It was another week of work and class. There was a Chelsea game on Tuesday so went to Goat in Boots with Jordan, Greg, Murph and Jill. Goat in Boots is a pub in Chelsea we always walk by and have wanted to go to. Every time we plan to go something comes up and we don't make it. So finally we made it. The game was a draw.

We had our typical Thursday night play for class. This week was I'll Be the Devil. It was a play based on 1700s when England took over Ireland. It was terrible. It was the first night of the show and they still had a lot of kinks to work out. The actors would talk over each other and from our seats you could see backstage. It just was not very good.

Afterwards a big group of us went to The Social. We've read about it online, but Thursday was our first night there. It was hip-hop karaoke night. We thought it would be a few amateurs attempting to rap along to a CD. Oh no, this was hardcore 8mile style. It was in the basement of the bar and it was packed. These people that went on stage were hardcore. One guy even had two girls as his backup dancers. After Social I went home and got all my stuff ready because I was going to Wales in the morning.

The Wales trip was another one I signed up for through my program. We took the train ride to Wales (about 7 hours). Somehow a small group of us had different travel arrangements that everyone else. Luckily the people I was with were Jill, Jordan and Greg. So between the ride there and home we had some good bonding experiences. It was a little taste of what it will be like to travel with them for a month and a half.

We got to Wales that night. We stayed in a little lodge in the middle of nowhere. Everyone that was there was in the Arcadia program, but not all of them were interns. The lodge had a small separate building which was where we ate; they had a pool table, games and a bar. Jill, Melissa and I played an intense game of Pictionary (We are all amazing artists, by the way), and then went back to our bunk beds to pass out.

We got woken up early the next morning to begin our 'adventure activities'. We signed up for the activities we wanted to do beforehand, and when we got there, the lodge split us into groups. My first activity was Coasteering. We squeezed into some full-body wet suits, helmets gloves, water socks and gym shoes before driving off to the coast. We were going coasteering in the Cardigan Bay. Even with our many layers the instructor told us that the first time we got into the water, "Things will shrivel, things will point." That obviously was not directed towards the girls, but that will give you an idea of how cold it is.

There was a high tide so that limited what we could do. First we did some cliff jumps. There was a small, medium and large ranging from 10-35 feet. Since the tide was high we were allowed to jump off the high one. Some people brought water cameras so there are some good action shots of that.

Next we moved over to some slate rocks that we used as slides. It was misting out so the slate was slippery. You would lie on your back, put your shoulder blades and heels down and lift your butt up. With the wetness you would slide down the stone into the water. Next we crawled over some mini-rock cliffs to a rushing canal. When a big wave would come we jumped into the canal and let the waves carry us to the next rock formation.W e did some more jumps before we finished up. The groups who went later in the day had a lower tide and were able to different things than us. Some climbed and swam in caves and things like that.I t was one the most fun things I have done.

We came back to the lodge and re-nourished ourselves before we went back for the next adventure of the day. My second one was a hike. Everyone on the trip was automatically signed up to go on the hike and I am so glad they did this. It was a seven mile hike along the coastline; they dropped us off at one point and we walked the coast all the way back to the lodge. It was absolutely beautiful! You would like to your right and it was rolling hills, and open fields with sheep everywhere. Then you would look to your left and about three feet away from you was a cliff that dropped down 200ft to the Cardigan Bay (and there was nothing to stop you from going right up to it).

We passed through a small fishing village at one point and then took a break to explore a rocky beach about 1 ½ miles from the lodge. The beach had a cool cave which I went in and explored. It got real dark, real quick so I didn't want to go to far back for fear of being eaten by some sea creature. Jill, Jordan and I climbed these boulders that lead out into the bay to get a better view. We left those and went back to shore just in time. About one minute after we started back towards shore the tide rose. The waves got so big that if we would have stayed on the rocks they would soaked us and possible washed us into the bay. After our exploring we trekked back to the lodge.

Along the way someone pointed out a small beach about 20 minutes from the lodge. They said that if you get there really early in the morning (6am-ish) sometimes all the seals are lying out on it. We made it back to the lodge in time for a shower and dinner.

After the dinner the night was ours so everyone sat around the lodge again and played games and hung out. Eventually we had a bonfire going so everyone shuffled outside to sit and talk by that. I got to talking to Claire (she is in the program to, but lives in another area of London) about the seals and we decided it would be a great idea to try and see them in the morning. Eventually we all stumbled off to bed.

Claire's alarm went off at 5:30am and we decided although we were half asleep we should still walk to the beach. She hadn't been on the hike, so it was up to me to lead the way. Unfortunately, not only had I been that way once but being 6am and all the sun still hadn't risen. The first ½ to ¾ of the way was solid roads which was easy enough to navigate. When we got into the woods is where we (literally) walked into some trouble. We started walking and it started getting muddier and muddier. The mud got so deep that poor Claire lost her shoe twice in it and I had to fish it out. We could see there was another path up a hill/mini-mountain. I turned back to look for where we missed the diverged path and Claire decided to climb the hill. After she got, I followed her lead.We made it up with only a few scratches and burrs, but besides that nothing big. This new path was hard, dry and basically mud free .Also it led directly to the beach (which was only about 150 yards away).

We got to the beach and of course, no seals. So we sat there cold, muddy, seal-less. Since we were already there we decided the least we could do was wait 'til sunrise while we tried to clean ourselves up as much as possible. The sun looked like it wasn't coming out anytime soon and we thought it might rain so we walked back to the lodge. We took the mud-free path back and realized that the point where the path split (which we missed) was blatantly obvious.

We walked back and it was still about an hour and a half before most people would start getting up. I re-showered and tried to salvage my shoes before heading back to bed for a quick nap. I got re-woken from my nap for breakfast and the day ahead.

My final activity was sea kayaking. After breakfast we re-squeezed back into some flattering wet-suits, did a quick kayaking reminder and headed out to the sea. It was a fairly calm day which was perfect because that meant we could explore more of the coast. We all joked about tipping each other, but we knew it was way to cold to actually do it. After we got in the water the very first thing we had was pull some rope on the back of our kayak to help it go straight. Everyone reached around and did this fairly easy, except Jordan. He capsized right over within 3 minutes of entering water. He managed back into his kayak fine but I am sure he had to be freezing the entire time we were out there.

We roamed the coastline and did even more cave exploring. As soon as I exited one cave I heard a person yell and point. They saw a seal! I just missed and it, and was obviously very upset (especially after my morning exploration led to nothing). Luckily he liked us, so after swimming around a little the seal popped up a little closer! He did this one or two more times.

After kayaking we went back to the lodge for a final lunch. We packed up and the lodge bus drove us back to the train station. Jordan, Greg, Jill and I all travelled back together again, so that was some more entertaining bonding. I was so exhausted from the trip I passed out with 20 minutes of getting home.

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