'"My first experience of the UK . . ."'
Studying in Manchester, UK has allowed for me to experience some of the best moments of my life. Moving to England to study was a decision that I made after working first in the United States. I realised after a while that education really was important to the future I always wanted for myself and that travelling and living in the UK was something I had wanted to do since I was young. So after applying to University, my sister and I booked a trip to Manchester in June to see what the city was like together.
We landed at the airport and took our first ever train ride into the middle of town. Excited but exhausted from jet lag, we found our hotel and fell asleep for a good portion of the day. But once we woke up, exploring the city was one of the first things on our mind. (After finding a pub and having one of my first English dishes… 'Bangers and Mash' which is sausage and mashed potatoes!)
In our eyes, the city was beautiful. Old buildings, people bustling about, museums, trains, wonderful city noises! We walked and took pictures and pointed out things about how different England was to our hometown.
Then we came upon a quiet spot in the middle of town called ‘Spinningfields.’ Spinningfields is a special location for me, even today. It has lovely, tall buildings and a big open area in the middle for people to sit and in the center of it was a massive, outdoor television screen used to show old movies in the summer! My sister and I had always wanted to watch a movie outdoors with people so we went back that night to watch ‘Dirty Dancing’.
I had just found out that afternoon that I was accepted onto the program of my choice, English Language, and we were happy to celebrate outside, under the stars with a bunch of the local people from Manchester. I will remember that night for the rest of my life. At the end of the film, the whole crowd was stood up singing ‘I've had, the time of my life’ and dancing along to the music. My sister was happy for me, I was laughing and in my heart I finally felt that I was at the beginning an amazing and unique journey.
