Fieldtrip Number Two (part 1)-Bodelwyddan, Holywell, and Chester

Sorry I haven't written in the past week, it's been a little busy. Last week we had a lot of free time. All the international students coming to Bangor University had a meeting about signing up for classes. They do it differently here. Each "major" is really a school. So there is the school of psychology, biology, etc. The students only have to take classes within their major, not like us in the states with getting a liberal arts education. So I'm taking two psychology classes and an art history class. I had to go to the head of the school at the school of psychology to get my two psychology classes signed. After that, some friends and I went to find the natural science and environment building because at that time, I wanted to take Ecology and Evolution. We were directed to three different buildings to find the head of the school and after about an hour I decided to just take the art history class. Ha ha. So I went over to the School of Life Long Learning and got my sheet signed. After that my friends and I went around town the rest of the week.
We had one sunny day on Friday and it was beautiful. We climbed up to this place called the Roman Fort. Nothing was there, but the view was spectacular.

Two dogs came over to us and was our friends for a little bit. They were the sweetest and cutest dogs ever! Made me miss my dog, Hershey. This particular dog decided to pose for me while I took pictures of him.

This weekend was our second field trip. On Saturday we left and first went to the Marble Church in Bodelwyddan. The church was constructed in 1860 by a lady that donated money to build it in honor of her dead husband.

Around the church there was a churchyard cemetery. Part of the cemetery is filled with Canadian troops during the First World War. Only a few died in combat but the rest of them died from the Spanish Flu.

Next was St. Winefred's Holywell where people, to this day, make pilgrimages to bathe in the holy water. People who are crippled or ill come down to this church to get well. Personally, it looked like a swimming pool and the water looked disgusting even though it is their off season. I wouldn't ever go in it, that's for sure. But what was really neat was the church itself. We didn't get to go into all of it, just the section where the water is really at. The carvings and engravings on the church were beautiful! There were even some carvings into the walls from when people got well. We found someones name from Manchester and the date 1808!

The next place on our list was Chester, England. It wasn't too long of a drive and the sun was peeking through now and then when we got there. We we arrived, there were so many people! Chester is famous for its many shops in a place called the Rows. There are the shops along the street but above the shops was a second story filled with more shops! There were very old shops all around, some dating back to the 13th century. We took a tour of the cathedral while we were in Chester. The cathedral is very big and very cool. The people at the desk gave each student a little playing box with headphones to put. In different sections of the church there were little green boxes that you went by. Then the little player would talk to you and explain the different items and settings of the church. It was funny to watch everyone. Nobody talked to each other because they were listening to their person speak. Then slowly, one by one, each person turned to go where their audio tour guide told them to go. I almost started laughing, but then I stopped myself, seeing it would have looked a little odd to people if I started laughing in the middle of the church. I got a little turned around in the church as well. The man talking to me was telling me to go to different places but I had no clue where they were. But I did get to go through the entire church. It was very majestic, if that's the right word.

What was a little creepy was that there were graves everywhere! You would step off the path from inside the church and then realize that you were standing on a person's grave. Then there were carvings throughout the walls in the cathedral dedicating this space to the person whose remains were buried not far from here. It was slightly weird.

There are several choirs in the church and they have services every Sunday. They have an organ that consists of 6,800 pipes! It was massive!

After the cathedral, we walked around the town for a bit. There was a roman wall that ran all around the city dating back to the 5th century. There is so much history in these parts! It just amazes me. I though that the forts and other things were old in the United States, but I was very wrong. Everything here is just ancient! And it's still standing to this day!

We had a few hours of our own to shop and look around. Throughout the streets, there were several people playing music with saxophones, flutes, and guitars for money. Some of them were actually pretty good! It was getting colder by the end of the night but it was still enjoyable. There were so many people to look at and I would have loved to go into all of the shops, but since I don't want to spend my money on clothes and my suitcases are limited on the space of what I take home, I decided it was better if I just window shopped. I went with my friends to his place called Dinky Donuts to get something to eat. We each got 8 little donuts for 1 pound and 20 pence. And they were worth all the money. They were absolutely delicious! They were fresh and hot and they were airy and fluffy on the inside. Then the lady there sprinkled a little sugar on top of them. It was sooooo good! I also had a Twix milkshake, but they are not like the ones in the States. This was pretty much all milk and no thickness with ice cream at all. It was still good but I love my milkshakes to be extra thick. I don't know if this is what their milkshakes are like in Europe, but when I get home, I can't wait to have an extra thick milkshake.