The Shores of England

This past weekend a few of my friends and I decided to take a trip to the beautiful city of Brighton. Brighton is on the coast of England and is literally the most incredible city. It has a mixture of a Venice Beach vibe, with a tint of San Francisco, but managing to keep its British feel. There was so many things to see, the two days we spent there were jam packed with tons of activities. We visited the famous Brighton Pier, the Royal Pavilion and the lanes that are jam packed with pubs, shops and vendors. 

One thing I noticed on the pier was the typography of the Brighton Pier light up sign. It appears the font is within the slab serif category because all of the letters have prominent serifs. It is really awesome learning about all these new different types of fonts because I really start to notice them whenever I walk around. I take note of the different lettering and truly observe it, which is really awesome while adventuring in this brand new city. 

The Punks are Alive

In my first week studying abroad in London, England, I have seen and walked more that I thought imaginable. Averaging about 10 miles a day, I have experienced the richest part of London, Kensington where not a single piece of trash is in sight in all directions, as well as what people like to call "real" London.

I am a huge fan of the music scene and made it an immediate goal to venture outside this lovely little district where our flats are located and experience where the middle class people hang out. This brought me to a district called Shoreditch.

I went to Shoreditch this past Sunday and there were tons of vendors on the streets surrounded by a vast amount of retro thrift shops and posh underground boutiques. It was honestly dreamy. Perhaps this isn’t the classiest town, but it definitely has personality. It is colorful as can be and is surrounded by arts, fashion, food and music. Something that especially stood out to me and is super relevant to this class, was the street art.

The image below is graffiti in one of the ally ways of Shoreditch. It appears to be a decorative font, where the artist just created it out of his mind. It is two of the same letter layered upon the other, giving it an almost 3 dimensional look. It immediately caught my eye because it is absolutely ginormous. It took all the wall space down the whole entire ally way.

I highly recommend taking a visit to this awesome district because there is loads to see and it is an experience in itself. Just standing there and observing your surroundings will keep you entertained for hours. It has an almost San Francisco-esque vibe; very liberal and open. One popular group of people I saw a lot of were the British punks you always see on TV. The punks are alive! Perhaps not in Kensington, but there are still alive!

Another piece that stood out to me was this awesome art installation I came across walking to Shoreditch. I have absolutely no idea what is is or what building it is front of, but to me it was very aesthetically pleasing, so I thought I would share. 

Portabello Road, Notting Hill

What a beautiful quaint place to shop. It is a wonderful breather from the hustle and bustle of central London. Everything is constantly moving in central London and it is hard to walk down the street without running into someone or feeling like you need to be decked out in a Chanel jumpsuit to fit in.

Portabello Road is full of wonderful little shops selling little trinqits to souvenirs, to thrifty goodies. 

There are vendors all up and down the street selling tons of handmade jewelry and yummy food. The buildings down a few side streets are painted pastel rainbow and it is oh so dreamy. I want to go back over and over again because I simply cannot get enough.

It reminds me a little bit of Melrose Avenue in California, but a little less grungy and a little more “Grandma would love this.”

Take Me Downtown Baby

Piccadilly Circus is the place to be in the late hours of the night in central London. People are flooding the streets in there stilettos and clubbing attire ready for the night to begin.

It is poppin'. There are clubs and bars all down the streets, it's almost hard to decide where to go! From live bands to dj's, the clubs are full of music and drinks preparing themselves for Londeners to come and party.

I found myself in a few different clubs (the names have slipped my mind) and a rooftop bar with glistening blue icicle lights literally reeling you in. My friend and I were walking around and saw the sparkling lights far up the side of the building and made our way inside. Follow the lightttttttttttt....

If you wander around the streets in Piccadilly Circus, you may turn the right corner and find yourself in Soho or Chinatown. So many place, and so much to do, all so close together!

Chinatown is exquisite. The streets are lined with huge Chinese lanterns and clubs up the yin yang! (Hah. Get it) Apparently there is one club that has four different flours, with all different music playing on each floor. Have yet to go there, but I have heard it is bloody fantastic!

Not only is there a fantastic night life, but it is a great place to shop during the daytime. Grabbing a drink at one of the many pubs that line the streets, and wandering through all the different stores is a perfect way to spend your Sunday! I have yet to shop there, but plan on going soon and will get back to you on how good the shopping is! (✿◠‿◠) 

And So it Begins

After settling in, I decided to grab a brew with a homie from home. He was in London just for the night, and it was nice to see a familiar face. We had an absolute blast, and I could already tell this was going to be an experience of a lifetime.

I share my room with two other girls; Katy and Dana. Katy and I bonded immediately. We wanted to do so many similar things, we immediately became partners in crime. Just in the first few days we had traveled to Portabello Road in Notting Hill, Shoreditch, Spitafields Market and Westminster Abbey.

We are on a mission to go as many places as we possibly can before this trip is up and let me tell you, averaging 10 miles a day…we are accomplishing a lot.

Westminster Abby was absolutely breathtaking. Seeing the Big Ben right next to House of Parliament is not anything a picture could ever capture. I would stare at the photo I took on my camera and look up and be like “UGH! This does not represent what I see what so ever!”

It is absolutely true. These are monuments you have to see to believe. They are not only ginormous, but the architecture is incredible. Even if you aren't in to design, it is absolutely magical that someone could spend so much time on a building.

The architecture period is just perfect all throughout the streets of London.  It is like one big piece of artwork you can walk through every single day. The buildings are all different but similar. It is like a wonderful of beauty. I seriously wake up every single morning astonished that I get to call this place my home for the next 6 weeks.

Another fascinating thing about London is that there are NO TRASH CANS. And yet, no trash. HOW?!? My theory is that Londoners love and respect their city. Whenever you talk to a Londener, they go on and on about how wonderful the city is and how much there is to do, and you can tell they take great pride in that. They wouldn’t even dare to litter on the streets they call home. It is such a huge change from California, where litter flies at your windshield every time you get on the 101 Freeway.

I think a huge reason as to this lack of litter is the fact that I am staying in a flat across the street from Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Royalty, if I must say so myself. All my fellow flat-mates are astonished at how posh everyone dresses and how the basic t-shirts and leggings is legitimately frowned upon here in London. Like who do you think you are walking out of the house looking like an absolute frump!?! This is LONDON!

Living across the street from Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens is incredible. The park is huge and has so many different monuments; everyday I find a new one! My flat mate and I take strolls everyday through it, occasionally work out, and occasionally grab a bottle of wine and picnic for a few hours. It is a dream. The sun rises at 5 AM and sets at 9:30 PM, giving us all the time in the world to explore this wonderful, beautiful new environment.

I am literally living a dream.

The Arrival

I cannot personally say the day I left for London was an enjoyable one. I am not necessarily a flyer so this was a huge step for me. I not only was traveling to a different country for the first, but by myself. Packing was some what of a joke for me. I thought I “under packed,” but as soon as I arrived in Heathrow Airport, I realized this was not the case.

After 10 hours on a plane and a few drinks later, I arrived in London, England. For a hot second I really lost all the nerves that had built up and excitement was starting to kick in. I was here. At last.

All the other students who were on the same flight from Los Angeles to Heathrow had probably one-third the amount of luggage I did, which was quite unfortunate. Not only did I just meet these kids, but I was “that girl” with an insane amount of clothes, lugging an 80 pound bag around the airport and through the underground subway system that none of us knew how to navigate through.

It was most definitely a struggle. But, a fun struggle.

It only took my new group of friends about an hour and half to get to the building where we would check in and find out our room assignments. This was, yet again, a massive struggle. Not a fun one this time though. We walked about two miles to Queens Gate Terrace and arrived at Metrogate. We found out our room assignments and walked another quarter mile to our flats.

Our flats were located across the street from Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Could it be much better than this?