I know, maybe you think that Coventry is a little shithole with no reputation in the UK. You’d spout off about how Coventry isn’t high class and how you must take the train to Birmingham when you want to go shopping. Maybe Coventry University isn’t your first choice of school to apply to, and the school’s reputation and environment leave you with something less than you’d like.
But I also believe that Coventry still haunts many. Dreaming of returning to those sunny days. Because there are so many stories of transformation and growth to tell. Like me, although Coventry is too insignificant amongst the many famous old cities in the UK. However, I have always regarded it as my place of belonging here. Coventry is like a door through which I entered the UK and became myself.
For various reasons, we came to the UK Coventry University to study. More than a year passed in a hurry, and after returning to China, it was like waking up from a dream. We are no longer the students who travelled around Europe, bought and bought, and stayed up for our thesis but turned into the overtime dogs who earned hard wages and found it hard to get holidays—looking back, in addition to those photos to prove that they have been here, as well as harvested a certificate of graduation with the same gold content as if all the memories are a bit of a trance. Only when you get together with your classmates can you feel that more than a year is actual, and the memories will become concrete.
As we go, new people will come. They live in the same room you once lived in and even sleep in the same bed you once lay in. They walk in those streets we are familiar with, perhaps more or less earlier, and you and I have the same feelings. I like revisiting old places and want to discover the changes and constants in the “old places” with some sighs and excitement. And so I returned to Coventry. As the train approached, many memories of this place began to flash through my mind, messily but violently. My heart was racing.
So let’s start at the railway station and return to Coventry.
Coventry Railway Station
As you will remember, Coventry railway station has undergone alterations inside and outside over the last year. The new ticket office inside the station has been built, and the outside complex is taking shape. You no longer have to go round the path under the bridge to get to the station from the city. The new section on the ground has been made open and spacious.
Probably like me, the first place many of you came to live in Coventry was Paradise Student Village, a student hostel with a small room for each person and a shared kitchen and bathroom. On the ground floor was the canteen, where everyone ate breakfast and dinner daily, and the boys and girls spent these times checking each other out. After a few days of being alone in the dormitory, the boys and girls started attending class in small groups.
It was a time when everyone was new, enthusiastic and excited about their new surroundings and life. June is an excellent season in the UK and makes everyone look spirited and full of energy.
After the language course everyone moved to their new accommodation and split up in four. Coventry is not significant. But it’s almost impossible to meet friends who were just friends before. Everyone found their new circle of friends and new directions.
Shopping in Coventry
I fell in love with walking when I arrived in England. Especially on a good day, walking is delightful for the body and mind. Walking from home to the train station, to the park, to the city for shopping. The journey takes over 20 minutes, but I don’t feel tired. I started learning how to cook and feed myself self-sufficiently after not even holding the bottle of oil at home when it fell over. Coventry food market should be my most photographed place. Every time I go there, I carry home a pile of vegetables, fruits, and cooking ingredients.
Besides cooking for myself, I also buy things to eat, like Golden Dragon Chow Mein. My favourite is the beef chow mein with barbecue sauce and chilli sauce. It’s affordable, tasty, and only costs about 3 lbs for a big box full. The owner is also very kind; sometimes, he doesn’t want it when it’s a dozen pounds short, and sometimes, he’ll give a lot of meat or prawns. Like one of the waiters at the Hub, I asked for a quarter of a half portion of roast chicken when I saw that the amount of lasagne was still too significant. Instead, he said I should have more and added a big piece of cake.
You can buy all the things you need for your daily life in the Coventry Centre shopping area. It’s just that all the shops close very early. They started to close around 6 pm, which was a bit disconcerting initially. When I first came to the UK, I was so happy to see everything; some of my friends even threw coins into this fountain to make a wish. At that time, we were single and full of romance, but nowadays, it seems this is just a plain and straightforward fountain.
Restaurants in Coventry
Godiva is one of the few historical tales and legends left in Coventry. It is said that around 1040, the Earl of Leofric the Dane decided to increase the taxes on the people. But his wife Godiva persuaded her husband to lighten the burden on the people. The Earl was furious and thought it was shameful that Godiva was begging so hard for the untouchables. Godiva, however, believes that the people are lovely and honourable.
So they decided to make a bet: Godiva would cover her body with her long hair and ride naked through the streets of the city. If everyone stayed in their houses and did not look at her, the Count would announce a tax reduction. The following day, when Lady Godiva rode out into the city, all the people of Coventry honestly hid in their houses. They did not want to disgrace their benefactor, except for Tom, a tailor, who peeped through a small hole in the window panel. Then, he was strangely blinded, which is where the English Peeping Tom comes from. Eventually, the Count declared a tax cut for the whole city. This is the famous legend of Madame Godiva.
Remember the White House? It’s a western restaurant on the street to the right of Godiva. The first time we ate here was when an elder sister brought me and a friend here. It was also very exciting for us who had been eating fast food for a few days. We couldn’t read the menu at all, much less know how to order. It was just, foolishly, a really high class place. A proper English steak went down like it was more English itself.
Things to Do in Coventry
Down the White House is Coventry’s proud car museum. The car’s history is on display here, and it also presents the development of Coventry. Every summer, Coventry also holds a vintage car exhibition. The streets are full of vintage cars. Car owners chat in groups and watch their vehicles appear in different people’s mobile phone albums. Coventry University’s automotive programme is one of the best in the UK. Many car companies are based in Coventry.
Continuing down the road is Swan Park. However, swans are very common in the UK. Besides swans, there are many other birds in this park. They are not afraid of people at all, and I occasionally buy bread to feed them. I remember once I was feeding the swans here by myself after 10 o’clock at night, and when I finished feeding them, I just sat down on the chair next to them and rested.
As I was fuming, an old grandfather walked past me. But then he came back and gabbed to me. The general idea was that he saw me alone and felt that I was either emotionally damaged. Either that, or my job wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped, so I couldn’t think straight. He advised me that everything would be fine, but not to do anything dangerous. I’m sitting here alone, what should I do if I run into a drunken man …… Originally, I was quite quiet and enjoying myself alone, and I watched the old man getting more and more agitated. I immediately accepted the goodwill to ride a bike and left the place, and after that also never went to that park alone at night again.
Me and Miki in Coventry
This park is where Miki and I started. But there are two versions of how we fell in love. We found out that there were two versions of the story. We were sitting on a bench that day.
He said, “We’ve been emailing and seeing each other for a while. Do you want to have a relaxing time, or do you want to develop a serious relationship?
I said, “Do you mean to ask me if I want to be your girlfriend?”
He said, “Yes, I think we’re kinda right for each other.”
I said, “But aren’t you worried about time? I’m going back home after graduation.”
He said, “No worries, who knows what will happen in the future.”
This memory is my version of what I told my sister. She concluded, “Why do I feel that you two initiated your relationship first?
And Miki’s version is that we were both sitting on a bench and he asked me point blank if I wanted to be his girlfriend. Then I said but I’m going back to my country in a few months. He said that if we were in true love, none of that would be a problem. Then we kissed. And he noticed that the guy sitting in the chair next to us had been following our progress with a sidelong ear.
See, sometimes memories really do jump around. Who remembers right? I don’t know.
Tourism in Coventry
Later on, if you keep walking you’ll be able to get round the centre of the school. Coventry Cathedral is also here. Coventry was unfortunate enough to be attacked by German air raids at night during the Second World War. It is said that at the time the British military broke the code for this operation. However, the masses were not evacuated for the greater good of the war. And so Coventry was sacrificed.
Most of the buildings and streets in the city today were built slowly after the end of the Second World War. Almost all the old buildings were destroyed, including Coventry Cathedral. The new church has a modern interior with stained glass and pictures of Jesus. Opposite, the original site, which was bombed at the time, remains.
If you go downstairs to the Cathedral’s showroom you will see that Coventry Cathedral is now a sister church to a German church. It is not only a religious symbol, but also a symbol of peace. Every year to commemorate the end of the Second World War, a memorial service is held here to honour those who have gone before. The children bring you to remember the history and give thanks for the peace with their heavenly songs.
Study in Coventry
The Hub is a familiar place for all students. Maybe you don’t like to go to the library, but you unquestionably come to the Hub a lot, and nowadays the computers and printers are still busy. But I can’t log in to my student account anymore.
When I came to the UK, breakfast went from chaos, buns, pancakes, soya milk and doughnuts to coffee. Hot chocs and croissants are almost always bought at this Costa in front of the Hub.
Across the street from the Hub is the Ellen Terry Building, where I studied for more than a year, so I’m familiar with it. But then I had to travel on my own to catch up on my dissertation. I’ve skipped a lot of classes because I was lazy, and now I don’t have the courage to be a student again. And I regret even more why I skipped classes in the first place.
Libraries, a place we love and hate. I’m sure we all love that feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment when we finish a paper. But, also hate the irritation and confusion that comes with struggling to find ideas for writing. One time I woke up unprecedentedly early to get ready to battle it out at the library. I didn’t realise that just as I was getting into my writing groove, the fire alarm went off and everyone was forced to evacuate. And it was actually just the staff heating up food for too long and smoke coming out of the microwave. Fire alarms in the UK are always so sensitive.
Finding Paradise Student Village
I stormed off for two hours the day I got back to Coventry. At the same time, the memories were refreshed. Passing moments tumbled and overlapped in my mind. Two years ago, some of my classmates and I found each other through the internet. Perhaps we were all afraid that our solitary selves would not be able to cope with the unknown in the UK. So we all booked our flights to the UK together, and made appointments for pick-up services together.
We finally found our student accommodation Coventry with several suitcases in tow. Later, the dormitory teacher told us that we had to go to the student centre to register and get the key before we could move in. When we first arrived, our eyes were bright, but our ears were deaf, our brains were dull, and we couldn’t speak, so who knew where the student centre was? When I finally asked a passer-by, he pointed his finger at the church steeple in the distance and said, “It’s in that direction”.
