Brighton, England

I got from Liverpool to Brighton for £6. How awesome is that? Sure, I had to pay to put a bit more money on my Oyster card to ride from the train station to the bus station in London and to ride the bus in Brighton when I didn't want to carry my luggage and the groceries Lisa and I bought up Elm Grove (re: the never-ending hill to get to her house), but I'm still pretty damn proud of myself. I got a Megatrain from Liverpool to London for £5 and then a National Express funfare from London to Brighton (2 hours) for £1. Win. If I had wanted to wake up freakishly early enough to take an 8:30 am train, that would've been only £1 as well.

Sadly though, almost immediately upon my arrival to Brighton my camera stopped working mysteriously. This is probably because I tend to just throw it in my bag without a case and hope for the best, but it did last me 4 years. Since I lived in Brighton for a year in 2007-2008 and was around both last summer for Pride and in December for Christmas I have enough pictures to give you a taste of this wonderful town.

So what did I do in Brighton? Well, mostly I sat on Lisa's couch and studied German. No really, I'm pretty boring. After four months of traveling, I was tired of being a tourist. I did live here a year already, so it was nice to just have some down time. Plus all my friends were finishing their dissertations and studying for exams, which motivated me to study for the fake German exam I have in my head (re: speaking to a Smith professor in May so she can evaluate my likelihood of learning enough German to qualify for the Fulbright). I popped into Allsorts Tuesday to say hello (a queer youth group in town I joined when I was studying at Sussex, which gives you free dinner!), went out to Legends at some point with Lisa, Elea and their friends, got my hairz did, FINALLY got my free coffee at Red Roaster and ate way too many vegan Co-op custard and jam doughuts. Two packages for £1 is really the death of me.

On April 30th Emma W drove Emma K and me into London to Emma K's house. We made a wrong turn and ended up having to drive through the center of London, which took like 5 billion hours, but it was a nice tour! Once we got to Emma's house we met up with her sister Holly and her Mom and headed to this restaurant near Camden Town that was supposed to have crazy good ice cream for Emma K's birthday. Being vegan, I went for the sorbet with fresh bananas and it was super yummy. Mostly I was a giant sick face my last several days in England as one of my glands swelled up super big and I seemed to develop a fever (for 10 days), which I'll go more into later. Germs suck.

Here's some past times in Brighton for ya:

Lisa (former flatmate at Sussex Uni), Lizzie and me last summer at the Marlborough, this mostly lesbian pub we used to live at the year I lived in Brighton (they had free pool!).

Walking along Brighton Pier, which is full of fried snacks, candy, arcades and rides!

Last summer from the left Lucy, Emma W and Helen. Brighton has a rock beach, which everyone but me seems to hate. What I hate, however, is getting sand all over my body. I finally swam in the sea in Brighton for the first time last August!

At Brighton Pride last summer, which is basically the gayest gay that ever gayed. The entire town shuts down for this, tooooons of people flock to the city and then everyone follows the parade to Preston Park at the end, which is MASSIVE and filled with outdoor clubbing tents, giant rides, lots of stands with food, condoms, t-shirts, sex toys, etc. It was freaking massive. The only negative part was if you had to pee (I did) you had to wait FOREVER and toilet paper was scarce. Also, it rained on our parade that year. I thought this reference to Little Britain was especially funny. The Oldest Gay in the Village.

Lisa and I last summer at The George, a vegetarian pub I was obsessed with that had the best pub quiz EVER and the best vegan nachos everrrr. I freaking love me some vegan nachos. This is likely us after devouring an entire pitcher of Pimms.

Brighton Beach as seen from the Pier.

The Wreck. I think at one point this was supposed to be the or a pier and then it, well, was wrecked. It basically just reminds me of Sugar Rush, an awesome British lesbian TV show that takes place in Brighton. Watch it!

And another view of The Wreck that I took with Kaden a couple years ago on a super stormy day.

The Royal Pavilion

Next Stop: America!