LPU MEET UP – KERPEN, GERMANY JULY 20-21
PART 2 –

It was really amazing finally meeting the people I had been talking to online (mainly on the LPU chat or Twitter). Everyone was so nice and really excited to be at the meet up and finally being able to get to know each other in person! Among all the amazing LPU members I also met Adie, admin, founder and fellow staff member of the LPFC who is really cool as well. It was really great to finally meet her as well! Unfortunately she had to leave by the time we’d prepare to have dinner… But this is where I finish our LPU meet up story. 🙂

Around 5pm, after getting to know each other in person, hanging out for a bit and signing/drawing on the giant flag (I actually forgot to sign it myself!), we went to the store with half of our group to buy some supplies for the barbeque which was held that evening. Because we did our trip to the store by foot, for about half an hour in the burning sun, we got exhausted pretty fast. So we had to be picked up by car on the way back to the meet up spot.

When we arrived we continued hanging out until 7pm, when our group was parted in half for dinner. One group was staying at the meet up spot to have the barbeque I’ve mentioned above, and the other group would drive to Cologne to eat sushi, (I was with the sushi group). So we drove to the sushi place. We paired up in two cars, and some went by train. Lasse (Denmark) and me drove with Kai (Germany), it was a 30 minute drive to the restaurant in Cologne, but it was fun, listening to LP and singing along the entire time! I also had never been to Cologne before so it was nice to see a part of it that evening. We were the first ones to arrive at the restaurant, so we were offered a drink while we waited. The rest arrived pretty quickly after that so we could start eating! Many people chose the vegetarian sushi instead of the regular ones, I chose a chicken dish, since I don’t like any seafood haha (I love Asian food in general though!) Dinner went pretty fast, but we had a lot of good talks and fun! We actuallly decided to skip dessert in the restaurant and go look for ice cream nearby. So we hit the streets, looking for ice cream places… But eventually without success. So we decided to go to the night shop we were at and buy us some drinks or candy there, before we returned back to the meet up spot. Our group parted in half when we returned. Some of the others went home, while a small group joined Annemarie back to the Netherlands to sleep over at her place. The rest of us (Kai, Lasse, Cathrin and me) went back to the meet up spot to meet the BBQ group again. The drive back went pretty much the same as the way we got there, only more singing!

When we got back at the meeting spot there was a bonfire going on. We grabbed ourselves some drinks and joined. At some point Kai grabbed a guitar and started playing Linkin Park songs, like Castle Of Glass, The Messenger and Points Of Authority. And we all started singing along, LPU summit style! I did manage to capture short videos on Instagram during our ensembles on Castle Of Glass and The Messenger. I just had to share it on Twitter as well, with both my personal account and our @LinkinParkBe page so Mike Shinoda might be reminded about our meet up again (like when he retweeted/favorited some of our tweets about the meet up that morning). The guitar playing continued and there was also room for non-LP songs, like American Idiot by Green Day, which was the most amusing part of it. Of course everyone knew the song, so we all started singing along, but unfortunately we all only knew the first line of the song, the rest of lines we all just mumbled the words, it sounded really funny. I wish I had recorded that! I had already lost track of time, but I think it was a little past midnight when some of us decided to get in their tents to go to sleep, while the rest (me included) went inside to hang out in the living room until “bed time” a few hours later.

The next day. It was around 7.30am when I woke up. As usual, first thing I did was checking my phone for Twitter and Instagram notifications. Result: 70+ Instagram likes and a Twitter mention by Mike Shinoda as result of sharing the Instagram videos on Twitter. Mike also sent out a thank you tweet addressed to the LPU members who were involved in this meet up! I’m not really a morning person but this definitely made a change that day!

About 30 minutes I got up, and went to the backyard, which had always been the meet up spot, to see what was up. Eventually we all just sat there with couple of hours needed to wake up. We had breakfast together. When everyone was awake, fresh and showered it was almost noon, and the other group (who stayed in the Netherlands) arrived back at the meet up spot.

Result of Fabio + An (JK, almost true!)

After hanging out for a few hours and signing the German LPU meet up flag Anna (the hostess) provided, it was time for an LP quiz!  Each one of us participated seperately, no teams. There were 3 prizes to win: an LPU7 CD, an LPU5 CD and an LPU3 shirt. Paul (the host, who is also an LPU lifer) asked us the questions, and we would write down our answers on a paper.
There were 10 questions:
– First LP single ever?
– Which band member wasn’t with LP during Hybrid Theory’s release?
– What year was Meteora released in?
– During Xero, what was the name of the vocalist who was replaced by Chester later on?
– What’s Chester’s most popular nickname?
– In what year did the band get their name “Linkin Park”?
– How many Grammy Awards did LP win so far?
– For which singles did LP win Grammy Awards?
– How many times has LP been nominated for a Grammy Award?
– Guess the amount of shows LP did in 2002
I only had 7 questions out of 10 right, but I did manage to end up 3rd. Fabio was 2nd, and Geertruida was 1st. As prize I got the LPU7 CD, but I traded it with Geertruida’s LPU3 shirt because I already had the CD while Geertruida didn’t and the shirt was exactly my size, but psssht…

Around 4pm we had a 2nd barbecue with the leftover meat while the saddest part of the weekend took place, the end of our meet up. I can’t believe those two days went by so quickly! Everyone was really sad to leave each other and knowing that it would take a while to see each other again. Even though there will be many other meet ups to come!

So around 6pm it was time to go home. We all took time to hug each other, say goodbye, and left. When arriving home I was really sad to be back “in reality”, it almost felt like a post-LP concert depression (if you’ve been to a Linkin Park show before, you know how it feels), but at the same time I was excited and really grateful to be part of the LPU family. As a Linkin Park fan, I don’t think I could imagine a life without the LPU anymore. Many of us know that being a part of the LPU goes far beyond membership packages and meet & greets. I really love to meet other LP fans, whether it’s at a meet up or a concert, nearby or on the other side of the planet. I just hope we will always keep the meet ups alive in the future!

Thank you so much for the amazing weekend, LPU friends: Anna, Paul, Adie, Annemarie, Angie, Cathrin, Conny, Fabio, Geertruida, Hanne, Kai, Kelly, Kevin, Lasse, Lily, Marijn, Michi, Prici and Teresa!
It was so nice to meet all of you and I can’t wait to do this again!

-An

Cheers!

Adie & An

Michi & An

An & Fabio

Eating sushi

Quiz time!

Cathrin & An

Kevin & An

Marijn & An

Result of Fabio + An (JK, almost true!)

Prici & An

Angie & An

On our way to the meet up!

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