Week 4 Impressions by Lauren Bryson

Dear blog,

I had a very hard time coming up with a theme for you. I wanted something informative yet humorous, something British but not completely stereotypical (which is a word I have come to have a love/hate relationship with), and interesting while appropriate. By the way, hi mom! I’m eating vegetables. So many different ideas were floating around in my head. I could write about the insane pigeons that have no fear of anything, the obscene amount of mayonnaise that is put on everything, how someone in our group almost gets taken out by a car daily, the vending machines at the tube that dish out miniature sized Cadbury cream eggs, or the excitement that I display when watching a Manchester United game at a pub with people who know more about the team than the usual response I get back in the states of “oh yeah, the team in the movie Eurotrip.” I could write about the monstrous deserts and doughnuts that tease me daily through the windows of the bakeries while I walk to class, the thrill we all get when coming home late and finding the kitchen door to be open, or the ridiculously amusing British television programs I have quickly come to love. Those can be for later writing times, but now it is time to write about something that is everywhere in London – in stores, at pubs, at restaurants, on our floor, at clubs, on the streets, in the tube station. I’m talking about music. Every place that I go in this city somehow has some form of music playing in the background. The vast variety of these songs is something that amazes me every day. I’m always straining my ears for a new theme song of the week to come home and download.

One of my favorite jams is called “Put Your Hands up for Detroit” which I’m actually listening to as I type this. It is played religiously at every club and bar we go to, sometimes in multiples if we’re lucky. One night I found myself explaining to a London native that you didn’t really want to go to Detroit. Yet he was thoroughly convinced that if he ever went to the states, Detroit would be his first stop. That example of the sheer power of a Euro-trash techno song is what makes me so excited about music in London. One of my loyal floor mates updates me with different artists to check out throughout the week, which is my favorite time of day. Other places, mainly places in which you shop, can usually be found playing hits that would usually be found on the Top 40 charts in the states back in 1998. When we were at the Camden market the past weekend one store was playing Madonna while the one right next to it was blasting some Nsync.
If you’re lucky enough to make it to a pub to see a live band, you will usually be pleasantly surprised by the stage presence and musicianship. Usually. OR if you’re really lucky, like my neighbor down the hall, you can be graced by a rendition of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” by a group of middle aged construction workers.

Put your hands up London. I LOVE this city.