First Day at the Uni

So I finally made it to Aberystwyth yesterday at 3:30PM. The flight was long but the "tube" (round train that can go underground), and train was even longer. Unfortunately the plane was a pain to sleep on (literally); fortunately I was able to sleep most of the 5 hour train ride to Aberystwyth. Before I go any further I must correct myself on the pronunciation of the school. It is pronounced Aber-ist-with. After hearing it about 100 times today I think I nearly have it down. J It is a beautiful place here. EVERYTHING is on a hill. It’s of course steeper at other parts that some. I live in a residence hall that consists of people that speak Welsh and English. I was originally placed in an area that had only guys living in it so naturally they are going to move me to the girl’s area. So I’m temporarily in one of their vacant handicapped rooms till Monday when I will move. One really interesting fact about the residence halls is that they have a sink in a smaller closet for who knows what. I thought that was pretty random. They are really small sinks though. Everyone has their own separate rooms which I was surprised at. Orientation was most of the day today. I’ve made pretty good friends with several of other students studying over here from North America. I say North America because there are several girls from Canada studying here. It was a pretty fun day. The town here is pretty small and lively. There seems to be several things to keep busy with. I’m going to look into the walking club that I think meets next week.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to try and figure out the bus system. The Campus I will be taking my classes at isn’t on the main part of campus and would take 30 to 40 minutes easy to get there. I will definitely take walking trips there but since I have no idea the path I should take I’m doing via bus. They have a lot of horse stables there so I’m going to look into getting some more experience with horse management.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read. I’m sorry I didn’t write much. I’m still a bit jet lagged from the trip. Hope all is well where ever you might be.

Love,

Kelli

Less Than 48hrs

So here we go. Less than 48 hrs to go till I'll be leaving good ol' Indiana. I'm excited, a little nervous but mostly excited. I have a girl that also goes to Purdue traveling with me, so that's nice. I also know a few people people that have been going to school there and that studied abroad at Purdue.

I'm all packed up for the most part. I weighed my suitcase last night. I had to stand on the scale, hold my suitcase, and have my mom read what the scale read. It was humorous. I have found out that I have approx 20 lbs to spare which I'm sure I can easily take up, but I won't of course if I don't have to.

I just looked up the weather in Aberystwyth, Wales. It's around 40 degrees. They use Celsius of course, and military time so that will be something to get used to. They say it stays between 30's to 50's most of the time. Lost of drizzling. I think I would prefer that over just rain like we are used to in Indiana.

So for those who don't know why I'm going or what I'll be doing. I decided to study abroad for my last semester of school (Yes it's my senior year!) just for the fact that I could :) and you always hear about people regretting not taking advantage of such an opportunity. I really would like to travel as much as possible while I can.

I had 7 different countries that I could choose from to study abroad in. I chose Wales because it seemed like a more tranquil location away from busy cities, plus I was told I would probably have the most animal contact at Aberystwyth. Since I love horses and they have a HUGE horse barn and arena I thought that would be a plus. They are BIG on horses and sheep there if you didn't know. Unfortunately I can't work or volunteer but I will be able to learn to ride horses better.

Incase you were wondering how to pronounce "Aberystwyth" it sounds like "aburst-with". LOL I excited to learn some of the Welsh language. All of my classes will be in English but they still encourge students to speak in the Welsh language.

Well that's about all I can think of to say right now. I hope I can keep up with this. I'm not one to like writing but I usually end up being happy after I take the time.

Thanks for reading,

When you think of me pray for me please :)

Love,

Kelli