Butter Beer, Crazy Clubs and Some Shennanigans in London

Good day everyone :)

I thought many of you might like to know that due to it being 'United Kingdom Day' at my Uni's 'One World Week,' the campus pub is serving Harry Potter's famous choice of refreshment - Butter Beer. I couldn't help but spend the noon hour typing and enjoying something that I built up to be very tasty. FAIL. I'm not entirely sure how butter beer is made, but when you receive it there are noticeable globs of oil floating at the top which are immediate turn offs. The next step is actually tasting it and, to my dismay, it doesn't get a whole lot better. Despite the flavor being rather enjoyable, the sweetness is overwhelming. Not to mention it coats your lips with a chap stick like film after every sip. With the amount of this stuff Harry, Ron and Hermione drank at Hogsmeade, I think J.K. Rowling probably should have devoted at least a small segment of the 5th or 6th book to Harry's horrible tooth ache caused by excessive amounts of sugar. I'm sure she could have spun it into some dark sign about a coming clash with Voldemort. I digress.

Anyways, the majority of this entry about another weekend in glorious London comes a few days late because of the realization that I actually have to go to school well I am here but none the less it’s about 6am back home as I type this so I don't presume anybody would have been up to read it if I wrote it any earlier.

Upon my arrival in London after catching another 6:50am bus on 3 hours of sleep, my plans were to meet Noah in the borough known as Camden Town at 10. When he showed, fashionably late at about 10:30 of course, we took off to explore the eclectic Camden Road and the many markets and shops that line its sidewalks. For 3 or 4 blocks the street is lined on both sides with individual shops selling everything under the sun. I could have easily bought a completely new wardrobe, got groceries and decorated a house. A bit further down the street lied the 'Stable Market' which is a 4 story stable from the 1800s converted into a market and filled with giant metal statues of horses. The whole idea is incredibly cool - each stable that formerly held a horse is now a small shop. The alleys wind back and forth and, much like the rest of Camden, sell things that make you want to constantly get out your wallet. Our exploration of Camden continued with a stroll down the Camden River looking for specific works of graffiti from the internationally known and incredibly talented social commentator Bansky (look him up if you’re not familiar!).

Post Camden, we took off on an epic adventure to find the historic Abbey Road and attempt to take the famous picture. We were essentially lost the entire way there but eventually stumbled across Abbey Road Studios after initially walking right past them. On the walk we spent almost an hour talking about how we were going to take the coolest picture possible on the cross walk only to discover and become a bit disheartened when we found out that it was a particularly busy 3-way intersection and we had to pretty much risk our lives to get any sort of photo hence my failed attempt in my Fbook album. Truth be told, I expected the spot to be a bit more tourist focused but it was still a great experience and we had fun playing frogger to get a picture taken while being flicked off by locals in their cars. To finish off my day with Noah, we took the tube to the National Portrait Gallery and looked at historically relevant and aesthetically comical portraits of Kings, Queens, academics and statesmen from throughout British and European history. Upon our departure from the Portrait Gallery, Noah and I parted ways and I took off to meet up with Mike, Cole and the gang for the evening out.

Due to a 15 pound cover, our original plans fell through yet we saw that as no reason why we shouldn't get drunk at least for ceremonial purposes. I don't know if it is available in America but cider is an incredibly efficient way to intoxicate yourself - it contains 5.5% alcohol instead of light beer's 3.8%. It shares some similarities with white wine in flavor and takes some getting used to. Overall it isn't much more filling than light beer so it works well to get real drunk relatively quickly and for cheap . We ended up deciding to go to a pub for some karaoke. Even though it would seem that Americans would not fit into the British karaoke scene (if such a scene exists?) we were rather surprised with the affinity for 80s and 90s American pop hits which made us feel right at home. Nothing like Journey duets to bridge cultural gaps.
While I am in no way complaining about the weather in comparison to what everyone is currently experiencing in Wisconsin, it should be noted that, in general, the sun doesn't come out in the morning over here. As a result, there is no real light to wake you up naturally when you go to sleep at 4:30 and thus you sleep until forever. The first time I opened my eyes on Saturday morning was 1pm. Ridiculous. To avoid being a complete piece of shit until we decided to start drinking again, I mustered up the energy to walk over to the British Museum and National Library. Both were pretty overwhelming in terms of the historical content they contained. At the library it was particularly to see original Shakespeare manuscripts, the Magna Carta and the first copies of Beatles songs written on the back of anything that happened to be handy to them at the time. The library in general was a bit easier to take in because it wasn't nearly as vast as the British Museum. In 2 and a half hours I barely managed to see all the exhibits in the place which ranged from Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt to the Renaissance and Medieval Europe to just name a few. It honestly made me tired only trying to take in a tiny fraction of the information available. Mummies and the Rosetta Stone were some notable sights but my slightly hung over brain was just not in any shape to do any profound learning.

Finally it was time to piece together our failed plans from Friday night and go to 'Fabric' - the club heralded by many an internet source to be the #2 to #4 club in the world! Making sure I got drunk enough to cope with 5 hours of techno/house music, we entered the doors at about midnight to a rush of laser lights, smoke and enough bass to make you uncomfortable. Their dance floors even have subwoofers to ensure that the vibrations make it through your entire body! Also the laser light shows coordinated to the beats and highlighted with large amounts of smoke were equally incredible. The experience of a real major European club is one that everyone should try to experience once. It was so unlike anything I've ever been to before: three stories of complete and udder chaos and euphoria among club goers. Pretty sure I got separated from my group for at least 45 minutes because I simply just couldn't find them after I went to the bathroom - an error only partially due to my drunkenness and mostly due to the darkness and giant expanse of space. I think it is safe to say I got offered illicit drugs at least 5 times which gave me a little insight that I was not on the level of most of those in attendance. At about 4, drenched in sweat and completely overwhelmed we all decided to head home. It is the first time in my life I have left somewhere at 4am and felt like I was leaving early (the club is actually open until 8am and there was a line to get in when we left)! I have made a very important realization about music as a result of my 'Fabric Experience' - lyrics in music are absolutely essential after a certain point. One can only 'fight the beat' Jersey Shore style for so long before you need something to sing or bob your head to.

In brief, Sunday involved a trip to the famous Brick Lane Market and a sort of Graffiti tour of East London. Everyone should definitely check out my Fbook pictures because some of the artists are absolutely incredible! We also had to pay a 5 pound cover to watch the football games in the only bar in London that was playing them. Entry fees are absolutely stupid and I hate them. Admittedly we got most of our entertainment during the Jets game by watching the crowd of Algerian natives who were watching Algeria take on the Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations for soccer. Never have I seen people go so incredibly nuts over a sporting event. Every goal consisted of thundering uproar, everyone taking their shirts off and jumping up on the bars/pool tables and dancing and finally a series of coordinated cheers. I truly wish I was that passionate about anything! I ended up having to stay up until 4am to watch Favre throw his final pic, depressing. I really don’t think that the end of that game could have gone any slower. There were at least 5 booth reviews and then OT to top it off.

I hope that everyone is doing well on the home front and people are starting to get into the swing of things with classes. I know I've gotten a bit of a reality check this week that I actually have to put some mild effort into school while I'm here which is a semi-depressing thought. Who knew that when you take the first two weeks off that you will have some work to do on week 3? Leave comments and stay in touch like always!

Cheers ‘til next time,
Patrick