The laundry app that talks to the washing machines in Aberdare thoroughly deserves its 1-star rating in the app store. It let me create an account. It told me to scan the code on the nearest connected machine to establish my location. In the time it took for me to walk from my room to …
Here. Have a castle picture. This is one of the Bute family’s Victorian additions to Cardiff Castle.
There is no panic so pure as the panic of jolting out of deep writing flow to the sound of a fire alarm, unless it is the panic of jolting out of deep writing flow to the sound of a fire alarm in a building you still get lost in. After a brief internal struggle as …
At breakfast, I ran into Anna (she who recited the entire War of the Roses to me over dinner two nights ago). She’s a history major from small-town Essex, and she volunteered to show me around downtown. We agreed to meet up as soon as we got our things together. After one false start that …
Outside the rugby stadium, there are mosaics representing English-speaking countries. Canada has, let’s see, a salmon, a baseball bat, a steamer ship, a moose, a mountie, possibly a representation of logging? New Zealand has a dolphin, a mountain goat, a palm tree, a lizard, a canoe, and some kind of fern. Scotland gets a salmon, …
And here is why:
The cabinets in the kitchen on my floor are papered with unfriendly notes to the effect of: “Do not use my stuff—it’s not yours.” So, contrarian that I am, I gathered up the five extra forks from the six-pack I got at Wilko and left them on the counter with a sign that says “Free …
I can’t do laundry until I get a chip-and-pin debit card that works on the Aberdare washing machines. I have four days of socks left and five days until my appointment at Santanders.
I talked my way into the microfiction creative writing class that the faculty advisor wouldn’t let me sign up for yesterday because I didn’t have the prereqs. And when I say talked my way into, I mean blurted out my entire resume to the faculty advisor and begged her to talk to the chair of …
It was mostly white and the texture of lumpy custard, with shiny semi-translucent shell-pink globs that vaguely resembled jellyfish sushi. They quivered like jello but crunched grittily like pear and tasted vaguely like sweet gelatin. I think it was dessert?
So Bute Park is the huge, partially-forested parkland between the river, the university, and the downtown area. It used to be part of the extensive castle grounds. There are lots of walking paths and some footbridges over the river. It’s a good place to go for a jog. There are signs all over that say …
I know this is a horribly blurry picture. My blog apparently doesn’t like uploading panos. If you can’t tell, this is the view from the top of the Norman donjon in the middle of the Cardiff Castle grounds, overlooking downtown Cardiff. So I visited Cardiff Castle today. It’s a ten-minute walk from my dorm room. …
This is a tale best told in pictures. So you walk in off the street, run a gauntlet of very smelly fish stalls in the foyer, and find yourself looking at this: This is Cardiff Market. It was built sometime in the 1890s, but there has been a market on or near this spot since …
you’ve had five thousand years longer than us to invent a national cuisine. Please explain the food in Aberdare. Sincerely, Carrot and canned pineapple salad?
I wanted to take a jog in the park. It was sunny when I left my room. By the time I found my way out of Aberdare, it was hailing pebbles. (In England’s defense, it did take me like ten minutes to escape the labyrinth this time.)
When I signed on to study abroad in Wales, I knew it would have ups and downs. I hoped it would have ups and downs. Disasters make great blog posts. Also, suffering builds character. But in the last 24 hours, I have: -not slept because of the traffic noise outside my window and the fact that my sheets …
Brits can make anything sound intelligent, even things like: (This will be a running list) “You shut the lid and the toilet goes all airplane-crazy and flushes.” —a Brit explaining the toilets in the Percival building “As a matter of cultural pride, all street signs are bilingual English and Welsh. You will find …
So this was the first morning of “compulsory” orientation (I really wish they would pick a friendlier word than “compulsory.” It’s a very scary word to contemplate as you’re running across campus in the pouring rain on an empty stomach with your iPhone performing nuclear fission in the bottom of your satchel and thus not …
I was super-excited about being assigned to Aberdare Hall, the oldest rez building on campus. It was built in 1884 by Lady Aberdare as housing for the few female students at Cardiff University at that time. From the outside, the building is distinguished dark red brick, sooty with age. Say the words “Aberdare Hall” to …
If you drive on the left side of the road, why do you bicycle on the right side of the river path? Sincerely, Took A. Swim