Craig's Experience in Wales A personal documentation of my journey as an exchange student in Great Britain

I wrote up an entry today already but I wanted to write up a few more things to you... I caaaannnnnttt wait to get going to Australia in just 6 and a half hours. And then Austria and Switzerland... oh man, this is just a good feeling to know that yet another dream is about to come true. I have dreamed of all this travel for so long! Thank the Lord for such an amazing opportunity... and even more so that I have the privelage of sharing it all with people such as you! The time is fast approaching before I leave to go to Australia. I just wish the clock would speed up a little more. Earlier today I bought my return coach ticket from here to London Stansted Airport for when I go to Salzburg, Austria. Is this all real? Am I really doing this? As each second passes I am getting more excited and filled with so much anticipation of all that my eyes are going to see and ears are going to hear. I am in the midst of packing everything together and just making sure I have it all together. Besides the coach ticket this morning, I had to pick up a few things in town such as deodorant and so forth. I added some more credit to my pay-as-you-go phone, get myself a haircut for the upcoming excursion and soaked in the sun that is shining so brightly outside. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been here almost two months. This is all still so surreal… perhaps you are a little sick of reading that, but it is just so true. This is so out of the norm. My flat mate Jack and I were walking back to our flat from taking the bus from uni to the Student Village. He asked me if I mind being by myself doing all this traveling. “No,” I said to him. And to be honest with you, I really don’t mind doing all of this on my own. Would it be nice to have a really great friend by my side? Of course it would be nice. But right now in my life I know that I need to be doing all of these things on my own. I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support and encouragement as I’m here in Wales. It really does mean a lot to me to know that I have family and friends back home who are thinking about me and actually reading these entries. In a sense it is very humbling to know that people are actually interested in what I have to say and are willing to take the time to read my experiences. Just the other day I passed “The Sheep Shop”, which is a Welsh souvenir store. Now I’m pretty sure that there is nothing in the whole state of Ohio that is named in relation to this wooly creature. “The Sheep Shop…” I said to myself with a smile as I passed it. “I love sheep”. There are just so many differences here that I can’t help but chuckle at even the smallest cultural distinction. For instance, I have said “holy cow” here and been told by someone that they have never heard that expression from someone in all their life. I even had to tell somebody about the whole Michigan-OSU rivalry. I had to TELL THEM ABOUT IT. In the States it’s just a given that even saying those two states in the same sentence brings about some time of hostility. But here… here some people think that Ohio is Iowa, think that Ohio is in Florida or are under the assumption that New York and Ohio are close by. Puts things in perspective for me. It’s a big world and believe you me when I say that traveling 4,000 miles across an ocean can do a heck of a lot to expand your view of the world as a WHOLE. Yes… it is a big beautiful world. And I’m convinced that nobody is this world is as excited as me right now to hop a plane and go Down Under. May God bless you all continually and make you make the most of each and every day that’s given. Philippians 1:3, Craig The photo is of me and Jaime at Verdi's with a group of people from Mount this past Sunday. Ah, yes another brilliant time with fun-loving people. Hope the photo doesn't creep you out too much ;) GOD BLESS, ALL :)