UK Update!
So after much angst and rage my passport applications in finally sent off. It had gotten to the point where I was considering spending the definitely-over-$600 it would cost to set up in Newfoundland a bit early. But crisis averted! I also have gathered all the things I need for a warm-weather busking outfit. This one is going to be red and gold (red jacket, gold face) 19th century british soldier. In my mind I will be James Barry/Margaret Bulkley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barry_(surgeon)) but no one else will know that.
So I have been in Brighton for about a week and a half. I am living with my aunt, her husband and my 9 month-old cousin. I am mad grateful to them for putting me up and helping me with all these forms and showing me around. Brighton is a very interesting and really cool city. It's on the seaside (I keep calling it the ocean, but it's really just the English Channel) and is recognized as the gay capitol of the UK. I have come to understand that the bizarre and outrageous are pretty commonplace here, no one even looks twice (except in the post office queue [what an oddly spelt word!] where my makeup garnered a few glances). After exploring the shops in the North Lanes, I realized that I could certainly get along well here.
Tonight was White Night- Brighton's Nuit Blanche. I met up with some couchsurfing folks as it seemed like the best way to meet people and not wander all by my lonesome. A pretty damn big group of us gathered, which was cool but frustrating. Big groups do not wander well. Big groups tend to stand and stare at each other waiting for someone to make a plan and lead. After about an hour me and another girl decided to break off from the giant group and explore on our own. She has been in Brighton for about three years now, so she more or less knew where she was, if not where everything was (the installations were only just set up today). We met some lovely people while standing in line for an hour, endured some terrifically boring spoken word thing at a cafe and met up with some other couchsurfing friends of hers. All in all, rather successful I'd say.
Next weekend is Bonfire Night and it's supposed to be absolutely mad in a small town very near here. Apparently they more or less light the streets on fire. I am looking forward to it.
So I have been in Brighton for about a week and a half. I am living with my aunt, her husband and my 9 month-old cousin. I am mad grateful to them for putting me up and helping me with all these forms and showing me around. Brighton is a very interesting and really cool city. It's on the seaside (I keep calling it the ocean, but it's really just the English Channel) and is recognized as the gay capitol of the UK. I have come to understand that the bizarre and outrageous are pretty commonplace here, no one even looks twice (except in the post office queue [what an oddly spelt word!] where my makeup garnered a few glances). After exploring the shops in the North Lanes, I realized that I could certainly get along well here.
Tonight was White Night- Brighton's Nuit Blanche. I met up with some couchsurfing folks as it seemed like the best way to meet people and not wander all by my lonesome. A pretty damn big group of us gathered, which was cool but frustrating. Big groups do not wander well. Big groups tend to stand and stare at each other waiting for someone to make a plan and lead. After about an hour me and another girl decided to break off from the giant group and explore on our own. She has been in Brighton for about three years now, so she more or less knew where she was, if not where everything was (the installations were only just set up today). We met some lovely people while standing in line for an hour, endured some terrifically boring spoken word thing at a cafe and met up with some other couchsurfing friends of hers. All in all, rather successful I'd say.
Next weekend is Bonfire Night and it's supposed to be absolutely mad in a small town very near here. Apparently they more or less light the streets on fire. I am looking forward to it.