Wales.com

St David’s Day Reception Barcelona
On 4 March 2010 the Welsh Assembly Government hosted a reception in the Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona to mark Saint David's Day and to highlight the Memorandum of Co-operation that Wales has with Catalunya.

Over 75 guests attended, and experienced a blend of Catalan cooking and Welsh hospitality. Philip Bird, of the Welsh Assembly Government welcomed the guests, followed by Àngel Cortadelles of Generalitat de Catalunya's Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Department, and finally by Andrew Gwatkin, HM Consul General, Barcelona, who is himself Welsh!

Photographs from the event can be seen on Flickr. Please also take a look at our LinkedIn group ‘Wales Reception Barcelona’ to see some photos and further comments from guests at the reception.

International Students Reception
On the 2 March and the 4 March, the First Minister for Wales and the Deputy First Minister for Wales held receptions in Cardiff and Llandudno for international students in Welsh universities to celebrate Wales’ national day, St David’s Day.

The students enjoyed an of evening Welsh food and drink and the opportunity to meet the Ministers and other international students. Azi Mah Zaili from Brunei who is studying at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff said "It was an honour to meet the First Minister and encouraging that he recognizes international students in Wales."

Take a look at our photo gallery to see pictures of the event and visit our message board to see other comments that the students left.

Sir Paul McCartney to play in Wales
Sir Paul McCartney has annouced that he will be playing at Millennium Stadium in Wales' capital Cardiff on the 26 June 2010.

The ex-Beatle said "Me and the band can't wait to get to Cardiff and rock out at the Millennium Stadium, which we have been looking forward to playing for quite a while now"

Tickets go on sale at 9am on Monday 8 March. For more information visit http://www.millenniumstadium.com/events/23330.php

Happy Holi
Happy Holi!

While Wales is celebrating St David’s Day today on the 1st March, India is also celebrating a festival called Holi. A delegation from Wales has come to Delhi this week as part of a week long programme to explore higher education links between the two countries, and some of us from the group took the opportunity to see this festival and spread some of the Welsh ‘Hwyl’ to our friends in India.

As soon as we got close to the festival area we could hear people singing and playing drums around the site. We turned a corner and someone smeared red paint across our cheeks and wished us ‘Happy Holi’. We placed paint on their face in turn and wished the same, and then everyone began to join in! After a few minutes we had red, green, orange, yellow and pink paint all over us and felt like we were truly part of the festival.

Men sitting with different shaped drums played continuously while people sang, clapped and danced along. Children of all ages were running in and out of the houses and between the trees trying to splash everyone with coloured water and then hiding in case they were splashed back. It was wonderful to see everyone enjoying themselves no matter what their age.

To join in the fun we had taken some Welsh dragon stencils and red paint to put on ourselves in honour of St David’s Day. Once those around us had seen them, we had lots of questions about the dragon and whether we used paint in our festivities for St David’s Day! See some of the short video clips on youtube to see our dragon stencils and holi paint on some of the people at the festival.