Traveling to Europe: Off we go to Wales...and Full-On

This morning we said good-bye to John, our wonderful Irish coach driver, and boarded the ferry to Wales. The ferry was 9 levels…we mostly hung out on the 7^th and 8^th floors..because that’s where the seating/lounge areas were and that’s where the gift shop and food was. Some slept since we had gotten up incredibly early…and a few got a little nauseous from the rocking of the boat, but most sat around and played cards and visited, enjoying the beautiful view of the fog hanging over the water. (Just kidding on the ‘beautiful view’…there was no view since the fog was so thick!)

A gentleman came over to us (leaders) at one point and asked us to watch his things while he “pops to the looie”… we said OK, of course, but laughed at the expression. You probably figured out he was going to the bathroom! His little boy, probably about 8 or 9 years old, was fascinated with some of our delegates and hung out with them for a good portion of the trip.

Once we landed in Wales, we met our country manager, Will. Will was an instant hit with the group….young, absolutely charming, funny, witty, sarcastic… At one point, Ebba’s sunglasses broke, and she said, “Ohhhh, my glasses broke!” Will’s response, “Don’t worry, you won’t need them.” That was in response to the wet weather. Wales is known for not having the best weather.

Our first stop was the South Stack Cliffs on the Isle of Anglesey. There are signs everywhere saying the cliffs are dangerous. Will was telling our delegates about the danger, telling them to stay on the paths, etc…and then he told them, “Just don’t fall off the cliffs. It’s too much paperwork. Plus, it would put quite an end to your holiday.”

The cliffs are about 200 feet high…with puffins lining them. It was pretty foggy, (and cold and windy and cold and windy and wet – you get the picture), but it was still absolutely incredible! We braved the elements and went exploring. There is also a lighthouse there, but we couldn’t get close to it. No students were lost at sea…we still have all 40!

From there, we headed to Bangor. We stopped in…………well, it’s the longest name you can imagine and I can’t remember how to spell it. Many of the delegates bought magnets or something else with the name of the town. They also got their passports stamped there in a little store.

We crossed a very narrow bridge, the Menai Bridge over the Menai Strait. It was built in 1826, and originally only built and used for horse and buggy. The arches of the bridge are 8’6” wide…the bus was 8’5” wide. It was a tight squeeze. We held our breath and squeezed through…then gave our new coach driver a cheer.

In Bangor, we checked into our rooms in one of the dorms – Peris. Will gave us some lessons in Gaelic. We had to do our count off in Gaelic…which I have on video. I’ll post it once we return to the states. The internet is ridiculous to pay for …and to upload videos would take too long here.

Will told us the Welsh language is 400 years older than the English language. They have all the sounds of our alphabet, plus some. In 2000, Wales made it compulsory to learn the Welsh language in school up through age 16. At this point in time, Wales has a population of 3,000,000 (and the sheep population is 12,000,000). Only about 20% of the population speaks Welsh.

Will saying "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogercychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch" which is the name of the town with the longest name!

We had a delicious dinner in the dorms dining hall…and then we were off to the first half of our Full-On experience. Full On is a company out of New Zealand that works with team building and working to build young people’s confidence and self esteem. The Full On team, a highly energetic bunch of young people, talked to our delegates (there were 2 P2P delegations there)… about making good choices, about setting your mind on those things you want to do, the goals you want to accomplish. Then…everyone was given a board, a 1” board, and I think everyone broke their board…right in half…with their hand. It was amazing to see everyone able to do that! We ended this nights Full On, headed back to the dorms, and then there was a couple of hours or so of free time before it was time for room checks!