Wales: Day 25 & 26 Row, Row, Row, Row a Pirate's Life for Me

I am so far behind. I realize that. Sorry for anyone who reads this regularly. My dream was to catch up like my second week here and then post daily. That way the detail would be fresh and all that jazz. Well. I never caught all the way up, and then last week we were in hostels every night and exhausted, so I'm just a mess. My apologies.

So. Back on track. On Wednesday, July 28, we also had nothing scheduled. The unscheduled days just flew by. We'd sleep in, but then once we were awake we were in this strange mode of panic-meets-exhaustion. I'm not really sure why sleeping too much just makes you tired, and not doing anything all day leaves you just completely fatigued. Whatever. We spent the majority of our free time studying like crazy for the quiz scheduled for Friday morning. If we passed the quiz, we would automatically get an A on the final and not have to take it. Which, needless to say, would be THE BUSINESS. I felt really behind because I hadn't taken the prep class, and most of these people had. Not to mention, I was somewhat convinced that everyone thought I was stupid and I wanted to prove otherwise.

I grabbed another hummus and salad baguette (seriously can't get enough of these things) for lunch. I'm gonna miss that so bad at home. Tom then took anyone who wanted to go to the park for rowing. Roath Park is really pretty. I was really impressed. Who knew that Cardiff had such a beautiful area just a few minutes from the gnarly streets we pounded each day?

We rowed around, despite the cloudy skies and a light drizzle, and had an excellent time. It was the best break from my alternating current of studying and dozing off.

At one point, we had a run in with a rogue rowboat. They called themselves "Pirates." Psh. Losers. They had a tennis ball and would throw it to splash us. Little did they know I've still got SOME deadly aim in my arm from years of softball. Yeah. I drilled a few people. But despite my best efforts, my flip flops were stolen right out of our boat! Don't worry. My crewmen defended my honor and a fight ensued which was talked about all day long. Laura, one of my roommates and good friends here, practically jumped into their boat to retrieve my shoes. Love her!

After rowing, we couldn't resist the open grounds of the park. You know us. We have to do pyramids at any available moment.

The park episode was lovely. We studied for a couple hours and then went over to 57 to be treated to one of the most delicious homemade meals I've ever had. One of our girls is going to culinary school up at Weber, so she is amazing. She made the most delicious pizzas ever. We were LOVIN it. And it was just so great for all of us to hang out and have a good time. Our house was in charge of dessert, so we brought one of the generic Tesco brand chocolate cakes that we can't get enough of. Secretly, two of my roommates hollowed out the middle portion of the cake, so when it was cut into, it just collapsed. Hilarious. We were dying. It was just so fantastic to have a great time with the group before the big test the following morning. We have a great time together. :)

Oh and Day 26. Thursday, July 29. Didn't leave the house the entire day. Seriously.