Adventure Weekend in Wales

HIGH ADVENTURE WEEKEND IN WALES

September 21-23

This weekend a group of us went on the Preseli High Adventure Weekend in Wales near the beautiful Prembrokeshire coast, where we hiked, kayaked, and coasteered. If you don't know what coasteering is, please tilt your head in a clockwise position and refer to the picture below. Or, you can keep reading to figure out that coasteering is cliff jumping!

We started off the weekend with a 7 mile hike along the Prembrokeshire coast, where we saw beautiful, gaping cliffs and a small forest. You cannot tell from the pictures, but the water was a beautiful deep green color. After our hike, we suited up to go kayaking and after playing a game of "kayak dodge-ball," paddled over rocks and through caves. We even encountered a friendly seal or two, some of us more closely than others.

On Sunday we went coasteering and started the trip by swimming into the ocean to get to the cliffs. When we got there we jumped off a series of smaller cliffs before making the thirty foot leap into the cove below. The entire weekend was such a rush, and it was wonderful to spend so much time outdoors!

For some reason this my computer will not allow me to flip this photo vertically but this is me jumping!

The kayakers about to enter a cave

We had to go single file through the cave, and when I was coming out the end, a seal popped its head out of the water about five feet in front of me! I think Katie was more startled than I was when the seal popped up right by her kayak and blew water out of its nose.
Needless to say, she did not follow the "don't-scream-when-you-see-a-seal" rule.

I'm a survivor! I'm not gone' give up...

This is my other roomie, Taylor, about to commit a massive belly flop. When coasteering we started off in the ocean and had to swim and climb from rock to rock in order to get to the cliffs that we jumped off of.

Kayaking with Taylor and Amanda

We saw a lovely rainbow over the hills.

The group of coasteerers before climbing up the cliff

Hiking along

Katie was very excited by the view!

We hiked along rolling countryside by the coast. It was absolutely breathtaking!

Sometimes if you looked down below you could spot a seal!

Becca and I

Trekking through the wilderness

We kayaked and hiked by this coveI love this stuff!

The female adventurers

The beautiful coastline

The coasteering group

Becca, me, Taylor, Katie

My hard core flatmates

High Fashion

Wet suit models Lauren, Becca and Katie are shown wearing the slimming new neoprene look complete with neon yellow, red and purple "buoyancy aids." These girls really know how to keep high fashion afloat!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Here we are receiving instruction before embarking on our kayak adventure. Our tour guides were hilarious. They told us to check our butts for little fishies after being in the water with our wet suits.

I found Nemo.

Sexy Wet-Suit Senoritas

What a lovely weekend!

My Semester Abroad in London
2007

I'm ready to start my day in this rainy city!

London Eye at Night

My dad came to visit!

Here we are getting ready to rock out to some Queen music

Loves Labours Lost

A group of us decided to go see LLL at the Globe. We were really chilly and our bums were tired of sitting on hard wooden benches by the end of the show, but it was enjoyable nonetheless!

I was lucky enough to see my dad this weekend when he flew in from Paris on business. We decided to go to the Royal Mews in Buckingham Palace. Here we have the Queen's coronation carriage. Check out those rims!

We also saw the state rooms, any of which could easily feed all of Africa. My favorite room was the music hall, because it over looked the gardens behind the palace.

The carriage has gigantic leather straps with gold buckles suspending it. The two golden Gods on each side of the carriage help too. You know, nothing too flashy.

Me and my Pops

We enjoyed some champagne before seeing WE WILL ROCK YOU. Unfortunately we only had enough pounds for one glass after my dad's wallet decided to go on holiday earlier that afternoon ( it kept traveling in the cab whereas my dad got out). Major Oops.

Inside of the Globe

See how close the people standing below are to the stage? You can buy groundling tickets for 5 pounds and be right in the middle of the action. Unfortunately, that involves standing the entire time, but it looks like it would be a cool experience. The actors interact a lot with the audience; for the production of the Love Labours Lost the groundlings found themselves in a middle of a food fight, heated arguments and most memorably, the flashing of old man butt when one of the actors dropped his drawers. Can't say I envied the guy in the front row.

Shakespeare's Globe

The Eye

Some of the Wake crowd getting ready to go pub searching

Becca and I reenacting scenes from the play, The Ugly One

Katie and I getting ready to go out to Kavanagh's

Katie and Becca have become two of my favorite dancing companions!

My room-mate, Jamie and St. Paul's Cathedral

Jamie is also a theatre major from Texas and goes to school at Trinity in San Antonio, where her theatre department recently put on a production of Romeo and Juliet set at the ALAMO. Instead of "Oh fair Verona," they said "Oh fair San Antonio." ONLY Texas would find a way to incorporate state pride into a Shakespeare production.

Jamie, Katie and THE EYE

You can sort of see Big Ben in the background

The fireworks display Katie, Jamie and I watched over the Thames

We watched the show in a field near this movie-dome thing before going to the London Bridge to watch the rest.

Big Ben at Night

The National Theatre

Becca and I have had the opportunity to see shows for our British Theatre class, and we spent some time taking pictures before our first outing to see Rafta, Rafta, a play based on All in Good Time by Bill Naughton. It wasn't exactly the most thought-provoking show in the world, but the spectacle was pretty cool. Basically, the entire production premised on whether or not newly married Indian couple, Atul and Vina, would ever consummate their marriage. In the end, they not only consummate their marriage but somehow manage to find a house (they are living with the in-laws) and mend all broken family relationships in the last five minutes of the show. It was vaguely reminiscent of the ending of Nathan the Wise . We also saw Emperor Jones at the National, which had a very powerful set and sound design. They created the sound using drums which added a very primal and rhythmic feeling to the production.

I saw my favorite show however, at the Royal Court Theatre. It was a new comedy called The Ugly One, which was based on the life and times of Lauren Gaston. ;) Actually, it was about a man whose co-workers and wife tell him he is "disastrously" ugly, so he decides to get plastic surgery. He soon becomes a successful and sought after businessman only to discover that beauty comes with a price. The Brecht-inspired, minimalist design of the show made you feel as if you were walking into a rehearsal and was SO effective when juxtaposed with the theme of beauty. Loved it!

Can you tell I have written a review about this play?

Becca and I stopped to get some ice cream before going to the show

Becca being dodgy

Tower of London

My flatmates and I went on a bus tour that stopped at the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace. We saw the Crown Jewels, a some-what anti-climatic jousting match and searched for Prince William at Buckingham Palace. We didn't find William, but we did find John, the friendly tower guard. Look at that smile!

Okay, where's Prince William?

Buckingham Palace

The changing of the guard

Me and my new friend
Look, we match! All I need now is a black fuzzy hat and a gun.

My flatmates and I, particularly Jamie, have met quite a few guards at a pub called Kavanagh's; one guy was still wearing his guard boots and an odd blouse/vet ensemble that vaguely resembled a pirate. They may look serious in their threatening black Twinkie hats but those guards know how to party!

St. Paul's Cathedral

I took this picture when wandering around central London with my room-mate, Jamie. We were visiting the Tate Modern art museum but didn't stay long because of the Thames festival going on outside. Vendors and entertainers set up along the river for a weekend of dancing, performances, food and crafts. Needless to say, it was sort of hard to concentrate on Miro when there was tango dancing going on in the street. Later that night we went back to watch a fireworks display over the Thames. It was so pretty!

Lovely gardens near Kensington Palace

Hyde Park is probably about a 10 minute walk from my flat and has beautiful gardens, walking trails, ponds and is home to Kensington Palace. I love walking here in the early evenings. It is a nice break from the city. Here, my flatmates Becca, Eliza and Megan are working hard on some reading while soaking up the sun.

This year marked the 10th year anniversary of Princess Diana's death. There were lots of flowers, pictures and people outside of Kensington Palace that week.

A beautiful statue in Hyde Park

The view of Big Ben from the London Eye

Everyone in the BU program took a boat tour along the Thames the first week of orientation, and the tour guide told us that Big Ben got its name from its designer, whom everyone called "Big Ben" because he was such a fat man. He also designed of some of the Parliament buildings.

Big Ben on a sunnier day

A view of St. Paul's Cathedral from Millennium Bridge

I climbed to the very top with my history class one day. There was over 500 steps and no elevator. The inside of the cathedral is beautiful and the view from the top was pretty breath taking too!

I have four, four-hour classes each week, but it is nice, because the time is broken up over field trips like the one to St. Paul's and sometimes, guest lecturers.

Our class has also visited the Imperial War Museum and National Portrait Gallery, where I recently took a costume design course in women's fashion from the 1500-1800's. The museums here have so many different courses and events you can go to. It is pretty amazing! The V&A museum, which is right around the corner from me and where I went to that fashion show by Manish Arora is also hosting various events themed around their latest exhibit, The Golden Age of Couture. This means fashion lectures, beautiful Dior gowns and a gala in December with free make-overs and cocktails! WahoO! I am also in love with the museum gift shops here. Great places. Extremely dangerous when browsing with a debit card.

Erin and I making our way up to the top of St. Paul's

The first over view