Even though I'm sick, haven't slept, covered in bruises from who knows what, I feel great. London was a success. It was a blur of pints, partying and people. Let's start with the pints:
An imperial pint is 20oz as opposed to the north American 16oz pint. Now as much as the British like their ales, the only beer I drank in London was Foster's, an Aussie beer. Foster's is quite enjoyable, and was the cheapest one at the hostel bar. And, a steal of a deal at Sainsbury's: for a ten pack of 440 ml cans (those are the tall ones) it was £8! That's about 11.50! Blew my mind. Aside from Fosters, London pubs in the centre seemed to have a few popular European beers on tap like Stella and Heineken. And for some reason beyond belief of Haley (my fellow Canadian friend) and I, we saw Londoners drinking BUDWEISER at a pub. Disgusting! Why drink that shit when you have a fine array of beers before you.
Now on to the partying. Oh, did we party. As one of the hostel bartenders, Mikey (and avid Blink-182 and 90's pop fan from New Zealand) proclaimed last night while we were listening to Like A G6 by Far East Movement,"tonight we're getting slizzered!". And that we did. That we did. The stories of pubs and Backpackers party hostels are all true, my friends. I chose this hostel because it was a party hostel and I was not disappointed. Sunday night was all-night request night. We partied with some Aussies. Monday night was karaoke and we partied with some Aussies and Americans. Tuesday night... Well, I don't completely remember what the theme of Tuesday night was, but I remember flaming black sambuca gas chamber shots (aren't you proud, mom?) with which they are lit on fire, swirled around in a wine glass, fumes sucked through a straw, lit on fire again, extinguished and shot back. And let me tell you, that stuff messes you up. Not to mention, Haley and I probably drank enough vodka and gin respectively to fill a small town's water tower. It was a gong show. We could hardly keep up with the Aussies. Wednesday night was low key drinking in the chill out room with people, Thursday we had one pint and went to bed. And last night was the equivalent of the Katy Perry song, Last Friday Night. That fun. We started the night playing flip cup on the rooftop bar (Canada vs Everyone else... Canada won), meeting some new people. Eventually we decided we were going to a London club, Fabric. Now we got halfway there but the two Slovenian girls we were with decided we needed more vodka (I love Eastern Europeans) so we ended up buying a bottle from a corner store and going back to the hostel bar. The bar was packed at this point. And the rest of the night including some dancing... I think? It was one of those nights. The kind that don't happen often or enough.
The people. Where to begin? Well, I met Haley on my first night there and we bonded immediately. We met Crystal, the sweetest girl from San Diego who is studying in Canterbury. Greg, an Aussie world traveler who used to be a rodeo clown and has the most kick ass scar on his shoulder from being gored by a bull. Vincent from Quebec City who worked in the hostel and was on the swap program like me. There was Mikey, Kiwi bartender extroadinaire that I mentioned before, there was John from Los Angeles who worked for RBC and played competitive hockey- so was an honourary Canadian. Amy, a hard partying girl from Adelaide. Last night arrived two girls from Slovenia (Lesya and ..?) and Jack, a handsome International Relations/French language double major/US military personnel from Los Angeles and his friend Tony. There are a ton of other people I could go on about, but there was just so many! I love meeting new people. Love it.
So here's to London; a beautiful and busy city full of great people and adventures. And now Scotland ahead. My little detox period (that is before meeting Fiona in Glasgow) is in store so I look forward to some relaxation and solitude in the Scottish highlands.
Playlist: Katy Perry, Summer of '69, the Kooks.
Location:London
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