Sunday 27 July 2014

Double Oh Heaven


(view from atop St. Pauls)

Hiya! A very common greeting in London. Okay once again so much has happened in a week and I keep doing that thing…whats it called? I do it a lot in college? Ohhhh right procrastination. I got so much procrastinating done today! So ANYWAYS I will cut right to the chase. Last Sunday we went to Oxford which is quite a place. I cannot imagine going to school there because its like tourist season 365 days a year. Like you think random people touring campus is bad, try random people times 2000 and all foreign. How does one study!? We walked around everywhere, the places to see are endless. We ate at this little pub which was by far the best british food in the UK that I've had. The cider was not too sweet and the french fries/chips were out of this world. Perfectly crispy with a nice warm center made with love. After eating we went to the Divinity School/New School which is where the majority of Harry Potter scenes were filmed. My inner (is it really inner?) HP nerd is really coming out on the end of this trip because I have to jam pack it with so many HP things! And I'm basically living in the land where it all started so what can I say! The picture there is of the Divinity school which is where the infirmary and yule ball scenes were filmed. The camera reaaaally makes things look a lot larger than they really are, but it was still pretty excited. Overall Oxford puts every other college to shame and is basically like going to Hogwarts in real life so kind of regretting my college decision? (JK…Rowling)


Next up we had a very chill work week. Since my time here is rapidly ending (tear) they haven't given me any long term assignments to do so I've been doing little things here and there so not much to gloat about this week. Monday I saw Begin Again with my friend Sam which is a great movie, me and Mark Ruffalo are basically besties now so seeing him on the big screen was like seeing an old friend. So on Thursday one of my co-workers informed me that we ALL had Friday off this week. Probably the most exciting news ever and my opportunity to do everything I need to squeeze in. So I got to sleep in a little but not too much so I could start my day! Got up, got an epic brunch at this place called The Diner, why hello bacon we meet again. Also that place is where two girls in our program saw JUDE LAW eating there with his son. I think I should just wait all day everyday for him to arrive again. Next up I moseyed on over to the London Film Museum, with its main exhibit featuring Bond in Motion: 007 cars through the films. This was right up my alley obviously and was a really cool experience. I did the audio tour to get a little more info since I'm not a huge 007 nerd and needed some guidance, but enough of a nerd to have seen a quarter or so of the films. Definitely wish my Dad could've seen all this, so I took plenty of pictures of the cars for him. Trivia question: WHAT movie is this car from? (not the green one, other one top right) Clue: License plate will give you a hint. Dad you better get this 1. Because you love 007 and were probably a child when this movie came out and 2. You're a doctor hint hint. There was a place you could get your photo taken with a suit on and make James Bond like poses but I decided to save my money…but secretly wondered how badass I would've looked…*cue James Bond music*
My favorite cars were the ones in Die Another Day (green), and also the car Daniel Craig drove in Quantum Solace because it was the real banged up version with bullet holes and everything which made quite the effect. The car also was in the Guinness book of world records for most flips a stunt driver has ever done! I bet it was flippin' awesome. It may have been during the plot twist? My head was spinning during the footage. They really managed to turn the movie around, it came full circle. Okay I'm punny, I know.


Consequently (lol essay transitional phrase), after my jaunt through the museum I decided to do my favorite thing ever in London which is St. Pauls Cathedral. My parents took me there freshman year of college and I've been waiting to go back. I know the thoughts running through everyones mind is ohhh its a church sounds boring, but its so so much more than that! One London isn't allowed to build skyscrapers that block St. Pauls because thats how epic it is. Theres really cool history in it, like the crypts where the Duke of Wellington was buried, spiral staircase from Harry Potter where they come from Divination class, then theres the whispering gallery which is just amazing. You can walk around it in a circle and whisper into the walls and because of the dome shape you can hear people alllll the way from the other side! Its kind of creepy and being there without my parents I kept hearing the words "whiiisssppperrr" and felt like I was in a scary movie and a ghost was next to me which aint cool. So my quick decision was onto the next level which is the stone gallery. After sweating my way up 376 stairs I was relieved to have some fresh air. Wanna guess what happened 2 minutes later as I was walking around? Oh. It down poured. I'm talking A Bugs Life sized water droplets, and I'm the ant. I embraced it as usual and enjoyed London in its natural element. After my little break and literal cool down, on to the next gallery: the golden gallery aka the tippy top of St. Pauls. I did this by myself 3 years ago while my parents sat and chilled in the whispering gallery and did it in rapid speed. This time I forgot about all the spiral staircases and effort it takes. I'm not one to be afraid of heights EVER but I was getting some serious vertigo and kept telling myself to not look down…but seeing as I'm my worst enemy I did it. 527 steps later I made it to the top with no rain! Sat up there chatting with the worker for a little and joked if he enjoys hiking up all these steps everyday. Pretty sure he doesn't but he lied…in church!? Well that was my day off that ended with reading Gone Girl in a coffee shop near  where I'm staying. All in all I'd have to say it was a pretty sub-par day, mediocre if anything. (I hope you all can sense when I'm sarcastic).

Last night we all watched the first harry potter to refresh our memory for our very big day we had planned. Today we did some quick things before going to *drum roll please* WARNER BROTHER STUDIOS!* Aka Harry Potter land and where dreams come true. Must be Christmas in July or something...My roommate and I first went to Kings Cross to pre game HP with Platform 9 3/4. The people that work there are hilarious and obviously love their job. The line was pretty long but it went by relatively fast and we got our pic! After that went to Harrods, saw everything we can't afford, got some souvenirs and immediately left. Now we're just saving up some energy for the studio tour which I am BEYOND excited for. Well thats all for now, get ready for a nice long blog coming soon after this tour and my last week. Ahhhh don't let it end. Cheers! PS- the worker told me to put my leg like that, should've laid on the ground like my first idea…stay tuned friends!














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