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.