Right now I am enjoying the solitude of being alone in my 7-person flat. My wireless still isn’t hooked up and most likely won’t be until sometime next week. Once again, I am writing this in Word and then transferring it to the site from a library’s computer. It is a Saturday night (around 11:30 p.m.) here in Swansea, Wales and I am really worn out. Today I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever laid eyes upon. It all started really on Friday night. I went into town after orientation to purchase a pay-as-you-go cellphone from TMobile. After comparing the rates of a few companies, I found TMobile to offer the best rates per-minute. The city of Swansea is a bit larger than Dayton (my hometown), so there’s a lot of exploring left for me to do just around here. So, with that in mind, I decided to roam around the city after getting my phone. There are really neat looking fountains in the middle of the downtown area, so I asked a couple to take my picture in front of them. Before taking the picture, the man asked me if I wanted the castle in the background. I turned around in astonishment, unaware of any medieval landmarks behind me. Right there in the middle of the city were the ruins of a fairly large castle. That one sight brought my excitement level for this whole experience to a much higher level. Imagine what I could discover if I just walked around from place to place… with that thought in mind, I headed toward the bus station to go to my flat. Along the way, though, I saw some postcards outside of a little grocery store type shop. I was mesmerized at the breathtaking cliffs, long beaches and incredibly green pastures. A man was walking by with his son and I stopped him to ask a question. “Excuse me, sir, but are the places on these postcards around here?” The man’s response was exactly what I wanted to hear. “Oh, yes,” he said as he pointed to the postcard I was most interested in. “Just take the bus to Rhossili and you’ll find the best bay in the Gower Peninsula.” My toddler-like response of “are you serious? Can I really?!??!” made the man and his son smile and laugh a bit. For me it was as though I was Charlie and that postcard was my once-in-a-lifetime golden ticket. “I have to go there tomorrow,” I whispered to myself as I thanked the man and his son and walked away.
A few of interesting little things: I met an exchange student from Virginia the other day. We started talking and I told her I was from Ohio. She informed me that she was born in Ohio as well. Much to my astonishment, she told me she was born in a place called Kettering. During this meet and greet we were on the bus late at night. You’d think she just told me I’d won a million dollars because my eyes got really big and I threw up my hands into a wave-like position. “Are you kidding me?!?! I’ve lived there my whole life and hardly ever meet anyone wherever I go that’s from Kettering. Woooooow.” She just kind of smiled and I realized my response lingered a bit on the “excessive”. Small world, though. I meet a girl in Swansea, Wales who is from Kettering, Ohio… Crazy.
Then there is my last name. Who has it? Nobody. I have never in all my life ran across another “Byer” of any kind. So what do you think is the last name of one of my flat mates? The other American exchange student I live with has the last name of Beyer. Once again I freaked out, and it made me feel better to see him do the same. Chris Beyer and Craig Byer are living across the hall from each other. At OU I’d think the probability for that would be higher. But Swansea, Wales? Crazy.
Also, in my previous entry I made a small reference to Zimbabwe (kidding about the bread being packaged from there). So the next day after the entry, I head to the library to post my writing. I sit at a computer and next to me is a woman looking at a “GodSpeaks” Christian website. I hesitated in saying something, but realized there must be a reason I want to talk to her. So I introduced myself and she told me about the Christian group that meets every Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Student Union. She told me her name was Tanya and that she was from Zimbabwe. I just smiled as I looked at my journal entry that was flashing on the screen in front of me. Again, what are the odds of a connection like that? I mean…Zimbabwe? Why did I even think of that country when writing and how is it possible that I pick the exact computer she’s sitting next to? Crazy.
Oh, and guess where I’m going this coming weekend? Amsterdam! The head of the travel shop came to speak to us at orientation. She told us about the trip and my interest was peaked. After the meeting I had lunch with a couple people and headed over to the shop. “I would like to reserve a spot on the day trip to Bath, England, please.” (March 3 I will be going there with a group). “Oh, and is there any spots left on the Amsterdam trip?” Her response was exactly what I needed to hear: “Yes, there is actually one spot left.” It took me about 3 milliseconds to realize that was a sign for me to go. “I’ll take it!” So, Amsterdam in less than a week… Just to think that one week ago I was at home not even packed for this trip. And one week later I am making my way around Wales and am about to go to Amsterdam. Crazy.
So anyway, this morning I hopped the bus to Rhossili. I thought it would be a 10 minute ride but it turned out to an hour. Perfect. The unexpected is always more exciting than the expected. My first step off the bus was breathtaking. Words cannot even do one iota of justice to what I saw. I will be posting pictures (and perhaps video clips if I figure out how) of Rhossili when I get my Internet all set up. There were sheep everywhere and all within a breath away from me. There were these magnificent cliffs with perfectly cut boulders along the sides of them. Being there was unlike any experience I’d ever had. I honestly felt as though God transported me into some National Geographic magazine. I walked along the pathways and took countless pictures. I couldn’t stop to put my camera down for one second. I even got two guys (who were brothers) to let me video record them as I asked them some questions. I hope to get many more video recordings of random people from here… my goal is to get a British toddler to sing me a song and tell me a joke. I’ve got awhile, so I’m sure I’ll succeed. So anyway, I walked around this area for a good 3 hours or so. And the wonderful part was that this place was incredibly bare—hardly anybody was around! I tried to talk a lot while I was walking, either to God or even to myself. But I couldn’t. I was merely rendered to a state of thankfulness. I simply absorbed it all, took pictures and praised God for such an amazing piece of creation.
I had lunch at a café overlooking the vast beach. I couldn’t stop looking out the window and convincing myself that this was all real. I asked the lady who took my order for the most authentic Welsh food that she the café made. Apparently something was lost in translation because she didn’t exactly comprehend what I was saying. I just looked at the menu and picked out a cooked ham and cheese panini with chips and a salad. I have yet to try fish and chips, which I will most certainly get sometime this week. The food was incredible and the pineapple/grapefruit drink I had was ideal for my taste buds. When I left the café I went to go roam around this enormous hill right above the beach. While walking along the path, I was greeted by houses that were hidden on the side of the hill. I felt like I was in Braveheart or something. Further down the path I was also greeted by a herd of various kinds of cattle. They were making noises but I couldn’t quite make out a distinctive “moo”. Maybe it’s only American cattle that moo. Anyway, it was strange to walk directly near them without having any kind of fence or border between the two of us. I felt as though I’d discovered something even Rick Steves or the Travel Channel or National Geographic didn’t know about. “Why wasn’t this place more crowded?” I thought to myself. I felt as though I had the whole place all to myself. I can’t wait to explore more around this beautiful country. I will be heading to see more bays in the next couple of days. I can’t wait till I can post the pictures for you all to see! God Bless, everyone..
Philippians 1:3,
Craig
