•  

    It is an advertising for T-Mobile which was created by Saatchi & Saatchi. This video realized in 2012 was to promote the new offer: Unlimited Internet, texts, and sheld loads of calls for just 36 pounds per month!

    T-Mobile International AG is a holfing company within the German group Deutsche Telekom AG. T-Mobile brand is present in 11 countries from Europe, in the United States, Prto Rico and US Virgin Islands.

    It is a funny ad which covers 1 minute 3o seconds. In this advertising, a man introduces what Britains love with humour. In the video we can see several stereotypes that we have of Britain people but also general stereotypes that we can find in other countries and culture. So the narrator gives examples of what Britain loves for finally presenting the offer of T-mobile.

    I think we can find this type of ad in France, however few things about Britain tastes are different from French tastes.

    The target of this advertising is all the Britain people, as we can see in the video, all types of people are present, old persons, teenagers, different jobs, cultures and styles. We can easily understand which is the target with the title of the campaign which is "Giving Britain what Britain loves".

    What I find interesting and surprising is the fact that the ad is to promote a mobile offer but begin by showing seniors and a child whereas it is the persons who are the least likely to use mobile phone.


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  • Custom

    We know specific custom from England, for example English people are used to drive on the left of the road with their steering wheel on the right. Althought the UK is part of the European Union, it has refused Euro to keep its currency which is the Pound sterling.

    Symbols

    What symbolises England? It is of course red telephone kiosks, red post boxes, red double deck buses, black taxi cabs, Big Ben, the Royal Family, tea and even more!

    But these are other symbols that everybody does not know but important symbols of England...

    England flag The England flag called "St George's Flag"

    Three lions emblemThree lions emblem, the emblem is also on the badge of England's football team England Football emblem

     

    and on the badge of England's crocket team cket logo

    The red rose is recognised as the national flower of England

    National celebrations

     Here are some celebrations I could attend during my semester in England:

    Mother's day (10th March), Red nose day (15th March), Father's day (16th June), St Patrick's day (17th March), St George's day (23rd April). But we know other celebrations like Thanksgivings, Easter, Christmas day.

    St Patrick is Ireland's patron saint, so St Patrick's day is a cultural and religious day which commemorates St Patrick and also the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. And the tradition wants us to wear green colour the day of St Patrick' day. It is today a celebration known all over the world with its public parades, festivals. St Georges is England's patron saint. The red nose day is an event to collect found for the British charity Comic Relief.

    Foods

    When you talk about England, you cannot forget talking about the food! Not because it is amazing and delicious, but quite original and so-so. I am sorry guys but I am French and my tastebuds are not used to the English food... ^^'

    When I came in England, I have discovered for the first time Fish & Chips, Jelly, the traditional English breakfast (composed by eggs, bacon, baked beans, sausages, fried bread and mushrooms), Yorkshire Pudding, pasta with more cheddar than pastas etc.

    English people have three main meals:

    1. Breakfast normally taken between 7am and 9am
    2. Lunch between 12pm annd 1.30pm
    3. Dinner or supper between 6.30pm and 8pm

    However the dinner can be replaced by the Tea Time taken anywhere from 5.30pm to 6.30pm.

     Event

    This year England has celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Queen coronation. It was the 4th of June 2013.


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  • In term of my second year of study, I need to do an internship in order to improve my English.

    I am currently working as a volunteer in the charity shop British Heart Foundation in Lancaster. It is located in Cheapside street in the pedestrian area.

    About the foundation:

    The British heart foundation is the biggest funder of heart research in the UK. It was founded by a group of medical  professionals in 1961. The aims was to "fund extra research into the causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of heart and circulatory disease. And their ideal is to fight heart disease and create a world "where people don't die prematurely from heart disease".

    The charity shops are implanted in several cities. During my trips, I have seen charity shops of British heart foundation in almost every city I visited. I have seen them in Edinburg, Liverpool, Blackpool, Chester. Actually, the foundation is active in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. 

    The principe is to collect funds to finance the research and to sensitize people to the issue of heart disease.

    The fund collection is done from people donations. People can give money or good. If it is by money, the donor can donate some money via texts, cheque, debit card or directly through their salary if they are regulated donors.

    British heart foundation ensure that for every £1 donors give, "82 pence is spent on the vital research, prevention and care in fight for every heartbeat. 

    For the other way, people can help the foundation by giving goods they don't need anymore.

    For that, they must let it in any British Heart Foundation charity shop which then collects clothes, shoes, DVDs, CDs, and other accessories and stuffs that people don't want to keep. They sort articles they can sell and articles they must throw. 

    It is in that part of work that I am working as a volunteer.

    My activities:

     I am mainly on the till, so I am in direct contact with customers and I have the opportunity to advise them about products or prices. I also iron clothes with a steam. My activities are quite simple but I like working in the shop and it is nice to work for a good and human objetive, not to get money but to help people. I was quite surprised to see how much charity shops are "fahionable" in the UK. Indeed, we can find several charity shops in every cities and there are no less than 5 charity shops in the main street of Lancaster!

    Charity Shop - British Heart Foundation

    Amandine and me with our managers: Claire and Rashel


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  • I went to Edinburgh for the Easter break, with Amandine again!^^  We expected to stay for 2 days and one night but it wasn't what it happened.

    We left Lancaster by the railway at 8:40am to arrive in Edinburgh at 10:20, in order to enjoy the full day in there.

    When we arrived in the city, the weather was very sunny, however the temperature was still cold. We went to the hostel we booked for. It was actually at five minutes by walk but it took more time to find it. Indeed the address was "Palmerston place" so we were expected to see the hostel located around a place. But it wasn't the case, the hostel was just situated in a street. 0o

    The check in started from 2pm, we could only put our luggages in a locked room in the hostel. So we were free to visit the city the whole day without being embarassed with it. 

    Edinburgh is a beautiful city, buildings are very nice, streets are wide and as we arrived on Thursday, they weren't so busy. I really enjoyed walking through the streets of Edinburgh.

     

     A charming city: EdinburghThe first day we visited the St MARY's Cathedral and the castle. It was nice but I was a little bit disappointed to have paid 16 pounds to just see the court of the castle. There did be a museum and a room dedicated to the history of the prison. But I expected to visit some rooms in the castle to see how the bedroom, the bathroom, or the throne hall were! And I was surprised to see a cemetery for dogs within the castle!

    However, the castle provided a magnificent view of the city of Edinburgh, the seaside and the mountain side. And obviously it is always impressive to be able to walk through a building which served long ago of stronghold in the Fierce Iron Age, home of Royalty, and Army headquarters. Indeed its location on a great rock is a perfect strategic location.

     

    A charming city: EdinburghA charming city: Edinburgh

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     Views from the Castle

    For noon, we ate a fish and chips in a lovely restaurant with a carpeted floor. We paid more the place than the meal in fact... ^^

    Later in the afternoon, we got lost while searching the beach and we went back to the hostel without having found it.

    The hostel was a really nice place and I found the staff friendly and helpful. We slept in a dormatory of 8 beds for females. But actually we were only 6 girls in it. 

    The second day, we did shopping, and finally managed to find the beach!! :)

    A charming city: Edinburgh

    We were so happy to see the seaside that we forgot the time and missed the train we were supposed to take. Unfortunately it was the latest train for the day. 

    So we had to sleep one more night to get a train the day after. But, the hostel where we slept the night before was over booked, so there wasn't any vacancy in it. And we had to sleep in another hostel, in a mix dormatory of 36 people. We were only 3 girls in it (Me, Amandine and another girl we didn't know), the others were boys... beurk (cannot describe the smell in this room!)


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  • In this article, I will more talk about artistic life in Lancaster and London, the two cities where I stayed in.

    First, let's talk about Lancaster!

    Music and concerts

    We can find in Lancaster, many of pubs where we can go to listen to a live music. Musician people are invited to perform in the pubs, when they want and for free.

    For the moment I went only once to a pub where there was a music live. It was really nice, they wasn't a prepared stage for them, it was just a group of friends who came to play music together. The funny thing was that everyone came when he wanted and joined the performance after getting a drink and preparing his musical intrument.

    There are also some concerts organized by the Dukes.

    In the pedestrian street, we can hear some music from one person or a group of musician. It is quite lovely to be able to hear some live music when you walk in the street, and it warms the heart while you are braving the British cold... ^^

    Theatre

    It exists two theatres in Lancaster, the Dukes Theatre and the Grand Theatre.

    Cinema

    You ca find two different cinemas in Lancaster! One is more dedicated to alternative movies (The Dukes cinema) and the other one to International and more common movies.

    Art galleries and museums

    Lancaster city museum

    The City museum is located in the Lancaster city centre. Here you can discover more about the past of the city from the Romans. You also learn the pedigree of Lancaster' regiment from 1680.

    Judges' lodgings

    Find the Lancaster's oldest town house at the bachdrop of Lancaster castle anf Lancaster Priory. And Enjoy seeing a renowned collection of Gillow furniture, fine art and the Museum of Chilhood which presents toys and games from the 18th to the present.

    The cottage museum

     Nearly the Lancaster Castle and the Judges' Lodgings is the Cottage Museum where you can discover how was the Victorian life and which ustensils and gadgets people used in the 19th century. The house is spread over 5 floors.

     

    London is the capital of England, so it is an attractive city. London offers plenty of activities and things to do and see.
    Let me demonstrate it in introducing some amazing and funny activities for this summer 2013!

     From the 1st of June until the 30th is occuring the London Festival of Architecture  which is a "citywide celebration of architecture. It spreads across various locations where open studios, public realm installations, performance and others activities are taking place.

    From the 10th of June to the 18th of August, ther is the Royal Summer Exhibition which is the largest regular contemporaru art exhibition in the world which allows anyine to submit its work. It is taking place at the Royal Academy's great courtyard.

    The Hampton Court Palace Festival is taking place in the open air court of King Henry VIII's palace from the 13th June to the 24th June.

    Enjoy major works of the French post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin from the 20th June to the 8th September at the Courtauld Gallery. The exhibition presents paintings, works on paper, and two marble scultures.

    From 23rd June to 26th of July is occuring the City of London festival which provides a summer programme of music, visual arts, films, walks and talks.  You can enjoy the festival in the St Paul's Cathedral, St Paul's Churchyard and other outdoor spaces for free.


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  • I went twice in Liverpool with another French student (Amandine). 

    Museums and shopping in Liverpool

    The first one was to visit the Museum of Liverpool, the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the International Slavery museum, and the Beatles story museum located in the Albert Dock...

    Museums and shopping in Liverpool

    The museum of Liverpool is quite "young" because it juste opened in July 2011 so only two years ago! It explains the history of the town and shows how was Liverpool in the years before with some reproductions, for example, an old train was reproducted in the museum.

    After, we saw an exhibition about the Titanic and the International Slavery museum  which is situated on the top floor of the Maritime museum.

     

    Museums and shopping in Liverpool

     Museums and shopping in Liverpool

     

     

     

     

     

     

    When we left the museum we passed through a pretty sunny place, Albert Dock!

    Albert Dock dates from 1837, it was designed by Jesse Hartkey and Philip Hardwick. The construction took 9 years as it opens in 1946. For the first time in Britain, the structure was built from cast iron,  stone and brick, without stuctural wood. It serves today of tourist attractions and provides variety of restaurants, souvenirs shops, and museums like the Maritime Museum.

    Museums and shopping in Liverpool

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Then, it was the visit of the Beatles story!

    Museums and shopping in Liverpool

    There was, of course, the moment for shopping because Liverpool provides a many of big clothing stores! And it was very difficult to resist! ^^ We can find several shopping centres and shopping streets, among others, Liverpool One shopping centre, St Johns Arcade and Paradise street.

    Museums and shopping in Liverpool

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The second time I went to Liverpool was to visit the Anfield stadium and museum. The stadium opened in 1884 and today is the stadium of the famous football club Liverpool FC.

    Then, was a little moment of shopping again 


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  • 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!

     


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  • To follow what I have written in the article A sunny day, I will talk about the day we spent, Amandine and me in Preston.

    Preston is a town with 130 000 habitants (according to Wikipedia)

    whose 27% of students.

    It was the first town I visited after Lancaster since I was in the UK, and Preston seemed to be very bigger than Lancaster which has almost 46 000 habitants!

    I got up at 7.15am in order to be behind the Lancaster City Museum at 8.30am, where Amandine waited for me. We took the train to Preston at 9.12am. We arrived in Preston rail station 15 min later. The station is very big!

    What a beautiful day in Preston! - 6th Febuary 2013

     

    As we had time before our appointment to get our insurance number, we went to the Fishergate Shopping centre which is in front of the station. After we had to ask for directions because there were not a lot of direction signs at the output of the station !    

    We arrived in advance in the Jobcentre where we had our appointment. We just had to answer a few questions about us, our identity, our study and what job we want to do in the UK. However it didn't look like an evaluation, and we will get our insurance number in two weeks.  

    After this, we were very hungry but we had to wait 12am for lunch so we did shopping in another shopping centre ^^

     

    What a beautiful day in Preston! - 6th Febuary 2013

    We were lucky, this day were sunny and we enjoyed the blue sky.

     

    At noon we rushed to a big Chinese buffet . It was very nice and the restaurant was very big and beautiful. 

     

     

    What a beautiful day in Preston! - 6th Febuary 2013

     

    And the more important thing, it only cost 6.30 pounds for a lunch!! What surprised me is the fact that they mix English food and Chinese food in this Chinese restaurant. Indeed, there are chicken nuggets, chips and other food, and for the dessert there were only English cakes and the famous jelly with fruits inside. We tasted it and it is not very good...

     

     

    What a beautiful day in Preston! - 6th Febuary 2013

     

     What a beautiful day in Preston! - 6th Febuary 2013

     

     

     

    What a beautiful day in Preston! - 6th Febuary 2013

     

     

     

    Then, we visited the city centre, did shopping again and we were in the Harris Museum & Art Gallery which is a beautiful building with paintings, objects and explanations about Preston history. In this bulding there are also activies to do with children and on one part of the museum we can dress up with clothes from the 19th or 20th Century! 

    What a beautiful day in Preston! - 6th Febuary 2013

     What a beautiful day in Preston! - 6th Febuary 2013

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    As the museum closed at 5pm we left it and headed to the rail station crossing one last time the city centre and Fishergate Shopping centre. 

    It was a very good day! And we went home a little bit tired...


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  • 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.

    A Sunny Day

     

    A Sunny Day

    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.

     

    A Sunny Day 

    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.

    A Sunny Day


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  • In order to get my semester I have to valid 30 ECTS credit which corresponds to 60 CATS UK. In my University, each module generally matches 20 CATS (10ECTS credits), so I have chosen three modules:

    International Marketing Strategy,

    Enterprise and Personal Development,

    and Researching the Marketing Environment.

    I have three hours of lecture for each module, which induces nine hours per week,  my courses only occur on Monday and on Tuesday. However I have a lot of homework to do and courseworks to submit during the semester.

    We are not numerous in the modules, classes are composed by 12 or 18 students where everyone can speak and participate during the course.

    My classes assemble different nationalities, cultures, and age groupes.

    Indeed, for example in Enterprise and Personal Development there are International Students: two Malaysian, two French (me and another girl of ESDES), a German, a Netherlander, and an Indian, plus two English; there is also a woman who is working and has a family.

     The way of working is quite different from mine, in France because in England we have few lectures but we have to work by ourselves and to do research in order to deepen our knowledge about the course. As I said above, we have courseworks to submit:

    • In International Marketing Strategy we don't have a final exam but we must write a report for the 14th March and an essay for the 26th April.
    • In Enterprise and Personal Development we do not have final exam either but a report to do in 3 parts.
    • In  Researching the Marketing Environment we do have a final exam plus a report to do about the marketing searh we will do on catering customers attitudes on Lancaster Campus.

     

    Pictures coming soon

    See another article here


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  • CUMBRIA

    The University of Cumbria is located in several campuses:  in Ambleside, Lancaster, in Barrow-in-Furness, four in Carlisle, one at Energus Workington, at Newton Rigg College (Penrith), and another at Tower Hamlets.

    Cumbria is the England's newest University. It wad founded by the St Martin's College in 1964.

    University of Cumbria: Profile

    SUBJECT AREAS

    The University of Cumbria provides diverse Course Subjects like Business and Computing, Creative Arts, Education, Health and Social Care, Law and Social Science, etc.

    CAMPUS


    University of Cumbria: ProfileI am currently studying in the Lancaster Campus which is located at Bowerham Road, a fifteen minute walk from the town centre. The University is quite small as it gathers approximately 15.000 students. So the Lancaster Campus is not very big but we can find Catered Hall of Residencecatering sites like the Canteen, the Café Martineau and the Snack Zone, and a Sportive Complex with a fitness room, a court for basketball, handball, volleyball, and badminton. There are also two external courts to play football and other sports.

     

    The site offers a nice environment, with several trees, lawn areas, it also mixes old buildings with recent buildings which induces a diversity of architecture quite interesting.

    As the campus is surrounded by residential neighborhood, people who are not related to the University walk on the site so it is usual to see or meet families or people with their dogs on the campus...

     

    University of Cumbria: Profile

    About the residence, the University provides two types of Residence, the self-catered hall of residence situated off campus and the catered hall of residence on the campus. I live in a self-catered hall of residence called Mill Hall at twenty minutes from the campus.

     

     

     

     

    INDUCTION WEEK

    My semester began on the 21th January but the previous week I attended to an Induction week for the International Students, where different persons of the University (Students, Teachers, and Officers) explained us the Life in Cumbria, skills support, and how to use and benefit from services provided by the University.

    For this induction week staff expected eighteen International Students but we were only eight students:

    Three French from ESDES, a German boy, an Australian, a Canadian, an American and an English who left the induction program after one day. But a Finnish girl came in the middle of the week.

     

    On Wednesday, we attended to an International Welcome Reception where we were all eight students with Cumbria staff and a member of the Student Union. We got a quiz and food for free. It was a good evening, and for the first time I tasted the Famous Fish&Chips!

    On Thursday, we went to see a drama in The Duke Theatre, it was called Lady Windermere’s fan. It was a pioneering  drama and the Theatre is very original because the stage is situated in the centre of the room and the audience is sitting around the stage.

    This Induction week was a good way to adapt to this new University and culture, to meet other International students and to discover the town and the campus.

     

    See another article here


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  • 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.

     

    My arrival in Lancaster!

     

    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! 

     Arrival


     

     

     

     

     

     

       

    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... 

     


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  •     Hi!   

    Presentation

    Currently in my second year in a business school in Lyon (France), called ESDES

    I have the opportunity to do one semester in a foreign country. So I am going to study in the University of Cumbria in Lancaster (UK).

    In this blog, I will talk about my experience in the UK, what I have done, my trips, my student life...

    In order to follow me in this "adventure" I encourage you to click on the different topics on the top left menu of this page, or to choose an article in the list of articles >> bellow <<.