Hello fellow Steemians and followers.

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This blog will be a little bit different compared to my previous blogs, which are mostly about my travels. I'm working on a bigger piece of my travel route through Guatemala and Belize, so stay tuned for that one! Meanwhile, I thought it would be nice to do a few blogs about something slightly else. A few years back, as part of my education, I did an exchange and studied a semester abroad in England. So it's more a mix of my personal experience with studying abroad and some travel related pieces. Back at my university in the Netherlands, another faculty had some open spots left and I chose to take advantage of the situation. I decided to go to England, also as a nice way to improve my language skills. My University had some kind of collaboration with the University of Coventry in the West Midlands of England, so the choice was not so difficult. I booked my courses and a room on the campus and flew off to Birmingham where I took a bus to Coventry.

A well-know landmark in Coventry, the cathedral

The Hub, a campus building where you can study and eat

A little bit of history:

Around 700 AD, Romans founded some settlements on the site which is called Convetry nowadays. Later in the year 1016, the Danish army left the place in ruin. In the year 1043, Earl Leofric of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva built on the remains of the ruins a monastery and a market which quickly resulted in an expansion of the city.

I think everyone knows Lady Godiva as the woman who later rode naked on a horse through the streets of Coventry. The purpose of that act was to gain a remission of the taxation that her husband imposed, which at that time was oppressing the tenants. You can find a statue of Lady Godiva in the city center of Coventry.

from 1896 Coventry has been a center of car and motor manufacturing. Although the motor industry has suffered some setbacks, Jaguar still has his corporate headquarters in Coventry. Many times you will find a brand new Jaguar parked on the campus grounds being polished for a photoshoot.

Later during the Second World War, Coventry suffered severe bomb damage. One of Coventry best-known landmarks, the cathedral, was also struck by German bombing. Most of the cathedral was destroyed, only the outer walls and spire are left.

Back to the present:
Coventry is the 9th largest city in England but for me, it didn't really felt like such a big city. Mostly because I stayed within the campus area which is scattered over the city center. So to me, it just felt like a small village. The pubs are mixed with the university buildings and everything was within walking distance. After I checked in to my room I wanted to explore the city a bit. First I had to get out of the campus building I was staying in, which was practically a maze. Ran into someone from Sweden who had the same problem. Eventually, we founded the exit and after getting our photos taken for the college ID, we went for a pint in the pub. A few years later the Swedish guy is still one of my better friends ;D

Around the cathedral you can find some picturesque streets

And some squirrels

I met some other nice people as well during my stay there. We still try to do a trip together once a year. Back there we tried to do some weekend trips as well between studying. We went a few times to some neighboring villages and also visited Liverpool and Londen. I'll probably write some blogs about these trips later on.

I did the first semester abroad, so that was roughly from the end of September until the end of January, with a 3 week holiday around Christmas. During that time I had to follow 3 courses. It was considerably easy compared to back home. There a period consists out of 8 weeks college and then 2 weeks of exams. So instead of 2 semesters, we had 4 quarters. Although the courses I needed to follow per quarter were smaller, I still had to do 5 or sometimes even up to 7 different ones. So 3 courses in one semester wasn't so bad. The courses at Coventry University consisted out of normal colleges and a few hours of practical colleges per week. I still had a lot of free time left during the week which we usually spent in the gym or in the pubs. I'm not so sure what to say about the pub culture in Coventry. I think it will suffice if I say that it's sometimes so bad that it's actually fun again ;D

For anyone considering studying abroad I highly recommend it. It will provide you with a ton of new experiences and insights. For instance new people with different cultures, different study system, others ways of teaching etc. etc. A chance to explore another country and a proper excuse to drink some beers.

Cheers, Stephan

If you’re interested in any of my previous work, feel free to check it out:

• Massive snowdump in the Alpes in Europe and I went snowboarding
• Malaysia: visiting the Mossy Forest and Tea plantations in the Cameron Highlands!
• Visiting the ancient temples of Ayutthaya in Thailand
• Long exposure photography. What settings and gear I use. Multiple photos inside!
• Vietnam backpackers route for 4 weeks (part 2 of 2)
• Vietnam backpackers route for 4 weeks (part 1 of 2)
• Beautiful limestone pools and a crazy river. Semuc Champey (Guatemala) in one sentence

!steemitworldmap 52.419472 lat -1.520418 long Coventry d3scr