harry potter

Gryffindor Common Room

Yeah, I really did go to the Leavesden Studios to do the Harry Potter tour. It was amazing and magical and wonderful and I had the best time with some friends. I thought, going into it, that seeing the behind the scenes and the costumes and props and the rigging for the spells would lessen the magic of the series but if anything, it only enhanced it.  I love the series even more now that I've been there.  It was such a cool experience!

The rest of this week passed by with delicious food, including a Brazilian dish, pancakes, a Mediterranean dish, and pizza; lots of homework, snapchatting Miriam (it's a fun photo app) and getting to know the girls a little bit better.  Wednesday we went to two separate galleries/museums.  My favorite was the first one, we went to Leighton House and I loved it.  My favorite room was easily the Arab Room which has tiles and other objects from the Middle East.  The room is absolutely amazing, and you can see a picture of it here (we weren't allowed to take photos): https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWVnp7IxiD7mJiydLEd4D1ngUp0WmuW73TTT8zLnByH9Pf-UwwMZiT3hGcC2BCQXXtbLUPdFjK60So9PMJELgD_NUsCn69equYZgGqzuuPI8qKmf6COS4IA5_3IIlHnFsJbyHYUTxHOrx_/s1600/leighton-house-museum-arab-hall.jpg.  The second museum was the William Morris Gallery based in the home of Morris.  His main philosophy was "beautiful and useful" with the emphasis on simple designs for ones home.  It was alright.

Valentine's Day was so fun!  The three boys in our program got up early and got roses for all the girls (yes, all forty girls) as well as a candy bar.  They strategically placed them on the staircase and each one had a note with our name on it.  One girl wrote everyone a short note and left a piece of candy for each of us, another girl also wrote somewhat longer notes to each person and Dr. Christenson's wife gave everyone a note and a candy bar as well.  So basically it was perfect.

On Friday we went to Hampton Court Palace which was perfect and spectacular.  We had beautiful weather, clear blue skies and the whole day to ourselves.  There were actors and actresses playing the parts of Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn and they acted out some fun scenes from history.  Then yesterday (Saturday) I went running, then on a two-hour walk for class and then went to Harry Potter.  The perfect end to a great week.