Bath, England

This week in Wales was a lot like the first week.  The American students finished up our pre-sessional course on Wednesday.  A lot of time was spent on learning about films made in the UK including various clips from James Bond movies.  The guidelines for our first paper were also put in place.  Six topics were given for us to choose, all of which relate to the history, culture, and politics of the UK from 1945 to present day.  My topic is this: How would you link the cultural and political changes of post-war Britain to music of the 1960’s?  This will keep me busy through the rest of the week! 

Our instructor was nice enough to schedule us a free day on Thursday, so of course the girls and I went shopping... Sorry Mom and Dad... The style here is a lot different than what it is back home, and I quite like it to be honest.  Needless to say, we had a successful day in town! 

After the fun of Thursday, we were back to uni to schedule classes for the semester.  The process was very different than registering for classes at The University of Iowa.  We had to hand write the courses we wanted to take, and go see a specific person for them to sign off your paper.  Then, someone in an office enrolls you.  At Iowa, we just get approved by an academic adviser and sign up for whatever classes we want from the couch at home.  In the end, I am registered for two courses at Swansea.  They are Rome and the Mediterranean, and Modern European Film.  These two courses, combined with the pre-sessional course, are equivalent to a 15 semester hour term at Iowa.  

Saturday was definitely the most exciting day of the week.  The American international students took a day trip to the city of Bath, England.  It was, once again, unlike anything I have ever seen, filled with old Roman baths.  The architecture was stunning, to say the least.  And, at the end of the tour in the Roman Baths, you are allowed to drink the hot spring water.   I will never make the mistake of drinking it again, but it was an interesting experience.

Our study abroad adviser at The University of Iowa recommended getting involved in a club or society here as well.  I'm working on this decision.  There are so many choices, but my top three are yoga, kickboxing, and netball.  Netball is similar to woman's basketball, so of course I'm interested in that!  We are able to try things out for a week before making and definite decisions.

That basically sums up week two here in Wales.  I hope you enjoy the photos, and wish me luck with my new classes starting this week! 

This is the view from inside the Roman Baths. So beautiful!

This man was handing people bird seeds and the pigeons would eat it out of your hand!  And afterwards, you had hand sanitizer for you to wash up.

 Ellysha and I at the main bath. 

The entrance into The Roman Baths.