This past weekend, I hopped on a bus with three of my friends to Aberystwyth in West Wales. When we finally got to our cottage (about 45 minutes out of the “city”) we ran inside and screamed! It was our home away from home. All weekend we called it Heaven. In the front was the living room with a fireplace. Connected to it was the sunroom. and to the left was a bathroom, dining room, kitchen with a DISHWASHER, and (get this!!) a LAUNDRY ROOM! Upstairs, we had four bedrooms (one for each of us!) and a bathroom with a bathtub! We were in heaven.

We were so excited when we got there that we didn’t realize how cold it was. Everything is different in Europe, and when we tried to find how to turn on the heat, we were unsuccessful. Simply stated: we were freezing all night. Inside I was wearing four shirts, a sweatshirt, two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, tennish shoes and a winter jacket. Outside, I didn’t have to wear the winter jacket.

The next morning, I woke up and walked downstairs. When I looked out the sunroom, I saw our AMAZING view. I screamed and woke everyone up. It was a good headstart to the morning.

Because we were cooking Thanksgiving Dinner, we had to go to the supermarket. We found a nice old Welsh man outside his cottage well down the road and asked him how to get there. He laughed. The closest supermarket was two and a half miles away. We walked down to New Quay (pronounced New Key) and along the coast. After exploring and finding the cutest fish and chips restaurant, we went to get our groceries and headed home. I called the cottage letter (or renter in our terms). Everyone was out of the house and apparently no one has cell phones, so we had a hard time finding someone to help us with our heat situation. I decided that Wales is home to the friendliest people on Earth, especially after we walked into a warm cottage that night. Someone actually made the trip over to turn it on for us! Our dinner was pretty good! We had chicken, mashed potatoes, asparagus, stuffing, rolls and apple pie! It was the best meal I’ve had since I’ve been in Europe.

I left Heaven on Monday morning and returned to my dream (London). I don’t know what I’m going to do when I have to go back to reality.