Hello!

LIVERPOOL

           I will present you my travel to Liverpool. Liverpool is located in the North West part of England, it’s a very old city which was founded in the thirteenth century. The city was designated European capital of Culture in 2008. This English City is famous for its pop culture thanks to the Beatles and for its historical heritage. Nowadays, Liverpool is the second English harbour. The docks are famous and beautiful. I went to Liverpool from Lancaster by train, it’s very easy.

As I said it before, Liverpool is famous thanks to the Beatles where the band has known its first success. As you can see on the picture below, there are the cavern club and the cavern pub which are dedicated to the band. You can also see the wall of fame.

Liverpool is very beautiful city, full of charm and history. Indeed, there is a lot of museum, the architecture is original, the docks offer an amazing view and we can do shopping! Liverpool can please everybody thanks to its diversity. I spent a lot of time in Liverpool with my friends first and after with my family. It permitted me to visit all the city and to discover lots of things. Here some pictures of my journey…

Thanks for reading, in the next article I will present you my trip to Manchester!

See you!

Morecambe and Blackpool

Hi everybody!

In the following articles I will present you the different travels I have done during my Erasmus semester.

During my Erasmus semester I have visited several cities. First of all, I will present you two of them: Morecambe and Blackpool.

Morecambe is very close to Lancaster, we can go there by bike, by train… It’s very fast! Morecambe is a seaside resort of the city of Lancaster in Lancashire. The city is located in Morecambe Bay and there are approximately 45 000 inhabitants.

Morecambe is a beautiful bay where we can observe the sea and the sunset. When I went there with my friends, the weather was not very sunny and it was very windy. However, even if the city is small and even if there is not a lot of things to do, the sea view is worth a look!

Blackpool is a coastal city located in the northwest of England. It takes 40 minutes to go there by train. There are 142 100 inhabitants in Blackpool.

Blackpool is a seaside resort where we also can observe the sea and the sunset. The beach is very beautiful and it’s very pleasant to go for a walk along the seaside. In Blackpool I went to a burlesque show. It was a very fun experience!

Thanks for reading, 

See you in my next article where I will present you another journey!

Hi everybody!

Today I will present you some local news stories which happened during my semester in Lancaster.

Sport: Busy time for Lancaster and Morecambe runners

            On April, the 9^th, six runners from the Lancaster and Morecambe Athletics Club ran at the Pendle Hill. A girl from Cumbria had an excellent run and finished as first female for the under 16 age category.

Royal: A royal visit in Lancaster

            On May, the 29^th, the Queen Elizabeth II came to Lancaster! It was a big event for this peaceful city! Indeed, as part of her role of duchy of Lancaster, Queen Elizabeth II came to visit the city for the first time in these last 16 years. She arrived just after 10am, she visited the castle of Lancaster and she watched a performance of Shakespeare. She came to commemorate the 750 years of the castle belonging to the Duke of Lancaster. The street was crowd of hundreds of people who were there to see her majesty the queen Elizabeth II.

Politic: During all my semester abroad, I heard about…

…The City Council elections held in Lancaster:

            During all my semester abroad, we received mail, almost every day, about the city council elections. City Council elections are held every four years in England. This year, the day of the vote was on May, the 7^th. For Lancaster, the results are: 19 seats for the conservative party, 9 seats for the green party, 1 seat for the Independent party, 29 seats for the Labour Party and 2 seats for the MBI party.

Bibliography:

Lancaster guardian

Hi everybody!

Today, in this article, I will present you the geopolitical situation in England.

        First of all, we must remember that there is in England a constitutional monarchy commonly referred to as British monarchy. The hereditary monarch is at the head of State and the Prime Minister is at the head of the government. Today, the monarch is Queen Elizabeth II and the prime minister is David Cameron who has been respectively operational since 1952 and 2010. Under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, the prime minister is at the head of the Conservative Party. 

The Conservative Party is the British right-wing party founded in 1834. The Conservative Party is opposed to the regionalist or separatist tendencies which sometimes occur in Northern Ireland, Wales or Scotland (most recently). The conservative party has counted among its members some personalities such as Winston Churchill or Margaret Thatcher.

The distribution of powers:

     Executive power: exercised by the Queen’s government. The members of the government are chosen by the Prime minister.          

Legislative power: exercised by the government and the Parliament (both House of Lords and House of Commons).

           Judicial power: exercised independently from the other powers.

What can the Queen do? What are her powers?

The British monarch the chief of the Commonwealth (composed by 15 different countries). However, each country of the Commonwealth are independent and legally distinct. Queen Elizabeth is also the governor of the Church of England. Nowadays, the role of the monarch is mainly constitutional and limited to ceremonial functions. Moreover, the ultimate executive authority is under the royal prerogative of the monarch. These powers include the dissolution of the Parliament and the enactment of rules for the government and the regulation of the civil services and the armed forces.

          Lancaster is located in the Lancashire region, in the North West England. There are fourteen districts in Lancashire and its population is about 1,170,000. The council of Lancashire is represented by 84 councilors. 39 of them are as part of the Labour Party, 35 are as part of the Conservatives Party and 6, 3 and 1 of them are respectively as part of the Liberal Democrats party, the Independent party and the Green party. There are elections every 4 years.

Internal Conflicts or tensions

            For more than 7 centuries and after several independence wars and religious conflicts, we can say that England and Scotland maintain tumultuous relationships. There were 2 independence wars; the first independent war occurred in 1296 and the second in 1332. Therefore, it’s been a long time that Scotland want to proclaim its independence.

            On September the 18^th, a referendum was held in Scotland. Differing opinions exist on the question of the independence of Scotland and I will try to explain why. The pro-independence supporters say that vote “yes” to the independence of Scotland is a guarantee to never be ruled by the Conservative Party of London. Indeed, it’s important to know that the major party of Scotland votes left for decades. Moreover, they proclaim that the independence of Scotland will save the health care system and will maintain the gratuity of universities. They also promise a greener society, more pacifist and more involved in the European Union.

Conversely, proponents of “no” argue that Scotland benefits from England which is a powerful country. The strong currency and the big domestic market are both good reasons to say that England is economically powerful. If Scotland become independent, the country would not benefit anymore from the currency.

On September, the 18^th in 2014, Scotland decided the future of its country. The major party of the country voted “no” for the independence of Scotland. But the referendum will be organized again (maybe after the Scottish elections in 2020) and Scottish are going to be called again to vote.

External current Conflict which include England

Currently, England is involved in a military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Since the beginning of its intervention, the United Kingdom lost 2 civilians and 1 volunteer. The operation given to the British participation to the intervention against ISIL was called the Operation Shader. This operation began on August, the 7^th in 2014. First, the United Kingdom sent humanitarian aids thanks to airdrops. As the conflict intensified, the British airforce sent reconnaissance aircraft. Before undertaking armed mission, several debates took place in the United Kingdom. After a vote, the large majority said “yes” to undertake armed mission against ISIL. The first armed mission against ISIL took place on September, the 27^th. On that date, the number of airstrikes conducted by the United Kingdom average 194.

This is the end of the article, I hope you learnt more about England and its current situation. See you in my next article :)

Bibliography : 

The Guardian

History of England

Telegraph

Hello everyone!

In this article I will present you the different social rituals in England. You’ll learn all about the customs, the symbols, the events and the habits of England.

If I ask someone about what he knows on England, the words that come out will certainly be fish and chips, red buses, red telephone boxes, rainy weather, Big Ben, Queen Elizabeth II, black cabs, tea, English breakfast… But what is the reality of these social rituals?

Symbols:

Of course, the biggest symbol in England is the Queen Elizabeth II. She is the leader of the country since 1952. She is a symbol of durability and continuity of monarchy.

The rose: this flower is the emblem of England since the Wars of the Roses. This term is used to describe the different dynastic wars which happened in England between the houses of Lancaster and York (1455-1485). The emblem of Lancaster is a red rose and the emblem of York is a white rose. When the war ended, the two roses have been woven together forming the Tudor Rose.                                                                       

         Big Ben is one of the most popular bell in the world. The tower holds the second largest four-faced chiming clock in the world. The building was renamed in 2012 to celebrate the 60^th jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and is now known under the name of Tour Elizabeth. Before, it was just called Clock Tower and Big Ben is, in reality, just a nickname.

The national anthem “God Save the Queen” written by Thomas Beecham.

National Celebrations and events:

On the 23rd of April, England celebrate the national day. This event is called St. George’s Day, St. George is the patron saint of England. A legend dating back to the 6th century tells that St. George saved a little girl who was imprisoned by a dragon. St. George’s name was also used by knights who fought for the one hundred years war and who were displayed the English flag banner (Red Cross on a white background).

Remembrance Day or Poppy Day is a memorial day in Commonwealth’s Nations members. Poppy Day is observed on November, the 11^th to recall the end of World War I in 1918. The poppy is a flower associated to this event in memory of those who died in the war. In England, many motorists wear the poppy on the front of their car.  

Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday takes place on Tuesday, seven weeks before Easter. It is a Christian feast where people use to eat pancakes.

Habits and customs:

English love red… Red buses, red telephone boxes or red post boxes.

The famous English breakfast with bacon, sausages, eggs, beans… Actually, in England, the breakfast is the biggest meal in the day. English people use to eat snacks during the day because there is no real meal at midday. What surprise me is that every shop has a snack display (even drugstores!).

And what about the English tea custom? There are four special times for drinking tea in England. At first, there is the Early Morning Tea, took in the morning, it matches very well with the traditional English breakfast. Then, there is the Eleven Tea, took during the Eleven o’clock break. After, there is the Afternoon tea also called “five o’clock tea” which is very popular in England. To finish, there is the Night tea which is generally took at 7pm.

Is the weather really rainy? As I write this article, the sun is shining and there is no cloud to upset the blue sky. Yes, it’s true, sometimes it’s raining but I thought, before living France, that it will rain more than that.  

We always heard about ONE minute of silence to commemorate and remembering the contributions of those who have served the country but in England, there TWO minutes of silence. One for dead people and one for those who are alive.

Thanks for reading J See you in my next article !

Bibliography:

Kwintessential