Halloween*Thanksgiving*Christmas Party

Our dorm's wonderfully carved melon [We couldn't get a pumpkin] props to Ondra.

A random moment at Sosh on Halloween night with Sunniva and Trix.

Halloween at AC is good fun, in which everyone dresses up and goes to the Halloween Party, which puts money towards Student Bursary fund, the college, the yearbook, and other funds within the school as do all of the other parties and events that occur at AC. The Americans also celebrated with some Halloween candy that was sent by some parents of my co-years, as well as a shopping spree at Coffee Lounge for chocolates, candies, sodas, and anything else that could make us feel in the spirit of Halloween.

Andrea and Emma wafting the godliness of their terrifying yet delicious stuffing.

Our Ostritch sized Turkey that the Canteen so nicely cooked for us. Delicious eh?

Fettucini Alfredo, Chocolate chip cookies, stuffed mushrooms, and my famous pecan pie [ha!].

DIG INNNN AMERICANS!

Thanksgiving. A seemingly ubiquitous sentiment among the American students here is the desire to be home for Thanksgiving, and to have the feeling of togetherness that Thanksgiving has. Thankfully, the school pays every single year for the Americans to get a Turkey, and the Canteen cooks it for us generously. Luckly for me, I was on the American squad sent to Bridgend to get ingredients that seem to not exist in this country, and to lug back the grande turkey [I swear it was an ostritch]. So, Will [New Jersey], Sophie [Tennessee], Virginia [New York] and I got our ruck sacks and hopped onto the short train to Bridgend. We took the taxi over to Tesco [Which we didn’t realize was maybe a block away…] and commenced on searching for a turkey, and substitutes for American Ingredients that are hard to find. Turkies are INSANELY hard to find here; I’ve never really thought of it, but it’s almost a completely New World product, so to get our turkey we spent about 15£, so about $35 with the horrid status of the American Dollar here. I decided to make my family’s recipe for Pecan pie, but it’s tough when a cup of pecans costs around 5 bucks, there’s no corn syrup, and no pie crusts. So, I bit my lip and bought the pecans, found some “Golden Syrup”, and bought a pack of Pastry sheets that I simply cut into the shape. After cooking in Asbjorn and Janet’s House, we met in Powys Dayroom with the 16-odd Americans and set up the feast. First of all, we went through everyone to ask what you were thankful for, and then said quick things about the food we prepared. We also had the honor to have Selena Sermenos and her daughter Maria Alexa from the UWC-USA campus to join us in eating the Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffed Mushrooms, Stuffing, Cranberry Jelly, Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Caesar Salad, Rolls, and Fettucini Alfredo. It was delicious, and really nice to have all of the Americans together. We also had the chance to get the Davis Scholars together and take a great picture to which Selena was going to give to Tim Smith, the Director of Admissions for the Davis Scholars at UWC-USA. Even though I was missing out on my family dinner in Texas, I had the chance to be together with my Davis Scholar family, and to be insanely loud screaming Americans around a table of food.

Second-Year Davis Scholars.

Mr. David Kay [Frieda's Dad and an AC Alumni], Selena Sermenos, and Frieda Kay.

CHRISTMAS PARTY! Every single house on campus has a budget set aside for the Christmas Party celebration, in which different houses have places around campus where you make food, decorate, dance, and have a date for the party. Luckily, Dyfed gets to have our party in the Old Staff Common Room [A grandiose Castle-Like room with a place to dance and couches!]. Another part of the Christmas party is an intra-Dyfed Secret Santa System. All of the second years have a first year Secret Santa, and all of the First years have a second year Secret Santa. The point is to basically do as many small yet fun/sweet things as you can for your Santee, and then present them with a gift at the Christmas party before we all leave to our different parts of the world again. Here are some Pictures of my Secret Santa Gifts [Creative eh?]:

I found this on the floor in the dayroom.

And this written on the boy's corridor's window...

And found this poem/song with a coconut in the dayroom as well! See below for the individual pieces of the poem.

Cheers!

Kirb

P.S. AC Holds a christmas "fayre" every year in which vendors, bands, and people from all over Wales come to celebrate. In order to make sure the castle is visible at night for the visitors, they light it up with blue, green, and purple lights. It's possibly one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen.