Bradford  
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BRADFORD

" A great Yorkshire city"
(or so they say)


I spent more than nine months in Bradford, as a Socrates student, e.g., an overseas student who came for a year in Bradford University, while a British student from there came in my home school. As a logical consequence, I got to know this city quite well. If you fancy knowing more about it, just follow the guide… 

YORKSHIRE

The region of the Brontë sisters, of the sheep and nice people have much to offer. If you are lucky enough to possess a car, you would enjoy excursion in the beautiful but… Err, very wet countryside. Yorkshire Dales national park is just thirty miles away to the north. Don't miss a trip to Lake district! You may go to neighbouring Leeds for shopping or for partying, but try to go at least once to Manchester and to the beautiful city of York. 
The Yorkshire people deserve their reputation 


of niceness and friendshipness. You would also notice their funny, and for some people ununderstandable accent: they have a tendency to not to pronounce the "t", and to replace every "ee" sound (bee) by "e" (let) --> Universi' e ey…
I know, it's really very bad of me to make fun of their accent, while my own is not even british!!
Yorkshire is also a northern region, forgotten by the success experimented in the South. Bradford, more specifically,is
probably the cheapest city in UK… Because it's the poorest.

POOR, FILTHY BRADFORD

In Bradford, you'll find the street full of dust. When your small garden would be filled with chocolate bar wrapping or plastic bags or whatever over and over again, some time you'll get tired to remove them. Especially when you'll see that the municipality doesn't do much to have the streets cleaned. This is especially true in the areas (sorry if you belong to this category of population) where live in majority Pakistani and Indian people. To be poor is not an valuable excuse for dropping your shit in the streets!

A LAND OF IMMIGRATION

When I lived there, in 1998-99, Bradford's mayor was of Pakistani's origin. The town's meal is the very famous Bradford's... curry! Whenever you'd walk in the street, you'd see the importance of the Pakistani community.
Moreover, the university praises itself for welcoming students from all around the world. The campus is full of Greek, Spanish, Chinese from Hong-Kong, French and much more.

COUNTRYSIDE

In Bradford, the countryside is never far. From the campus, walk perpendicular to the road going to town, and you'll arrive in a place looking very much like a small village, just a few streets ahead (the picture above was taken in this place).
If you fancy breathing fresh air on a regular basis, suscribe to the university's sport Union and go to the hiking club: it organises every week excursions to the mountains around and further. Just be sure you have good boots and a warm coat: even in spring, it's freezing!

OTHER GUIDES

bradford-net.com: all about Bradford's district. Incorporates local links and a localised search engine facility.
city-of-bradford.com: a complete guide and... err, much kinder point of view on Bradford.
The city of Bradford: the university's guide. They'd convince you Bradford is the best place to be.
 
 

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