I think I left off yesterday saying we were going to Fabric. Well, that didn't happen. By the time 9:00 came around, Ryan and I were heading off to the local, uh, I guess you can compare it to a bodega? to pick up a sandwich a bottle of cider (7 pounds=$11ish). When we got back U of Wisconsin was already ready to go and we hadn't even begun to get ready. As we surfed the web to find free London clubs (because the pubs close at 11). The deal is with London clubs is you have to sign up for a 'guest list' on the day you want to go to the club on the website before 4. If you get on the guest list, you get in for free. If you don't do that, you could be looking at a line 3x the line of hatters and a 10-15 pound cover charge just to get in. A bunch of us decided to walk to Gloucester Arms pub which is open til 12 just to get a cider and decide where to go from there. After a drink the boys, Ryan and I decide to head into Piccadilly Square to a Sports bar to watch the Jets game, which was starting here at 1am. Not that I'm the biggest Jets fan ever, but I wasn't going to head back to the flat before midnight my first weekend in London. Now, I thought that NYC nightlife was exciting, but London nightlife was nothing like I had ever experienced. There was TONS of people ranging from I'd say 15-40 out, drunk, eating, smoking or on their way to getting drunk. People were just hanging out on the statues, or against a building in groups, just chilling talking in their accents. I felt more safe walking through London at midnight, (and later at 3am) then I do even at home in RVC. When we get to the Sports Bar, they were charging a 5 pound fee to get in as well, so Ryan and I decide to go exploring (seeing as neither of us are huge sports fans). As we walk, we find a bus that headed straight into Camden Rd, so we decided to go for it. As we get on, there were of course 2 horrible trannies sitting right next to us, talking in deep British accents. It was beyond strange.
We get to actual Camdan Rd and it was like another complete culture shock. The streets were hopping of a much younger crowd. These people made the American punks, goths, and emo kids look like whiny little basters who are sold out Hot Topic freaks. I've never been in a more hipster atmosphere place in my life. Ryan and I get handed a flyer to go The Camden Underworld, where DJ Jo Bliss where spinning the discs. It seemed like it was going to be a dance party with American dance music mixed in with some Europop, so that seemed worth a 5 pound cover. On the line for the Underworld, we met 2 Brits, Kieren and Jamie. They were quite 'pissed' (drunk) and kept kissing my hand (Pags, you weren't wrong about this, just come to London!) We got downstairs and it was really nothing like they had advertised. People were hipster individual jamming by themselves. I'm going to make a bold statement right now (I might have to retract later, but maybe not because the clubs in London might be more diverse...this was pure Brits): British people don't know how to dance. Take the dance floor at hatters, then minus 50% of the people on the dance floor. You have a lot of space right? Now get into your own little world and sway from side to side to Noah and the Wale and Postal Service. This is the type of 'club' we went to. Thank you DJ Bliss, for giving us a taste into the Camden nightlife. 2 hours were fist pumped and booty dropped it to music that was unfist pumpable. I can't wait to go back.
11 hours of sleep later, Yasin and I were ready to explore the more prestigious area that we're living in. Everyone we talked to last night was amazed that we were living in Kensington; our tour guide told us that flats around us go for 2.5 million pounds. We decided to go to Portobello Road which on Saturdays is a flee market, but on sundays is just the stores that line Portobello Road. Our goal for the day was to find the Crepe lady who strolls around on Portobello road with her cart making nutella crepes. We wandered into one store and made friends with the girl who was working there. She loved Americans! She told us the Crepe lady only comes around on Saturdays during the flee market, so we settled for Belgium waffles with white chocolate...yum. As soon as we walked out of the waffle place and turned left...we saw the crepe lady! Next time. On our walk back, we walked into a random store. Now, I'm not sure if this move was a good thing or a bad thing. The lady inside the store was so friendly; she was the shop owner and self taught hand stitched everything in the store. There were beautiful coats, shirts, skirts, but they were sooo expensive. Yasin and I spent 20 minutes talking to her, which is all she said she wanted; friendly people. There was a nautical wrap shirt hand sewn by her made out of vintage scarfs that was originally 86 pounds that had anchors on it that I was eyeing, but I said I couldn't afford it. Yasin and I were settling on scarfs when she told me just to try it on. I tried it on and she said if I took the top, she would give me the top and 2 silk scarfs all for 40 pounds. All day of resisting shopping temptations had gone down the drain.
I just made some lettuce wraps and we're gonna make our bucket list and trip calendar over a bottle of wine tonight. We start British Life and Cultures tomorrow bright and early at 9am. Hopefully the adventures keep on coming!
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