There are so many people who made my semester incredible. I’ll try to cover all of you. If I forget you, leave a comment yelling at me and I’ll add you in.
Here goes, in no particular order:
Anna: Thank you for being my first friend over here, showing me around Cardiff, reciting the entire War of the Roses over dinner, Britpicking iCamelot, and being an intrepid globetrotter with me even though I scheduled our Malta adventure smack in the middle of your finals. Do send me your next draft of Penny!
Amarah: For courageously throwing my giant spider out the window practically with your bare hands, and for making the TV (telly?) in the common room work. And for generally being hilarious. When we buy Aberdare Island and build our utopia, you’re our designated spider slayer and TV repairwoman.
Other Anna: For British humor in a delightful Welsh accent.
Welsh Rachel: For dragging me out of my introvert cave and introducing me to Long Island Iced Tea at ‘Spoons.
Canadian Rachel: For more contributions than I can enumerate. To name a few: navigation, magazine-worthy photography and infinite patience on the road, even when a certain American I could name got hot and hungry and crabby.
Professor Wood: For fascinating lectures on Welsh mythology delivered in the Queen’s English, featuring highly quotable asides.
Josie-from-Wales and Sarah-from-Kent, the orientation leaders: For helping an extremely jet-lagged American on the verge of meltdown recover her phone from the backseat of the Uber. Also for infectious enthusiasm that penetrated even the fog of sleep deprivation and set the tone for my first week here.
Iain of The Cornishman Inn, Tintagel: For enabling me to complete my research-trip-cum-vision-quest by driving me that last leg of the way from Wadebridge to Tintagel. This was an act of kindness that made an incredible difference to me; there’s no way I could have gotten there without your help. (I gave The Cornishman a cameo in my book.)
Elizabeth: For long, deep, philosophical conversations when we both should have been writing papers.
Gillian: For adopting a starving student for a weekend, driving her around showing her Norman mottes and Neolithic hillforts, feeding her, introducing her to Heather Dale’s Arthurian music and to your colleagues at the Llangollen History Museum, busting a few druid and Wiccan stereotypes, teaching her how to pronounce the Welsh ‘ll,’ and being a fellow Mordred fan.
Fiona: CRAB!
And to all the innocent passerby I waylaid for directions over my six months in your country, thank you, thank you, thank you, diolch yn fawr iawn!
Finally, to my readers:
Thank you for following my adventures, encouraging me, egging me on, and generally helping me stave away homesickness by leaving funny comments on my posts. See you all soon!
Y Diwedd
(The End)