October Trip to Swansea University

I’m way behind on getting something written about our trip, and now I’m worried that I’ll forget something. But I’ll try to get you caught up on our trip so far:

Our team this trip is an eclectic one ( as it always is) but is leaning toward college-age students whom God providentially led to us and which perfectly aligns with our focus this week at Swansea University. Our first travel day was gratefully(!) un-eventful, arriving in Cardiff after legs via Minneapolis and Amsterdam. This was good news for all of us, but especially for one of our team who had never flown before. Anywhere. Ever. (Darrin’s mom…he did great, but his eyes got kinda big on the the first take off).

After immigration, luggage, rental & cash exchange, we met up with both Derek, Alaw and Garreth to begin the long, grueling and terribly exciting day on tour throughout Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. It was raining, so we changed our first stop to Castle Coch, a Renaissance era castle built on top of a 13^th Century castle. We followed this up by touring the Museum of Welsh Life housed at St. Fagans, a Victorian era mansion complex on the edge of town, and concluding with dinner and a tour of the Cardiff Bay Area, now familiar for its Dr. Who & Torchwood locations. We've already fallen in love with Derek and crew and are so thankful for their hospitality,navigation, good humor and love.

After an hour drive to Swansea (by the way, driving a van, in the rain, on the wrong side of the road, with no clue where you are going, after 3 hours sleep in 48 was…interesting), we checked into the wonderful Dragon Hotel and collapsed into bed. By morning, though, we were up and well rested, now on Greenwich Mean Time and starving for a good Welsh breakfast of bacon, eggs, baked beans, grilled mushroom, tomato and other classic sides. Oddly, none of us tried the black pudding (or blood sausage).

The team is excited and ready for what the day would bring!