The "Aces in England" blog is designed to give fans an inside look at the UE men's soccer team's spring trip to England by getting the thoughts and perspectives from both an Aces' soccer player and head coach Mike Jacobs.  Today's post is highlighted by trips to Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus, and a training session at the Chelsea Academy.

Yesterday was an exciting day, but a very long one. We started off with breakfast at the hotel and then packed our bags on the bus to head to downtown London. Our first stop was at Buckingham Palace and we got there just as they were changing the guards. As we walked by St James Park I learned that some of my teammates were taking "selfie" pictures at almost every opportunity. A visit to Nate Opperman's Facebook page will probably show you pictures of our entire trip. He will be in the bottom corner of every picture though. After Buckingham Palace we made our way to Piccadilly Circus which has several places to shop. The most exciting store there was Lilywhites which is a huge sports store. It's a place any soccer fan should try to visit at some point in their life.
 
For there, we all went our separate ways for lunch. I'm set on trying as much English food as possible on this trip so I went with Eric Teppen to a nearby pub. Others settled for a McDonald's nearby and claimed it still counted as English food (Nick Lewis). After lunch we made our way to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Our last stop was the London Eye which is the giant ferris wheel. If we had more time I would definitely try to ride it.
 
At this point we got back on the bus and headed to Surrey University. We met some of the coaches from the Chelsea Academy here and had our first training session. With everyone still being a bit jet lagged it was good to get a session in before our first game. After training we got back on the bus and made our way to St George's Park. This is where the English National Team will be training at before the World Cup. I have no doubt in my mind this will be one of the nicest hotels I will ever stay at in my life. After dinner at the hotel, everyone was tired from the long day and headed straight for bed.
 
Cheers,
Kevin Schafer

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After a good night's sleep, we were treated to a full English breakfast at the hotel.  I'm not sure how many of our guys have ever had baked beans for breakfast prior to today, but have now all had a baptism with English cuisine...

It was great to be able to go sightseeing in London this morning, and we were so fortunate to have wonderful weather. We got off the bus near Buckingham Palace, and were greeted with temperatures in the 60's - perfect for walking around and seeing the historic sights.  Our players and coaches were definitely treated to some of the traditional stops on a walking tour - seeing the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace; seeing Big Ben and the London Eye.  These are the kind of things that everyone should try to see at least once in their lives, and to be able to do this with 20 of your closest friends has been a really unique experience.  This is a pretty professional group of young men, and are tremendous ambassadors for the University of Evansville and Purple Aces soccer - it's very humbling to have people walk up on the street and stop us to talk and visit, and I always appreciate receiving comments about how well-mannered and well-behaved our guys are.

Following our morning of sightseeing, we then headed to Surrey to train with members of the Chelsea FC academy staff. I know the guys were very excited to get out and play for the first opportunity on the trip, and to be coached for a session by members of Chelsea's staff only heightened that.  A highlight of our trip is getting the chance to work with coaches from some of the top clubs in the world, and it was really encouraging to hear the staff coaches rave about how comparable our players performed to the players they work with on a regular basis in their academy.  I know our team came away from this positive learning experience with plenty to draw from, and I'm excited to see them put lessons learned to the test in our first match of the tour tomorrow.

As a big basketball fan, I was treated with a unique experience - running into some American basketball players who were on the Surrey United professional basketball team. Matt Pressey - a former standout for the University of Missouri with an amazing pedigree (I grew up watching his father, Paul, with the Milwaukee Bucks; his brother, Phil, is a rookie with the Boston Celtics) - is currently chasing his dream in professional basketball here in England, and it was great to hear a familiar accent and share stories about traveling abroad.

Following our training with the Chelsea staff, we headed back onto the bus for a trip to St. George's Park, which will be our home for the next couple of days.  St. George's Park is the official training center of the English Football Association, and where England will train here as a team for the month prior to this summer's World Cup, we have been honored with the distinction of becoming the first American team to have the opportunity to stay and train at St. George's Park.  Graduating senior Brandon Causey is a big Liverpool supporter, and I know he was star-struck by the idea of hero Steven Gerrard dining in the same restaurant that we ate in this evening.  The facilities here are majestic, and I know that there were a number of jaws that dropped as we walked into the lobby upon our arrival.

Our first match is tomorrow morning, where we will play here at St. George's Park versus the Gordon Strachan Academy. Strachan is a former Manchester United and Scotland standout that now manages Scotland, and his under-21 side that we will be playing tomorrow is made up of players that have been recently released by professional clubs and are looking to impress and catch on with a new team.  We know that we'll not only be playing a seasoned group of professional players, but also a group that is desperate to compete and play well.  These are the kind of experiences that we know that we'll grow from here on our tour - being exposed to what it takes to perform in the highest standards of professional football here in England.

I know that we have a number of family members, friends, and fans who are anxious to follow us back home - not only can you read the blogs of myself and Kevin Schafer, but you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.  Our players and coaches have been tweeting with the hash tag #UEnglandTour14, so hopefully you can see a number of photos and thoughts from our guys on there as well.