Tell me how do I feel (London 1-2)

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.

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

A touch of genius

For those who didn't get to see the US Open semi-finale between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (and also for those who did, because it's still great), Roger's amazing between the legs shot:



It's not the first time he pulls a trick like that. This was a couple of months ago against Andy Roddick:



(haha, look at Roger smiling at the end of the video)

He's a dedicated follower of fashion

By the way, have you seen Roger's new Wimbledon outfit? Most stylish tennis player ever, without a doubt!

Roland Garros week 2

I could write a complete report on the highlights of the second week at Roland Garros, but I won't. I know there are some people I should do more justice (Del Potro, Söderling, Gonzalez...) but I can't deny there's only one thing I really want to say right now: ROGER FEDERER HAS WON ROLAND GARROS! This is such a beautiful moment in sports history. Roger now won his first Roland Garros, his "career slam" (which means he's already won each grand slam at least once) and he equalled Pete Sampras's record of 14 (!!!) grand slams!

He managed to do this by beating Robin Söderling (the "Nadal-slayer" but also the unexpected killer of Davydenko and Gonzalez) in straight sets. Söderling fought bravely, but Federer played his best matched of the tournament and let's be honest, nobody knows how to handle Roger when he uses his best tennis. We all know what Roger is capable of, but the big question was if he would be able to cope with the stress now there was so much at stake. That didn't seem a problem at all, though, and so the Swiss managed to finally get what he deserves more than anyone. He was crying from happiness when he scored the deciding point, and I was crying along as I was so happy for him. I can't wait to see what happens now. I think this victory will take away a lot of stress for Roger, which should be a really good thing for his play.

Well done, Rog!

Roland Garros week 1

When Grand Slam tennis is on, I'm always glued in front of the television screen, exams or no exams. No exception to that rule was last week, the first week of Roland Garros 2009. It was a very interesting tennis week, with a significant amount of top class matches and some very unexpected losses. The highlights:

- Last year's champion and also favourite for this year's title, Rafael Nadal, rushed through the first three rounds (beating Daniel and crushing Gabashvili and ex-number one Hewitt), only to surprisingly lose in the fourth round against Swedish subtop player Söderling.

- Novak Djokovic was supposed to be one of the most important outsiders to challenge Nadal, but he didn't even survive the third round, when German clay specialist Kohlschreiber crossed his path.

- Someone who did better than expected, is Nikolai Davydenko. The Russian is of course an excellent player, but nobody really thought he already had enough match rythm to really challenge the big guys in this Slam. Wrong. Davydenko well impressed against young talents Wawrinka and Verdasco.

- However, like usual, my eyes are mainly focused on Roger Federer, who is eager to finally win Roland Garros and even Sampras's Grand Slam record. Federer had some tough matches, especially against gravel specialist Acasuso as well as this afternoon at the start of week 2, battling a strong Tommy Haas (who - we may not forget - is a former number two, and whose rather moderate ranking is only due to lots of unjuries). But fortunately there's enough to keep the hopes up. Roger already showed us some new techniques, is mentally ready for big challenges (against Haas, he returned from 0-2 to 3-2 in sets!) and still has that great touch we love so much (which he especially demonstrated against Mathieu). Come on Roger!

- The road seems to be open for Roger Federer to win his first Roland Garros now Djokovc and Rafa are out, but danger is lurking only right around the corner. Murray, Roddick, Tsonga, Monfils, Del Porto and Davydenko are only a few names to look out for.

- Women's tennis is pretty boring nowadays, lacking real champions. However, my vote for this Roland Garros goes out to Safina, who is playing excellent so far (only giving away 5 games in 4 matches!) and who kind of deserves it as well.

- When it comes down to new female talents on the horizon, I'd like to point out Larcher de Brito, a 16-year-old girl from Portugal who made it until the third round, where she lost from Rezai. It's a girl with a temper (!!) but I kind of like that commitment, and it's clear her techniques are great.

AO finals 2009

I've always been a very sensitive person when it comes down to any way of competition, not only when it involves myself, but also the athletes I look up to. There's not athlete I have more admiration for than Roger Federer, which resulted in me crying my heart out ever since the men's finals of the Australian Open were played and won by Rafael Nadal (7-5 3-6 7-6 3-6 6-2).

The first four sets were extremely exiting. Federer and Nadal are so much better than anybody else in the ATP tennis tournament, and it showed. Federer didn't manage to make something out of a couple of great chances he managed to create, and that's what killed him in the end. Did his nerves fail on him because of his previous losses in Grand Slam finals against Nadal? Or was it something else that made him struggle with his first serve? Anyhow, Federer also showed us some amazing tennis, but those little moments of hesitating gave Nadal the opportunity to push through and finish it off in the last set.

Nadal was great, so you won't ever hear me say he didn't deserve it. I just felt so so bad for Roger. I think Rafael and Roger are equally good at this point of their carreers, but Roger is under too much pressure and he has some difficulties handling it. It wasn't very surprising that he was very disappointed. He had a hard time after the match was finished and confessed "God it's killing me" before the tears started rolling. Bless Nadal for saying “I really know how you feel right now. Remember that you are a great champion and you are one of the best in history and you will beat Pete Sampras’ 14 titles for sure.” I hope he's right. I know Roger has the talent and the will to do so, but I hope he can still find the strength to keep on fighting for it.

It's unbelievable how emotional watching tennis can be. At first I was a bit angry with Roger because of his disappointing last set, but now I'm sure he gave all he could bring up mentally and physically. I'll keep on supporting for him and have faith in him winning his 14th Slam after all. Go Roger!

Heaven knows, it's got to be this time

All right, Roger did it again! He beat Roddick in three sets and made it to his 18th (!!!) Grand Slam final! Tomorrow will be decided wether his opponent for the final struggle will be Nadal or Verdasco.

I'm off to the karaoke bar tonight. My best friend Elke had her final exam today so there's plenty to celebrate!

Tomorrow will be equally fantastic. I'm going to see Oasis play in Lille and afterwards we're all heading to the afterparty where Paul (Liam and Noel's brother) and Peter (from Make Up Club in Ghent) will be dj'ing.



And after that, it's time to prepare for Rome! To give you a taster, I'll show you some pictures of the first time I ever was in Rome (it was the school trip in my last year of high school, almost three years ago).
Sorry about the proportions of the photos. My antivirus is fucking up my computer and now I can't upload pictures anymore through Blogger, so I have to use Photobucket which apparantly leads to this. I'm really sorry.

ice cream!


pizza restaurants!


Forum Romanum


Vittorio Emanuelle monument


cocktail bar evenings


Guy, my favourite teacher ever (and still a friend nowadays)


Elke and I back in the days


beautiful ceiling in the Vatican musea


the balloon


my best mate Sam and I were playing cards right in front of the Vatican (playing cards was the obsession of our class at the time, I don't think there's been a place in Rome where we haven't played)


Castle Sant'Angelo - Elke, Guy and I


castle Sant'Angelo




Pompei


Vesuvius

Cheering for Roger

Today I got faced by another annual distraction during the exams: the Australian Open. Regular readers have probably already noticed my uncoditional love for Roger Federer so it was not really surprising that a couple of hours ago, I was not to be found studying, but in front of the television screen, jumping on the couch and loudly cheering for Roger. (I like to call that my 'lunch break')

Roger found a tough opponent in the Italian Andreas Seppi, yet he managed to finish his match in three sets (6-1 7-6 7-5). Victory for Swiss class! (by the way, have a look at his beautiful new outfit!)

Some other things I noticed on the first day of playing:

* most games were quite predictable in their outcomes, no big favourites were sent home

* among the subtop, Marat Safin, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Caroline Wozniacki made a great impression

* our Belgian players won and lost: Xavier Malisse and Kirsten Flipkens made it to the next round, whereas Yanina Wickmayer may pack her bags

Who's playing tomorrow? Andy Murray, Lleyton Hewitt, Fernando Gonzales, Rafael Nadal, Ernests Gulbis, Christophe Rochus and Steve Darcis (from Belgium), Serena and Venus Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Elena Dementieva and many more.

No°13!

He did it! (and seems like he's back in great shape, very promising for the next season)

Congrats to Andy as well, though.

Come on, Roger!

Usually I support Andy Murray. In fact, there's only one person against whom I wouldn't support him. Of course, I'm talking about my favourite tennis hero Roger Federer! Tonight these guys are competing each other for the US Open 2008 title, and there's a lot at stake.

Murray can win his first Grand Slam and finally bring some tennis glory to the Brits.

Federer can make up for an average season (let's say, a good or even great season for any other player, but not as much as we are used from Roger) ànd win his 13th slam (which would mean he's coming really close to Pete Sampras' 14 slams record).

Now, don't you think Roger deserves this? Especially considering Andy is still very young and has probably still quite a future ahead of him.

Well, I do. Go Roger!