Bristol-bound

Sorry for my lapse in posting. I've been transitioning. And it's a good thing!
So I've got a job. I will be making gourmet coffees in a lovely locally owned and operated coffee house named Spinelli's. They encourage that we take the time to make each latte look pretty, like drawing in the foam and learning how to pour a rosette design. It's cool. The place is soooo much like Delany's on Denman. I'm happy about it. After only one shift, customers are seeing me out at night and saying hey. That's a good thing.
Still a little short on the friend front, but it's getting better. I've met friends through the few that I have, and now I'm being really aggressive about just saying 'hey give me your number' and then calling them and guilting them into meeting me for a beer, at which point they fall in love with me.

Oh... here's an interesting tidbit- I joined a gym! HA! It's an LA Fitness, and it's a beautiful gym. It has a huge cardio area, a good weight training facility, and a pool and hot tub. And even the locker room is pretty with wood-front lockers. And there are classes and classes and classes! I've already done a spin class and an ab class. I figure, since I am starting a new routine, why not include this in it? We'll see. I have some big plans.

Today I'm off to Bristol, staying with Katie and hopefully visiting Alexis. After that, on to Cardiff.
I'm looking forward to this week. And the next. So that's good.

kisses kisses smoochies.

Nick

Ok. I'm staying

So I've found a flat. Well actually it's a room. A small one. For a ton of money. But that's the U.K. for ya.

I'm staying in Brighton. I wasn't sure for a while. I had a melt down yesterday morning- it came from boredom and frustration. Not knowing anyone is boring.
But then last night I went to a knitting group, which was good for my heart, and I met up with my one friend Benji and had some beer.
I am so keen to get out of this hostel. I'm so sick of hostels. I really need a good night sleep and I need to wake up without seeing a stranger scratching their bum and zipping/ unzipping their bag while the 16 year old school group that are occupying all the rooms surrounding mine scream and laugh and bang on doors. I just need a clean washroom, laundry machine, and my own room. Not too much to ask for.

So here's the truth. I'm finding all of this very difficult, but I'm starting to understand why I'm doing it. I went a while where I didn't understand what I was attempting to do. I was asking myself a lot "Why aren't I in London or Paris" other than the fact that I can't afford it. I think I would move there if I had someone to move with... but while I'm on my own it's different. I has something to do with figuring myself out. It's basic needs~ friendship, my own space, a job... things I have always just HAD which now are things that I am desperate for. I guess that's probably good for me. Or WILL be good for me.

I dunno. Part of me just wants to come home. But I wont give up!

Nope. Not yet, anyways.

hmmmm brighton

Still alive. Still struggling a little... I think it's because I don't have a purpose here yet. The city's fun, but I need something to do!
I've made one friend who's taking me out and introducing me, but jeez people here drink beer ALL DAY! The trick is to get a half pint and drink it realllllly slowly.

Not sure if this is where I'm going to settle. Job hunting is a little difficult. Hmmmm.
Saw a play last night at the Theatre Royal. Two ancient ladies sitting in front/ beside me got in a cat fight. One called the other a wicked old witch because she told the lady's husband to sit still so he left. It was almost more entertaining than the play.

pics soon...

nick

Brighton

I'm here. I'm alive.
First day in Brighton was tough. It's gorgeous down here, but for the first time, I truly do not know anyone. So it's a little tough. I'm looking for work and a place to live quickly, because I'm feeling good about living here, but I really need to meet some people.
There are prospects on the horizon. I just need to get moving.
More soon!

Nick

An artsy fartsy day

Yesterday was my last day in London for a while, so I decided to do it up a little bit, spending the least amount of money possible. So after a late rise, I made my way down to Waterloo station on the South Bank. Down by the National Theatre and Ballet, they were having a whole shwack of festivals. There was a food festival going on all around the grounds, and then inside the Southbank Centre there were s bunch of free acts put on as part of the dancEUnion festival, which is a festival of European dance... not like traditional folky stuff, but more like contemporary, modern, and ballet dancers from all across Europe. So I managed to catch 3 free acts, and then a 4th less than amazing act. So first I headed downstairs to a multi-media piece. Seemed pretentious, but I was up for it. Well it was unreal. There was a girl dancing in one corner of the room in front of this white background. Then, on a wall on the other side of the room she was being project live. So at first I thought... oh blah blah blah seen it before. But then some crazy cool stuff started. The feed was run through a computer, and she was holding a remote control. So she would dance for a bit, then press a button, and her improv would play back. She could then switch back and forth between this recorded bit and her live, so at times it would just flick back to her watching herself, other times doing a different movement sequence. So it became a play on tempo and depth, and also made a really interesting exploration of spectator interacton. I liked it.
Then, in a different hall, there were 6 tvs set up. Each person was given a headset with 6 channels on it. As you went from screen to screen, you saw that there was also a small tv below each screen. On the small television you could see a dancer doing a routine. Above, on the larger screen, you see that the dancer in the tv below was wearing a head-mounted camera, facing their face. You would tune in to their channel to hear their music and sounds, and then you could watch their dance below, while watching a close up on their heads above. It was so interesting to see a dancer moving in a still environment on one, and then what seems like the whole world moving around a still face above. I loved this one.
Then, upstairs, there were a couple less experimental dance routines from Norway. Pretty gorgeous stuff.

Then, there was last night. Hooo boy. I decided that I wanted to see a play in the West End. had thought I'd see Rain Man because Josh Hartnett is in it and how often does that happen? But I had a change of heart and instead decided to see Ivanov starring Kenneth Branagh! There were only standing room tickets left, but it was worth every second of those 190 minutes standing at the back. It was a new adaptation by Tom Stoppard... very English Chekhov! But jeeeezus this play was good.
I stood near the stage door to see if he'd come out after, but the mob was huge so I moved on.

A good evening.

I'm going down to Brighton today. I'm pretty stoked.

kisses
nick

Some pictures: Paris

Megan's a rock star.
Our adorable hotel room
cliche for a reason.
GORGEOUS.
Dad and me and the Arc de Triumph.

Some pictures: London

Gorgeous views!

Dalia and I saw Avenue Q!
Exposure goes to Camden town!

Yes, I AM wearing running shoes. Big whoop!
Trafalgar Square

Back in London

Well, I've arrived safely back in London. The train was even less of a stress-out than on the way here! I only had a 2 hour wait, this time. After lots of lugging and waiting, I am back at the hostel, catching my breath.
I'm going to need a holiday after this...
Paris was amazing. I did all the tourist things, with the exception of the Louvre... just wasnt up to it. And there were a lot of other amazing galleries, so who needs it? I saw Vincent Van Gogh's self portrait, which was HAUNTING, and some Degas, and others... I'll post some pictures soon.

The Eiffel at night remains my favorite, as well as just roaming the tiny little streets with a distinctly Parisian attitude.

I'm going to post photos, and talk more about stuff then. I left my camera upstairs, and the stairs in this hostel are brutal, so it will just have to wait.

So tonight and tomorrow are here in London... I'm meeting up with Ryland Alexander later for drinks, and then I'm going to go down to the Portebello market again tomorrow to do some shopping. Perhaps a show tomorrow night. Then on Sunday I'm Brighton-bound. I'm feeling eager to settle. Part of it is probably how much I loathe travelling on public transit with all my belongings lugged behind me, but another part is a desire to get to know a place, and just kind of start fitting in and meeting people. I'm so shy right now. And Brighton is a place where I know NO ONE. No dad or Dalia or Adeline or Ryland or Megan. It's going to be an adjustment.

On that note... this is me pleading that y'all keep saying hi! Email, facebook, or here... it keeps me going!
Kisses everyone! I'm going to go spend $20 on a $5 meal!

love
nick

mes cheveau est bon

the haircut went well... i know youll all be relieved to hear that. he straightened it then cut it, which was odd... but it has regained its curl and looks fun. how interesting, my hair... not like im in paris or anything.
met up with dad last night and continued exploring this best place on earth. went to notre dme, l'arc de triumph (finally found the apostrophe key), and up to the second platform of the eiffel tower which was AMAZING at night. it all lights up and looks like glitter... a big hunk of glitter... so cool.
Today we did more sights, the cemetary, bastille for lunch, and the amazing modern art museum. my feet are killing!
now we're off for dinner, then im meeting megan for a bit tonight. good times good times!
pics to come!
nick

scary

Im about to get my hair cut in Paris, mais je ne parle pas beacoup de francais. QUICK how do you say NO MULLET in french!

Nigel Green performing live in Paris!

Ok, first off... Im using a french keyboard, so please excuse any spelling errors as SOME of the keys are in different places, and others arent. You also have to shift to put a period, and i havent yet been able to find the apostrophe.
in other news....
PARIS, JE TÀIME!!!!!
I arrived yesterday, after four hours of waiting at the train station, and was greeted by megan scoretz at her crazy cool flat. i changed quickly, and we walked down by Bastille to the edge of the Muraille, which is heaven. Her, her boyfriend, and i thn talked the night away and wanered the streets of Paris. I LOVE IT HERE. Thinking of looking into staying here instead of Brighton, but I need to go away and think about that one. the language thing would be tricky...
Anywho, im going to go and love this place some more!
au revoir mes amis!

nicola

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not going to lie... my head is pounding

Well... it's been an eventful few days.
Dalia and I have been tubing around, seeing the sights, doing stuff... ok we've been shopping the whole time.
Just kidding. Mostly.
Some highlights:
Dalia's old roommate, Adeline, lives here in London. Her and her boyfriend have shown us two wicked restaurants. One down in the Oxford area that served really authentic thai food, and last night the AMAZING Mediterranean restaurant in the Angel area. It was total tasty.

The other night Dalia and I went to Avenue Q in the West End. It was in the Noel Coward theatre, which was gorgeous and intimate, and still had leg room! I overheard 4 people talking in the hallway about all being from Calgary. Canadians are everywhere. Goddamn tourists.

Last night we went to this club called Fabric- the "it" club in London. Well, it was pretty spectacular. We arrived at 10:15 (it opened at 10), and there was already a line around the corner and down the street, all controlled by various moving dividers and a million bouncers. I felt like we were cattle at a slaughter house. They were still filling the club, though, so we got in pretty quick. The cover was 15 Pounds- $30 Canadian! That was kind of sick... so far I was feeling cynical. But then we got in and started looking around- it was like nothing I'd ever seen. It spanned 4 or 5 floors under ground. It consisted of 3 different big rooms- The hip hop room had the biggest bar, and this huge room with a dance floor, stage, and DJ booth. It was pretty dead at first, but later the BEST DJ I've ever heard- some guy from New York, was spinning and everyone went pretty crazy in there.- Then there was the drum and bass room- it was this epic sized room surrounded in stages and FILLED with fog. The bass was so heavy that you could seriously seriously feel it vibrate in your chest. I loved this room, but you could seriously only spend so much time in it before the phlegm rattling in your chest was too much to take. -Finally there was the house music room which we spent the least amount of time in. It was pretty tiny, but the layout was cool. A bunch of the rooms had these sofas and huge beds so we spent a bit of time lounging drunkenly. I'm not going to go too far into detail about just how expensive this evening was. Let's just say that drinks were about $14, and the cab ride home was a flat rate of 22 Pounds. Crapolla!

Other highlights include Camden Market, Oxford Street (the whole thing), and Sheesha here in the Bayswater area, until these guys from Northern England started getting racist and homophobic. But I did manage to convince them that there's this singer in Canada named Nick Green who is pretty much a household name.

Anyways... today (eventually) we're off to Portobello Market, and then probably a bit more partying tonight.

I don't know how many of you have heard about the Eurostar issues and the chunnel fire. They were predicting that trains wouldn't run for 10 days... or 2 months.. so then I was making other plans to go to Bristol, much to my chagrin... but THEN today it's saying that SOME trains are running and that we're to just show up at the station and wait around and hope to get on to the train. It's a crappy situation. Hopeful there will be more info tomorrow.

Well, I must get on with the day.
Hope you're all well!

Love
Nick

a bit more

Alright. We've eaten, we've walked, we're exhausted.
The flight was good. I actually managed to sleep through about half of it, which is probably why I'm still up. It's 8:45 here now and we're both getting ready to turn in for the night after doing a jaunt through Leicester, Trafalgar Square, and Covent Gardens. We had pizza in Soho... still can't manage to not tip! We pointed at all the shops we're going to visit tomorrow, and discussed which show to see tomorrow night. The 5 days here are getting planned pretty quickly.
I feel like everywhere I turn I have the word TOURIST written across my forehead. I even wore a tie tonight, in an effort to fit in, but SO many people my age are strutting around in suits. Everyone's so posh!
We're staying across the street from Hyde Park, just of Bayswater near Notting Hill. The tube ride isn't too bad, and we're figuring it all out. The hostel is clean and feels pretty secure, which puts my mind at ease, even though Dalia and I have to be in seperate rooms on Saturday and Sunday because of a booking muff-up.
Mostly I'm greatful to be done with the awful part of the trip which is trecking through the city with my big bag. So awkward. We got some lousy directions from a friendly Irish guy and ended up going three blocks out of our way. By then, we were both pretty cranky and I was about to wet my pants. But we made it. Praise the Lord.

It was a blast using my British Passport to blow through customs. I guess Dalia got quite the run down, including questions about her income (!) and how much she has in the bank. Well... guess that 's what you get for choosing to be brown skinned.

Crazy small world type thing: breezing through the undergrounds going from terminal 3 to terminal 4 where I was meeting Dalia, I pass by someone who looks familiar... so I do a double take, and who is it but Sian Williams, her mom, and little Augustus! We just HAPPENED to pass each other at this corner going completely different directions. Crazy! Just another little reminder that no matter where I go, I have good people in my life.

I am so freaking tired I might start drooling.
Good night! Or rather, good afternoon to all y'all in Canada!

Nick

We made it!

We're here, safe and sound at the hostel. Dalia's going to eat me so I have to go now.
More soon...

Later Skaters!

Well... the time has come. In just 2.5 short hours, I shall be in the sky, flying away from Edmonton to a terrifyingly exciting few monthes! I have no idea if it's kosher to take pictures in airports (I'm still a little floored that there's free internet... unless I'm paying and don't know it) but anyways, this is me waving from one of those snazzy work stations in the terminal. This is where I shall sit for the next few hours and hopefully finish certain plays that need writing...

So here's the question I put to you all... the top answers from which I shall make a poll out of...
What Will Happen While Nick Is Away?
sample answers: He will gain 100lbs by eating nothing but fish and chips
He will spend all his money at TopShop and have to tap dance on a street corner to get home.
He'll come back with a unrecognizably bad english accent.

I want to know what YOU think. I'm not sure if you all can post replies without a Blogspot membership... but you can try! Otherwise, email me ndgreen@gmail.com or facebook me some guesses!

Interactive blogs! Woooohoooo!

Anyways... I'm going to get some work done and take my mind off the million hour trip ahead of me.

I love you all and wish nothing but happiness and joy on your lives! Keep well and keep in touch!

Love
Nick
Foreign Coorespondant

Going away dinner

So, the "going away" festivities have come to an end, and soon I'll be on my way.
Saturday was lovely, so big thanks to everyone who showed or thought about showing or didn't show but thought about how they weren't there.
And tonight was great. Maureen made a beautiful dinner and we had a nice time watching some crazy YouTube and laughing. Check out Cheerleading Bloopers... the last couple seconds made us cry with laughter.

First blog

Hello friends, family, and other folks!

Welcome to the first posting of my travel blog! I'll be using this page to keep everyone updated on my trip- from landing in jolly old London, to Gay Paris, to house hunting in Brighton, to being a star in Cardiff!
There will be pictures, anecdotes, useless facts, complete narcissism, and more! So stay tuned!

Let's start with a fun photo of the current state of my suitcase! Terrifying!


Please message me, or email me directly at ndgreen@gmail.com to stay in touch. I know I'll be missing all of you, and even if I don't message you back right away (not that I have a reputation for that or anything), I would love to hear from all of you!

48 hours til I'll be waiting at the airport! I'm getting pee-shivers of excitement already!