I finally went home....

The Great Hall 

 Probably the most magical day of my life. Why? Well, technically I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London, but as far as I’m concerned, I went to Hogwarts! We were at the Warner Brothers Studio where all the props, costumes, and sets for all 8 Harry Potter movies are kept. Stacy and I were the biggest Harry Potter fans by far, and I literally cried when I stepped into the great hall. It was so overwhelming to actually be in the place that I’ve seen and read about for the last thirteen years. Maybe tears were not the right reaction, but I have no shame. My word, we saw so many amazing things—Hermione’s Yule Ball dress, Hagrid’s hut, Diagon Alley, the Chamber of Secrets, the Griffindor Common Room, the Weasley’s Burrow, Dumbledore’s Office, Dobby, Buckbeak, Death Eater costumes, the Knight Bus, and so much more. I even stood on number 4 Privet Drive and drank a butterbeer!! I also rode a broomstick in front of a green screen, so that it looked like I was flying over Hogwarts! Absolutely amazing. We learned so many tricks of the trade for movies and how much work goes into a production. For example in movie 5, it took a team of 31 people an entire year to create the two minute sequence with the inferi. It’s completely nuts how much work goes into every piece of the thing. But in the last room, we saw the Hogwarts Castle. It was so weird how I walked into the room, and it felt like I was home. Hogwarts is home. I am now going to upload an obscene number of pictures (still a small fraction of how many I took) so that you can see the sets for yourself! I could probably talk about this for hours, so if you want to know more--just ask! 

Can you tell that I'm excited?

The Yule Ball costumes

I saw myself in the Mirror of Erised....I wonder
what that means?

Harry and Ron's room

The Gryffindor Common Room

I'm flying!!

Chamber of Secrets entrance

Butterbeer--Don't worry; it's non-alcoholic,
study abroad office

The Weasley's

In the Weasley's car

At #4 Privet Drive

In Diagon Alley

I'm home!!

Emma Watson's and Daniel Radcliffe's hands

I want to go to Hogwarts!!!

Mayday

Mayday is a celebration to welcome in the beginning of summer that has been going on since the 1200's, and I got to attend it in 2012. Unfortunately, the festivities begin at 6 a.m., so I got up at 4:30 in order to make it downtown by the time it started. There were thousands of people in city center outside of this church. Most (or at least many) people were drunk because the clubs celebrate Mayday all night before the 6 o'clock service. However, once the service started, everyone sang along with the boys' choir. These were songs to welcome in summer and thank the Earth. Mayday was definitely a pagan celebration before the church adopted it. Some people came in costume, and other people were Morris dancers who dance for Mayday every year. Once the service was over, I went back home, showered, slept, and went to volunteer for the last time at Christ Church. Many goodbye hugs and kisses were exchanged when I left, and it was harder than I thought to leave. Those women are so sweet, and I won't forget their kindness for a long while. After I left volunteering, I went home.

The women I work with

On the Harry Potter steps

But right down the street from our houses was a Mayday celebration happening. I went over to take a video of the Morris dancers, and while I was standing out there, a little old man came over to talk to me. He told me a little bit about the dancing, and then pulled me into a pub to talk to me more. The pub was packed full of Morris dancers who were drinking to their heart's content, but as soon as I walked in, they thought I was the coolest thing since The Beatles. They wanted to know everything about Texas and how I liked living in England and all the travels I'd done. In return, they told me all about being dancers, English culture, and I heard many of their life stories. The best thing was when they sang old folk songs about legendary English heroes over their pints of ale. It was a random thing, but I ended up staying there for almost three hours. I just loved seeing real people celebrating this event that they've been a part of for 50 or 60 years. This was probably one of the most cultural experiences I've had all semester because of how real everyone was. I will absolutely never forget my Mayday time--I felt like I was on set for a movie. It felt like a pub from Waking Ned Divine. If you've never seen that movie, please do. As far as I'm concerned, I was in it. 

In my Mayday hat