words to follow soon

Sometimes a nap is the only thing that seems like the right thing to do. After an extremely frustrating day at school, besides the fact that I spent more time commuting back and forth from Madrid to Getafe today than I actually spent there, the only thing I could do productively was sleep.

But now refreshed from my siesta, I can recap on the past few days. My free moleskine stickers like to remind me the importance of writing.

“We stayed at home to write, to consolidate our outstretched lives.” –Sylvia Plath

And rather thank wandering Madrid now in the first sunny day after a bout of dismal weather, I find myself here at my computer and quite content to be here. Its not that I’ve been extraordinarily busy, but everything over here takes extra effort. So now I need to decompress- rather recompress- my experiences to make room for more.

So, I’ve now completed over a full week of school over here. Other that the frustrating way they conduct scheduling over here (everything is turned in on paper and there is no course catalogue with all the times and locations of classes), my change of Spanish language classes further confusing my schedule (I’m moving up from Upper Advanced to Superior!)- I’m rather pleased with my classes. This change means that I’ll be in class 4 days a week now. I suppose I can handle that…

Last weekend instead of following all the other American students down to Cadiz, I decided to stick around in Madrid with Emelia, her friend Laurel in from France, and Adriana. And when they all returned to school yesterday sick, I was even more pleased with my decision. Weekends mean free admission to the museums I vowed last time I was here that I would fully explore. In the Prado I stopped by to say “hello” to my favorite Goya paintng and Velazques’ “las Meninas,” and in the Reina Sofia I paid my respects to Guernica. Its amazing how familiar things, be them painting, donuts, or music can make me feel so great.


Speaking of familiar music, the two concerts were great this weekend. We Are Scientists was a fun dance party at my new favorite venue in Madrid- the Moby Dick. Its like Bottom of the Hill with a whaler-theme. While standing around with a couple of other EAP kids waiting for the show to start, I caught the eye of the guy at the merch table who hailed me over. “Why is it that you can speak English?” And thus began my conversation with Shawn the guitar tech temporarily holding down the merch-booth-fort. I was his translator.


After the show, I figured I’d see if my translator status could get me a free pin, but alas, Shawn was busy being a guitar tech (and was a very busy guitar tech during the concert. look how hard he's working in the bottom left-hand corner). I however did get recieve a free gin and tonic from the bar tender and 3 pins for the price of one from the band-then working the merch table- by virtue of calling them pins and not badges. Again, speaking English led to the inevitable “where are you from” question. This conversation led to discovering that the lead singer and bassist used to live in Berkeley. We played the local game- talking about Zachary’s Pizza, 333 Rich Street, and our mutual dislike of Haas kids. Then I started to feel awkward about standing alone at the merch table and left. Had I waited another few minutes before leaving I could have confirmed what club the band was going to (Shawn had mentioned earlier). I met Emelia, Laurel, and Anh at a club that supposedly played Britpop/Indie/NewWave/80’s music. That really meant 80’s and the occasion Franz or Bloc Party song, but a good time was had and there was no cover. The dj didn’t even play a single Blur song?!



My concert experience on Saturday night, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! and Dr. Dog, wasn’t quite as exciting as the first. Although, it was the last show on the tour and Dr. Dog went as crazy as they had at the Architecture in Helsinki show.

If the Moby Dick is BOTH, the Sala Heineken is the Great American Music Hall were it to have a sleek lounge area filled with green lights and brushed metal accents all over the walls. It was a weird crowd- half American hipsters students and half Spanish 20 and 30 somethings singing along with the indecipherable lyrics of CYHSY! I was all alone and started to realize it as the concert came to an end. And then to help my disposition, I lost a 2 euro coin that decided to jump ship from my wallet and there was no paper in the bathroom!


The night was saved by our favorite waiter at our Mexican restaurant where we've become reglars. As per usual, we were given many free margaritas and free quesadillas. Poor Felipe is going to know every California in Madrid by the time we bring all of our friends by the restaurant. I left Adriana and her flatmate Lisa to meet Anh in Chueca to check out a new bar. The bar, Luke Soy Tu Padre (Luke I am Your Father for those who don’t speak Spanish), had a great ambiance and played great music. We danced a lot and then took to running home through the snow-covered streets. It was such an odd sensation. My feet were numb from the slush seeping in through the holes in my converse as I dodged costumed people and puddles of slush. The snow looked amazing floating down into the tiny cobblestone streets. The only way I know how to describe the way I felt running through the streets is europe. Don't ask me what that mean, just accept it.



And there you have 860 words on recent events. Sorry its so heavy on concert details- but you know how I get about my music.

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unhappy feet




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a great alternative to spanish food
(i'm getting sick of ham, cheese, and potatoes all the time)

Puta Madre o Bienvenido Kotter

Before I say anything else, my address here is:

Fuencarral 137-7
Madrid, España 28010
any mail should be addressed to me c/o Erika y Rodrigo

First day of class complete. I got myself out of bed at 8 (after going to bed at 2:30 last night) so I could get myself to Getafe on time for my first class. Luckily the class was worth it. Colloquial Spanish. I will soon be speaking “puta madre” Spanish and sharing all my new slang terms. My other classes today weren’t as fun- but how can you compete with dissecting an email? My schedule so far is pretty great- class only 2 days a week. This will afford me a lot of time to explore Spain and the rest of Europe.

Enough about school- lets talk about the awesome park in the center of Madrid. Other than the horrible stench of duck poop everywhere, El Parque de Buen Retiro is simply wonderful. A fake lake and streams run through the park, crossing through orchards of peach trees (we think), weird playgrounds, grassy knolls, statues, and awesome buildings with guay exhibitions in them. We had a picnic there last Friday and coffee last Saturday. I can’t wait to see it when everything is in full bloom.

(coffee with Emelia and Adriana)
(peach blossoms)

(weird art instalation in the crystal palace)
(the cause of the stench)

Many of us have been craving familiar food. The charm of tapas and sangria only lasts so long. On Valentine’s Day, we hit up Duncan Donuts for an anti-valentine feast. Two nights ago we hit up a mex-mex restaurant where our waiter brought us 2 free rounds of margaritas, which got stronger and stronger. Tonight we hit up an Indian place called Annapura where we finally found chai tea and some seriously spicy food. To cleanse the pallet at the end we had mango crème topped with coconut ice cream which was basically mango crème brulee. Soooo good.

(pure love <3)>

(mexican food night)

We keep meeting interesting people as the nights go by. Felipe the Mexican waiter, Antonio with an A the tourguide, Carlos-Kate huge LOST (perdido) fan… The newest characters to enter the scene are Yago and Beltran, our new wealthy friends.

Money Talks (with an accent) or The Story of Yago and Beltran
On Mexican food night the girls and I went to an irish pub on the way home to escape the rain a bit. We were there for
less than 5 minutes before Adriana was being chatted up by some Spaniard. He invited us upstairs to what Adriana thought was another bar but Emelia and I knew was not. But we also knew that we could take this guy and his buddy if anything sleazy were to happen. I mean c’mon, our governor is the terminator. Anyway, turns out upstairs is a huge posh apartment belonging to a bunch of trustfunders. It was in the kind of building that only has 2 apartments per floor. And the apartment was furnished with amazing things. All the kitchen walls were chalkboards. I could tell they were rich by the authentic Barcelona chair in the hall. We sat around a bit while listening to Michael Jackson, pumping the guys for information. 28 year-old Yago, short for Santaigo, has 2 apartments (shocking for a Madrilleño seeing as most people still live with their parents at the age of 28), has interned in SF for sometime and has traveled a lot otherwise. Beltran, 22, spoke to us in English with a strong British accent and gave me the nickname of Fringie (in England they call bangs fringe). My time in London served me well when I was instructed to go to the lou in the back as the front was out of lou paper. Beltran fancied me quite a bit and was very forward about this fact. I like the idea of Beltran more than Beltran himself. London born Spaniard with a British accent, a Spanish accent, and loads of money he’d love to spend on taking me out to dinner. But something in me keeps telling me I’d rather just have him as a friend.

Moving on, this weekend should be great in the way that last semester was great. I’ve 2 concerts to go to: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! and We Are Scientists. I can’t wait to get a look at what the Spanish music scene is like and be able to take public transportation home without worrying about missing the last train home.

The S’s of Spain

School
Day 3 into orientation week at Carlos III and I have confirmed again the fact that I am a huge nerd. And while I know I’m a huge dork, I’ve been able to fool a few people.

Today was our Copa de Bienvenida with the dean and professors for our program. Before I get into the details of the copa, let me tell you a bit about Carlos III. Its in a suburb of Madrid called Getafe. Getafe is ugly. SO ugly I’d go as far as saying it hella ugo. The university itself is rather nice. The main buildings of the small campus are old barracks and are centered on a central plaza. We have 2 cafeterias, which use the oddest ordering system ever. You go to vending machine things, which print out receipts for you. Then you take those tickets to the counter where they serve you the food you purchased from the machines. I’ve had so many cafes con leche there that I’d be able to find the button on the machine with my eyes closed. But not all students over here drink coffee in the morning. Many drink Mahou- a beer brewed here in Madrid. All the cafeterias have it on tap.

My favorite cafeteria is the smaller of the two which has outdoor tables and a grassy knoll where students hang out. The place has a very laid back feel to it and I’ve been thriving off the academic setting even though my classes have yet to start. A couple days ago I just kicked back in the plaza and read for a while.

adriana thinking academic thoughts

kickin' it west coast style

Anyway- the Copa de Bienvenida. We went to the Club de Professores where we were served lots of tapas and little sandwiches and drinks. The little sandwiches were great, especially the smoked salmon ones. I scarfed so many of those suckers down. I also downed a couple of fantas and had a couple glasses of Mahou. Because that’s just what people do here. It is completely acceptable to drink at 12 in the afternoon.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to like my classes here. The Spanish history profs seemed really cool and explained that they will tailor the class to our interests. And the more I think about it, the more I want to stay on for the extra month and take a class with non-international students. I found a class offered by the human geography department that sounds very interesting that I could probably count towards my minor.

The Spanish students here seem nice. Although I’m already getting sick of the mullets. Worse than the mullets is the PDA that is everywhere. Groping, kissing, touching, making out. Anywhere and everywhere. Our theory after talking to our 28 year-old tour guide (Antonio with an A) yesterday is that because a) all Madrillenos live with their parents b)the walls are really thin and c)most people don’t have cars they have to get as far as they can in public because they don’t have anywhere private to go. Also, the guys are just really sleazy like Michelle warned me.


Shopping
After spending a 10 day tryst with the pound I’ve pledged my allegiance to the beautiful and wonderful euro. Sure, style in London is amazing, but its so expensive. Over here, we have some of the same store and the prices are so much better. The shopping ban I imposed on myself have been temporarily lifted. I bought myself a pair of green heels at bershka, a clothing store which plays the best music. Twice I’ve wandered in because I head a familiar song coming from their pas from across the street. Then yesterday Emelia and Adriana and I took ourselves shopping for Valentine’s Day. We hit up H&M, Camper (where I bought the most awesome mary janes/ballet slipper-ish/black leather flats ever which also happen to be super comfortable), and Zara (where I bought a couple things).

Today at the copa someone told me my hair was very ‘London’ which led to discussing London fashion and my new favorite store based there, topshop (I can thank Bernadette for that one). Turns out there’s a topshop here in Madrid in Puerta del Sol which was excellent news to my ears but not my bank account. I checked it out today and its not nearly as amazing as the one in Oxford Circus and doesn’t have the full wall of tights and footless tights. But I’m just glad to have a topshop.

Sangria and Strawberries
Sangria and tapas was the best way to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the girls last night after shopping. We found a super-cute tapas place by Opera that served the best sangria I’ve had over here so far. Tapas have become pretty routine in my European diet. As have strawberries dipped in melted cadbury milk bars. I had some this afternoon with Erika. It was a great snack to tide me over to dinner which is served at 10pm over here.

Siestas
I’ve yet to take one. I hear they’re great.

home

Bueno. Its my fourth day here in Spain and for the first time since January 29th, I actually feel at home. Maybe that’s because I finally have a home.

3 days ago the only home I knew was an uncomfortable bed in a hostel. In London it was an awkward top bunk in a basement with some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. In Spain it was a pretty nice foam mattress in an odd old building with an excellent view of scaffolding across the street from the 5 star hotel I stayed in when I was last in Spain. After one night in a beautiful 5 star hotel just down the street from afore mentioned 5 star hotel, I’m now settled into a cute apartment with the best of all home-stay situation.

hostel room

hotel room

hotel room filled with eap kids- all from cal except for the one on the far left.
he calls himself the notorious k.i.p.

new apartment
I should say now that all the other EAP kids are extremely jealous of my new digs and family. I’m shocked at how lucky I was. And I’m happy to report that I do NOT have a señora. Instead, I have Erika and Rodrigo and the lovely Samita. Erika is 30 and is working on her phd in neuroscience. Rodrigo, 33, is a vet. And Samita is 3 years old, is house trained and takes walks with us off the leash. The apartment, on the 7th floor of a beautiful old building, is furnished by my favorite designer- IKEA. I have free rein of the kitchen and can come and go as much as I please. The only one that will stir when I come home is Samita. She greets me at the door with little yelps and heaps of kisses. I exchange text messages with Erika on my mobile to let her know if I’ll be home for lunch or dinner where I enjoy the company of Erika and Rodrigo and sometimes their friends.

don't those tables look familiar?

Samita

Anyway- here’s a quick rundown of my time in Madrid. Yesterday I moved into my home and then went for a walk around my neighborhood. I found a gym about a block away from here that I’m going to join so I can do yoga and play on the treadmill. Then I met up with Adriana (one of the two girls from cal that I’ve clicked with) and the other international student living with her host family at Principio Pio, a shopping mall. I left them to go home for dinner at 9 and then wandered over to Puerta del Sol for a dinner of my own. A bowl of sopa de pescado later I met them for a look into the non-club scene of Madrid. We found a bar called Far West that served really strong drinks and Adriana was given a loli from some weird old guy who was trying to hit on her. The dj at the bar was trying to talk to us and thought I was from Spain (!!!!!). But his judgment wasn’t the best- he was a horrible dj and so we went next door to the pirate themed bar. There Adriana and I got some guys to buy us drinks (my goal for the night). We did this buy using our combined exotic charm- she made sure they knew she was from México. The responded to this by insisting that we take tequila shots. Now, Michelle (the Australian at the walkabout bar) warned me about spainsh guys. They truly are sleezy. One wanted to lick salt off of Adriana’s neck after taking a lemon slice from her mouth. Too bad they were out of salt. After another one fo the guys grabbed my arm and stared salsa dancing with me I was ready to call it a night and we caught a cab home.

Today we took a walking tour of Madrid starting at el Puerto del Sol. It was boring and Adriana, Amelia (the other cal girl with whom I hang out) and I talked to eachother the entire time. Then we had café con leche and split up to have lunch with our respective hosts. My lunch was great. Rodrigo made a trendy dish out here right now called “wok.” It’s a really rich stirfry made in a wok served over rice. Erika and Rodrigo’s friend came over for lunch as well and brought some delicious pastries for tea. That’s right, we take tea over here after lunch. Erika is something of a tea connoisseur. Que bueno.

Later I met the girls to wander the empty streets of Madrid on a Sunday siesta. Adriana was super tired so Amelia went for tapas and cervesas y mas cervesas en un pub de irlandia. Leaving me here now with hair that smells like cigarettes and my smoking jacket (Amelia suggested I designate one of my coats as such even though I don’t smoke) hanging on my door.

Tomorrow I commute out to Getafe for orientation and a Spanish test. AND I think that just about covers it. Hasta luego.

The System is Down

My latest visit to my beloved apple store is a failure network wise (again). They just can’t seem to keep their signal going. But, I am learning how to use garage band (where the gar is pronounced like hair) in the lecture space upstairs.

Anywho- I had lunch earlier today at a public house that was tastefully decorated in a mariner (read: pirate) theme. One of the waiters even had an eye patch. But it was not in the least bit tacky and most of the clientele there were businessmen and women. Then, to work off the bacon sandwich I scarfed down, Alice and I walked around and climbed to the top of The Monument. They don’t lie, there really are 311 stairs. I counted.

(view from the top)

Although this attempt at finding the internet has failed, I’m going to try to send this out from one of the bars I saw in Camden the other that advertised free wireless internet. That’s right, I’ll be browsing the internet while drinking a pint. Boy, I sure do love England.

Monday- Reflections on Today (and the past few days as well) aka I'll Go Back B-B-B-Backwards

High Tea at an expensive hotel this afternoon where the doormen wore top hats and the servers slide your chair in behind you and place your napkins on your lap. I must have had 12 cups of tea over the 2 hours I spent with one of my roommates at the hostel, Alice. We ate the most decadent of finger sandwiches sans crusts while feigning elegance. The highlights of the high tea though were the scones with the most fantastic pear jelly and butter crème and the rosewater macaroons. All the treats were so rich and decadent that our tea was enough to tide me over for the rest of the night. And it’s a good thing too, because the tea cost 26 pounds.

Sunday- The First Day I’ve Seen the Sun Since Crossing the Atlantic

Yesterday I wandered around the Camden Town Markets. It was like Telegraph Ave. shoved into stalls. I didn’t find anything I really needed but made a few decisions while wandering about.
1) I’m going to have to live here this summer
2) I need skinny jeans (yes- skinny jeans. I actually bought them today at topshop where I was delighted to discover that they offer a student 10% student discount. They’re gray and super tight. I’m in love with them.)
3) The weather in London isn’t so bad. Sure its really cold sometimes, but its not too too bad. If anything its an excuse to wear a scarf.
4) I need to buy more boots. The brits love them. So do I.

Chocolate fondue and strawberries for dinner with the roommates in the communal kitchen.

Saturday- Snakebites Cure Headaches

A National Holiday in New Zealand where all the men get drunk and perform tribal rituals. In London all the Aussies and New Zealanders celebrate it with a pub-crawl and celebration at 4pm in Westminster in front of the cathedral. Aussie roommate Nicole and I woke up late in the day (details on why following) and watched the craziness go on from a throng of boozed people. After taking the obligatory tourist pictures in Trefalgar Square,
we decided that we should join in the celebration and headed to where we suspected the after party would be- the Walkabout. Lost watchers know that a walkabout is an adventure tour for only the most fit of people with heaps of experience in the wild (John Locke). In London, the Walkabout is a themed bar only for experienced Australians (Nicole). She introduced me to Snakebites, which are half cider, half beer, and some sort of berry liquor. They are such strong drinks that they are outlawed in Australia. I had two but then decided to stick to coronas rather than sampling VB- Victoria bitter, the cheapest beer in Australia. We moved from our post along the balcony on the top level to the ground floor where we found a little raised enclave where we could watch everyone squished about on the floor. After 2 or 3 hours, they stopped playing everyone’s kitschy favorites from the 80s, 90s, and today to dance music. Our favorite song of the night was “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and we sang along so loudly that everyone knew it (see Friday to find out why!). In our little enclave, we met Ben and Michelle- siblings from Australia. Ben was sleazy and kept hitting on us but Michelle was the sweetest girl ever. She was dying to dance, so I hit the dance floor with her and dirtied up my converse on the broken glass and muck. The meat market of a dance floor got to Nicole and me so we left at around 8pm and saw the queue of people waiting to pay an 8 pound cover fee and get in.

Happily tipsy, we ate Mc Donald’s fries on the way back to the hostel.

(obligatory tourist picture in Trefalgar Square)

Friday- The Camden Barfly: My Oasis In London

Found out at dinner that Nicole was a music lover and told her a lot of SUPERB stories- destroying her love of Jack White. Due to the lack of train service past midnight, Bernadette couldn’t join me for the 2 bands and dj set at a bar in Camden starting at 10pm, so Nicole and Jason came along with me instead. The place was amazing. Very smokey and jankey and definitely not a pub. I loved it. The first floor had a bar in the corner serving shots for a pound fifty and mixers for 4 pounds as wells as bad beer and Smirnoff ice. A couple booths lined the dark corners of the walls while beautiful people milled about. Downstairs was a broken atm and the jankiest bathrooms I’d ever seen. Upstairs was another bar and a stage about the size of that at popscene.

The first band, detachment kit, was American and sounded something like the thermals crossed with Tom Vek. Pretty enjoyable to tap my heels to. Although tapping was hard because the floor was so sticky and my shoes just stuck in place. After the set was over, Jason went to get another beer from the bar and returned with news of a Noel Gallagher look-a-like. Nicole and I had to investigate, so I went to the bar for another drink myself. I took my shot of tequila 6 inches away from, not a look-a-like, but the real deal. He was just chilling there with his scarf, fag, and drink. Keeping to himself and not being bothered by anyone. We wanted to talk to him but figured he’d just tell us to piss off or something. But then later thinking about it, we decided that that would have been even better than actually taking to him. Because, shit man, Noel Galager would have told me to piss off!!!

Anyway, the next band sucked so went downstairs to dance and left Jason to chat-up some girl. These people sure like their trance beats. They throw them behind anything and everything. I couldn’t be bothered too much by it and danced along anyway. Some guy told me to wish him a happy birthday, but he wasn’t that cute and didn’t offer to buy me a drink, so Nicole and I went back upstairs in time to get stuck behind Matt and Russel of bloc party. At the top of the stairs we were chatted-up by the drummer and tour manager of the detachment kit. I talked to the drummer about what I missed from the states and he shared my thoughts. It was getting close to groupie territory, so we grabbed more drinks at the bar and cozied up to the front of the room by the djs to dance to LCD Soundsystem. The music was pretty good- or would have been good if the trance beat wasn’t behind it. Can you imagine Power Out tweaked out? It’s a good thing I was pretty well lubricated at that time and didn’t care too much. Although we did decide to sit out a couple songs in protest. 3am was supposed to be closing, but things lasted till 3:15 and then we left and saved 2 drunken girls from being taken advantage of by a creepy guy.

It took us a while to get back to the hostel and we got ourselves mixed up and lost Jason, but we didn’t care. Life was pretty good and it wasn’t too cold in London that night.

we rule the school

I felt like a helpless Berkeley student on a quest for live music last night on my belle & Sebastian adventure in Cambridge. Not only did I find the Berkeley-est of cafes to catch a bit to eat (Rainbow- a delightful vegetarian restaurant where I had an organic cup o’ lentil soup and a whole wheat bun. Mmmm tasty!) but I also was faced with the problem of catching the last train home before being stranded. Luckily I made it to the Cambridge train station with a few minutes to spare. Unfortunately, the train didn’t make it back into Central London in time for the subway trip across town from King’s Cross to Earl’s Court (they all shut down around midnight). And so I shared a taxi with myself in the freezing cold. 20 pounds 80 p. It hurt. A whole lot. But it was all worth it to see B&S in England and at a relatively small venue.

About that venue. The Cambridge Corn Exchange is just that. An old corn exchange turned concert hall. I got there about 20 minutes before the show was to start and cozied up to the front row without a problem and a gin and tonic in hand. And gin and tonic is officially my drink in England. I waited a while and then the brakes came on and were off within 25 minutes.

Apparently they only know how to write really short song. “this song’s called comma comma comma end” and that’s all the song was. The lead singer shouting those words in a thick accent over wailing guitars. “one more time on that one, I missed a note.” The brakes couldn’t quite figure out what genre they belonged to other than bands who play really short songs and played a range of longer songs from country to pure rock and the ever popular dance punk which seems to have taken over the british music scene with art bands topping the charts like bloc party, the Kaiser chiefs, the Killers, the Bravery. But for some reason- the dancing that is requisite of that genre hasn’t caught on. Even during B&S, the Cambridge crowd was the deadest I’ve even been in. While it was nice to have a large bubble of personal space around me, it was a bit awkward being the only one smiling, singing, and dancing along. My lovelies put on an amazing show. They were witty as ever and Stevie stole my heart again with his “I’m really a shy guy” style of dancing/playing guitar. I got a great clip of it and heaps of pictures. Just loads of great ones. All in all, the concert was great and has given me a reason to give their new album another listen. Today I woke up to find my entry stamp still smeared across my hand and remembered how much I LOVE going to concerts.

(check out that melodica action!)

In other news, the Australian and I hit up the science museum, which is lame in comparison to the Exploratorium. They did have a neat exhibition on aliens and science fiction though. And a bunch of really cool old sundials. And I knew exactly how they all worked (thanks Prof. Benton). Hot stuff!

Lets see…. I had a spinach and salmon tart for lunch and added jamba juice to my list of things I miss about the states.

My Wanderin’ Days Are Over

Just kidding, I didn’t up at the Generator. Instead, I’m chillin’ at the Earl’s Court YHA/HI. It’s pretty nice and the 3 Australian girls sharing my room with me are lovely. And just as good as than the Australian girls is the Australian boy I met here my first afternoon.

(Alice and Nicole- 2 of the 3 roommies)

(Alice and Jason)

Both undecided on what to do, we headed out for a bite to eat around in the neighborhood. That turned into drinks a long walk allover London and dinner followed by reading and watching Kill Bill at the hostel. Its great to have another person/friend to talk to over here. I was starting to feel a bit lost and lonely.

Yesterday I hit up the Victoria and Albert museum and spent a few hours exploring the entire place. I spent some time in the architecture section upstairs but it was just a bunch of models and general descriptions. And ps- the models were really boring looking. They’d all get poor grades in 11a.


More exciting than the architecture section was the fashion section where they had a feature on a french designer who’s stuff was most excellent. He draws on kitschy icons and things from his childhood (ie teddy bears, hello kitty and converse). My personal favorite was the jacket made of converse. Hallie, you need to own it.



Had drinks again with the Australian last night and then drinks with Bernadette. Unfortunately, we can’t seem to find a bar to go where there are people our own age. WTF mate?! We’re both going to do some searching on ye ol’ internet and maybe we’ll have better luck. At least I know there will be some hip kids where I’m going tonight and tomorrow night (b&s tonight and club night at the barfly in Camden tomorrow night (2 local bands, resident dj set and guest dj set by bloc party))

Anyway, I’m going to head over to the apple store in hopes of finding free internet access and a map to the venue where I’ll be seeing Belle & Sebastian tonight.

Things is miss:
-The sun
-Cafes with free internet access
-Friendly people (brits don’t know how to smile. At all. And they don’t talk on the subway. They just sit there frowning)
-All of you guys <3