Last adventures: Italia!

The first leg of my Italian adventure brought me to the wonderful city of Venice. I was astounded by how beautiful the city was! The old buildings with flower boxes in every window, the canals... I was surprised by something new every time I turned a corner. My friends and I enjoyed living life at a slower pace as we wandered around the city and browsed in the little shops.

Enjoying the beauty of Venice.

The first of MANY scoops of gelato

Watching the hustle and bustle of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge

This is St. Mark's Basilica in Piazza San Marco. 

After Venice, I headed off to Florence. The atmosphere there was much more fast paced than Venice. My friends and I saw the famous church (called the Duomo), the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, and the Uffizi art gallery. We also went to the Academia art gallery where we got to see Michelangelo's David statue. It was so surreal to see it in person!

Me in front of the Duomo

Ponte Vecchio Bridge

We went to the Bobli Gardens and were able to see a beautiful view of Florence.

Last stop on my Italy trip was Rome! Rome was a very busy city, and it was so exciting to turn a corner and see ancient ruins or a beautiful, old building.

On our first day, we visited the Pantheon. 

Of course, I made a wish and threw a coin into the Trevi fountain!

Day 2 in Rome was spent at the Vatican. There was a large crowd there that day because...

The Pope spoke in front of St. Peter's Basilica! While I was pretty far away, it was still really cool to see him.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica. It was absolutely beautiful! 

I saw this painting (the School of Athens) inside the Vatican Museum. At the end of the museum, I walked into the Sistene Chapel. It was breathtaking! 

Day 3 was the Colosseum and my first sunburn of the semester! 

In addition to the Colosseum, my friends and I toured the Palatine and Roman Forum. It's incredible how many of these old buildings are still standing! 

Inside the Colosseum

I'm so glad that I decided to stay in Europe for 10 extra days to travel in Italy. I had an incredible time there, but I am so excited to be back in the United States. These four months have been so wonderful, and I'd like to thank you for following my travels on this blog!

Good Bye To Harlaxton

Day 1

Day 103

I'm sitting at my desk and I can' believe that my bags are packed to leave. It seems like these four months have flown by. Granted, I'm not going home yet. I'm going to spend 9 days in Italy before I head back to the good ole U.S.A. I'm incredibly excited to go to Venice, Florence, and Rome, but it'll also be nice to finally go home.
It's finally sinking in that I'm leaving Harlaxton and I can already tell how much I'm going to miss it. Never again will I get to live in a beautiful 19th century manor house. Never again will I wake up early to go to British Studies class. Never again will I come home from a trip to see our beautiful manor welcoming me home. That was one of my favorite things.
On my last day here, I can't help remembering January 6th when I rode up in a coach and saw the manor for the first time. It took my breath away. I still feel so lucky that, for four months, this was my home.

I've learned so much this semester. I've realized that I can be more independent than I thought I was. Before I came here, the idea of going to a foreign country and organizing all of the trip details terrified me. Yes, my friends and I have made our fair share of mistakes along the way, but that's how I made some of my favorite memories.
I'm so thankful that I was able to have this opportunity. I've made friends and memories here that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Saying goodbye to this place will be the hardest thing I've had to do in the last four months.So, the only way that I can get myself to leave is by telling myself that I'll come back here someday. No matter what, Harlaxton will have a special place in my heart.

Stay tuned to hear about my adventures in Italia!

Only one word can describe today... Magical.

This March, Warner Brothers opened its Leavesden Studios to public tours. Located close to London, this is the giant studio where the 8 Harry Potter films were made. My friends and I booked our tickets 6 months ago, and I have been so excited to see the actual sets. As late teens and 20 year olds, my friends and I grew up with the Harry Potter movies and books, and this experience was even better than I had imagined!

This doesn't look like Hogwarts!

I saw Harry's cupboard under the stairs.

In the great hall, no big deal! It's got everything except the enchanted ceiling.

Ever wonder how they filmed the quiddich scenes?

Hagrid's Hut

The Weasley Burrow

The door of the Chamber of Secrets.  It's not computerized! It actually works!

The massive statue from the Ministry of Magic.

Inside the ministry

Umbridge's INCREDIBLY pink office

Taking a ride in the flying car.

This whole experience felt very surreal. One of the coolest things was seeing the actual costumes that the actors wore. These are the costumes from the Yule Ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Hopping on the Knight Bus

The Gryffindor Boy's Dormitory 

Harry's invisibility cloak. It's green inside so that the visual effects department can make it look invisible. I had never noticed all of the designs on the outside! 

Me and the staircase to Dumbledore's office

Props from the Triwizard Tournament 

Philosopher's stone from the first movie!

Dumbledore's office. The detail on these sets was insane! Every single of the books in this office is covered in leather and has a hand written label. 

Tom Riddles diary and the Basilisk tooth

Number 4 Privet Drive!

The Hogwarts Bridge

In the creature shop we got to see everything. Goblin faces, mandrakes,  Dobby, Buckbeak, werewolves, mermaids, and dementors. Some of these were incredibly lifelike models that they filmed and then computerized later.   

Diagon Alley was one of the most incredible places. The entire street was so detailed! It really felt like I was in the movie!

I almost got teary-eyed when I saw the scale model of Hogwarts. Since we'd seen it in so many pieces, it was incredible to see the whole thing. They used this model to do exterior shots or make computerized versions of Hogwarts. 

As you can see, the model was HUGE!

The last room of the tour contained a wand box for every single cast and crew member that worked on any of the 8 films. There were thousands of them and they were all mixed together to show how everyone was equally important in making these incredible movies.