Final Thoughts on London

I’ve been home from London for a week already, so I think it’s time to share my final thoughts on the past semester. ‘Cept, I don’t know where to start. This past semester was something else… I can’t thank everyone who helped make the semester in London the best it could possibly be; My mother and father, the family and contacts I met while in London, the Ball State and City of Westminster College course directors, and the friends I gained over the past twelve weeks. I look forward to the day we can get together back at school.

My flatmates at the final send off last Monday.

Our group of friends after soccer one evening in Paddington park, just down the block from our flat.

Living and being with these friends for the past twelve weeks has me really looking forward to living with Jordan, Ben, and Zeyne in a house next school year.

Other than that, things have been pretty tame since being home. Easter was great. I was able to start working at LT on Monday on the second shift (3:30 PM – 11:30 PM), so I’m staying busy between that and the gym earlier on in the day.

OH! The Lollapalooza lineup was released on Tuesday night, much to my delight and apparently many people’s dismay. My Facebook feed was a mixture of emotions as friends made ecstatic posts about the (bumpin’) lineup and others who seemed ready to be put on suicide watch. This is how I see it. Lollapalooza is a festival which showcases emerging and relevant artists that have made waves over the past twelve months or small-time groups that merit exposure. That’s what Lolla is though. It’s a festival that introduces to audiences to bands they may have never heard of before. Sure, you want to see some familiar artists on every lineup, but what happened to reading a lineup and saying, “Who is ____? They sound interesting.” We have the Internet at our disposal, good people. The ability to discover music is literally a click away. On Facebook you’ve friends post music all the time, and now with Spotify/Facebook integration, you can see what everyone’s listening to. We’ve got Twitter, where SO many artists attract a following nowadays. For those without Twitter, Facebook, or Spotify, we’ve got iTunes and Wikipedia, where we can see an artist’s entire discography, listen to it in seconds, and determine what we do and don’t like.

So when I read that people are upset with the lack of well-known artists at festivals like Lollapalooza, I’m disheartened. As I mentioned earlier, I feel Lollapalooza strives to bring RELEVANT artists to Chicago. Obviously, I’m not going to go through the lineup one by one and dissect exactly how they were selected to be at Lollapalooza…

I’ll make it quick. The headliners? Okay. Each headliner has earned that closing time slot. They each bring something new to the table.

While we all may not go see Black Sabbath, it’s the original lineup, and it’s Sabbath… When’s the last time they played a show? Let alone a festival?

Avicii? The dude has been EVERYWHERE over the past twelve months. It would have been a crime for him not to be there. If there was a festival which featured any variety of artists, you can safely bet Avicii was there, and played to a massive crowd.

Justice? A good call on Perry’s part. Let’s bring a huge name, relevant in both the electronic scene as well as the popular music scene.

Jack White? Jack White’s a badass. The man does whatever he wants and people always dig it. He recently put out some solo material, and had an album with Insane Clown Posse earlier this year.

The Black Keys? Another great play by Perry. A band that was everywhere this year. The band’s follow up to “Brothers”, “El Camino” was such a massive success. They manage to capture an audience through mainstream radio play as well as through fans who’re into the genre of “independent music”, whatever you choose to call it.

But then you’ve got such a rich mix of artists (per usual), from Bassnectar to the Tune-Yards (Pitchfork’s favorite of 2010), Wale to M83 (Pitchfork’s favorite of 2011), and Sigur Ros to Knife Party… There were a lot of people who were upset with the increase of electronic/dance artists on the lineup this year… RELEVANT MUSIC, good people, is what Lollapalooza is all about. There’s still such a diversity in the lineup in addition to the electronic/dance artists. You’ve only got a select few well-known hip-hop artists, Wale, J.Cole, Santigold, Frank Ocean (Perry couldn’t bring all of OFWGKTA. He didn’t want people to die), and Childish Gambino. Plenty of well-known rock/indie sounding groups such as The Temper Trap, Big Pink, Passion Pit, The Shins… The list goes on and on. There’s so much more than that, though, and it’s easier to just peruse the lineup to take in the healthy variety. While I am NO critic, in my opinion, if you’re not seeing anything that’s catching your eye, I feel it’s better to look at the lineup, and go into the festival with an open mind. Listen to some of the tunes from artists you’re not familiar with before the first weekend in August! I promise you, there is such a variety of great music on this lineup!

Friends, don’t be upset with this lineup! Perry just wants you to have a good time.

The Last Weekend in London

It’s really unbelievable that I’m leaving for home tomorrow morning. I’m all packed up, and want to get one last post written before I get home. The past weekend was a lot of fun. I’ll pick up where I left off in my last post.

Thursday night, a majority of the group stayed in the flats and just hung out. The nights we all remained in the flats always turned out to be a blast. We all got to know each other more, and these nights typically proved to be memorable.

On Friday, A.J., Chad, Andy, and I went to Borough Market, just off of the London Bridge underground stop. I had never been up until Friday, so I was excited to see the diverse variety of food being sold there. You could spend all day there simply taking in the food on display. We were lucky to have great weather on Friday, which made the afternoon even more enjoyable.

Borough Market

This fresh juice stand would mix freshly-squeezed fruits into combinations unheard of… Like, black chokeberry and pawpaw juice.

Wheels of cheese as big as a wheel on a bus.

I bought this sandwich from one of the vendors… It was so good. Peep how the greens peek out the sides of the sandwich, teasing you.

This chicken, bacon, humus, and lettuce sammich though…

Borough Market was a good time. On Friday night, the other three guys and I went to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, which is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) pub in London. Like a dungeon on the inside, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese as dimly lit with small, narrow stairwells and hallways. We had a drink or two and just talked. A more laid-back evening, but still cool.

At one of the bars.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

On Saturday, my flatmates minus Shelby and a few girls from Flat #2 went to this amusement park called Thorpe Park, which was just under two hours outside of London. Thorpe Park, man… Where the people stink of fast food and try to pass off fairground size rides as roller coasters. We made the best of it though. Of the, like, seven coasters, my favorite was this one themed around the “Saw” movie. Right next to the “Saw” ride, there was a “Saw” house, where you could walk through different rooms with actors in Saw-esque rooms and traps. While terrifying, we all thoroughly enjoyed it. “Saw” is a good film, and I liked the first two… But I don’t know what’s happened with the last fifteen films in the “Saw” franchise…

On Sunday, Andy, Chad, and I went to Platform 9 and 3/4 at King’s Cross. It’s a cool little tribute in some wall in the main entrance of the station. Don’t know why I was so surprised when I saw just how many tourists were there to take photos. We managed to get back to Covent Garden later in the afternoon to walk around and take a few more photos. On Sunday night, we went to Blackfriars pub, just next to the Blackfriars station. Two pubs in such a short span of days… It was a personal record.

Covent Garden

On Monday, the group went to St. Paul’s Cathedral. We had another beautiful day, although it was bittersweet, for this was our last guided tour with Phillipa, who has been leading us around London and England since the very first day.

A shot of the London Shard from the top of St. Paul’s.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

After St. Paul’s, Andy, Chad, A.J. and I walked along the Thames one last time before the group got together at Tiger Tiger later that night for the final send off party.