Category: Manchester

"Here, there is an insane love of football, of celebration, of music." "A city that thinks a table is for dancing on." "We do things differently here." "It all comes from here." I smiled as I read these quotes about Manchester by famous Brits — actors, musicians and athletes — in a shop the morning before I left. That's because now I understand. I didn't know what to expect from Manchester. A few of you know that I originally wasn't even supposed to go there. When I did decide to, I hadn't done a lot of research; I hadn't even heard of the city except for Manchester United. (It was in the U.K. and didn't require knowledge of another language, which, in my frenzied state at the time, was enough…

My last trip before leaving England was to its capital city. I went for a weekend a month or two ago, and I felt like I didn't have time to see everything I wanted to see. So, between essay deadlines and friends visiting, I went again. On Monday, I did some more walking around London. My hostel was literally steps from Hyde Park, so I went through the Queen's Gates and walked the length of the park. I also went to the British Museum, where I saw the Rosetta Stone and other ancient Egyptian artifacts; London Bridge and Tower Bridge, the city's two most famous paths across the Thames River; and King's Cross Station, home to typical railways and tourist attraction Platform 9 3/4. Yep, definitely tourist status right here.…

My time in the United Kingdom has flown by — in less than 48 hours, I will be on a plane back to the U.S., and I can't believe it. I've spent the past few weeks in the country, seeing more of Manchester and its surrounding cities. A few weeks ago, I went to my first Manchester United football game. We played Hull City and won 3-1. My friends and I found them to be more polite than Americans during sporting events (OK, except for when the 3-year-old next to us shouted the f-bomb every two minutes when participating in their cheers), but I was later informed that this was unusual — Hull City just "isn't that good of a team." The front of the world-famous Old Trafford. The next…

Partly as a celebration for completing two of three classes and partly to check a few more items off my England bucket list, I took a break from studying for finals mid-week and took a two-day trip to Bath. First stop in Bath: the Jane Austen Centre. The acclaimed writer spent a lot of time in Bath and set a few of her works there, so the town has plenty to offer literature lovers. The centre, adjacent to one of the places she once lived, offers a brief history of her life and lots of information about life during that time period. It was really interesting, and I liked that all of the employees dressed in period clothing. Practicing my signature with a quill and ink. The afternoon was pretty…

The English countryside is exactly how it's portrayed in the media: green, full of sheep and beautiful. Just in case you needed a visual. Unfortunately, the weather was unusually cold and rainy, as you can probably tell from that grey sky. As part of the HOST UK program offered to international students here, I spent this past weekend in Much Wenlock, a small town in Shropshire that is relatively near Shrewsbury and Wales. I stayed with a lovely British couple (and their two cats) on a small farm on a hill. My experience was very different than my other weekends, which I've spent traveling or hanging out with other university students, and I had a really nice time. I arrived late Friday afternoon, so we went straight to their home…