Each week we will be bringing you some Hidden Gems from around Guildford as part of our ‘Get Lost In…’ feature. Today’s post features Serra’s blog called ‘Passport, Camera- Words in my Mind’, this week entitled A Luminous Evening to Remember; a description of what it is like to be a foreign national living in Guildford and the different perspective that might give to one that has lived and grown up here in England.
Serra was born in Ankara, Turkey and has a mechanical engineering Ph.D. She is an academic staff member at Gazi University but her work has brought her to Guildford as a visiting researcher at the University of Surrey. She loves literature, cinema (especially Walt Disney films, Japanese anime and Marvel) as well as being an amateur photographer and charcoal-drawer. She is hypnotized by the colours green and blue and loves the piano and violin, being particularly fond of Beethoven and Vincent van Gogh, blogging on books, arts and gardening in what is left of her spare time. Please enjoy her charming and enchanting journey through Guildford…
I was creating sentences in my mind as always, while walking down Guildford Park Road under a surprisingly bright evening sky; one of those you will always remember and tell your loved ones about when you get old. Some sprinkles of rain began falling on my face, caressed by the soft wind of a warm, busy day.
I was walking home as I passed over one of the bridges on the River Wey in Guildford, a moment I had dreamt about for six months whilst I still lived in Turkey. Since the day I had been accepted into the University of Surrey as a visiting researcher I had glanced at pictures of the buildings and streets of Guildford on the internet and wondered…
Although it was a blurry dream a few months ago, now I walk on the cobblestone pavements of the High Street every Saturday, enjoying the local tastes at the market on North Street, discovering something new every time I go out for a walk with my camera. There is either a musician filling the air with his melody or new shops to explore down hidden streets. I feel amazed at the natural beauty of the parks and gardens and stunned by the cosy nature of the houses on the roads.
This is the most student, youth and family-friendly town I could ever imagine living in and luckily for me it is both lively and peaceful, crowded and secluded. It is surrounded by the heavenly green hills and embroidered with classical British architecture at the centre and like a brooch of an English lady, Guildford Cathedral stands at the highest point dominating the skyline. The bridges slip over the river like thin rings over the fingers of British girls and standing proud is the train station intersecting various points of the railway network.
There is still so much more for me to see, learn and experience here. Autumn has nearly ended and I cannot wait to see snowflakes fall over Our Town, covering it with a white blanket and hushing every voice as it does in cities all round the globe. After that I look forward to April when the air will be covered with the smell of blossom before summer calls from the tip of every branch in June and our lungs will be filled with the whispers of the sea far away.
Written and photographed by Serra Topal