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