BEST BIRTHDAY

Ok my last post i said that i would write about my surprise birthday present....well here it is....

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LES MISERABLES IN LONDON!!!!

This trip started out as a simple idea a couple months ago that slowly but surely grew into a reality. Ever since last year i have had a newfound appreciation and love for musicals. And one of my FAVORITE shows is Les Miserables. I have never seen like a huge professional production before, like i've never been to Broadway or anything, so coming over to Europe i knew i wanted to hopefully get some shows in. A few weeks ago me and some people went to see the Legally Blonde Musical (i know, shot to manhood) in Dublin. and it was actually really good. But I Dreamed a Dream to come over to London of all places to see my favorite show, AND IT HAPPENED! Me and one of my best friends on the trip, Corrie, bought tickets about a month ago  and were so excited ever since. Our trip was literally only a day. We left Saturday morning at 8 and got back Sunday morning at 8. So you can imagine how jam-packed, busy, awesome, exciting, tiring, adventurous, and incredible it was. The night before we left i walked into our computer room and Corrie had already printed off google map instructions for every place we were going. haha She was amazing. So, we got up early on Saturday and were off for my birthday present!

Here we are in the Aircoach in our way to Dublin airport. we started off the day with a little Mickey D's breakfast at the airport (Micky D's breakfast, always comes through in the clutch) and then hit our plane ride to London which was about 45 minutes long haha. So we got to London and had to ride the bus from London Stansted airport to downtown London. On our way there it was so cool because we completely forgot that we would get to see all the Olympic stuff. So we drove buy this huge area with all the stadiums and it was just nuts. I took this picture of the stadium and we thought that red thing might be where the light the torch.

Once we got there, we walked out of the bus station and started heading towards the heart of it. A quick stop at Starbucks (a ton of coffee consumed on the trip) and we were good. With how much we saw in a few hours, it felt like we were there for three days. It was the perfect trip. It took me a few minutes before it hit me i was in London, but gadzooks it was amazing.

This was when we got to Westminster Abbey and i was so pumped. I have never seen anything like some of this stuff. The detail on these buildings blew me away. There is just so much history there. and we got to go into St. Paul's Cathedral and it was just unbelievable. Here is a picture of Westminster Cathedral...

And of course Big Ben. Which in case you did not know, Big Ben is the name of the bell inside. Not the clock. interesting!

So we walked through London for a while and saw a ton of cool things like this and although it was drizzling throughout the day had a blast. We knew that we were in London to go see Les Mis and nothing was stopping us. However, Les Mis was not our ONLY reason for coming to London. Because in all of Europe, there is only one city that contains one of the most glorious eating establishments (next to Chick-Fil-A) of all time....can you tell through my blurry photography what exactly that beacon of hope is?!?!?!

if you guessed CHIPOTLE, youre correct! words cannot describe this moment. Earlier in the semester, we googled "Chipotle in Europe" (just corrected my 2 misspellings of Chipotle. ouch i feel ashamed) and the only ones are in London. I think there are 2 or 3, but this one is like a 5 minute walk from Les Mis. So there was no way we were going to let this slip by. The blood in my veins had been Burrito free for i think 5 months, so you can imagine the withdrawal i was going through.

I should not have been this excited. and by that i mean this was my birthday presentr, so take it easy

The experience was great. The guy who helped me was a big black man named Everton. he just had this huge smile on his face when he saw we were American. So he starts making my burrito and he didn't put too much rice on, so I ask him for more rice, and then he knew it was go time and Daddy was hungry. He LOADED me with chicken and all the goods. biggest best burrito ive had from chipotle. AND THEN the cash register guy gave me an extra bag of chips for free cause he saw how excited i was. 

This is me thanking the Chipotle gods.

HAHA!

So Chipotle was a success. Now, by this time it was about 6 and we had already picked up our tickets from the box office. We had some time to kill os we went to Costa Coffee which is like their Starbucks and killed more coffee. Then i threw on my tie (Sarah!) that i brought to look sharp for the show, but i knew something wasn't cutting it. This was a London major theater production, i could not go looking shaggy as a dog, I NEEDED A HAIRCUT! so at about 630 (the show started at 730) we start walking and looking for a barber shop of some sorts. We had no idea what we were in for. within a few minutes we saw a sign for 5 dollar haircuts. I knew right away that was about as sketch as it gets. just what i like. So we walk into this sliver of a barber shop tucked between the huge stores and buildings to find this Asian gem. It was the Chinese buffet of barbershops. I went to the back and found this guy and asked him if he knew how to cut hair, he hesitated and then told me to sit down. yikes. Corrie was laughing the whole time and being so patient. I sat down and told him what i wanted with my hair,.

I then asked him how long he had been working there and he said 2 weeks. to which i made this face...

However my nervousness and questions soon went away. He took off and went at my hair like a boss. I told him i wanted something european, but not too crazy. He quickly nodded then went Edward Scissorhands on my gourd. It didnt take long for me and him to become best friends. he started asking about america and New York, then he started making jokes about me and corrie, it was epic. shady as crap. but epic.

and he did a good job! i dont think this picture does it justice, but ive gotten a ton of compliments on it. its kind of fohawkish (spelling?) but he knew what he was doing

So then after this, Case and I bid farewell and we were off to Les Mis!

Now already this was one of the best days ever, but to finish it off with this was the icing. What immediately struck me was the Queens Theater. It reminded me of in like "The Prestige" when they would have old timey magic shows and what not. crazy. The show was UNBELIEVABLE. the actors were just so good. every role was perfect and their voices were flawless. they do this show so many times that they all just have it down. the place was sold out and we didn't have bad seats at all. we had great seats for the tickets we paid for. I could go on and on about the show, but i wont try and put it into words.

I tried to get a shot of how the three sections are broken up.

And so after the show we got a taxi, which was an adventure in downtown London on a saturday night, to our bus station and drove back to the Airport. This is where things were really nuts, because we got to the airport at 2AM but our flight didn't leave til 6! so Corrie and i had a few hours to kill. It was so weird being in the airport that late. so many people had sleeping bags and were sleeping on the floor. it was weird. but we found a coffee shop that was open all night and sat on these couches and talked. it was great. Corrie kept dozing off, but i stayed awake the whole time for our luggage's sake. But when we eventually did get on the plane, i fell asleep faster and hardeer than i ever have before. I dont remember taking off, the flight, or landing. just getting on and getting off haha. So then we got on our bus and came back home. I slept allllll day. and am still tired now. But i wanted to post all this, pretty much for my mom and sister's sake, before too long. It was one of the best days of my life, and for sure an incredible birthday gift.

I am sorry for the lengthy post, but with all that being said, I am amaxed that the program only has a week left! We are officially done on saturday, even though i am travelling a bit afterwards. There are mixed feelings here about leaving. People are sad that it is ending, but happy to come home. I know i am SOOO PUMPED to see family and friends before Kamp starts, which i am also pumped for.

All i know is that I am constantly reminded daily how good our God is. He is better than London. and way better than Les Mis. and 100% without a doubt he is better than the Kansas City Royals (however dont give up hope on the Royals) I am still loving getting to know Him more on this trip and cant wait for this new year in life!

LOVE YOU GUYS!

LOVE YOU FAMILY!

p.s. sorry for typos in this blog, im freaking exhausted.