lifeofalanguagestudent

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

NEW BLOG DOMAIN ✏️

I’ve moved domain to http://www.georgettaloretta.com !

Thank you for visiting my site 💕

GL xxx

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

I’ve lived in this city for approximately seven months. I use the verb ‘live’  loosely as I have had my name inscribed on a tenancy agreement since the 1st September of last year when I’ve actually spent about half of my time in Nottingham –  a city an hour south of my bespoke “home”. This is a result of a jumble of reasons that I won’t ramble one with, but instead, I thought it was about time to share the various sights and eateries settled amongst the squash of buildings and pot-holed streets of Sheffield. I’ve grown to love it (except for the hills) in my own way and as a postgraduate student, it has been a good city with a great atmosphere.

The town centre was the first place I remember visiting in Sheffield. Actually, the first memory I have of the city was at a takeaway called Aslan’s on the corner of Division street after a rather colourful night at Corporation club back in September 2012. [Heck, where has the time gone?]

But to retain some idea of being a sophisticated student, let’s picture a bright and sunny town centre. Although there are not many shops filling the high streets, there are a couple of large spaces and sights worth the visit. The first is the Peace Gardens on the south side of the majestic Town Hall. It is a semi-circle in shape and has a fountain to one side which children run through in delight during the summer months. It’s a hot spot for the lunch time hour break or meal, especially with a (really good) Pastry shop and Costa Coffee only 100 yards away.

Sheffield Peace Gardens credit: @bannydav [insta]

Once you’ve sunned yourself to happy satisfaction, the Winter Gardens are located a 50-metre walk away which is attached to the Sheffield Contemporary [Museum]. This includes a room dedicated to the history of the steel industry of Sheffield as it was the thriving “City of Steel” back in the day. It even showed how the stages of making cutlery and cutting it into the correct shapes which I found intriguing.

credit: @steamyard [insta]

credit: @steamyard [insta]

Now you’ve educated yourself a bit on Sheffield history and legacy, head up past the city hall onto Division street. There are a few eclectic shops but most importantly, set your sights on a cafe called Steamyard. I discovered this little tucked away gem when I first started in Sheffield as I wanted to check out cafés and which were good to study in. Steamyard [insta: @steamyard] offers both a great atmosphere and cracking food. They have bagels and sandwich options for lunch, as well as brownies, macaroons, doughnuts and now, are selling kronuts which are just gorgeous! It so happens that they have been chosen as one of the UK’s top 30 places to have brunch by the Telegraph. They also offer dairy-free and gluten-free options so there are no excuses not to make a visit! If you only feel like a quick caffeine quick, that’s also cool, as there’ll be more food stops along this adventure!

Once stuffed with delicious goodies, it’s time to walk off those calories by heading up the hill to the University situated at the top of West Street/Glossop Road. Although it’s a little scattered, the University of Sheffield Student Union is a large funky-looking building that is cavernous on the inside. The best time to visit is during term time as students are bustling in and out, giving the place life and energy. Once you’ve got a glimpse of life through a ‘uni of’ student’s eyes, head on up to Weston Park where there’s a museum, but also a nice loop route and a cute duck pond with a bridge. (I always think if you wear old victorian clothes and ignored the modern buildings behind, it’d be like you’re in a Jane Austen book).

Source: http://www.travelettes.net/five-reasons-to-go-to-sheffield/ [blog]

If you’re as fit as a fiddle and enjoy the walk along the Sheffield streets, I’d recommend following the main road outside the Museum-side park gates up to Broomhill which is a little hub of shops. If you haven’t eaten lunch in Steamyard, now is the time to fill your grumbling tummies. There are a couple of pubs, including Nottingham House which is known for its yummy pies. But most importantly, there is a Vietnamese place which recently has opened up on the corner called Nam Song Coffee House [insta: @namsonguk]. Its exterior is bright orange (and this is one of the reasons I ventured in in the first place). The food is delicious and affordable (students I’m looking at you as there is also a 10% discount). When it first opened, it offered the Vietnamese sandwich: Bahn Mi, or the Vietnamese noodle soup: Pho. You get to pick the meat, the vegetables, the sauces… it’s basically a DIY/PYO job and hey presto! it’ll appear in front of you. The other major perk of the place is the Vietnamese filter coffee which can come with condensed milk. *drool*

Source: @georgieporgie152 [insta]

Source: @georgieporgie152 [insta]

Now we’ve packed ourselves with all the goodies, it’s time for even more wandering over to the Botanical Gardens! You’ll be glad to hear this part is a ten-minute downhill stroll. The best time of year to go is either spring or autumn as it’s colourful and the pictures are instagram-worthy in the bright sunshine. There is an indoor part full of plants from other parts of the world and, surprisingly, a bear pit! It was used in the 1800s and has recently been restored with the addition of a 2.4m steel sculpture of a bear.

The Bear Pit: Sheffield Botanical Gardens. source: @georgieporgie152 [insta]

Now, this is where the rest of the day is yours, you can catch a bus back into the centre – there’s the 6, 271 or 52 outside the top end of the Botanical gardens that can take you back to the city centre.

One place I haven’t mentioned yet is Kelham Island. It is most commonly known for the Kelham Island Museum, which “was opened in 1982 to house the objects, pictures and archive material representing Sheffield’s industrial story.” [source: website]. There is also a micro-brewery which you can book a tour to see how they make their beers and the industry in Sheffield.

If you’re stuck for evening activities, here are some suggestions:

if you want to continue to be cultured: there are two theatres, the Lyceum and the Crucible, next to each other nearby the town centre and the station. Sometimes there is a very popular play on but others are usually less known but still really good to watch. There are often student discounts and are reasonably priced.

if you are looking for a more energetic scene: another idea is to walk along West Street as it is the heart of Sheffield’s nightlife scene: the Wick at Both Ends is known for delicious cocktails, as are Bloo 88 and Cavendish for happy hour deals

for dinner: in the city centre there’s the Botanist (££) which is a restaurant decorated like an enchanted forest and has good cocktails, a Spanish place called Cubana (££) which offers good sized portions of tapas. As well as the usual chains such as All Bar One, Wagamamas, Zizzi’s, McDonalds… whatever you fancy 😀

I hope this guide has given you a glimpse of what a day in Sheffield is like, maybe it even tempts you to one day visit! The train station is an easy 10-minute walk from the city centre, or there is a tram that you can get on for £1.60 one way journey all the way up to the University if you so wish! 

If you have any recommendations that I haven’t mentioned, or your own experiences, feel free to share them! I love hearing about new or different places to have an adventure at. It’s impossible to fit in everything in a day and there’s much more to see in Sheffield… or just to catch a train or drive to the Peak District ❤

  TGIF 😀

Xo.

the peaky perks of sheffield; a day out in the city I've lived in this city for approximately seven months. I use the verb 'live'  loosely as I have had my name inscribed on a tenancy agreement since the 1st September of last year when I've actually spent about half of my time in Nottingham -  a city an hour south of my bespoke "home".

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

it's about time: healthy happiness.

Since the 1st of January 2017, I’ve probably written a gazillion to-do lists in various notebooks and mobile phone apps with things I want to achieve. Okay, I’ve been doing that since my teenage years and have wanted to become a better person for both myself and those around me… and I’m not yet where I want to be. I’ve done well at meeting my academic goals, my adventure goals, any form of…

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

Who dunnit!?: murder mystery at its finest

April 7th, 2017:

I recently participated in hosting my fourth murder mystery dinner party with my “not-technically-my-housemates-but-those-who-I-live-with-them-most-of-the-time-housemates” in Nottingham last Friday.

As I am no longer a ��fresher” and have transitioned from the ‘club scene’ to the ‘bar scene’ to go out for a few drinks and possibly a dance, I think that us young adults are having…

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harry potter world: omgyes

When a former housemate and one of my closest friends Dave revealed he had got a graduate job at Ocado based in Hatfield (Hertfordshire) last year, I yelled with excitement about two things:

I totally get the delivery discount right?!

that’s so close to the Harry Potter Studio Tours, we have to go!

On the 8th April, we made the second true. (I’m still waiting on a discount code Dave…)

It was one…

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

Hello lovely people! 

I apologise for the delay! I cannot believe that a week has flown by nor that I have been so utterly busy for every waking minute of each day.

Wednesday － 周三

It has been hectic! On my first morning there (wednesday) I was still pretty cold and as I was still on my own I felt a wave of “get me out of here now, what have I done?” for a good half an hour. I asked at the desk a few times about my electricity and on the third time the receptionist was able to tell me I’d have electricity sometime in the afternoon. There is only wifi in the lobby of the accommodation buildings so that morning quite a few of us met each other there due to trying to connect with home. I met an Australian called Lisa, an American called Anna and a guy from New Zealand called Jos (pronounced ‘yos’). We ended up going for a walk around the campus together and getting lunch at one of the canteens. The food was pretty good!! It’s self-serve so you pick as many dishes of a selection of fish, meat, vegetables, and rice and pay for them accordingly. Ningbo is said to be famous for their seafood but everything was really tasty. It was also so fantastic to meet new people and chat and be social. I love it. Everyone so far is really friendly!

The Yellow River flowing nearby the city centre! :)

By then the registration session had started so we headed there and met another bunch of international students. There are quite a few French and Canadian people, as well as a Danish guy, a few from Finland, four girls from Ireland, and two Koreans (and this wasn’t all of them!) The registration process was a bit of a hassle because if our payments for the accommodation hadn’t come through yet we had to go to an office on the other side of campus to show them proof of payment in order to return and complete the process. I had to go back and forth a few times because I had left my phone to charge in my room so I didn’t realise I’d need proof of payment until we had shown up at the finance office. It probably took me almost two hours because I chatting to various people as I went.

The rest of the girls from the UK arrived too so I was helping them sort out anything that I had already done. Beana has moved into my flat and Molly and Juliet are across the hall in another. Once we finally completed registration we headed back to our residence to see many other students waiting outside. They were headed to town so we decided to tag along! Once we got to the bus stop we realised no one actually knew which bus to take! So Lisa and I asked a couple of Chinese students coming out of the gate and they told us where to go. So off we wandered and eventually got on a bus!

This journey took longer than expected. It turns out the campus is in the bottom south-east side of the city which is about twenty-five minutes by taxi away. The journey, in the end, took us about an hour! We went in search of food and a couple of the guys asked some people if there were any bars and where they were. (Typical westerners hehe) We ended up in a place called “Munich Brewery” which was a shame because it was western food but the upside was we got to walk along the river going through the city! There were a few fountains alongside it and a lot of the buildings were lit up so it looked really bright and pretty. By eight o’clock that evening we were falling asleep on the restaurant’s table so caught taxis home. 

Thursday － 周四

The following day we had a campus tour and a series of introductory talks throughout the afternoon. It was pretty thorough and informative. The gym/sports centre on campus is free!! Thus I have no excuse to play badminton as much as I can and do some exercise during this semester. Following all that we found ourselves heading to IKEA to get a few basic things for our rooms. The prices were pretty similar to other countries but it wasn’t extortionate at all. I ended up following the pink theme as I bought a baby pink bin, pink blanket and . I mixed it up a little with a small orange rug and also got a black analog clock. Now I am very snug when I get into bed at night without needing the heater on constantly. The IKEA here is massive. I know they are meant to be huge warehouses but this one never seemed to end. I think it was because they had about double the amount of showrooms with no shortcuts throughout the store. I wonder whether this is because IKEA wants to advertise a lot of ways of how to make the “rooms” look spotless in order to be able to sell even more to the Chinese population. But then again, they do that in every IKEA anyway.. Hmm..

Friday – 周五

One of the best days so far!

We started the day early again to go on a day trip organised by the student society ‘Vís-a-Vís’ to introduce us to the city. A short journey later it seemed we were on the outskirts of the city and going into a series of traditional style Chinese buildings called ‘Tiangong Villa’. It was beautiful! We spent a few hours there learning a few arts and crafts such as ‘Chinese knots’, trying different teas, making origami flowers, and building and decorating our own Chinese lanterns. Lisa and I paired up and made one and it was pretty awesome!! I wrote our Chinese names and painted the tree, she painted the cute little fish and the sea. We also had lunch there and it was a proper sit down meal in the middle of an open courtyard. It was the one day that was warm and sunny so it was soooo lovely. We ate a variety of dishes but the most impressive was the last they served. When the dish was put down on the table it looked as if they had just served us mushrooms but oh no! These were buns filled with pork that had been made to look exactly like mushrooms!! We have no idea how they managed to go into so much detail and even make the top layer look authentic, but they did and the mushroom buns were delicious!

The next stop on our adventure was the ‘Tianyi Library’ which is an old house with lots of beautiful gardens that dates back to the 11th century. The reason it is called a library is because the man who owned it collected over 70,000 books and kept them there.

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After the library we were dropped off at a shopping mall called InCity in which I bought a big cardigan from H&M and a coat from uniqlo. It’s not terribly thick but it acts as my inner layer to the big waterproof coat I have. Then I joined the others in the supermarket to buy a few drinks. Luckily I found Eric wandering around and managed to get him to tag along with me to the alcohol section. He ended up carrying my basket and following me around the shop telling me where to get the few bits I needed such as tissues and food. He’s a gem!

Friday night was amazing. We all went to the Irish girls’ flat to pre-drink then out into the club to an area called Lao Wai Tan which is full of bars and clubs. It was most of our massive group who went which was incredible! We ended up staying in a bar called Candles for the entire night which was playing pretty good music and had a snooker table. Shots were 10¥ (£1ish) of which I only had one! So a lot of people were going for it! 

When we left the club I was starving. I’m so used to having McDonald’s after a night out in Nottingham and old habits die hard. I spotted street food on the other side of the road so we crossed and I had a kebab (not like a donner kebab at all!) and the boys had noodles. We got home at about half four to find ourselves locked out of a accommodation building having forgotten about the newly installed system of using our cards to open the doors. However our cards didn’t work either because we hadn’t been told that we had to activate it! Luckily the receptionist who was sleeping in the room behind the desk woke up and let us all in.

The weekend was pretty calm compared to the first few days which was nice. I went on an adventure to Ningbo Train Station with Lisa then we went shopping in WanDa Plaza. Other than that I just spent time with Juliet, Molly and Beana and other internationals we met up with!

Oh, I should explain the title: 中国通 is translated to ‘a china hand’ in English. The meaning of this is that a 中国通 is someone who is an expert on Chinese culture and on being Chinese. I am far from being that at the moment… but step by step I may succeed in becoming one!

All my love.

Xo.

Year Abroad #China: Becoming a 中国通 – part one. Hello lovely people!  I apologise for the delay! I cannot believe that a week has flown by nor that I have been so utterly busy for every waking minute of each day.

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

Year Abroad #Madrid: christmas is coming!

christmas in madrid

This a quick post just to share the beauty of Madrid with you – Christmas style. When I saw Emily and Emma on the last weekend of November, we walked about the centre of Madrid to see all of the beautiful Christmas lights. The best places to go when the lights are up:

Puerta de Alcalá Plaza de Cibeles Gran Vía Puerta del Sol Plaza de Jacinto Benavente Plaza Mayor

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Year Abroad: philosophy

The saying “everything happens for a reason” doesn’t mean the fate is pre-determined, that we only have one Tree of Life that grows branches in certain directions to climb up. But rather, that everything we do is based on the choices we make, and that involves swinging from tree to tree constantly. For reasons we don’t understand – even if it could be explained to be something as simple as, “the…

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In November last year, Jessie and I had promised to see each other in the new year of 2017, aiming for the end of March. In January I found myself on Flybe’s website booking a flight to Newquay airport in Cornwall after working out that it was cheaper to catch a train to Manchester Airport rather than drive myself [for five hours omg] or catch many trains for 7-8 hours with awkward journey times. I couldn’t believe I was going to go to Cornwall!

Soon enough, Sunday 2nd of April arrived and I was heading to Nottingham Train Station to catch the 11:44 train to Manchester Airport. Jessie moved down to Cornwall a year ago to pursue her dream of living in a place she has spent her life going on holiday to with her family and got a job at one of the local and top brand hotels in north Cornwall near Newquay. I admire her for making the move to somewhere new and taking on the challenges of adulthood face on. I boarded the little plane that would leap across the British isles to my destination and found myself considering the topic of adulthood and what it entails. I seem to keep coming across articles or things that talk about us ‘twentysomethings‘ and our lives here and now. Nevertheless, I let those thoughts dance away and attempt to emanate relaxed vibes instead.

At 17:30 I arrived at the tiniest little airport I’ve ever seen. It was one building the size of a town hall and the baggage reclaim was the size of a lounge in a standard semi-detached house. As I had no luggage, I was in arrivals in about 39 seconds. Wow. :D

Ten minutes later Jessie and I found each other and we were soon zooming down the winding country lanes talking about her car as it’s very similar to mine! Seat Mii / Skoda citigo cars are obviously the cool trend at the moment… :D

Mawgan Porth Beach, Cornwall

We stopped at Mawgan Porth beach, removed our shoes to feel the sand between our toes, and walked out towards the crashing waves and the sea beyond, sharing our most recent updates and tales. The water was rather icy and a bit of a surprise to our little toes but that couldn’t ruin the 360 view that surrounded us. The sun was low in the sky, warm light cascading down over the green coast that disappeared into the distance on both sides of where we were standing. It was one of those moments where no cameras are used, where you really take it in and experience it 100%.

Once back at the car, Jessie drove us to where she lives in St Eval and gave me a little tour of her three bedroom home that she shares with her 19 year old brother. I think if I lived with Harry, we would drive each other mad… Nonetheless, their house was lovely, cosy and the pet hamster was a cute extra housemate that loved to loudly chew the bars on its cage. In the evening we went to a

Polzeath Bay, Cornwall

pub by the famous beach in Polzeath called the Oyster Catcher for a drink and some light food. Given that I was by the sea, we decided to share two starters: moûles frites and prawn skewers. Yum.

I made it my challenge to eat as much seafood as possible during my forty-eight hours in this Cornish land. By hour four: we were back home, relaxed on the sofa, and planned for the next day…

At 10:45am, hour seventeen, we arrived at the Headland Hotel by Fistral Beach on the south side of Newquay for a relaxing few hours in the spa. We donned big plush dressing gowns and complimentary flip flops and made sure to make full use of the facilities. :D The swimming pool area had different shower areas, one had different settings such as “tropical storm” which douses you in cold water to eventually add hot water to give you a “refreshing” experience. My response to that was just pure shock at the water temperature. I hope I never get stuck in a real tropical storm… There was a relaxation room which was the best part of the spa facilities with big loungers, fluffy blankets with complimentary sweeties and tea. We had lunch at 13:30, hour twenty, and I kept to my challenge, having battered seafood, which meant I ticked squid, white fish and more prawns off my seafood checklist. Double yum.

Headland Hotel, near Fistral Beach

Headland Hotel, near Fistral Beach

Headland Hotel, near Fistral Beach

At 15:30, hour twenty-two,  we sadly gave back the robes and got back in the car to head to Padstow, the home of Rick Stein, which was a lovely little port dotted with shops and a panoramic view of a channel running inland from the sea. After ducking and diving into the little local surf shops, seeing three pasty shops sitting side-by-side [talk about competition, eh?], we decided to get scallops from Rick Stein’s take-away fish and chips place, go to Tesco for ingredients to make a salad and head home for a feast. My list of seafood eaten was going well, and I am so proud. I also feel like my body was thanking me for it as fish oils and omega 3 are good for us!

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By hour twenty-eight, the fresh sea air and good food had me in a sleeping slumber that I haven’t had in a long while… On Tuesday, we woke to a rather gloomy looking sky, but unperturbed headed out towards Port Isaac to the north. It is the site where the TV series Doc. Martin is filmed so I definitely had a picture in front of the Doctors house!

We had a lovely wander up through the narrow steep streets and admired the colourful houses that sit in the side of the sloping cliffs and those that are also standalone. We had lunch in a pub with a table looking out over the dock, and I finished my seafood list with a mackerel pâte and sourdough toast. Triple yum! 

We ended the trip as we started, walking onto Mawgan Porth beach, where the sun had once again broke through the clouds and lit up the blues in the sea and golds in the sand. 

Hour forty-seven: the little building that is Newquay Airport came into view. 

Although Jessie and I only ever manage to see each other a few times a year – if that – it is great to just settle straight into easy conversation and giggles. True friendship just makes the world go round. <3

And with that, my 48 hours in Cornwall have been the first mini-break with an adult touch involving spas, good food and wine. I hope I’ve given a good impression of the stray section of land that makes up the British Isle.

Thank you to Jess for a fantastic two days. Here’s to more adventures everyone! 

Xo. 

beaches and views: cornwall in 48 hours & a reunion In November last year, Jessie and I had promised to see each other in the new year of 2017, aiming for the end of March.

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

"to build or not to build bridges?" - a metaphorical dilemma

“to build or not to build bridges?” – a metaphorical dilemma

I recently read an article shared by a friend on Facebook about friendships and how these change during the transition from adolescence to adulthood: ‘Why adult friendships makes me sad sometimes‘. The result of reading it making me stop and think, and reflect on what she wrote through the eyes of my own life.

I can relate to what she’s said of how during my teenage years, so many hours were…

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

"to build or not to build bridges?" - a metaphorical dilemma

“to build or not to build bridges?” – a metaphorical dilemma

I recently read an article shared by a friend on Facebook about friendships and how these change during the transition from adolescence to adulthood: ‘Why adult friendships makes me sad sometimes‘. The result of reading it making me stop and think, and reflect on what she wrote through the eyes of my own life.

I can relate to what she’s said of how during my teenage years, so many hours were…

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

good things come to those who wait: growing up

It appears that there has been a running theme lately of people questioning the ‘quarter-life crisis’ and reviewing their lives by the achievements of others and themselves. Or, that suddenly life had decided to take a U-turn and it turns out that maybe what you had planned isn’t actuallywhat you want. Life is funny like that – well, if we don’t laugh, we cry so let’s assume it’s hilarious – and…

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

As a mid-semester “break”, three friends and I decided to take a trip outside the UK, giving ourselves the challenge of going for a cheap weekend away to escape the repetitive student lifestyle of sleeping, eating and studying. Searching on google flights, we found three places that were the cheapest = Copenhagen [Denmark], Poznań [Poland] and Wrocław [Poland].

Our final decision was the latter as Bety had been to Copenhagen and Poznań was pricier than Wrocław! We flew from East Midlands Airport near Nottingham direct to Wrocław–Copernicus Airport that is situated to the west of the small city. The city has the River Oder running through it like many strands separating the city into various islands like Venice [but it isn’t a city built on water]. For this reason, there are over 100 bridges dotted around the city, hence the city is also known as ‘The City of 100 Bridges’. These link city’s different districts such as Students Island, Cathedral Island and so on. Wrocław is a great city to do when you’re on a student budget and have an adventure in a rather unfamiliar area of the world. [Well, I’m basing this on my little exposure to Eastern European culture].

The city.

The large town square in the centre of the city is coloured with pointy-roofed buildings facing inward to towering Town Hall and adjacent square of buildings filled with alleys and shortcuts. To the north-west side stands Kościół pw. św. Elżbiety Węgierskiej (St Elizabeth’s Church), a large church with a tall tower in its left corner. On the Saturday morning, in the sunshine, we stole the opportunity to get a panoramic view above the cities buildings by climbing this tower. However google did not pre-warn us of the 300 tiny spiralling staircase that seemed to go on for an eternity. It is around 91 metres tall. But, as always, the climb was worth it. Although the chilly breeze whipped our faces, the city sprawled out in all directions, the coloured buildings and bold copper roofs glowed in the morning sunshine.

Wrocław Town Square

Wrocław

Wrocław Town Square

There are sights to see and things to do in all directions from the central part of the old city. To the east, there is the famous painting ‘Racławice Panorama’ which is a 15m by 114m painting of the historical Battle of Racławice, the Grunwaldski Bridge, Wrocław Zoo, the grand Centennial Hall with adjacent sprawling gardens of all styles and shapes. The only flaw of our trip was the timing. I can imagine that the city glows with even more colour in the warmer months with the amount of trees and flowers that cover the city. I would dedicate at least half a day to do this part of the city [which we didn’t do…] to fully explore all the sights that I’ve listed above!

Centennial Hall

Centennial Hall

  To the west, there is a Museum of Contemporary Art which is full of peculiar, abstract, but also powerful and impressionist artworks. The circular building has six floors with different types of artwork on each one.

Some examples of the art

Some examples of the art

  To the south, there are more modern and less touristy sights to see however if shopping takes your fancy and you wish to take advantage of the cheaper prices offered by the Polish zloty, this is the place to go! There are a few shopping centres in which both international and local brands can be found. I was intrigued to see H&M, M&S and Zara were very popular and the stand out brands among these centres. Even though this isn’t necessarily a cultural side of the city, it definitely shows the growing development of Wrocław with more modern buidings; including the tallest sky scraper in Poland ‘the Sky Tower’. It is 212 meters and has a viewing deck facing north across the city. It costs around £2 to visit the viewing deck which is a pleasing price for a good view! There were also these statues at one of the major crossings. They are going into the ground on one side and coming out the other!

Statues in the south of Wrocław

Last but not least… to the north, there is the hub of sightseeing locations but also street art. Just above the city centre lies the University building that is a large 200 metres long! Across the bridge to the northern side, the view back on the city is picturesque and offers the opportunity for a wander along the river towards Cathedral Island. Walking along the river, over Student Island, and across to Cathedral Island takes you past two grand pieces of street art, gives you a view of Wrocław’s Art Museum with 19th century pieces, and the government offices. The stark contrast between the architecturally historic museum and the plain square German-built offices (built during WW2) demonstrates the complex history of Wrocław. If you carry on into the city’s northern district, there is some street art dotted around but is a more realistic view of the city’s current state. It was really nice to wander up through this area of the city to catch the murals of street art dotted among the residential buildings.

Wrocław

Wrocław

Wrocław

Wrocław

Wrocław

Wrocław

Wrocław

Wrocław

Wrocław University

Wrocław

  and.. the best part of the city for me was the dwarves! It was like a treasure hunt already laid out for us to win. It is said that there are over 350 spread across the city! In September ever year Wrocław celebrates ‘Dwarf Festival’.

The first dwarf is known as ‘Papa Dwarf’. One theory / fairytale explains that the Wrocław was the first place that dwarves appeared and humans only began to inhabit the city many years later. They lived in harmony and in honour of the dwarves helping to construct the city, the districts of Wrocław are named after some of the dwarves. Yet, the first dwarf was placed in the city in 2001. Below I’ve added a slideshow of the ones we found… as you can see, we weren’t too close to the 350 mark!!

This is the official page for them, http://krasnale.pl/en/ however there isn’t too much detail in English (but for some reason there is in Spanish!!) so I recommend this article which explains it really nicely: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/poland/wroclaw/articles/wroclaw-dwarves-the-anti-communist-protest-movement-tourist-map-why-history/

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In short, Wrocław is a city of colour, eclectic surprises, and culture with cheap beer (it’s £1 whaaaaat) and great food that I’d recommend to anyone. It has certainly re-alighted my passion for travelling and I definitely won’t be sitting at my desk for too long in the future.

Adventures await!

Xo.

        Wrocław in 48 hours. As a mid-semester "break", three friends and I decided to take a trip outside the UK, giving ourselves the challenge of going for a cheap weekend away to escape the repetitive student lifestyle of sleeping, eating and studying.

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Wroclaw: A Food Review

Wroclaw: A Food Review

The moment I have been waiting for since I left Montréal in January 2016 was the time I would once again eat ‘pierogis’. These are a Polish delicacy that I haven’t yet found in the UK and definitely scored high points when I visited Michael for a week just over a year ago. (I cannot believe such a short amount of time has passed since then…!)

My recent trip to Wrocław, in south-west Poland, in…

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"be fearless in pursuit of what sets your soul on fire"

Morning everyone! It’s a dull cloudy morning here however today is not the day to let the weather dictate the mood. We’re almost halfway through the first month of the new year and I’ve pondered on what to write about for a while…

Y’know those facebook quizzes that are ridiculous but you do anyway because some of your friends did and it makes you feel good when it says that 2017 is the year…

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A French Christmas #5: the five-course Christmas Lunch Review by Lisa and Georgie

Being our first French Christmas, and being together, Lisa and I decided to do food review like the many that we did back during our three weeks travelling around China!

The places we went to and tried out the food in were: Kunming , Li Jiang , Dali , Chongqing , Chengdu & Jiu Zai Gou & Xi’an and Pingyao.

Now, in the city of Nantes in north-western France, we have taken it upon ourselves to once…

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new year, new me. (lol jk jk)

new year, new me (lol jk jk)

Happy 2017 Everybody!

I hope you all had a cracking evening, whether it was lying on the sofa, out partying, cooking up a storm or even working (as some of my dear friends did, you are amazing, girls!). This year one of the big newspapers issued an article that said that around 70% of the UK population were staying in for New Years this year. While many of my friends were staying at home… I…