Hello--
Today I spent most of the day on a trip to Birmingham organized by the International Student Office of the university. It was a good reason for getting away from working on the assignments I'll have to submit by Friday next week. Birmingham is the 2nd largest city in Britain with a lot to offer to suit everybody's taste. I used this opportunity to see Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery hosting the largest colletion of Pre-Raphaelite paintings in the world and an amazing collection of silver. I also went on a boat trip along some of the Birmigham canals, which the city is famous for and which were one of the first things to help it grow into a very important industrial center. On this trip I felt as if had been transferred into the past because of all the boats, often old or very old, floating in the canal waters, with all their told and untold stories of trasnporting all things necessary to keep the industry going. According to information from the article on the UK Canal Boat Hire web-site, "Birmingham is famous for having more miles of canals than Venice and in the middle of the 18th century there were 174 miles of canals in the area and there is still over 100 miles that remain navigable." Birmingham also hosts a famous Jewellery Quarter where 26 jewelleries were located in its time, while now it is one of the favourite destinations for shopping. It is also the location of the Cadbury World factory where you can see how chocalate is made and, of course, try some.:)
The city is now in full anticipation of the coming Christmas and hosts the German Christmas market with stalls packed with all sorts of sweet things, Christmas decorations and souveniers. The Christmas lights decorating the city make you feel as if you were at a kindergarten Christmas party. Very spectacular!
Even though today almost for the first time in 2 months I truly felt in the stereotypical Britain of fog and rains - it was raining most of the day - it did not spoil the trip and now I can return with renewed energy to working on the assignments one of which I described yesterday with renewed and much needed energy.
Comments
tata2000
Dear Natasha
It’s Tatiana, a colleague from Novosibirsk State University, Russia.
I’m so glad you manage to combine wisely your studies and rest. I’d rather call your last trip an adventure, yes … an adventure through Birmingham or all around it.
To be honest, I’m so pleasantly surprised how all is organized. I mean teaching / learning process as well as trips. It’s good that you’re constantly filled with new impressions which give you energy to work on all assignments. I’m sure you’ll do everything no time. How can you not, having the supportive environment and a considerable number of resources! Oh, I forgot the main thing – it’s your ability to cope with everything, and of course your creativity.
Hope you’ll write more about your impressions and acquired skills and share them with us, who are far away from you, but only geographically. You know what I mean :)
Wish you good luck!
Tatiana
P.S. still no sign of Christmas in Siberia…
nataneva
How wonderful to see you here!
Thanks for the words of encouragement and praise! What kind of signs of winter are you waiting for? Colder weather? But it was -15-18 or even colder a couple of days ago, right? More snow?
Many of my peers here keep asking me whether the weather in Leeds or in Britain all together is nice and warm. They say October was untypically warm and dry. The temperature was in mid to upper 10s. For the last couple of days, though, it has been "cold", about 5-8 degrees. Somebody told me, "It's winter now!" and I almost started laughing but luckily did not. However, I did mention that I'm from Siberia, which in almost all cases is followed by eyes widening, mouth opening and people asking how we manage it there. My favourite question is whether we have snow all year round.
There are other similar things people think about what Russia is like. However, one of the positive reactions I've had from people when they hear I'm from Russia is that of respect to the size of our country. At the same time, sometimes you have a feeling you are still in the years of "cold" war. It is amazing how long-lived stereotypes are! But don't we too have a lot about people from other countries?
What would be interesting to hear is what can be done to get a more adequate idea about other nations and countries. It's, of course, not a new and or original question but, maybe, you have some original idea about how to lessen stereotypes, particularly among younger people.
I'm inviting you to share your thoughts here!