Montrey Whittaker

August 2016

So it's been a minute since my last update and a whole month, in London, has passed on by. I would have to say that, so far, London took the longest to get accustomed to due to the fact that the accommodations we were provided were quite different than I expected. And, I wouldn't describe it as "bad" considering the co-living space, calledThe Collective, provided things such as: cinema room, sauna room, a ground floor restaurant/bar and tons and tons of interesting seminars. The "issue" came down to the fact The Collective was about 60-90 minutes away from the heart of the city, so anytime you wanted to really see London, you would would basically have to allot half of your day which was exhausting. Also, you had the sense that many other Remote Year people were also going through a rough time with the transition from Serbia to London. But honestly, other than that, everything about London was an amazing experience.

But, I have to say that one of the best experiences of London was the fact that my mother, who had previously never left America before, was able to come visit me during this trip. One of the most memorable experiences we had was when we went and had tea time at the Orangery in Kensington Palace. The finger food, which turned out to be very filling, was absolutely amazing. The decadence of the affair was not lost on us as we took in every moment and appreciated that we even had the opportunity to do something that many may never do.

London definitely had more American influence than I imagined. The month felt like I had visited New York with the British accent tossed into the mix. This made things often times feel very familiar even though I had was seeing them for the first time. One of the best experiences I had was visiting a semi swanky cafe calledBrilliant Corners. They are known for the very impressive sound system and, on this particular night, they were doing a album listening session with Daft Punk'sDiscoveryalbum which just so happens to be one of my favorite albums of all time. Having a chance to listen to such a classic album, in this setting, all while having audience reaction will definitely stick with me for a long time.

Things I did

• Went to Brilliant Corners to do a listening session of Daft Punk'sDiscovery in it's entirety. This plas also served amazing Japanese influenced food

• Checked out the amazing and culturally diverse open market known as Brixton Village. Had an amazing burger at Honest Burgers.

• Did a tour of BBC 6 radio station

• Checked out the overly lavish mega department store, Harrods

• Listened to local cultural gossip at the D & L's Barber Shop

• Roamed around the Shoreditch neighborhood many nights

• Saw a performance byMndsgn at Jazz Cafe

• Saw a performance byClams Casinoat Village Underground

• Saw a performance byEkaliat The Pickle Factory

• Had an amazing dinner at Jackson & Rye

• Saw most of the normal touristy stuff (Buckingham Palace etc)

• Had tea time with my Mom at the Orangery at Kensington Palace

• Played a DJ set on a pirate themed boat down the River Thames

• Had Fish & Chips...multiple times