Mischief Managed

Hello again!

As some of you can probably already tell from my title, this blog is going to be about Harry Potter and my trip to Warner Brothers' Harry Potter Studios. But I also thought it was quite appropriate since my first semester in Cambridge is coming to a close, and all of my "mischief" with this group of Valpo friends is also ending in thirty-six hours. We'll start off with my magical day (pun intended) at Warner Brothers' Studios.

Since England is the home of Harry Potter, it was only fitting that we would take a trip to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios just outside of London. For any Harry Potter fan who comes to the UK: GO SEE THE STUDIOS. It was the most amazing thing. My face was frozen in a perpetual smile, and I think I even cried. Seriously, go see it.

I went with three friends to see the studios on Friday. Naturally, since there were four of us, we all had to dress up as a student from each of the four houses. I was the only one wearing green, so I ended up being from Slytherin. We completed our ensembles with chapel robes borrowed from Westfield House next door so that we could look like real Hogwarts students. And we sure did. We had people stop and ask to take pictures of us. Not just pictures for us, mind you, but pictures of us for themselves.

Our first stop on our way to the studios was King's Cross Train Station, where we stood in line and took pictures as Plaform 9 3/4. Since I was from Slytherin, they let me weird the wand of Voldemort. I felt quite powerful, and I'm pretty sure that I cursed a lot of other people in our line. Apparently, I also took on many of the characteristics of Voldemort and a Slytherin, because my friends continually said that Slytherin was "sassy" today. I think you can be sassy if you're the most powerful and feared wizard of all time. Just saying.

The studios themselves were fascinating. When we arrived, we were taken into a room with a screen where we watched a short video. After the video was done, they lifted the screen, and right in front of us were the doors to the Great Hall of Hogwarts! And so we just waltzed right on in to the Great Hall, where it was decorated for Christmas and everything! I (unfortunately) already knew that this surprise was coming, but it was funny to watch my other friends' reactions to it :).

 

The Great Hall with costumes

Harry's and Ron's costumes from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" 

There were so many different sets to see. They had sets from Harry's bedroom, the Gryffindor Common Room, the Ministry of Magic, Harry's house on 4 Privet Drive, and so many more. We got to sit in the Weasley's flying car, walk across the bridge into Hogwarts, ride broomsticks, and pretty much jump right into the world of Harry Potter.

 

One of the coolest things about the studios were all the props they had saved from the movies. You could go inside the Burrow and see Mrs. Weasley's knitting needles that knit all on their own. I didn't know this, but those needles, and a lot of other props as well, were run mechanically, not created by CGI. I think that's pretty cool that they would create something like that instead of using graphics. 

My favorite set had to be Dumbledore's office. It was a little bit smaller than I had imagined, but other than that, it looked exactly like it does in the movies. Everything was there, including the sorting hat sitting on a shelf. We had a great time taking pictures in front of everything and reliving our childhoods in the days of our youth when we first read and watched Harry Potter. 

Going to Harry Potter Studios was a lovely treat before finals week, and a nice way to bring things to an end with my C94 family. It's a funny thing to watch everyone stress out about finals and packing and going back to Valpo when I'm not even close to being ready for that yet.

Last Wednesday was our last common meal together in the house, and one of the things we did was to go around the table and say our favorite thing about our time in Cambridge. Naturally, my first thought was, "My favorite thing is that I don't have to leave yet." And it's true. I am very happy that I don't have to go back home yet, because I knew coming into this year that four months was not going to be enough time for me to experience everything I wanted to, and I was right.

But that got me thinking: why would I not want to leave? What is it about Cambridge that makes it so easy to want to stay? It's a question worth asking, and here's what I've come up with:

Since graduating high school, I have felt like a nomad. I move in to a dorm room, only to move out nine months later with all of my stuff. When I go home for Christmas and Spring Break and summer, I don't have a room and I sleep in an unfinished basement with all of my things in boxes. It's very hard to feel like you have a home when you live like that.

In Cambridge, I don't feel nomadic or out of place. When I walk into town, it feels like the most natural thing in the world. The guy at the crepe stand knows me and recognizes my face. Cambridge has felt more like home than any other place in the past two or three years. What's more, it's not only my home, but I actually feel like I belong here. I don't feel out of place or awkward, because I am so comfortable here that the smallest inconveniences of not being in America don't matter to me at all. So of course I don't want to leave and I'm glad I'm not leaving yet, because who wants to leave the place where they belong?

I know that when we get back to Valpo, things will be different than they were here and we won't all be close like we were here. On one hand, that makes me sad because times change and people change. But I'm very happy that this semester happened, and I am happy to have a small part of my life that was spent with these people experiencing the unlimited possibilities in the world. Thank you to all of you, and I wish you the best when you get home. Mischief managed!

As always, questions and comments are welcome at any time. Wishing you all a happy Christmas!

Until next time,

Stephanie