Hey everyone! So it’s Friday evening and I have to say, it’s been quite a long week. My flight landed on Monday (Sept 9) at 8:30am at Heathrow Airport and all of us student got to the flat to unpack. And from there it’s been busy! Keep reading to see what I have been up to! Z
First experience in the coach (van/small bus):
That was a terrifying experience! I kept on feeling like we were turning head on into traffic. It was incredibly hard to to gasp out loud. That took a few days to get used to, but even now, it’s still a little unsettling. I find it surprising how something as simple as driving on a different side of the road can be so different. In my mind, I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a difference until I got into the vehicle. The slow lane that would normally be the right land on a two lane highway (going in the same direction) would be the left lane and the right would be the passing lane. And on roundabouts, you would turn left instead of right. I’m still trying to get used to the traffic situation, as you can probably tell. I think learning how to drive may be out of the question, but who knows what will happen!!
Flat’s (Apartment) and the Neighborhood:
My living quarters is in a neighborhood that sees primarily occupied by people with south Asian descent. I haven’t meet any of our neighbors yet but hopefully the group and I will get to extend friendly hellos to them soon. The flat is on top of a Lutheran Church and is quiet spacious. I don’t feel cramp in the flat at all. There are six bedrooms and my roommate and I decided a double would be best for us. There is a full-size kitchen and living room and dinner area, with two bathrooms.
I went for a few runs so far to get familiar to the other neighborhood and stores. Coming from a small town, I’m not used to all this traffic and noise. My runs are usually on trails or through quiet neighborhoods, now they are right next to all the traffic. That’s going to be an adjustment. Anyways, there is a little of everything that is in walking distance. Restaurants, grocery stories, convenient stores, salons, etc. All the Luther students has bus passes so that will allow us to get to pretty much anywhere in the city.
Exploring Nottingham:
The group and I took the bus to downtown area to look around and see what’s available to us. There is EVERYTHING here. Looking out the window on the route the bus took, there are grocery stores for every type of food you could possible want to cook with – Polish, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Thai, African, and so much more. There is also a variety of restaurants and pubs.
Although there is a variety of ethnicities here, I have a feeling that it is quite segregated by ethnic groups. During my bus ride, I saw communities of Turks, then communities of people of African descent, and so on. People of different backgrounds are not living in the same communities.
The downtown area is buzzing! There are tons of cafes and stores to explore. I found this massive bookstore called Waterstones. It has 4 floors of books!! That’s massive! Definitely going to be spending plenty of time in there in the near future. While walking through there, I noticed that books have a different cover than they do in the U.S. Found that to be interesting.
The Residences of Nottingham:
This section is going to be short because I haven’t had much interaction with natives here yet. Most of the interactions include saying hello and thank you. However, I did notice that all the natives here, no matter your ethnicity, they all have a British accent. I find that very unique and uniting. Hopefully, I’ll have more to say about interactions with others next week!
Where am I currently?
Right now, I am in Durham on a six day travel trip as part of my learning course. Im on my second day of the trip and will return on Tuesday. Check back next week to see pictures and stories about my trip throughout the UK!
Nottingham Adventures 