Oxford and Harry Potter

This was the long corridor/cloister that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire filmed!
The Harry Potter Great Hall!!

Now that I have some time to write I want to describe last Saturday. I went on the International Student Support team's trip to Oxford. We left UH around 10:30 and got there a little after 12:00. I'd signed up without knowing who was going to be there. Luckily there was one other person I recognized, so we stuck together the whole afternoon. His name was Gordon and he was an exchange student from WVU too. I didn't know him before I came here though. It was pretty cool to get to know someone new. 

So when we got to Oxford we had about 25 minutes for a toilet break and to grab some food. We bought Panini's  to-go from a little cafe.  After grabbing our food the tour was about to start. Our tour guide took us along through the town and into some of the Colleges. . At one of the colleges we got to see where the students housing is. It was so fancy! Then we got to go into one of the regular dining rooms they use.  At Oxford the students have to wear black robes for certain occasions, such as, when they take an exam, formal dining, and for some lectures. Also for exams there is a formal uniform dress they must wear. The guys are in black suits with a white shirt and black tie (I believe), and the girls wear a white shirt, black skirt and white tie? Also when the exams are taking place the girls wear a certain color carnation on their lapel which signifies which exam year they are taking. 

Harry Potter!!

I was most interested in going to Oxford for the Harry Potter sites.   We saw where the infirmary shots were filmed, saw the windows of where they filmed the Library scenes. We couldn't go into the infirmary, because they either used as a hospital, or as a place of rest and it wasn't open to visitors. Also the Library was above the infirmary so that was out of the tour as well. Then we went into another place, and as we got to it I knew exactly from a Harry Potter movie. In The Goblet of Fire there were several scenes filmed in the cloisters/ corridors of this one building. It opens up to a pretty courtyard where they filmed as well. Warner Brothers booked that area for 3 weeks and no student or professor could use that area. However it only took them 3 days to film it. The tour guide said that the studio put a green screen on the other side of the walls, so they could piece together the Scotland backdrop with this filming. Finally we ended at the Christ Church College. This is the most famous of all the colleges in Oxford University. In here they took inspiration from the Great Hall dining room and the staircases for the Harry Potter films. Also and arial shot of Christ Church was in the movie the Saint. 

After our official tours ended we had some free time. So Gordon and I met 2 other people that didn't have a group and we went to the infamous Moo-Moo's Milkshake place. It was so amazing. I had a Kit Kat Cappuccino Milkshake. They have over 200 flavors! Basically candy bars are mixed together with vanilla ice cream into a milkshake! Then we walked around some more until 5:00 when we went to The Red Lion Pub for dinner and  Pint. The bus left around 6:30, so we had plenty of time meeting up. 

It was such a lovely day. I wish it was a bit warmer then though, but I'm glad I got to see the infamous Oxford University!

Cheers!!

School Work Overload

I have a few minutes now to post on my blog. I have been drowning in school work since the end of February. Slowly but surely I'm getting it all done. The items on my list to check off are: A group presentation today at 2pm in American History, a group presentation in my Impacts and Ethics course next Wednesday at 10am, a 2000 word essay in American History due next Friday, and finally a 1500 word essay due in my Geography of Travel and Tourism class on March 31st. After all this work is done I'll be able to go into spring break with nothing to worry about!

It has been so different getting used to how to study here, or get the work done. All of my modules had things due in March and not things due through out the semester, therefore my time management had to kick in this month.

I had to make a schedule for my courses next semester back at WVU. I'm probably going to be carrying about 18 credits plus a 1 credit MDS required intro class. So all in all I'll be taking 19 credits! I have to finish on time and this was the only way. I will definitely keep myself busy!

Well this is all for now..I have to get my act together for our group presentation in an hour.

Cheers!!

I <3 London

London is such a wonderful city. I can't believe it is just 40 mins away by train from Hatfield. I went into the city this past Saturday with 3 friends from the CU. We got the all day travel card pass, so we could use the underground..which helped immensely. The train went into Kings Cross Station, which we then took the tube to the Hyde Park Corner stop. The first item of importance was finding a McDonald's for a milkshake. We walked into the one past Harrods in Knightsbridge. I had forgotten how good milkshakes were! Their large was the size of our medium cups back in the US Mcdonald's. Then we took our milkshakes and sat on the steps of the Victoria & Albert Museum. I really liked this museum..it had a mix of everything. There was pedestrian tunnel that ended at the science museum. This museum was really neat too. The exhibits we saw were the space and the hands on part. The Science museum is a big attraction to bring school groups too. That day there were hundreds of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, which reminded me of when my troop would go to museums. After touring the museums it was lunch time. So we hopped on the tube again to hyde park..however realized not many places were around there for eating. It was to the underground again to go to Leichester Square. My friends got subway, but I'd brought my own lunch. We ate our lunch on the steps at Trafalgar Sqaure. Lunch was later around 3:00pm. We were meeting another friend at Harrods about 5pm before heading to dinner. I finally got to go to a Starbucks! Everytime I want to go into one my American friends don't want to! I had the best Latte ever!! It was so nice to sit and relax for a little while. After we met our friend at Harrods, I had the tourist photo taken of me in front of a lit up Harrods! The plan was to eat at Hard Rock Cafe. So our group made our way down there. The wait was about 2 hours! which is pretty normal for Hard Rock Cafe..however at this time it was almost 7pm! Once our name was down on the list we headed to a pub to hang out for a drink. I realized how expensive London really is, so I just had a soda. It was so fun just hanging out and getting to know my new friends from England. The whole reason I came here was to get the full England college experience. Hard Rock Cafe was really neat to see. Now I can say that I've been to one in another country. It was expensive as all get out, but still neat. There wasn't enough time to get a souvenir..I guess I'll just have to go back. We left HRC around 11pm and got to the train station with about 25 mins till the train left. Since we had so much time a game of Charades was played. I didn't get back to my room till about 1:30am! It was an awesome day in the city!

Cheers!