Brighton!

Last Sunday, my program took a trip to Brighton, the seaside town at the bottom of the country. I was required to go as a part of my British Youth Culture class, but anyone from the program could have attended. It was an all day ordeal, but very much worth it! 

I sat with Elyse on the bus, and two of our guy friends, Eric and Phil (Eric goes to Michigan) are roommates as well, but we think they might be something more...(not really, ;D) They are so cute and are always hugging, slash talking to each other, slash are in everrryyy single photo together. They really aren't gay, they just are the best of friends, and it's pretty adorable. 

Here is a classic bromance shot of the duo below: Phil sleeping on Eric's shoulder, awwwwwwww! 

NOW, Brighton! We had the sunniest, most beautiful day to walk around for! It was amazing!

Beach, even though it is mostly rocks and shells, it is still beautiful.

The pier. 

...closer.

Where you get THE BEST fish and chips!

Carousel. On the Beach. Right.

So because I was there for my class, our group took a separate tour with our professor, Richard, who showed us all the hot spots and cultural niches of the city. This particular spot, a hostel called the Grapevine wasn't particularly important, other than for the fact that they used the 'mod' target in their advertising sign. This target is the ultimate symbol of the mod era and has really been capitalized in Britain in 'selling' youth culture, almost as a commodity, as something cool to associate yourself with. Before in the late 50's through late 60's, the mods caused one of the most hyped moral panics of Britain's history, and now this youth culture is glorified and romanticized to sell business and culture as commodity. That's consumerism at it's finest. 

Alice in Wonderland boutique. Brighton is not only known for its awesome seaside party life, but also for it's non-tourist antique and vintage boutique-ing. There were stores upon stores of legit vintage, winding streets with graffiti, and awesome food. I wish we could have stayed the whole weekend.

James Brown in Britain: AMERICA CONQUERS!

Run DMC!

Real Banksy. Awesome!

The Asian Palace at Brighton- it's outrageous! It is huge and completely decorated within the Chinese culture. I didn't really care for it, that's why this picture is very bad, but I did buy a post card if anyone wants to see how it really looks. 

And lastly, to end our journey through Brighton's finest, a picture of how our bus ride home went: 

Eric and Phil sharing their iPod and dancing to music together, awwwwwwwww! 

They are too cute. 

-xox-