lahndahntahn

insert churchill or beatles quote here
Whoaman, London's been quite the ride.  And I thought I was burnt out after Amsterdam.  I have never expended so much energy over such a small amount of time.  From the time I touched down in London town, I kept meeting up with friends, old and new, and the fun never stopped.  I am so happy that I have had the opportunity to connect with friends from back home; it’s definitely helped ease the transition of traveling to foreign lands.

Some of the things that surprised me about London:

• the genial and honest air about the London natives
• the wealth!
• the amount of alcohol regularly consumed by people in London
• how easy it is to fall in love with British girls
• its size and assorted beauty

the long weekend
Danny Schufreider showed me around to a pub and club for the first night of surprises.  the night started out that I was nearly tackled by Brendan O’Neil when I walked in the club, and the last surprise was that I ended up in a bed.  I spent Thursday playing a sport for the first time since I’ve been here and although I played like crud, it was great to get out and shoot some hoops.  For dinner, we met up with Nick Kool and the Gang and after some very long-awaited greetings we frequented an American diner look-alike that makes me laugh when I think about it.  After, we went to O’Neills and I’m pretty sure that I had the time of my life.  A lot of my closest friends and I went out and sang, shot plenty of shit, and danced like we’ve never danced before.  Think jockeys.  Also, I had my first cigarette break, where I met a bunch of British guys and got a crash course in Black Humour 101.  It’s getting harder and harder to have ‘the best night of my trip’, but I think this was it.  It’s nights like these that make me glad to be here and really miss a lot about home at the same time.  Also, dancing with friends to (I Would Walk) 500 Miles can make for a very happy place.

The next morning, Nick led a tour of sightseeing and catching up that started with Big Ben and ended with Admiral Nelson.  In between, Parliament was AMAZING! and Westminster Abbey was just as cool.  I’ve seen some Duomo’s and cathedrals in my day but the Abbey surpassed any religious building I’ve seen thus far.  We were supposed to meet back up at Nick and Mal’s living quarters, but they left without me and Matt, so it was up to us to find our way to a place called Walkabout without cell phones.  Unfortunately for us, there are two Walkabouts in London and we chose the wrong one.  We got there, Matt and I got separated, and it turned out to be a loooong night getting back to Brendan’s.

I woke up the next morning (afternoon) and we went straight to The Crabtree, a pub just down the lane from Fulham Stadium.  My friends all had tickets to the game and I didn’t, but I figured I’d be able to scalp some close to gametime.  I was right – I ended up paying around 40 USD for front row seats to a quarterfinal match between two London rivals. The game ended in a tie, and after hanging at the pub for a little while afterwards, we grabbed some food and cider drink and went back to Brendo’s for some much needed catching up.  We told ghost stories, made some shitty food, and had a pretty great end to a pretty great day.  I wrapped up the weekend by spending the next day seeing more things and meeting up with my U of I friends for one last night.  If you ever read this, thanks Moni, Mal, Emily, Nick, Kyle, Max, Matt, Jake, and Chad for sharing an unbelievable weekend with me.

friends
London wasn’t the most different, eye-opening place that I’ve been to so far during my stay in Europe.  Having said this, my five nights in London were the wildest, funnest that I’ve ever had.  It was me and Matt pretty much all weekend, but we ran into friends from each stage of my life.  I could have written a lot about the ironies and joys that occurred during this trip, but I think it’s better for you readers if I just say that I appreciate everything that my friends have done and will do in the future.  Much love to all my homies out there.