We are three overseas students visiting Britain to improve our English language and soak up the culture. We are studying at the University Language Centre at the University of Manchester. When we arrived in Manchester a few months ago, we felt a bit lost. Fortunately, we now know our way around and we have learned quite a lot of interesting and useful information about Manchester and Britain. We have created this blog for anyone who is planning a visit. We hope you enjoy reading it!
Conwy Castle, which was built by Edward I between 1283 and 1289, is on the north coast of Wales. I took the two pictures below. The weather was nice and the castle had a dignity.
I also went to Llandudno, which is a seaside resort and town. The town is near the Conwy Castle, which takes you about 15 minutes to get there from the castle. The seaside is very beautiful and there are many pretty houses which are mainly used for hotels. One of the famous attractions is Llandudno Pier, which is the longest in Wales.
I’ve forgotten the name of the shop but these fish and chips was so nice!
I recommend this place but if you have a chance to visit, be careful with sea gulls because they might try to attack you!
(KANA)
BRIGHTON, ENGLAND
It was nearly twilight when we arrived in Brighton, the sun was going to hide under the skyline and the lowering clouds seemed to shut out the light. It is really a beautiful landscape which is still fresh in my memory.
The tired is seagull off duty from his ‘food loot’ work. If you are a robber, you will very difficult to rob anything because the seagulls take absolutely everything!!!!
You can see a seagull who is very plump standing on the roof waiting for his next ’victim’. I was the last one, so that is why I could not show my nice hotdog to this seagull.
But you cannot deny their feathers are really impressive. The colours blend perfectly with the beach. There are many stones on the beach, which you can hear rolling when the waves crash. It lets me relax, as all my trouble are thrown away with the stones and flow into the sea.
As the song goes, if you come to San Francisco please wear a flower in your hair, but if you go to Brighton you do not need bring anything here, because it is peaceful, beautiful and everything makes you feeling happy.
Everything is dim with the sunset, just like the city is saying goodbye. Times flies when you’re having fun! I am really looking forward to coming to Brighton next time.
On this page, I tell you about some famous people who are associated with the University of Manchester, Manchester and the North of England.
Brian Cox
He is best known to the public as the presenter of science programmes and he is an English physicist, and Professor of Particle Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. He used to be a keyboard player for the bands D:Ream and Dare before starting his academic career.
His videos are quite popular and famous and this video has been watched by 2.7 million people, because he tries to describe those difficult scientific and physical phenomena in easy ways for people who don’t know about them.He has appeared in many science programmes as a presenter. The video below is also a famous video of him.
Danny Boyle
He is an English film director, producer, screenwriter and theatre director. His films, such as Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, and 127 Hours are well-known.Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won 8, including the Academy Award for Best Director.
In 2012, Boyle was the Artistic Director for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games.
He has been a Patron of the Cornerhouse, which is a kind of cultural centre merged into HOME in Manchester, since 1986.
Sir Ian McKellen *CH **CBE
*CH The Order of the Companions of Honour **CBE Order of the British Empire
He is an English actor. He has received lots of awards, and two Academy Award nominations, five Emmy Award nominations and so on. He was born on 25 May 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire. His notable film roles include Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies and Magneto in the X-Men films.
McKellen has continued to be very active in LGBT rights efforts.
Here, he is seen participating in the parade of Manchester Pride, which is an annual gay pride festival and parade held each summer in the city of Manchester.
Benedict Cumberbatch
He is an English actor and film producer who has performed in film, television, theatre and radio. He graduated from the University of Manchester. He has played Sherlock Holmes in the series Sherlock since 2010.
He has starred in the film Star Trek Into Darkness as Khan (2013), 12 Years a Slave as William Prince Ford (2013) and The Imitation Game as Alan Turing, who worked in the University of Manchester and solved the Enigma Code, which was used by the Germans for sending secret messages during the Second World War.
On the video below, She talks about the reason why Benedict Cumberbatch is famous and popular .
Maxine Peake
She was born on 14th July 1974 in Bolton. She is an actress for stage, film and television. She joined a youth theatre when she was 13. At the age of 21, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 2014, she played the lead role of Hamlet at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. In 2014, she also played the part of Elaine Mason in the feature film The Theory of Everything.
Elizabeth Gaskell
She was an English novelist who was born in Chelsea in 1810. She wrote stories about Victoria era. She was the first person to write a biography of Charlotte Bronte. The Gaskells moved to a house in Plymouth Grove, Manchester in 1850. The house is now owned by the University of Manchester and open to the public.
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst, who was born in Moss Side, Manchester in 1858, was a British politician. She was the leader of the British suffragette movement which helped women win the right to vote.
Manchester is a place which always bring inspiration to people. Hugh Hinterbottom, the artist who is trying to capture a fresh colourful style using various techniques in oil paint. He brings a special style that lets people imagine how building and colour interlace together. The picture above depicts the rainy Manchester weather and it looks like the water infiltrates everything.
If you are really interested in his picture and want to enjoy the real picture, you do not have to go to his home, because there is an exhibition in the North gallery (Salford Museum and Art Gallery) in May 2015.
Laurence Stephen “L.S.” Lowry (1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist born in Stretford,Lancashire. Many of his drawings and paintings depict Pendlebury, where he lived and worked for more than 40 years and also Salford and its surrounding areas.
I can feel the landscape from his picture colour as a memory which is from myself, even if I didn’t see the real landscape before. He always captures the atmosphere of the past with the colours and figures. It is so authentic that it makes me feel I have travelled back in time.
Piccadilly Garden
1954
As you can see from the photo below, Piccadilly Gardens looks very different these days.
If you are really interested in his pictures and want to get more information about L.S.Lowry, you certainly can not go to his home because he has already passed away. However, he leaves many fantastic pictures for us, so you can find more information about pictures and news in the above website address.
On this page, I introduce the History of the University of Manchester.
The University of Manchester joined together with the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in 2004. Before that, these two universities were working closely and then they decided to be one university.
The Victoria University of Manchester developed out of Owens College, which was founded in 1851 by a legacy from the wealthy industrialist, John Owens. In 1880, the college became the first constituent part of the federal Victoria University; England’s first civic university.
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was founded in 1824 as part of a national movement for the education of working men. The university specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research.
Hello, I want to introduce British music because I am really keen on music! I found that many famous bands are from Manchester. I hope you can find your favourite bands!
Oasis (1991–2009)
Members – Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer, Andy Bell, Chris Sharrock
They were an English rock band and have had eight UK number-one singles and eight UK number-one albums, and have won fifteen NME Awards, nine Q Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards and six British Awards. Their music style was heavily influenced by The Beatles. There are many landmarks to do with Oasis around Manchester. The following songs are famous and are also my favourite tracks 🙂
WONDERWALL
SUPERSONIC
The Stone Roses (1983–1996, 2011–present)
Members – Ian Brown, John Squire, Mani, Reni
They were involved in establishing the Manchester movement, which is a style of alternative rock. They went on to influence Oasis. In 2012, for one of their return gigs in Heaton Park in Manchester, the 220,000 tickets for these three gigs sold out in 68 minutes. The following is one of their most famous songs.
WATERFALL
The Smiths (1982–1987)
Members – Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce, Andy Rourke, Craig Gannon
They were an English rock band and called the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British Independent music scene of the 1980s. The band focus on a guitar, bass, and drum sound, and their fusion of 1960s rock and post-punk.
THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT
Take That(1990–1996, 2005–present)
Members – Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen
This band’s genre is pop/pop rock/dance. Initially, the band was formed with 5 people but the past member, Robbie Williams, left the band in 1995 and Jason Orange left in 2014. In 1996 the band split up. The band got back together in 2005. They wrote a song about Manchester, ‘Mancunian Way‘ in the comeback album Beautiful World.
BACK FOR GOOD
THESE DAYS
M People(1990–present)
Members – Heather Small, Mike Pickering, Paul Heard, Shovell
They are a dance music band and had success around the 1990s. My teacher and I thought that the name of the band “M” stands for Manchester, but actually it means one of the members’ names, Mike Pickering, who formed the group. The most famous song is “Moving on up” from the 2nd album “Elegant Slumming” which peaked at No. 2 in the UK. This song is also my teacher’s favourite song.
Fresh Art Work in Manchester! There are many new art exhibitions in Manchester at the moment. Let’s have a look what’s happening in the galleries! First, an amazing exhibition in the University of Manchester at the Whitworth Art Gallery. The artist Cai Guo-Qiang was born in China and now lives in New York. He is best known for his remarkable projects using gunpowder, including the firework displays for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His installation, Unmanned Nature (2008), which includes a 45 metre-long, four metre-high gunpowder drawing, is the first artwork to be shown in the Whitworth’s new landscape gallery. It is also the first time that the installation – first commissioned by the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art – has been shown outside Japan.
In the Manchester Art Gallery, there is good exhibition that uses photography to recreate old master paintings! Valette, who lived and worked in Manchester for many years, painted atmospheric views of the city, which are a favourite with residents and visitors alike. His works capture the essence of Manchester at the turn of the 20th century. Allchurch’s updated re-creation of Valette’s Edwardian cityscape will reveal Manchester as the 21st Century city it is today, Resonant with echoes of its historic past.
Battered fish and deep-fried chips. It’s quite common food in Britain. You can find lots of restaurant which serve fish and chips in Britain as many people expect.
” I really like fish and chips, but they are not the same without mushy peas – that’s the green thing in the picture.” Kana
-Crumpets
They are griddle cakes and made of flour and yeast. They are delicious served with jam or just butter.
“I eat crumpets with Nutella for breakfast every day.” Haruka
-Roast Dinners
Usually, beef, pork, chicken, or turkey are eaten as a part of a roast dinner. Beef can be served with horseradish sauce. Pork can be served with apple sauce.
-Yorkshire Puddings
They made of flour, eggs and milk. They are usually served with roast beef, vegetables and gravy – especially at the weekend.
-Black Pudding
It is a kind of blood sausage. It is made from pigs’ blood. Please see the link below to read about its history.
These days, Britain is a multi cultural society. This means that you can eat many kinds of food in Britain. In Manchester and most towns and cities, you can find food you’ve never had before.
I couldn’t introduce every traditional food in Britain and the information might not be enough, so I’m introducing a couple of videos I like.
She talks about British Dishes and British Sweets.
9 British Dishes Everyone Should Try – Anglophenia
15 British Sweets Everyone Should Try – Anglophenia
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harukanapeng 