Glasgow & Aberystwyth

We leftEdinburgh and got on a train to Glasgow. Once known as the armpit of Scotland, we found it to resemble the armpit of Scotland. Nah, it wasn't that bad, but it was no Edinburgh. Mostly we just had free days and hung out. We did go to the Glasgow School of Art which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. You should check his architecture, furniture, and fonts out. They were surprisingly modern looking and actually very cool. The school was really interesting as well. He played with people's conceptions and preconceived notions of where light and dark should be. I also went to the Museum of Modern Art in Glasgow, which was a little small and mostly contemporary art. There were some really interesting photographs having to do with a photographer surviving breast cancer and how she felt about herself afterward. Really really intense though.

We then boarded an epically bad train to Aberystwyth. Scotland to Wales = far. The train was pretty crowded and we all have huge bulky backpacks that won't fit on the overhead racks, we were not a crowd favorite. After 6+ hours of travel, we finally arrived. We are staying at the University of Aberystwyth which is not that far from the train station, but is all uphill. Luckily Rick was kind enough to get us all bus tickets up the hill. Upon arrival we found out that we each had SINGLE ROOMS! This is a luxury beyond luxury when you are used to sharing very small spaces with 4, 8, or 16 girls. I can decide when I want to turn the light off or when I want to go to sleep. It's amazing. Unfortunately, each hall is locked to everyone but those who live there and there is no common lounge. Caleb would not be pleased. :)

Aberystwyth is right on the coast so as soon as possible we went down and explored it. It's cold and rocky and feels almost lonely, but it is beautiful. Rick knows some people from a church here so we went on a "stroll about town" with them. It turns out this meant a 3 hour odyssey over slippery, slanted rocks before the tide came back in over them. My ankle was not so much pleased. Then we rested, got ice cream, and CLIMBED UP A CLIFF to get back! Ridiculous, but it was beautiful so I can't complain that much.

We also got the opportunity to perform as part of their church service on Sunday. I was a reader for this interpretive dance/movement/play thing called "Hands." It was definitely a stretch for me and a lot of the other kids, but we enjoyed it. Afterwards they made us BBQ (hah!) and we went to go see the Kite Feeding (kites are large birds of prey).

Yesterday we went up on this old railway to the Vale of Rheidol. Spectacular views, 30 ft. waterfalls and an open train car in the freezing rain on the way back. A bunch of us also got together and had bleu cheese and apples with spaghetti and meat sauce that we made for dinner! I'm pretty proud.

Today I had to perform a sort of interpretive monologue with Ashley. Basically we were given words and then had to come up with the situation. She was a spoiled ditzy rich girl and I was a real estate agent showing her around a mansion. There were 12 or so groups all doing the same monologue (aka all of us) and all of them were different! One was a psychiatric patient and doctor, one was oddly Lord of the Rings themed, one was two competing housewives, and so on. It was really cool and REALLY funny.

Tomorrow we head to Cardiff where Lindsay and I are making our presentation on Welsh Music. Hopefully it'll be good, we haven't really worked on it yet. After Cardiff it's London and then FALL BREAK! (yeah that's right Whitworthians, we've been in school for a month already!). Calli and I are headed to Bath for the break. Unfortunately we couldn't get a hostel for the entire 9 nights so we are two nights in a "party hostel" and then the rest in a YMCA (free workout facilities and a room for the two of us!!). There's a Jane Austen festival going on and we'll be working hard to prepare for Patrick's class.

Over and out for now,
Devin