London and the Last Days

5 hours from now, I will be checking out of my apartment. These past few days have truly been bitter-sweet. Before I get to checking out and beginning the end of my time in Freiburg, I have to recount the time I spent in London, England.

After being in Normandy, France, I took the Chunnel under the English Channel to London. Other than the expensiveness of London, I had a blast. I negotiated for hotels, saw the sights, and took the little time that I had to experience as much English culture as I could. What was perhaps most interesting, was being able to go to a pub in England for not just one, but two UEFA Champions League games (where the top club teams of Europe compete). The first, Arsenal against Manchester United (at Arsenal which is in London :) was a bit of a blowout and not too interesting. However, the second game was at Chelsea and I was able to be just outside the stadium for the beginning of the game. After the first whistle I went to a nearby pub (which was packed) to watch what was happening less than a kilometer away.
Chelsea ended up losing in extra time, which was bogus, if you ask me, but I was with Chelsea fans, so that may influence me ;) Another of the highlights from the trip was the hop on hop off tour of London's most famous sights. I was able to listen to a running commentary about the main historic places London, which was perfect since I didn't have much time (only 1 1/2 days) to see as much as I could. To finish, I saw King's Cross station which, if you've read Harry Potter) know that platform 9 and 3/4 is located there. In other words, this summer with the new movie, I will be able to say I was there! Incredible. The two pics I have here don't illustrate how nice the weather was when I was there, but the hop on hop off tour I did had mostly sunny weather, which is unlikely for London. Overall, an incredibly historical trip that I learned a lot from; and not just historically.
I hope to blog at least once more, but today as I write, many of my closest friends have checked out and headed their separate ways. We had a final BBQ at our program's building which was wonderful but also very sad, because we all realized that our time together was almost gone. We have experience sooooo much, and it will be nearly impossible to be able to explain this experience to anyone, capturing what it has meant to me personally. I can't believe that it is over, and that I will soon be coming back to the US. I have made friendships that I think will last for many years, not just in IES but with my roommates too, which have been an incredible blessing to me too.
Before closing, I want to mention the man pictured above with me and my friend Alex (on the right). Thomas Bauer has been a fun person to talk to, especially about FC Bayern, whom Alex, Thomas and I share a passion for. Together with help from some others, Thomas arranged an IES-wide soccer game where the teachers and staff put together a team against each of three dorms (we intermingled, but it was basically dorm against dorm against dorm against faculty). My team won one, tied one, and lost one (against the faculty :( but it was a blast.

I have to go, but I want to re-emphasize, how sad it is to have to be concluding my time here. This is the last blog I will write from my apartment room. The next will come from either a roommate's room, where I will stay until my flight home, or from Alicante, Spain, where I will be relaxing for a few days before returning to Freiburg and then the US.