Hi everyone!! I am set to leave London in a few hours, I will be on my way to Liverpool for the Salsa Kingdom festival and then over to Dublin the next day to spend a few days in Ireland. I don't know what my wifi situation will be like over the next few days, but I will try to post that I got to these places safely.
My last impressions of London after being here for a week is that it's somewhere I would love to visit again, absolutely. There is history and really old buildings everywhere you turn. But I do not think I could live here, it's a little too... international for me. And I don't mean the diversity is bad, I love the diversity. There is so much more here than in Stockholm and even San Diego. I really felt like I was able to fit in here, at least in the crowd. People usually didn't know I was an American until I started speaking. What London lacks is a sense of cohesion. I've noticed this before in cities like DC, San Francisco, and other places that seem to have a large transient international population. And I know I don't help the odds, I'm a foreigner too. I don't think that London is like this simply because it's a big city. Places like San Diego, New York, and even Baltimore are larger cities but the people who live in the places I just mentioned are all somewhat attached to and defined by the place that they live in. You will be hard pressed to find a New Yorker who wouldn't defend New York to the death. I don't know if that would happen here.
A lot of the young people here are into this sort of Amy Winehouse look. There is also a significant crowd of goth/punk people who basically control Camden. I went to Cyber Dog today too and discovered that yes, there are department stores that exist to solely sell you glow in the dark rave gear and puffy Janet Jetson dresses.
I saw the sun one time during my stay. It was only for a moment, it went away right after it appeared. But I did see it! I fear though that I won't be seeing it again until I reach Switzerland. I hope that's not the case.
Dancing:
London is mostly On1. I only went out dancing on two nights though, a tuesday and then saturday at the Stars of Salsa event. It's hard, with my limited experience here, to really judge the scene here outside of that. But I did notice a big problem with dance space, I didn't get stepped on so much as I got bumped into. It got to the point where I started dancing so small and stopping that I would watch the lead let his follow out before she'd hit me. And then they'd just keep dancing, like that was normal.
Also, they are into this Zouk thing. The play it here like we play Bachata. This, I do not like.
Either way, I still had a good enough time here to want to return for a visit, maybe even a longer one. Special thanks goes out to the YHA London Central staff and Isaak for being so helpful and putting up with me being in the common area at the break of dawn every day. Also, thank you thank you thank you Sam Mr. Sleek for the coffee and chat, come back to the states asap!! We miss you! And also, thank you so much to Alex, my newest couchsurfing friend, for giving me the most thorough guided tour of London I could have hoped for. I had a great time here! :)
Now off to the shipyards... Liverpool :)
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