Day 6 VCUK-14 June 2019

Today I woke up early and listened to classical music and had breakfast and got ready.

I met with people downstairs and we took the tube to the Borough Market. It was soooo cool!!!

We went to the Tate Modern first which is a little bit down the river. It was a really cool building and apparently used to be a power plant which is why it's so large and shaped weird. However the art was dumb. There were about 10 floors and it was all modern art but not the kind I enjoy and I was going out of my minddd. The only pieces I liked was the water lillies, the mondrians, and Klein Blue. Everything else was super modern and boring and made me cranky.

Then we met with Bill downstairs and walked a block over to meet this man Andrew Shoben who is from Greyworld which is a sculpture firm here that does interactive public sculptures. It's really cool. He showed us his "Monument" which is a huge animatronic figure of a man holding a paint brush and when you walk by him he does something like winks or waves or moves. Sadly he is broken right now and doesn't move. However Andrew told us about how this one time the statue glitched and got stuck in a rude position where his one hand was making movements down near his crotch for about and hour and he got called to come fix it.

Andrew gave us another brief. This one is to create a bench that is interactive. My partner is Jess.

Then we went over to the Borough Market and had lunch! Borough Market is soooo goood. Bill brought us to a cheese store but it smelled gross so a lot of us left. I wandered with Rachel and Emma for a bit. Then I wandered by myself. There's soooo much foooddd. I ended up getting a half and half dish from this one booth. I got half malaysian curry and half mussels and they were both soooo goodd I wanted to cry. The malaysian curry guy asked for my number but I walked away.

Then I got watermelon juice and Emma and I sat and ate together and then wandered around some more.

Eventually we found everyone in the one alley taking photos with doors.

I wanted to go do the Shard and couldn't get people to leave.

Finally we left but we didn't know where it was so we walked the wrong way and then decided to just wander so we went across the Millenium Bridge which was awful for me (that's the bridge in Harry Potter that the dementors flip and everyone dies). Then we walked to St. Pauls but no one wanted to pay and go in it so we walked back and they got Starbucks.

I really need to find some travely friends cause this ain't it. Starbucks and McDonalds in foreign countries should be exclusively used for the toilets and wifi not for eating and so far my classmates regularly visit both of them.

I took the tube back by myself cause they were taking to long and I didn't want to be late for my train to Brighton later.

I printed my ticket out at King's Cross and went back to the apartment. At King's Cross there was a farmers market too.

When I got back I had an hour to spare so I had dinner and packed up more and then watched Hwarang again.

Then I went by myself and took the tube to Blackfriars and then got on the train. I was really nervous about being late but it worked out fine.

The train was super easy. It was about an hour ride and I thought my ticket said it was a straight ride but it had about 8 stops which was fine. I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and looked at the landscape. England is cute. (However, Ireland is prettier.)

I got there at 8ish and walked a half hour to my hostel. Which was fine by me cause I was at the beach and it was gorgeous out. The walk from the station through the city down to the ocean was eh. The city is very dirty and isn't really quicky like Carol said. But it was golden hour and it was sunny and breezy so I was having a time. I went down to the water and dipped my toes in. The whole beach is pebbles which is cute but awfully annoying. Then I walked along the boardwalk to my hostel. There's an upper boardwalk next to the road and then a lower boardwalk that curves along below it. Underneath the upper boardwalk is a bunch of built in shops and restaurants which is cute.

It was a long walk but it was so nice out and I'm at the beach! On the left in the ocean is the Brighton Pier which has this super cool big white building and carny stuff on it. Then in the direction I'm headed is the burnt remains of a pier from another time about 40 yards in the ocean. It's really cool and I wonder what happened to it. It looks like fire.

Farther down the boardwalk changes. This is where it becomes Hove (a borough of Brighton). In Hove there's only the upper boardwalk and it's wider and on the land side of it there is a longgg line of painted sheds and behind the sheds is a grassy park. Hove has really cute white buildings lining the street and the little sheds are really cute.

My hostel was on the road and one block after the end of the grass and Hove boardwalk. The building is cute and old and has a lot of little panel windows.

I checked in fine and my room is 104 which is right across from the stairs upstairs. The Hostel is really big and pretty much the same as the other one. I think they're owned by the same people because that one was called Smart Russel Square and this one is called Smart Sea View Brighton (it does not have a sea view) (it is also not technically in Brighton) so I think Smart Hostel is a chain.

My room was fine. It has 10 beds (5 bunk beds). I was assigned bottom bunk of bed 1 but it was taken so I took the top bunk sorta near the window. I rather have the top anyway honestly. These beds were just bunk beds and didn't have the same compartment feeling that the other hostel had. Nor did it have outlets near the bed. This was also not what the pictures were online. At this point I'm vaguely annoyed but also go with the flow and think it will be fine. My room only has 4 lockers and they're all taken by who I will later find out are locals. There is a bathroom in the hallway with 2 toilets and 2 sinks but there is also a bathroom attached to our room which is sorta nice. It has a full bath/shower and toilet and sink.

When I came in there were two older men (by old I mean mom and dad's age). I said hello and they said hello back. When I got up into my bunk and started making my bed we started chatting. There was a large man named Richard who was on the bottom bunk across from me next to the bathroom. Then there was a skinny ginger man named Guy on the top bunk next to me in the window alcove.

Guy was cranky and had a broken phone. His phone was shattered internally so it worked fine but the screen was completely black and didn't show anything but some purple cracks sometime. He was awaiting a call from "the missus" apparently. I plugged my phone in on the wall near Richard. I wish I brought my charging bank but I didn't expect the hostel to not have outlet. The room has 4 outlets total which is not enough for the inhabitants.

Richard is from Manchester and has worked here for about 3 years. He currently works and lives in this hostel (I honestly don't really know what he does here) and I think Guy works and lives here too. Guy is from Brighton born and raised. Richard has lived in Brighton and worked in hotels/hostels for 3 years now but they both have been at this hostel for about 6 weeks now they think. They knew each other but didn't know each other's names and I ended up instigating their introduction when I introduced myself. They've been in different rooms and complained about how the staff rearrange and condense rooms.

Richard was excited to have a new person to chat with. He was super talkative but I don't think he was very correct about many of the subjects he explained to me. He told me about the royal family and how the crown goes to little Prince George next, he talked about British money and how there's a little clock on big ben on the fake bills, and he told me all different places to visit in England (cause I asked). I asked what to do in Brighton and Richard told me all about how to take a bus out of Brighton to "the 7 sisters" which are a white cliffs place about 30 mins away and there's some other cool places on the same bus route. This is not helpful cause I am here to explore Brighton. He said not to do the i360 tower (a viewing tower that is a donut thing that goes up a really tall stick) and that you can't see anything and should just take the bus to the top of the hill cause that's a better view.

Eventually Guy's "missus" called. His whole situation with the phone was quite comedic and there was a problem with him turning on the flashlight and then not being able to turn it off. Richard and Guy had a cheap beer each and we talked about drinking culture America v England. Eventually the "Italian bloke" came back. Richard had already talked about him and said he is Italian and works at a hair salon and doesn't really speak english so we will get along great since I speak Italian. I think he spoke english fine though. The Italian guy who I never learned his name (oops), came back and we chatted basics in Italian. He was pretty and had a man bun. He was impressed with my Italian which I am proud of cause I honestly don't really know Italian anymore. But I can still understand it well. We all talked about New Jersey a bit and NYC. They talked about how Italian Man's mom and cousin were coming to visit this weekend. Italian Man was in the bunk below me.

Then this other guy came back. He was wearing a red t shirt and hat of a brand. I think he was german. He talked about how he has to work 2 jobs. They complained about how homeless people live here sometimes and beg for money all day and earn $200 in a day and then get to live here while they all work their butts off. It was very interesting to hear about but also didn't make me feel great about sleeping there. They did mention an Australian girl who had slept in the bed next to me a week ago. I'm assuming she survived. I joked around with them but kept all my stuff with me.

Eventually we all went to bed. It was sorta like a really weird sleepover. They all used the bathroom in the room and Italian man took a shower. I changed in the bathroom and then I unplugged my phone and organized my bed stuff. I put everything I could into my backpack and my purse and locked my backpack shut. I put my phone and passport into my two pants pockets (cause they're really deep). Then I put my foot through my backpack strap and also wrapped my purse chain around me leg and went to bed.

I slept better than the last hostel I think. I had to fold over my pillow again but the bed was more comfy here. None of them snored to loud and some people came in late but they weren't too noisy. My main problem sleeping was my weird trouble breathing. I think my allergies are hitting me finally. I had a scratchy throat feeling which was hard to sleep. I also was increasingly growing paranoid that someone would steal my stuff off of me. I barely slept.