Freshers and the Gower

This past week At the University of Bath was "Freshers' Week". It is a week when all of the freshmen are on campus for orientation. No classes. British orientation consists of bands, alcohol, dances, alcohol, parties, and a healthy dose of alcohol. All of this to a backdrop of screaming, yelling, chanting, and singing. The raucous activities usually began around 8pm and ended around 4am.

First, let's take a step back so you have a better image of where we are living. We are in a cute little 2-story complex made up of 2 cottages (we are in one) and 3 apartments. Across the yard is a 4-story complex of dorms that stretches down the road.

So, up until last week, no students have been living in the dorm things have been quiet. Boy were we in for a surprise last Monday night. I guess these soft-spoken, relatively meek, polite English people let their inner demons out in the evenings. Now, Noah and I can sleep through pretty much anything, but we were up at 1, 2, and 3am last Monday night. Several times I was jarred awake by barely human sounds, reverberating off of all of the stone buildings. Tuesday night was slightly better because there was loud music that vibrated our cottage, but at least it was a constant sound, and we could all get a bit more sleep. Wednesday was music again, and I think we are getting used to it because we slept the majority of the night.

Rachelle and I have made three plans if these partying continues past this week. 1) Call security and see if they have an effect on the din. 2) Start looking for rentals in a different part of town. 3) Send the kids out each morning bright and early to play as loud as they like with megaphones and pans and pots.

A little side story before we go into our fun weekend. Our little Renault Clio has been making a knocking noise. So, we took it into the shop to be repaired. When I called the garage later, I was informed that they had received the wrong part, and would loan us a car to use for the next day. I biked over and picked up the loaner, which was a...manual. I have not driven a stick shift since driving Rachelle's little pickup in the pre-Noah days. I know that I have written about the steep hills, narrow streets, steering wheel on the wrong side of the car, cars driving on the wrong side of the road, signs that make no sense, and lack of signs in confusing places, and round-abouts. Well, the stick shift is also on the left. You can imagine the fun we had dropping off and picking up the kids that day. We now have our Clio back and it is smooth little ride.

So, this weekend we joined Janet, Kevin, Kayden, and their 2 dogs on a "camping" trip to the Gower Peninsula. We set out Friday right after school, listened to podcasts of This American Life from NPR on the ipod while sitting in traffic, and got into southern Wales just before dark. We had a little trouble finding our "caravan." The Brits refer to caravan camping as renting a double-wide. We actually loved the double-wide because it was so cute and well appointed. It was like a boat with small doors, small cabinets, small beds, and little shelves and cupboards tucked in here and there. Upon arriving, Rachelle and I realized that neither of us had really packed enough food. We each thought the other one was packing the food (to be honest, I was on food duty, but don't tell Rachelle). Luckily our friends had plenty of grub. I did bring enough beer and wine to share, which was quite nice once the 4 little ones were snoozing in their tiny bearths.

The next morning we woke to incredible scenery and a beautiful, sunny day. A few of us had a quick walk on the beach, which was just down from our camper. The beach was lovely, with dunes and soft sand, but frigid water. We packed up and headed for Worms Head, a small island with an outcropping of large rocks that look like a dragon (look in the distance over Liv's head in the picture). During the couple hours of low tide, you can walk along the half mile or so of rocky, shelly causeway to reach the island, but you had better be on the Worms Head or the peninsula during high tide or you are in some deep and dangerous water. We didn't make it all the way to the dragon, but instead meandered among the rocks and tide pools. It was truly spectacular. See the video of Worms Head. If you look closely, you just might see a little pixie scampering around on the rocks.

We returned to the "camper", headed to the beach near the campground, and the kids frolicked in the sand. We would have loved to stay another night, but Liv had a birthday party to attend. So, we packed up the Clio and headed back to Bath just making it to the party on time. We shook the sand off ourselves and joined the birthday party fun at one of those loud climbing, soft play, sliding, maze places that kids love so much. It was great to see Liv with her little friends.

As I know you are all skimming through these blogs just searching for updates on FC Belvedere, here is the update. Well, we did play today and it was a sorry sight. We had a great first half, going up 3-1. Then, we fell apart, giving up some silly goals, arguing amongst ourselves, and losing the game 7-4. I hope to be telling you soon about how the team came together and dominated the remainder of the season. Stay tuned.