This past Friday, I was cmpletely stressed out. I went in to pick up my train ticket to Wales and found out it wasn't covered in the cost, which was a misunderstanding on my part apparently (it covered transportation when we got there). I had to run to the ATM and get back before we had to leave. Then, my oyster card, the card to ride the tubes, had to be topped off and I had to make everyone wait for me. On the way to the station I realized I didn't bring any towels or a sweatshirt, which were recommended because it gets chilly. Plus, the train ride took forever. But you know what? Once I was in Wales, I don't think I've ever felt more at home in a new place. The people were amazingly friendly, the food was awesome, and the scenery... There just aren't words in the English language, and pictures don't do it justice. I loved all the guides, they were hilarious! Some would stay after they "worked" and would hang out and have a few beers, eat, and play guitar. They gave me towels, and they had cute sweatshirts for sale, too.Saturday morning I woke up and went on about a 9 mile hike along the coast and had to continuously pinch myself to make sure it was real... It was supposed to be 7 miles, but we walked past the beach we meant to turn at. It was raining, so I borrowed a waterproof and my jeans were so wet they weighed about 10 pounds, but I could have cared less. It was absolutely breathtaking out there, rocks were jetting out of cliffs into the sea... it was just spectacular.
It was just me and Dan, a man from the Choral Studies program at the FSU Center, and we were just dropped off at one spot and found our way back using a map. It was great. 
After lunch, we went coasteering, which is basically getting geared up in a wetsuit, life vest, helmet and tennis shoes and jumping off cliffs into a lagoon. 
Guys, I jumped off a cliff about 20 ft high. It was awesome. We climbed up a bunch of the rocks and went swimming in a cave, too... That night we all hung out and talked for a long time with the people there. 
Caitlin was one of the girls that had come on the trip that was about my age, and I really liked her. We were definitely leading the pack coasteering, and we ever jumped the fence and visited the cows! One guy who helps out at the lodging place is named Charles, and he and I talked for a long time, just about random stuff. He was so interesting; about every two years or so he picks up and moves somewhere new. Helen, whom everyone calls "Hels" is the barwoman, and she is probably the coolest person alive. She told us this story about how one morning, she woke up her kids yelling, "Today, you are not brushing your teeth, not getting dressed and not going to school until every last one of these water balloons here is gone!" She gave the kids a huge tub of water balloons and sent them out into the street at like 7 in the morning for a water balloon fight. I also really liked the two instructors that took us surfing, Libby and John. Libby helps run the place, and she used to be this really posh dancer from a nice part of London, but she realized she hated it when she was injured dancing and starting surfing, cut off her hair, pierced her ears and moved out to Wales. John is a great musician and he would sit out and jam while we all sang along. When he took us surfing with Libby, he came up to me towards the end of the session and asked if I wanted to go out a bit further with him, and it was incredible. The waves were amazingly powerful, really choppy, but I caught a few that were definitely the biggest I've ever caught. It was harder surfing in a wetsuit, and the foam boards were really heavy, but it was unbelievable. I took some rocks from the coast (you know, its where the rocks from Stonehenge came from) and had everyone sign one of them. I told them I wanted to come and work as a yoga teacher at Preseli because it'd be a perfect thing to add for people to sign up and do, and they were all for it! I really, really didn't want to leave (I even cried on the train, shhhh don't say anything) but I'm determined to go back. I have quite a bit of exploring to do, but Wales will always have a special place in my heart because of this weekend, the people I've met, the things I've learned...Charles summed it up perfectly on the rock I asked him to sign: Live, Love, Laugh.
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