The “Old” York

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Anh Tran

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Anh Tran

<i>"Hello" in your host country's language:</i> Hello <i>Home Institution (your U.S. University/College):</i> University of North Georgia <i>Expected graduation year:</i> 2023 <i>Destination city & country:</i> Bradford, England <i>Program provider:</i> ISEP <i>Major/minor:</i> Marketing with a Digital Marketing Concentration / Graphic Design <i>Demographics:</i> Asian/Asian American, First-Generation American, First-Generation College Student, Naturalization Citizen <i>Future career aspirations:</i> My future career is to work in an international digital marketing and social media company or become a Digital & Product Marketing Manager for an international company as my role as a Digital & Product Marketing Manager intern at a SasS German start-up has inspired my career path. After graduation, I anticipate teaching English in another country through various programs such as the U.S. Fulbright to teach English in Vietnam or Teach in Thailand. Afterward, I do plan on pursuing my master's in International Business or International Studies. All of these goals will open my doors to networking and lead me to careers to work with international companies and potentially work abroad. <i>Top 3 goals for your time abroad:</i> My first goal is to build meaningful personal and professional relationships while abroad. I am so used to being around Americans, so for once, I would like to learn how to adapt and appreciate a culture that is different from my through relationships. My second goal is to learn to increase my level of independence and confidence abroad through research and seeking out local resources with my study abroad country. I am currently a commuter student living at home in the same state and city. I would like to get out of my comfort zone and learn how to live on my own as my future career will require me to travel or live abroad. My third goal is to develop new academic and professional skills applicable to a global context. My campus involvement and academic skill while abroad set can help me with reaching those goals.

Hey everyone! Welcome to my 3rd FEA Blog! I have mentioned visiting Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, and Newcastle Under Lyme in my last 2 blogs. The new location I have visited is York. I went with my friend and the reason why is for us to meet our mutual friend, which my friend haven’t seen him in a while and this would be the first time I have met him in person. I had a great time the first night (Friday) as I went to a South African restaurant and had a pork belly dish. The following day (Saturday), my friend and I walked around York and went through The Shambles (Harry Potter street) to purchase a ghost at the ghost shop. Unfortunately, it was a 3-hour wait :(. We also saw Clifford’s Tower from a distance.

After that, I went to a haunted interactive dungeon. I’ve been to many haunted houses but this dungeon was different because the live actors would point at random people to participate in these activities. The actors made me randomly participate in two things which were the Vengeance of the Vikings and The Torture of Chambers. At the Vengeance of the Vikings, the live Viking actress told me to scream a word, unfortunately, I said the wrong thing because I couldn’t remember what he told me. Apparently, I “killed everyone” because I said the wrong thing? HAHA. In The Torture of Chambers, the actor put me in a cage. Thank goodness I was just put in a cage and didn’t do anything interactive or I would have humiliated myself in front of everyone again.

Afterwards, my friend and I went to an outside restaurant to stop for a midday snack. I got myself water with lemon, crab cake, and some onion rings. I am pretty much used to the doughy like onion rings in the UK but these were slightly batted and mostly onions. I do say myself it was one of the best onion rings I have had by far in the UK. I do miss the onion rings in the US, especially the ones from Dairy Queen! Afterwards, my friend and I continued walking around York to some shops, saw the York Minter (cathedral), the garden, and walked on the York City Walls.

Then we headed back to the hotel and ordered food through Deliveroo. I ordered the Vietnamese dish, “pho” because my university’s city didn’t have any Vietnamese food, just only Thai food. The pho was honestly not my favourite because the beef brisket isn’t what I expected and the meatballs weren’t made from tapioca. On top of that, they didn’t offer any sauces. Thank goodness I paid extra for sriracha or else my pho would have been flavourless. As a Vietnamese person, I know pho isn’t pho without hoisin sauce. I spent the rest of the night relaxing and I discovered on tv Gogglebox which is similar to my favourite old show, “The People’s Couch”.

The next day (Sunday), my friend and I got ready and checked out of the hotel to meet our friend. We went to eat at the restaurant he worked at. I ordered fried chicken with chips (coleslaw). It was one of my favourite dishes I had in York because the other two meals were mid. Then we visited our friend’s place to talk and relax before our train. Afterwards, we got an Uber back to the train station and had a conversation with our Uber driver about our weekend and York’s rich history.

That’s all for my blog! York was one of my favourite Northern cities to visit. I highly recommend marking this city off your bucket list. Below are the York Minster (cathedral) and The River Ouse.