tour of manchester

i'm really, really missing joey right now. it just feels incomplete without him curled up next to me.

that being said, the rest of my week has been amazing. i've been thinking a lot about my courses and am very excited to begin. i've even finished my first homework assignment! yesterday my friend HT and i went to the manchester museum to have a look around. she has (unwittingly) agreed to go to any museum i visit. she's an undergrad but is 90% sure she wants to do museum studies as a grad student, so it was a fun trip. the museum itself is amazing and includes a hodge-podge of just about everything, from greek pottery (yessss!!) to live poison dart frogs and emerald boas.... i'm still not sure how it is all tied together. all i know is that it would be an amazing thing to be a part of! anyway, we got tea afterward and hung out at the museum cafe. another fun find: the cafe serves hot soup and bread and butter for cheap! yay!

i spent a lot of the rest of the day working on my room. it's done now (all the pictures are hung up), so as soon as i can (probably tomorrow), i'll post a video tour. it's really comfortable now, so much so that i don't mind just hanging out in here. the purple blanket helps (N's going-away present).

today was massive fun. i woke up kind of early (i was up to the wee hours exposing my british friend to butch cassidy and the sundance kid) with the intention of getting my student card and a bus pass. when i got to the place on campus, they told me that it wasn't my allotted time to register (even though i am already registered and PAID FOR), and that no, even though i just needed a student card, i needed to come back during my allotted time (last monday). cheers, university.

things got better though, because i then met my friend MP at the whitworth gallery for some company while browsing the american art exhibition. most of it was lithographs, etchings, and woodcuts. i was even able to explain the joys of john brown! it's an incredible gallery though, i can't wait to go back. by the end of the meander, i was craving soup (have been for a few days), so MP suggested a place up in the northern quarter. i've been dying to go there, it's the artsy/vintage-y part of town (think bucktown/kirkwood/the village except way cooler), so of course i agreed. anyone that comes to visit is now getting dragged to this part of town. just a warning. we were a bit late for most places (everything usually closes at 5), but we made it to a cute little basement cafe just before they stopped serving food. i am so happy we made it! i had my first pie: "heidi" pie, with carrots, onions, goat cheese, and lots of other good stuff. i'm still not hungry almost 6 hours later.

from there, we walked..... and walked... and walked. we went all around the northern quarter, then past the ferris wheel, town hall, tallest building, piccadilly gardens, best jazz club, best wine bar, the canals, an amazing library (houses the oldest known piece of the new testament), and even to lincoln square (so i wouldn't feel so homesick, as MP put it... aw). we crossed streets 3-4 times. this is not a big deal in the states, but it's damn scary in manc. luckily, MP is a native manc so he knows where he's going (thank goodness). we ended up back at the cinema from a couple days ago, and from there took the bus back. oh, and i also got a lamp (for 5 pounds... the lady gave me a 30% student discount even without my damn student card).

after all that, my feet are still a bit sore but i feel much more attached to this city. i still love almost everything about it, and am constantly learning new favorite things. today i learned that the architecture is amazing, as long as you look up. now, i'm going to go curl up in my joey-less bed and try not to think about how much i miss my orange tiger.