Thursday began in a lovely fashion with Merle and Richard cooking a sumptious breakfast. When I made my way downstairs to the kitchen table, I could smell the delicious meats and butter waft up as I descended the stairwell. Tucholl (pronounced Too tuch -- with the 'ch' sound similar to that one makes when spitting), one of the other Bed and Breakfast boarders - was already seated at the table. Merle called him Tudor so I inquired about the origins of his name. That's how I found out the correct spelling and (almost impossible for me) pronunciation. He's performing a post-doctoral study at Swansea University with two other colleagues -- all engineers of some sort. He's a computer programmer and the team is working on a project dealing with water flow. I'm still practicing how to properly pronounce his name five days later and haven't quite gotten it down perfectly. It's the double 'l' I have difficulty with. Supposedly, it closely resembles the sound you make deep in your throat right before you spit. The Welsh language is a difficult one to speak.
After stuffing myself with a heaping bowl of fresh fruit (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, pineapple), srambled eggs, rash bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes (fresh from their garden), and brown bread -- I set off with Angela Jones (in the International Development Office of Swansea University) who works with our study abroad program - specifically, the Brad Henry Scholar program. It was she who suggested the B & B and I am forever grateful to her for that suggestion. Angela has the energy of a five year old -- nonstop vibrant energy that lasted the whole day into the night -- but I get ahead of myself. We drove downtown to pick up Dr. Richard Carhart. He was staying at the Marriott -- not a 'B & B' kind of guy he claimed.
Angela took Dr. Carhart and me on a breath-taking tour of the area. We saw several key tourist spots in the Centre city of Swansea (quite the hot spot in the spring and autumn months for surfing), and Mumbles (birthplace of Catherine Zeta Jones). Angela drove us all around the coast -- I think we saw every bay in the area - one more gorgeous than the next. Worms Head was the masterpiece, though. It's supposed to be one of the most photographed areas -- I now know why after visiting the spot. The roads are quite narrow in most spots -- oftentimes barely enough room for two way traffic - which made for a few hair-raising moments on our journey. I dare say that Dr. Carhart probably will not soon forget the drive either! If anyone has ever taken a bus tour up to the Eagles Nest (Hitler quarters) -- this was reminiscent of such a trip. If you don't normally find yourself in a position to pray -- you soon find yourself doing so - and doing so quite fervently, and often.
After our tour of the 'hot spots' of the area, Angela took us back to Swansea University where we met the other members of the International Development team. We also toured most of the campus. It seemed almost every building was under construction - due to the increase/growth of the campus. However, due to space availability - or lack thereof - building construction was done via upwards -- not outwards -- with additional floors being added to existing buildings instead of extensions or new buildings being constructed. Scaffolding could be seen throughout the campus. Swansea, being a port city, has always been 'continental' and this fact was bourne out by the diversity of students milling about.
We ended our tour by making our way to 'The Village' -- apartment area where the Brad Henry scholars from Oklahoma live. We even were fortunate to get a tour of one of the units to see first-hand what living quarters looked like. Everywhere we went, Angela seemed to know somebody -- not surprising given her bubbly outgoing personality - so it helped to get the 'insider' view of campus. The Village was an interesting concept where five males and five females all share a 'unit' - something that I would not want to do, nor the type of set-up one of our scholars particularly cared for (as shared later that evening over dinner conversation). After our tour of the Village, we made our way to Toby's Carvery for our Thanksgiving dinner.
When we arrived at Toby's Carvery, two of the six Oklahoma scholars (Aleshia and Tori) were there. They were making final plans for their trip to Barcelona, Spain (i.e., their train would be leaving at 7 p.m. that evening). Soon afterwards, three of the remaining four arrived (Susan, Erika, and Christina) . The remaining scholar, Valorie, called -- deciding to 'pass' on joining us. For those who may not be aware, the first Brad Henry scholars came to Wales in September 2008. In 2007 Governor Brad Henry visited Swansea University and was so impressed he persuaded the State Regents to fund a semester-long scheme for students from regional campuses across the state. Oklahoma students can apply through their home university for an on-campus semester at Swansea in the American Studies program. Six students from Oklahoma’s regional universities were designated Brad Henry International Scholars and are spending the fall semester participating in an international study abroad program at Swansea University. hey include our own Summer Hill, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah; Erika Christner, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Weatherford; Christina Isom, East Central University, Ada; Aleshia Richardson, Langston University, Langston; Tori Strecker, Cameron University, Lawton; and Valorie Vernon, Rogers State University, Claremore. Students are nominated by their institutions for the international study program and are chosen by the RUSO Board. The State Regents provide a $10,000 stipend for students selected to participate in semester-long study or research programs affiliated with Swansea University. Academic credit for these programs are awarded by the Oklahoma regional universities.
Susan Hill, is a senior studying cellular biology at NSU. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree, she hopes to attend medical school in Oklahoma. Hill wants to be a physician so she can help people and make a tangible and direct difference in their lives. She comes from a long line of doctors -- her grandmother (who still lectures) and her father are both physicians. She is a member of the NSU Honors Program and the President’s Honor Roll and is also a Baccalaureate Scholar After meeting with Susan, I can definitively say I am proud to call her one of ours. All of the scholars represented Oklahoma extremely well.
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