I went to Lancaster the Saturday 12th January. My mother went with me in order to help me to carry my luggages. We took the airline to Manchester and, arrived in Manchester we took the train to go to Lancaster.

When we arrived in Lancaster Rail Station, we took a taxi to go to the campus. I picked up my room's key and after we went to my residence which is located off campus. I discovered my floor which was not really tidy. But my room was great.

In my residence I have to share bathrooms, toilets and kitchens with the entire floor (We are 12 students by floor). It  is not very easy and I am not completely comfortable for the moment because I am not used to live "in community". Because actually, I live on my own in Lyon for my studies in my own flat without having to share anything with someone else...

After tidying my clothes and other affairs in my room, I went to visit the city.

Lancaster is a tiny and lovely town.

Even though the city is relatively small, we can find many of clothing stores, telephone stores and fast foods. There are also some restaurants but pubs are the most numerous! 

About the clothing stores, I was really surprised to see a TopShop in Lancaster!

There is a pedestrian area where the all the shop are gathered. However most of the shops are  located in two pedestrian streets in Lancaster, Penny Street and Market steet where we can find two Shopping centres: St Nicholas Arcades and Marketgate.

The town is very lovely with cobblestone streets in the city centre, the Castle, church, the City museum... But, the city tour is quickly done actually.

The positive point is that Lancaster is a students city which has two Universities: the Lancaster University and the University of Cumbria, so it is possible to find all a student could need! So, the student life in Lancaster seems to be nice!

To be continued... 

The 2nd February, Amandine (a friend from ESDES) and me enjoyed the lovely weather of this day; we went to the rail station in order to get a ticket to go to Preston on Wednesday. Indeed we have taken an appointement there in order to get our insurance number to be able to work in the UK.

After, as the weather was not bad we walked near the Lancaster Castle and The 

Priory Church of St Mary. We took beautiful pictures.

The Priory Church was open so we entered it.

The Priory Church is very big and beautiful, it seems very warm for a Church and there are two heavenly organs. We had luck to be able to hear people playing organ. It was very great, the son of organs is both so mighty and mild.

The Priory Church was formerly called St Mary's Church Lancaster, it is the parish church of Lancaster. Its origins are Saxon and Roman.

Lectures and assessments

As I wrote in my Business courses article, I have to follow 3 modules. Actually the courses are only lectures where the teacher speaks for 3 hours about a subject. There are some interactions sometimes but it is completly different from my courses in ESDES, my French school in Lyon. Indeed, in ESDES, teachers provide very attractive courses, with exercises to do and attractive "Power point" with a lot of colours, a plan well explained...

Here, the power points are just few words written, not colours, and sometimes not explicite plan on them. So sometimes I feel lost. in addition to it I have to concentrate in order to understand what the teacher is saying. It is another method to learn! But interesting to follow.

About the assessement method, I have to write several reports, one essay and I have a final exam in Researching the Marketing environment.

All the assessments are individual, which is also different from my original school. Sometimes I have to write 1500 words or 2500 about a specific topic. So we have to do a lot of reasearch, to read many of books.

I think the learning method here is more theorical than in my Business school.

Food and drink

I miss French food!!

Actually, it is very interesting to see what English people eat! Because they mix some ingredients I have never imagine to mix. For example, some students in the University mix chips and cheese 0o. I have not tried yet, and I don't think I will not try it ^^

They like eating jelly with pieces of fruit in it. I tasted it, I didn't like it.

In the canteen, there is always chips, vegetables are few and not emphasized. Their sausage are not sausage actually, it is more fat than ours in France, but the taste is ok.  

As I must share the kitchen with 11 other students, I don't cook a lot. And it is a good excuse for not cooking because I don't cook very well, so I often eat to the canteen. So, I must confess, I eat fat! ^^

Parties and other activities

We are a few International students in the University of Cumbria. The International department sometimes organise some trips to walk and visit the countryside.

About the students parties, actually there are two main night clubs: the Elements and the Sugar House. Both are situated closed to each other.

Trips

To get attrative prices when I travel, I bought the Railcard for the 16-25 persons. The card allows me to have 30% off on a ticket prices! I paid it 38 pounds and I have "reimbursed" it with 5 trips.

The first trip is when I went to Preston.

After I visited Manchester for shopping.

The third and the fourth trips were to go to Liverpool.

The last one for the moment, is the trip to Edinburgh where I passed 3 days and 2 nights!