A Hike and Tintern Abbey

I am so sorry about my blog being MIA since early March! With the stress of exams and essays in late April / early May, and my three weeks away from the UK during spring break in late March and early April, it was hard to find time to sit down and write about my experiences.

The city of Cardiff is surrounded by rural areas and wilderness. My choice to study abroad here successfully matched my interests in hiking and nature. I joined the Hiking club this semester and I did not regret it! One of our hikes included taking a train to Chepstow (on the border of England and Wales), hiking to Tintern Abbey (a site of inspiration for Wordsworth!) and hiking through the hills to see a panoramic view of England and Wales. Because of this club, I had the chance to meet new people who enjoy hiking, see Tintern Abbey, enjoy the wilderness, and of course, encounter sheep! One of my favorite parts of the day was seeing Tintern Abbey. This semester at my university I took a class on second generation Romantic poets, and no doubt, Wordsworth was covered. As I discussed in my first post, I wanted to study abroad in the UK because of its historical connection to my English Literature major. Walking through site enabled me to picture how what it would be like when Wordsworth walked through the site and subsequently wrote a poem about it. It was amazing to visit a site with such historical richness. The other part of the day we walked from Tintern Abbey to a trail that scaled the hills of Wales and offered views that my pictures couldn’t capture the beauty of it in person. Overall, this hike added to my realization of how happy I was that I chose to study abroad in Wales.

View of Chepstow
Sheep!
Welsh wildflowers