Nerd Alert

***WARNING*** This post will contain excess amounts of exclamation points and overuse of the CAPS lock button. Proceed with caution.

Waiting to be Sorted!!! 

    Hey there friends. This week has been pretty awesome. Monday started as a normal class day, sitting though presentations as five different groups basically talked about propaganda during WWII. But AFTER class is where the real fun started. Anna, Brent, and myself headed off to Euston Station to catch a train to Watford Juncion to take a bus to the HARRY POTTER STUDIO TOUR!!!!!! This is where sets, props, costumes, filming secrets, and so much more are kept after they finished filming out of this studio at the wrap of the movies. As a not so secret Harry Potter lover, I may or not have been freaking out a little. Well, all three of us were freaking out. A little on the pricey side, this tour is necessary for fanatic fans. We walked through the Great Hall, saw the Gryffindor Common Room, Boys Dormitory, the Burrow, Umbridge's Office, Dumbledore's Office, miscellaneous props, miscellaneous costumes, major things such as the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, the Mirror of Erised, statues from the Ministry of Magic, and so much more. And that was just in the first room!!! This area also contained a section where you could ride in a Ford Anglia (the Weasley car) with a group and RIDE A BROOM!!! This was set up so that you sat in the car/on the broom WHILE wearing robes in a green screen compartment. Wind then started to blow and you watched a camera as you flew through streets, over the lake, and other cool stuff. Attendants told you to touch the water or wave or dodge cars and let me tell you, it was just super cool. The outside portion of the tour contained outdoor sets, such as Number 4 Privet Drive, the Potter home, the Knight Bus, and more. The next big room contains creatures. This shows some of the behind the scenes on creating the different magical creatures or moments during the films. It then goes into a room with all of the designs for every single building used. Makes you appreciate it a lot more. Then, unexpectedly, you walk into a room with the model of Hogwarts that is about a floor and half tall. This is the model they used when filming outdoor far away shots of Hogwarts, basically. And it is incredible. The final room of the tour (before the extensive gift shop that is!) is a room like Ollivander's Wand Shop. Every person who was part of creating the Harry Potter films has a wand box with their name on it. It's really pretty cool and once again shows you how many people were involved in this. Basically this day was fantastic and super cool for all three of us.

the door to the Great Hall!

     Second Nerd Alert. Didn't think you could get away that easily, did you? April 23rd is St. George's Day in England. But it also is the day acknowledged as Shakespeare's birthday. So. On this day, the entire group went and saw The Tempest. Opening Night. Opening the season. At the Globe. On Shakespeare's birthday.  Pretty cool. The show was also verry good although hard to follow at times when I forgot the plot line. But it was really cool to be able to see it at the Globe among such talented actors. Plus Colin Morgan (known from BBC's Merlin even though I've never seen it) made a freaking FANTASTIC Ariel. And Roger Allam, who played Javert in the original London production of my favorite musical was pretty great as Prospero.

   Yesterday was our last day trip as a class (SO WEIRD!!) and we went to see the White Cliffs of Dover. Except we didn't actually see them because the fog was so thick. Sadly. But we did get to explore Dover castle and go through some tunnels where WWII Operation Dynamo to save Allied troops in Dunkirk was planned. That was pretty cool. We then went to see old WWII planes and weapons and that was a little much for me because I don't know anything about any of that.

   Today was the last real day of classes because tomorrow we just have an Art of Walking walk (how fitting). And after class Hope, Deanna, and I set off for the Southbank to the British Film Institute (BFI) to see the 1942 propaganda film Went the Day Well? for the WWII class. We also enjoyed the sunshine for a little which is always nice.

  It is SO SO SO crazy to think that this time next week I will have started my backpacking tour of Europe. This program has flown by and has seriously been some of the greatest months of my life. I just have a few days to pack in the last few London adventures into this spectacular trip!!