In the one short week since my return from reading week, a great deal of things seem to have happened. Apparently Caitie and I are getting married. I survived another week of class. And most importantly: I felt Welsh.
Friday night my friend Becca got in to Treforest for the weekend. We watched Christmas movies and fried chicken. It was the tail end of her reading week at Bangor University and we had tickets to see the Welsh national rugby team take on Fiji at Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium. Now I have been to my fair share of professional sporting events. Never have I ever seen so much national pride in one place. Sure, Cardinal fans are great, but we are just one team amongst many that call the USA home. This match was the Welsh national team. So no matter which club team you support, everyone supports the national team. The streets of Cardiff were filled with people covered head to toe in green, white, and red dragons. While I could have done without the noise makers that every crazy Welsh parent seemed to have bought their child, it was an incredible experience. I donned my Welsh Rugby Union hat, bought a Wales scarf, and got my face painted. Even though Amanda, Becca, and I are all from America, we felt as if we fit right in with the throngs of Welsh supporters. I now belong to two of the best fan bases in sports: Cardinal Baseball and Welsh Rugby.
In addition to the craziness brought on by the match, Cardiff’s city centre was bustling with a Christmas market. Everywhere I looked there were stands selling handmade goods, street performers, and delicious homemade food. After cheering on Wales to a 17-13 victory over Fiji playing a sport we knew very little about, we made our way to the Brewery Quarter to eat at Nando’s for dinner. By then it was completely dark outside so we wandered around the city looking at all of the beautiful Christmas lights. It was an incredible day with good friends that left me feeling more love and connection to a country that I have spent two months in than to a country I spent 20 years in.
I am sitting in my bed attempting to write a paper that is due the day after I get back from Warsaw. It is not going well. I do not know if I have writers block or if I am such an accomplished procrastinator time manager that I know I do not realistically need to start it yet. Nevertheless, I am trying. I figure if I can at least get a little done, I won’t hate myself as much later. As Caitie is having the time of her life in Israel, my only writing companions are my self loathing and macaroni and cheese. I might have to invite Idina Menzel to this party to provide the musical entertainment. I think I may be forgetting “how to student,” but more importantly I am learning how to travel. I’d say it is a fair trade.
Life Lessons
It is possible to eat an entire hotdog that is longer than your forearm.
10,000 men were persecuted as witches in early modern Europe.
Rugby players > football/baseball/basketball players*
*(maybe it’s just that European men > American men)
Wide Eyed and Wandering 