48 hours in England and I have met so many generous and wonderful people. After landing, I headed down to Brighton to explore the area a bit before meeting up with my host, Nick. It’s a beautiful community with so much culture and energy. My first stop upon arriving was at Belcher’s Café, a small and very local breakfast stop. It reminded me of the kind of place construction workers would go to for breakfast in the mornings before work. Anyway, a quick order of a typical English breakfast (beans, toast, tomato, bacon, and an egg… very hearty) and I was satisfied and ready to go on to meet Nick. Around mid-day, I knocked on Nick’s door and out walks an Englishman in his robe. I immediately knew we were going to hit it off. In the short amount of time I’ve been here, Nick has shown me such hospitality, generosity, and friendship that I never expected. We spent the early afternoon chatting and getting to know each other. Within the hour, we had made plans to have dinner together and a night out at the pubs with another friend, Alex. While Nick had an errand to run, I headed back out into Brighton for a walk about town. For the next three hours I walked through The Lanes, down to the water and along Brighton Pier, then up through the Brighton center. It has given me a number of ideas of things I would like to see. The Royal Pavilion will be a visit on Monday that I am looking forward to seeing.
I made it back to Nick’s around 6:00 and we started our evening with a beer. Alex arrived shortly after and it was like I had known both Alex and Nick for a long time. We shared experiences about our travels and our lives over dinner and through the entire evening. The two took me out and showed me a great time with drinks at a couple pubs followed by some really awesome live music at a jazz club. By the end of the night, Alex was lost (and found, but then lost again) and Nick and I wandered back to the flat at 4am.
Saturday turned out to be a long day but every moment was amazing and enjoyable. Nick’s good friend was having a typical English pub crawl for his birthday. We started in Clapham Common and took the tube north to Angel stopping at each stop along the way for a drink and to pick up a couple more additions to the crowd. By the end of the night, there were about 30 of us walking around. Everyone was just as friendly and inviting as Nick himself with lovely and interesting stories about where they’ve been and who they are. For the next 12 hours, there was never a time in which I felt uncomfortable or out of place. I always had a conversation going and it really felt like I was a longtime friend with everyone. Some talks as simple as the weather in the UK and Southern California to those as sophisticated as global politics surrounding nuclear disarmament and interventionism (Tom and James are brilliant!). I know my trip is only going to get better, but I really don’t know how…
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I made it back to Nick’s around 6:00 and we started our evening with a beer. Alex arrived shortly after and it was like I had known both Alex and Nick for a long time. We shared experiences about our travels and our lives over dinner and through the entire evening. The two took me out and showed me a great time with drinks at a couple pubs followed by some really awesome live music at a jazz club. By the end of the night, Alex was lost (and found, but then lost again) and Nick and I wandered back to the flat at 4am.
Saturday turned out to be a long day but every moment was amazing and enjoyable. Nick’s good friend was having a typical English pub crawl for his birthday. We started in Clapham Common and took the tube north to Angel stopping at each stop along the way for a drink and to pick up a couple more additions to the crowd. By the end of the night, there were about 30 of us walking around. Everyone was just as friendly and inviting as Nick himself with lovely and interesting stories about where they’ve been and who they are. For the next 12 hours, there was never a time in which I felt uncomfortable or out of place. I always had a conversation going and it really felt like I was a longtime friend with everyone. Some talks as simple as the weather in the UK and Southern California to those as sophisticated as global politics surrounding nuclear disarmament and interventionism (Tom and James are brilliant!). I know my trip is only going to get better, but I really don’t know how…
Photo Album
One more thing, the word verification for my previous post was "dropints"--don't know how I feel about that.
ReplyDeleteNick looks British. Why doesn't Alex? You and Alex look as though you were surf buddies in Newport. :) I'm really glad you're having a blast.
ReplyDelete