Discovering Durham
This week I travelled up to Durham for a long weekend to visit my best friend, Leah, at her university. Leah is in her first year studying medicine, however she is not actually on the Durham campus but in Stockton-On-Tees at the Stephenson college campus. The journey to Durham was extremely long and tiring on the Megabus, but once I had finally arrived I was greeted by a smiling Leah holding a thermos of tea for me (what more could you want form a best friend?!). Stephenson College is a nice campus which feels very safe and like a little community, a complete contrast to my life at Coventry University. On the first night I met most of Leah’s flatmates who were all welcoming and lovely, and we spent the rest of the night catching up on what had happened since we had last seen each other in Leeds in October.
On the Saturday we walked into the town centre of Stockton, which was full of families which during term time in Coventry is not a common sight in the city centre. After wondering around the shops, completing some errands and going for coffee we started the walk back to Stephenson College. One of the strangest things I found when I was in Durham was the college mentality. Stephenson Collage is rivalled with John Snow college, which shares the Stockton-On-Tees campus. Both colleges seem to attempt to one up the other in a never ending competition, with both sides even having chants against the other. Yet there are actually no harsh feelings towards the individuals of the two colleges.
Stephenson college were doing a Christmas bar crawl between the Stockton campus and Durham campus visiting all the different college bars. Leah and I occasionally joined in at random college bars, to catch up with her friends. When we were in Durham the range of different college styles was immense, with Castel college looking especially grand. Whilst in Durham centre, Leah took me on the tour of the city including the stunning Cathedral. Then we caught the bus back to Stockton before cooking dinner and watching a film.
Sunday involved a lot of walking to the Industrial Estate to do a bit of Christmas shopping as well as having lunch out in a Mexican restaurant. Once back home we relaxed and caught up with her flatmates and discussed their upcoming winter formal (something that I wish Coventry University did as it sounds so exciting). The next morning Leah had lectures from 9am, so I just spent my morning making myself at home in her accommodation. Once she returned we had a snack before I finished packing up to make my way back to Coventry and Leah even made me a packed lunch to take on the Megabus.
I feel that on her course Leah gets the best of both universities, as for her first two years she is on Stockton campus, a safe community that feels as if it is easing you into being an adult. Then in her third year she will spend the rest of her course in Newcastle, giving her the experience of a city university. This balance is one that seems perfect as I do love being in a city university, however having the safety of a campus did seem rather appealing especially in the first few weeks of university.
Overall I had a lovely trip, even with the ridiculously long journey there and back (15 ½ hours!!!), and despite all the walking once I was there. I would love to go back to visit Leah again, especially once she has moved into her student house in her second year. It was lovely that I had the opportunity to catch up with her and I cannot wait until the New Year when we will meet up again.
