I was so excited to visit Wales on my big journey across the UK in 2015 even thought I only visited Cardiff. Looking back at my travel diary it was more of a cultural experience than sightseeing. When we crossed the river Severn I was listening to Wonderful Life by Hurts for obvious reasons 🙂

When I arrived I went straight to my Couchsurfer host Carlos from Brazil but I couldn’t reach him because my phone number was not working in the UK (at my next stop I had to buy a UK SIM card). After almost an hour of despair waiting outside his student accomodation I called him from the public phone. Turns out I was waiting in front of the wrong house. His friend Mike from Malawi picked me up and took me to Carlos. Carlos was very nice and made me feel like at home in his tiny student room. His friend Mike invited me to his birthday party the folowing day. Then we met another guy from Couchsurfing Shezhad from Pakistan and we all three went to explore the city centre of Cardiff. It was raining every 10 minutes but I was trying to enjoy my time. We walked throught Bute park and looked at the Cardiff castle.

The following day I went on my own to the city centre for a few hours. I enjoyed the most visiting the various arcades and market hall. It was also the time I visited Poundland (low cost chain store) for the first time. I was so amazed by it. You can imagine for me as a poor student it was a paradise 😀 I bought all the gifts for my CS hosts there and for Mike who had invited me to his birthday party.

After my walk around town I went to Mike’s party. I had some food that Kerry, the teacher and cook from Barbados prepared. I met so many international people at the party. There were people from India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Malawi, Azerbaijan, Kazachstan, Barbados. Allt of them studying at the Cardiff University. After the party I helped with the dishes and Shezhad wanted to go to a weekly Couchsurfing meeting at a local pub. My host Carlos was too tired to go so I went with Shezhad alone. There were so many people there. I was surprised, at first I was a bit nervous to go but then I enjoyed it. I talked with a girl from Wales about languages for an hour. I met a girl from Czech Republic, she was happy to finally speak her language with someone. I was so enthusiastic about the CS meeting and I think it was one of the best memories from Wales. When I think about it so much has changed in 10 years. I was so outgoing back in the day. Nowadays it’s just work (especially now during the heavy summer season) and if I’m free I just want to be left alone and don’t have any willpower to see any other people 😦

Anyway, I really really hope to visit Wales properly one day again, see all the lush mountains and explore the country to the fullest.