United Kingdom

By Sasha O.

Published July 3, 2026

June was a month of both beginnings and endings for me. My final exams had finally ended, which I was really happy about. But soon after, I realized the next ending would be saying goodbye to my good friends. It was really sad because, although I had only been in Manchester for a little under…

By Sasha O.

Published July 2, 2026

Whenever I got bored in the U.K., the best thing to do was pack a backpack, buy a £20 round-trip train ticket and take a day trip. Throughout my time in Manchester, I did this more times than I can count. I visited places like Edinburgh, York, Bristol, Bath and many smaller towns in between.…

By Sasha O.

Published July 2, 2026

Now that I'm back in St. Louis, I've realized there are a lot of things I miss about Manchester. The pub culture, my friends… but also the public transportation. In Manchester, they have something called the Bee Network, which operates the city's double-decker buses. Each ride costs just £2 (about $2.65), making it an incredibly…

By Sasha O.

Published July 1, 2026

I think the United Kingdom’s nature is incredibly underrated. I often found myself wanting to travel around the U.K. more than to neighboring countries. Yes, it’s true what they say about the weather — it is impressively and consistently dreary. From November to early April, temperatures usually hover around 50°F, with gray skies and a…

By Sasha O.

Published June 29, 2026

Studying for finals is finally over, and I feel like I’ve regained some free time. While in Chinese class, a girl whose name I recently learned asked me to grab a coffee. At first, this threw me off. In my opinion, young people in America have a different way of making friends compared to young…

By Elle C.

Published June 17, 2026

On May 30, I got to experience one of the most fun things! I had always heard about the “true” football (aka soccer) experience. In America, soccer is increasing in popularity, but in England — it is everything. When I knew that I would be studying abroad in London, I knew I wanted to find…

By Abby M.

Published May 29, 2026

May has been quite the month! After coming back from an extended spring break, there were two weeks of class, and now the “final” waiting period. In Manchester, finals are done quite a bit differently, in which the school has an entire month to give out finals after classes are over. Even after your finals…

By Ada N.

Published May 13, 2026

If you've seen “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” you probably remember the part where Harry and Ron have to fly Mr. Weasley's car to get to Hogwarts. In this scene, they follow the Hogwarts Express as it travels over a bridge. This is a real bridge, and I got the chance to visit…

By Abby M.

Published May 1, 2026

Spring break has officially finished here in Manchester. At the University of Manchester, spring break is three weeks long, two weeks for Easter break, and one week for the non-teaching period. I did quite a bit of exploring during this break and enjoyed every moment of it. I took a break in Edinburgh, Scotland, where…

By Ada N.

Published April 7, 2026

Whisky is a major part of Scottish culture. The word for whisky in Scottish Gaelic literally means water of life, and Scotland’s primary crop is barley, whisky’s main ingredient. I recently got to experience the significance of whisky in Scotland at the Johnnie Walker Journey of Flavor Tour. Johnnie Walker is the most popular Scotch…