London General Tips by Carmanah

Favorite Thing: Surprisingly I don't have any photos of Covent Garden, despite how vivid my memories are. For me, Covent Garden represents the evening me and my friends were able to explore London on our own without any teacher supervision. I think this was my favourite memory in all of London, because it was our last night there and we wanted to make it memorable.

Fondest Memory: I remember strolling down the side streets on my way to Covent Garden and purchasing a beautiful shirt from Oasis. I went into Oasis originally because I thought it was funny there was a store named after the very-famous band... of course, not realizing it was a trendy boutique that was probably around long before the Gallaghers made headlines.

We then found the outdoor flea market and our eyes lit up. Immediately I went to the tacky t-shirt vendor where I bought a Sex Pistols t-shirt because I was quite thrilled to be in London... and what a fantastic place to buy a Sex Pistols t-shirt!

I then found myself at a Jamaican incense vendor where I, for reasons unknown to me now, bought sticks of incense titled "Peach", "Mango/Coconut", and "Marijuana". I was quite silly at the time, thinking I was very daring to buy incense that smelled like marijuana. Concerned that it might get confiscated at the airport, I asked the vendor if it really had marijuana in it. He said, "No... but it helps to enhance!" and he started to laugh. Considering that I looked like I was 12 years old at the time, and was possibly the most innocent 15 year old (and didn't smoke or do drugs) I was purely being mischevious by buying the marijuana-enchancing incense. It made for a good story, hence, I bought it!

Then, on the other side of the flea market I found a CD vendor who was selling bootlegs. Having just seen White Zombie live in concert a week before flying to London, I sought out a live White Zombie CD. Of course, in retrospect, what a stupid idea... White Zombie recorded live is possibly the worst idea ever, for everyone knows that White Zombie's all about stage presence - anything muttered into the microphone during a concert is absolute garbage.

But I was happy with my White Zombie CD, my Sex Pistols t-shirt, and my collection of smelly incense that would travel with me for the remainder of my trip.

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