Manchester.. so far

I am loving my little weekend in Manchester, away from the stresses of coursework, the big city and traveling (yes, traveling gets stressful no matter how fun it is!)

Yesterday I go to the bus station nice and early so I could get first dibs on a seat. Ever since Alex and I ran to the bus that one trip to Glasgow and ended up in aisle seats. Lucky me ended up with the first row, second level of the bus, with the best view of the whole journey. There was a girl sitting across from me who goes to U. Manchester, so we chatted a little bit. She's lived in Venezuela, Cuba, Belgium and now lives in Shanghai. I love meeting people with such interesting stories!

I met Pat (she sponsored my mom when my mom studied a year at U. Manchester) at the bus station, we hopped in her car and I experienced my first taste of driving on the opposite side of the road. It was weird. There's a reason why every other country drives on the right side of the road... it just seems to make more sense. Instead of crossing over 4 lanes of traffic to turn a corner and whatnot. Oh well. Pat's house is so lovely! Her husband designed it, and it reminds me of an Ikea catalougue. The colors, wooden furniture and unique shapes of couches, chairs, etc. It's difficult to describe. My room is so cozy, too! Finally, a bed that I can't feel every spring in while sleeping. For dinner she cooked us a beef and potatoes stew, with red cabbage (soaked in apple, vinegar, salt). Delicious. And they say British food isn't good...
For dessert she had baked an apple pie... basically, I've been eating well. She cooked me an English breakfast this morning (bacon, award-winning sausage from the local butcher, egg, toast).  Yummmmm. It's so nice to be taken care of.. I've been depending on myself for a few months, so having some meals cooked for me, a nice bed and cosy house... it's really wonderful.

Today we went over to an art gallery by Univ. of Manchester and saw some neat exhibits. It was different being in a small art gallery versus the Louvre or the museums in London that take hours to get through. \For lunch we grabbed some Moroccan tomato plum soup. Also delicious. From there we went on to explore the University a little bit. It was so cool to see my mom's old stomping grounds! 30 years later... Manchester is so student-y....lots to do, and a ton of young people around.

We then went to a shopping outlet by the Lowry theatre where we were going to see a play tonight. After looking around some stores, we went to a little Lowry art gallery in the theatre. I had never heard of the artist Lawrence Lowry before, but I fell in love with all his work! Here we go again with the modern art. It was wacky in some ways, but simplistic in others. I'm really starting to get a hang of this art thing.. and then the theatre! Art galleries and theatre.. all in one day?! Can you believe it, Mom?

After grabbing some delicious chinese food for dinner (expect, they didn't give us fortune cookies. what kind of chinese restaurant doesn't give you fortune cookies?!) we went to see A Doll's House at the Lowry Theatre. It was a great show! The ending was a little unexpected considering the plot up until that point, but hey, can't have a fairytale ending in every story.

So that's Manchester for now! Tomorrow should be another good day, and then I'm back to London on Sunday for 2 days until I head to Spain!!! Can't wait!

xx