VIVA LA VIDA!

My apologies for taking so long to post an update, but there has been a whole lot going on! This past weekend, we went to London to go see Coldplay and Jay-Z at Wembley Stadium.

It was the last show on Coldplay's tour and probably the last chance I'll have to see them for about 5 years. It was a sold out show of 90,000 people and, with my luck as usual, we ended up in the very front row!!!! We starting lining up at 8AM and waited all day until Coldplay came on at 9PM. Doors opened at 4PM. Here are some of the awesome pictures I got from the show:

And here is a picture of the literally MILLIONS of paper butterflies:

And a video:

The show was absolutely amazing- just like they always are. No videos or pictures can do it justice and that's a real shame for you! The weather in line all day was wonderful and sunny, but RIGHT before Coldplay went on, it started POURING rain like you wouldn't believe. We sang and danced right on through it, but I definitely took the "cold" from Coldplay because of it. I have the cough to prove it!

It rained at the show for about the first 4 or so songs, but Chris Martin came out into the rain and sang anyway. By the time he went back under the covering of the stage, he was sopping wet too.

We went back to our hostel after the show. I thought you all would like to see a picture of what the window looked out to see!

Interestingly enough, there is a Coldplay song called "Cemeteries of London!" How fitting... ;-)

On Sunday, we took a tour bus company tour to Stonehenge and Bath, England.

Stonehenge was a little bit disappointing, honestly. The stones weren't nearly as big as you would expect and you couldn't get right up to them. I suppose it was worth having our pictures made by it, anyway.

Here's a picture of me at the Roman Baths:

And, lastly, in true Trey Pippin luck... this is what we got to stare at all day when we were waiting in line for Coldplay:

What joy... ;-)

STONEHENGE UNCOVERED.

"Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici..."

I must admit that the whole time that I was in London, I couldn't help but think of my favorite movie:

V for Vendetta.

I thought I'd leave you with a little piece of the action from that film so you'd understand... ;-)

London.

This weekend, I found myself in London. Home of Big Ben, Jack the Ripper, Her Majesty the Queen, and the London Bridge (among MANY other things). It is a town of so much history and my trip was only a quick glimpse into those pieces of time.

We rolled out from Harlaxton bright and early on Friday morning. The bus ride to London is absolutely despicable and couldn't be more miserable! Coach busses ride rough and they have such tiny leg room, they aren't much fun.

We arrived in London after we had a pit stop at a place with a Burger King- FINALLY AMERICAN FAST FOOD!!! The excitement for the "home cookin'" was spoiled when the people working the counter were so rude... if they wanted to dish it out to me, I'd dish a little attitude right back at them! My friend Eric summed the whole incident into a prophetic quote: "In America, the Burger King serves YOU but in England, YOU have to serve the Burger King..." (Not my cup of tea!)

We stayed at the Royal National Hotel in London. Friday night, Eric Stamper and I went to see the Broadway show called "Wicked." It is the story of what happened BEFORE the Wizard of Oz and it was an absolutely amazing show...

The next day (Saturday) we decided to go on our sightseeing tour by foot/subway. We went to Buckingham Palace which is the home of the Queen. Here are a few pictures from there:

After Buckingham Palace, we headed on down towards Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye. I snapped my favorite picture of the trip so far on our way:

(Enough immaturity for now... here are the rest of the pictures!)

Next, we headed over to the Tower of London and the London Bridge (The Tower Bridge). This picture below looks totally photoshopped but I promise it isn't!

Then I got my head cut off:

Today, we went to the "Hampton Court Palace" of Henry XIII and William and Mary. It was incredibly impressive and they also had an impersonator of the King there!

Oh yeah... and we also saw this: hahahaha

GREETINGS FROM LONDON!

The Surreal Life...

This whole place is so surreal... I can't believe that I'm really here.

I walk out of my first class this morning (The American Presidency and Congress) to walk down a huge wooden staircase with a view of the English countryside... amazing. Be it secret passage ways or the grandeur of the place itself, I'm awestruck.

I went to bed really really early last night after I couldn't make myself wake up from my "nap."

So, a good night's sleep ensued... from 6 PM-8AM. ;-)

Not sure what today will hold. I'm not sure we have anything big planned.

I'm about to head to Modern British Politics... should be fun! :-)

A little video

The best orientations are on your own...

Wow... I feel like I haven't had ANY sleep over the past 3 days.

It's amazing here. It's everything I hoped it would be and so much more. The place is beautiful, the people are awesome, and the friends are great.

I got settled into my room almost as soon as I got here. I was worried that I might get bad roommates or a bad room... I was wrong on both. I am in a room with 3 other guys and the room is huge. All three guys are great. Roommates that you don't know are always a gamble, but sometimes pay off big time. This is one of those occasions, I do believe... Here's a picture of the room:

We needed a few supplies that we didn't bring from home so we went into town to get some stuff. We were picking up shampoos, pillows, and body wash... the usual "don't let yourself be dirty and stink" stuff. My roommate Eric Stamper had a wild night on Friday night and decided to go "Gravel Diving." Here's a picture of him at the market.

While we were in town, we kept seeing these yellow signs. Here's a picture of me with one. They say that here in England, you are always being watched...

While we were in town, we also stopped to eat at a Chinese resturaunt that we had been told was called, "Mr. Wang and Mr. Pang." In actuality, it was called "Mr. Man and Mr. Pang..." I wonder where the two got mixed up? HAHAHA. The dinner was very upscale Chinese and even had a lazy susan that you used to spin all the food around so that everyone could share dishes.

I also got hit on by a group of what I would imagine to be middle school girls... they had braces. I hope that's not the best I can do while I'm here. hahaha!

We had a "high table dinner" last night as a way to kick off the semester. The faculty at the college was introduced and we had a very nice dinner. There was a reception hosted by the President right before dinner.

A piper piped us down to the dinner from the Great Hall:

We ended up going out last night to a pub called "The Blue Pig." It's said to be the oldest pub in Grantham and the bartender told us that it's probably the oldest building that we'd ever been in. It's crazy to see how old things are here...

I decided that I very much like something called "Strongbow Cider." It tastes just like apple cider (maybe because that's what it is) and you can't taste the alcohol in it... bad. hahaha. The English girl in the picture below is the one who first let me try it. Her name is Jackie (I think...). She wanted to get a picture with me and asked that we looked like we were drinking out of the same glass... IT WAS NOT AS BAD AS THIS PICTURE MAKES IT SEEM!!! hahahaha.

We also asked to take a picture of someone's cigarettes because of the huge label on the front of them. ALL of the cigarettes here in England are REQUIRED to have this on there...

Today, we just explored the Manor a little bit more and took some pictures.

I Made It!

MY NEW HOME!

Well, I made it to England today after a long day/night of travels last night. I departed from Evansville Regional Airport yesterday morning at the "final call" for me to board the plane. I didn't really get much of a chance to say "see you soon" to my Dad and sister, but I suppose that was probably easier than if we'd had drawn it out.

The flight from Evansville to Cincinnati was only about 25 minutes which flew by, with the excitement and adrenaline. When I was on the plane, I stuck my "Entourage" Season 2 DVD set in the pouch in front of my seat. As we were exploring the Cinci airport, I realized that I had left it right there in that pouch without giving it a second thought. I was worried about not being able to get it back...

THEN... while we were sitting down having lunch at Outback Steakhouse, we saw our flight attendent walking towards us in the resturaunt with the DVD's in hand! This was nearly an hour and a half AFTER WE LANDED and he said he'd already been to the hotel, changed clothes, and came all the way back to deliver my DVD's... more than he needed to do. I very much appreciated his help.

Fast forward a little while to our flight "across the pond." When we sat down, we had this places to plug our headphones into so that we could watch/listen to music/movies. I was PLEASANTLY surprised to find Coldplay's VIVA LA VIDA album right there as an option for listening- I COULD SAVE MY iPHONE BATTERY!!

The flight was easy and I got some sleep... (3.5 hours- not as much as I wanted!) When we landed, we went through "Border Security" and I tried to take a picture even though it was clearly posted- NO PICTURES. As soon as I took it, a man came out of a booth and had to watch me delete it from my camera. He came out quick... I mean IMMEDIATELY.

After we got into the UK, I went to the ATM and withdrew my first bit of cash. (British Pounds)

Here's a picture of all of us once we arrived at the airport with our HEAVY luggage!

This is enough for now... I'll do my best to post more about actually GETTING here at Harlaxton.

I just wanted to share the fact that the most amazing coincidence of the day... the first song I heard on the radio

in England was "Don't Panic" by Coldplay.... How appropriate!

My "packing" so far... ;-)

I'm proud that I've made it this far!! HAHAHAHA!