Doing More Than Just Existing

I’ve been in the U.K. for two months, and I’ve never felt more alive.

I told myself before I started this journey that I would keep an active blog, but I never anticipated how engrossed I would become in simply living in another country. Of all the adventures I have been on in my life, most of them might very well have been in these last two months. I am sure that by the time June rolls around, most of them will most certainly have been during this amazing semester abroad. So, for those of you who have been waiting in anticipation to see what I’ve been up to (aside from the glimpses on my social media), I apologize for the wait. I’ll try to do better, but there’s no guarantee. Even my travel journal has gaps of a few days here and there in it. But I will try.

That being said, this is going to be quite a long post, even though it’ll just be a synopsis.

The first two months of my semester abroad entailed many adventures—some bigger than others—though it also marked one of the loneliest periods for me in the last couple of years (this loneliness lasted largely for just the first month and will be covered in a different post, so I’ll just focus on the good stuff for now). Here are some of the places I’ve been:

• Swansea City Centre: A moderately bustling mixture of old and new buildings with many options for shopping, dining, and nights out. I don’t go clubbing or on pub crawls, though the nightlife is thriving in Swansea. Wind Street is beautiful and lively at night, with music and light spilling out of pubs and clubs, and string lights hung across wires and wrapped around trees illuminating the streets. I’m often here during the day, either shopping at Tesco (groceries and other necessities), Wilko (homegoods and school supplies), Primark (the occasional clothing run), or the Quadrant Shopping Centre/Market (usually just walking through it to browse, to get somewhere else, or to buy food and the occasional clock). It was an adventure the first week I’d been there, as it seemed so big with lots to offer. Swansea Castle and St. Mary’s Church were the highlights. Castell Abertawe was the first castle that I had ever seen in person, though I wasn’t able to go inside due to the damage it sustained during the Swansea Blitz in 1941.
• Worms Head: A snaking rock formation that looks like a dragon (‘Worms Head’ referencing a wyrm’s head, or the head of a dragon). The tide was in, so I couldn’t actually venture out onto Worms Head, though I did walk along the gorgeous sheep-laden cliff that overlooked the outcrop and Rhossili Beach. Unfortunately, none of the sheep would let me pet it T_T. This was also where I met some of my main travel buds.
• Weobley Castle: The ruins of a castle behind a farmer’s house on the Gower Peninsula. It was the first castle I had ever been inside of, and I was in awe the entire time. I also had tea with milk in it for the first time here (if I can’t have southern sweet tea, then this’ll do), and had my first marsh-salt lamb burger (I felt so guilty for eating it, and even more guilty for thinking it was delicious).
• Cardiff Castle: An impressive castle located in Cardiff’s city centre. The courtyard is massive, the castle keep ruins outta be renamed the castle steep ruins, the falconry is both awesome and sad (really cool to see owls and falcons up close, but really sad to see them tethered and unable to fly and being passed from one person to the next), and the inside of the castle is stunning, from its gorgeous ceilings, impressive library, detailed woodwork, and grand rooms. I was over the moon the entire time I was there.
• Senedd: The National (Welsh) Assembly building. It’s a large rectangular building made up of windows with a giant mushroom-like structure in the middle. The lower level is where the National Assembly for Wales meets to discuss important Welsh things. Just a heads up: don’t bring any weapons in there. A girl from America forgot that she had her knife in her bag and could have been arrested (thankfully, they went easy on her). As another side note, if you’re found carrying weapons around in Wales, you will be arrested. It’s a big no-no (helps keep the place reallyyy safe).
• Bath: Probably the most beautiful and historically rich city that I have been to thus far in the U.K. I went on a day trip with my pre-sessional group to see the Roman Baths and to walk around the city a bit. The Roman Baths were very impressive and a definite must-see, though I didn’t much like the taste of the mineral-rich water from their spring. I’m hoping to go back again, as one visit wasn’t enough.
• Mumbles: A quaint seaside town in Swansea. It’s one of my favorite places to walk around, as there are many cute houses and stores, a beautiful rocky beach next to equally beautiful cliffs, a really neat old lighthouse set on an island that you can only get to when the tide is out, a library with a sweet book sale, Oystermouth Castle (I haven’t been inside yet though since it won’t be open until April), and a wonderful view of Swansea Bay. It also has the White Rose, one of the only pubs I’ve been to since I’ve been here—it’s cozy, has really good and cheap food (they have an awesome 2-for-1 burger deal on Tuesdays), and was the first place I had fish and chips.
• Warner Bros. Studios: Houses none other than the original Harry Potter sets and costumes for the movies. It was a truly magical experience to walk through one of my favorite series brought to life. I almost cried when I saw the indoor replica of Hogwarts (not life-size of course, but would make for a great child’s play-castle). If you’re a fan of Harry Potter and you ever get the chance to go on the tour, DO IT. As a side note, I had pulled an all-nighter the night before to work on a monstrous essay and only slept for the three and a half hours it took to get there via bus, and I still had a wonderful time (so imagine what it’d be like with a full night of sleep).
• Stonehenge: The massive circle of standing stones in Salisbury and one of the wonders of the world that you’ve probably heard about. Standing near these ancient stones took my breath away (though to be fair, I was fighting a fever the entire day, so I was already pretty breathless). I couldn’t get close to them since the footprints of millions of visitors would damage the ground and still-buried structures, but it was an amazing experience nonetheless. I can see why they have been deemed as sacred for millennia. As an interesting fact, the arrangement of the stones have not always been as one might see them today. They have been moved around over the years since their original placement, with what we have today looking very different to how they are thought to have once been.
• Singleton Park: The large park behind Swansea University. I haven’t explored much of this yet. I’ve only cut though it to get to the Uplands and to go inside the Ornamental Gardens behind campus. Walking through the Ornamental Gardens feels like what I would imagine walking through Narnia would be like. It’s beautiful, tranquil, fairly big, and filled with birdsong, and it even has a bunch of tiny woodland animals that will come up to you! Also, people often walk their dogs there, so sometimes I get to pet them. It’s one of my favorite places to relax. I’m hoping to walk through more of the park in the coming weeks and to visit the Botanical Gardens.
• The Uplands: Rows of houses, shops, eateries (the Uplands Diner is super good), and churches on steep hills in Swansea. It’s where a few of my international friends live, and it’s where my church, LifePoint, is located. LifePoint is such a welcoming, loving, and Spirit-led group of people. They are my family away from home, and I’ve never been part of a better church community. If you’ve ever had a bad experience with the Church, I truly wish you could come be a part of our community. You’d see what being a church really means, and you’d almost physically feel Christ’s love for you when you step inside the building. I can only hope that I can bring some of this light and passion back with me to the States so I can infect other churches with it. And LifePoint has a wonderful view of Swansea and the sea, as it’s set up on a hill.
• Pennard: A town in Swansea set on a cliff with rolling green hills, cute cottages, a big golf course with squishy green and yellow grass, and the ruins of Pennard Castle that overlooks a winding river quite a ways below. I had always dreamed of seeing a place like this in person, and tears welled up in my eyes as I walked through the small hills and ruins. There were many people walking their dogs the day I went, so I got to pet a few. I’d like to go back one day to go down to Three Cliffs Bay as well.
• Cardiff: A bustling city in Wales with many shopping and dining options, Cardiff Castle, a large sculpture of an arrow and a hoop (a glow-in-the dark organic clock that rises and falls with the tides), and a huge library. This was a separate adventure from the day I toured Cardiff Castle. I got to spend St. Patrick’s Day walking around Cardiff in a warm sheep hat that I bought from a street vendor. Wales and France were facing off in a rugby match for the Six Nations Championship, so vendors were set up all along the streets to sell hats and scarves to support the different teams—I joined the flock ^-^ People dressed for the occasion. I saw men wearing kilts, short blond He-Man-like wigs, Napoleon costumes, and ostentatious hats with face paint. I didn’t see many women dressed up, only going so far as sheep hats and face paint.

*You can check out pictures and videos of my adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

Planned upcoming adventures:

• Scotland: Edinburgh, Perth, Inverness, and Glasgow
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Dublin, Ireland
• Brighton, England
• London, England
• And hopefully many more!

(Due to financial and time constraints, I will likely be unable to venture far from the U.K., unfortunately. Italy, Malta, France, and Germany, I will come back someday for you!)

Overall, I’m enjoying the classes that I’m taking, particularly my EFL class (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). I’ve loved on a few dogs since I’ve been here and one very friendly cat that likes to pop into my flat every now and again. I’ve also been mainly surviving off of oatmeal, peanut butter sandwiches, and pasta. I’m so thankful my church family feeds me during lunch on Sundays ;’) I’ve met so many wonderful people here, and I’ve fallen completely in love with Great Britain. Honestly, if I had the option to stay in the U.K. and could ship my loved ones here, I would.

Please continue to be praying for my well-being while I’m on this journey, and please pray for the other students studying abroad as well. And please pray that I connect people to Christ while I’m here. Prayer is such a powerful tool and really works. If you’d like to continue to support me financially, you can send donations through PayPal (paypal.me/ashleymerklinger), Venmo (@Ashley-Merklinger), GoFundMe (https://www.gofundme.com/change-ashleys-life), or my wonderful mom.

Thanks for checkin’ in with me! I hope to share more with you in the coming weeks.

Until then,

Ash ♥