Samuel Discovered No Dragons in Wales

 Hello, I’m Samuel Argueta, and welcome to another edition of “There Be Dragons!”  

Let me get introductions out of the way. I’m a senior majoring in English with the hopes of becoming a novelist and editor. Additionally, I’m a member of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Club and Alpha Lambda Delta, and I’m an honors student completing international and disciplinary honors.  

This is the grand, but summarized, tale of my time abroad in Wales during the spring semester, where I studied creative writing at the *ahem* University of Wales Trinity Saint David at Lampeter. Unfortunately, since dragons don’t exist in Wales, so you know everything is a lie, and I legally cannot talk about the little troll guy I met at a Saintsbury parking lot unless I want to incur his raw, unbridled rage, I'll have to make it grand with what I got from my experience. 

The road to studying abroad was not full of kittens and rainbows; more like screaming Evas. Money wasn’t the issue, as I got support from the Gilman Scholarship and I saved up enough to survive. Instead, it was dealing with crippling mental issues I’ve suffered from all my life. My anxiety disorder and persistent depression spiked during the fall of 2022, and a crisis I had back in November threatened to take away all the work I put in. My parents and the university staff were reasonably wary of sending me 4,348 miles away to a country I'd never been to before on my own. My dream to one day explore the world pushed me to keep up my plan, but I had to prove to everyone that they didn’t have to worry about me too much. Throughout December, I got a psychiatrist who prescribed the right pills, contacted UWTSD about mental health programs, had a ton of sessions with my therapist, and ruminated about myself in the comforts of my bed at 3 a.m. Now, a month didn’t heal the scars—I don’t advertise trying to do the same thing—but I mentally recovered enough to feel ready for my trip, while also easing the stress from my parents. With my head held up high, I boarded my flight in January and landed in London because the Charlotte Douglas Airport didn’t have a stop at Cardiff. Had to wait an hour for the university to send a van to get me to campus. But, the point is I made it to campus and my abroad experience began. 

One of the reasons I chose good ol’ UWTSD was because it was the cheaper option out of the many international universities with a creative writing program. Going abroad was going to be expensive no matter what university I chose, so I decided to choose something a little easier on my wallet. But I was also interested in their proposal of being able to write a manuscript that could lead to it being published. That turned out to be the Independent Project module, which was very similar to the senior honors project I will be doing later this year. Instead of going to a class, I worked on my own time to write an 8000-word short story and a 1000-word critical essay reflecting on my process and the story as a whole. Unfortunately, taking this class meant that I could only take 2 courses throughout my time abroad. No problem for me, I'm used to not going out and making friends with classmates. I still touch grass though, what’s your excuse? 

I decided to write a science-fiction horror short-story. The story is about a girl who returns to her hometown years after she and her family escaped due to the townspeople’s cultish obsession over them, only to find a mystery when the town is both devoid of life and war-ridden. My advisor throughout the project was Professor Sarah Reynolds, who also taught the other course I participated in. Great person; absolutely recommend UWTSD to people interested in creative writing just for her. Anyway, we would have meetings based on the drafts I sent her and she would discuss what’s good about them and what could change and/or be improved. She was hard on me but that’s because she knew the writing business, and I could tell she genuinely wanted to help me…also because I once gave her a draft made up of around 18000 words. Yes, I did go way over the word limit and, yes, I did condense the hell out of that story. It was so much that I still had work when I left the country early to travel with my family to El Salvador in May. But, at the end of a grueling 2-week grind, I successfully turned in my story, which I christened "How it Struck, In A Silent Way." Although the publishing thing never happened, which I shouldn't be surprised by since that was obviously meant for students who were completing the full 4 years, I’ll probably send it to the Greensboro Review when I feel it’s ready for the public. Despite that, I’m glad that I wrote a completed manuscript, and I’m proud of the lessons I learned from Professor Reynolds that helped me better my craft. 

Now, with the school stuff out of the way, I’ll share two experiences I cherished. In the months leading to the start date, I imagined traveling around Wales on my own; a lone adventurer meeting new people and exploring new and beautiful sites. I was fairly convinced this would happen, but that changed when I met two people who became irreplaceable friends: Lavinia and Phoenix. I met them both at the airport and got to know them during the van ride to campus. Lavinia was from Italy, while Phoenix was from China. We all stayed in the same apartment; I and Lavinia were basically next-door neighbors in the same flat while Phoenix was 3 floors above us. We shared a lot of memories, traveling to the neighboring towns of Carmarthen and Aberystwyth, and eating together in our small kitchen. But I’ll never forget how much they understood and supported me when the memories of my crisis resurfaced or when my depression worsened. None of the experiences I had in Wales would have been as memorable without them, and I still cherish the friendship we forged.  

Also, my right eye is half-closed in half of the pictures involving me and my friends. Lavinia…forgive me. 

In April, I and other UNCG students that went to Wales took the opportunity to travel to other countries during our Easter Break. In a week, we went to London, Paris, and Dublin. Planning that was hell, especially with getting the timing for arriving and departing right, but we still had a magical time. Now that you have the context, let me tell you the story in which I went off on my own somewhere while in Paris. Not all of us arrived at the same time due to not sharing the same mode of transportation—for example, I took the train while others took a plane— so some of them were going to wait at the Airbnb we rented. I, on the other hand, decided to travel to the main city on my own to a place I figured no one else in the group would have any interest in. Yes, I went on my own in a city with a language I had no clue about, and I still have one of my kidneys. You might be thinking that I went to the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower as an excuse to get a semblance of that original dream. 

Nope, I went to the Bandai Hobby Store. 

What? Hey, at least you saw a picture of West Minister Abbey from a high position within the London Eye. 

I’m a huge fan of Gundam fan. My favorite part is all the war crimes being committed, and Amuro getting slapped. However, dedicated Bandai and Gundam stores are far and few between in America. So, when I learned there was one located in Paris, I just had to visit. Heck, on my to-do list for Paris, I put that as the top priority over the Eiffel Tower. Anyway, when I stepped into that store, I realized that I stepped into a Gundam paradise masquerading as a store. Various built models in glass displays, categorized by the show they appeared in; a stairwell leading to the bottom floor that had a timeline of all of the Rx-78-2 Gundam model kits over the years, with the actual models behind glass embedded in the wall; shelves upon shelves full of model kit boxes; even a dedicated fixture for people’s entries from Gundam model builders’ competitions including the gold first-place trophy. I was in consumer heaven! It was so much to absorb that I was in that store for a whole hour. By the end, I bought a 1/144 scale model kit of the Rx-78 Gundam based on the giant moving statue in Yokohama, Japan, as a memento of my visit. Yep, that was the best hour of my life, surrounded by beautiful plastic robots. Freakin worth it.  

Overall, those 4 months in Wales were momentous, and I will cherish my experience for the rest of my life. I proved to myself that the illnesses I suffered from don't control me anymore, and I can accomplish great things that matter to me. For anyone desiring to study abroad, but you're suffering from mental illness, I'd say go for it. Don't do it just to prove to others you can; do it to prove to yourself. With support, planning, patience, and tenacity, it's completely possible. Take it one step at a time. 

That’s it from me. I hope you enjoyed my post and feel ready for your big step into this big, blue, ever-changing world. One last thing, my one tip to those also going to the U.K: do not, under any circumstance, eat Cadbury cream eggs.