Week Ten

© James Kenvin

James Kenvin checks in weekly from his study abroad semester in London; catch up with him every Wednesday on Trazee Travel.

I have been living in the United Kingdom for almost three months now; however I have yet to see other parts England. Thankfully, this changed when I went to Wales for the weekend. Several other students from my program and I had the opportunity to be part of an “adventure weekend,” hosted by Preseli Venture in Pembrokeshire.

© James Kenvin

The moment we arrived, we were welcomed with a delicious home-cooked meal — something we all appreciated, especially after a six-hour train ride. The next day we were broken into groups and told what activity we were going to do first. My group’s first activity was surfing. After a quick lesson, we hit the waves to try out what we learned. We surfed at White Sands, a beautiful, small beach nestled in between two cliffs. Although most of us spent our time falling in the water, it was still an amazing experience. Our next activity for the day was coasteering, which included swimming through caves, climbing cliffs and then jumping off of them. We went for miles up the coast side, which allowed us to take in the most breathtaking views (views that helped me forget I could easily fall off a cliff at any moment).

The next day was our last activity: hiking. For this activity we were given a hand-drawn map, dropped off at some beach and told to walk back to the lodge. After hearing these instructions, I was confident my group would get lost. After hearing the group before us got extremely lost and had to be picked up miles away, I became even more secure in the fact that we were doomed. Somehow, however, we managed to find our way back to the lodge on time, although I wouldn’t have minded getting lost and having more time to see all of the hills and beaches we encountered during our hike. The entire trip was one of my favorites, and it gave me the opportunity to do these audacious activities in some of the most picturesque surroundings.