Breathing is Good, Yes.

Breathing is good. Yes.

And I need to do more of it.

Naturally, I'm not depriving myself of oxygen, but what is indeed happening is we're all here getting far too busy.

I haven't written a blog in an entire month. Whoa. A month.

But anyways...

Since we last spoke, I've been to England's most beautiful national park, I've welcomed and said good-bye to my parents, had another weekend in London, been to Spain, and been to Pemberley. And all the while I've been taking tests, writing papers, trying to have a social life at the manor, and sleeping somewhere in-between all that. But not much.

I can't possibly give you a detailed account of how much I've done, so I'll just cover the high points and what I've learned. Because I've learned a lot this month. And I mean that in a good way.

First, I'll talk about the Lake District.

If you've never heard of it, it's England's most famous national park, receiving more visitors per year than Yellowstone. And it's absolutely gorgeous.

I climbed a mountain, which was beautiful. However, the one looming fact about the Lake District weekend was that it was freezing cold and raining the whole time. At the bottom of the mountain, it was raining. Half-way up, it was sleeting. At the top, it was snowing. What the heck, England? I would love to return to the Lake District, but during the summer. Highly recommend it during the summer. But besides the weather, it was great and so much fun. And maybe the best part was that we were tourists, but didn't feel like it. All the tourists there were British, so I honestly felt like we fit in. We cooked food in the hostel with British people and had the greatest time. They even had some of our food! Here's some lovely pictures of how beautiful it was.

The best hot chocolate I've ever had in my entire life. And probably ever will have.

I also did a little something called "ghyll scrambling." And it was the dumbest, most awesome thing I've ever done. My friend Jake said it's "the most fun you've ever have while being miserable." Very true. Basically I could've easily gotten pneumonia. We climbed waterfalls and navigated through a gorge in freezing cold water. It could so cold we didn't even realize we were cold, and we were basically numb. But I wouldn't trade it. It was so much fun and I'd do it again. But in the summer.

Here's a video of what it's like. Sadly, we couldn't take pictures or videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDKNEllKibM

And then, a couple little troublemakers decided to visit me at the manor:

 

Lord G and Lady Luanne arrived at the manor in great style, and quite liked their stay in the Bridal Suite. Oooh la la.  They stayed with me for a couple o' days and got to see where I study and live. They said they were just amazed by the manor; and I don't blame them. After this, we headed to London for the weekend. We stayed at a very nice hotel (not a hostel, thank goodness) and they were able to get a nice little taste of London. Weather and all (it sadly rained for most of the weekend). But they still enjoyed it, Momma did especially. They even got a hefty dose of the London Underground! Which I personally have become quite fond of. After this weekend, they headed off to their adventure in Rome and I headed back to the manor. I'll see them in just about a month, now! Here's some pictures from the weekend:

Lord G, posting up in the National Gallery

He's like George from Seinfeld, "We had a deal!" Or I can't decide if he's like the Lady from Mary Poppins. Either way, I never thought I'd see my father surrounded by pigeons and Eastern European women in central London. But I did.

They took me to the Churchill War Rooms. Aww dey so sweet. Loved it. My only regret was not staying longer. I even wrote a paper on it when I got back.

So just literally 3 days after I returned from London, I was headed to Spain. I finished a presentation on World War I for British Studies, and literally just an hour later I was on a train to London to catch a flight to Barcelona for 6pm that night. We visited Barcelona (pronounced "Barthelona" there) and Sevilla (pronounced "Seh-vee-yah," also called Seville). And it has been my favorite place yet.

Spain was so amazing and so beautiful. And I want to go back. I didn't want to leave. At all. 

The food was delicious, the weather was Mediterranean, there was a beautiful beach, they had siesta, great shopping, the people were gorgeous, and they spoke Spanish. Yesssssss. It was my first experience in a Spanish-speaking country, and I loved it. It definitely fueled me to go to one at my next opportunity. I wish I hadn't procrastinated writing this blog, so then I could've actually written an entire post about Spain. So for now I just won't be able to do it justice and it'll just have to have a description and a few pictures. But I just have to say one thing: don't pass up Spain. Especially southern Spain. 

Barcelona

Sevilla

This says no parking "On the entire street during Holy Week." Spain is Catholic, guys. Really Catholic.

The hardest part about Spain was coming back to England. Not because I don't love England, but because of the weather and the beauty really. It was so different, and it was nice to have a little vacation, which was what I saw it as. And that's kind of ironic, because almost every weekend here is a vacation, really. But this one was a vacation from the cold. And it came at the perfect time: right before finals and term papers are due.

So I returned from Spain Monday morning at 8 am, just in time for British Studies lecture. I had the lovely experience (NOT) of sleeping in an airport for the first time. Don't recommend it, but you gotta do what you gotta do. 

This week and next week and the next and the next are going to be absolutely bonkers, so I'm really cracking down on school work. I'm actually procrastinating it now to write this blog. So thank you for giving me an excuse. 

However, we decided on a whim on Wednesday to book a trip to Chatsworth House. Which is only about an hour and a half from Harlaxton! It's one of England's most famous country houses, is so rich in history, is revered by many, and is spectacular. And (cough cough) Pride&Prejudicewasfilmedthere. 

Not that it's a big deal or anything. But we sort of went to PEMBERLEY. If you haven't seen or read Pride & Prejudice, that's Darcy's house. And we loved it and freaked out. I can't lie, I was sad we couldn't have more time there and that the weather wasn't as good as I hoped, but I'm so glad I went. Here's a few pictures:

Breathtaking, really. It was so beautiful. I would recommend anyone to go to the Peak District, which is where it is.

It's starting to dawn on me that I only have 2 weeks of classes left, then a trip to Italy, then I'm home. That's so crazy. I keep thinking I have time for things to do, but I really don't. Everything is jam-packed and I honestly don't want to leave. I'll be so excited to come home, but I love this experience and this place so much. I'll never have this lifestyle again, and that scares me. The lifestyle of living in an English manor, taking amazing courses, and traveling around Europe on the weekends. That won't happen to me again. And it's so heart-wrenching. It's easy in the States to look at this blog and say "Oh, life must be amazing everyday over there."

My experience has been amazing, yes. But everyday is lived here. We struggle with the same things we do during the semester back in the US. I was up all Wednesday night finishing a paper for World War II class, which I'm hoping to crank out an A for. We deal with things back home, we study for tests, we miss our trains, we Skype friends. 

And that's why I recommend studying abroad for a long period of time. I remember my friend Sarah Nikolai (if you're reading his, kudos to you) told me that I would experience so much more by living in a foreign country rather than just staying there for 3 weeks or so on a little trip. And she was so right. We really do get an experience of this place. I know I'm supposed to be living in a dream (and there are definitely moments that I do feel that); we sometimes have to pinch ourselves and be reminded of where we are. This won't be real life in just a month's time, and I think that's just mind-blowing.

Cheers,

Shelley

Magic Exists

Magic exists, and I experienced it this weekend.

The words that I've used to describe the past experiences I've had were things like "phenomenal," "beautiful," "amazing," "breath-taking," "great," "wonderful," "educational," "little-warm-tingly-feeling-on-the-inside," and other things like that.

But yesterday was truly magical. It's the only word to describe it.

I just- *sigh*.

I'll just start out by detailing how much I needed yesterday.

Wednesday night and Thursday were just the so stressful. I've barely slept all week. I had two different projects to turn in for one class and then a paper on the BBC to write for my Second World War class on top of that. So by the time I got to Thursday I was dead. So I decided to take another walk.

I absolutely love my walks. As a matter of fact, I'm going to take another one after I finish this blog post. Because it's sunny here, and when it's a sunny day in England you take advantage of that.

My walk Thursday was great to clear my head and just to let go of some stress. The grounds here are absolutely breath-taking.

Here's a little picture I took while on it:

I know, right?

But anyway, I tried to get to bed at a decent hour so I could get up at 5:15 to get on my train to London by 6:15. So yesterday was quite a long day, but worth it. Oooh, that's a phrase I could also use to describe yesterday: "worth it." I like it.

Anyway, we finally made it to London and had a nice tour of the Tower of London.

If you don't know what that is, it's a really cool place in London that you should visit.

It was used as a prison and a place of execution during medieval times. Now, it's a tourist site and it holds the crown jewels.

My goodness, seeing the crown jewels was so cool. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures, so I don't have anything to show you. You'll just have to see it for yourself.

We also got to experience different parts of England's history that we've covered in class, so that was really cool. And plus, it's a castle, so...

However, after the Tower of London, we made our way to the outskirts of London to see the Warner Brothers Studio where Harry Potter was filmed.

AND I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

It was slightly stressful getting there. We had to take the tube to the correct train station in central London. Then, we had to take that train to another train station in London. And this train was delayed by about 15 minutes. Which kind of freaked me out since we were on a tight schedule. But we indeed made it, and a shuttle bus took us from Watford Junction station to this place:

As you can see by my facial expression, I wasn't that excited. 

I've waited for this day for a while, and I didn't want to leave England without seeing it.

You walk in, and the first thing you see are the hand prints of Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint on slabs of concrete. And then it expands into this huge room with pictures of all the cast everywhere, with the blue Ford Anglia hanging from the ceiling. AHHHH.

We got our tickets, and were so excited.
The first part of your tour is a movie in which they basically give you an introduction to what you're about to see. And the trio is standing in front of the Great Hall doors, giving this all the while. AND THEN THE SCREEN LIFTS UP AND IT SHOWS THE ACTUAL GREAT HALL DOORS. I almost had a conniption.

The Great Hall was just so awesome to walk through. I mean, so much happened there.

Then, you enter this room that is HUGE. It had so much of the sets in it. I saw costumes from the movie, profiles of the directors, make-up, wigs, the Hogwarts front gates, the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, the Gryffindor Common, the Mirror of Erised, Dumbledore's Office, the special effects area, the moving staircases, the Ministry of Magic set, Umbridge's Ministry Office, parts of Malfoy Manor, Hagrid's Hut, The Burrow, the Horcruxes, the sword of Gryffindor, the Tri-Wizard Cup, the Goblet of Fire, Hagrid/Sirius' motorcycle, and SO much more. I could've stayed for hours in there.

Then, you go to what is known as the back lot. From this point on was my favorite part of the tour.
We had butterbeer (which was amazing), took a picture in the blue Ford Anglia, saw the Knight bus, Privet Drive, Godric's Hollow, the bridge they destroy, the Wizard's Chess pieces. So much. But maybe one of my favorite parts was seeing this:

 

This is the gravestone from the graveyard scene in the Goblet of Fire. This scene is one of my favorites in the books and movies because of Harry's bravery.Voldemort challenges Harry to come out and fight him, and this is what he decides in the books:

"And as he heard Voldemort draw nearer still, he knew one thing only, and it was beyond fear or reason: He was not going to die crouching like a child playing hide-and-seek; he was not going to die kneeling at Voldemort's feet...he was going to die upright like his father, and he was going to die trying to defend himself, even if no defense was possible..."

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, chapter thirty-four "Priori Incantatem"

And in the movie he does what he does at 0:07 through 0:14 in the clip below.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIeIkRyGpkE

Ah. Yes. I love it. So powerful. 

Now you want to go read Harry Potter, don't you? I do too, so that makes two of us. 

After this section was a section that had a bunch of cool goblin masks and wax figures. There was the Hungarian Horntail, Dobby, Fawkes, and Buckbeak.

Then, you turn the corner, AND THERE'S DIAGON ALLEY. That was a moment for me. It honestly felt magical walking through there. There was Ollivander's, Quidditch Supplies, Madame Malkins', Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Gringotts, and more. 

After this was a really cool section, known as the concept art section. There were sketches and drawings of how Hogwarts would look, how certain scenes would look, and other things. It was really cool to see how these movies were thought up before they came to fruition. And may I also say that parts of the 4th soundtrack were playing as I walked through here. Which is my favorite.

Let's just say that anything from the 4th book and movie is pretty much my favorite. 

And then, you turn the corner, AND THERE'S HOGWARTS.

I'm telling you, they really know how to make a girl cry. There's all these cool sites and they don't tell you when they're coming so it all kind of hits you at once. 

So I walk into this huge room and see THIS.

Really, Warner Brothers? Really? Did you have to set up the tour like this? To make me sob and never want to leave?

You can see the scale of this thing by the guy taking the picture. It was huge. As big as a gymnasium, I would say.

And as I was walking through it, my favorite song EVER from the scores was playing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozBOHxoD-cs

I'm surprised I made it out of there alive. I felt like God just gave this day to me as a present that I didn't deserve. Perhaps that's a bit weird to say. Especially since a lot of people think that Jesus doesn't like Harry Potter, which is fine to think, I suppose. However, I do encourage you to explore the Christian themes involved in Harry Potter if you so choose. And there are even Bible verses quoted in the books. But anyway, I'm being irrelevant.

After this, you go into this room where there's all these wand boxes with people's names from the movies, and you find different ones.

And then I saw this quote. 

She is my queen. She said that at the Part 2 premiere in Trafalgar Square.

Sadly, this was the last part of the tour. And I almost had to be dragged out of the place. We caught our connections back to central London. And then we had the wonderful honor of going to King's Cross for our train back to Grantham.

Ohhh yes. I saw it. And touched it.

And then, I actually had a lovely hour-long conversation with a guy from London named Chris on the train back to Grantham. British people are the most fun. They're just easy to talk to.

But anyways, I'm sorry if I've bored you with my awful fan-girling for the past, well, however long it took you to read this.

But I also hope it made you want to go back to watch and read Harry Potter. Because Harry Potter is awesome.

But what I'll be doing next weekend will be quite exciting: I'm going to the Lake District! It's going to so fun and adventurous. It's a beautiful National Park in Northern England. I'll even be waterfall climbing!

You'll definitely see pictures of how it goes.

Cheers,
Shelley