harry potter | wanderingandnotlost

I’ll be on a plane back home to L.A. in 9 days. 9. That’s it. I can’t wait to see my family again, waiting for me to get out of customs, and hug my dog again, and feel constant sunshine on my skin, go to the beach and Disneyland and eat Mexican food and Goldfish crackers. All of these things are exciting to me, but I have to leave to do them. I realized that it’s so hard to leave because it isn’t just a vacation spot, a brief blip on my radar where I happened to be in York, but this is my life now. I have people here I care about, and routines, and things to look forward to, and I’ve just managed to figure it all out. So leaving feels…weird, to say the least. It is still a bit unreal to even think that I’ve been here long enough to have to say my goodbyes now. But this last week has been amazing so that makes it worth it. Time to update you all and I think I’ll try to go in chronological order!

Last weekend, my friends and I went shopping for Ascot and bought our hats finally! (more on those later) and went to the York Dungeons as a big group. I thought it was going to be terrifying but it was just a sort of fun scary thing. Since we were such a big group of giggling, screaming students we got picked on a lot by the people working there and many of us got to “volunteer” and go up to participate in some way, like screaming or being killed or executed or put on trial. It was silly and I’m actually really glad we went.
Then this past Monday I went to the X-Factor auditions in Newcastle. We had to wait outside in the queue area for a really long time, but once we got inside it was really fun. Most of the audition performances were actually good, so it felt more like a fun concert rather than a painful talent show.
The day after, the Olympic Torch came through York! It was super exciting; the streets were full of people, festive decorations were up, and people were just excited to see the torch bearers bring the torch through York.
Such a fun day!
Then, on Wednesday, the event I’ve been waiting for all term finally came! ROYAL ASCOT! The Royal Ascot horse races happen every year outside of London and everyone gets dressed and has picnics and drinks and bets on the horses and well, it was wonderful. It was such a uniquely British experience, and one I don’t think I’ll be lucky enough to experience again. The day was just lovely, and the weather was spectacular too. Here’s some of my favorite pictures from the day:
My betting slips and a glass of Pimm’s!
I love my hat so much. We saw the Queen! So exciting! (that’s her in the pink, sorry for the blurriness)
Also, on the journey back up to York we had a few hours to kill in King’s Cross Station so…this happened! I got to see Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter and fulfill another childhood dream. Gahh so lucky. It was a pretty amazing day, with such an amazing feel to the entire experience. It’s things like this are so worth being over here.
I’m working on writing an essay that will be the last academic thing before I leave. But my marks in my other courses were all really good so I feel good about it.
I eat mayo a lot more than I did before. With french fries I like mostly ketchup with a bit of mayo as well, and sandwiches taste better with it now. I don’t know who I am.
Our oven is broken again so that means a depleted amount of foods that can be eaten warm.
I have to start taking everything off of my walls and pretty much start packing which is bizarre.
Everyone should watch The Legend of Korra. It’s wonderful.
I’m kind of excited for my flight because it’s just exciting to travel.
Saying goodbye is only getting harder. Two of my flatmates left uni yesterday and saying goodbye brought me to tears. I’m just going to miss them all so much.
There’s some sort of surprise planned for me this weekend. I think I’m excited. hahaha
When I think back on my Europe trip it almost doesn’t seem real, which is incredibly odd.
I’m so excited for mine and my family’s various birthday plans this summer.
I’m reading the first part of A Dance with Dragons, the latest book in the A Song of Ice and Fire Series, and I still absolutely love these characters. The books are just so rich and wonderful that I love being in their world.
Is it bad that I’m excited to sleep on the plane back?
Headaches are so annoying.
I honestly love food so much. I can’t wait to properly cook again.
I’m suddenly rather exhausted so I think I’ll read a bit more then go to sleep.
Playlist for this post: The Weeknd

As I’m writing this, it is a delightful 72°F outside. The sun is shining, there’s a breeze, the sky is so blue, and people keep walking by in shorts eating ice cream and popsicles. It’s fantastic. I couldn’t ask for better weather anywhere, much less the North of England.

I only have like 6 weeks left! It seems like a lot but nothing at all when I think about it.
I watched the Eurovision Song Competition last night with half of my hall, and it was so fun. If you’ve never really heard of Eurovision or don’t know much about it, I recommend looking into it. It’s hilarious. The basic premise is that European countries pick a group or person to sing a song, sometimes in English other times in their native language, in hopes of receiving enough votes from the panel and phone-in votes to win. It’s actually really political in the voting, and the performances are cheesy fantastic. Just a lot of fun.
My love for ice cream and fruit and salad has been rekindled by this warm weather. Yummmmm
I finished “A Feast for Crows” in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, the books by George R. R. Martin that the TV show Game of Thrones is based on. The books are so detailed and crazy and I love them.
I’m fairly certain I’m going to spontaneously combust when I touch down at LAX.
My dreams came true this week when I visited the Harry Potter Studio Tour outside of London. It was incredible. I cried twice because it was so cool and I became overwhelmed with happiness (yea, it happens ok?). We were in the tour for over 4 hours, saw EVERYTHING, met the carpenter from the films who happens to still work there, accidentally got a free private tour from two of the Interactors that worked there for half of the tour, and were the last ones to leave for the day. It was just special and an experience I’ll definitely never forget.
This picture is actually from my friend Sahana, since at the moment he opened the Great Hall doors I started to flail around a little and tear up. It was so insane to walk in there after so long picturing what it would be like.
Me with my hand in the hand print Daniel Radcliffe left. We’ve held hands now, no big deal.
In the Gyffindor common room, where I belong. Wish it wasn’t so blurry though.
Just some of the amazing props they had inside and at the Backlot. So cool.
We also tried butterbeer, bought souvenirs, made friends with some security guards and all in all had an absolutely amazing time. So worth it
I’m feeling a little ehhh about the presentations that are the final grade for this term in English. I hate doing group presentations because they’re stressful and awkward but my group mates are alright so far and we have some pretty cool ideas so now it’s just a matter of making it work.
I cleaned my room and washed some clothes and made my bed today. Go me.
I am very close to being broke. Very close. It’s a little scary but I’m sure somehow it will work out. After all, I still have just over 6 weeks left in England.
My hair is SO LONG. Probably going to end up cutting it soon because it will start bugging me.
I did not bring nearly enough warm weather clothing. I was so focused on not being cold that I never stopped to consider that it might get warm. Awkward.
I think I don’t have anything else to say.
Playlist for this post: Sigur Ros