My peers and I had a good first day in Birmingham! We started off our official Birmingham trip after a long 7 hour plane ride and 2 hour coach bus ride to our hotel on Broad Street. Once we settled in and dropped our belongings off, we walked down the street to this cute pub called O’Neill’s. They had so many good choices of burgers, pizzas, and appetizers like garlic bread or spicy chicken quesadillas. At my table, we all shared a pepperoni pizza to reward ourselves for all the travelling! The food was delicious, but my body is still getting used to the time zone change, so it’s been a struggle on this first day.
Our chaperones and lovely tour guides, Dr. Marks and Mrs. Shuey, took us on a tour around the city of Birmingham and showed us a lot of amazing places. To start off, one of my favorite places we walked past was the library. The architecture on the outside of the building was absolutely fabulous and so unique with the yellow and gray color scheme. I turned the corner and saw this building and audibly said “Holy crap!” When Dr. Marks told us it was the library that intrigued me so much how someone could design a building that unique and different. I thought overall the city’s architecture is beautiful and all the buildings have a different texture or style, which was so cool.
Another amazing piece of Birmingham we walked under was the Broad Street Tunnel! Before going under this bridge and talking about the canal system, Dr. Marks showed us The Malt House and how historic it is in this city going from a nail warehouse in the 1800s to a brewing establishment 70 years later. Once we headed past that building, our group got to walk under the bridge. This was so interesting to me because I’ve never seen any sort of European canals in real life before and always wanted to experience being around the canal systems around here! I also didn’t know that there’s more canals in Birmingham than Venice, and more parks than Paris, France!
We then headed towards the art museum in the city, and this was my favorite part! I’ve recently been getting into art and the history behind it, so walking through this museum was fascinating. My two favorite parts of the museum were the Ozzy Osbourne hallway and the Elephant Room! I love Ozzy and his music, so being able to walk through and see some of his Grammy’s, Hollywood star, and other accomplishments was so cool. I also thought the Elephant room was interesting because of the history behind it. I never knew much about what the British took from different countries back in the day, but learning about these works of art was appalling to me. I attached a picture talking about the history of this room, and the British stole these artifacts and even displayed human remains from Indigenous groups, including communities in North America, Australia and Africa. Since the British owned a great deal of land back in 1913 and while it was beneficial to the British, the other populations were either being killed or had their land stolen from them. Unfortunately, it took until 2016 to finally return these remains to their respective communities. However, the Birmingham community is actively trying to undo their mistakes of taking what’s not theirs by showcasing these events and spreading awareness.
Overall, what a good and educational first day of the UK!