London Adventures: Wales, Spring Break #1

If there's one thing I remember about this Spring Break, it's that it was the most amazing Spring Break I've ever had!! I can't really tell you all how much I loved our stay in Wales... If you don't believe me, just ask random people from my classes when you get the chance. Ask them what I tell them when they inquire how I've been. My reply for the past 10 days has been "I miss Wales!" Hm, I sort of remember feeling the same way after the first time I went to Wales last year, but trust me, the second time was so much better!! According to my rough calculations, I'll keep talking about Wales all the time for about one more week, and then I'll gradually move on. But yeah, it was SO FUN, WONDERFUL, AMAZING, BRILLIANT, SUPER EXCITING, etc, etc, etc, etc. Right.

Technically, it all started when we decided not to go to Barcelona during Spring Break because 1) we already went to Spain once, and 2) we didn't really have enough cash to afford that. This is where dear Jess came into play. She offered that Rocio and I join her in her trip to Wales. She has two aunts there, as well as 3 cousins, and she had already visited them all a couple of times before this break. How could we say 'no' to such a proposition? We bought tickets for the bus to Wales and waited eagerly for the last day of school to come. The moment classes finished, we all rushed to our rooms, packed our bags, and left the school with the intention of returning 9 days later...

We started from Red House, London... And went west to Pookie's place in Wales...

A little bit closer - Newport and Cardiff (capital of Wales)

We got to Victoria station. The trip was easy, except for the fact that I had a huge suitcase full of books, clothes, and random items that I had to take with me, so dragging that around the London streets was pretty much the only drawback of the whole trip. We got on our bus, which was already packed, so we had to sit in separate seats, yet we were fine, we could survive for a few hours only on the battery power of our iPods and MP3 players... This trip definitely started off without any extreme experiences like the ones we endured on our way to Spain ;)

2 hours and 30 mins later, we had crossed the English border and entered Wales. Soon, we stepped on Newport ground. First impression: it was COLD! We had to wait for a few minutes until Tonia, Jessica's cousin, arrived with her car to pick us up. To this day, it remains a mystery how that poor little car beared the weight of my suitcase, plus 4 people, plus two more suitcases (small, but still). The car should receive a medal of honor...

The first picture that we took on Welsh ground

I was, naturally, super excited and hyper! Perhaps Wales works like Red Bull for me... I was talking, laughing, gasping, and commenting on almost everything while we were driving up to the house. A few minutes later, we arrived at Auntie Pookie's house. It's a cute two-storey house in a quiet neighborhood in Newport. The first person to greet us was Charlie, the cutest puppy in the world!! :D He was hyper, too, jumping and running around the house like a little cloud of fluff. I fell in love with him; I'm not sure if that classifies as puppy love or love at first sight... After Charlie was done with his little greeting ritual, we met Pookie, one of Jessica's aunts. She was really friendly and immediately made us feel welcome at her house. She had everything organized and ready for our arrival. All we had to do was empty out our suitcase which dear Daniel had to carry up and down the stairs. Daniel is Tonia's brother and another one of Jessica's cousins. The first evening at the house was dedicated to relaxation, getting to know each other, sitting on comfy couches, feeling the power of holding a remote control in our hands without having other students fighting us over it... Ah, true bliss. Later that evening, we got to meet Justina, Jessica's other aunt, and her daughter, Angelika. Justina is a horse lover which in turn made me very happy :) Gella, a.k.a. Jessica's favorite and most humble cousin ;), was smiling and funny all the time, and was a great addition to our freaky trio. Before I leave off to the next day, I must point out that we had spaghetti for dinner, which was the absolutely most delicious meal we had had in months... Down with cafeteria food, hooray! :)

Pookie's house (and her light turquoise car)

Just like everything else, tomorrow had already been planned. We simply got out of bed, took a shower, ate breakfast, and off we were to Tredegar house. Tredegar house is a mansion situated in a beautiful park where I managed to take pictures of various forms of wildlife, including white fluff-balls jumping over hedges (yes, I'm talking about precious Charlie:). The weather was sunny, a little bit chilly, but either way, we had a great walk and also got to explore a culturally significant place (also the house of some extremely rich people who owned lands all around Newport...). After we left the house, Justina took the four kids in her car and showed us the stables where she and Gella ride horses. At that moment, I wanted to move to Wales and live on those beautiful stable grounds forever, but I still haven't fulfilled that plan of mine. We came back home to another lovely dinner, accompanied by the puppy show Crufts and a particularly amusing 9 year-old Welsh boy whose accent made everyone laugh. Soon, our first day in Newport was over, and we all thought it was the perfect introduction to Wales.