Day #22... London, Bristol, Beach, HURRAH!!

So its seems like its been a while since I have posted on here! So I have a bunch to catch you up on! :)

Last post I had just moved into my new house in the Student Village where I will be staying for the rest of the term. I am getting accustomed to the room and have even found myself saying "I'm going to head home" when refering to heading back to the house...I don't think I could ever replace Oklahoma though :) I really have grown much more grateful for the things I take for granted at home, such as water fountains and free public bathrooms are not hard to find, where here they are rather rare.

I officially am enrolled now in my classes, although its not finalized until later this week. I will be taking a Developmental Psychology class and a Criminology, Crime and Society class and maybe Spanish, but I am hoping I won't have to take that one because I don't need it for nursing :)

So Saturday September 24th a group of friends went to LONDON!!!! We went to go see the show WICKED, and just saw the sights for the day. One of the LONGEST days I have had here...our train departed Swansea at 3:30am, during the journey we jolted to a stop and started moving backwards.. our train had maintenance issues so we had to switch. We took a 5 hour megabus back and arrived home at about midnight. So far traveling here has never failed to be a "HOLD YOUR BREATH AND HOPE EVERYTHING WORKS OUT" experience! :) But we made it to London and ate at this little spanish breakfast resteraunt where they had "spanish thick chocolate" as a drink choice...it was YUMMY!!! :)


 

The rest of the day we spent sightseeing around town and became proffessionals at figuring out the London Tube (underground train system) :)

Harry Potter Fans?? Platform 9 3/4

St. Paul's Cathedral



Outside the Globe!

London Bridge :)

Buckingham Palace

The HIGHLIGHT of the day! IT WAS AWESOME!! :)

Hopefully I will be able to take another trip to London to see more of the sights!

Monday September 26th, Cristen and Alex and I went to Bristol to see a "Wombats" concert. That town was one of my favorites that I have been to and hopefully will be able to go back :)

Trying to figure out a really confusing map :)

Tuesday I spent most of the day enrolling into my classes... they have a very different way of enrolling... I really really really appreciate having easy online enrollment back home :) 

The weather here has been so WONDERFUL the last several days... so of course we couldn't resist and had to have.....

                         BEACH DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) 

Caleb and Allison...We have become really great friends :)

This is dedicated to my FAMILY and all my FRIENDS and my BF back home! All who I miss so much :)

  Praise Report!!!!!!

 I cannot possibly end this post without mentioning some of the BEST news!! My parents were able to go to Georgia and visit my brother Jarrod who is doing REALLY GOOD in his recovery program! All of the credit goes to our Mighty Savior for he is the only one who could help my brother through all of this and has really answered our prayers :) :) 

             "GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD, FOR HE IS GOOD; HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER."

                                                                                               -Psalms 118:1

"At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward Heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation."          -Daniel 4:34

 -Lissa

Day #17...Lets take a BATH!!

Here it is day number seventeen... Oh my goodness I can't believe it has only been TWO weeks!!!!!!!!... it feels as if it has been a month already! Everyone says the first two weeks are the hardest, so I sure am glad I have made it through that! I had my last day of class today until October 3rd, when term time starts and my actual classes will begin. I have enrollment on Monday for those! I still have to write this paper for my presessional class. Although writing has never been much fun for me I finally decided on a topic and am actually thinking it won't be as bad as I originally thought :) We moved into our permanent housing Wednesday after our field trip and so it really feels good to be "unpacked" and settled in! I didn't do much, just went to class all day and then to tesco for groceries. I got to make dinner though for my roomies tonight :) I was so happy I got to cook... Look at what I made....

It was DELICIOUS!!

Some of the most WONDERFUL and EXCITING news....MY MOM AND  ELIJAH ARE COMING TO SEE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Yep, its official.. at first I was trying to not get my hopes up just in case something happened to where it didn't work out, but they booked their flight today and will be coming November 8th! I CANT WAIT!!! :) :)  I sure have missed them, and so many other people from home!

...Speaking of missing them, I didn't really know it was possible to miss people this much, or even to miss Oklahoma this much! I am quite fond of that state :) Even though I have stated this before I am going to say it again... this has been one of the scariest and hardest things I have ever done. My heart has been aching for home! Its difficult for me to describe how I feel, because I kind of feel like I am a mountain dew bottle that has been shaken up bursting to be opened...ha! I am so excited and thrilled to be over, yet at the same time I feel out of place and incomplete! I am SOOO BLESSED for the FRIENDS I have made! :) I think that I am going to have some really awesome friendships!! But day by day I have been making it, some days are definitely better than others, that is for sure, but continuously there has been one thing that has remained constant this entire trip...and that is that God has been with me, and shown me something EVERY SINGLE DAY! Some days He will really open my eyes to something huge and other days its just little things that I realize while looking back on the day... kind of like tonight.

I sat down to read for a little bit and the very first thing that I read was these words "When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I." .... WOW! I went and looked up the rest of the words

                     "Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will
                       I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is
                       higher than I."       -Psalms 61:1-2

I stopped reading and just felt comforted!! :)

Before I go, I must share with you all the field trip I went on Wednesday with the group to the city of Bath... aka the TITLE of this blog :)
It was BEAUTIFUL! One of the prettiest cities I have been too yet. We took a self tour of the Roman Baths that the Roman built when they conquered the city way back in 60 AD, and then we browsed the town walking around the shops and got to the "circus" and the CRESENT PALACE!
We also got to have TEA TIME, like the English do, at a little famous tea room in town called Sally Lunn's, that is famous for the cream tea and BUNNS...so of course that is what I got! :)
PICTURE TIME!!!!


The Roman Baths



The "Circus"



The CRESENT PALACE behind us! :)  

This is where all the royals stay when they come to town!

Bath Abby

It was so goreous!

Inside and Out!



TEA TIME...Famous Cinnamon Bunn and Cream Tea



Pinky and all... :)

-Lissa

Day #11...Conquering the BEAST!!!

Today my explorer friends and I took on a battle for the ages! :)

Entering into the roaring forest of the Brecon Beacons National Park was the start of our adventure. Not knowing where we were going, or what to expect, all we knew was we could hear the roar of the beast from a mile away, but we were ready with out armor at hand! Over trees, through the mud holes, leaping from rock to rock, we hiked and hiked. The rain was pelting down on us, yet we still pushed forward, desperate to find and conquer the beast of the forest. We grew tired and hungry... some fell, others pushed ahead, but we were together until the end for NO MAN GETS LEFT BEHIND!! The closer we got, the louder the beast roared...ragging rapidly the beast was telling us to stay away, but we would not give up, for we had one mission and that was to find him. After hours of walking up and down the muddy trails we had finally made it...we "captured" the beast! :)

Okay...so that was a LITTLE exagerated, but Its way more fun that way! Today we went to a National Park and took a hike to a couple waterfalls! It was absolutely gorgeous! Although it was raining and cold and super muddy and I am going to have to wash my shoes, we all had a great time taking pictures and just spending the day with each other.

Entering the Roaring Forest...

Caleb, getting his armor on lol



Over trees, through mud holes, leaping from rock to rock we hiked...



The rain pelting down on us, we continued to hike...



....and hike



we grew tired and hungry but No Man was Left Behind!

FINALLY....

...We "CAPTURED the ROARING BEAST"









Pont Melin-Fach Waterfall

Sgwd Gwladys Waterfall

Today was just another reminder of just how Marvelous and Wonderful my Savior and the Creator of all of this is!

"And God said, "let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation; seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. -Genesis 1:9-11

-Lissa

Blast to the Past

So I guess it is time for an update on here! Things have been going pretty good this week! My pre-sessional British Politics class started so we have been learning a lot about that along with British Cinema and Music! I really like my Prof. as well. He really gets into and makes funny comments about America a lot so its pretty enjoyable!

Wednesday the group took a day trip to Big Pit, which is a coal mine, and to St. Fagan's, which is a bunch of beautiful gardens and a castle and this town that is set up to show England as it progressed over the years. They had a row of houses that represented different time periods!

The Coal Mine was defintely a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be... I figured we would go and take a short tour and then that would be about it, same as the other mines I have been to. All of the tour instructors were actual workers who had mined in the mine which I find fascinating. We put on our hard hats and got a light and was lowered 300 ft down into the ground...and then walked throught he mine learning about it all. After we were down, we got to explore the different exhibits they had in building and one showed how the industrial world came into play with mining which was pretty interesting too.
Even women and children worked in the mines. Children would have to be down in the mine in complete darkness for 12 hours at a time... the darkness under there is SO SCARY!!



My friend ALLISON!!








 



Three of the 5 Oklahoma Students







AMEN!! ALL I CAN SAY!





Our 2nd stop was St. Fagan's! It was just absolutely GORGEOUS!!! There is no way to describe it so I will just send you on a photo tour :)

One of the gardens

this is the reflection on the pond :)

I just LOVE this walk way!!

St. Fagan's!

Allison and I by a little stream!!

HAHA this picture just makes me laugh...of course the guys had to pose on the staircase!

General Store in the "town"

History of Technology... So cool!

A slice of famous Welsh bread and a Welsh scone.. They were so YUMMY!!!

the town post office!

Out HOUSE! I am so thankful I do not have to go out to the "garden" to use the restroom! :)

So that is a short tour of St. Fagan's...I must say though that the pictures do not even compare to how pretty it was in person!

Although St. Fagan's was more the highlight of the day, I must say that the Coal Mine was very moving! It was a slap in the face saying that I take too many things for granted! I make a 10 minute trip to Walmart and buy a bag of coal or anything else for that matter, not even giving one thought as to where it "really" came and the lives that were lost in order to obtain it. Children as young as 12 years of age were left by theirselves for 12 hours in utter darkness to open and shut a door that controlled the air flow and amount of gas build up in the mines, too much gas and all the workers could die! Having to know that at any given moment the slightest spark could cause an explosion and kill hundreds in the blink of an eye...Yet the men, women, and children went back to work every day knowing it could be their last because that is what they did...they worked in the coal mine. Another area I take for granted is my FREEDOM! All of the lives lost in fighting for the freedom of millions of people for years and years! It is just so over whelming looking back into history, and definitely a humbling experience!

This quote was on the wall in one of the exhibits and I just LOVED it! :)



-Lissa