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Mandy's Adventures
In order to destress and cheer ourselves up after a rather exhausting and overwhelming week of introductory lectures, two of my flatmates (Dao from Thailand and Yiota from Cyprus) and I decided to spend Friday in London. We caught a bus from campus into Uxbridge to take the Underground (the subway which is also called the tube) into the city. From Uxbridge, it's about an hour by tube to reach the center of London. Our first stop was the Victoria and Albert Museum which (according to my Frommer's guide) is the greatest decorative-arts museum in the world. We looked around a bit, but we were there mainly because Dao wanted to see the special exhibit on Leonardo da Vinci. And I must say it was worth every pence of the five pounds we paid as full-time students! I guess I never realized just how genious da Vinci was. The exhibit was set up in one large room with a large collection of his sketches and notes laid out in long cases along the sides of the room at eye-level. Below each sheet was a description of what da Vinci was studying, what he had sketched, and the conclusions he had made along with the year of the study. Included were his sketches and theories about how the human body worked from his dissection of a 100 year old man who had passed away. da Vinci was an amazing artist, inventor, scientist, and mathematician. At one point there were two men a bit in front of me in line who were able to read some of what da Vinci had actually written. They were using a mirror because he wrote everything backwards, from right to left. In the middle of the room were some benches so you could sit and watch the animations of his sketches and quotes that were being projected on the wall above the display cases. After spending a couple hours in the exhibit (yes, it took us that long to walk the whole way around the room and see everything!), we were all tired of reading and were starving. We got back on the tube to go to the Borough Market which would be a great place to buy fresh produce, meat, and a wide range of cultural foods. We had a late lunch at a little sandwich shop across from the market. Then it was on to our last stop: Chinatown. We went into New Loon Moon Supermarket. While Dao shopped for the specical ingredients she couldn't find in Uxbridge, Yiota and I wandered around to check out all the different foods. After walking around a bit in Chinatown, we got back on the tube to head for home. We got the true Underground experience as the train we needed to take back to Uxbridge was quite crowded and hot. But we made it back safe and sound although a bit tired. We ended our day by going to one of the several bars on campus for a drink. Kate, my American flatmate, joined us and agreed with me that it was quite strange to be going to the campus student union for a drink with 18 year-old freshers! I must say that I do feel a little old there, though. It's a good thing I look so young. . . :)
It is nice that none of us have class on Friday so we will be able to go into London then and avoid the weekend crowds. It is also quite handy to be able to get the student discount again. Kate has found some great places to shop in London, so maybe I will make her take me there next Friday.
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