Friday, February 19, 2010

The Boy Who Lived

I'm far too exhausted for my own good. This whole week seems like its just been homework, sickness, and a lack of sleep. Today I turned in two essays for my political science class, a major paper for my shakespeare class, and then in my english literature class we finished our unit on Northanger Abbey and had a quiz on it. I miraculously pulled everything off and now just have to wait for my grades... Today I woke up and was incredibly thrilled to discover that Terri had made my new favorite breakfast in the world--Amish Oatmeal! I had so much of it, it was amazing. I could eat that stuff every day. After breakfast, we had classes and then immediately following classes we went off to observe a Muslim Mosk. I'm not going to lie--I was incredibly bored the whole time. I couldn't hear our guide half the time and I was tired and incredibly incredibly hungry since I hadn't really had time to eat since breakfast. We were there for 2 and a half hours, and I would have been pleased if we had stayed for an hour, max. I did get to observe one of the prayers, which was interesting, but all in all I really did not enjoy my experience. Plus, I felt as if our guide censored some of his answers when we asked him particular questions--especially about Islamic marriage. Thankfully, however, we were able to finish off our outing today with a trip to Giraffe, where I got a delicious bowl of soup and a hamburger. I'm going to have great left overs on Sunday! Of course, we followed dinner with a Ben's Cookie, which never fails to disappoint me, and then on our way back, I got separated from our group, but nevertheless made my way safely back to Palace Court.

Yesterday, we traveled to Middle Temple which was built by the Knights Templar and is about 500 years old. Our tour guide was a very frail woman who spoke with very little fluctuation in her tone and who was very hard to hear, so I can't say I learned too much about Middle Temple. I do plan to look it up online though, since we had a fantastic lunch there. Apparently, lunch at Middle Temple is where all the lawyers in the area swarm to, so I did feel kind of cool being able to eat with all of these prestigous people around me--especially since I'm an aspiring lawyer myself. Our meal was very fancy and we had some weird mushroom and tomato tart for an appetizer which I didnt like, (however we had really delicious rolls just prior to the tart being served), and then for our main course we had really good pork, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Dessert was an apple crisp and then we had some lovely herbal tea to finish it off with. It was a really fun experience and it made me want to re-read the DaVinci Code, since that book deals a lot with the Knights Templar. After Middle Temple, we had to make our way over to Charles Dickens's house, however, since we made a quick trip to Starbucks, we had little time to arrive promptly for our "tour," so instead of walking (which would have caused us to be probably half an hour late), we took a taxi! It was really really fun and if I could I would travel by taxi everywhere... I love them. And, since there were five of us and the fare was about 5 pounds, it only cost us about a pound each! It was great! So we got to Charles Dickens's house on time, however our "tour" was just us walking around the house and watching a little video. I really enjoyed seeing the house though because I really love Charles Dickens. I even bought a copy of A Tale of Two Cities there that I plan to start reading on the plane or when I get home! After seeing the house, we took a few pictures, and then headed back home for the night to work on homework.
Middle Temple:

me in front of Charles Dickens's door!

Wednesday was one of my top three favorite days here so far. We had a day trip and first we traveled to Blenheim Palace--which is where the Duke stays. It was a gorgeous setting, especially because it was kind of misty outside as we arrived. After we got a tour of the palace, Caitlin, Emma, Macy and I caught a golf cart to "Pleasure Gardens," which was this cute little garden type of thing that had a butterfly house, a maze, a little playground, and a cafe in it. I did NOT go into the butterfly house because I went into one when I was like 14 and have been traumatized ever since (I do not like any type of bug), however, I did go into a little bit of the maze. After Blenheim, we got back onto the bus and had our lunches, and not before long we arrived in Oxford! Oxford is one of new favorite cities in England--there were so many young attractive college boys EVERYWHERE. It had a very young vibe about it and it was the type of city where the streets are cobblestone roads and pedestrians walk on the street just as often as they walk on the sidewalk. We went into the covered market there where we went to the original Ben's Cookies and got Moo Moo's shakes (I got a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake and it was so yummy!). After getting some nice Oxford apparel, I went and experienced one of the best things that has ever happened to me in my entire life experience. I VISITED THE SITE WHERE THE HARRY POTTER MOVIES WERE FILMED--CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE AKA THE REAL LIFE HOGWARTS! As an avid Harry Potter fan and someone who knows the movies by heart, saying that I was excited is an extreme understatement. We got to walk around and see the grounds and it was so thrilling to be able to recognize scenes from the movies! The best part of the entire experience was entering the Great Hall from the movies and being able to have high tea (or rather, high hot chocolate) in the actual room where the Hogwarts students eat in the movies. It. was. amazing. I couldnt believe that I had sat in the actual room where the entire cast had been and that Daniel Radcliffe could very easily have sat in the same exact chair I had sat in. Amazing! We had delicious hot chocolate and little finger sandwiches, I recreated scenes from the movies and casted spells, and I loved every second of it. After leaving the Great Hall, we got back onto the bus and I slept the entire way home. Wednesday was one of those days that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Hogwarts :)
luckily I had my wand with me so I could practice Wigardium Leviosa on my saucer...

this is where Dumbledore gives his start of term speech, as displayed by my recreation of the scene
this is where Malfoy tells Harry to join him and his friends and to not go making friends with the "wrong sort of wizards."thanks to Kellen for helping me recreate the scene.

Since Valentine's Day was on Sunday and everyone was distracted with tests to study for and exhaustion from getting home from our day trips, we celebrated Valentine's Day on Monday! That night, we all got all dolled up in pink and red and everyone in the Centre had a party! It was so much fun, we all played the game where you have a name on your back and you have to ask your peers yes or no questions to try to figure out who you are, and then find your match. I ended up being Dr. Macfarlane, one of the professors here, and Susan ended up being Sister Macfarlane! Haha it was so funny. After the game we went down into the servery and decorated sugar cookies! They were home made cookies and they were sooo delicious! It was definitely a great Valentine's Day and I felt a lot of love for the great people I have met here.

below is me and all of my roommates! Dorm 4 is the best!

I really do live at Hogwarts--this place is magical.

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