on fait comme ça

so. i went to london and the island of yeu for my spring break. not nearly as cool as amsterdam and portugal as previously planned....but shit doesnt always work out. i've learned that more in the past two weeks i think than ever before.

getting to london was a fucking nightmare. theres a strike in france thats been going on for two weeks and my original train tickets were affected by it. so i had to get on another train the paris montparnasse and then take the metro to the gare du nord where i had to figure out if i could get on another eurostar to london. anyway it seems like super facile when i write it like that, but doing this alone in another language is pretty fucking stressful. AND right before my new train left i realized i forgot my MONEY AND CREDIT CARD in my ROOM! so i ran ran ran ran back to the dorm with my shit flailing behind me. i was so freaked out and screaming and crying. really really cool. saying um "i need to get to london tonight" in broken french and shaking and smoking inside the train station because i was too nervous to even care. trying to keep up with my bags on the metro and navigate my way without any guidance. shit was nuts. anyway i eventually got on the eurostar and started pounding whiskey. so i made it to london on that train underwater. and it was all good.

LONDON!
upon arrival, laura, my gracious host, took me to this super cool bar/club in this basement after going to the classic corner pub called the eagle. the stress drinking caught up to me and i was dancing in front of the dj's and talking to this lesbian lady behind them asking her to sing? and smoking the dj's cig and pissing people off. someone was taking pictures not sure who or where to find them but there probably out there on the interweb. returned to her dorm after and ate two huge sub sandwiches.

woke up the next day and went to the natural history museum- dinosaurs, cool shit, pictures to come. that night we went to this bar called cargo where there were rappers/dj's and jarvis cocker was the mc. too cool absolutely. so fun. the rappers were hilarious and we talked to them a bit after. i cant even convey how amazingly refreshing it was to be able to speak in english and be undersood. then we went to this place called avalon which was weird and then anothe place called either 333 or mother- not sure. dancing. drinking. whiskey. got hit on by a pretty lesbian (theres a strange lesbian theme with this london blog post)

next day was the figuring out exactly what my plans are/buying ticket back to france day. then i went shopping at oxford circus. took the metro (tube) everywhere grace a laura's oyster card and my iphone's metro app. felt so self sufficient in the big city. topshop. is. incredible. four floors. one floor for just shoes. one floor for just bags and tights. i cant tell you. i only stayed for like 30 mintues because it was so overwhelming. i bought an adorable little purse and some sheer black tights with a purple back seam. then went to the urban outfitters across the street. i couldnt resist and i bought some brogue shoes that were on sale for 15 pounds (livres sterling in french). then went back, showered, walked to this cool fucking venue called the village underground for the rain machine show. NOTE: sometimes when the ticket says it starts at 9, it really starts at 9. so i got there at 10:45 thinking it would be perfect and i wouldnt have to loiter around alone until he started. but no i got to hear the last song. which was kind of a bummer but ended up fine cuz it was really good and a really amazing experience. the venue was clearly an art studio place- big bare brick walls and brick arches. the crowd was weird, no dancing, and no one hung around to see if there would be an encore?

next day was tate modern, downtown, st. peters cathedral, guide book reading to plan my last day.

last day in london i woke up at 10am thinking yeah great then fell back asleep and woke up for real at 3:30. headed to nottinghill/queensway area for "the best chinese roast duck in the world" at this dingy little place called Four Seasons. it was superb. i actually ate lunch and dinner there. lunch alone, dinner with my new friend cody dick, who happens to be one of the most genuine people ive ever met. bizarre what can happen in a few days. after lunch i went to camden market, bought a pipe, then dinner, then went to westminster abbey and big ben, the usual stuff. we all ended up going to this club called zoo bar, which was pretty cheesy and lame but fun all the same. london is really into clubbing.

OKAY i think that wraps up london. it was amazing. i missed double decker music fest in oxford, but i rode on the second story of a real double decker bus in london. i really didnt want to leave london. the english, the people i met, the food which was acutally amazing, the beeeeer, the cute 10 packs of cigs (pictures later), the completely inspiring fashion sense everyone seems to have, the eagle, the music. cant beat it. i'm definitely going back as soon as i have more money- only downside is that its outrageously expensive. my taxi from laura's to the natural history museum was 19 pounds (about 30 dollars). ten cigs cost about 4 pounds.

i know i used to say that i loved france more than any other country, but england kind of became my favorite. i want nothing more than to go to scotland with you.

anyway i got back to angers totally fine. except left my backpack (computer, cute new shoes, medicine) on the train. because i make good choices when i'm sleep deprived. called nantes, they found my backpack, and said lady, you gotta come down here to claim it. SO! the next day i decided to meet margaux, ondine, and magurite at l'ile d'yeu after getting my sac a dos from the station. this process was very complicated as almost no one in nantes speaks english, and i needed to have someone show me how to buy my bus ticket to fromentine where i would then have ten minutes to buy my boat ticket and get on the last boat to the island. margaux was a great help when she said "dude, be prepared to miss the boat. you have no time."

i almost pissed myself running from the bus to the ticket stand...which turned out to be less than 200 feet away. not nearly the 5 minute run she had previously told me. but i made it on the boat. smoked the fastest cig of my life and blasted girl talk to balance out my adrenaline.

fuck this is long.
up next: adventures in l'ile d'yeu