“Don’t Miss” Location in London: Brighton

By Viviana Yepes

 It was a late Friday evening and after returning from a relaxing night out at our favorite local pub, I decided to look at the map and pick a random city to explore the following day. My finger landed on the city of Brighton, and boy, was I happy it did. I gathered a group of five friends (shout out to Cecilio, Ally, Amy, Jackie and Brendan!) bought us all some train tickets, and we were off the following Saturday morning at about 9AM taking the train from St Pancras Station. The trip only took about an hour and a half, so we passed the time by talking about what we wanted to do while looking at the beautiful English countryside. Arriving and stepping out of the train station we set our sights on the ocean shore and walked towards it, with no set plan as to what we would do today. I was absolutely determined to at least touch the waters of the English Channel (keep in mind it was still winter and the water was unquestionably freezing). Once at the beach the view was spectacular. We were all so amazed by the stony beach and endless horizon that we were caught off guard and completely soaked by a wave, a freezing but totally hilarious experience!

We decided to stay away from the shore at that point and made our way over to the Brighton Pier, all the while walking near the beach front containing shops and pubs. On our way, we came across a carousel and of course, I had to take a spin. As we walked onto the beautiful Brighton Pier, I had realized I had found my perfect place: the beach, amusement park rides, a world famous fish & chips pub, and loud music. COULD I ASK FOR MORE?! We spent the rest of the day riding rickety roller coasters, dizzy spinning rides, playing in a dark arcade in the middle of the pier (Ally actually won a toy from the claw games! Who does that?!), taking pictures with face-in-the-hole murals, and I ate the best fish & chips of my whole London semester for lunch.  

My friend Amy and I even got stuck at the very top of a loop de loop ride and as they brought us down, we got to see the sunset from the highest point on the Brighton Pier. We finished the day off buying souvenirs and talking to locals telling us to check out the bands playing at some local pubs. We were all exhausted as we got on the train back home and reminisced about all the laughs and fun we had that day. I definitely recommend Brighton to anyone at the London program looking for a fun-filled day and totally different experience from the big city life!