I Would Have Hated London By Anna Zenonos

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I have something to share about Hull or Ull! My experience was generally good although a bit sad. I come from Greece and in 2001 I arrived in Hull to start studies at Lincoln University which at the time was called The University of Lincolnshire and Humberside. I took the train from Luton and after 3 hours of pain dragging my suitcase around different stations stairways I arrived at the train station of Hull. I took a fat taxi and ended up at the uni's student house.

Outside the window, I saw a usual English town becoming charming as we approached the old town. Although it was 3.00 pm, I went straight to bed 'cause I was dead.

The Poooobs

After 5 hours, around 9 pm, the phone rang. It was the Greek girl I met at the accommodation office. She said all the students are going to the pubs of Hull in big groups. Something exciting going on, I figured. So, I jumped up and went down to meet her and a crowd of screaming boys and girls! We followed the flock of - I don't know how many, but a lot - of people screaming to the pubs.

If I recall well, we went to Sharkys, Molly's (or was it Dirty Molly?) and another one near to the student house. Me and my new friend ended up in Sharkys Pub. The place was packed with older folks-probably not students but locals - and young people, obviously students like us.

That night, we had a sort of welcoming to the English life we were about to start: pubs and beers instead of Greek cafes, confrontation to the native English language - or rather the Hullish accent (which has nothing to do whatsoever with the English we learned in Athens, Queenies) and ended up pissed back to our rooms! This was to become a habit while in Hull. I mean getting pissed.

Everyone is pissed all the time after 5 pm. And if you're not pissed on Friday afternoon, your friends, your teachers or the sky will make sure you will be!

Have a News and Fish Treat - Fish and Chip Shops.

This is somewhat the equivalent of Souvlaki. In Greece we have souvlaki, food available in city corners for a quick lunch full of pork meat. In Hull, we had to do with fish and chips on a .. .newspaper! Yes! After that experience, we felt like native Hull people. After all, English people not from Hull told me newspaper isn't the usual stuff you eat on in other English towns. So, this is a special treat only for Hull's visitors!

Love from the locals.

In most shops I entered to buy stuff the welcome was Hey love, what do you want? or was it, air luv, aearwant? After that, I was convinced that locals were friendly which is totally adverse from what our professor said in our first day in class: Hull is a dead end and people here are not accustomed to foreigners, therefore can be more racist. The only comment I have on this is that I felt discrimination due to my origin from English students coming from other parts of England to study in Hull but I felt none of this from locals.

As a matter of fact, the same students felt superior to these failures, meaning the locals. Of course, having a good English accent and not looking like African or Asian helps, but again I am confident that locals are, in most cases, more than happy to meet people from other places of the world, provided that you are happy to meet them too!

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