Cafes in Norwich (Part Two)

In May, I wrote about some of my favourite cafes and tea shops in Norwich – you can find that post here. But there’s plenty more to recommend, so welcome to part two!

1.The Tea House

The Tea House is one of my absolute favourites and was one of the first tea shops I visited in Norwich. It’s very small and quiet, but it does a great selection of tea and is run by a really lovely lady. My favourite thing to order here is tea and and a scone, because their scones are so good! The Tea House is hidden away on Elm Hill, one of the prettiest streets in Norwich, so it’s a great place to visit if you’re showing people around Norwich for the day. Pop over to the website to find out more.

2. Bicycle Shop

If you’re looking for something less quaint and more hipster, the Bicycle Shop is the place to be. The Bicycle Shop is very quirky and has a great selection of food and drink, from lunches to tea and cake. I’ve heard their breakfast/brunch dishes are some of the best in Norwich. Why not check out their website for more info!

3. Storm in a Tea Cup

Storm in a Tea Cup is another one of my favourites and, like the Tea House, is also on Elm Hill (I’m sensing a pattern). The service here is always so friendly, making it a lovely place to visit. It does breakfasts and lunches and an excellent variety of teas and freshly made cakes. They also usually do a soup of the day which is always great, but my go-to order is one of their homemade sausage rolls followed by a (very large) slice of cake. You can find opening times and more information on their website.

4. Eaton Park Cafe

Eaton Park Cafe can be found in, you guessed it, Eaton Park. Eaton Park is a lovely area so the cafe makes for a nice spot for a snack or some lunch if you’re spending an afternoon in the park. The cafe itself is run by the same people as the Bicycle Shop, so the menu and decor is reasonably similar, but the cafe is more family friendly and feels brighter and more open than the Bicycle Shop. Find the cafe by the bandstand in the park and visit this website for more information.

Open Days

Choosing a university is a big decision and something that can be pretty daunting! One of the best ways to get a feel for a university is to attend an open day. You can spend a day on campus: chatting to students and lecturers, exploring the facilities, going on campus and accommodation tours and getting to know more about student life.

As part of UEA’s partnership with the Student Room, I’ve contributed to an article about open days, which you can read here. Check it out for some top tips about how to make sure you’ll pick a uni you love!

If you are considering UEA as a possible university for you, I’d really recommend coming along to an open day. I think it’s really important to get to know a university a bit better before you commit to living and studying there for 3 years! There will be lots to do and experience and I really enjoyed the open day at UEA, so make sure you book on! The next open days are the 9th September and 21st October – find out more here.

Second Year Reflections

Second year is all done and now I’m left desperately trying not to think about the fact that I only have one more year of uni left. The whole of second year has gone so quickly, which is pretty terrifying, and I think third year will go past just as quickly. Last year I did a post summing up how I felt about my first year studying history (have a read here) and back in January I wrote about how I felt the first term of second year had gone (you can find that here). I thought it was only right to finish the year with a look back on my last term and second year as a whole, so here we go…

Second year was intense. Me oh my. A lot of people warned that second year would be a lot tougher than first year and looking back now I can say that they were right. The issue for me was not the content of the work itself – I actually really enjoyed my modules this year – but rather the amount of work and the increasingly limited time I had to complete it. Being more settled with uni life this year meant I ended up with a lot more to fill my time with. I was wanting to spend more time with my housemates, and seeing friends took up more time because we are all scattered across the city in different houses. I was always involved in the Christian Union, especially in preparations for Story Norwich, and then becoming Vice-President just before Easter. Being on committee in an active society takes up a lot of time, and it was a real struggle to balance my time. My weeks would always be full of stuff to do, and for a while I think I was just committed to too much! Every single essay I had this year was cutting it very fine to the deadline. I also managed to get ill just before exams this year, which meant the last couple of weeks of term were a mad rush to cram in as much revision as possible. By the time the end of term came around, I was very happy to be finishing with uni.

But being so busy was not always a bad thing! It’s so great to be involved with so many different things, and I don’t regret any of the stuff I spent my time on. Being busy has taught me a lot about my time management and priorities and I’m going into third year knowing I need to be careful about balancing my time. At the end of the day, university has brought me so many incredible opportunities that I can’t find elsewhere, and I’m happy to be busy if it means I’m making the most of my time here.

In regards to my course, I have really loved my modules this term. I did Propaganda, Wars of the Roses, and Conspiracy and Crisis in the Early Modern World. All of these were so interesting and I felt like I was constantly learning new things, which was really satisfying. Doing essays and exams is never fun, but it is a lot easier if you really enjoy the stuff you’re learning about, so I found this term a lot nicer than some of my previous terms. My marks have also been consistently better than they were in first year, which is encouraging because it means I must be doing something right! It was also a relief to be achieving good marks despite often feeling a bit behind on work this year, and made me feel happier about the amount of non-academic stuff I was getting involved in.

This year I also really enjoyed living off campus in a house. Being able to live with two of my best friends has been incredible and it’s been so much fun. I love being in a house because it feels so much more homely than living in halls and it’s easier to personalise. I’m staying on in the same house with the same people next year and I’m excited for another year of living with them!

Overall, second year has been great. Mad, intense, often stressful, but great. It’s gone so quickly that before I know it I’ll be back writing about the end of third year which is a VERY SCARY THOUGHT. But I’m excited for what third year will bring so I’ll just try not to think about the end of uni right now.

 

Canada

In September I had my first seminar for my Anglo-Saxon module. I didn’t know anyone in my seminar group so I sat on the first free chair next to a girl who looked friendly. I found out her name was Sarah and she was from Canada on a study abroad year – ‘I’ve always wanted to go to Canada!’ I exclaimed. Fast forward nine months and I was boarding a plane to Canada to go and stay with her for nine days. Crazy times.

I’ve gotta be honest, I didn’t go into second year expecting to make many new friends. After first year, I felt like I had met a lot of people and my friendship groups were pretty well established. How wrong I was! Sarah and I became friends really quickly and we ended up being on a few different modules together this year. Surviving the Anglo-Saxon module would have been a lot harder without her. I introduced her to the Great British Bake off, John Lewis, and took her on a tour around Suffolk in the Easter break. She introduced me to pumpkin pie, Tim Hortons, and took me back to Canada with her. WHAT A GREAT GAL.

Anyway, enough about how great Sarah is…let’s talk about how great Canada is.

Sarah lives on Vancouver Island, which is basically as far west as you can go in Canada. So two trains, one tube, two flights, one ferry ride and one car journey later, we arrived at her house! She lives in a bay, and her house has a stunning view over the water. I love the landscape in Canada, it’s so green and there’s lots of water and mountains – much more interesting than the flat fields of Suffolk.

One of our first day trips was to Victoria, a city on the island where Sarah goes to university. It’s a really lovely city with lots to do and see and it was cool to see where Sarah studies in Canada. We visited the narrowest street in Canada (v. narrow), I tried sushi properly for the first time (wasn’t a fan), visited a lot of touristy shops (so much maple syrup) and popped by a harbour to spot some seals (only saw one).

The day after, we had a less busy day because we were still fighting the jet lag but we headed to Bright Angel Park, a foresty area near where Sarah lives. We didn’t explore too far because of signs warning of a bear sighted in the area (classic Canada), but we sat by the river and crossed a suspiciously wobbly suspension bridge.

Our biggest day trip was to a city called Tofino, which was about four hours from where Sarah lives. It’s a really beautiful area, and is pretty touristy. It’s well known for Long Beach, which is stunning, and has been used as a location spot for films like Twilight.

To pass the long drive to Tofino, we also made stops at Coombs and Cathedral Grove. Coombs is famous for ‘goats on the roof’, a market which has, you guessed it, goats on the roof. (Yeah, I know, it’s weird).

Cathedral Grove is a forest with some very very big trees, some over 800 years old. It also has some amazing views over a lake through the trees. It’s crazy beautiful.

The trip to Tofino was also significant because WE SAW A BEAR. I was pretty excited about this. My mum had been a bit worried about the possibility of me being attacked by a bear while in Canada (fun fact: Vancouver Island is home to one of the world’s densest black bear populations) and it became a running joke through the week that we needed to try and find a bear. Sorry mum.

On my last day, I had to take the ferry back across to Vancouver so I could get to the airport in the afternoon. We did have some free time though, so we had lunch on the waterfront and wandered around the city for a while. We also had one last trip to Tim Hortons, a coffee shop that is literally on every corner in Canada. Sarah had been talking about Tim Hortons for nine months straight and while in Canada I decided to fully embrace the culture by visiting Tim Hortons every day (except one day when we forgot). I have no regrets.

And that was it for my trip to Canada! What a place. Canada is incredibly beautiful and I will definitely be returning at some point! It was also so lovely to spend a week with Sarah, meet her family and visit places I’d heard about throughout the year. At university you’ll have the chance to meet people from all over the world so make the most of it!