Finishing the first week

As always, the first week in a new country has been a rollercoaster ride.  Wales is a beautiful country, Swansea has wonderful people, and it hasn’t been rainy!  It has actually been sunny every day except one so far, which is crazy.  Although sunny, it has still been cool outside.  It was actually a little bit of an adjustment coming from an abnormally warm spring in Iowa.  It has been in the 40’s and 50’s here.  Most mornings and evenings I would have probably been wearing a light winter coat had I brought one, but it has started to get a little warmer, and I have started to get used to it.  I am beginning to enjoy it now.  It is nice to be able to walk to the bus stop, or across campus, and not be sweating by the time you get there.  Plus, there is not the extreme highs and lows like in Iowa.  The average temperatures range from about 45F in January to about 65F in July.

The only things that have been less than wonderful is just missing everyone back home, and of course adjusting to a new job is always a bit of a transition.  I also realized that my visa has the wrong end date, which is a little frustrating.  Currently the end date is set at June 30, which is the day after I’m done with work.  I saw this before I came, but I incorrectly thought that only meant that I could not work after that date, when in fact I am supposed to leave the country by that date.  However, my flight home is booked for July 10, and I have plans to travel during that time.  I’ve spent a bunch of money on those travel plans, so hopefully I can work that out!  I have an appointment with someone in the international student services office Monday to try to sort it out.  Having interned in the International Students and Scholars Office at Iowa State, it is interesting experiencing first-hand what I have seen the international students at ISU go through.

My internship is wonderful, and the International Development Office is great.  Everyone here is so friendly and helpful!  Plus, I love the office space.  It is located in a building that used to be horse stables, which I think is the most beautiful building on campus. 

The building I work in.  Used to be the stables of the estate.  I think it is the most beautiful building on campus!

There is a kettle in every room for tea, and a fridge for the milk.  I had been drinking my tea plain back home, but now that I have started adding milk and sugar, I don’t know if I’ll be able to go back (bad idea to start!).  I am currently using an extra mug that was sitting around the office for my tea, but I want to get my own.  Don’t know what it should be... stay tuned.


My desk is upstairs with the international recruiters, and I am sitting next to people from China, Germany, and Brazil, as well as Wales.  There is also an intern from France downstairs.  She speaks French (obviously), Italian (her mother is Italian), English (her mother is an English teacher), AND Spanish (she studied abroad in Spain during her undergraduate degree).  This is why I love international education so much.  I may be in Wales, but I get to work with amazing people from all over the world!  So exciting!  The student body at Swansea is also very diverse.  Just walking from my office to the Fulton House (the student union), I see students from just all over the world.


With Sarah and Molan from work at Uplands Tavern.

Fun phrases:

"Jumper" is a sweater.  A sweater means...?

"No worries" is a common saying meaning exactly what it says.  They are often not worried about things here, which is very nice :)

"Sort it out" means figure it out, and is usually used in the sentence, "We'll sort it out later."  There is a much less sense of urgency here about most things than there is in the States, where there seems to be an urgency about EVERYTHING.