Cymru

I have now arrived in Wales. Yes, I am fully aware that this post is more than a week old. I would also like to ask you all to kindly please ignore the previous post - I was drunk and suffering from a bout of rather severe depression one night, and I was ranting and babling about things which are probably best not spilt onto these pages.

We departed from Hastings at around midnight on the 24th. Leaving home was probably the hardest part for me. Watching all of my possesions being loaded into the car, and having to sit by and watch as my room was stripped bare with only a few things left was tough. The room was no longer mine, but having only been at that house for two years kind of lessened the sensation of leaving home. I felt as if I had "left" home when we moved out of our old house and went to Pett - I never enjoyed living there, for reasons quite beyond me since the village is quite pretty, but I digress. After checking, double checking, tripple checking, re-checking, and having a last quick check that I had packed absolutely everything we finally managed to depart from Pett at around midnight on the 24th. And even after searching the house from top to bottom to make sure I had everything, for the first half of the journey I still couldn't get rid of that horrible feeling that you have left something importnat behind. Thankfully this later turned out to be completely unfounded when I discovered that I had in fact bought perhaps a little too much stuff. Driving through Pett at midnight was a rather eerie experience - the place was pitch dark and there was mist everywhere which gave the place an almost ethereal feel. Driving along the route to my old school - the route that I was so used to and knew of by heart from the past two years also bought back quite a bit of nostaligia - and once again I was reminded that I was not to return to the place that I had been studying for the past 7 years. Luckily, as soon as we got out of the Hastings area, and as the roads became unrecognisable all of this left me, and was instead replaced by a mixture of excitement and anticipation at what lay in store for me upon arrival in Wales. Leaving home had been the hardest part, but the journey seemed to take my mind of things, and I had resolved myself to the fact that I was on my way, and there was now going back.

The journey turned out to be rather uneventful in the end. We got lost only once, and even this was nothing spectacular. As we crossed over the Severn and into Wales I began to feel a little apprehensive again, but this was short lived. After what seemed like an age on roads that went up and down hills constantly, we finally arrived in Aber-bloody-ystwyth at around 7.30 in the morning, with an hour and a half to spare before the univeristy opened. If I had of been feeling a little better I would have walked about and explored, but not having had any sleep that night, and being sustained by only one cup of rather crap tasting coffee, I decided to stay in the relative warmth and comfort of the car. It had been almost a year ago since I was last in Aberystwyth - last October I came here for a weekened to visit the univeristy's open day, and it was then that I fell in love with the place (well I loved it already, it just confirmed my views). It felt strange sitting in the car in the seafront, watching the street-sweepers at work and people out for their morning jog - watching the small town wake-up. It occured to me that thousands of students would be descending upon this place today, and the town wouldn't know what had hit it by the end of it. In a way it made me feel almost guilty for coming here and contributing to the disruption of this nice quiet town. After spending an hour or so in the car, and making the best use of the time by eating bagels and spilling hula-hoops all over the floor of the car (shh, I don't think anyone noticed this) we made our way upto the university. What happened from then on is all a bit of a blur to be honest. I was woefully sleep deprived, and couple with all my pent-up nervous energy, the whole experience was rather surreal to say the least. I remember driving into the main entrance and muttering, "I need to goto Cwrt Mawr. I think." to some nearby people that looked knowledgeble. Thankfully they were, and they pointed us in the right direction. After a bit of confusion and wandering around aimlessly being lost, the next thing I recall is being thrust a skip of paper with my address on it, a map of the accomodation and a small brown evelope containing what felt to be something metallic and key shaped. I finally found my way to my flat, aided by someone who didn't really seem to know where they were going, or even how to read a map, but this was a source of amusement for me, and since I didn't know the place any better myself, I cared little. After finding my room, and subsequently being very relieved that it was in fact quite spacious and rather nice the next thing I know I am standing in Morisons, propping myself up with a shopping trolley and trying to find food. Given that I had not slept, and coupled with horrible goodbye I was going to have to go through looming over me, it is needless to say that I failed miserabaly in this task - I shoved a few things in the trolley and we made our way back to the university - which is when the gridlock struck. Even though it seemed like the traffic jams would last forever, all too soon I was back at the univeristy, and after a brief call to the TV Licensing people, I was standing outside in the car park. The goodbye was an odd one. I watched my parents drive off, and it felt as if I had lost something. I retreated back to my room, and stood looking at the mess of boxes, and trying to busy myself with something before things really hit me. Thankfully, just minutes later I ran into friends, and all feelings of homesickness left, or at the very least were subdued.

The past week has also been an interesting experience, and if I get bored again then maybe I'll write about that too, but I think I have gone for long enough now. I realise that much of the above is probably of very little interest to anyone, save perhaps for myself who will no doubt read it in a years time and chuckle to myself. For now though, I shall depart since I have one of them "lecture" things tomorrow. Whatever that is.

Goodnight.