A tale of two Northern cities

Gina Konradi

Gina Konradi, a 22-year-old linguistics student from Bremen in Germany, has spent the last three months working as an intern at TheBusinessDesk.com office in Manchester and has been an integral part of our team. We asked Gina – who also speaks Russian – to write a piece comparing the two cities. Here are her thoughts.

Compared to other cities in England, Manchester is one of the more popular metropolises of the UK. It is known as one of the most attractive university cities in the North of England.

But how well does Manchester compare to a similar city in northern Germany?
Recently having moved from Bremen, Germany, to Manchester, I noticed some differences in the two cities. They are cities of similar size and historic value, but the reputation differs.

Bremen is never the first place that comes into your mind when one think of a great city in the north of Germany. Hamburg is always the big city people know of. Contrary to that, Manchester is considered to be the number one spot in the North of England.

The infrastructure of both cities is advanced and of high quality. Both train, tram and bus systems reach every part of the city and get expanded continuously. One difference is the look of busses. English busses are vertically taller, while German ones stretch horizontally.

Having said that, streets in Manchester and Bremen need repairing. Even though both cities do not have the best or newest streets, sidewalks in Manchester are almost a tripping hazard. A lot of lose bricks cause people to trip.

Traffic is another difference. Pedestrians in Manchester seem to not see stoplights. They just cross the street. This results in traffic being unpredictable and in my opinion really dangerous. Bus drivers also often do not see or care that a stoplight turned red.

Even though I miss driving, I would not dare to drive a vehicle in Manchester.
Looking at the architecture, both cities are old and historical places. The modern and historical coexists beautifully in both places.

In Manchester, you see a lot of red buildings, especially in areas of settlement. In contrast to that, buildings in Bremen tend to be build out of light material. The look of Bremen is predominately sand-colored rather than the red that is Manchester.

Culture-wise, both cities offer a large collection of museums and galleries. Because of the history of both cities, theatres and other cultural offers have a long tradition and therefore great quality.

In contrast to Manchester, or England in general, where most museums are free to enter and enjoy, people have to pay for entry in German museums.

Football is a huge part of culture in Manchester, as it is in Bremen. Both cities have their own clubs and identify strongly with them.

The difference is, that Manchester’s clubs are successful while Bremen’s “Werder Bremen” is not (I am a born and raised citizen of Bremen. I am allowed to acknowledge that it is not good.)

The local universities are very comparable as well. Ranking at 25 of the best universities in Germany, University Bremen is almost as good as Manchester University, which ranks at 22 of the best universities in the UK.

The research programs at both universities are of great importance and high quality. A key difference is, that Bremen’s university teaches about half of the number of students that Manchester teaches.

A big problem of Manchester is homelessness. When I first got to Manchester it surprised me how many homeless people live in the city.

Bremen has homeless people as well, but they are not as prominent and of number as they are in Manchester. Another unpleasant fact is litter.

Even though there are a lot of trashcans in Manchester, the streets and parks are disgustingly full of it.

A great benefit of life in England is that retail outlets are open on Sundays, which is good for enthusiastic shoppers, less so for the people, who would want a Sunday off. In Germany, shops are closed on Sunday so the big shopping day is Saturday.

The last point I want to share are your Christmas markets. Being from Germany, I take great pride in this tradition. The market on Albert Square is wonderful and spreads traditional Christmas joy. Everything beyond that seems commercialised and without the true spirit of traditional Christmas markets.

In general, life in Manchester is very interesting and was a wonderful experience. I will certainly miss it.

PS: You should get rid of the small crisp packages. The amount of children you see with them in their hand after they leave school is sad.

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