home sweet home

I arrived back in Iowa on Tuesday night. I gave myself a few days to process before attempting to blog about completing the year and saying the final goodbyes and re-entry into America. My mom picked me up at the Chicago airport in the afternoon and we made the 4 1/2 hour drive home-- chatting the whole way of course. Somewhere between Galena and Dyersville, looking out over the sea of cornfields, I was struck by a sudden, "I can't believe I'm finally home," and at the exact same time, "I can't believe I was gone for a whole year." Basically, the whole ten month experience dropped into the same realm as dreams in about two hours. Funny how our minds do that. So I needed a few days to get my bearings.

Goodbyes were hard. Really hard. The thing is, I know that that means that I made good friends. Saturday the basketball team had our end of the year awards dinner, Sunday I met some of my friends for one last go at the pub near to my house, Monday day I spent saying goodbyes to some of my closest friends (I really miss you guys already!), and Monday night I went to my hosting Rotary club to say a farewell and officially exchange banners.

The honest truth is that my brain is still a bit fuzzy. I am jet-lagged, which in this case means crashing mentally from exhaustion around 6 or 7 in the evening, not even physically being able to stay awake past 9, and waking up between 5 and 6 in the morning. I am still trying to get my head around all the experiences I had and everything I had to opportunity to see and do.

As apart of my Ambassadorial Scholarship, I have to put together a "Final Report" document, reflecting on the year. I am in the process of reflecting and once I put that report together I will post bits of it on my blog so that there will be a more coherent evaluation on here. Then I will also be giving presentations at various Rotary clubs throughout my district in Eastern Iowa about Wales and my experience this year. If you are interesting in having me come speak to your club-- please get ahold of me: lauraedwards13@yahoo.com If you are family/friends and aren't apart of Rotary, but are interested in hearing my presentation, also get ahold of me and I will see if there is a club that you could come as a guest with me when I am speaking. I have learned so much about Rotary this year and it truly is a wonderful organization-- I am so grateful for this opportunity.

As for my summer plans... Tomorrow I will be heading to St. Charles, Iowa to volunteer for the week at Wildwood Hills Ranch. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Wildwood is the non-profit dearest to my heart-- it is a horse ranch that serves as a summer camp for at-risk youth. At-risk meaning kids 8-18 who have been abused, neglected or come from poverty. The camp is designed to give them opportunities to experience the outdoors, horses, swimming, teambuilding activities, hiking, etc. all the while being shown love and that they are worthwhile individuals who are valued, and being taught character and integrity. It is an incredible organization to be apart of. This particular week is especially dear to my heart because the kids who are attending camp are from Waterloo. Please keep the staff and kids in your prayers this week-- the weeks can sometimes be difficult because of habits and environments that some of the kids come from, but the opportunity to be exposed to an environment where these kids know that they are valued and cared about can change their lives.

Besides spending time at Wildwood, I will be spending the summer catching up with friends and family, hopefully getting some hours at Edwards Smith Family Dentistry so I can start replenishing my bank account, and moving myself to Iowa City so I can be settled in time to begin classes at the Univeristy of Iowa Dental College in August. It's going to be an exciting summer!

Thanks to those of you who bearing with my outpouring of words over the last 10 months. :) Thank you for all of the encouragement and support throughout my journey. Like I said before, I will post my final report document on my blog when I complete it, but aside from that... this is me signing off. It's been a good year. I can't believe its passed already. Ta ra! (a British goodbye)

the smell of education

There are times and places where the atmosphere of education is so attractive to me. It doesn't take much to get caught up in thinking I could be in an academic atmosphere forever. I just love it. (I can hear my friend Megan reading this and saying, "You really are my favourite nerd...") Oxford was one of those places. In addition to the beauty and tranquility of the city itself, having a college around every turn that breathed academic excellence was so cool. Oxford is nicknamed "the city of dreaming spires." I mean, how romantic is that?!

Oxford University is the oldest surviving English-speaking university, and third oldest university in the world (behind the University of Bologna and University of Paris). Although not exactly certain of a foundation date, historians do know that teaching was going on in Oxford in 1096. The university is a federation comprised of over 40 self-governing colleges and halls. When I visited Oxford on Tuesday, I visited several of the colleges and let me tell you, each is beautiful.

<-- One of my favorites was Christ Church College. It had a magnificent courtyard, a cathedral (the only university in the world to have a cathedral as opposed to the many who have chapels), a world famous cathedral choir, a war memorial garden, and 150 acre meadow aside it for the enjoyment of the students. This is a photo of me in the courtyard. Out of Christ Church College has come thirteen British prime ministers and loads of recognized individuals, author Lewis Caroll, theologian John Wesley, scientists like Albert Einstein and Robert Hooke and so many more noteables I could make a whole blog out of the list of people (John Locke, Robert Peel, William Gladstone, W.H. Auden, David Dimbleby, Rowan Williams, Richard Curtis, Howard Goodall...). I thought this was sort of interesting-- some places in Christ Church College are inspiration for several parts of Lewis Caroll's Adventures in Wonderland.

<-- When I was visiting Oxford I opted for a self-guided tour, which I really enjoyed because I could go at my own pace and make pit stops as I wanted. One such pit stop was at the Grand Cafe-- the very first coffee shop in the UK, serving the first cup in 1615. On my walk I also stopped off at the Botantical Gardens, known for being the oldest teaching gardens. There was a memorial surrounded by rose bushes commemorating the discovery of Penicillin that I thought was pretty cool.



<-- Oxford's central research library is the Bodleian library. It is home to 117 miles of shelving, the second largest library in the UK (after the British library). It is a "legal deposit" library, meaning that they are entitled to a free copy of every book published in the UK and is therefore growing at a rate of 3 miles of shelving per year! On one side of the library is the Radcliffe Camera, a dome shaped building affiliated with the library, used to house the science books. On the other side is the Clarendon Building, which used to house the Oxford University Press... think dictionaries! In 1975 the Clarendon Building was handed over to the library. This photo is the library with the Radcliffe camera behind. The day I was visiting it was really crappy weather, so this photo really just doesn't give the old historical buildings any justice. Standing outside the library you could just feel the prestige of centuries of great minds coming and going to use the books and do their work. Walking the streets in Oxford, I was struck by a sense of being honored to be able to visit the places where these great people had done so much of their work.

I have to tell everyone-- I finished my exams!!! Wooo!!!! It always feels so good to complete yet another year in my academic journey :)

knighthood still exists

With two exams completed and only one more to go, the pressure was on. And when the pressure is on to be studying, the pressure to come up with even better reasons not to also looms even more closely. Luckily, my commitment to exploring the UK and getting the most out of the cultural experience provides material from which to draw excuses to sneak away from Swansea and the daunting task of traditional studying. Don't worry, I took my study materials with me on the train :)I am really passionate about making sure I see and do all that I can while I'm here, so that means that even in this last week, I have been trying to make the most of it.

Thanks to Sue Smith, I have had in my hands this term the first season of the television show, The Tudors. For those of you who aren't familiar with it-- I would first advise that it is probably not suitable for kids. It is a soap opera style TV drama following the story line of Henry the VIII, his life as King of England, and his six wives. Although it is a little "trashy," it has provided a more interesting backdrop from which the history of the British monarchy, and I have grown to love it. In addition to watching The Tudors, I have also made an effort to watch period dramas like The Other Boleyn Girl and Elizabeth I. Luckily, I have a friend here who is equally entranced by these shows-- so I'm not alone. I know that TV producers have added their own twists and drama to the stories, but I've kept my computer close and have been googling individuals out of curiosity how close their TV characters were to the real thing. I know that the personalities are hard to pinpoint historically, but what they are pictured doing is surprisingly accurate.

--> Take this whole fascination with the monarchy one step further, and I've accidentily reinforced my TV habits with real history. Monday I went and visited Windsor castle, which had so much to see and learn, but along the Tudor line, was where Henry VIII himself, along with some of his closest friends (like Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk for those of you who know the TV show) as well as Jane Seymour were buried. Also buried in St. George's Chapel at Windsor was Edward IV, Henry VI, Charles I (among many others) and more recently the queen's mother. It is also where the current queen intends to be buried.

--> For a little bit more history-- when William the Conquerer came over to Britain in 1070, he decided that he wanted London to be his capital. In order to protect the city, he built 9 castles around it. Two of those are still standing: the Tower Castle (which I visited in March) and Windsor. While both house heaps of history within their walls, Windsor is still an "official residence" of the Queen. Across the lawn in this photo is the "private apartments," where the queen stays when she is there. Apparently she didn't get my note about coming to visit, she wasn't there when I was there.

--> The big attractions in Windsor for tourists to see are the queen's dollhouse, the state apartments, the round tower (pictured behind me here) and the chapel. Unfortunately, the only one you can photograph is the tower-- from the outside. While the Tower Castle was originally built in stone, Windsor was originally wood. Obviously the original wood wasn't able to survive a thousand years of wear and tear, so they have had to rebuild. The round tower is the oldest structure standing, being built in stone about one hundred years after the original wood was put up (so during the 1100s).

The State Apartments were my favorite, particularly St. George's Hall. Inside this massive hall where the queen hosts banquets there were knight's sheilds up on the ceilings and along the walls, just over a thousand of them. I was fascinated by the "Order of the Garter." I guess I didn't know that knights and stuff like this still existed, even though nowadays it isn't as hardcore as it was originally. So the Order of the Garter is the highest order of knighthood. Yup, knights still exist-- they originated in medevil England, created by King Edward III, were warriors, and were all apart of the order of chivalry. At any time in history, the Order of the Garter was comprised of the monarch, the Prince of Wales, and 24 companions (appointed by the monarch). The knight's sheilds are all on display in St. George's Hall because the order is dedicated to St. George, the patron saint of England. There are some sheilds that are blank, though, instead of showing the particular coat of arms. I learned that rather than take the sheild down when a knight is degraded from the order, for committing a crime like treason, the sheild is left up, but blank, to remind everyone the cost of treason.

ketchup... no-- catch up!

In an effort to attempt to study for my exams, I told myself I needed to take a break from the computer-- at least from facebook and blogging. Ha, yea right. What actually happened was I just found myself finding other things to do with my time and my blog got backed up and now I have to play catch up!

<--Not this last weekend, but the weekend before, I went to Cardiff to visit Gareth and Jan Cheeseman. Now this is a memory jogger because I have mentioned them before, but it has been awhile (time flys I tell ya!). Gareth and Jan are the lovely Rotarians that chaperoned the Ambassadorial scholars at district conference and took me to see Atlantic College in St. Donat's castle. I just had to see them once more before I hopped back over the pond. I stayed overnight at their home in Cardiff Bay and we got a perfect couple days- sunshine and heat!! Gareth and Jan both grew up in Cardiff when the bay was considered a really rough area. Sunday evening when we strolled around the bay, checking out all the unique boutiques and restaurants, massive hotels, million-plus pound residences, the opera house, etc, they were able to tell me about how the docks used to be dangerous and dirty. It's amazing how much can change!

<-- Monday we walked into the city centre by the new mall and pedestrian streets for shopping, the library, government buildings, the rugby stadium (the national football and rugby teams' home stadium is in Cardiff), by some of the university buildings, and into Bute park where we met Emily, another of the Ambassadorial scholars studying in Wales (in Cardiff), from Australia. I had met Emily in November at district conference. Gareth and Jan had arranged to take us for lunch at a pub in Bute park to catch up and say goodbyes since the year is drawing to a close. I'm beginning to work on my Final Report for Rotary, and one of the things I've found has been most beneficial to my year abroad and my learning process is the incredible people I've met from all over the world. Gareth and Jan have been such incredible people to get to know; passionate about Rotary and its initiatives and genuinely kind. Meeting other scholars, like Emily (and Claire) has opened my eyes to the people across the world who are doing great things-- if we just connect and work together the possibilites of what we can achieve are endless.

On another topic, I am fearing I didn't do Christian's German meal or Barbara's Italian meal justice, so I decided I should include photos, a visual will complete the experience. The following is Christian's meatballs in sauce, and then Barbara's super fresh brushetta and then her pasta. I didn't get a photo of her marscapone dessert because we ate it too fast. :) Mmmm....

the art of distraction

It's funny how changing circumstances can change a person's perspective on things. Like how with the onset of a need to be studying for exams, suddenly so many things become important-- like cleaning the house, doing the dishes, and blogging of course! (Haha)

We students call this the art of distraction. Don't let me deceive you, exams are definitely important. Because of this fact, the student must frame the distraction in a light that portrays it to be more important. Thankfully, this term is offering much material to work with: given that it is my last weeks in Wales, not only is packing or cleaning a priority, but so is spending time with friends I may not ever see again. Thus, socializing becomes very important. :)

I am an emotional person (I can hear my mom chuckling already). I don't know who came up with the idea of putting exams at the end of the term, but don't they know that we students, especially international students, already have a lot on our plates this time of year?? Goodbyes are hard enough, let alone figuring out how I'm going to fit everything back into the TWO suitcases I came with, realization of how much less money I have, and then add to it the stress of exams. Not to mention that its finally been starting to feel like Spring/Summer around here.. Mom, can you even imagine the rollercoaster my emotions are on? It's no surprise my face has broke out a little bit!!

If you remember, at the beginning of this term I shared with you about how my American housemate and I made an "American dinner" for our international housemates. Well, we have continued the project to share our cultures-- My housemate, Jon, is from France and I have to be honest, his English isn't always the best (don't worry, he doesn't follow my blog), but he didn't quite understand the project and rather than sharing something French, made us one of his favorite new dishes-- fajitas! Haha! Christian, from Germany, made us a dish that he explained was really traditional and he'd grown up with his mom making it for him. It was meatballs in a cream of mushroom-type sauce over white rice, served it with a yummy cucumber salad on the side. Delic'! I have to admit that my favorite was our most recent-- Italian! Barbara is an amazing chef and she really treated us. Fresh bruschetta starter, pasta with a homemade cream sauce with mushrooms and ham in it, and marscapone dessert! Wowwy it was so good.

So anyway, these days have been filled with coming up with a packing strategy, beginning to say goodbyes to friends as they finish their exams and start leaving town, trying to enjoy the sunshine that Swansea has been offering lately, wrapping up paperwork from the university and my final report for Rotary-- oh, and studying for exams!!

one down, two to go

Completed my first exam this morning. Honestly, this blog is more of a distraction from studying for my second exam than anything. Not that you all aren't important, but my days lately have been filled with attempts to study and learn last minute things before being evaluated. I have to say, though, in my studying with my friends from the UK, we've gotten into a lot of discussions about coursework and grades and one thing I'm realizing is there are so many differences between the US and UK educational systems.

I cannot even begin to explain the high school system here to you. To me, it sounds like they are in high school for two years and then they do two years of courses that are more focused on their interest area and structured in a way that is more transitional to a university-style schedule. Then, university and college are not the same thing here. The way I understand it, college is more like a technical school education and university is like our universities and colleges. Some people go to "college" instead of doing the last two years of high school. I think I have discussed this before, but the concept of a liberal arts education is definitely more rare in the UK. The US university system requires a much broader spectrum of classes, and therefore takes longer to achieve an undergraduate degree. While it takes at least four years in the States, undergraduate degree programs in the UK hardly ever take more than three years.

The differences abound when you start talking about how things are evaluated. We call it grading, they call it marking. While we have the gradepoint system that we are all familiar with-- I never realized how complicated it really is until I tried to explain it to a friend here. Hah! Maybe I'm just not very good at explaining! Nevertheless, for evaluating a specific assignment or exam, our grading is based on taking away points while theirs is based on earning points. So our professors give you 100% and then take away points for what you answer wrong or are missing. Here, they start at zero and give you points based on what components you have.

On a larger scale, our numerical grades are converted into letter grades while theirs are converted into another numerical system. Our top grade is an A+ depending on where you go, and theirs is called a 1st (so the top grade is a 1st, the next is a 2-1 followed by a 2-2, and then a 3rd). Step back another step and while our grades are converted into the gradepoint system and averaged based on the credit hours and accumulated as you take classes, theirs again, is different. The first year of their degree program is pass/fail. Then the next two years are weighted- sometimes each year is worth equal parts, but sometimes it is split where the second year is worth 30% and the third worth 70%. Like I said, it is very complicated.

In any sense, I must be getting back to my studying. One down, two to go!!

sun in swans

--> You will never believe what I saw today-- the sun! Haha. I was starting to wonder if it even still existed... My Welsh friends got a kick out of my playful complaints about how my complexion has gone all wrong due to being so white I feel reflective and how I've just got to be vitamin D deprived.. They all laugh and say, "This is Wales!" The Welsh embrace their pasty skin tone and sing and dance in the rain... Ok, not quite. It has rained and rained and rained up until today. Today, the sun showed its marvelous face accompanied by none other than its lovely sister-- heat!! Today, it was summer. Ah.... finally the Wales that they put in the advertisements for the university online. :)

--> We all are in the midst of "revising" (the British word for studying) for our exams, but we felt compelled to embrace the day, "sharpen our saws", and head to the beach. What a wonderful choice we made!! My friends Jess and Ceridy insisted that I could not leave Wales without having swam in the sea, and I may not get a better day, so today was it. Digging my "swim costume" (as they call it) out, we packed our bags and headed for Caswell, a nice beach west of Swansea. And the water was COLD!!!!! So COLD. Probably the COLDEST water I've ever swam in in my life. It was also SO FUN. We took a frisbee, caught some rays, and prayed our toes didn't freeze off.

--> Reverse a couple of days... Tuesday I went with Ceridy and her sister, Immy, and Immy's boyfriend, Francesco, to stay a couple days at her grandparent's farm outside of Tenby. Tenby is a coast town in west Wales known for its stunning beaches. Of course, the two days we set out to explore the beaches some of the densest fog I've ever seen rolled in. We opted to bypass some of the beaches on account we wouldn't even be able to see the water or appreciate the view, but we made the most of it exploring other options. Wednesday we went into the Tenby village and shopped around at the surf shops and boutiques. This photo, in a way, tells a story for me. First of all, you can see how absolutely dense the fog was-- you can't even seen the water!! Second, the tide in Wales is unreal-- the second largest in the world! As such, when tide is out, the boats rest of the sand. The combination of these two things makes this picture almost sort of creepy...

--> Ceridy and Immy took us for several "traditional" meals. Tuesday night we got fish and chips in Kilgetty from a "proper chippy." Doused in vinegar and wrapped in paper to take home (like it traditionally was done), it was the best fish and chips I've ever had. Wednesday night, we went to a local pub in Tenby for dinner. They insisted that we experience "white bait," one of their long-time favorite snacks. Ehhhh.... while breaded fish is nothing new to me, I hope this picture is clear enough for you to see that the fish were whole!! I manned up enough to try them, and will admit that they did taste alright (like any breaded food), but I couldn't keep it up- it was just too much for me to see their beady little eyes, skin and tails!! Bleahhhhhhh......

--> Thursday we went to Pembroke Castle. Now, I have been to A LOT of castles. And the truth is they are starting to look similar. The significance of this castle, though, is that Henry the VII, the first king of the Tudor Dynasty, was born in Pembroke Castle. And even more significant in my little world, I did my essay for my Welsh History class last term on Henry the VII. Being in Europe this year has brought a lot of history to life for me, and this was yet another one. They had an exhibit set up in one of the rooms, marking the exact place where he was born. Very cool.

Between touring around, we spent time with Ceridy's grandparents. First of all, it was so good to be around a family, particularly out in the country around the animals. They had dogs and chicken and horses and ducks... "Bampa," as they called their grandpa, showed us how around the chicken pen, explaining how to know when they are about to lay eggs and how to get them to have chicks. He also got out the dogs and showed us some examples of the ways he trains them to retrieve when he's hunting. Lastly, "Batman," as they call their grandmother (who is usually called "Nan" by British people), was so hospitable-- it made me really miss my grandmas at home (Shout out to Grandma Jo and Grandma Emma! Can't wait to see you soon!). Over the course of three days, I think we had tea about a zillion times. I LOVE this British tradition. It is such a great way to sit down and have a chat with whoever is around and relax. Tea, tea, tea. All the time!!

When I get home and start getting together with all of you-- I think we should have tea!