With my hood up and lace untied.

The day had finally come...the day that I had been looking forward to since the second my plane touched down in London: Harry Potter Studio Tour! Looking forward to this tour really helped me overcome my homesickness. I needed things to look forward to. I needed to stay busy to get everything off my mind.

As JK Rowling said,

"Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."

...and on June 8, 2012 there was no room for homesick feelings because I was going home!

On this day I was indeed busy and nothing was on my mind except for magic and Harry Potter. I got up bright and early to begin getting ready. Class was only on Mondays through Thursdays so I didn't have to worry about that. I curled my hair, put on my makeup, snapped up my snazzy Azkaban-like blazer and set out the door. Careful hours of preparation were shattered in minutes when I was met by the rain on the street. My hair frizzed up in seconds and my outfit was covered by a raincoat, but I didn't care. Nothing could bring me down...I was on my way to Hogwarts!

Platform 9

My roommate, Jenn, and I hopped on the Underground down to the London Euston train station. We both squealed over the fact that our train would be on platform 9. We took loads of pictures before sitting down and waiting for its arrival. I guess we had "Harry Potter" written all over our faces when a worker came up to us on the abandoned platform.

"Are you headed to Watford? You need platform 8. Platform 9 will take you twice the amount of time to get there."

We were bummed about being demoted to platform 8, but eternally thankful to the kind worker who guided us to an express train. Platform 9's train would have taken an hour but platform 8's train got us there in roughly 20 minutes! We were thrilled! The only thing faster would have been if Ron and Harry picked us up on their broomsticks...

The rain continued to pour but our excitement never faltered. We ran off the train and right onto the decorated Harry Potter shuttle bus (a double decker, of course!). The 15 minute travel to the studio was surreal. We passed little houses that screamed "Harry Potter." I know that wasn't the intention. Maybe I was just so excited that everything seemed magical to me. It looked like I was riding down Privet Drive.

Rain, wind and smiles!

Jenn and myself.

We stepped off the bus and immediately started snapping pictures of the studio's outside. Even in the rain, we couldn't help but pose for some pictures with our hoods up!

We quickly picked up our tickets and got out of the rain. Our jaws dropped when we walked into the lobby. The lobby! I couldn't imagine my jaw ever returning to its closed position when I entered the actual tour. The lobby's walls were adorned with pictures of the cast from year one to year seven. The flying car hung over our heads, a posh Starbucks to our left and an elaborate gift shop was to our right. We went camera crazy for another 30 minutes before entering the queue. Before the tour started we even got to see Harry's cupboard under the stairs! This tour was already becoming the highlight of my trip...and it was only day 3!

Great Hall

The tour started in a theatre. They showed us a short film about how Harry Potter became a worldwide phenomenon. Tears filled my eyes watching it. I realized that I was just about see everything that made up my childhood. I realized I was just about to witness magic brought to life. After that film, they brought us to a seated theatre. We sat down in what were the most comfortable movie chairs ever. The guide joked that we better enjoy the chairs because we were about to watch all eight films. Everyone laughed in horror but I was perfectly fine with that suggestion. They started another clip and the famous trio came up on the big screen! I have to admit, I squealed like a little fangirl when Rupert came up on the screen. They stood in front of the great hall door and explained how we were about to see the many secrets behind the filming of the movies. After their speeches, they disappeared behing the great hall doors, leaving us with just an image of the door. Then, before our eyes, the movie screen began to ascend into the ceiling and right before us was the doors to the Great Hall! I'm getting goosebumps just typing it. I had chills all over my body, my jaw dropped once again and tears filled my eyes. It was a moment I will never forget. I was in complete awe and even more so when the doors opened to the Great Hall. I was walking through Hogwarts!

The rest of the tour was self-guided. I won't bore you with the details, even though I could talk about it for ages. We saw so many things and took so many pictures. I took around 600 pictures that day. In the first portion of the tour we saw scenes from the Yule Ball, the Gryffindor common room, the boys' dormitory, classrooms, Dumbledore's office, broomsticks, horcruxes, wands, green screens, the ministry of magic, countless costumes and props. I can't even list it all.

Mmm, butterbeer!

Proof: I sat where Rupert sat!

We then followed the path outside for the second portion of the tour: the outdoor portion. In this section we saw Privet Drive, the knight bus, Hogwarts bridge, the flying car, Hagrid's motorcyle, etc. Before snapping pictures with everything we bought our butterbeers! I tried butterbeer before at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. Butterbeer was awesome there but 1000x better in London! They must have changed the recipe... or I just forgot what it tasted like. I guess that's plenty of an excuse to travel back to Orlando for some more to compare! I devoured mine and contemplated buying some more. But, I resisted, took my pictures and walked into the third portion.

The third portion was back inside. This part was especially impressive. It included the many details that went into the creation of the magical creatures like the goblins, elves, giants and animals. After the creatures portion we were met by the sight of Diagon Alley. My breath was taken away once again. It was just like the Great Hall...it was just like walking into the movie! The lighting, the music and colors added to the magical ambiance. All of the fans seemed to congregate in this spot...in complete awe. We walked along the hard cobblestone road and absorbed every detail from the owls to wands to sweets to books. I was especially enamored by the cobblestone road. Don't ask why. I would guess it was because it was a permanent set. I just kept walking up and down the road and tried to comprehend all of the work that went into making these films that changed my life. Incredible. Inspirational. Impressive.

I walked off the cobblestone road and was blown away at the sight. I was in a room full of drawings and sketches. When I thought the tour couldn't get more detailed...it did. I couldn't even take pictures of everything. There were sketches to every single set. We also saw some pretty gnarly artwork that I wish I had hanging in my house!

The finale of the tour took my breath away for the final time that day. When I turned the corner, the Hogwarts castle stood in front of me with dramatic lighting and music. Wait, I'm not in the movie right now, correct? I had to remind myself. We posed for pictures and read the blurbs about the castle but a majority of my time was spent just staring at it. I wanted to soak in every moment and detail. I've said it so many times, but I'm going to throw out the word "incredible" once more.

Trying on robes in the shop!

Then the tour officially came to an end, but not before I blew some serious cash in the gift shop! After we looked at the wand store with the actors names on the boxes, I collected some goodies. I bought Ron Weasley's wand, postcards and a shirt. I spent under 100 pounds though. Impressed? You should be. But you'll lose all respect for me when you find out that I went back to the dorm that night and bought another ticket to see the tour again. :) I was getting homesick already, what can I say? I needed some more comforting home time at Hogwarts.

Rupert and I holding hands.

A much better picture! No rain!

When we walked out we were greeted by some clouds...and only clouds! The rain was gone and the sun was trying to peek through. We took advantage and got some better pictures out front before we got back on the Harry Potter bus. I was sad to head back to the train station but I knew that Hogwarts would be welcoming me home again very very soon ;)

If the city never sleeps, then that makes two.

My travel into London began with no sleep and ended with no sleep. I woke up in Charlotte at 3:00 a.m. and could not go back to sleep. I ended up on the couch and watched reruns of Friends and Boy Meets World. Nothing seemed to calm me down. I spent the rest of the day packing last-minute items and denying the fact that I was leaving for the airport in the late afternoon. I counted (and dreaded) the hours until my 6:25 p.m. flight.


Before I knew it, I was sitting in the front seat clutching my tissues while pulling into the Charlotte airport. I was a complete nervous wreck and I couldn't stop the tears at that point. I have always been scared of flying even though I've flown quite a bit before. Saying goodbye to my parents was really the toughest part. It made everything seem real. I was going to be getting on a plane to London and living there without my family for four weeks. I mustered up every ounce of courage in my body as I forced myself to walk to the gate. Talking with classmates who were on my flight really helped me, though. I was the only one who had a fear of flying so everyone was really comforting.


I finally stopped crying when we all boarded the plane. Yes, I was still nervous but everyone's excitement was starting to rub off on me. Thirty minutes passed and we still had not taken off yet. The pilot eventually came over the intercom and told us they were "finishing paperwork" and we would be in the air shortly. All right. Fair enough. Fifteen more minutes passed when we heard the pilot's voice once again. "Folks, we're going to have to deplane you all. There's a bit of a mechanical problem on the right wing that needs to be fixed." What. What. What.

This didn't ease my mind about flying, but the hours and hours of waiting sure did. I was certainly ready to get back on the plane around 10:00 p.m. My lack of sleep the night before was slowly starting to make me miserable. A few of us got some food at Chili's in the airport but all I wanted to do was get on the plane and go to sleep. The delay surely dialed down the excitement a bit.

The crew fixed the right "phalange" (and put many extra on board. Friends reference. Of course. What else did you expect from me?) and completed all of their "paperwork" and we were finally in the air for an eight hour flight. I was hoping for a smooth flight but that's not what I got. What I got was a lot of turbulence and very little sleep. I really did try to sleep through the flight but I wasn't successful. I woke up every 20 minutes and I was feeling more and more homesick the further we crossed over the Atlantic.  

After a flight like that, I had never been happier to touch down on land. We were greeted by our professor and hopped on a bus to the college. It took about an hour from Gatwick to Regent's College and that hour was surreal. It felt so bizarre to be riding on the left side of the road alongside red double decker buses. It looked just like the movies and those few London episodes of Friends. After student introductions, I was lulled to sleep for 30 minutes when we reached the freeway.


I woke up to find us at our destination - Reid Hall.  I towed in my two suitcases and was greeted by my roommate. She had arrived a few hours earlier than everyone. She took one of my bags and showed me to the staircase when I heard the dreaded words, "There's no elevator...and we're on the top floor." Lovely. Just one more damper on my challenging trip. I was grateful that she helped me lug my bags up the stairs.

Our dorm room looked pretty decent. Not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed at first. It could have been the lack of sleep affecting my mood. After I put on my sheets from home and added some pictures to my desk, it felt a little more like home. But I couldn't help that stabbing feeling of truth in my heart that it wasn't home...it wasn't home at all. I forced back my tears and met the rest of the class downstairs for our first class adventure. 

As a class, we trekked to the Underground. I was terrified of London's subway system at first. Everything around me was so fast paced. I remember thinking to myself, "Huh, this must be what a city is really like!" It couldn't have been more different from Charlotte. I felt extremely claustrophobic crammed into little trains with way too many people. But the less I thought about being under the city, the better I felt. When we stepped off the Underground and rode up the escalators, Big Ben was staring me right in the eye. I turned around and saw the London Eye right behind me. Even though I was completely miserable and homesick, I couldn't help but feel in awe of the scene in front of me. It took me a moment to catch my breath. The intricate details of everything was so incredible. There is no word that can describe it. It didn't feel real. All of the pictures I had been staring at since I was a child had suddenly come to life.



Our professor surprised us with tickets to ride the London Eye. I was wary of that at first. I had enough of being in the air for one day, do I really want to get on this thing that's in the air for 30+ minutes? No. But the magnificent scene in front of me seemed to convince me otherwise. If it was all this beautiful from the ground, imagine how amazing it would be from the Eye? I was right. It was the perfect way to see London for the first time. I'm absolutely content with my decision to hop on with everyone else, even if I did safely sit on the bench the whole time.

The group split up after the Eye. We walked the streets until we ended up at pub near Trafalgar Square. I should have been excited but I was so sleep deprived and sick that excited was the last emotion I was feeling.The lack of sleep was making me more emotional and more homesick.  I have scoliosis so my back was absolutely killing me from the past events. I had not had anything to eat on the day of my arrival and couldn't even think about eating at that pub. While everyone else dined on fish & chips and cidre, I sat at the table completely zoned out, sick, light-headed and worried about everyone's first impression of the sickly version of myself.

I was so happy to get into bed that night around 11:30 pm. Shortly after I received my initiation of dorm life. There was so much commotion and noise heard through the walls. A girl on the hall ended up getting sick all over the bathroom floor. The commotion increased when the rest of our neighbors discovered that. Shrieks and screams and yelling sent me over the edge. I hit my breaking point. I cried myself to sleep after texting my mom that I wanted to go home. What mistake had I made? What had I done? I was in a completely different country...alone. I finished searching flights to Charlotte and ended up only getting about 4 hours of sleep.

I never knew that a lack of sleep and a backache could make me want to leave London. After successfully worrying both of my parents, my arrival day finally came to an end. Everything felt backwards and far away, but unbeknownst to me my misery wouldn't last for long.

Location:London