Dear readers,
When I first arrived in Guildford, I had only a small amount of food with me for the first few days. During that period, I was in my room in Hazel Farm, and I was not familiar with the surroundings. However, the tour around the accommodation and the university helped me because after that I knew where I could go to buy food if I needed to. The first place, which I visited, was the Costcutter, a small shop, 2 minutes away (on foot) from the accommodation. This is convenient in situations when you urgently need something or if you do not have a lot of time to travel to a larger shop where the choice of products might be greater. This shop offers products such as bread, sweets, crisp, ready-to-eat food, sandwiches, pastes, toothbrushes, fresh vegetables, and fruit, etc. Opening hours are currently between 7 in the morning and 10 in the afternoon and it is open Monday – Sunday. Thus, any day of the week, students should be able to have access to the shop for daily needs.
On the other hand, if people have time, they can go to Tesco Express, which is a smaller version of the Tesco Superstore and is slightly bigger relative to the Costcutter. It is located 4 minutes away by bus or 15 minutes on foot from Hazel Farm. Hence, it is convenient and it is near the accommodation. The main difference is that in Tesco Express, students will have opportunity to choose from greater variety of products, nonetheless, the prices are similar. There are meal deals and students can save money and eat quality food. There is another Tesco Express in the town centre. Nevertheless, it may take longer to go there – 15-20 minutes by bus. In fact, the Tesco Superstore is 10-15 minutes away by bus and it is open seven days a week. It offers the biggest variety of products such as clothes, shoes, items for kitchen, bathroom, books, school stationary and even mobile phones. There is also a Tesco Pharmacy where people can find vitamins, important for the maintenance of our health, and other medical supplies.
The most interesting period is during holidays/feast days such as Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas. Every year, there are specific sections of the shop designated for products related to these holidays. For instance, for Valentine’s Day there are many hearts and flowers, while colours such as pink and red are dominant. It is usually very beautiful, and people purchase these items with their families. On the other hand, for Easter, students can see many chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs with a lot of discounts. On Halloween, customers can buy pumpkins with funny faces and spiders (toys). At Christmas, however, the atmosphere is the most enjoyable because of the Christmas music and the decorations which are reminiscent of the atmosphere during celebrations with family. Usually, it is very hard to leave the store because of the nice emotions that are generated from this festive environment. Moreover, there should be self-control, because the temptation to buy a considerable number of sweets and chocolate rises at that time of the year.
Another affordable place is Poundland. It is in the town centre and people can usually find different items, including clothes, medicine, food and technological devices and accessories at a fair price. It is a lovely place to shop especially if students live near town centre. However, if they need a shop, which predominantly consists of clothes at affordable prices, Primark is where they may go. It is situated at the Friary shopping centre (town centre). Thus, shopping in Guildford can be fun and useful at the same time. Even when people are tired from a long day at work, shopping might improve their mood and, hence, people can relax.
Until next time,
Desi
