Catching Up....

Hi everyone,

I didn't realize that it has been three weeks since I blogged last. This post is going to be pretty long, but it will catch you up on what I have been up to. I have also updated Picasa with recent photos.

3 November Week

This week I had two papers due. So most of the week was spent trying my best to focus and get them done.

Saturday and Sunday (8 and 9 November)

This weekend I went to Wales with the University of Westminster Study Abroad Social Program. We started at school and took buses all over wales. On Saturday we had 3 stops.

The first was Roman barricades ruins. These were uncovered in the 80's but were from the time when the Romans were taking over the UK. There were foundations of the living quarters and a large amphitheatre. The living quarters had the first sewer systems that were seen in the UK. The would divert river water upstream and had channels that went through the barracks. The channels are where you did your business and the flow of the river water would take the nasty downstream in the channel where it would flow back into the river. It was really neat. There is a picture of me sitting on a stone bridge. There used to be a pathway here and a stone like the one I am sitting on would be where you would cross the sewage channel. There was also channels for freshwater. There was also a museum of the thing that have been dug up at the site. Bowls, armor, weapons and the like.

The next stop was Caerphilly Castle. It was in ruin as well but still really neat. From our tour guide we learned about the history of the castle and had time to explore the passageways and rooms that still remained.

The last stop of the day was an outdoor museum of Welsh life. The museum was created to preserve the history of the Welsh. Each time an important building had to be torn down the museum would go and get it and reconstruct it on the land owned by the museum. There were all types of building. There were also people in each building to tell you all about it.

Saturday night we spend in a hotel in a small town. It was nothing special but it had a real bathroom that I didn't have to share with 3 boys, so it was a treat. I roomed with a fun girl named Deborah.

Sunday the first stop was a coal mine. Wales was very prosperous at one time in history because of its coal mining. It was the place where the energy came from for the industrial revolution. It still has the highest quality of coal in the world. It is not being mined now because of bad management by Margret Thatcher. It is really sad because the unemployment rate is still huge. At the coal mine we got to wear hardhats with lights and go on a tour inside the mine. It was 30 m down into the earth. We were taught how the miners would get the coal out and how the technologies have changed over time. There was even a horse stable down there. The horses would pull the loads of coal through the tunnel to the lift to be brought out of the ground. The horses would live down there the hole lives without seeing light. Then, when they got to old or injured they would be killed for dog meat. What a terrible life. The center also had a museum above ground that we also visited.

The last stop was the Tintern Abby ruins. The ruins absolutely took my breath away. It was so tall and the building was huge. It was all done without machines. You have to look at the pictures, it is amazing. This was probably one of my favorite things I have seen in Europe.

Friday 14 November-Tuesday 18 November

Prague, Czech Republic

I went to Prague with a group of friends. There was 14 of us total, in 4 different hostels. The hostel Erin and I stayed in was really clean (nice for a hostel). The screwed up on our room placement and we ended up having to move around two of the nights but it was OK. While in Prague we visited the castle complex, the St. Charles Bridge, went to a club, city squares and some really nice cafes. The castle complex had a really nice cathedral that had some really amazing stained glass and statues. The complex itself had lots of cute little shops that were really short. The castle itself was really not that impressive compared to the other houses that I have seen. It was just a large stone building with different rooms.

The St. Charles bridge is really long and has statues of people all along it. There were also vender's and street performers all along.

The club we went to is the largest one in Eastern Europe. It had 5 floors and there were tons of people there. We danced the night away, it was fun.

The city squares and cafes were really fun. The two major city squares are from different times in history, so they are extremely different. One is really old and one is very modern. There are also cafes from different times in history all over the place. We went to one that was a replica of one in the 1900's. It was fun.

This Week

This week I have been trying to do more London tourist things. I have been to the Natural History Museum, St. Pauls Cathedral, Tower of London and the Victoria and Albert Museum. This Saturday it was a friends birthday, so a large group went dancing, it was fun.

Next weekend I am going to Paris with my friend Emily. We are going to all the big sites, the sewer museum, and Christmas Markets. I am so excited...