Touring The Gower

The previous day had been complete and utter crap. I was miserable and could not keep myself from crying. I had to have my mom console me almost the entire time. But as she said, you have reached the lowest point and now all you have is up.

After all of that, Saturday was definitely an up day. For a mere £1, Swansea University had a trip where they would take students around the Gower Peninsula. The Gower is a famous part of Wales, known for it's phenomenal beaches and breathtaking natural beauty. Needless to say, I was looking forward to it. 

I went on the trip with two girls from France I have made friends with. A trip is always more fun when you have people to share it with. 

Us on the coach!

We all also had a good laugh at what the coaches looked like. To me, the extra rear-view mirrors looked like floppy dog ears. And of course we got on the big yellow bus. What other way is there to travel?

 
The day started out in the typical Swansea fashion of being very cloudy. I have noticed that even when we had the rare sunny days (which apparently you get a lot of in the first couple of weeks), clouds always reigned in the morning.

But the cloudy, cold weather gave the first stop an air of mystique. These are the Pennard Cliffs.

The classic seaside cliffs that come to mind when one thinks of Wales.

The sun slowly came out when we were there, making the pictures seem much brighter and more beautiful. However, I found that none of these photos did it any justice. I hope to remain the true image of the place for as long as I can in my head.

The sun made it appear a lot greener, as opposed to the mystic mountains en-cloaked in fog.

This was one of my favorite views.

We were told we had a little over an hour to spend here, but were then ushered away early. The students in charge (it's like how Sonoma State has the CSA's run trips) told us that we had been given the wrong time and had ten minutes left. According to her, there wasn't much to do here. It was just pretty. Solemnly, I took my last pictures and filled my lungs with as much of the fresh seaside air as I could.

The next stop was Oxwich Bay. I had been previously informed that it was one of the best beaches in Wales, perhaps even in Britain. My expectations were pretty high.

Still pretty cloudy.

My opinion was that while it is pretty, there are better beaches out there. One of the girls even said that she liked Swansea beach better. Me? Nothing beats a good California beach. But nonetheless, I was grateful to see this famed beach. And like I said before, it is still really pretty.

We went to the beach for a couple minutes, but then went to eat lunch (they were smart enough to bring their own). We had limited time, and so we had to be quick. Unfortunately the lines wouldn't really allow this. I wish I could say my burger was worth the wait, but I am finding that the UK does not know how to make a burger. It was a beef patty, but tasted like a very bad vegetarian burger. I have no idea what went wrong there.

After lunch, we returned for a few more pictures before leaving for the next stop.

A skier out on the water.

Classic beach car.

One of my favorite stops was next. Rhossili Bay was another part of The Gower that had been really talked up. It is one of the more popular destinations and even has it's own visitor's center. I could see why people loved it as soon as I laid eyes upon the vast green hills and seaside cliffs.

Living in California during a drought can make you forget just how naturally green the earth can be. I think this was my favorite stop on the whole trip. And I got to see the picture that was on just about every postcard I had seen for the place.

It's on magnets, mugs, and more at the gift shop.

We ventured out further and were constantly amazed at the beauty of the place. In the grassy parts, there were a lot of mounds and indents, many of which could be carved out to make a nice hobbit hole. This is what Blandine told me, before apologizing and saying that she is a huge Tolkein fan. I said that there was nothing to apologize for. I like Tolkein too.

Personally, I kept thinking that this would be a bad place to take my dogs. Koda has been known to jump off of cliffs and we are still surprised that he did not get hurt after landing what seemed like a 20 foot drop.

We couldn't help but take plenty of pictures here. There was just so many fantastic landscapes to be seen. And who knows when the next time we will all be here again?

 

All we wanted to do was sit down and enjoy the location. Unfortunately there was so much deer poo, that only Blandine was brave enough to do so. Still, I thought I had a pretty amazing view just standing. It's hard to feel stressed, sad, and homesick when you are in a place as beautiful as The Gower.

The entire time on the trip, we noticed a vast amount of sheep grazing in the grass. From what I have seen, sheep are pretty much the second mascot of Wales, topped only by the red dragon of their flag. Once you get outside of the suburbs, you are guaranteed to see them all over the place.

Fun fact: Sheep outnumber the Welsh human population 3 to 1.

The real rulers of Wales.

But on the way back, I noticed something particularly interesting about these sheep. I have heard of goat climbing trees, but never saw anything similar with sheep.

This was the funniest thing I saw all day.

They even climb on the bushes to eat those.

The last stop on this trip was a familiar one. We went Verdi's in Mumbles to get ice cream. When we had gone there before it was low tide, but seemingly not quite as low as it was this time. People who had their boats docked in shallow water wound of having them parked in the sand after the water went away. I am pretty sure this is done on purpose, but it was funny nonetheless.

It was nice to end the trip looking out at the sea and eating black cherry ice cream with two girls from France. Never in my life have I met so many people from so many different countries. Never in my life have I been one of those foreign people to the majority of the people living there. Never in my life have I had such an opportunity to travel and experience a different culture.

This is why people study abroad.