AG TRAVEL DIARIES: MANCHESTER!

Hey guys! So this week was pretty exciting because I travelled out to Manchester for the day with my school to see ‘Wicked’! We visited the Royal Northern College of Music and Science and Industry Museum, followed by a delicious buffet tea at Cosmo’s and an amazing performance of ‘Wicked’. I can honestly say it was an extremely amazing and busy day and I enjoyed it so much. Our primary reason for visiting Manchester and watching ‘Wicked’ was because we are studying one of the pieces ‘Defying Gravity’ for our final exam in music. After journeying out to Manchester for this reason, I’m now more desperate than ever to visit again and discover what else it has to offer besides the places that I visited. So in today’s post, I’ll outline the events of this exciting day in my life.

ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC

After a 2 hour drive across to Manchester, we arrived at around 11:50 at the Royal Northern College of Music. I was so excited to have a guided tour of the College and it certainly didn’t disappoint. We visited practice rooms of all sizes on different floors, studios, auditoriums for performances as well as a massive library with all the music related articles, scores and cds that you could imagine. It was clear that the College really took care of and nurtured their students so they could transform into the best musicians they possibly could be. You also would receive some amazing opportunities in your time there. It almost persuaded me to reconsider my future career path but writing is my passion and I know that a career linked to that is something I desire deeply. However, it was interesting to receive the tour and wander around a college that specialises in music, which is another passion of mine.

The Auditorium capable of seating 700

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY MUSEUM

Our next stop was the science and Industry Museum. We meandered around in a group of 9 and most of the time we spent on the 1st floor up with all the science discovery devices. There was lots to do and see but after two hours there, we’d pretty much covered everything that we were interested in seeing. My two favourite parts were the pipe musical instrument where you had to wack the pipes to produce a note and the infinity well with lots of mirrors to create a trippy optical illusion. It was very interesting but I wouldn’t say that it was my favourite museum I’ve ever been to before.

COSMO’S BUFFET

By 5 o’clock, we were all famished and desperate for food. Cosmo’s offered lots of tables so even with our large party of about 50, we didn’t occupy much of the overall table space. I hadn’t ever eaten at an all you can eat buffet up until then so the masses of food to choose from knocked me off guard. There was food from all different origins to suit all different tastes but there was mostly Indian and Chinese cuisine. Upon ambling past all the food, I decided to only eat things that I didn’t normally eat. I had a pretty varied meal overall with rice, both normal and egg fried, crisps of different types, salt and pepper chips, potato chips, chicken balls, onion rings, aromatic duck as well as some different vegetables. For dessert, it was even harder to choose since I have a massive sweet tooth. In the end, I had some marshmallows dipped in chocolate, some berry eton mess and an eclair. There were strawberry gummy candies which surprisingly I loved even though I’m more of a chocolate girl. I immensely enjoyed my meal and I’d definitely reccomend Cosmo’s if you like buffets where you can have a selection of food.

‘WICKED’ MUSICAL

After we’d finished our meal, we set off for the theatre to finally watch ‘Wicked’. As some of you may recall from my London travel diaries, I’d already seen ‘Wicked’ in London and I’d developed a real penchant for it. I’d been dying to see it again and finally my insatiable desire was satisfied. Usually, I find that anything the second time round just isn’t as good as the first time but watching ‘Wicked’ all over again felt just as incredible as the first time. If anything, it helped that I’d been listening to the soundtrack of the musical ever since my first viewing of it and I noticed little details the second time round such as that quite a lot of the iconic lines from songs were repeated in more than one song.

For those of you who don’t know, ‘Wicked’ provides an alternative perspective to the classic tale of the Wizard of Oz. It follows Elphaba and Glinda as their paths cross at University and how their mutual hatred develops into an unlikely friendship. It features all the key points from the Wizard of Oz and explains Elphaba’s reasons behind her seemingly wicked actions. You want to root for her and she’s the unlikely heroine as she stands for what she believes in and is completely herself throughout the musical. The soundtrack for the musical is amazing and so catchy. My favourite songs would have to be ‘As Long As You’re Mine’, ‘I’m Not That Girl’ and ‘Popular’. You guys will probably know by now that I love when a show exposes an alternative perspective to a popular story which is part of the reason why I love ‘Wicked’. The soundtrack and overall plot is another reason why I love ‘Wicked’. But also, I love the main couple of the musical and they are clearly perfect for each other hence why they’ve earnt a spot on my favourite fictional couples list. I’d definitely reccomend it whether you’ve seen it before or not. What a perfect end to the day.

Thank you for reading this blog post! I hope you enjoyed following my day in Manchester! There’ll be another post out soon but until then bye for now!

Amelia Grace a.k.a Amelia in Hull