Gwdihw

It doesn't matter whether you are working, studying as an undergraduate, a postgraduate, a PhD or having the best time of your life (I'm talking about Erasmus - no need to specify); if you are going to spend a while in Wales, at the beginning of your whatever adventure (especially if you're a languages nutcase), you are sure you are going to put all your effort to get to know Welsh language. Yeah, right. At some point, you'll realise you are never even going to read Welsh. And you will never ever have any idea how to pronounce it, and you will start calling places with a Welsh name "that place with the Welsh name we don't know how is pronounced where we went to listen to that weird group".

And that would probably be Gwdihw.

Gwdihw (which - delightfully onomatopoeic, I think - means "owl") is a place in Cardiff where you can drink; and that is not a big surprise, nor it's the only one. But Gwdihw is probably one of the best places in town where you can listen to really good music: there is always something going on, some special shows or music events and always very nice artists show up and play; you can listen to rock 'n roll, folk, country, techno, electro music while enjoying a good beer, or smoking in the garden while having a deep (and, may I say, violently passionate, if you happen to be among Italians, Spanish or Greeks) conversation with your friends.

Source

Now, I know that's something you can find in other places as well; but there's something in Gwdihw, that special ingredient. It's the people. It might happen that you arrive at the bar with two other people and you end up spending the night in a group of ten, and normally you find people that share your interests (especially if it's a theme night), have your age, are funny, they seek for fun things to do and know all the small places in town you might like as well.

Maybe it's just the Erasmus spirit I found in myself when I was in Cardiff, but it's not rare to find new, nice and interesting friends like that, in Gwdihw.

You have beer, you have music, you have people to talk to: I don't know about you but, speaking for myself, that's the recipe of happiness.