Thinking about traveling to United Kingdom, there are many cities you might already consider visiting, but if you are a fan of old castles, and football, Nottingham City is the place for you. Nottingham is a three hours’ drive from London, England’s capital. It consists of various beautiful places such as the Arboretum and Wolaton Parks, Nottingham Forest as well as different higher study institutions for example Nottingham Trent University, University of Nottingham and others.
Nottingham is a beautiful city with various categories of people from all over the world. It is characterized by different cultures and languages which makes the city an interestingly awesome place to stay. “As a team of four students namely Nagawa Kigundu Patricia, Akansasira Shallot, Okello Peter Daba, Murungi Noreedah and one faculty Ms. Nakabugo Rhoda, we were delighted to visit this mighty city for a period of two months.” Below are some of the things that stood out for us in Nottingham.
Our travel: Travelling to Nottingham from Entebbe felt like a fresh page of life that had been flipped for us to enjoy. It started with excitement blended with anxiety which is expected from any first-time traveler. Having to catch the flights through the long queues at the airport and the anxiety of not being sure of what is required of you next was an experience we shall forever live to tell. On landing at Heathrow Airport in London, England, the environment looked far different from the one back home. The atmosphere, the structures, transport systems and the digitized systems brought to us the broader picture of what a developed country is.
Our housing: In Nottingham, we were introduced to communal living in one of the luxurious apartments of Victoria Centre in Nottingham city. Our stay in there was nice having been assigned a new family where we navigated life as friends.
The food: The food in Nottingham seemed a little bit different from what we were used to. Lunch and dinner meals were composed of pastries and dry cereal which was a little bit challenging for most of us, as we were used to much larger portions of food. Sometimes we ate the foods without understanding what was on the menus. This wasn’t a challenge only in restaurants but also on occasions where we were offered lunch at the global lounge. Trying out the different foods at the different eating places amounted to an everlasting experience.
The Weather: The early summer saw us arrive in Nottingham where it was a little bit cold for us but the weather got better as time went by. Most of us were shocked by the unpredictable rains, short nights and the long hours of daylight which felt strange however we got used with time.
Our academic nourishment: Classes, as CAES were normally at the Brackenhurst campus mostly at the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences (ARES). Being off the City Centre, we had to take a bus, which taught us time management to avoid inconveniences. We benefited from the several sessions such as biodiversity management, hands on vertical farming, GIS mapping, remote sensing, research and academic writing. Learning was also practical with field-based trips to different places like Sherwood Forest, Robinhood, Beaver Introduction Centre and vertical farming experiment house where we had the chance to see different aspects being practiced.
Interestingly, some of sessions were cross-cutting and we joined veterinary students in learning how to take care of animals, studying through games, and employability sessions etc. All these widened and broadened our thinking capacities and knowledge on how to manage occasions in case they occur.
Additionally, the students together with the faculty were involved in Hands-On skills and activities such as use of drones in remote sensing, use of ArcGIS software program to generate maps with different information, biscuit making with the food technology team, art and craft noon sessions that were held every Wednesday. These craft sessions helped us mingle with NTU students and colleagues who had their sessions at different campuses.
Our appreciation:
We were overwhelmed by the hospitality offered by the staff at Nottingham who guided us all way through. Having been from different fields, we got the chance to interact with people from different specialties like Medicine, pharmacy and microbiology which impacted our knowledge base. The society was a diverse one and conducive for everyone to live in and taught us to mind our business.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire team of Nottingham Trent University and Makerere University for the golden chance that was given to us as students and our faculty Ms. Nakabugo Rhoda to visit Nottingham Trent University under the Erasmus Exchange Programme. We enjoyed and had greater experiences while we were in Nottingham and some of them positively impacted our lives and future.
We hope you will write down Nottingham City as your next destination for both an academic and social experience.
