Since I started studying in England in the autumn of 1995, I have had time to do a lot of things. In addition to telling you how life is where I live in Darlington, I will tell you some of the fun things I have been up to.
This is the front of Darlington College of Technology. This picture is not from a proportion pamphlet but actually taken by myself on one of the utmost few days with sun!
So, I study at Darlington College of Technology. This is not
a university even though I am studying a university course.
Strictly speaking I am a student of Teesside University in
Middlesbrough but nearly all my lectures are here in
Darlington.
This is the architectonic beautiful building where I have my lectures!
We travel to Middlesbrough every Wednesday for a video
lecture and to use the library. In the afternoon there are
many student activities and I usually go to the swimming
pool and splash around a bit with the union's swimming club.
This is the architectonic beautiful building where I have my lectures!
I live in West Powlett Street. This is a small street close
to the town centre. I use approximately ten minutes to walk
to the college and about 15 minutes to the train station.
The closest pub is about three minutes away so I don't
suffer much.
This is the cat in West Powlett Street. Her name is Perl but I don't think it is a nice name for a cat so I don't use it very much. She is a very affectionate cat and and wants me to pat her when I am trying to do something sensible, like homework.
Darlington is quite an anonymous town. Not many people knows
where it is even though the number of inhabitants is around
100 000.
A reason for this is that there is very little happening in
Darlington. The most exiting thing about the town is its
history. The world's first railway went for Darlington to
Stockton.
This is Tom and Terry (?) busy frying some sausages and burgers on the “grill”.
The nightlife is not much to boast of. There are two night
clubs which are really quite lousy. There are quite a few
pubs around but they close at eleven and then there is
nothing more to do. If you want some more action you have to
travel to Middlesbrough. The only problem is that the last
train home goes at around quarter past eleven and that does
not help much. It is a pity because we don't get very
contact with other students at Teesside University.
And then we have Luke! Here in the centre of Darlington.
Now and then someone has a student party and we don't go
very early to bed...
The Yorkshire Dales
The Yorkshire Dales are quite well known, probably thanks to
James Herriot who was a vet in the area. Here there is a lot
of nature, in strong contrast to much of England with
developed areas.
This is Roy just after we had started on our walk.
Me and Roy wanted to go for a walk in something that looked
like proper nature. We therefore took the bus first to
Richmond in North Yorkshire and then another bus up
Swaledale until we came to a small village called
Gunnerside.
And I was along too!
The name Gunnerside derived from the Norse and meaning
"Gunner's shielding or summer pasture," originally applied to
the settlement on the west side of the Beck. The settlement
to the east was known as Lodge Green.
We could have gone quite a bit further. This is the point where we turned and went back.
The population of the village grew significantly during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when lead mining
flourished. In 1851 the population was about 680, with some
180 being employed in the lead mines in Gunnerside Gill.
But, after the close of the mines towards the end of the
nineteenth century, many people emigrated to the Lancashire
cotton mills, the West Riding woollen mills, or America. Now
Gunnerside is a village of some 200 permanent inhabitants.
Here I am standing in some richly coloured scenery. I was surprised to see all the colours in the countryside in the middle of the winter.
Once there actually were rail tracks here to transport ore from the mines. They don't seem to make railways like they did in the old days...
After we had finished it was very nice with something to
drink in as far as we could see, the village's only pub, The
Kings Inn. Because it was Sunday it was somewhat important
that we caught the bus which was the last one home.
Bristol
Terje wouldn't come up to visit me so I had to travel down
to visit him and see how he was in Bristol in his first year
as a student.
When I took this picture of Terje he thought I really had started to waste film...
The setup was as I had expected. He lived in a big student
hall with one room of his own and sharing kitchen and
toilet/showers. He didn't have to make his own food because
he was served this three times a day.
It wasn't exactly a gourmet meal he served his dear brother but pizza isn't that despicable either.
We looked around shops in the town, talked to some of
Terje's friend, tried out the PC room (which I only can
dream of), tasted beer and cider at a few pubs and at the
student union and I watched Terje doing his water polo
training.
The nuclear accident
The Ministry of Defence arranged a mock accident where a
nuclear missile was to have leaked some radioactive
material. Some of the journalism courses were invited. My
class was not one of them but I and some from my class
managed to sneak along anyway.
We had to have a proper press conference! Not many of us journalists thought that the mighty men were very good at explaining and defending themselves. Aggressive journalists was obviously not everyday life for them.
Our job was to be journalists and write articles about had
happened. We had to call different people in the ministry
and interview them about what had happened. We also got lots
of reports that we had to check out and then write
stories.
The exercise lasted four days and I participated in the last
two. Most of the dramatic stuff was over by then so we
didn't do that much. We hung around waiting quite a bit. The
last day someone suddenly asked us if we wanted to take a
trip in a helicopter! And, of course, everyone wanted to
come along!
I had to take some pictures of this Puma helicopter so I got a picture when some of the students form the IDJ class (international Diploma in Journalism) were on they way in.
With that we went to the helicopters and got ear plugs
before we climbed into the metal thing. First we flew to the
site of the accident so someone could do some filming.
Afterwards we landed at the military site close by before we
flapped back to the police headquarters.
Then the helicopter rose to the sky with a terrific noise and disappeared.
One of the girls had some problems with fastening her seat
belt in the helicopter but she did not want to reveal this
to the man looking after us. So the helicopter took of with
the door open and flew away... I do not she liked to look
straight down into the ground!
17th of May
One can't forget one's dear mother country when one leave
Norway, especially not on the 17th of May! That is why many
of us Norwegians went to Newcastle to participate in a 17th
of May parade. To be on the safe side, we sung Norway's
national anthem on the way. I think some of the other people
in our train thought we were a bit nuts and we probably
were too.
This was the very first time I had participated in a 17th of May parade in a shopping centre!
The 17th of May parade did not take very long time. We went
through the streets in the centre of Newcastle. It was fun
walking up Northumberland Street and being as Norwegian as
possible. Maybe not strange we had a police escort.
This is how it looks like when the 17th of May is celebrated in Newcastle!
After we sung some very Norwegian songs the whole thing was
over and we all crowded towards the closest pub... Maybe not
a Norwegian tradition on the 17th of May but that has
perhaps something to do with the pubs, not us Norwegians!
All pictures and illustrations are Copyright © 1995-98
Andreas
Strand
This page was first made on November 8, 1996
Last updated on July 31, 1998
