, Cardiff University. This year, it was Cardiff's turn to bus all of their athletes and students to Swansea for every sporting event in one day! This year was great weather, and from about 11am to 10pm we hung out with friends and cheered Swansea on. We even got to see a game of American football!

We didn't win the football game, but Swansea really kicked butt this year. We won the all around points (so we won the most of the sporting events) AND we won the big rugby match at Liberty Stadium!! We even stormed the pitch afterwords to celebrate :)

Everyone went out to Wind Street to celebrate that night and it really was a great day! If you know me at all though, you know a perfect day without a little misstep just doesn't exist...I actually tripped into a bed of stinging nettles at the start of the day and had a NASTY rash all over my legs for the whole of Varsity. NOT FUN. But I sucked it up, had a beer and enjoyed my first ever Rugby match and a great day with friends :)

Easter Break!!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I've been MIA for a while, but I've just been enjoying the last of my time here in Wales (oh...and writing essays). BUT, my essays are all turned in and I've got a month now to chill out with all my Swansea friends and bug them while they try to study for their exams! I've got a lot of adventures to write about so I'll start from the beginning....Easter Break! (yes, they can still call it Easter break here...)

I got an entire month for Easter break and spent a good 2 weeks of it traveling with Doug. The first start was Doug's house in Bromsgrove, for some actual home cooking, TV and couches! (It really is the little things in life.) We also went to the Cadbury factory for lots of free chocolate and fun :)

After a couple days there, Doug, Doug's mom and I flew to Hannover, Germany to see Doug's dad, who works in Germany. We spent the day on bikes, touring the city and enjoying the weather!

ps: Germans are ALL fit and active. I've never seen so many people out biking, walking, roller blading, rowing, and running ever in my life.

After Hannover, Doug's parent's dropped us off in Berlin (ya...I've been on the Autoban!), which easily turned into one of my favorite cities since I've been here. We started with an AWESOME free tour of the city, where we learned some amazing history! As you can imagine, the place is full of it, and WWII history of Germany is so interesting. We also saw several parts of the Berlin wall, including a section of the death strip and a part of the wall painted with artwork. We also made it to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Holocaust museum, the top of the government building, touched a Buggati, saw the Hotel where Michael Jackson hung his baby out a window, stayed in a VERY budget hotel on the outskirts of town, and drank with real Germans in little pubs on Easter Sunday.

Doug's parents came to pick us up a few days later, and we actually took a small detour to a little town in Germany where a portion of the wall and a watch tower still stand. It was good to see a part of the wall outside of the city. Having a wall splitting towns, families and an entire country is a strange concept and it gave me chills to see it up-close.

The next stop was Dublin! We stayed in a great hostel with a ton of fun people, clean rooms and most importantly, free breakfast! lol. Highlights of Dublin included another free tour, a pub-crawl, Guinness stew, the Jameson whiskey factory, the Guinness storehouse, getting a little lost, a wax museum and a very old jail!

There was supposed to be one more stop on my trip, Geneva with Staci, but I unfortunately got sick with the flu the night before we were supposed to leave! This was quite disappointing but turned into a blessing... It turns out that with the pesky volcano erupting in Iceland, and clogging British airspace, we would have been STUCK in Geneva for God only knows how long! Good thing God was looking out for us on this one :)

And that ends my Easter break travels, as I spent the rest of the time writing essays and putting around....

Mind the Gap

I apologize for taking so long on this London post...but better late than never right?? So March 4th-7th all of the University of Illinois exchange students in the UK met up for an organized weekend in London. Our program directors took us to the Tower of London (below), an amazing Mediterranean restaurant called Sofra, a Cuban dance performance at the Peacock theater, a bus tour, and a pub quiz at the Old Cock Tavern! After the organized trips, a few of us headed out for an afternoon at Camden Market....

It was a great trip, but I definitely need another day or two in London. There is SO much to do that I didn't get to do, and am looking to go again in May! I should have plenty of time, since I have an entire month to chill while everyone else takes exams!

Easter break started last week, and so far I've spent the time in the Village trying to get some essays done and watching a lot of TV online :/ But, Tuesday I head to Doug's house in Bromsgrove, England and from there we are visiting Hanover, Berlin and Dublin. I am also spending the last few days of break in Geneva, Switzerland with Staci! I'm sure I'll have a giant post when all that is done...so be on the lookout!

Love, Lauren

the football, my birthday, and phi mu's reunite!

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind in Wales!! I went to my first football match, celebrated my 21st, and had a visit from Staci Lampros (sorority sister!).

The football game was a National game, Wales v. Sweden. I really had a lot of fun, even though the game wasn't too competitive. I have a new found appreciation for football...although it's still no match for Illini (american) football! My next goal is to go to an Aston Villa match...but we'll see if that happens....

My 21st birthday was also this past week!! That's not as big of a deal here, but my friends were amazing and really made it special...first they threw me a surprise laser-tag birthday part with about 10 of my American and British friends! They remembered that I had never done it before and I was SO amazed they would do that for me :)

I spent my actual 21st in London with all of the University of Illinois kids studying in the UK...a post on that whole adventure later......

I also threw a little gathering at my house one night and taught everyone beer pong! (they actually DONT play here) Thanks to Elizabeth and Ann for the red solo cup and ping pong packages :) I also got some lovely Wales memorabilia gifts from friends and best of all a VILLA JERSEY WITH MY NAME ON IT from a very special guy :) So, in conclusion...I couldn't have asked for a better birthday and am excited to buy my first drink in the states when I return!!

I capped the week off with a visit from THE Staci Lampros! It was great to see a familiar face from home and we had so much fun! Bon fire on the beach, a trip to Mumbles and some light hiking at the Gower!

A Day in Bath!

This past Saturday I continued my adventures with a trip to Bath! We actually ended up meeting up with Becky's friend Jency, who is studying abroad in Bath for the semester. She was a great guide and we all had a ton of fun! Bath is home to the famous Roman Baths, which were hot springs that the Romans built a temple and healing spa around for people to come from all over and enjoy public bathing. It was so cool to think I had touched the same water and rocks that the Romans had touched almost 2000 years ago!

me on the edge of the main bath
one of the many statues that surround the bath
the main bath from above

Directly next the the Roman Baths was the Bath Abbey, dating from the 7th century, with beautiful Gothic architecture.

Next stop was the fashion museum...which was easily my favorite!!

really old dress...i call it a butt dress lol

the J-Lo dress!!!!

Jackie and I trying on corsets and hoop skirts

My favorite piece in the whole museum

After the museum, Jackie and I decided to go off for some vintage shop and boutique shopping. They had great street vendors, resulting in a couple fabulous finds! Overall, it was a fantastic day and Bath is a beautiful city. I would love to go again!

Big Rocks

This past weekend I got to go on a trip through the school to see Avebury and Stonehenge! It was a really interesting trip, and was surprised to find out that Avebury actually had more stones and was much larger than Stonehenge. It also had a quant city around it with a Church, haunted pub and museum. Stonehenge was interesting as well, and I can officially say that I have now seen one of the Seven Wonders of the World (medieval mind category)! While no one is sure why either sites was built, the consensus seems to be that it was part of some sort of Stone Age ritual. (I actually prefer theories involving aliens, but that's just me...)

Stonehenge, back in the day...
Avebury, back in the day...
That's about as close as you could get...
Jackie, myself, and Ashley
Stonehenge

Signs of Spring (please, already?)

St. James Church at Avebury
You could actually touch the rocks at Avebury!

Me in the "Devil's Seat"

Portions of the large outer circle and one of the inner circles at Avebury

Avebury
One of the chalk horses unique to the UK