The week began of course with a trip to Draper's for Monday's calling, nothing to out of the ordinary there. Tuesday however, introduced me to London's club scene with a trip to the famous Ministry of Sound. Now, I am by no means a clubbing person, despite what you may think from my exquisite drunken dance moves, but still, the Ministry was pretty fun. The music was extremely loud, it was completely packed, and I was about 30 seconds from pissing my pants after waiting in line to get in, but at least the drinks were cheaper than I expected (have I became a 60 year old man? possibly). I suppose the key to the club scene then is to be as shit faced as possible, yet still able to function. Words of wisdom.
My night out on Thursday was definitely an improvement. We went to this Irish-themed bar called O'Neills, but it was so packed that the theme of the place didn't really matter. They had a live band that played covers of some of my favorite jams (Green Day, Blink 182, Blur, even some Sweet Home Alabama) which was pretty sweet, and the area around the stage devolved into a sort of mosh pit, which was awesome. It was definitely more my scene than a club.
Friday, after doing a little sightseeing around Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square, it was time for the Arcadia arranged homestay weekend in Swansea, Wales. Myself and two other Americans from my program were placed with a woman and her young son (and their free roaming tortoise) for the weekend. After a miserably long 7 hour bus ride, over 2 hours of which was spent getting out of London in Friday evening traffic, we arrived at our family's home around midnight, and thus promptly went to bed. I managed to secure a bunk bed for myself, thus achieving one of my greatest desires as an 8 year old. Check that one off the list.
Saturday was all about seeing the local sights. The first stop was Mumbles, a small seaside community which may or may not be considered part of Swansea, I'm not sure. The origin of the name Mumbles is one of my all time favorite fun facts, a supreme Did you know, that Coach Connor himself would enjoy. Its believed to have been named by invading English soldiers during the Middle Ages who thought that the rolling hills around the city looked like women's breasts. Mumbles is medieval slang for tits, get on it Elmhurst. Anywho, we walked around the beach and checked out the pier before grabbing some coffee and hot chocolate at the pier cafe thing. It was pretty neat. After Mumbles, we were taken to Rhosilli beach, which my homestay mom described as "the prettiest place in Wales", and in my limited Welsh experience, its hard to disagree with her. On the drive there, we saw plenty of sheep and idyllic countryside scenery that you might see on a post card, and the beach itself was even cooler. The beach was beautiful and the cliffs and promontories and shit were gorgeous. Overall, definitely worth seeing if you're ever in the area. The final stop of the day was Swansea market, where we were treated to traditional Welsh cakes and cockles, which were both delicious. Cockles are type of tiny shellfish. Cockles.
After the market, we headed back home, where we played some Wii with young Matthew, the 7 year old Welsh terror we were staying with, before a much appreciated home-cooked meal prepared by our mom for the weekend, Nicola. Then, it was off to meet up with everybody else and experience the glory that is Swansea nightlife. Now, we picked up some hints on what Swansea is all about while we walked around the market earlier in the day, as many of the young women were suspiciously orange for cloudy Britain. That night confirmed our suspicions, as Swansea appeared to be the Jersey Shore of the UK. Muscle bound men in tight shirts with too much hair gel and orange girls in the skankiest of outfits abounded. Many of the young ladies seem to think that Halloween is a year round event, as they were dressed up in all sorts of slutty costumes. It was definitely a fun/hilarious/terrifying experience. The end of the night came, and after returning to our weekend home, I promptly passed out in my bunk bed. The other two guys however thought that making a pizza at 3 in morning was a good idea and consequently received a stern talking to from Nicola. Just like a real mom! All was forgiven the next day once they bought a replacement pizza, and we left Wales after a fun weekend on good terms before returning home... after another absurdly long bus ride thanks to London traffic.
This week was the first in which I've had to do some real school work, as I just turned in my first paper at Queen Mary. It was only 2000 words, which isn't bad at all, but since the grading and formatting is a little differently over here, I spent more time researching, writing, and editing it then I usually would, just to make sure I didn't completely fuck something up on my first attempt. Thats done now though, so time to do some raging. My next trip is a week long journey to Portugal from Feb 19-26 (during reading week, so I'm not skipping any classes). We're going to be spending 3 days in Lisbon and 3 days in Porto, and I am super excited about the trip. It'll be cool to go to a big, fun and historical city that isn't necessarily a major tourist destination like Paris or Rome.
Thats it for now, gracias for reading.
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