Manchester? I hardly know 'er.

On Sunday, Ashleigh met me at Picadilly station in Manchester with her flat mate Joy and took me to...McDonalds. Very English right? Back at their flat I met Ashleigh's other flat mate {redacted}. As you can probably tell {redacted} is French. But that doesn't really do him justice. {Redacted}is very very French. Sarcastic, aloof and edgy. I was pretty exhausted after my four hours of sleep while traveling so we took it easy and watched Twilight before I passed out.

And now, I present my week in Manchester-the highlights.

Monday, I went to a choir practice at the Catholic church Ashleigh regularly sings at. Ashleigh had given me a crash course in reading gregorian chant, so I only got semi lost and confused. Before choir, I got to hear {redacted}'s very intelligent take on Glen Beck. He was much more eloquent than I could ever be in explaining why Beck is a manipulative psychopath. And Americans listen to him. *shiver*

Tuesday, Ashleigh took me shopping at a funky Picadilly mall in the hopes that I would find something to wear for our nighttime activities. We didn't succeed, but we did find the most delicious milkshakes ever created. Not to mention, the most unhealthy milkshakes ever.

Tuesday night I was introduced to the night life of Manchester by Ashleigh and several of her fencing group friends. Ashleigh and I left Canal Street earlier than everyone else, so we missed quite an event. The next morning Ashleigh found out through Facebook that two of the boys we were with had been mugged after we left. One boy was hit in the head and the other happily gave up his wallet in exchange for his safety. No one was seriously hurt, but I'm sure glad I missed that.

Wednesday was a lazy day with pancakes, watching the god awful, but entertaining due to its snark-worthiness, Twilight New Moon movie. At night Ashleigh let me tag along to her fencing team dinner at a curry restaurant. Finding a good deal wasn't hard seeing how the streets around Ashleigh's house hare literally lined with Indian restaurants. I sat near Ashleigh and her very tall swiss friend, Greg. From now on Ashleigh shall be referred to as Mango thanks to Mango's, Greg's and my love for the restaurant's mango sauce.

Thursday was my last full day in Manchester. In the morning I started to sense one of my greatest fears for the trip coming true. My throat started to feel a little sore. It was nothing serious, but it's important for the rest of my trip posting (ominous enough for you?) Mango took me shopping at Picadilly, but this time we went to Primark. Primark is a mammoth of a store that is much like Target, except they have even more stylish fashions and lots and lots of colors. Mango succeeded in diversifying my wardrobe considerably. Thanks Mom! The weather on Tuesday was crazy, starting out quite sunny and devolving into gusting winds and hard rain which Mango and I had to trudge through to go see her friend Griffin. Ah Griffin. Griffin is a character. He's from the American South and is kind of one of the heirs, or beneficiaries of {redacted} cigarettes i.e. he's rich. He's a lot of fun though and Mango had to bid him farewell Thursday night b/c he's taking time off from Manchester U. He's also a plane aficionado and was delighted to hear that I flew to London in a Boeing 777. Mango and I ended the night eating home cooked chicken, sipping red wine, and watching British television with Charles. It was a nice end to a good time in Manchester.

Friday, Mango took me to the wonderful milk shake place one more time, helped me pick out an awesome snake necklace (made of metal and ribbon, not snakes), and then took me to the train station. She bid me farewell and I climbed into my first class coach for the ride to London and the next phase of my trip.