Cardiff

I arrived in Cardiff yesterday, after a long bus ride from Liverpool (I took the overnight ferry from Belfast to Liverpool) and toured Cardiff in the pouring rain. I don't think it's rained so heavily for a long time - several months. It was fun, though, to walk around in the rain.

Today I'm off to tour Cardiff Castle and probably a museum or two, and tomorrow I make my way to London to catch my flight home Wednesday morning!

Dublin

Monday morning I got up at 5 to make the city bus, then metro, then train, then coach, then plane, then bus to my hostel right in the heart of Dublin. I arrived in the late afternoon and, after checking into my hostel and running down to the tourist information office to grab a city map, I made myself some tea and read in the garden before finally allowing myself to go to bed around 8. I was exhausted. The trip went smoothly but took a long time. Actually, all of my traveling around lately has been going really smoothly. More smoothly, actually, than any of the other traveling I've done, I think. Or at least as smoothly. I've found everything, made all of my connections, felt perfectly safe. But do keep praying for me.

Tuesday morning I decided to take a hop-on, hop-off tour of the city and then somehow spent four hours in two rooms in the Dublin Writers Museum. In my defense, there was a lot to read and I, shamefully, knew very little about Irish authors. That's only partially rectified now. I guess I have a few more books to add to my summer reading list. This morning I went to Trinity College and walked around town and saw some more sites, then hopped on a bus for Belfast.

Rennes

I'm in Rennes, France right now, staying with my friend Gabri from PLU. Rennes is in northwest France. It was about a two hour train ride from Paris. Rennes (say "wren") is a small city. The smallest, in fact, to have it's own metro system. The middle of town has a good number of old half timbered houses from the middle ages - they're beautiful. It's just a really fun; quaint town. Gabri's host family is on vacation through the end of the week, so the two of us have the whole house to ourselves.

Rennes is the capital city of Brittany, the northwest region in France. The name "Britain" is derived from the name "Britannia," which was used by the Romans. Settlers from Brittany, in France, moved to the island north of the channel and the Romans then named that island Britannia and eventually came to be known as Great Britain. You could say that I'm staying in "lesser Britain," I suppose, but I'm not sure if that would go over well here.

It is rather difficult at times not being able to speak French, but you can gather a lot from facial expressions and hand gestures - but I do recognize some words, and I've learned several: "please" and "thank you" and "one ticket please"... Recognizing Latin roots and taking some Spanish helps. Gabri is for all practical purposes fluent. She can get herself around no problem, but she wouldn't say she was fluent.

It's been so relaxing to be here! The perfect vacation on vacation. She's almost done with her classes and I am done so we're not being very productive, I suppose you could say. Just hanging out. Sleeping in (til noon on Thursday! oops! it was a holiday, but still...) We've watched a few movies, made cookies, toured the town, read a lot, listened to sermons.
I had forgotten how different French keyboards are. All of the letters and punctuation marks are in different places! This is my name typed with the keys that would spell my name at home: qutu,n! It makes it a slow typing process. Once I get used to the system I'll be leaving.

Today we took a bus to Saint Malo (say "san melo"), which was built with the spoils taken from English ships by pirates. (It's also the birthplace of Jacques Cartier.) Gabri has been laughing at me all day because I say that the water and beaches look tropical - the water was a gorgeous shade of blue! We laid on the ramparts of the fort and read for a long time: now I'm quite pink and toasty. It was a fun trip.

Tomorrow we're going to explore the Britannia Museum, and then I leave Monday morning for Dublin via Paris.

I'm a senior!

I am officially done with my junior year. I just finished my last final. Hip hip hooray! I have a number of loose ends to tie up, some more museums and sites to visit (many of which I'll go to with Grandma and Uncle Greg and Aunt Kathy who just arrived yesterday) and then the four of us will take the train to Paris Saturday morning.

Stratford-upon-Avon

The program took us all on our last group trip to Stratford-upon-Avon for Shakespeare's birthday festivities. Everything in town is connected to Shakespeare somehow. Many of the original buildings connected to Shakespeare's life are still standing but a majority of the shops and so on are named after characters in his plays. (Like Iago's Jewelers - who knew that Iago, after driving Othello insane, opened up a jewelry shop in Stratford?) We went to every site connected with Shakespeare, I think: his birthplace, school, church, daughter's house, wife's family home and so on.

Friday night we went to the RSC's King Lear. It is, without a doubt, the best production I've ever seen (and perhaps ever will see). Very disturbing, yes, but absolutely amazing. Saturday, in addition to watching the birthday parade and visiting the rest of the sites, we rented a row boat and went out on the river. The weather was gorgeous and the town's quaint. It was a fun trip. Now we have a week before finals week, so lots of papers to write!

Photos: to be posted soon