the stories we love best live in us forever.

And that goes for cities as well.  As I sit here, crying a little bit about the thought of leaving Bath for what will be a very long time (and probably annoying all the other people in our room), I can't even begin to put into words what these past six months have done for me.  Five months and nineteen days ago, I was sitting in my room, feeling a little sick and packing up all my belongings and wondering how on earth I would survive six months abroad.  Not because I was afraid, but more because it just seemed like such a long time, and that was daunting.


Now, of course, I wish I could stay six more months.  Don't get me wrong--I'm VERY excited to get home and see everyone, but there's so much here that I will miss so much it will hurt.  The pound, tea time, Linley House, British accents, cider and black, pubs, the countryside... I could go on forever but I feel like I should stop typing so as not to be murdered by our hostelmates (we will, after all, be leaving at 2:30 am... yikes).  So, five months ago, I said this:

I still am in a state called Denial.  I can't believe I'm actually going.  Once I'm there it might hit me.  Although even then it's still likely that I think I'm dreaming.


And really, it all does feel like a dream.  The best dream I've ever had, I'd say.  Part of me still doesn't believe that it happened, that I am this lucky.  But it did, and I am.  So thank you a trillion times to everyone who made my experience what it was. 


Bath, I love you. Cheers.
-LPRO

the end of an era...

Not to be dramatic or anything... but OMG I'M SEEING HARRY POTTER AND THE END OF MY CHILDHOOD (part II) tonight.  I don't know what I will do with myself after.  Probably see it again. And again.  And again and again.  Then read the books over, and get excited for the movie to come out on DVD so I can watch all the special features.  I just want to say, right now, that I will miss the excitement and anticipation that this series has brought to my life.  It's impossible to imagine my life without these stories--I truly owe so much to JK Rowling.  Without her, I would not have spent twelve hours standing in the rain in Trafalgar Square, not been the co-captain and co-founder of the Denison Quidditch League, and probably not have wanted to be a writer of children's literature.  And so maybe have not gone to England and found Bath, a city that I love SO MUCH and cannot bear to leave. It will be so hard to step on that plane at 8:00 in the morning... So, all in all, I would be a different person I think.

THANK YOU JK ROWLING.  Like we chanted at the premiere... Thank you.

Can't wait to see the movie (just one hour and forty five minutes left!).  I will be in tears for most of it, I imagine.  PS--I'm watching part I right now, as it should be all one movie... I hope you all enjoy the film as much as I'm expecting to.

You are all the happy thoughts I have when I cast my patronus.  PS my patronus is an ostrich.  Maybe a penguin.
-LPRO

in which i stood for twelve hours

At the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II world premiere in Trafalgar Square. In the same spot.  Without a break.  We didn't even leave to go use the bathroom (it was all the way on the other side of Trafalgar Square, after all...). But I have to say... IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.  Seeing all my favorite characters at the same time was something I will not soon forget.  Nor is singing along to pick-up Potter Puppet Pals chants.  We really became a little family with the people standing around us (though we would have killed each other had we been close enough for autographs...).  I LOVED hearing all of them speak and saying how much they would miss each other, and how Hogwarts will never really die because the stories we love will live in our hearts forever.  PS I think I nearly fainted when JK Rowling arrived.  

Anyways, I will attempt to talk about something unrelated to Harry Potter--we'll see how far I get.  So, Logan and I got to Paris safely, after an extremely cheap overnight train ride, and had very nice plans to reserve tickets for the chunnel and go and see the Eiffel Tower and other touristy things.  But, as we all know, life is not that simple.  The first woman I asked about chunnel tickets, said none were available and had no clue where I could go to buy ferry tickets instead.  So we walked to a new train station, where they told us the cheapest tickets were for 440€.  Not pleasant.  So we naturally did what anyone stuck in a city with no way out and no where to stay would do: we called our mother.  At 5 am Chicago time.  

Because she is an amazing woman and can solve any situation, she somehow managed to find us tickets for much cheaper than the train station was offering.  Superwoman.  So all we had to do was print out the tickets and get to the station.  It actually turned out to be quite easy--only it took up all our seeing Paris time.  Poops.  

But we did get to London, and we made it to the apartment where we were staying with Katie, which was absolutely phenomenal.  PS we each had bought some Ben's Cookies for one another, because they are fantastic. So we sat for a while and caught up with each other, after which we went out to get some groceries and I made some stir fry for dinner.  We then woke up around 8 to get to Trafalgar Square to get wristbands (another thing I can add to the shrine... just kidding I don't have a shrine... that would be crazy...) and we met a lot of fellow crazy Harry Potter fans.  (I'm not the only one.)  Then we decided that instead of camping out, we would do some touring, and so we went to the Camden Markets.  It was AWESOME.  

Also, it was SO NICE to be able to stay with Katie.  The family she was living with was so kind and welcoming and the bed was SO comfy... God it was sad to leave.  But we will be reunited soon.  Anyways, lots of other things happened, but we eventually had to leave Katie and head out on our own.  So, on our own, we saw Much Ado About Nothing, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.  Now, let me tell you all something.  David Tennant was The Doctor.  The tenth Doctor of Doctor Who--a show I now love. Also, Catherine Tate is not only a BRILLIANT comedian (and on a recent episode of the office), but also The Doctor's companion for awhile.  So, after having spent so much time traveling with these two people, it was GREAT to see them in person, especially in a Shakespeare comedy.  Seriously--I have never found Shakespeare more enjoyable.  I wish I had it on video.  AND THEN because we each got a souvenir, we went around back after the show (the years of the Bigfork Playhouse autograph collecting finally paying off) and got their autographs.  Mine's on a mug though, so I have to find a way to have it not wash off by the time we get back... we'll see. 

Anyways, to sum up--I am extraordinarily happy and just loving life.  Although, I do wish I could stay just a little longer.  Like maybe one more semester in England.  Yes.  That would be nice.  

Love you all and don't worry--I'll see a bunch of you in a little over a week. 

Hugs from Hogwarts,
LPRO

but that was just yesterday...

HOLY MOLY!  It has been almost exactly a month since we have last spoken, blogosphere!  Rats, I have always meant to be more on top of things.. but you know, even the journaled tales have only just left Croatia... so, let´s see... prague was last? Yikes.  Since then, we have been to Vienna, where we walked around, saw a few palaces, met up with our friend Adam we met in Copenhagen, saw a classical concert in a venue smaller than the hall we had piano recitals in, and acquired some bed bugs.  Next we took a train to Croatia, and Split in specific, where we spent a day, and then took a ferry over to Korcula where we spent the next few days in a hostel called Dragan´s Den.  A hostel where we rid ourselves of the bedbugs by doing three loads of laundry that we may or may not have paid for... But it was absolutely fantastic.  We went cliff jumping (yes even Logan) and swam in the gorgeous Adriatic sea.  Next we headed to Dubrovnik, where we stayed with a wonderful woman and her family who had a gorgeous view of the Gruz bay.  We walked around the old town, went to two spectacular beaches, and had a tour of three of the surrounding islands with a captain who insisted that you couldn´t drink fanta without a little bit of brandy, even at ten in the morning (and by a little bit I mean a little bit more... yikes).  But it was fantastic.  Then we took an overnight ferry to Bari, where we learned that chairs are not so comfortable, and took a train and then two busses to find our hostel in Positano, which was absolutely gorgeous.  I´m telling you, we were going from spectacular view to spectacular view... In Positano, we took a day trip to Pompeii and then skipped over to Naples for some pizza (an experience that was not so transcendental as Eat, Pray, Love made it out to be... though that could have been because the entire town was covered in garbage...).  Then we spent a day on another amazing beach, and another day relaxing on Capri and taking a boat tour around the island.  THEN we got to Rome, where we stayed with the wonderful Susanna and were able to truly relax for a few days and just enjoy being with friends and italian food.  Truly, we were spoiled rotten with all of the amazing cuisine... grilled zucchini and zucchini flower pizza type thing... caprese salad with the most delicious tomatoes I´ve ever eaten... amazing bread... artichoke lasagne... tiramisu... kiwi and pineapple and raspberry sorbet... pasta.... ahhhhhh..... To go back...  Though I would go back just to see Susanna and all her housemates again.  Everyone was so kind and fun and funny, and we had a great time playing cards and just sitting around the table talking.  It was really one of the highlights of the trip--Logan and I were both very sad to leave Rome.  But we luckily were also able to spend the night with the Angelinis, where Livia showed us around the city and told us all about the little cars that Italian teenagers drive (they´re like smartcars but with the motor of a scooter and you can drive them when you´re fourteen).  It was so nice to be with them--Nicole even helped us figure out our travel plans.  It was great, and I even got a little teary when we said goodbye to her at the train station. 

But now we are in Barcelona, after a very long boat ride across the mediterranean.  It was rather rocky...  We´ve now been here for three nights and are leaving tomorrow night on an over night train to Paris, to avoid paying for a hostel as they are very expensive and also all booked up.  We´ve had a great time in Barcelona--we went to the beach, saw a lot of Gaudi´s architecture, made a really good friend, and were robbed.  Don´t worry--we´ll survive, they mainly took our foreign money (as in Kuna and various Kroner) and only got a few pounds.  It´s actually quite a surprising and slightly amusing story... I´ll have to tell you in person, cause you won´t believe it if I just write it down.  Let´s just say we were not pickpocketed, in the normal sense (I´m much too smart for that...).

Also, in other news, I have now booked every hostel we´ll need until we leave for home.  Sad, but I have to say, it´s kind of a relief.  Just knowing exactly where we´ll be over the next few days is great feeling (and so is knowing that I¨m going back to England).  Sometimes I feel like I canNOT wait until I get back home and can hug everyone again, and sit in the shade of the Chicago buildings and have a picnic... but tonight was not one of those nights.  Tonight was one of those nights that I wish I could be traveling forever and just keep on meeting people and seeing new things and having fun.  And the strange thing is, we didn´t really do anything that exciting.  We went to the beach, had some fun finding chorizo and cheese for our pasta tonight, only to realize that we´d forgotten to label the pasta and someone else had eaten it.  So we just used the left over pasta from last night, someone´s left over red pepper and zuchinni (I like zuchinni now!) and made one of the most delicious pasta dinners I´ve ever made myself.  It was absolutely fantastic. 

But, that doesn´t stop me from looking forward to a good turkey barbecue and corn dinner when we get back... Also, for some reason, I have been REALLY craving a root beer.  So, I don´t know if I´ll be able to post again until I get to my computer in a week (YIKES really, I¨ll be in bath in a little over a week! Shikies!), so just know that I love you all and think about you often.