At the graduation ceremony
Shah's parents came to attend his graduation ceremony so I'd just like to put in an entry on what we did with them while they were here. They came from Friday 8/7 until Tuesday 19/7.
Friday 8/7:
As they were due to arrive just a day after the London Bombing incident on 7/7, Shah and I were a bit apprehensive. But we were not as worried since they were scheduled to land in Manchester and not London. Their flight was touching down at Manchester Airport at 4:30pm, so we decided to spend a night in Manchester with them as we thought they might be too tired to travel back to Nottingham on the same day. So that Friday morning Shah and I left Nottingham at around 7:15am and arrived at Manchester Central Bus Station at around 10:30am. We chose to arrive at Manchester early so that we could spend some time walking around the city taking in the sights. Plus we wanted to check in to the hotel before we went to fetch Shah's parents. I loved walking around Manchester because of the many old buildings dotted around the city. I particularly loved the Library and Town Hall buildings. Anyway, after checking in at the Premier Travel Inn hotel on Portland Road, we set of for Manchester Airport. The flight arrived earlier than scheduled so by around 5pm Shah's parents and us were heaed to the train station at the airport to go to Manchester. After dinner that night Shah and I feasted on delicious fruits from Malaysia. Shah's parents brought with them lots of mangoes, rambutan, mangosteen and 'dokong' (I wonder what the English word for 'dokong' is? Do you know?). We slept like a log that night because we were exhausted but also because the hotel was so comfortable and very clean.
Saturday 9/7:
We were due to head back to Nottingham that afternoon at 2pm so before that we brought Shah's parents around Manchester city centre. There was a Farmer's Market taking place near Princess Gardens in Manchester and Shah's parent were very interested to see how they promoted the market since both of them work in the Agricultural sector in Malaysia. Anyway, after lots of walking and lots of picture taking we took the bus back to Nottingham.
The next day we just took them around Nottingham city centre and then just went home and rested.
Tuesday 12/7:
That day we decided to take them to Derby. We initially wantd to go to Birmingham but during the weekend (9-10/7) Birmingham was put on terror alert due to some bombs they found at the nightclub area there. So Derby it was. The city is actually quite small as we expected but there were some interesting places there. I particularly liked the indoor market in Derby which has many stalls selling fresh fruit, fish and a section in the upper level selling lots of second hand stuff. The kind off things you would find at carboot sales and antique markets. I bought myself a lovely brooch for only £1 and a small heart shaped silver trinket box for 50p.
Wednesday 13/7:
We attended Shah's graduation ceremony. It was scheduled to start at 3pm but Shah had to register at 1pm. So we went to the Sports Centre (that's where the ceremony is held every year) at around 12:30pm to be on the safe side. After he registered, we went to have our ictures taken by the professional photographers there. The queue for the photography session was very long but we finished at around 2pm, just in time to grab a drink before shuffling into the hall. The ceremony started right on time, officiated by the Chancellor. There were no long speeches to listen to. Just 1 speech by the Pro Vice Chancellor and then the graduates started filing onto the stage to pay respect to the Chancellor and lecturers of the University seated at the stage. By 4pm it was over and after that we were given light refreshments. Shah, his parents and I then snapped more pictures of our own outside the hall before heading back home. It was a lovely day and I was glad it all went well. You can see the pictures at our fotopage.
Oopppss..I've got to go cook now. I will continue with more stories on when Shah's parents came to visit in the next post.
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