Jaclyn, Cardiff - Week 6

Since last week, I got pooped on by a bird (again), ate seven different cuisines in one meal, saw Olly Murs, and ate a dirty breakfast. Not to worry, I have an explanation for all of that.

First of all, there are thousands of pidgeons in view at any given time. If you look down at the ground, no more than an inch or two goes by without you seeing a golf ball-sized, white splat on the ground.

This is the second time a pidgeon has pooped on me since I've been here.... I think the birds are aiming for me... Supposedly getting pooped on by a bird is good luck, but let me tell you - I've been pooped on twice and didn't feel very lucky either time.

Bird rant over.

This past weekend was the Admiral company party. It was absolutely incredible.The pictures definitely do not suffice.




Millennium Stadium

 

The party was held at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff which is where the rugby team plays. It's huge.

It looked really pretty on the outside with the sun hitting it so I felt like I had to include a picture.



Canopy Entrance to the Company Party!





View of the party from the entrance

The theme of the party was "Once Upon A Time." So when we walked in, we were appropriately greeted by a canopy entrance that felt like one of those tunnels (American) football players run through before the start of a game. At the other end of the canopy entrance was the coolest party I have ever been to.



Hogwarts Great Hall

It was split into four main parts: Hogwarts Great Hall from Harry Potter, where there were picnic tables for sitting down and eating with, of course, many food stands around it;



Helter Skelter slide and Arabian Nights gaming tents



the Arabian Nights game area, where each game was set up in an Arabian-themed canopy tent; a Tiki area, complete with flower leis and fruity drinks; and Neverland, where there was a life-sized chess board and mini golf.



The Neverland section of the party





Mini Golf!



Me and Amy at the Company Party!

In addition to these four main parts were a checkered dance floor surrounded by two of Cinderella's castles, a zip wire that stretched from one end of the stadium to the other, and a giant Helter Skelter tower with a slide that circled around the entire outside. Oh, and how could I forget the entertainment: Olly Murs performed!

 

Me and Gary in our matching purple!





It was the party of a life time. The food and drinks were great, the music was great, and the decorations were incredible. It was better than I imagined it would be and I'm so incredibly lucky I was able to be a part of it!

Now to address the dirty breakfast and the seven-cuisine meal. Over here in the UK, a fried/unhealthy breakfast is called a "dirty breakfast." Typically, this includes egg and/or bacon and/or sausage, or any combination of the three. Last Friday, our Head of Recruitment, Andrew (or AV, as we cann him), announced that he was buying us all breakfast. It was a nice treat in addition to being allowed to leave at 4 instead of 5, which we had been notified of just minutes earlier.

Anyway, we took a trip to the market for our dirty breakfast. I got an egg and bacon roll and put brown sauce on it to be extra Welsh. There's no equivalent to brown sauce in the US (that I know of). Brown sauce is essentially a mix between ketchup and barbeque sauce, without the tangy taste. It's hard to describe but it's pretty good - at least with the dirty breakfast I had.

On Sunday, at least in terms of what I ate, I felt right at home. For breakfast, I made French toast (ironically, a very American thing to eat for breakfast) and scrambled eggs with cheese. We also had British sausage and some fruit on the side. It was a great post-Company Party breakfast.

Dinner was at an all-you-can-eat restaurant, hence the seven-cuisine meal. I don't know how I ate 4 plates of food/pudding, but I did. Overall I had Indian, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Japanese, and British cuisine. (No traditional American food, but being at an all-you can-eat restaurant felt American enough!)

Pizza, Sushi, Vegetable Samosa, Vegetable Noodles,
Spring Roll, Chicken Quesadilla



My friends individually kept asking me if we had places like this in America... I laughed and told them that yes, we did. All over the place.



Spanish potatoes, British sausage, Spicy corn, potato

wedge, chicken tika masala



Chocolate and Mint Ice Cream with Walnut Brownies







Honeydew, Creme Brulee, Chocolate-dipped
marshmallws, a wanut brownie, and a mini almond
pastry



 

5.5 weeks down, 3.5 to go...