Tell me how do I feel

So here I am, back from London. I received my (really good) exam results yesterday, but I haven't got plenty of time to stand still and enjoy the glory, because today is the start of the new semester. Before I leave for my first course of the term, I'd like to share some of my latest UK trip with you guys.

I arrived in London on the last Saturday of January, quite tired because I went out in Ghent the night before and only got about half an hour of sleep, quite nervous because I was going couch surfing for the first time in my life. But first of all, I met up with Jim, who by coincidence was in London that weekend to visit his parents. We went for a drink and a chat, and then he was kind enough to escort me all the way to Alan's (my host) place and carry my suitcase. I said goodbye to Jim and Alan (still dirty from playing football :)) welcomed me into his house. He turned out to be a very charming 24-year old English guy, sharing a place with two other lads (Alex and Nikos). He was absolutely lovely and I felt at home in no time.

The boys had some friends over, and Nikos prepared supper for all of us. Afterwards, all of them took of to see Real Estate. I didn't have a ticket, but we met up after the gig to go out together. There aren't many things I like better than British indie nights, so you can imagine I had a great time (even though the dj didn't play my request, Blue Monday by New Order).

Despite having practically no sleep (again), Alan and I woke up early (Alex decided to have no sleep at all instead) to watch the Australian Open finals. As a UK citizen, he of course had to support Andy Murray, but I was relieved to hear he also admires Roger Federer, who won the match (or what had you really thought? :p).

In the afternoon I hopped on the tube and went shopping on Brick Lane. I absolutely love Brick Lane on Sundays, with its cosy markets and the lively atmosphere. Plus, they have the most amazing vintage shops. I found myself a lovely flowered dress and could go back to the house feeling satisfied. Alan cooked me a typical English meal and we spent the rest of the evening watching YouTube videos of drunk ministers (hello, Michel Daerden). :) I went to sleep around midnight as I had to get up early the day after to catch my coach to Liverpool in Victoria.

...to be continued...

A gorgeous building I had to pass each time I walked from Alan's place to the tube station.

Brick Lane.

We are not the same

Today is the day of my last exam and I can't wait for it (the exam, not the day) to be over. I'm tired of rehearsing the same things over and over again. After that, I'm having a week off from uni and I've already filled it in with nice plans. Tonight I'm going to Ghent, have some drinks with Elise and Gui at Celtica, then head off to Hindu Nights at the Backdoor. The morning after I return home, get an hour or two of sleep, shower, watch the Australian Open women finals, then pack my bags and leave for...London (again, I know, can't help it that I love it)! I'll be there from Jan 30 - Feb 6, including 2 days of Liverpool, where I've never been before (quite a shame being such a huge Beatles fan!). I've already got heaps of plans for both my London and Liverpool stay, and I'm quite excited as well because my stay in London will be my very first couch surfing experience.

HOWEVER now I need to concentrate on that bloody exam! It really does my head in, especially because I feel too guilty to do interesting things during the time that I could use to study. Nonetheless, I had a very good Wednesday night. I interviewed Good Shoes to find out they were a bunch of really nice blokes. I watched their gig (very energetic, uncomplicated, just 40 minutes of really catchy music - that's how I like it!) and hung out with the band afterwards. They set up their ping pong table right in front of stage, which was quite funny. :) Here are some pictures..

And it really, really, really could happen

A couple of days ago I went to see 'No distance left to run', the documentary on Blur's reunion. In the context of the Battle of Britpop I would've picked the side of Oasis, but my love for Oasis never stopped me from liking Blur as well.

The documentary was really well made, a nice mixture of old and new video material and interesting, surprisingly honest interviews with all band members. Their story is quite sad, it somehow reminded me of what happened to The Libertines, only Blur has managed to come up with a happy end.

Anyway, watching the film got me in a Blur-mood, so I haven't been listening to much else since then. And because I don't have much more to tell you as I'm still in the middle of my exames, I decided to share my favourite Blur songs with you guys.

First up is 'Coffee & TV' with my favourite Blur member, Graham Coxon on vocals. It's so charming and perfect in a very lo-fi way. The video below shows the band at a Rough Trade instore gig from last year, but don't forget the check out the cute official video!


Then there's 'The Universal' with its super dramatic yet fantastic chorus. It was also used in the trailer to the movie, an excellent choice if you ask me.

Fool's Gold

Not much going on during the exam period, so I'm glad I finally have a good story to tell!

Two nights ago I went to see Ian Brown in Brussels and saying I had an amazing night, might be a major understatement. Ian played 'Fool's Gold' and my friend Elise and I decided to go on stage. Before us, some guys who tried to do the same thing, were thrown off immediately. When Elise got up first, they tried to push her back as well, but Ian said we could stay. So we ended up dancing the entire song next to and with Ian. :) After the show he invited us to his backstage, where we had a beer, a chat and a short photo session with Ian and his entourage. Still can't believe it!! Ian is a long-time hero of mine so you can imagine my joy! To end the night on a high note, I sang 'Strawberry Fields Forever' with a busker outside of the AB.

Someone filmed us! (I think we're on starting from 1:15 aprox.)

The universe is expanding

She didn't win the finals against Kim Clijsters in Brisbane, but even Kim fans will have to admit either one could've won. My point is: Justine Henin has made the best come-back ever, showed everyone she still has that magnificent fighting spirit and technique, and is ready to become the world's number 1 in tennis again soon! Allez Juju!

A cinq heures cinquante-cinq

I'm sure 2010 will be at least as fantastic, but I won't forget the magnificent 2009 anytime soon. By example, Peter's birthday party at the Make Up Club mid-december. It was not your typical birthday party, in two ways. 1 - the incomes were all being donated to Music For Life and Amnesty International, 2 - everybody had to dress up. I went as a devil (vampire, according to some - I blame my very pale skin) myself and saw loads of great costumes worn by the other guests.

Michaël was the hero of the night in that chicken suit, I seriously couldn't stop myself from laughing each time I saw him! :)

(pics partly by me, partly by the official photographer, not too hard to find out who did what exactly)

This is the end, beautiful friend

Before we dance the night away and enter 2010, let's finish the year with some music lists...

Album top 10:
1.Editors – In This Light And On This Evening
2.Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
3.Bell X1 – Blue Lights On The Runway
4.Kasabian - The West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
5.The Temper Trap – The Temper Trap
6.Peter Doherty – Grace/Wastelands
7.The Horrors – Primary Colours
8.Jamie T – Kings & Queens
9.Röyksopp – Junior
10.The Rifles – Great Escape

Closely followed by: frYars, Ian Brown, Patrick Wolf, The Leisure Society
Live-album of the year: Paul McCartney – Good Evening, New York City!
Box of the year: The Beatles - Remasters Stereo Box
Best of of the year: Snow Patrol - Up To Now

Concert top 10:
1.Paul McCartney, Köln Arena
2.Editors, Vorst Nationaal
3.Oasis, Werchter
4.Manic Street Preachers, Lokerse Feesten
5.Faith No More, Pukkelpop
6.Peter Doherty, Polsslag
7.Pet Shop Boys, Lotto Arena
8.The Chapman Family, Pukkelpop
9.Snow Patrol, Pukkelpop
10.The Temper Trap, Pukkelpop

Closely followed by: Glasvegas (Pukkelpop), Luka Bloom & band (AB), Jarvis (AB)

Best songs:
Editors – Bricks And Mortar
Bell X1 – How Your Heart Is Wired
The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
Marina & The Diamonds – Obsessions
The Rifles – Winter Calls

To watch in 2010:
The Chapman Family
Marina & The Diamonds
Owl City

Most played (18)

1. Marina & The Diamonds - Obsessions


2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (still prefer the original to the A-trak remix, even though I'm probably the only one in this world to think so, and even though that remix is quite great as well)


3. Owl City - Fireflies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr9EKJatJvA
(click to see the video, it didn't allow embedding and I didn't want to post some amateur-made vid as the original one is so lovely)

4. Little Red - It's Alright


5. Bell X1 - The Boys Of Summer (Don Henley cover)

Merry X-mas darlins!

Not in the mood to be original, and let's face it: this is a classic. Happy Christmas sweeties! x

You don't know how lucky you are, boy

Last week I went to Cologne, Germany with Tessa, Shera and Pieter to see Paul McCartney perform. Tessa had seen him once before (two weeks earlier in the Netherlands) but it was the first time for me, Shera and Pieter. The gig was mindblowing, possibly the best I've ever been to. Almost 3 hours long and packed with fantastic songs by The Beatles, The Wings and Paul solo. Paul is still a great performer, you could never tell his age by his stage appearance. Our stay in Cologne was very nice too. We didn't get too touristy (I had been in Cologne before anyways) but spent most of our time walking around the huge christmas markets, eating and sitting at Starbucks. Some pictures of my friends (no misplaced self-portraits for once :p), the Paul gig and lovely Cologne:

We've got obsessions

I recently went to a house party by my friend Leehana and her flat mates. I didn't know too many of the invited people, but being the 'official' photographer (as in: Leehana lended me her lovely camera to take as many pictures as possible of as many people as possible) I got to meet heaps of them, mostly international students and mostly very nice people. Might've been the best house party I've ever been to.

Cheers

...for all the birthday wishes I got so far and am yet to receive by facebook/twitter/e-mail/text message/phone/postcard/in person/... They are very much appreciated!! xxx

'Cause everything is never as it seems

I got back from Germany last night (from the amazing Macca gig and a small trip to Cologne - more about that later) where were we had no snow at all, and was rather surprised to find Belgium covered in a white blanket. Today it's still there, traffic is a mess (and I have to go to Ghent tonight, help!), my feet are hurting like hell after walking a few meters on the snowy ground, but I did manage to take some pretty nice pictures.

'Cause they'd fill up the air and leave teardrops everywhere

I know, I know, I've been a rubbish poster (again) the last week, but I promise things will get better (again) after this week, when things calm down a bit. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of Brussels' christmas market, which is a success as usual!

(hurray for Mongolian vodka!)

Most played (17)

1. Julian Plenti - Only if you run


2. The Boxer Rebellion - Spitting Fire


3. Stereophonics - Innocent


4. Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension


5. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (usually not much of a fan, but I must admit this is a really interesting single)

Don't answer me, don't break the silence, don't let me win

R.I.P. Eric Woolfson

London part 6

And so we've arrived on my last day in London. I spent the morning on my own (Mathi and Lenny took the coach back to Belgium very early) and made a little trip to Covent Garden (I've passed your greetings, Bart!) as I was dying to see how they would have decorated it for Christmas (I am a sucker for Christmas decorations). There's a lot of picture material so you can judge yourself.

After having a great tagliatelli carbonara, I met up with Rob. We took the tube to South Kensington where he could finally show me the Natural History museum he had been telling me about for a long time. He seemed to be quite into the dinosaurs exhibits and considering my own enthusiasm for the dinosaur museum in Brussels, he said I should definitely see it. The museum was absolutely worth the visit, even if it was just for the amazing building. The architecture was fenomenal, on the inside and outside. But of course I enjoyed the dinosaurs just as much. :) Mine and Rob's favourite was the huge whale, though! We had a drink at the museum, then made a walk through Hyde Park. A part of Hyde Park was now renamed to 'Winter Wonderland', an extremely tacky but - that's the Christmas freak in me again! - also very cosy christmas market/ fair. Unfortunately there wasn't too much time left before I had to leave, so we took the tube to Liverpool Street and had one more drink and a very nice chat in the Ten Bells (Jack The Ripper pub :)). Then I headed back to Brick Lane to pick up my luggage, met up with Eloise at Liverpool Station to hand her the keys and say goodbye, then got to St. Pancras for my Eurostar. The end - but hopefully not for long!

The shop on the left ('Duke of Uke') was the cosiest ukelele shop you can possibly imagine. One night a week, they even give ukelele classes. :)

Covent Garden.

Natural History museum/the whale!

Rob and the wonderful architecture of the museum.

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.

Goodbye Brick Lane.

London parts 4 and 5

My fourth day in London was a rather quiet one. I had stayed over at Rebecca's (she lives in Hackney and honestly, I've never seen a flat as huge and gorgeous as hers) and returned to Brick Lane in the morning. That's where we (Eloise, Lenny, Mathi and I) spent most of the day, strolling through the countless vintage shops and markets. I bought a pair of lace gloves and some second hand books. Late afternoon, we went to the Old Blue Last again for a drink. Later on, we met up with Rebecca and had dinner in a Mexican restaurant. We made sure to get back home in time for the X Factor show, especially for Rebecca who is quite into Jedward, the exentric twins. :) I can't believe how quickly I became hooked myself. My favourite contestant, however, is this young lad called Joe McElderry. What a voice! We were planning on going out after X Factor, but it was raining so hard that we didn't feel like doing so anymore. Rebecca went off because she was going to a birthday party, the rest of us stayed in. We watched a charity music event and a documentary on Britpop, drank the cava I had brought from Belgium and had a lovely night after all.

The day after, I met up with Jonathan (my host on my previous London trip) at Tate Modern. He's got a membership card so he took me to the paid exhibitions for free. :) I especially enjoyed the Pop Life exhibit on Andy Warhol and other pop art icons. But it was even better to see Jonathan again after such a long time. We had a cup of tea and a piece of pie in the member's cafetaria, then took the tube to Putney, where he lives nowadays. I couldn't stay very long, but it was good to catch up. Back on Brick Lane, I met with Eloise, Lenny, Mathi and Rebecca. We went to a cinema in Whitechapel to watch New Moon, which turned out to be a very crappy movie.

London part 3

On the third day I woke up...oh no, wait, I didn't, thanks to Dean you can reduce that to just stepping out of bed and still be sort of awake. The worst part was he hadn't even noticed Eloise screaming at him and me kicking him all night long. He was very embarrased though, poor guy. :) Eloise went off to work, me and Dean headed to McDonald's for breakfast.

After some good laughs and Dean showing me all the pictures on his phone, we seperated ways and I took the tube all the way to the Wimbledon museum. Cost me 10 quid, but I didn't mind as it was quite a good museum if you like tennis. You get to see a whole lot of old (old, wooden rackets, tennis outfits for women that look like ballroom dresses...) and more recent (Wimbledon cup, Roger Federer's amazing military style outfit...) tennis attributes and the fantastic Centre Court (with the new rain roof). The shop is pretty good too!

On my way back I made a stop at Rough Trade East, which turned out to be HEAVEN. I bought myself a whole lot of stuff, ran into my mate Murray by coincidence, then headed back to Brick Lane. Lenny, Mathi, Eloise and I met up with Eloise's friend Rebecca. After watching some tv, we had a drink at the Old Blue Last before going to this place called Catch. At Catch, we had a great time dancing to eighties tunes you'd rather not know. We also ran into Grant from The Rifles, again by coincidence.

Breakfast with Dean

Wimbledon

Centre Court


Pretending to be Roger Federer

Roger's outfit

Rough Trade East

Party at Catch

Grant and Eloise

Rebecca's impeccable dance moves

London part 2

On my second day in London, Eloise had to work and Lenny was in the studio to master the upcoming second Freaky Age record. I spent the morning in the Tate Modern, where I visited the free exhibitions (I would still get to see the paid ones later on my trip). I was mostly impressed by Miroslaw Balka's installation. When I first saw it - a huge and rather ugly turbine - I felt quite insulted that this guy was thinking I could possibly see this as art, but then I went inside and experienced the actual power of the work. It's hard to explain to someone who wasn't in there himself - it feels like you're being sucked up in the darkness of the turbine. You're kind of scared even though you knów nothing bad will happen, and even though you're scared you can't stop yourself from walking further. Fascinating is the least you can call it.

In the afternoon I took the tube to Oxford Street for some decent shopping, the huge HMV record stores and Topshop being my favourite places to spend a few fun hours! :) I bought some christmas pressies and found myself some good dvd's, cd's, a cute dress and my new favourite shoes.

Back home, I watched some Top Gear until Eloise came back from work. She was planning on staying in that evening as she had to work the day after and was feeling a little ill as well. I was invited by Dean to join him that night. He had put me on the guestlist for The Enemy who were playing the Forum in Kentish Town. First we met up in a bar near the tube station, where I got to meet Deans brother and another friend of his. We had some drinks and chose some good tunes for the jukebox before heading to the Forum. Over there we met Nikki, Nadya and even more of Deans friends (he has over 2000 facebook friends, no need to say he knows about everyone in London).

The Enemy did quite well - I like them but I'm not a superfan, though I did enjoy this gig quite a lot. After the gig we went to the afterparty in The Enemy's dressing room (Dean's a friend of the band), I got to meet the band and had a good time chatting with Nikki and her mates. I was planning on taking the night bus home - didn't want to stay out too late as I had to wake poor Eloise to get in the house. Dean didn't have the money to get home (all the way to Kent) so he joined me on my way to Brick Lane where Eloise told him he could stay over if he wanted. Not the best of ideas: Eloise and I didn't get a second of sleep that night because of Deans eh, impressive snorring. :p

Tate Modern

the turbine

Oxford Street

Top Gear

The Enemy @ The Forum