Brighton: The most under-rated UK city

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Grace Zheng

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Grace Zheng

<i>Home Institution</i>: University of New Mexico <i>Expected Graduation Year</i>: 2024 <i>Academic Major / Minor</i>: Marketing <i>Destination</i>: Leeds, UK <i>"Hello" in your host country's language</i>: Hello <i>Demographics</i>: Asian/Asian American, First-Generation American, First-Generation College Student <i>Future Career Goals</i>: I want to work in Public Relations to help out the community I grew up in. I want to use my degree in marketing to make some long lasting impact around sustainability and equality. My goal is to bond the people from New Mexico together regardless of the different backgrounds everyone comes from. I believe we can unite individuals by making not only our state a better place but the world as well. Public relations will allow me to spread ideas I am passionate about while providing an opportunity for voices to be heard on a first hand level. <i>Top Three Study Abroad Goals</i>: Travel- To as many countries as possible to diversify my knowledge, seeing the world or other cultures is one of the greatest privileges to have and I want to use this as an opportunity to learn on a global scale; Grow within myself- Going abroad is such an amazing experience however it can be scary and I want to grow as a person in all aspects while being in a new country miles away from the familiarity of being back home; Inspire- To motivate other students with similar background as me to go out there and see the world for themselves by following my journey

Hello everyone!

This past weekend I went to Brighton to visit one of my friends from Albuquerque. They are currently studying at the university of Sussex and after months of planning I finally got to visit them. Let me start off by saying Brighton is a holy grail must see city. Going into this trip I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve been to quite a few cities in England so I thought I was be very similar to the ones I have visited. But I was very Wrong. Brighton is a city full of joy and is so lively. Brighton geographically is right by the beach and even those the beach was mostly rocks it was so nice to see a scenery like the ones back home. On the beach there was a long pier that stretched almost a mile long. On the pier it was completely carnival themes and there were so many rides and fair foods. Very similar to the Santa Monica Pier back in the states! Although I didn’t ride any of the rides it was surprisingly affordable; only 30 pounds for a day ticket. I cannot rave about Brighton enough the weather was spectacular and the first time I have seen the sun in England in months. Something about being by the beach on a warm day brings me so much joy.

In the city centre we went around to the lanes for some lunch and did some thrifting. In Leeds the clothes thrifting scene is not the greatest and often just shopping from charity shops. But in Brighton everyone dresses so cool and unique. Thats because they have proper thrift shops that sold vintage clothing and reworked pieces for cheap. Safe to say I did splurge a little when walking around block and blocks of thrift shops. one of the shops even had a display of old childhood favorites board games glued to the ceiling and it was so cool.

At night I got the opportunity to stay at the University of Sussex and learned that the school is actually built in an national park. It was very different from any of the schools I have visited in England. The uni of Sussex was excluded from the city itself and is surrounded by loads of trees. The scenery was amazing and being in the forest really made me want to do more things in the outdoors. I do love the school I picked but I loved Brighton so much it gave me slight regrets on not attending school there. Fun Fact: University of Sussex was actually my second choice!

If you get the chance to visit this amazing city, please do, you would not regret it the slightest. I highly recommend a short day trip on a summer day. I definitely want to go back before I head back home to the US maybe I’ll see one of my fellow FEA scholars there!