(Left: The city of Sheffield)
(Right: Downtown Albuquerque.)
The steel city as it is known to many people in England boasts two football teams, a big city feel and a night life that any party goer would be impressed with. Sheffield is the fourth biggest city in the country behind London, Birmingham and Nottingham and It has a population of 577, 050. With Two major universities, Sheffield Hallam University and the University Of
Sheffield, there is a clear bulge in population with 20-24 year olds.
Sheffield is an ethnically diverse city, with around 14% of its population from black or minority ethnic groups. The largest of those groups is the Pakistani community, but Sheffield also has large Caribbean, Indian, Bangladeshi, Somali, Yemeni and Chinese communities. There has also been an increase with the number of international exchange students coming to Sheffield to study and a programme with the University of New Mexico has now been succesfull for a number of years.
I got into tennis at an early age, but also played other sports. I have a great tennis center which is only 5 minutes from my house so for me, it was easy to just go play and get into it. I wanted to further my career as a tennis player so i decided to move home at 16 to go and play at a school on the other side of the country. This was a big decision for me but if it wasnt for that decision, i would not be in New Mexico right now. The school i went to had just sent off two of its seniors to UNM and that is how i heard about it. In the fall of my senior year, i got flown out for the weekend to come and visit Albuquerque and see what the tennis set up was like. I throughly enjoyed my trip and with some minor pursuasion from my english counterparts i decided to sign with the Lobos.
The major differences with Sheffield and Albuquque is the weather, the food and the people. The weather here in New Mexico is incredible and it was one of the reasons i chose to come here. Blue skies for most parts of the year and soaring tempretures are somethings i had not seen in even in some of the hottest summers in Sheffield. Sheffield can be rainy and cloudy most of the year with the ocasional outspirt of sun. I belive the food here in Albuquerque is just as different in the United States, never mind across the pond. Just with its vast amounts of fast foods, Albuquerque differs tremendoualy from Sheffield and i couldnt believe when i first came the amount of fast food restaraunts in such a small radius. There is only three Mcdonalds that i know of in the whole Sheffield and if there is more, it wont be much more. The eating habits of the two nations are worlds aprart and i can see why the world has a bad perception on obesity in America.
There are many cultural differences and there are pros and cons to both cities. I am fond of both and i am so glad i am in New MExico where life is so much different.
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