The city of Leeds
Though I didn’t live in Leeds, I spent a lot of time going in and out of there while I was in Castleford, since it’s the closest city and only a short 20-minute train ride between the two. I went into to the city a few times while I was there, so I became pretty familiar with the train station, but I went into town a couple of times.
One of the main highlights of my time in Leeds is that I got to meet Fran Hannan, who is the Managing Director of Musical Futures. Fran is the wonderful woman who helped get me set up with all of these wonderful teachers I have been working with while I’m in the UK this semester. And one cold evening in March, I went up from Castleford to finally meet her in person!
If it hadn’t been for Fran answering my email, I wouldn’t be able to do the work I’m doing in the UK. I just sent her a cold email introducing myself about two years ago, and telling her that I would like to work with some champion teachers who teach and work with Musical Futures. I didn’t know if I would get a response, but she wrote me back right away! Fran has been instrumental in connecting me with all of the music teachers that I’ve been able to work with in the UK, zooming with me, sending introduction emails, and helping me sort out my logistical plan for this semester. I finally got to meet her in person while I was staying near Leeds, since that’s where she lives. We had a lovely dinner at this cool restaurant called Banyan, and we chatted for a couple of hours. It was a great evening! Fran really cares about Musical Futures and I can tell that it is a labor of love for her. I’m so glad we got to meet in person and that she responded to my email a few years ago!
I also went into Leeds for an afternoon, while I was staying in Castleford, so that I could just get a better sense of it. I wandered around and looked in the Leeds Art Gallery which has free admission. It’s lovely. I wanted to go to the Leeds Central Library and sit and do some work because the pictures online look amazing, but it closed early that day. All of that is centered around Leeds Town Hall, which is also a beautiful building. It’s a lovely part of town. So I continued to walk up to see Millenium Square, which is the main town square. I took pictures of all the cool buildings, and the golden owls that are an important piece of history, as they are part of the Leeds Coat-of-Arms.
They have a pretty large shopping area that is made up of things called arcades: I saw the Victoria Quarter arcade, which has beautiful architecture, as well so I walked around and admired it all.
I really needed to do some work while I was there that afternoon so I finally found a cute area that had lots of cozy-looking restaurants. I chose one that looked fun and had Asian street food, called Bar Soba. I got a glass of wine and an appetizer and started editing an article I’m working on. I actually got a lot of work done! I really enjoy sitting in restaurants by myself, having a glass of wine and sometimes eating dinner, and doing work on my computer. I was not sure how I would feel about that as a solo traveller. But I have come to find that I am comfortable on my own and I actually quite like it. Sometimes I sit there and call a friend and talk with them. But a lot of times I’ll just read a book or do some work. But I never feel sad or lonely that I’m by myself. I think that’s something I wasn’t sure about how I would feel about before and I’m glad that I am comfortable enough doing that on my own.
So that is my time in Leeds. There’s a lot of culture and experiences that I did not have time to explore while I was here. I would recommend a visit to Leeds – it’s a beautiful city with lots to do.
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