London calling..

Greetings yall!

I am currently living with my aunt in Hampstead. It's great! Taking the tubes, being on my own most of the time, hooking up with family and random family friends, going to nightclubs, Occupying London at Saint Paul's, aimlessly wandering the streets of London in search of somewhere interesting, eating at random eateries, hanging out with my Aunt at night and going on Facebook at the end of the day to see what my friends are up to back in Canada. Life is really good! It's definitely been an experience so far! And luckily I've only gotten lost once.. haha. (luckily there is such as a thing as cellular technology)

The first day was a bit of a mission day. I made it my mission to seek out where this one open mic was, and to get an Oyster Card at the Hampstead tube station. The Oyster Card has been my saving grace. So easy to use. If you've never been to London and are planning to take the tube I definitely recommend getting one of those.
The open mic that my Aunt told me about was pretty cool. It was a cozy folk club downstairs from a chic cafe/bar, like something that Pentangle or Nick Drake would've played at back in the day! Some neat musicians played at the open mic, and so did I. My Aunt and her boyfriend Bob, and my cousin who I had only met once when I was 9 showed up to hear me! It was great. Definitely good to reunite with my cousin again to.

The second day I took the tube down to the Embankment and tried to find the Tate Modern. I ended up wandering to Trafalgar Square where I took a look around the National Gallery. I wanted to go to Canada house, but it was closed for renovations. Later that night I met up with my mum's bestfriend's son at the Macbeth to watch his friend's band play, they were a sweet band! I then met his brother and his friends, which was cool, its nice to have some company. From the Macbeth we went to a retro hip/hop R n B nightclub! That was pretty cool too (since I've never actually been to a nightclub)! We then made our way back to his flat where I stayed the night.

The next day (today) I got up, and said goodbye to my new friends, and made my way by tube to the London Bridge. Wandered around Hayes Gallery, and then made why over the bridge up to Saint Paul's. As I was heading over there were soooo many police in riot gear, expecting a march with potential crazies.. that's the thing right? The easiest way to get to an Occupy is to follow the police! And that's exactly what I did. At St Paul's cathedral, which is absolutely monumental, there is a mass amount of tents set up for the Occupiers which is pretty cool! So I went to sit on the steps of Cathedral with everyone else, and from the speaker from below someone was saying that Peggy Seeger was going to be playing, as well as Billy Bragg, Chumbawumba, Leon Rosselson and a few others. They were all great! I got up pretty close too. We were all singing along to old traditional protest songs.. the evening ended with a pretty sweet set by Billy Bragg!
From St. Paul's I took the tube back to Hampstead... the tubes at that time of day are soooo packed! But I'm glad I made back in one piece!

Cheers everyone!