Children laughed as they climbed on the Vimto sculpture in the university's northern campus while their parents learned about the city's iconic drink. It's a far cry away from the horrors their nation has seen over recent months.
Julia Grinenko has been living in Heywood for just over three weeks after spending days travelling from her home village of Ozera, to the north east of Kyiv, through Hungary to get to Manchester. She spent 16 days living under Russian occupation, and half of her village has since been left destroyed.
Her family remain in the village which Russian soldiers have left a shell of its former self. Her mood now, speaking in a sun-lit Sackville Gardens in Manchester City Centre, is completely changed to how it was just a few months ago, when her and her family spent 16 days in their cellar hiding from drunken Russian soldiers.
"They came into our house and took everything," the 27-year-old told the Manchester Evening News . "We sat in the cellar and hid because we were absolutely terrified. Half of the village is now gone because it was completely bombed.
"The noise from their tanks was so powerful, which they kept in our gardens. We had to sleep in the cellar without any water, heating, or power. All our phone lines were cut off and if a soldier came into your home and saw a phone they would shoot it.
"A lot of older men died in our village when it was occupied from heart attacks because it was so frightening what was happening. I remember my grandmother screaming so much when the soldiers first came because of the horrible memories it gave her of the Second World War.
"I saw some terrible things, dead bodies and my village destroyed. But, a destroyed village with no Russian soldiers is better than a fixed village with Russians."
Julia showed us pictures and videos of a shops that her auntie owned which had been reduced to rubble and her house covered in bullet holes. She described how Russian soldiers stole 'all the alcohol they could find' in the village and left tanks everywhere but the Ukrainian government has since cleaned the village.
Her family managed to get to relative safety in Kyiv and encouraged Julia to find safety in the UK, but she still talks to them every day. After a long journey and weeks waiting for a visa she is settled in Heywood, which she describes as 'beautiful' with a family she 'loves'.
Julia was one of around 80 Ukrainian refugees and hosts who attended a walking tour in the city centre on May 12. This was organised by Ukrainian journalist Maria Romanenko, who fled the war herself with her partner in March, and Free Walking Tours Manchester, to teach these new residents about their new city.
Maria herself with partner, Jez Myers, had to endure a 23-hour trip through the Polish border to flee war torn Kyiv, to reach their Reddish home. She has been full of praise for how she was welcomed to Manchester and wanted to help others feel the same.
Maria translated the tour for those in attendance, many of whom had arrived just days before. She said: "It was fantastic to see so many people sign up, I couldn't believe it at first.
"I hope this is a good way that people can feel more at home here and meet fellow Ukrainians who are in the area too. I want to do all I can to help people who have been through so much to get here and to help them feel at home."
Liz Neidhardt is hosting two young Ukrainian friends, Anna Shturmak and Nastya Berest, in the top floor of her Didsbury home. They met on Facebook at first, before a number of video calls to get to know each other before making the move.
"I've thought for a long time about hosting refugees and with seeing everything going on in Ukraine it felt like the right time," she said as the tour looked over to the Kimpton Clocktower. "I spent a long time trying to reach out to the right families but the number of hosts seemed to be completely outstripping the demand.
"I was put in touch with Anna and we spoke for a while and she got to meet the whole family online first. The whole experience has worked out really well, it's been incredibly rewarding."
"Everybody is so nice and hospitable, it's been really good," Anna said. Her and Nastya spent 38 hours driving from Kyiv to Manchester, but are originally from Dnipro in eastern Ukraine where a lot of their remains belong.
"We hope we can go back their some day," she adds. "We've met a lot of people from so many different countries from the UK which has been very surprising and it's fun learning about the different culture here. We were shocked when our hosts didn't have 'house clothes' but just wore the same clothes all day. It's so confusing how the roads are here too they're so hard to cross.
"Our hosts have been amazing, they're so nice and they've helped us settle in so well. We have such good fun with them."
The tour gave a history of the great many people from the city, starting with music and quotes from Noel Gallagher and Tony Wilson, before heading to the Emmeline Pankhurst Statue in St Peter's Square and on to St Ann's Square.
Iryna Oliynyk had recently arrived in Prestwich from Lviv with her young son Luka. She described the hardest part of the journey to England as 'saying goodbye to my family'.
"My dad could have come over with me but he wanted to stay with my brother who is 37 so has to stay for the army. I miss them so much and try to talk to them everyday.
"It took 16 hours in total to get to Poland before flying here but it was so good to realise my son was in safety. I am now with a lovely family who are very helpful. They love Luka, they are wonderful people.
"I try not to think about what is happening back home, I can't now that I'm in safety. We just have to believe it will be over soon."
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