Spring Break Begins!

To start off with, the last few months in Manchester have been a blast, and I haven't really been posting. As an overview, I am in the Motion Picture Society (we watch great movies, though one's some people have never really heard of), the Astronomy Society (great stargazing!), and the Photography Society (self-explanatory, I hope...). I'm also in the International Society, which basically means that us non-British people get discounts on certain trips. 

The University of Manchester is gorgeous, and the mix of styles on campus is fantastic. The visitors center is a modern building that bears some resemblance to a giant tin can, and right across the street is the Old Quadrangle with classic beautiful Victorian (and earlier) architecture. The building I'm normally taking classes in is the Alan Turing Building which is geeky, big, and open, and most of the outside facing walls are made of glass, even in the classrooms. 

Entrance to the Old Quadrangle

 This weekend marks the start of Easter Break, a three-week long reprieve from coursework, exams, projects, etc. and also from 7:30 a.m. alarm clocks ringing throughout the flat! Yesterday I celebrated by staying up until early morning and then sleeping in until about 11:30. Turns out Alexa and I did the same thing, though each in our own time zones. Twin powers! Today I slept in again, and enjoyed the bliss that is being well rested. I finally ventured over to the Manchester Museum. It's a part of the University and is right next door to the Quadrangle from the picture above. Looking at the architecture and style makes me realize where the format of our Smithsonian Museums come from, including the "Smithsonian Castle". They're only open until 5 p.m., and I like reading all the signs and fulling exploring the galleries, so I only had time for 3 galleries, meaning I'll definitely have to return! I could see myself spending an entire day there! The first exhibit I went to was about Manchester's history and about the museum itself: how it was founded, the first donated exhibits, etc. The displays were made to look a bit like a dry erase board, which you can see below. It was really well done!

Here are a few of the other things I saw:

This elephant was walked all the way from Edinborough to Manchester in the 1800's to appear at Belle Vue Zoo. Why? It didn't like the train

A gallery full of old fabric, pottery, and bows. Interesting mix!

One of the Two Brothers Sarcophagus's

After exploring the museum, I went to Teacups, the museum's cafe. It's a second location of the popular Manchester bake shop Teacup Kitchen. Because I arrived shortly before closing, I was the only one there. The kitchen was closed but they were still serving tea and sweets. Since that's exactly what I wanted, it was tea time after all, it worked out splendidly. The atmosphere at Teacups was wonderful. Glen Miller was drifting out of the loud speaker, museum style prints hung on the walls, old curio cabinets and drafting tables served as storage, and a buffet style table was lined with gorgeous cakes and other sweet treats. 

Table of sweets at Teacups

I ended up getting a Red Lychee tea and scone. The scone came with jam (unidentified but good) and clotted cream and was very good, and large. My tea was somewhat surprising though. The server came out with 2 teapots, a cup, a jar of brown and white sugar cubes and a rack of hour glasses. The tea was loose-leaf, so one teapot had the tea steeping, and the other just had a strainer one top. When my tea was done steeping, I just poured it into the other pot and through the strainer. I used the second pot to pour myself a cup of tea. It was a much more complex process than I am used to just to get a cup of tea, but it was completely worth it. It was an amazing cup of tea! 

My scone and tea

Heart shaped scone. The best sort of broken heart!

The hour glasses each were for a different amount of time, and were labeled 3 minutes - weak, 4 minutes - medium, 5 minutes - strong. It was flipped when the pot was prepared and I poured the tea when it reached the point I wanted - strong!

Now I'm relaxing in my flat before making dinner, and figuring out what to do with the rest of my Spring Break. I'll keep you posted on my adventures!