Catching up with everything-Outdoor Pursuits and Fieldtrip Number Four-Harlech Castle, Portmeirion, and Beddgelert

Sorry I haven't written in such a long time. I have had a lot of stuff going on. On Thursday I had outdoor pursuits, Friday was my free day but I spent it studying, Saturday was a fieldtrip, Sunday I spent studying, and Monday I was studying as well.

So I'll start with outdoor pursuits on Thursday. We waited for Sally and it had started to drizzle while we waited so we figured we will be doing something indoors. And when Sally arrived and told us the activity, we were correct. The activity for the day was indoor rock climbing. We arrived at the Conway Center and went into their rock climbing room to learn some basics about rock climbing. We started with traversing across some bottom rocks along the wall without using our hands, turning 360 degrees in corners without touching the floor, and climbing over and under a table without touching the floor. I finally figured out how I got a black and blue bruise on the inside of my thigh and it was from trying to climb over and under the table. After the warm-ups, we grabbed some climbing shoes, our harnesses, and then headed to the van again. We drove about 30 minutes to a place called The Beacon Climbing Center. This place was open to the public and had several different climbing walls. We started with a few more exercises to warm up and then we learned about bouldering. Bouldering is a type of rock climbing that is usually done outside on boulders, hence the name bouldering. When it is done inside, the climbing walls sometimes come out at different angles and they are not very high. But is so much fun about them is that you are not attached to any rope or harness. It is all free climbing. If there was a chance that you fell, there was a thick cushioned pad underneath that was there to fall on. This was my most favorite rock climbing. I couldn't get enough of it. After we did bouldering for a little bit, we moved onto bottom roping in a different room with climbing walls reaching about 30 feet in the air. We definitely got our harness on this time, We learned how to make a double figure of eight knot and then tie it off at the and. My partner for the day was Sarah and she decided to let me do the climbing first. She was on the other end of the rope belaying me. After I reached the top of the wall, I had to lean completely into my harness so that she could let me down. It was really freaky to let go of the wall! But Sarah did very well belaying me. We then switched gear so she could climb and I would belay. After we all climbed, we took a break for lunch. All 11 of us sat at one table and then we played the 20 question game with Sally. It was so much fun! After lunch came more exercises to warm up again and then we went to a different room with traversing rock climbing. Sally gave us challenges such as only being able to step on certain colored rocks as we traversed across. The challenges got harder as she picked different colors because the rocks got much smaller. We spent a good amount of time in there, even though I wanted to do more bouldering. We went into the last room and learned how to lead climb. This type of climbing was a little more advanced and a lot more dangerous. You still had a belayer but as you climbed up you were not hooked onto anything. We would climb up about 10 feet and then take our rope that was hooked to our harness and hook it onto a hook that was screwed into the wall. Then you climbed up about another 10 feet and hook your rope onto the hook. So if you ever fell, you would fall about 10 feet but then the rope would eventually catch you. For some reason I didn't find this very scary. I didn't think it was that difficult as well. At this time, we were let loose around the climbing center, so I decided to do some more bouldering. There were also some different obstacles that were scattered across the room. I also did half a climbing wall and then I had to step onto a rope ladder that was swinging in the air. That one was a little scary. I knew I was going to be sore the next day because I pushed myself a little too hard. But I had a blast.

Friday started out the way it usually does. I wake up around 7 and can hardly move from the activity I did the previous day. And this day was no different. I was in a lot of pain. I sat up really fast in bed and I wished I had not done that. I was groaning for a while after that. I did my laundry, cleaned my bathroom, studied, and later that evening had some of my friends over where we watched Made of Honor and half of the second Harry Potter.

On Saturday, we had a fieldtrip! We left a little later than usual but our first stop was at Harlech Castle. This was about an hour's drive to get there, which wasn't very fun at all. It seems like for the first time ever I got car sick. Since I have arrived at Wales, I have gotten car sick. I am going to blame it on the small winding roads and the stick shifts in the buses. We arrived at the castle and we were given about an hour to explore it. It wasn't very big but it was sooooo beautiful! There were towers and little passageways that we went through. But it didn't take too long to explore however so after a little bit, my friends and I went to a small cafe and had lunch. I brought my lunch but Teresa and Kaylee ordered tea. After we ate, we went down a really steep road and got back onto the bus. Our next stop was a town called Portmeirion. It is a small fake town that was built by one man, Cough Williams-Ellis. It reminded me a little of the buildings in Adventureland. It was still really neat though. We explored the place for a little while and got to see more views of the mountains and the beach. The last destination was to a town called Beddgelert. It's translation is grave of Gelert. It goes with the story of Prince Llewelyn who took his infant son hunting with him. He left his son in the charge of his dog Gelert. When the prince was returning, he noticed the dog's muzzle was soaked in blood and his son was nowhere to be seen. Llewelyn attacked the dog and injured him badly. Then the price heard a baby cry and found his son in his cradle in a bush safe and sound. Beside the cradle was the body of a giant wolf covered in wounds. The dog Gelert had protected the prince's son but he then died from the Prince's wrongly accused actions. So we went to visit the grave of the brave dog Gelert. The thing is, its most likely a made up story so there is probably nothing there. But it was still a very pretty place. We came home and since it was Allison's birthday we went over to Kaylee's flatt and made a whole bunch of chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies. We made so many that we gave them out to some of the girl's flatt mates. We also had ice cream and then put some of the chocolate chip cookie dough into the ice cream. It was delicious!

Sunday I spent the day studying for the test in Tecwyn's test. I went to church that night, which was very nice. On Monday, I didn't need to go to my Brain and Mind class so I spend the day again studying for my Brain and Mind final and Tecwyn's test. Tecwyn's test went very well I thought. He had given us twelve terms and we had to write about a paragraph of their significance to Wales for each term.

Today I spent the day studying for my Brain and Mind final tomorrow with Ashley. I also went on a walk with Ashley around the town and took some pictures. The day was gorgeous outside! It was about 45 degrees. I loved it. I am so excited for spring!

Also, news flash. I have most of my trips planned out for the rest of the semester. This weekend I am going to Barcelona, Spain with Ashley and Teresa!!!! I am so excited for it! In two weeks I will be going to the North York Moorland National Park to explore the moors and the coast. I have always wanted to see the moors. For spring break, I am going to Ireland with the Central College group, Rome for four days (and to see Morgan!), and then finishing off with a cruise to Athens, Istanbul, and several other islands between Greece and Turkey. At the end of May, you will never believe where I will be going?!?!?!?! Iceland!!!! I planned a trip with Ashley and Teresa and we will be spending about 3 days there. I mean, who can say they have been to Iceland? This semester is going to be awesome!