I have now officially been in Leeds for a little over a month! I cannot believe it has already been a month since arrived in Leeds. I also realize that it has been a few weeks since my last post. I am extremely sorry for lack of posts in the past few weeks, but I have been really busy with my studies and preparing for my mid-terms (which I have completed!). 

In the beginning of this semester, quite a bit of the professors were on strike.  The strike was about the professors dissatisfaction towards how much they were getting paid.  Unfortunately for many students (including myself) this meant that a lot of classes were canceled for about two and half weeks. Therefore, some people lost two weeks worth of lectures and seminars. I am not sure if the professors got their raises or not, but the strikes did end.

On February 6th, I went to the West Yorkshire Playhouse to see a play for my politics module titled Refugee Boy. The play is based on the novel Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah.  The play was about a young man’s (Alem) transition into Britain from his home country of Ethiopia. The play portrays the challenges Alem has to overcome with the government, himself, his father, and others in his life.  This play was adapted by Lemn Sissay and directed by Gail Mclntyre. I really liked the play.  It was refreshing to see and hear the story of a refugee from the point of view of a refugee and not from history textbooks or professors.  If the play is ever in the US, I would recommend it those interested in international studies/relations, human development, culture, or politics.

On the 8th of February, I went to Manchester with a couple of friends.  Manchester is a really fun place to visit because there are tons of things to do. We visited a few museums which were all free!  My favorite was the National Football Museum, because I love football and there were a lot of things to do in that museum. We spent an entire day in Manchester and saw almost everything except for the football stadiums.

Since that week, I have also visited York, Oxford, and Nottingham! I will talk about these trips later this week and there will plenty of pictures!  I have also finally taken time out to explore more of Leeds, so I will also talk more about this later in the week.

Cheers

~Jazmin

Location: Leeds, UK