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Daily Prophet May 10, 2015

Mercury is in retrograde

Frigid. Absolutely Frigid.

The Ministry of Magic believes this group of muggles may be fully aware of the wizarding world and even seeking out our magical world for their amusement.

If you see any of these muggles wandering about, send an owl to the ministry as soon as possible.

While many of these muggles may be sporting wands, the ministry believes they are not dangerous as the wands are a hoax. Also, do not believe them if they claim to be part of a house at Hogwarts, these are also false claims.

H

MUGGLES?

HAVE YOU SEEN THESE The following series of articles is a special edition of the Daily Prophet, detailing the alleged whereabouts of this group of approximately 33 muggles, traveling from Edinburgh, Scotland to London, England.

With the help of The Daily Prophet’s own Rita Skeeter in animagus form as a beetle, we were able to track the group and even gather audio from one of the suspects.

Taylor DesOrmeau

ello readers, I am back from my latest adventure! As my faithful readers know, I go on dangerous, exciting, and unique adventures and write about them so you witches and wizards who don’t have the opportunity to experience such outrageous things in person can get a taste of what it is like. If you didn’t catch last week’s daily prophet, I spent a day in the life of a dragon keeper. You can read about it in my blog. This week I will detail my most recent adventure involved taking a sneak peek into guided vacations muggle-style!

As I know many of you don’t have much experience interacting with muggles, this particular series of articles should interest you. The trip lasted eight days; in this installment I will tell you the highlights of the first few days. Muggle transportation is really quite fascinating, yet totally slow and inefficient to say the least. To get to Edinburgh from Detroit, we flew in an airplane and it took eight hours to get there. We really should give the muggles more credit for their ingenuity because goodness knows how they got that giant piece of metal to fly without any magic, but be thankful we have portkeys my friends! Jacquie Fillmore

Harmless Fun or

Selfie Sticks: International Plague?

Justin Rabineau

On my recent trip to the UK to see and do all things Harry Potter, I saw everything from castles and cathedrals to movie sets and props. What I didn't expect to see, however, were wands used by Muggles that shoot not spells, but selfies. These wands are better known as selfie sticks. If I had just seen a few, I could have chalked it up to a silly tourist fad. Instead, I witnessed people from all over the world united by a device so narcissistic, Gilderoy Lockhart would own five.

For the uninitiated, a "selfie stick" is essentially a long metal pole with a phone attached at the end that allows the user to take a decent selfie without the hassle of actually interacting with another human being. In theory, they sound simple enough, if not slightly comical. In practice, they not only look ridiculous, but they divert the user's focus away from the sight they are there to see. People become more focused on making sure they have the perfect picture to post on Instagram -- to prove to their friends that they were at a castle that they actually didn't pay attention to.

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ondon, our capital city, inhabited by over 7 million muggles. It is they who run the city and decide what will become of it. I have decided to explore the parts of London most densely populated by our muggle counterparts, and to report back to you, The Daily Prophet Readers, on some of the curiosities they have developed.

We begin our journey on the Thames River, where the “London Eye” is located.

Do not be mistaken, the “London Eye” is not really an eye, but a circular contraption on which muggles step into large bubble-shaped compartments and travel around the outer edge of the circle for 30 minutes. It is unknown as to why they choose to do this, but I believe it is so that they might figure out directions by looking over the entire city. Or perhaps it is to escape annoying family members for some time. Hailey Zacharski

MUGGLES ENTER HOGWARTS Ashley O’Donnell

In an unprecedented event within the wizarding world a group of muggle students from Central Michigan University were given special permission via the Ministry of Magic to enter Hogwarts and step inside our world.

This reporter looked on as an awestruck mu gle group stood in front of the doors to Hogwarts and one lucky soul got to push them open. Our secrets were revealed. They walked into the great hall, felt the flagstone underneath their feet, looked up at the candles suspended in mid-air, saw the Gryffindor common room and boy’s dormitory, the potion’s classroom,

Edinburgh 4 Durham 10 Gloucester 14 Oxford 16 London 20 Food 26

and Dumbledore’s office just to name a few of the many areas they were permitted to see. Now, don’t worry, Headmistress McGonagall made sure that they did not discover all of our secrets. But, they were privy to much of our inside information. I have never seen eyes so lit up in wonder as they looked around and discovered each new and exciting aspect of Hogwarts including artifacts from the time the likes of Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, and Dumbledore’s Army roamed the ancient halls.

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EXCLUSIVE

MUGGLE COLUMN The cliché phrase for a Harry Potter fan is the quote JK Rowling used at the last movie premiere, “Whether you come back by page or by screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” To a lot of fans who grew up with Harry, this quote carries a lot of significance. For a lot of people, Harry Potter was something they were able to escape into, Harry Potter gave these people friends. I know that was true for me, especially when I first came to Central. I found a home, as cliché as it sounds, among the Harry Potter Alliance, and later the Quidditch team.

Having the ability to go to all of these places kind of made it seem like we went to Hogwarts, seeing all of the castles and cathedrals made it more real in a sense. While Harry Potter may just be a fictional tale, it carries a power greater than that. It created a lot of connections, and gave children and teens something that showed them they weren’t alone. Harry Potter exhibits the power that literature can have over people, and it’s one that many people just blow off. Stories have been, and always will be, one of the most important aspects of being human.

Amanda Shepard

. 34 Opinions 40 Higher Education 44

2 Introduction Welcome avid wizards and witches, Muggles and Magical Beasts, to a special edition of The Daily Prophet. This week, we caught wind that a class of American students from Central Michigan University, led by Dr. Joseph Michael Sommers, were headed to the United Kingdom to study, of all things, our wizarding world’s very own Harry Potter. While some of our readers, and our very own staff, may feel some reluctance towards reaching out to these Muggles, I felt that it was our sworn duty as magical journalists to invite these undergraduate and graduate students to write for us.

What follows is a collection of articles and other pieces of writing or pictures that were important to us. Rather than giving the students specific assignments, they were instead told to capture the elements of their adventure that would forever remain in their hearts. Some wrote about what they saw on their travels (and sometimes, what they wished they could unsee!) Still others wrote about tangible, edible culinary experiences that had to be tasted to be believed. Some students even tried their hand at creating their own designs for The Daily Prophet, which can be found at the end of this special edition.

What we learned over this week was that true magic doesn’t just come from wands, or from learning magical spells: it comes from sharing adventures and experiences. This is what Harry taught us all. J.K. Rowling shared his experiences with us, and in turn, we want to share our experiences travelling through the United Kingdom with you.

We want to share magic with you, dear reader. True magic.

Entertainment 3

By Kelly Lawson

Amanda Shepard

Match the chandelier with the correct location:

Edinburgh

Harry Potter Studio

London

Oxford

1.

2.

3.

4.

A labyrinth of escalators, carrying you down, down, down.

People packed like a traveler’s suitcase, bustling, hustling, masking the musky underground scent with their sweat, jostling and pushing to get to their destination.

A guitar strums, sings in the distance nearly drowned out by the chatter of hundreds of people.

A puff of hot stale air…another train speeds by, not yours, never yours, yours is always late.

The clipped, proper British voice reminds you to “Mind the gap.”

A savory, meaty smell of the pasty someone’s eating for dinner makes your stomach gurgle.

The shrill ring of a phone cuts through the din, sighs of irritation ripple through the crowd.

A ghastly, deathly smell overpowers the station from the overflowing rubbish bin nearby, reminding you of the fertilized cornfields in Michigan.

You sigh. Glance at your watch. Shift your weight.

Suddenly the clack of the trains wheels drown out the sounds of station.

The train is here.

4 Edinburgh, Scotland Alyssa Shepard

Everybody knows where the Happiest Place on Earth is (Magic Kingdom at Disney World, for those who actually didn’t know). It wasn’t until recently that I realized there was a Friendliest Place on Earth – and I’m pretty sure that place is Scotland.

I first visited Edinburgh in 2013, when I spent a month studying abroad in Stirling, Scotland. I distinctly remember huffing and puffing my way up the hilly streets, mar-

veling at a place that is so flawlessly old, but so flawlessly modern at the same time. I loved wandering the twisting and turning streets of Old Edinburgh, and then finding my way in the neat blocks of New Edinburgh.

It felt like a city that offered everything, and I just wanted to spend my time exploring everything it contained.

This city does not disappoint, both in its adventure, and its people.

Every Scottish person I had the pleasure of interacting with was so excited to talk with me and help me along my journey. The people make Scotland feel like a home away from home. These kinds of interactions

don’t happen everywhere, as I was to find out when we traveled down into England. It was refreshing to be able to once again experience the kind of open and honest friendliness that the Scots had to offer.

As soon as we left Scotland, I realized how truly friendly the Scots were. Once we got into England, I could almost physically feel the pompous rigidness in the air. It wasn’t that the English weren’t friendly – they were friendly, but it did not feel like an honest friendship. They were friendly, but only because they were too nice not to be. England is definitely a nice place, but Scotland will always feel more like home.

Edinburgh, Scotland 5 Jordan Moore

Warning: This is rather not a children’s story, as it includes burning/ drowning witches.

Edinburgh in the late 1500s was a wonderful place. That is, it was a wonderful place if you ignored the drowning and burning of hundreds of women accused of witchery. During that time period, women could be accused of being a witch for any reason at all! Did the people of your village get sick?

Were you combining herbs as a salve for a sick child? Did your town well dry up? Well then, you must be a witch.

Accusing women of witchery would have been a relatively harmless pastime if the women had been left alone after the accusation. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and being accused of witchcraft was akin to getting sentenced to death.

If you were accused of being a witch, the first thing the village would do is ask you if, in fact, you are a witch.

Of course you, as any person in their right brain would do, reply that you are not. The village people don’t believe you, however, since you are a woman and are thus probably a liar. So, they lead you to the side of the Nor Loch, tie your hands to your feet, and promptly push you into the water. If you drown, you are determined free of guilt and everyone admits you must not have been a witch after all.

If you float to the top of the water, which is only possibly through some sort of sorcery, you are obviously a witch. Let’s assume that you float. The village people pull you back out of the water, cut the ropes binding you, and ask you again, “are you a witch?” The

correct answer to this question is yes.

This is because, if you agree to your accusations now, the mob will rush you and you will have a quick death. If you, again, deny the accusation, the village people march you up to the castle and burn you at the stake, making death both painful and drawn out. And the kicker? Your own family has to pay for the wood used.

This horrible fate came to any woman accused of witchcraft. Long after the witch hunts ended, the Loch Noir dried

up and became the valley seen in Scotland today. As the Loch emptied, hundreds of bones of women who had been drowned were found in the bottom of the valley. Now, there is a fountain called the witches well set into the west wall of the Tartan Weaving Mill that has been dedicated to the hundreds of the women killed in the witch-hunts of 16th century Scotland.

6 Edinburgh, Scotland Kelly Lawson

Our first day in Edinburgh started off gloomy, but by the time we were ready to hike Arthur’s Seat, the skies were a beautiful shade of blue dotted with wispy clouds. Arthur’s Seat is part of an extinct volcano that makes for a great hiking experience! It seemed many people had this idea, and the path was quite crowded. I was grateful to have my hiking shoes, hat, gloves, and a hooded windbreaker. The breathtaking sights of the city, country, and sea were a distraction from watching my footing; pictures don’t do it justice.

The path was made of uneven slabs rolling mounds of earth covered in of stone, steep slopes, and jagged emerald grass, and be thankful. rocks; combined with the blast of wind I worried about the possibility of a sprained ankle or a tumble.

We made it to Salisbury Crags, where the wind whipped violently, making us cautious to proceed to the top of Arthur’s Seat. The views were astounding, and the only sound to be heard was the raging wind. The wind rumbled and roared past my cheeks, and my clothes became vacuumsealed against my body. Each step was hard work as I made my steps mindful and deliberate. The wind moved me several feet off course, and every now and then I felt I needed to plop down to keep the wind from carrying me over edge. Despite the struggle with the wind, this was a very meditative and therapeutic place. A perfect place to clear your mind, focus on the feel and sound of the howling wind, notice the gentle

Edinburgh, Scotland 7 thought. At the base of the hike up, we found that the “stairs” we had been told we could climb, were actually just roughly-hewn stone Samantha Miller steps assembled into what could only most generously be described as stairs. Feeling the spirit of adAt the edge of Edinburgh, Scot- venture, we started up. It did not land lies a sprawling nature park take very long before my legs were with all of the hills and cliffs you wondering what I was thinking picture when you think of the Scottish highlands. It’s a lovely escape from the bustle of the city and it begs to be explored. Ask anyone who’s familiar with the park and they’ll tell you the thing to do is hike up to a formation called Arthur’s Seat. There seems to be a bit of confusion amongst people as to how lengthy or strenuous the hike is. Our guide for the week called it a “fifteen minute walk” but when we reached the edge of the park, we realized the “hill” was, in fact, just shy of “mountain.” As we contemplated whether we should try the hike, a local man came by and, when we asked how long it would take he said “it’s longer than it looks.” This was impressive, as it already looked like it would take at least an hour and the people we could see near the top looked like ants.

Evidently our helpful local could see the fear on our faces and since I very rarely exercise. As we told us, through laughter, that the got higher, the winds of the highhike was “good fun.” We should lands showed us just why people have known by his laughter that he talk about them so much. As a girl knew something we didn’t. We de- from the Chicago area, those winds cided to try the hike and set off into made me wonder why we ever call the park, each step getting windier my hometown the “Windy City.”

When we got to a flat bit of and revealing the mountain to be taller than we had even originally land so far up that the wind felt like it could knock me over at any mo-

ment and I wasn’t sure how much farther my legs would carry me, we looked up and realized we had a good bit more climbing to go to reach Arthur’s seat. When I turned around, however, I was met with a gorgeous view of the whole city of Edinburgh. I could see clear to the sea and all across the city. It was breath-taking (though I hadn’t much breath left to take) and aweinspiring. That was enough for me.

My partners and I were contented that we had reached what we affectionately dubbed “Arthur’s Footstool” and we stood and admired the view until we were too cold and wind-blown to admire it any longer.

Then came the treacherous climb back down the stone “stairs,” which got tricky when other groups passed us going up, and the satisfying feeling of standing on warm, solid ground again.

All in all, an attempt at climbing to Arthur’s Seat is a mustdo on a visit to Edinburgh. There’s something wonderfully adventurous about finding the best foot-holds in each steep stone step, the wind blowing at your back. The view is well worth the sore legs and fifteenminute battle to remove the knots from your hair that will inevitably follow. I have no doubt that people more active than I am will be able to make it past the footstool; we saw plenty of people doing it. Even for those who aren’t fit, it’s worth the struggle. My advice: dress warm, bring water, rest if you need to, and, if your hair is longer than three-inches, find a way to contain it or risk being whipped in the eye.

8 Edinburgh, Scotland

Emie Reed I’m not an expert, but I would say that feelings about cobblestone probably normally range from nonexistent to mild. For some, especially those living in Europe apparently, it may just seem like a part of life and something that is fairly common. For me, cobblestone is something that I come by a little less frequently, as in the United States we tend to favor cement. We literally call big cities concrete jungles. How interesting. Before this trip, I too never really had a thought about cobblestone. I heard my sister say that the cobblestone was hard on her shoes while she was in Spain.

Like most of the complaining she

Pictured: Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland

does, I tuned it out. Now, I actually do have some feelings on the matter and they are conflicting.

I’ve also done some research on the subject, and cobblestones are often confused with setts. Cobblestones are round and less uniform, while setts are quarried, so they have a block shape. I will be talking about both, but I like the word cobblestone better and that discovery ruined my day.

My first thoughts about cobblestone were that it felt like I was walking on history. It’s clear when you’re walking on a stone tile or cement sidewalk and step out to cross a cobblestone street. Some pathways are completely made from cobblestone and you’re bound to run into some if you enter a castle. I couldn’t stop thinking about how many people had walked on the same stones as I was, which is a question that I will never have an answer to.

Some of these walkways could be a hundred years old, while in some parts they could be much older.

Setts started to be used after cobblestone and sometimes to replace it in the 19 th century, so that’s typically a hint that they were laid later. However, they are not widely used today, so even setts may be quite old.

In the United States, cities are much younger, so neither material is common. Older cities in the U.S. may have been paved with cobblestones or setts, but many, if not most, have been repaved with asphalt. In some places (especially in Europe) they are still used for paving streets to this day, like in Edinburgh. Cobblestones look

nice, but they are also used for practical reasons. Horses could get a much better grip on cobblestone than a flat surface and they didn’t get ruts or divots like dirt roads would. Today, as in the past, cobblestone is much noisier than flat pavement, so pedestrians will be able to hear approaching vehicles.

The history, practicality, and look of cobblestones led me to love them, but walking on them almost makes me want to change my mind. While walking around the United Kingdom, you are most likely going to run into cobblestones in some form every day.

They also have to be repaired by hand and mortar wears down before stone does, which means there are lots of nooks and crannies for you feet to get stuck in. Wear the appropriate shoes. Heels are for the experienced and non-clumsy only. I thought I might break my ankle a couple of times while wearing tennis shoes. It’s dangerous out there; you’re warned.

Edinburgh, Scotland 9

Emileigh Stoll I had flown on a plane twice before our trip to the United Kingdom; once to New York City, and the other to Denver. The little trips I had been before did not give me an accurate feel for what I perceived as jetlag. Our flight to Amsterdam, immediately followed by our connecting flight to Edinburgh, left me in this conscious daze that would serve as one of the things on this trip that I had never experienced before.

After placing our belongings in the hostel, we were given the only two things a traveller really needs: a map, and some free time. This unstructured exploration led us to dragging our heels excitedly around Edinburgh; an entertaining combination of introducing ourselves to the city while also trying to beat jetlag.

In a feeble attempt to stay awake, my roommates and I slumped into this Internet café with the intention of recharging on caffeine. In comparison to the busy streets, it was refreshing to find ourselves the only customers in a cozy setting. This Internet café also marks our first food experience of the United Kingdom. I recall ordering a cranberry and Brie Panini with a mocha. Let me start off by saying- the UK does coffee right. It tastes natural without any unnecessary sugar, and appears before you as a piece of art. There is something so refreshing about ditching the to-go cup, sitting and catching up with friends all the while drinking coffee that actually tastes

like coffee. The Panini also made me aware of how the UK captures flavor without any excessive add-ons.

There were two items on my sandwich, and I’m happy enough to say it was delightful to the picky American. Since this item could be found on café menus around the country, I’m also happy to say it was all but my last cranberry and brie Panini

(except the one I ordered two days later with bacon…Note to future self: bacon= ham, not bacon).

Since this was our first day in the city, as well as the first day of the trip, we left the café and started walking around without intent. We did not even know what we were

looking for, but I would come to find that the best adventures come by getting lost. In a rare moment of unison thought, my friends and I became fixated on a Salvation Army sign a little ways down the road. Any energy that we may have lost from jetlag was recaptured for the next two hours as we hit five different thrift shops in Edinburgh. My three friends were able to find very nice pea coats, all for less than five pounds each! My thrifty treasure came to be this necklace of a compass that I acquired for two pounds.

If I would have known how much the souvenir shops and restaurants would be throughout the trip, I probably would have bought all my souvenirs in the stores we visited our first hours in Edinburgh. As a group of dedicated thrifters in the States as well, my friends and I could not help but notice that the quality of the items being sold surpassed what we were used to back home. It was this rare instance of higher quality, but same low price. I remember us going so far out of the city that we were no longer located on the map we were given, but we would not go back until we were satisfied, savvy shoppers.

In the hours after we thrifted, we visited many beautiful sites and snagged photographs to our heart’s content. As the night dragged on, I finally lost my battle to jetlag after falling asleep at our table at dinner.

Related photographs of this incident will not be included to spare my embarrassment. But even after all the photographs, I can reassure that I will vividly remember my friends and I running through Edinburgh still doing what we do best- thrifting.

10 Durham, England Lisa Volmering

Curiously, while climbing up the stairs was much more physically taxing, climbing down them was far more frightening. The narrow, curving steps were very steep and I had to step down them with careful precision to not lose my footing and tumble down them. I clutched the handrail and tried to breathe evenly as I descended, taking my time and several breaks to keep my wits about me. Unlike when I had gone up, I didn’t meet a single person going down. It was a bit of a relief to not have to shuffle against the wall and try to sneak by another person. However, the silence broken only by echoes of my breathing and shuffling footsteps had started to make the hairs on the back of my neck rise. My senses were picking up everything; the faintest shadow from a light up ahead could make me flinch.

When I reached one particularly large landing, I noticed there was a door with glass windows showing a long shadowy corridor. I took a picture of it, but as I stared through the door I could almost feel like something was going to jump out of the emptiness, and I began descending once again even faster than before.

Finally I reached the end of the narrow steps and made it back to the hallway that led to the wide steps. I breathed a sigh of relief as my tension fell away. The hallway was warm colored, with bright wooden flooring and a nice bench to rest on. I rested here for a moment or two to catch my breath and enjoy being in the tower. The climb down was feeling like it was taking longer than the climb up, but I had no rea-

son at that time to try and hurry down.

Oh how little I knew.

Gathering up my belongings, I began the final staircase with slow steady steps. After a third of the way down, I heard a loud clattering below followed by a creak and a thunk. I paused as silence descended once again. Something was wrong, and thoughts back to the creepy hallway and echoing stairs had

me racing down the final set of steps only to stop dead as I reached pitch black darkness.

Not a single light illuminated the exit, or where I thought it was. My wits that I had gathered so closely had deserted me for an instant and I felt my heart race as I desperately tried to figure out how I was going to get out.

Shaking, I decided to get as close to the door as I could and see if I could knock on it loud enough to get someone to hear and eventually let me out. The final few steps were invisible to me, so I dragged my foot across each one to feel the drop off that would let me know when to step down. There were only four steps, but they took longer to go down than the last few dozen had taken.

The pale light of my cellphone barely lit up anything in my view, but I was able to look more closely at the metal on the door. I wondered, as I struggled to keep my phone from dimming and turning off again, if I would be able to open the door from the inside. I fiddled with the metal pieces for a minute and found a metal lever that lifted up. Hope of getting free stirred inside of me, and I tried to push the door. It didn’t open.

However, I kept the metal lever up and pulled inwards; the door opened!

With shaky legs, I stepped out of the darkness and into the well-lit cathedral. Three nuns were standing at the table in front of the entrance to the tower; they were concerned and alarmed that they had accidently locked me in.

Somehow their tally of how many people who had gone up had gone wrong and they had missed the fact that someone was still in there. I also discovered that the reason that I had not met anyone while descended was because the tower had been closed right after I had gone up it due to the wind. After a few shaky laughs at the situation, I told them that it had turned out all right and I had come to no harm. Before I walked away, one of the nuns handed me a sticker that I very much deserved.

I can truly say that I’ve climbed Durham Cathedral Tower.

Durham, England 11

Shannon Draper Let me just tell you, if there was any place that I thought was so beautiful that I would suggest anyone to go see it, it would be this. The Durham cathedral almost had me in tears from how gorgeous it was. Not to mention it had a lot of significance for Harry Potter! When we waked into the cathedral I really thought it was just going to be another church, but I had never seen a church like this before. Everything was so detailed and beautiful. I honestly think you could walk around that entire place for an hour and still not see everything there is to see. I had so much fun at the cathedral walking around in the cloister, where some of the harry potter films were actually filmed!

However, I must say the best part of the Durham cathedral was getting to climb up all 325 steps of the one tower to go on top of the building. Climbing those steps was quite an adventure in itself because the higher you went up the smaller the stairs became and it was very difficult to get up while people were also coming down the stairs. However, once we made it to the top of the tower, you cannot imagine the gust of wind that hit my face. I’ve never felt wind so strong in my entire life.

My glasses almost flew off my face!! I had to take them off and put them in my purse. However, the view was incredible! On a really sunny nice day, I imagine that the pictures from there would be marvelous. Unfortu-

Pictured: Durham Castle, Durham, England nately, it was rainy and damp on the day we went up there. Nonetheless, that is one of the cooler experiences I have ever had in my life.

The rush that I got from being up there was so intense, and also feeling the wind basically pushing me over.

It made for some pretty awesome pictures. Furthermore we also went to the Durham Castle that is just next door to the Cathedral. Not unlike the Cathedral, the Durham Castle was amazing, and beautiful. This was what I pictured in my head when we talked of castles. It had everything from the courtyard, to the amazing old brick structures, to a great hall. Our tour guide was great, and she made the whole experience even better. When I learned that the castle duals as a university and also as a hotel, and a place for weddings and gatherings, I first thought: why can’t I go to school in a castle? Secondly, I thought: I am totally going to get married here!

When she took us into the castle and started to show us around I instantly wanted to live there. She showed us the kitchen that was still in use and still had all the old framework of the original kitchen. She also showed us the great hall and told us some fun facts about how things are run there. She also told us about the leaning black staircase that is slowly starting to fall down because it doesn’t have any support beams underneath. The coolest part was easily the old worship center underneath the building that was blocked off and later found. It was so cool to see all the stories that were written into the drawings on the beams, and being able to see something that old that was still intact was earth shattering.

Durham was probably my favorite day. I enjoyed everything about Durham and all that we did there.

There was not a single disappointing thing and if I ever get a chance to go back to England, I will definitely be visiting Durham.

12 Durham, England Jacquie Fillmore On the third day of my muggle adventure, I traveled to Durham with my group of muggles to visit the Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle. The cathedral was very beautiful inside, not much different than our own historic cathedrals. However, this one impressed me simply because muggles built the entire thing without magic. It took them much longer to build it than it would have taken wizards to build a similar structure, but it was no less impressive. The

tower was 325 steps tall, and almost the entire building was made of stone, so I’m sure the muggles had quite a job of building it.

After the cathedral I visited the castle. Unlike the cathedral, witches and wizards did help build the castle, which is why certain parts of the castle were hidden until many years after it was built. However, the last wizards who lived in the castle left hundreds of years ago, so the castle is now used by muggles as a university.

Of particular interest was the black staircase. Muggles built the staircase into the wall without any supports. As they later discovered, the staircase was too heavy to hold

itself up, so supports were added to ensure the staircase didn’t collapse.

Not entirely trusting the muggle architecture, the wizards living there at the time reinforced the support beams with strengthening charms to ensure the stability of the staircase.

Muggles today still avoid the staircase because they don’t know about the magical reinforcement. Unfortunately for muggles, building and maintaining structures is much more difficult without magic. As far as what the students at the university learn, I’m not sure. Hopefully some of them are studying architecture so they can build better staircases.

Durham, England 13

Marisa Enos While abroad in the United Kingdom I was able to go on many adventures in several different towns. One of the most memorable town explorations was in Durham. While in Durham, I had the opportunity to have a spiritual experience in the above the town and help build the Durham Cathedral.

Walking up the uneven cobblestone streets of Durham I am greeted with many store fronts--from bars to tea shops--all with their own unique names. Winding up and up the streets we eventually finish our hike with a view of the Durham Cathedral. Inside the cathedral is really beautiful, but the most breathtaking part of it was being able to be on the roof of the cathedral tower. In order to get to the roof we had to climb up a cramped spiral stone staircase. It was a pretty terrible experience getting to the top, but it was completely worth it for the view we had. Atop the tower we could see all of Durham--from the little town to the rolling plains and hilltops to the winding river. Being up that high and feeling the insane wind gusts looking over the view was easily the most spiritual experience I ever had in a church setting. After climbing back down the death stairs we went to leave and we were given a sticker. A cherry on top of the perfect experience.

After this we went down to the gift shop. Outside of the gift shop was a

lego replica of the Durham Cathedral.

For one pound visitors were able to place one Lego brick on the model. I was the lucky one who was able to finish one part of the model and because the piece was smaller than average, I was able to start the next one! But this is not the most exciting part--I re-

ceived a sticker! What a great place! I quickly learned that stickers are Durham’s way of validating experiences. I decided that these were important artifacts of the trip so I mailed them back to myself as a reminder that those experiences actually happened.

14 Gloucester, England Melissa Woloszyk Gloucester cathedral was the most memorable cathedral of the trip. After going to so many cathedrals, they start to blur, but

cloisters, where the actual filming was done. Emileigh and I recreated some of the scenes from the movies, and it was so much fun!

We were able to see the wall where the Chamber of Secrets message was written in blood, the pillar that Ron and Harry hid behind, and the place where Severus and Draco shared a scene. I could have walked the cloister for hours

over that. I also found out that our tour guide has met Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston. When she met Tom Hiddleston, she did not know who he was! He asked her for something and she said, “Sorry dear, but who are you?” That is my favorite story to tell about Gloucester.

This was a Harry Potter trip, but we were also able to see so many places where other literature and movies occurred!

Rosemary Schick

Pictured: Gloucester Cathedral hallways, Gloucester, England not this one. Gloucester allowed the class the chance to see Hogwarts; it gave us the chance to actually step inside Harry Potter’s world. This was because some of the Harry Potter film scenes were done there. I kept asking myself how I could be standing in the same spot that my idols once were. We spent most of the time at the cathedral in the

and been content. The area was beautiful and I felt so happy there.

Our tour guide took us down to the crypts after, which were dark and cold. The coolest part about the crypts was that an episode of Sherlock was filmed there!

I love Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch so I fangirled

On the day we visited Gloucester Cathedral, it was the most gorgeous day outside, with the sun shining, and the sky was a bright blue. We spent most of that day on a bus. The cathedral was so amazing and beautiful, and it was used in the films, which was so exciting. The tour we took was one of my favorites, as the lady knew so much knowledge of the movie scenes that were filmed there, and made it so interesting.

Plus, it helped that she had met Tom Hiddleston and revealed that Benedict Cumberbatch had filmed for Sherlock. I can only remember amazing things from that cathedral. The history lessons we got along with the tour made it even more interesting, since that is history that America doesn’t really cover in the World History classes.

Gloucester, England 15 Emie Reed The following day, we visited Gloucester Cathedral, so I had high hopes. This Cathedral is stunning as well, but in a different way than Durham’s. Gloucester Cathedral is Gothic style, but is a light, almost white color, so it isn’t so gloomy looking. We also had a nicer, brighter day, so these feelings may also have something to do with the weather. Even though I had my hopes up, I was not disappointed with the Cathedral. There is a great deal of detail in all parts of the church, from the ceilings to the walls, and the cloisters all have stained glass inside. Quite a few scenes were filmed inside the cloisters, including the Fat Lady and the entrance to the Gryffindor common room and the troll entering the girls’ bathroom in The Sorcerer’s Stone and the bloody messages written by the heir of Slytherin (we even got to peek out from behind the same pillar as Harry and Ron) and the spiders crawling to the forest in The Chamber of Secrets.

Although I was excited to see the filming locations for Harry Potter, I enjoyed learning about the history of the Cathedrals. I learned that cloisters were a place for monks to meditate and study; they were covered and somewhat protected from the elements, but the openness provided light that would not have been available

Pictured: Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester, England inside the church. Simply walking around them in the quiet while surrounded by beautiful architecture was so relaxing and calming.

Visiting these two Cathedrals

showed me that churches aren’t necessarily boring, so next time I take a trip I might be a little more excited to visit a nearby church.

16 Oxford, England Sara Gomez-Perez

I truly was not prepared for Oxford. I knew I wanted to attend an Oxford college for some part (or the completion) of the path to becoming an expert in the English Literature, Language, and Writing field… but it had always been a long desired fantasy of mine. I had never thought I would set foot upon the grounds of an Oxford college. To no surprise, I felt at home as I followed our tour. My favorite part of the college was the little faces carved into the side of the building in remembrance of several authors that had attended Oxford. I made sure to take several pictures of them, hoping that someday the faces of my characters can join them. I loved seeing the rooms where CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and Lewis Carroll walked and taught in as well; I could definitely see where they drew inspirations for their stories.

Following our tour, we were allowed to explore Oxford on our own, and the first place I headed to was the market. It was the place where I did the majority of my souvenir shopping. The market reminded me of the Mercado in San Antonio, Texas, and I was happy to find out that the mannerisms in Texas were akin to the ones in Oxford. Shopkeepers liked haggling, as long as you were polite when presenting a price, and they were also welcoming, answering your questions and directing you to other

Pictured: Oxford University, Oxford, England shops if you were looking for something in particular. In a tea shop, I found selections of tea for my dad that had pictures of Peter Rabbit; in a prayer shop, I found a rosary for my mom; in a peacock themed shop, I found a big patterned scarf for my boyfriend because Ed Sheeran had mentioned “manly men” wear them at his last concert; and for myself, I found Anna and Elsa handmade and hand-painted cake toppers from Germany (my roommate, whose family is from Germany, always raved about their extravagant cake toppers), which I thought would be perfect for my 20th birthday.

As I was purchasing them, the shopkeeper saw my phone case, which is decorated with Sailor

Moon characters, and asked how I felt about the idea of Frozen being copied from an episode of Sailor Moon (in their episode, a princess who had ice powers was rejected and saved by the love of her sister).

I couldn’t decide what I was delighted about more: someone recognized Sailor Moon in England and shared an avid love for it or that they shared the passion I did that the idea of Frozen had been done in Japan before in the US and Disney did not give the Sailor Moon animators any credit! Finally, to end my epic day in Oxford, I bought a sweatshirt that had the crest of Oxford and wore it to The Crown, a pub where allegedly Shakespeare frequently visited, and ordered fish and chips.

Oxford, England 17 Alison Reed

lunch that a group of us had from a little meat pie shop was simply fantastic. I had Spanish chorizo in a flaky, buttery bread. My mouth is

Pictured: Bodelian Library, Oxford, England In America, I feel that is part of our ideology to want everything new and improved, but the Covered Market in Oxford is a wonderful example of the importance of preserving the past and how it can be beautiful. The market was first opened in the 1700s, which gave me the chills when walking through it.

It could have been torn down ages ago to put in a modern shopping mall, but instead the people conserved it and now it is a unique part of Oxford’s history and present.

The shops in the market function perfectly and offer an array of objects, foods, and things. The

watering just remembering it. Then Emie, Kelly and I ate some of the prettiest and most delicious cupcakes I think exist. If those foods were at the begin of year feast at Hogwarts, I understand why Crabe and Goyle are overweight. I would be the size of house because I would eat them all day every day with no regrets. The Covered Market is an experience that should be relished because to my knowledge there is not anything like it in the United States. I can buy pretzels at a mall that was built in the 1960’s, but it just does not have the same effect.

Maegan Wallaker

Perhaps one of my favorite people we met on the trip was Hussian, the food truck man. The first night that we were in Oxford, we ventured down town. When we arrived at the giant statue, we ran into Wigard. He had gotten food from a food truck back down the street, and encouraged all of us to go. It was a group of about 11 of us, so we figured it would be easier to eat at a food truck then to try and find a table for all of us at a restaurant.

We made an excellent choice. While the food itself was amazing, it being my first falafel, there was something else that made it such a wonderful experience. Hussian was such a gentleman. He called every single one of us princess, or beautiful. He genuinely seemed to enjoy his job, and loved interacting with us.

Many of us were still feeling the jetlag, and the others were just sleepy after a long day, and hearing him say such sweet things was exactly what we needed.

18 Oxford, England Lizz Jackson

Our hotel was only about five stops away from the bus stop downtown. On our bus ride back from dinner, I could tell Vince was thinking about something, and by time we got to the third stop I figured out just what it was. He turned to me and asked: “I wonder how long the bus route is past our stop…” I could tell immediately that he had brainstormed an idea to answer his inquiry. My initial reaction in my head was “Why would I want to spend my time riding around on a bus for the night?” Then, I thought about what else I had planned for the night: absolutely nothing. We would at least get to see some more of Oxford, and we had our snacks from Tesco to enjoy on the ride. We agreed then that we weren’t going to get off the bus until it looped back around to our stop again. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?

The stop after our hotel was not far away, and was surrounded by a couple grocery stores and some restaurants. The next stop was less busy, but there were still some stores and businesses around.

When we got to the third stop, we noticed we were now in a town called Kidlington, if you can even call it a town. There was now very few stores around, and Vince and I were starting to get skeptical of how long we were actually going to be on this bus for. As we continued to stop after stop, the town started to disappear, and we could tell we were now in the outskirts of the town.

Vince and I kept waiting for the bus to make right turns, so we could at least get the sense that we were heading in a circle and going back towards where we came from. There seemed to be no pattern to the way the bus was turning, and this made us even more skeptical. Final-

ly, we approached a roundabout. We got excited, thinking this surely must be where we turn back the other way and start to come full circle. Once, again, we were disappointed. The stops continued to get more rural and less populated. Finally, after another five minutes, we approached another roundabout.

We thought this HAD to be where we turned around. Nope, another left.

Vince and I were sitting in the front row on the top floor of the bus, and after the third straight residential stop we looked behind us and noticed there was no one left up there. We didn’t think too much of it though, we just assumed there weren’t many people who were getting dropped off in a neighborhood at 10PM on a weeknight. However, after a person got off at another residential stop, the bus driver killed the engine. In that moment I felt my stomach drop and Vince and I just started at each other speechless. We made our way down to the main floor of the bus, which we then noticed was also empty. At this point I thought we had

really messed up. My first thought was that the bus was done running for the night and they were going to force us to get off here in the middle of nowhere so they could go park it. After talking to the bus driver and telling him that we missed our stop (not entirely false) and telling him that we needed to get back to Summtertown his response was “Well, you guys are going to be in for a long night.”

He then explained to us that the bus wasn’t done running for the night (thank god), but that he had to take a 10 minute break before starting the next loop. At this point Vince and I just made some small talk with him to pass the time, since we were going to be sitting there for a while. After going over the basics (where we were from, why we were visiting, etc.), Vince then asked him if he followed any football teams (of course). When he said he was an Arsenal fan Vince’s face immediately lit up, and I knew we were going to have no problem holding a conversation with him for the rest of our ride.

We found out that the bus driver, Dennis, became an Arsenal fan when he helped build Arsenal’s old stadium, which Vince was even more blown away by.

After passing the time with lots of talk about soccer, Dennis said it was time for him to start the next loop, but invited us to sit in the two seats nearest the driver so we could still continue conversing with him. As he drove the route Dennis gave us a little tour of Oxford, pointing out where local celebrities (mostly authors) lived, the best restaurants, etc. which was cool because we got to see park of Oxford from their point of view and not as a tourist. Less than 15 minutes later we made it back to the hotel. Although it’s safe to say our bus ride didn’t turn out as planned, it certainly could’ve been much, much worse.

Oxford, England 19 Emileigh St oll

When I first came to Central, I was not quite sure what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The only reason I was somewhat alright with this was because my grandmother said that she had the same problem at the age of fifty-nine.

With this wisdom in mind, I began taking classes for a possible neuroscience major. I sometimes wonder if it was not for the Honors program that I might have stayed on this path. It is important that I made a switch (that all students make this switch), when students have a sudden realization that they do not like what they are doing. I was doing fine in all of my classes, but I disliked the materials and the kind of jobs it might guide me towards in my time after college.

Now that I knew what I did not like, I was kind of uncertain of what I did like. I tried to evaluate where I was at- in school and in life. The greatest joy that I found at college was the experiences that I had been a part of in the Honors program- whether that be an interesting class, any of the many social events that the program puts on, and of course, the PDP. It never crossed my mind to think that being involved in a program like this is actually a profession! From that point on, I’ve been passionate and committed to the field of higher education.

Needless to say, when we were visiting Oxford University, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. This was not only a practical application of Harry Potter inspired locations, but a location that inspired me personally.

We had an exceptional tour guide that was well prepared to answer my many questions. Some of my questions were geared towards dormitories, which was much more of a complex answer

than I was anticipating. It turns out that Oxford University is actually comprised of 38 different colleges. Students do not apply directly to the University, but to the different colleges within the University. Therefore, a student may have several interviews to different college within the University. Students can live within their colleges of varying size, until they relocate off-campus. The colleges are not subject specific, but students are encouraged to meet with the different colleges to get a feel for where they fit in the best.

The major college that we toured was

Pictured: Oxford University, Oxford, England Christ Church College, where Harry and Ron had adventures in their flying car, as well as their first walk to the Great Hall. The dormitories were spread out around the college, some in a square around a large green and others stacked near our initial entrance. I was pleased to find out that Lewis Carroll was a student at Christ Church, and even wrote the tale of Alice in Wonderland after his adventures babysitting the dean’s daughters.

We spent some time wandering the grounds, and ended up in the beautiful cathedral. It was here that our tour guide described the intense interviews that come along with an acceptance let-

ter to Oxford. She told a story of her family friend, who had an interview with Christ Church College. In this interview, her friend walked into a room where there were three places to sit: a milking stool, a regular table chair, and a studded-leather chair. The adjudicators politely instructed her to take a seat. The rest of the interview consisted of the applicant describing their mental process how they chose which chair to sit in.

After this story, I spent some time reflecting on the educational system in the United States. I first started thinking about my time in high school. After being at college for two years, I can see how much my earlier education was oriented to making good marks on a test. Good test grades mean good semester grades, which mean students, parents, teachers, and administrators alike are satisfied with your results and performance.

However, I have come to see that this kind of education does not foster tor facilitate the healthy growth of creativity and individuality it takes to excel in the world of higher education. Higher education embraces the spirit of thinking in new ways, and even thinking about thinking, just like that formidable interview question at Oxford.

However, I feel that I have been able to compensate for my early education by embracing the spirit of the University in my current studies. I am constantly enrolling in Honors classes that encourage critical thinking and discussion and pursuing opportunities that challenge the boundaries of what I know to be true about the world. I have come to find out that this radical idea of thinking in new ways is not just a characteristic of Oxford, but reinforced in our own Honors program right here at CMU.

20 London, England Danielle Aguirre

my next stop. I watched her make my crepe fresh in front of me, spreading the batter paper thing across the hot surface of a device made specifically for this purpose. The woman sprinkled bits of dark chocolate over the crepe, folded it up in a flash and slid it into a cone. I sunk my teeth in before I even got my change.

By the time I had stuffed my belly full of street food, the shops were finally opened and it was time to put a serious dent in my bank account.

I have never been so excited. Today I did London my way. While everyone ran off early this morning to do whatever touristy things were left to do. I went to Pret a Manger right around the corner for real coffee and got some breakfast, an egg and cheese croissant along with some fresh mango. It was a light but satisfying meal, which was good considering I was unaware of the street food I would be encountering later. It was still pretty early for anything to be opened so I just took a walk around the neighborhood. I appreciated the sun and the lack of breeze, making it feel nice and warm. I sat down in The Brunswick and sipped on my coffee waiting for the shops to open, I had money to burn. As I sat in the square soaking up the morning sun, tents and booth started sprouting up around me and the smell of food was filling the air. I watched as booths began preparing every type of ethnic cuisine I could imagine. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Directly in front of me a Korean man was frying and steaming dumplings, while also making Korean pancakes the size of manhole covers. Behind me big vats of paella was being stirred sending the smell of spices into the air. There were kebabs, spicy Portuguese chicken, duck confit sandwiches, fresh baked goods, stuffed crepes and sugary churros. It took every ounce of will power in me to only decide on two things. I am incredibly partial to Korean food I I haven’t gotten the chance yet to chose the dumplings first and for only £2! And then I required something be considered a world traveler. I have sweet so a trip to the crepe tent was been to a few big cities and tried out

Emie Reed

some different public transportation systems and I’ll be honest, I was a little bit scared that I was going to get on the Tube and end up in Timbuktu. Surprisingly, it was probably the easiest system I’ve ever encountered. The maps are simple and it’s easy to find where you are and where you need to go. The worst part is trying to cram everyone onto a crowded train (although it helps when you’re travelling with a group of less than 30). The London Undergoud was easier for me to figure out than the bus

system in Oxford, which I used twice, yet still have no clue how it worked.

To me, having an easy system like London does makes the whole city seem more welcoming. One of the worst parts of a trip is the travelling, so when that’s made easy it takes a lot of pressure off. So, when in London, do as the Londoners do and take the Tube. You’ll have the hang of it in just a couple of rides and be on your way to King’s Cross to catch the

London, England 21 Alysa Hoffman While in London, I spent most of my unscheduled time in Picadilly Circus. The first evening in London, a group of girls and I took the Tube (the London Underground) to Oxford circus in an attempts to find a place to go dancing. After asking many passerby where the best place to dance was, we stumbled into Picadilly Circus. We eventually found a huge, three story dance club titled Picadilly Institute and had a wonderful time dancing. We arrived at the time that a second dance floor was being opened so we virtually had our own personal dance lounge. We were able to find a booth that fit the twelve or so of us and we had access to a lit up dance floor. It was quite fun dancing and being merry in London. There is nothing in Mt. Pleasant that could compare the environment and experience of dancing in a giant, popular dance club in London, England.

The second night in London, I attended a comedy production of the play 39 steps. The play was fantastically written and arranged. The play depicted the story of a man who was framed for murder and the journey he goes through to clear his name. The cast only involved four people who constantly were changing roles and characters. The humor was very witty British humor, very different from any comedy show that I have witnessed in the United States. The play reminded me of old skits from Abbot and Costello, as well as skits done by Charlie Chaplin. My favorite scene involved two actors each switching between the roles of three characters by simply changing the hat they wore and the dialect they spoke

with. It was absolutely hilarious and it revealed a great deal about British culture and entertainment.

The third and final night in London could arguably have been my favorite night of the entire trip. This was the day that the class was originally scheduled to visit Cambridge, but instead we were given a total free day in London to do as we pleased and explore the sites we had missed the previous day.

I spent my day visiting Camden Market with a dear friend from Paris who was in London the weekend I was in London. Camden Market was densely populated and had hundreds of street vendors selling clothes, souvenirs, and fresh food. Many of the vendors were selling gothic and edgy clothing. Most of the people walking around the area and shopping at the vendors appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties. It was really interesting to observe the people in Camden Market. The way that the young people dressed was very different than how people of a similar age dress in the USA. I liked seeing how unique and different the culture was in comparison to the youth culture in USA. After exploring Camden, my friend and I met with mutual friend from Amsterdam who also came to London for the weekend. We walked around the river front and looked at Big Ben, The Eye, Parliament, and the Millennium Bridge. We went to a cinema in Picadilly Circus and purchased movie tickets to watch Kingsman: A Secret Service.

Watching a film in London was incredible! The entire experience was vastly different from any movie watching experience I have had in the USA. A few differences I noted were the fact that it was possible to pre order tickets, the tickets did not only guarantee admit-

tance to the cinema but they also reserved specific seats in the theatre, the theatre chairs were more like arm chairs than theatre chairs, and the film itself was so clearly English that I had difficulty understanding much of the slang used in the dialogue. This noted differences made the movie watching experience exciting and educational while providing amazing entertainment and insight into British culture and entertainment.

Each night in London, I found myself in Picadilly Circus. Although, I spent time in the same location, every night was uniquely different from the others. Each night I learned more about the culture of London and England. It was eye opening to see the similarities and differences between American culture and English culture. I appreciate my own culture more now and have a yearning to return to the UK to explore more of the culture there. Eight days traveling around the British Isles was not nearly long enough to truly get a feel of the society and culture of the UK. It gave me a small taste, but I yearn to return and explore even more the United Kingdom.

22 London, England

Kristen Fillmore With pen in hand and maps on the table, Emily began to draft a plan with input from Jacqueline and me. We made a list of all the things in London that we absolutely had to see. The list included: Millennium Bridge, Big Ben, The Globe Theater, The Eye, Westminster Abbey, the Parliament House, and Buckingham Palace. Once we had decided what we wanted to visit, we located each attraction on the map and circled it so we would be able to find it later. Then, with the help of Mar, we determined the best routes between each location. We decided that we were going to avoid taking the tube and try to walk from as many places as we could in order to save money and see as

much of the city as possible.

We soon had all of our destinations mapped, routes between determined, and a solid plan formed. Since we had a concrete idea of what we were going to do for the rest of the afternoon a large group joined us so they could take part in our adventure too. We all agreed that we were going to walk fast and not dawdle so that we could see everything that we wanted and still have time for everyone’s different evening plans. We also decided that we would not let food get in our way of seeing the sights; we were determined women with a plan of action for getting the most out of the city that would not be thwarted by trivial needs.

“We are not stopping for anything!

Not food, not water, not bathrooms!”

Emily proclaimed. “Actually, I would be DTFT. Down to food truck.” We all agreed that a food truck would be an ideal way to get dinner since it would be fast and cheap. Emily, Jacqueline, and I all needed to see all of the attractions and still get back with enough time to get tickets for a show later that evening, which is why we were so concerned about having enough time for everything. Once lunch was over and we had all finished our last bites of dessert, we set off!

Later that night, when Emily, Jacqueline, and I were back in our room resting our feet from the very long and compact day of exploring the city, we decided that we had done London well. We saw everything that we wanted to see, and we had packed it all into one afternoon with enough time left over to go see a show. Our plan was successful; we had created our own grand tour of London.

We all agreed that a food truck would be an ideal way to get dinner since it

would be fast and cheap. Emily, Jacqueline, and I all needed to see all of the attractions and still get back with enough time to get tickets for a show later that evening, which is why we were so concerned about having enough time for everything. Once lunch was over and we had all finished our last bites of dessert, we set off!

Later that night, when Emily, Jacqueline, and I were back in our room resting our feet from the very long and compact day of exploring the city, we decided that we had done London well. We saw everything that we wanted to see, and we had packed it all into one afternoon with enough time left over to go see a show. Our plan was successful; we had created our own grand tour of London.

London, England 23

Jordan Moore It’s amazing to think what people will do for fashion. Imagine, for a moment, that you are a woman in the 1600s in London. You want to be beautiful, and you want to fit in with the in-crowd. What do you wear?

Well, you would wear long dresses that start corseted and tiny at the top and giant and poofy at the bottom. You would have your hair tied up in a large bun atop your head.

You would have gleaming jewels and beautiful shoes. But with all of these things, there is still one more that puts you over the top as a beautiful woman: your skin. Ah yes, with skin like alabaster and rosy cheeks, what man could resist your charm? But how to get that smooth, white skin?

The answer is paint! Women of the 1600s would literally paint themselves with white paint before bed, lay carefully down for the night, and wake up to find their skin dyed pale and “beautiful.” Unfortunately, there was a catch! The women who were considered the most gorgeous due to their pearly white skin would often fall ill and, occasionally, die. As it turns out, the white paint that you’ve been putting on your skin every night has high levels of lead and heavy metals, so women have been getting heavy metal poisoning. There has to be a better way, you think.

And then, a solution is found! Leeches! So, every night before bed servants attach leeches to your body, and every morning when you wake up the leeches are fat and plump, your beds

covered in blood, and your skin is milky white. Perfect!

Now think, instead, that you are a man in the 1600s. What is your key to popularity? Hair! Large, white wigs, in fact. But how to make it stay perched atop your head? Originally you slather the inside with animal fat and stick it to your head. The animal fat does its job, but there’s an unfortunate side effect. Fat attracts lots of bugs and animals, so now your head is covered in bug bites, you’re all itchy, and there are insects in your wig. Not optimal. So you think up a solution, and instead find a large, round bread loaf. You carve the bread loaf out in the middle, then stick the wig into it and bake it in the oven for a short time. Voilà! The wax holding the wig together grows soft and pliant, so you can stick the wig onto your head and shape it to fit perfectly. The perfect solution!

Isn’t it great being beautiful?

and I wandered around the block a bit to find dinner, but that was not a night for any major excursions.

Big cities are too much for this introvert. Our free time the next day consisted of everyone going off in groups determined by what their sightseeing priorities were because we thought that was going to be our only time to really see the city. Emily, Taylor, Shannon, Jordan, Rosemary, Jackie, Kristen, Meg, Melissa, Sara, Alysa, Haley, and I succeeded in seeing the Millenium Bridge, the Globe, the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and a bit of the British Museum before dinner.

I felt quite accomplished. I was going to ride the London Eye with Sara, but we decided to hold off a day because we were so tired. Looking back, I kind of wish I had gone with the others to see a play, but at the time I didn’t know how things were going to work out.

We ended up having the entirety of the next day in London, which was a nice surprise. Since we had gotten to see the major attractions, we got to enjoy the day at a more leisurely pace. Alysa, Caitlin, Sara, Brittany, and I spent an hour exploring the museum exhibits then Sara, Brittany, Caitlin and I spent the rest of the afternoon at Notting Hill Market. It was a nice way to experience the culture without the stress of a time limit or the craziness of most major tourist attractions. This is a great way to explore new places, immersing yourself in the culture, not just the big ticket places. That night, I did get to We were in London, and there ride the London Eye with Sara and was no way I was going to try and Caitlin and it was a great end to a great trip. find my way around that city for the first at night. Kelly, Brittany, Lisa

Caitlin Hill

24 London, England Melissa Woloszyk In London, we were able to go to the London Zoo, which not many people besides me were excited about. I was thrilled to be there because I love zoos and all the animals. In the aquarium of the zoo, we were able to see the snake exhibit from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Their aquarium had seahorses, which are much tinier than I thought. There was a whole tank of piranhas and this was my first time ever seeing one. Of course, there were Dory and Nemo fish too!

Something I had never seen at a zoo before was a butterfly exhibit, but they had one here. As soon as I walked in, my glasses fogged up because they had to keep the room at such a warm temperature.

There were all kinds of butterflies

free flying everywhere. One butterfly looked like it had been drawn on a piece of paper with its thin detailed lines and clear wings.

There was a couple in the room, and the man kept having butterflies land on him. When they landed on him, he freaked out, stood up, and tried to shake them off.

The butterflies were hard to see unless you paid close attention to the surroundings. Once you did see them, it was amazing because there were all so beautiful.

Penguins are my favorite animal, so I could not wait to see the penguin exhibit. When we got there, it was feeding time. Two herons know exactly when feeding time is for the penguins, so they sit in the exhibit to try to steal food.

Seagulls flock around the exhibit too. The penguins hop from rock to

rock to get food, and they dive into the water. They have one rockhopper penguin who is very shy, and was hiding behind a bush. I was not disappointed by the exhibit!

London, England 25 Brittany Jones So while we were at the Notting Hill Markets, Sara and I had to use the restroom. As you can imagine, there weren’t many opportunities for public toilets to be had. Then, about halfway through the market, we came across this black construction that read “Toilet” on the outside with a digital panel that told the potential patron if the toilet was currently occupied, in a cleaning cycle, or available. I had no clue what this was but I was sure there could be no possible way the English people were strange enough to put a standalone toilet in the middle of a (Above: Photo taken before toilet use) shopping district.

I was wrong. Oh, how I was wrong.

When the rounded door slid open, like something out of a sci-fi movie, the inside was revealed to be a very spacious, but porta-potty -esque, establishment. First of all, I couldn’t figure out how to close the door (after three “close door” button presses, I was finally in seclusion). Second of all, there was this complete terror that the stupid sliding door was going to go sliding open to the public eye while I was in there. Third, the smells. Oh God the smells. The whole thing smelled worse than being licked in the face by a giraffe. The stenches were reminiscent of walking into a petting zoo surrounded by pig farms and chicken coops. The panel outside had said it was unoccupied but I most certainly think that toilet

was occupied; by the rotting corpses of the victims of the Black Death. Then, what makes this whole experience that much worse is that I couldn’t work the sink!

Now, I know this sounds like a whole lot of operator error but I wasn’t the only one that had issues

with all the new-fangled, fancyshmancy gizmos hidden in this Devil’s lavatory. I profusely thanked my lucky stars that I had hand sanitizer in my bag so that I could get the faintest sense that I was clean again.

Plus side: They were free? All-in-all: Use if desperate, avoid if possible.

26 Food space, in case we wanted to use the outlets. It made us feel slightly awkward, and we decided to get out of there as fast as possible, and find a Amanda Shepard pub to go drink at instead. All in all, When in London, eating at an it was a very interesting experience, Indian restaurant is a must. They can with pretty good food. be found almost anywhere in London, sometimes even two or three right next to each other. And eating there is almost always an experience.

As we walked the streets of Oxford, I The last night we were there, a bunch am suddenly very aware of how much of us decided to go and get Indian closer we are getting to food culture I food because it definitely a part of have been looking for. Oxford did not the experience of being in London. disappoint this foodie.

The very first night I finally got my hands around some street food in the form of falafel. You could smell the aroma of spices and a deep fryer as you approached and there is really no better sign than that. Meat was on a spikit ready to be shaved for whatever menu special. The fryer was bubbling as chips and falafel crisped to perfection.

And perfect it was. The go to was the falafel wrap, easy to carry packed with all the delcious you could want. And no matter what the man with the thick (what I assume was middle-eastern) accent asked you about your food you always answered yes and you couldn’t go wrong. He handed me my wrap stuffed with all the fixings plus chips The food at the place we ate was nestled in with my freshly fried falafel. wonderful, but the service we got was I took a bite of my glorious dinner and interesting to say the least. It was then proceeded to inhale it without clear that they knew we were Ameri- any regrets…well actually my only cans, and while we were eating, they regret was the chili sauce because my just kept pacing by our table, as we mouth was on fire. were seated at the front of the restau- In Oxford, at the quaint little B&B we rant. At one point, an older couple stayed at, I finally experienced a tradcame in, and before they were seated, tional breakfast, which up until this they asked if they could keep their morning I had hardly eaten anything walker by our table. It wasn’t a big in the morning that could be considdeal to us, but our waiter made a big ered a competent meal. But while I deal about it, saying it was in our sipped on my morning tea, because

Danielle Aguirre

coffee isn’t a real thing apparently, a plate with the most beautiful breakfast was place in front of me. Here is what a full traditional English breakfast consists of: one perfectly fried egg, surrounded by sausage, thick cut bacon, grilled tomatoes, and sauteed mushrooms. I could have cried as I looked at my plate, because I knew I was actually going to be satisfied with this meal, and oh how satisfying it was.

What did you have next for me Oxford? Pie of course!! Anyone that knows me well knows that I have a

thing for pies of all shapes and sizes. So when walking through Oxford’s Covered Market and spotting Pieminister (which I didn’t know it was actually called this at the time, it took some googling after the fact) I immediately decided this was to be my lunch. And I am so glad I did. I nearly pressed my face against the glass staring at all of the options, before settling on the Kooky Chook. This pie was filled with British free-range chicken, sweet potato, coconut and chili sauce and it sat on top a pile of mashed potatoes in a pool of gravy. Despite how hungry I was I resisted the urge to devour the entire plate, I savored every bite and then nearly licked the plate clean. They are doing pies right!

Food 27 Samantha Miller

A Traveler’s best friend is the word “yes.” When trying to discover new places and become immersed in new cultures, nothing will spoil an experience faster than saying “no.”

The best policy for traveling, especially abroad, is to say yes to as many new things as possible. Obviously, as with anything else, this policy should be applied within reason and with moderation; there are actually a few things that can spoil a trip faster than “no” and most of them start with saying “yes.” However, when it comes to the harmless stuff like eating something new, there is far more to be gained than to be lost.

This proved true on my stay in Edinburgh, Scotland.

As foodies will know, Scotland’s famous traditional dish is called Haggis. Perhaps unfortunately, haggis actually consists of what you think it would when you hear the name. For those with poor imaginations, haggis is a lovely concoction of minced sheep innards (namely the heart, lungs, and liver, most often) mixed with spices, onion, and oatmeal. It is considered a pudding which should hint to those who don’t know that the UK definition of pudding is very different from the American. It does sound ghastly and, I have to admit, I had my trepidations about trying it. In fact, it was the one thing I had said I would not be eating when I went to Scotland. As it turns out, my adventurous spirit gets the better of me more often than I give it credit for.

My first encounter with haggis (that’s right, there were two) was in a

lovely pub in Edinburgh called “The Frankenstein.” This pub has been around since the early 1800s and is one of a kind. It is housed in an old cathedral and is filled with monster memorabilia. Old monster flicks play on big screens all day and there is lab equipment and flashing lights all about. While this may seem like a strange place to try something like haggis, the best thing about The Frankenstein is their delicious and innovative food. They offer a traditional form of haggis, served with turnip mashed potatoes and mustard gravy, as a main course, but we decided to try their haggis appetizer which is deep-fried and served on warm tomato puree. True to legend, everything is good deep-fried. The haggis was surprisingly beefy with no hint of the tell-tale flavor innards can bring on. The spices were good and the tomato puree added an extra dimension that made the dish one of the best I had during my whole trip (which is saying something).

I left feeling proud and satisfied, though I did have the nagging concern that it was more the preparation than anything that had made the haggis edible. This was a concern I was eager to dispel and so, a few days later, when I stumbled across haggis samples in a little fish and chip shop in Gloucester, England, I tried it again. I was definitely nervous this time as there was no deep-fried coating or tomato puree to save me from the chunk of haggis on my toothpick but I ate it anyway and, to my delight, I found it was still delicious.

This incarnation had a lot more pepper in the mix which was actually a welcome surprise and the whole thing had that comfort-food feeling you get

from meatloaf. Meatloaf is actually quite a good comparison if you imagine taking out the sickly-sweet sauce and the grease and cooking it with an artful blend of spices instead.

Overall, even if I hadn’t liked haggis, my experience with it would still have been worth it. Food provides an unequal opportunity to take in and understand new cultures. Haggis is not just food; it’s a symbol of Scotland’s humble past and innovation. Who else could take liver and hearts, two things I have formerly found I detest, and make them a part of one of my favorite meals in recent history? Like haggis, Scotland is bold but simple. It doesn’t try to be fancy, but it has great flavor. It’s these small but powerful lessons we miss the chance to learn when we say “no.”

28 Sports (Not Quidditch) Vince Arandela Once we got to London, Lizz and I took the tube up to Arsenal station. Along the way I saw plenty of people wearing their team paraphernalia, and I was very excited. When we stepped off the tube and onto the street I was greeted with an unfamiliar sight, one I didn’t see last year. There were a bunch of vendors along the street leading up to the Emirates Stadium.

They were selling tshirts, hats, scarves, pins, pictures and wallpapers. Other vendors sold food, ranging from peanuts to candies, as well as ethnic food like kebabs and even chicken. I bought a match day scarf, which shared the colors of West Ham and Arsenal, and also displayed the day and location of the game. I also bought my dad a skullcap, because he likes to wear them to cover his balding head.

With each passing second it was nearing kickoff. I knew it was time to get to the Tollingon pub, which is where all of the Arsenal fans went to watch the game.

We walked down the street past more vendors and stalls before we saw a mob of people outside the pub.

Like jam packed. With sardines.

Jam packed sardines. I felt really awkward. I had my messenger bag, and my giant bag of Arsenal gear.

There was a bouncer at the front who looked at Lizz and I to make sure we weren’t West Ham fans before he let us through. The game wasn’t going to start for another hour and they were showing the

QPR v Crystal Palace fixture on the telly. I was able to maneuver my way through the crowd and find a place to put all of our stuff.

After eating with Lizz a little bit more space freed up in the establishment. Everyone that was out on the patio was gone. I figured they left to go enter the game.

A few minutes passed, and the

QPR/Crystal Palace game ended. I realized that the game was going to be on soon. The channel flipped to rugby. 3:05 PM. Kickoff should have been five minutes ago. I went to the bartender and asked if they could change the channel to the game.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that for you mate.”

“What do you mean?”

“We don’t have the channel.”

WHAT? How can an “Arsenal themed pub” not have the right channel? Either way, he pointed Lizz and I into the direction of the

Gunners Pub, which was just further down the street. Apparently that is where everyone went to see the game. After a little more walking we saw the Gunners Pub. Outside was another bouncer. He spotted our Arsenal swag and gave us a thumbs up. Walking inside was mesmerizing. Everywhere and everything was Arsenal themed. Jerseys, signed posters and trading cards adorned the wall. Every TV was showing the game. Every person in the pub was wearing some type of Arsenal gear. We set up shop in the back near a ping pong table of all things, and merrily watched my Gunners thrash the Hammers. It was as close of an experience to attending a match as I’ll get for a while. When players made good decisions we cheered and sang songs. When Arsenal scored the pub roared with vigor and everyone hugged and high fived and shouted at the top of their lungs. It was like we were all one large family.

These moments, where I’m in my element watching soccer and having fun are the best. Each year I get closer to my dream of watching an Arsenal game at home. This trip was perfect from a footballing perspective. It’s the world’s favorite sport, and I was in the country where it was created. Whenever I go abroad I love to immerse myself in the culture. And in Britain, culture and football are synonymous.

Although the Harry Potter experience is what brought me to the United Kingdom, it isn’t prevalent in everyday culture like the footballing world is. It will be football that brings me back to London.

29 Tour Guides Caitlin Hill We took a number of tours, and after taking enough, you start to learn what makes a good tour and what makes a bad one.

Tours are great because you learn a lot more than you would on your own, but sometimes it just isn’t worth the hassle. The first step to a good tour is to have a good tour guide. My group always seemed to get great tour guides, which made even the worst tours interesting. If they can see that you’re interested in the tour, they’ll make sure you enjoy it as much as they enjoy giving it. On the scheduled tours, we had small enough groups to work, but when there were open tours, the best plan was to wander around on your own. If there are too many people, 1) the introvert feels overwhelmed by people and 2) you tend to miss a good bit of what the guide is saying. When you have a good tour guide and a small enough group, ask your tour guide questions. The nerdy introverts with you will be happy. I know that I don’t usually think of questions or want to speak up to ask them, but I love hearing more about the history of places and all the stories and lives they connect and encompass. So, a good tour consists of a small group and an interesting tour guide who will willingly tell you stories.

Meagan Wallaker Our first experience with a tour guide was the two gentlemen that took us around Edinburgh.

From the beginning, they made everyone laugh, and has all of us engaged. Beginning with a class photo was definitely a great way to start the cold, windy morning.

From there, sorting two of our classmates showed to me while we may be Harry Potter tourists, they accepted that fact, and would still teach us everything they could about the city in the time that they had. To make the experience even better, they both had on matching green plaid bottoms, one in pants, the other in a kilt. Throughout the tour, they stopped to tell us stories, and

share their history. Whether it was fake strangling me, or giving Sommers, a Filmore, and Taylor thief masks, they made an extra effort to bring the stories to life in front of us. My favorite story they told us was about the witches, and how they were drowned in the river surrounding the Edinburgh castle. If someone was suspected to be a witch, they were weighted down, and thrown into the river.

If they floated, then they must be a witch, and were then burned at the stake. If they sunk to the bottom, they were innocent, but also dead. While this is a story I had heard many times before, it was very cool to learn that up at the castle, they had a memorial to all of the women who lost their lives due to this treatment.

30 Travel Shannon Draper This trip subjected me to my first international flight, but really my first flight ever, and this was also my first time leaving the country (I’ve never even been to Canada). I had no idea what to expect. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the flight, hate the flight, get sick. I didn’t know what going through the airports would be like, or what the flying experience consisted of. I left that afternoon, my boyfriend drove me, and I was so nervous. I was freaking out a little because I had no idea how to get through an airport. My boyfriend and I stopped to get food and then we made our way to the airport.

When we got closer to Detroit, my boyfriend missed our exit so it took an extra 20 minutes to get to the airport and I was really freaking out now. I was so concerned that it was going to take me a really long time to get through security and I was going to be late, even though I showed up a whole 3 hours before my flight. However I got to the airport, said goodbye to Zack, and when I came in, I found Emma, Lizz, and Vincent. They helped me through the whole airport process and I felt better, but it took us 20 minutes to get through and that left 2 hours of sitting in the airport waiting. However, when I got on that plane, and I got to sit in the window seat, I had never felt more excited. I could not believe that I was going to a different coun-

try. The flight was awesome. When I first went up and I got see how small my world looked from above, I really got a glimpse how big the world really is, and how little I have seen of it.

This made me all the more excited to be finally going abroad and doing something real. I was so excited I couldn’t sleep at all, so I enjoyed the endless access to free movies, which realizing now, was a very bad thing to have on my first flight, cause the first time I have a domestic flight I am going to be super disappointed.

The food was better than expected, and also much more abundant than I thought it would be. I chose to eat the pasta cause meat on a plane seemed sketchy to me. However, it was really good and really filling, and they continued to give us snacks and drinks. Furthermore, when we got over the ocean I realized, nothing makes traveling abroad seem more real than when you are traveling over the ocean. All I kept thinking about was how many animals like sharks, dolphins, whales, and fish were swimming below me, how many miles wide and miles deep it was which also made me start fearing the plane would crash into the ocean, which would suck… a lot.

However, one thing that was really cool to see as we were flying in to Amsterdam is that when we looked down at the water, there were wind turbines in the ocean! How smart is that! That is a great way to conserve space, and you always get high winds out at sea, which means it’s a great way to get energy! I mean, I don’t really know if the U.S. has this, but if they don’t they really should. However the landing experience I have to say was not as fun as

taking off. It was a little bumpy, but once we landed it was definitely interesting getting off the plane. Nothing says foreign like signs that aren’t in English, and people who aren’t speaking English. At first I didn’t think anything of it since we have people in America who don’t speak English, but then it set in that I’m the tourist, I’m the minority, I’m the one who speaks differently.

It was a quick layover in Amsterdam and then we were off to another flight again and I was beyond excited to, finally, get to Scotland! I must say that the brief period of walking was really nice because I definitely felt like I was sitting far too long and I was worried about all the blood pooling in my legs… nothing says crappy like a blood clot from flying. Overall the flight was great and when we finally landed in Scotland I was so excited, exhausted, but excited. I could not wait to leave the airport and finally start my first real adventure!

Travel 31 Rosemary Schick

To say I felt underprepared is an understatement. The fact that I was actually going to go on a trip to the UK and have it centered on Harry Potter felt incredulous. I could barely be-

lieve it was real, until there I was, standing on real Scottish ground. This trip was meant to be magical, and it sure did deliver! Every single day felt like it was leading up to something better, something more exciting.

There was so much to do, so much to see, and only a very limited time to explore and soak it all in. From castles to cathedrals, from Edinburgh to London, this trip offered a unique insight into British culture that simply reading about or hearing about could not do it justice.

The best part I got out of the trip? The memories. Nothing can compare to memories of

walking through the different cities, seeing the buildings, slowly understanding more about the world that J.K. Rowling wrote about. I can imagine that growing up in an area where castles are in many cities, where history dates back to the Middle Ages and further could lead to inspiration. Simply walking through Gloucester Cathedral inspired me. The beauty that surrounded me during this trip was astonishing. Even the modern architecture seemed so much more beautiful than I am used to, simply because next door, or across the street existed another building from 500 years ago.

The beauty of the trip is what where it belonged, and despite struck me the most, from castles being a brief visitor, I felt I had we toured to hole in the wall a place to belong there as well. stores. Everything had a place

32 Travel Caitlin Hill

Disclaimer: not all introverts think alike. This is an insight into one introvert’s perspective on multiple items of interest, a perspective that other introverts do not necessarily share, so do not assume that all introverts on this trip felt the same way in any of these situations. With that said, you now get to see how I experience the world.

From an introvert’s perspective, they’re either a nightmare or a nice respite. Depending on your kind of introvertness, you may be optimistic and find planes to be a nice break from people. I know this sounds kind of strange, but it’s true. You aren’t necessarily expected to speak to people on planes. You are all strangers and may not even really speak the same language. It’s okay to sit in your own little world and ignore everyone around you and no one will be offended.

Delta planes endorse this by giving everyone their own screen on which they can choose from any number of things to watch, listen to, or play. This makes it even more likely that everyone will be in their own little world and not be paying attention to anyone around them. On a

plane, you can be an introvert without any guilt.

On the other hand, some introverts may find planes to be a total nightmare. You are stuck in a small space with a lot of people who you don’t know and don’t want to talk to and can’t get away from for hours at a time. Some of the more outgoing people on the plane may even try to start a conversation with you. These kinds of people are probably the ones who won’t notice that you don’t want to talk.

Your oneword answers won’t dissuade them. And the worst thing is, you’re stuck next to them for the next few hours and there is nothing you can do about it. They may ask a few questions and then stop, but you never know when they might start talking again.

The entire ride you’ll be twitching every time they look in your direction, afraid that they’ve come up with another round of questions to bombard you with. The only escape is sleep, and even that cannot be assured. Sleeping on planes is tricky, at best. You never have enough space and can’t get comfortable and you never know when some child might start crying or if the person behind you is going to accidentally kick your seat and wake you up.

Being an introvert can be hard. Luckily for me, I’m more inclined towards the first mind-

set. I’m am amazingly good at ignoring people around me so I can focus on my own thing, especially when they are strangers so I don’t really need to pay them any attention anyway. I can put on my headphones, watch a movie, or read a book and be comfortable in my own little world. I was also lucky enough to sit next to people who weren’t going to force conversation on me. If that had happened, I might have ended up more in the second mindset.

Granted, this would have been a good time to try to get to know some of my fellow classmates better, but what if I forced upon them exactly what I didn’t want forced upon myself? Also, I’m really just not one for the small talk. It’s much easier to get to know someone when you’re out in the world, walking the streets, and experiencing life together than when you’re stuck in an uncomfortable seat surrounded by strangers who you don’t want listening in on your personal conversations. I figured leaving people alone and being my happily introverted self was the better option at the time, and I think it worked out well. I will say that the little bit of conversation I did have with fellow Harry Potter travelers Allie and Emmy was nice, and they were even kind enough to share their gum.

Travel 33 Emma Harrington I spent 10 days roaming the streets of the United Kingdom in some of the most beautiful cities in the world. I took a walking tour of Edinburgh, Scotland and made the long trek up to Edinburgh Castle.

The next day, I walked the beautiful cloisters and aisles of Durham Cathedral.

Not only this, but I climbed to the top of the tower and was able to see Durham from the sky in all directions. I was able to walk into a recess in Westminster Abbey and view the tomb of Elizabeth the First, something I have been waiting to do for ten years. These experiences are ones that I will never forget and cherish forever.

However, while embarking on these amazing treks, I couldn’t help but think of the people who will never be able to do so. I’m talking about people who have handicaps, or physical disabilities. Working with children with disabilities has opened my eyes to the world around me, especially in this respect. Walking up to Edinburgh Castle was hard enough for someone who is able to walk well on my own, let alone for someone who has a disability that makes walking difficult, or someone who is in a wheelchair. Though it is possible that they could be transported up to the castle, there are some things that they would be unable to see because of the large amount of stairs and cobblestone roads. Being at this castle and looking out over the city of Edinburgh was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had, but it made me sad

thinking that so many people are unable to have that experience.

This was the same with Durham Cathedral. Walking up the incredible amount of stairs to reach the top was difficult for me, but definitely impossible for someone with a disability, especially if they are wheelchair bound. There were two small steps to get into the room where Elizabeth’s tomb is. For people in a wheelchair, they would need to be

lifted in their chair and/or carried in to see this magnificent effigy and room. For me, it was hard to imagine coming all this way for a trip I have been waiting most of my life to take, only to not be able to experience everything available to me.

So what is the solution to this?

Well, that is where it gets difficult.

These are buildings that are made of stone and have stood for centuries.

When they were built, there was no concern over them being accessible to people with disabilities. Today, however, people like myself travel thousands of miles to see these beau-

tiful buildings. People with disabilities should have the same opportunities that I was given, and should not be limited as to what they can see and do while travelling to these places. I think that elevators and/or ramps should be constructed so as to allow people with disabilities to have the experiences I have. Though this may be impossible, such as in the tower at Durham, it is something that should be have more attention paid to it in the future. All people should have the opportunity to be that high up and see all around them, while feeling the powerful wind on their face. They should be able to look upon the grave of the woman who has inspired many late nights researching and reading.

These are experiences that I am incredibly grateful for and can’t imagine not having just because I am limited physically. Tourism isn’t currently handicap accessible, but I am hoping and waiting for the day that it is.

Brittany Jones

All semester I was making lists of the places I was most excited to see, what to pack, what to do while on this magical adventure. I’ve always liked to think of myself as a bit of an explorer. I love adventure and travel because you get the opportunity to truly become a part of the culture and experience a new place in ways you may never have had the opportunity to without that leap of faith into adventure.

All of us in the class have been avid fans of the Harry Potter for various lengths of time from childhood to adulthood. One thing we agree on though is that we all have a shared passion for the magical world of Harry Potter. On the trip we got the chance to really dive into what being a part of that magical reality would have been like. Even though, unfortunately, none of us received our Hogwarts letters, this was the closest thing to what that would have been like. We got the chance to drive through Scottish countryside and explore both intimate and expansive communities across the

UK. Each of these cities and villages included a unique experience for each of us across the group.

I think the experience that resonated in me the most was getting the chance to go through Warner Bros. Studios. There were moments when I felt like I had actually left reality and that I must have

certainly entered Hogwarts. In one of the areas of the studio tour there is a room solely devoted to a giant scale model of the castle and the grounds where many of our group spent a lot of time.

When I walked in and saw the lights, designed to make the room appear to go through a full day cycle- sunrise, midday, sunset, and night- just coming up for morning, I remember going still in the doorway. I was so overcome with the feeling that I had just come home, that feeling that all of a sudden, I was right where I belonged.

Harry Potter has given many of his readers a home to come back to through his experiences in the magical world.

There are many people who believe this series to just be a set of books, but to us we’ve gotten so much more out of them than a story. This set of novels has given people hope, the chance to believe in something, and comfort in the knowledge that growing older does not necessarily mean growing up. All of us were able to experience Harry Potter in a whole new way, even for us Muggles.

Alysa Hoffman

Traveling around Scotland and England was like eating a huge, scrumptious ice cream Sunday, and for me, London was the Cherry one top.

From the moment we arrived in London, it was magical. The first location we visited was the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios. The tour of the Warner Bro’s Studio allowed us to experience the wizarding world of Harry Potter up close and personal. We began the tour by sitting in a larger theatre watching a short film showing various clips from all the Harry Potter movies. Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint greeted us in the short film and welcomed us to the set of their magical home. The video was only a few minutes long but it was so exciting and powerful that I was moved to tears. I knew that I was in for a treat if I was already crying with joy before we even began our tour.

Next, the walls of the theatre lifted to reveal the entrance to the Great Hall. A staff member invited everyone to gather around the doors and prepare themselves to enter Hogwarts. One of the students from our class was actually able to open the doors!

When the doors opened to the Great Hall, it was if a dream was coming true. I was walking into Hogwarts! This magical place that I had wished was real since I read the Harry Potter series as a child; I was walking inside it! People were cry-

ing, others were taking as many photos as they could, and I just stood in silence trying to comprehend that I was not dreaming.

The entire tour of Warner Bros Studios was incredible. The exhibit was set up like a museum and every few steps there was a different display of the sets and props used during filming. It was incredible to see how much time and man power was put into the making of all the costumes, magical creatures, special effects, mechanical effects, building and rebuilding of sets, etc.

The best part of the Warner Bros Studios was seeing the full model of the castle of Hogwarts. At this point in the tour, the artifacts on exhibit were fairly mundane and actually quite boring.

There was a room completely filled with blue prints of the sets from the films and the next room was filled with small scale three dimensional models of sets from the films. Nothing too exciting or jaw dropping. But then I turned the corner‌..

I literally lost my breath and was moved to tears. There it was, in all its splendor, a fully complete, three dimensional model of the castle of Hogwarts.

The initial lighting of the room was dark blue and a beautiful peaceful melody could be heard echoing throughout the room. But then the music became for powerful and dramatic and the room started to change. Dawn was quite literally arriving as the lighting turned from blue to a pale white and then transitioned to full light. It provided the allusion that the sun was rising over Hogwarts. As the lights changed, the music climaxed and reached a soaring dramatic gusto as the sun came up. The entire effect was chilling and moving and resulted in many tears shed. A walking path went around the perimeter of the room

and allowed for visitors to see every possible side and angle of Hogwarts. I stayed in the room, listening to the music, watching the sun theoretically rise and set over the castle, for almost an hour. I wanted to remember every detail of the castle, I wanted to make the experience last as long as possible because it was too powerful and significant to rush through. As I stood and stared at the castle, I was overcome with a feeling of hope and a sense of completion. It was as if all my problems and worries had vanished. In that moment, gazing upon the castle, it was as if something inside me had realized that, for a moment, life was perfect.

I was moved so deeply by the exhibit of the castle, not because the model itself was architecturally awe striking (it actually was quite impressive), but because of how deeply I have been touched by the Harry Potter Series. Reading the books provided my childhood and adolescence with the opportunity to be extraordinary. While my reality of aging was often mundane, boring, and at times downright uncomfortable, I could escape to a world of possibility and magic by simply picking up a book. I had access to place where love was the most powerful magic, where help always came to those who asked, and extraordinary experiences occurred to a boy who, like me, was ordinary. Hogwarts represents hope and excitement. The Harry Potter books made the impossible possible and allowed the reader to experience something extraordinary. When I looked at the model of the castle, the hope and joy that the books have always provided me was amplified. The model of the castle was beautiful, but it was breathtaking because it was a physical representation of a place that has irreversibly touched my heart and soul.

Emie Reed I’m going to be honest and admit that going to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour was the reason I decided to take this class in the first place. Sure, I had the chance to visit multiple cities in two countries, but was the day that I was most looking forward to. And I was not disappointed.

There are only going to be a certain number of people that can say they grew up with Harry Potter and I think I’m fortunate to be one of them. Before I went on the studio tour I knew that Harry Potter was a worldwide phenomenon and I knew that people from all over the world love it, but there was something special about being in the studio along with this group of people that I know share the same love and with so many others from so many places who share it as well. There are times I think the world is a huge, immeasurable place, and it is, but there are also times that it feels so small. I was so eager to see every little detail from the films that I possibly could and so was everyone else. What I liked about this experience was that while there were so many people there, no one was rude. Parents, kids, and college students alike were all excited and happy to see that everyone else was too. So when there was a line to get into Dumbledore’s office or a ton

of kids gathered around the Weasley’s flying car speaking a language I couldn’t even identify I wasn’t upset, I waited happily for my turn.

that I mean: I can tell you about it, I can tell you it’s magical, but nothing I could say will ever convey the feeling of seeing a gigantic model of Hogwarts. No picture does it justice.

Another thing that I was grateful There are some things that you just for was that the studio tour was scheduled after we had visited most of the cities and seen much of the inspiration for the settings already. Our trip went roughly in order from the conception of the books and the places that inspired them in Edinburgh, to the actual places that were filmed at in Durham, Gloucester, and Oxford, and then finally to the studios where everything from the books was recreated. This made a lot of sense in have to see for yourself and that is my mind, because I think seeing one of them. those things first made me have a We went to the studio early, new and deeper appreciation for the which I was grateful for, because you story and all that much more thrilled need as long on the studio tour as you to see the end products. can get. I thought that I had plenty The only part of the actual studio of time, but I could probably spend tour I’m going to say something the entire day there. The gift shop about is the very last room. And by alone could take a couple of hours if you want to look at everything. I could probably live in there though, so I don’t know if any amount of time would have sufficed. Time to plan another trip perhaps?

Kristen Fillmore It was about 3:00pm on the first day in Edinburgh, and the four of us (Emily, Melissa, Jacqueline, and me) had just gotten back from some exploring the city and thrift shopping. We decided to go back to the hostel and drop our things off before going to explore the side of town near the Elephant café, where we would be meeting everyone at 8:00 for dinner later that night. After getting our things put away and re-bundling up for the chilly afternoon, we set off with map in hand.

We roamed the streets looking for a little coffee shop to sit down and have a drink in while waiting. We didn’t want to go to a restaurant since we would be getting dinner at the Elephant Café, and we didn’t want to order anything that would warrant our sitting there. So we searched and searched- lazily at first, but as time went on and we weren’t finding anything, our frustration grew. The only thing open was restaurants!! By this late in the day, any little coffee shop or place that we could sit down without ordering a meal was closed.

We began to get desperate. Our feet were hurting worse and worse with every step we took, and at this point all our stomachs were rumbling. We were also

feeling the effects of being awake for over 24 hours due to the plane ride and time change. Emily and I stopped in a little convenience store and split a bar of chocolate to hold us over before dinner because we were so hungry. We continued to search. At this point we all knew that it would have been better just to have walked back to the hostel when we had considered it, but that was irrelevant now; now we just had to live with our decision since it really wouldn’t be worth it to change our minds. We saw a subway! But upon reaching it, saw it was closed. Same with a Starbucks.

Finally, after what felt like hours (but was in reality only some amount of minutes) we found a little café. We all slumped into a booth. It was 6:45pm at this point, so we had a little over an hour before dinner at The Elephant Café. We were the only ones in the little café besides a couple people in the back talking to the one working, so we were free to look as tired and disgruntled as we pleased. Emily and I continued to discreetly eat our chocolate since we were still really hungry. After a little while Jacqueline, Melissa and I ordered drinks so we didn’t have to feel awkward about sitting down and not ordering anything.

We sat and rested our feet, feeling extremely tired and hungry. After about an hour of waiting and Emily actually laying her head down on the table and napping for a little bit, we decided that we could go to the Elephant Café and wait since it was only 15 minutes before we were supposed to meet everyone else.

Upon arriving, we told the waitress that we were with the group of 34 that was scheduled to come at 8:00pm. She looked at us rather funny and said that to her knowledge and her boss’s knowledge, that group was scheduled for tomorrow. Uh oh! There was no way

that the café would be able to serve all of us! Everyone was going to get to the café in 15 minutes and they wouldn’t be ready for us! We decided to call Mar and let her know of the problem so it could begin to get sorted out. When we explained to Mar that the Café wasn’t expecting us until tomorrow, she said that is correct, our dinner at The Elephant Café isn’t until tomorrow evening.

After the phone call we explained to the waitress that we were mistaken and that she was correct, and we left. We were devastated! All that waiting for nothing! We should have just gone back to the hostel earlier when we were considering it! We wondered how we could have read the itinerary so wrong since we had looked at it just before leaving.

(Later that evening when we got back to the hostel we checked the itinerary, and it did in fact say that dinner was that night and not the following, so that at least confirmed for us that we weren’t crazy for thinking so.) Luckily, there was a Nando’s very close by, which Emily had heard was Ed Sheeran’s favorite restaurant, so we went there. The food and experience at Nando’s was so good (partly due to the fact that we were all famished and exhausted I’m sure) that it almost entirely made up for our botched plans and all of the pointless waiting. We had made an elephant of a mistake, but it all turned out ok in the end.

38 History Emma Harrington The first day of classes every semester is the day that most students dread. You sit there and the professor goes over their syllabus and informs you how much boring work you need to do for the class. Also, this day usually consists of going around the classroom and introducing yourself. This is when you have to tell everyone what year you are, where you’re from, what your major is, and, of course, a fun fact about yourself. Some people say they’ve been skydiving or they’ve travelled to ten different countries, and many say that they aren’t interesting at all. For me however, my interesting fact usually gets people to laugh and think I’m some kind of weird history nut, which is entirely true. My fun fact is that I am extremely obsessed with King Henry the 8th. Yes, he’s the one with the six wives. People always claim that he beheaded all of them, but in reality, he only had two beheaded. I am also obsessed with his wives and children and know way too much about all of them. Usually people question why and how this obsession started. I really don’t know why or how, but he is one of the most interesting characters in history. When planning my trip to the UK, I made sure to see all things Tudor related when I was able to.

As I came to realize, the influence of Henry and his reign are everywhere we went. For example, we went to Edinburgh Castle and learned about Mary Queen of Scots (who I also have a mild obsession with) and how she was related to the Tudors and was

executed during the reign of her cousin Elizabeth, Henry’s daughter.

In Durham Cathedral, we were told about the monks that used to reside there until Henry’s break with the Catholic Church and his subsequent dissolution of the monasteries that were stationed across England. Also, all of the cathedrals that we visited are under the denomination of the Church of England, which was created

by Henry when the Pope at the time would not allow him to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. Keeping with his personality of having a temper, he broke from the Catholic Church and changed the face of England for forever. This meant that church officials that were high up in his court and his favor were stripped of their power, unless they changed their allegiance, and proved it to the king.

Every tour we went on, no matter what city we were in, there was mention of him and what he did that

changed the future of England. This was especially apparent when we were at the Tower of London, where there were several displays of his armor, and two of his wives, Anne Boleyn and her cousin Catherine Howard, are buried there. Everywhere we travelled, there was evidence of his influence, even though it has been centuries since he was on the throne. Not only this, but there is considerable influence from his youngest daughter, Elizabeth, that can also be seen all over the UK. Therefore, I have come to the realization that my obsession is justified.

Though most people laugh and think that I am obsessed with an old fat king from England, I am obsessed with a man who changed the face of England, and the world, from what he did. Though I knew this all along, travelling to the UK and hearing about it everywhere I went was reassurance as to his importance and continued influence on the amazing country I travelled to.

Long live the king!

History 39 Jamie Valliere

A palace, a fortress, and what most people probably recognize it as, a prison. The Tower, with it being originally constructed by William the Conqueror after his successful invasion in 1066, has served as multifaceted structure for the British people. It has housed kings and queens, as well imprisoned them and served as the place of their execution. Richard II, the mysterious Princes, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Thomas Moore, Anne Boleyn, even Queen Elizabeth II found herself prisoner inside the Tower for a brief stint thanks to her sister, Bloody Mary I. The most recent prisoners were Germans during WWII. There was nothing preparing me for when I first saw the intimidating structure sitting near the banks of the Thames. I could even see TowerBridge, which I learned many people who come to London actually confuse with London-Bridge (this bit of information physically pained me as I couldn’t understand how or why people could do that), rising against the throng of modern-day London. I was overwhelmed as I approached the sprawling compound, surrounded by the ever growing and ever changing city. Across the way I saw a Starbucks and found the juxtaposition of the conflicting buildings startling.

When we entered into the Tower through Henry III’s Watergate, I lost myself to history. I went numb to everything else and greedily seized everything I could with my senses. My eyes first found the legendary Ravens of the Tower sitting on the Tower-green.

Keeping guard, keeping watch, and as the legend says, ensuring that London continues to stand with their mere presence. We (by we, I mean myself

and the three others who I owe a great deal of thanks to for putting up with my fanatic historical enthusiasm that day. They never complained and allowed me to indulge myself as much as possible. Thank you) made our way to where the crown jewels are stored.

They were beautiful. A parade of gold upon more gold. Fun fact, they’re not the real crown jewels. If you have the time, Google, ‘Oliver Cromwell,’ and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

We made our way across the grounds. We came to the memorial

erected upon the site of the old scaffold. How many countless people lost their lives at this spot? I know the names important enough to be written and recorded, but how many lost and sad souls whose names were not considered important enough lost their lives here too?

Behind the scaffold sight of old, now with a memorial-monument, green grass, and nefarious looking trees, I could see the chapel of St Peter ad Vincul. I wanted to visit it, but regrettably it was roped off and only later did I

learn that it was only open for a small window of time later in the evening.

Why would I want to visit? One reason: Anne Boleyn. Within the chapel, the second wife of Henry VIII, the woman he altered church and history for, and the mother of the greatest British monarch, Elizabeth II, rests.

I’m not ashamed to admit it, but I wanted to pay homage to her final resting-place. Put to death by the very man who had transformed the world for her, I wanted to stand before such a monumental woman’s tombstone and offer my respects. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen on this trip, but I made myself a promise that I’d be back again someday. A promise I wholly intend to keep.

Guided then into the White Tower, the old keep of William the Conqueror, I took my time with each room. A buffet of historical delicacies had been set up within White Tower. An arrangement of different armors belong to various monarchs over the years (Henry VIII really liked his codpieces), weapons, documents (some even I hadn’t heard of), and what the British government calls “acquired” artifacts belonging to other cultures and nations all over the world. I’m not sure anyone has ever enjoyed themselves so immensely in the Tower of London. No, the irony of my immense enjoyment in place responsible for so many deaths is not lost upon me. I will says this: As I was leaving the White Tower (through the gift shop no less. I bought a few books, a deck of cards, as well as a big with a printed image of the Tower on it), a small part of me was a bit disappointed that I didn’t see any signs of Anne Boleyn’s ghost who is said to walk through White Tower holding her head under her arm. I would’ve liked to have said hi. Next time though, I promise.

40 Opinions Caitlin Hill 1. When the Grad Assistant gives you food suggestions, listen.

He will not steer you wrong.

2. When the Professor tries to direct you across traffic, ignore him. Following his directions blindly may result in injury.

3. If you run across a food you have never heard of, try it.

And don’t ask what’s in it.

4. Do not hand over your Harry Potter Studio passport at airport security. They will not appreciate it.

5. Pack souvenirs at the top of your bag. If it gets stopped for any reason, you’ll be glad you did.

6. Travel in small groups. It’s best not to wander off alone, but large groups have a much harder time sticking together, especially in eating establishments.

7. Never underestimate a good tour guide. Yes, it’s nice to wander around at your own pace, but you miss a lot of information that way.

8. Ask your tour guides for more.

They know a lot of stories and interesting facts that they won’t mention because they don’t think you’re interested.

9. Don’t be standoffish about eating familiar foods in other countries. It’s fun to try the local cuisine, but it’s also interesting to see how other

countries treat the food you eat every day.

10. When travelling to different time zones, try to stay up the entire first day. You’ll get used to the change quicker that way.

11. Don’t be afraid of a little walking. Public transportation may be quicker, but it costs more and you see less of the city.

12. If you have a specific destination in mind, look up directions before you leave your hotel.

13. You don’t always want to trust your phone’s GPS while you’re wandering lost around the streets of an unfamiliar town.

14. Take lots of pictures and keep a journal. After a while, things start to run together and you’ll be glad you have something as a reference.

15. Last but not least, DO STUFF! Taking a nap or going to bed early might sound tempting after a long day, but there is so much to see and experience that if you do opt out of that nighttime adventure, you’ll be sorely disappointed the next day when you hear about it from others. It’s also a great way to get to meet the locals and see the city as it is without the touristy façade.

é Adapted by

Kelly Lawson

Ingredients: 12 oz. Rotini pasta ¼ cup Pesto (more or less according to taste) ¼ cup black olives, chopped ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped ¼ cup edamame, cooked, shelled and cooled Handful of arugula Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Instructions: Prepare your pasta according to the package. Rinse under cool water.

Gently toss all ingredients in a large bowl and serve topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Opinions 41 Meagan Blocker

Now, this was not my first time studying abroad. In fact, we were even going to the same country that I had spent quite a delightful summer in only two years previous. Neither of these facts, deterred my excitement for returning and exploring all sorts of new corners of the world. I had some expectations for the trip. I knew that things would be different from my first trip, and that we would be travelling in quite a large group. I have learned from past travelling experiences that it is when things do not run smoothly that adventure begins. I mean Bilbo didn’t find the Lonely Mountain, because he decided to stay home and drink tea. All notions of adventure aside, there was one thing I was not expecting to happen—making friends.

That may sound absolutely ridiculous. How could one travel across the world with a group of people and not make one single friend? The answer- very easily. The first time I studied abroad I met a ton of new people. They were all amazing and we swore that we would never stop talking. Plans were made to meet up again, but after about a week away from our little study abroad bubble, we stopped talking. Not all at once, but we ran out of things to say. Everyone was and still is going in different directions. I mean we are connected through Facebook, but over the course of time, these people who I had considered close friends became just names on my newsfeed. They shifted from the category of friend to this person with whom I had studied

abroad. I was expecting a similar experience with this trip.

When Ashley and I arrived at Detroit Airport, we ran into a fellow classmate getting his ticket—Jamie.

Shortly after we met up with two other members of our class, Marissa and Justin, and from that point on we became part of this unofficial group. Any time we had free time, we somehow found one another and went off to explore whichever city we happened to be. The one time the boys were left to their own devices, they walked around the same block for two hours. Needless to say, they needed us, and we needed them. The more we hung out, the more I realized I might actually enjoy these people. Often times, when presented in a new environment, people tend to cling to the familiar. So while in my past experiences, I have found people that I can tolerate for a short while, this time, I found myself actually wanting to hang out with these people once the trip was over.

It really dawned on me one day, when Jamie and I got into a yelling match over F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, that what I had right in front of me was friendship. The five of us climbed to the tops of towers and made some questionable judgement calls on when is the appropriate time to catch a bus, but we bonded over these adventures. And the catalyst for all of this ridiculous friendship nonsense, was Harry Potter. I mean it just seems ridiculous.

Yet, our little group had nothing in common, except for our love of books. There was no awkward silence because we spent so much time talking about books. We branched off from Harry Potter and journeyed

into other literature. Everyone became familiar with each other’s favorite authors or books. When we went to museums, not only did we know how to find the things we loved, but what our group loved as well. Sure, there were times were we may not have all gotten along splendidly, but that is bound to happen when you see the same people every waking moment.

So the friendship has been formed, but how can I tell that it is actually going to last this time? Because we are still hanging out. That is the beauty of traveling with a group of people in your class. If you plan to continue passing the course, you should attend class. As a collective we have this shared experience that we get to relive once a week. We go out after class and hang out. We chat and not only relive our old memories, but make new ones together. Before the trip, I barely talked to the other members of my class. I would go to class, we would have a discussion, and then I would leave. Now, we talk throughout the week, discuss Harry Potter in class, and then continuing discussing Harry Potter and other

Photo credit: Ashley O’Donnell books after class. Harry Potter has a way of bringing people together.

Contd. From pg. 1

While none of the aforementioned were present at the time of the st dent’s visit, this did not seem to d minish their overall excitement at being privy to such secretive and tightly guarded information as that’s locked behind Hogwarts’ giant doors. They even managed to get a quick glimpse of the brooms used for playing Quiditch. At the end of their tour of Hogwarts the student’s were gui ded down to Diagon Alley where several chose to visit Olivander’s Wand Shop and purchase their own wands (with the full knowledge that the wands would contain no magical potential). The students were also granted the privilege of seeing the Ministry of Magic. They marveled at the intricacy of the statues that graced the main entrance hall. The wizards who were there at the time looked suspiciously on as the students were guided through the halls. While no aggressive action was taken against the students many of the wizards stopped, watched them, and laughed at the child-like innocence the students exuded at every sight of magic. Before their tour of the wizarding world was over many of the students partook in a delicious butterbeer. By the time the student’s exited back into the hubbub of London it is fair to say they knew a great bit more about Hogwarts, its history, and the magic that fuels our world. While many wizards are worried about the impact this will have on our world I want to assure you that a charm will inhibit the students from blabbing our secrets. However, with the con-

tinual encroachment of the muggle and wizarding world upon each other we will have to learn to play nice sooner rather then later. As they chomp away on their Bertie Bot’s Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frogs this reporter is beginning to think that maybe it isn’t a bad thing to allow muggles into Hogwarts.

Hailey Zacharski

At approximately 2pm on Monday, March 9th, I stumbled upon a group of owl trainers while exploring the Royal Mile. Among the different species of owls spotted was the majestic and rare Eurasian Eagle Owl. The Eurasian Eagle Owl is one of the largest species of owl, and is one of two species in its genus; the second being the snowy owl, the species of which Hedwig, the companion of the Boy Who Lived, is a member. The Eagle Owl can be found throughout much of

Europe and Asia, in mountainous regions, forests, and other remote areas. It is curious then, that I was able to locate one on the streets of such a populated city. It is also curious to note that this owl was extremely comfortable around human muggles. I myself had the privilege of holding the owl, and she was quite calm, something unexpected of this species.

The question at hand is how the Eurasian Eagle Owl was obtained by these muggles, assuming they are non-magical folk. The owl has been under protection by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures since 2005. It is illegal to hold captive one of these owls as a pet or show animal. The muggles believe the species’ conservation status to be of least concern, but we of the magical community know otherwise. The owls have been disappearing from the Eurasian continent for some time now. They have been spotted in parliaments, or flocks, taking flight in the wee hours of the morning, heading who knows where. The behavior is most unusual, as owls are not normally seen in such large groups. The Department of Mysteries is keeping inquiries on the matter hush-hush, but most hold that the departure of the owls is an omen. Whether the omen is of something good or bad to come is open to interpretation, but the latter seems more likely. Any further sightings of the Eurasian Eagle Owl should be reported to the Ministry of Magic. And if seen with humans, provide the location for further investigation of the “trainers.”

them, as well as museums in Paris and London. There is just something Contd. From pg. 1 inherently wrong about having your back turned to the work of art you flew thousands of miles to see, trying to frame the perfect shot. Not only do they detract from the attraction people have traveled to see (as well as promote obnoxious habits), but they also take away a prime opportunity for interacting with locals or other tourists. If the need for a photograph of yourself or your group arises, simply ask a passerby, as they did in the ancient times of film cameras.

This brief interaction may lead to a conversation, whether it is simply exchanging polite small talk or getting a local's insider view of the city.

The things I think will stick with me the most about my time abroad This is not to say that tourists are the details. Little things like how shouldn't take pictures of their trip. I small I felt standing beneath Edincurrently have hundreds of photos of burgh Castle on top of a mountain, my trip on my phone that still need the rush of the wind after I climbed to be sorted, and I'm glad I took so the tower at Durham Cathedral, and many . Photos are a great way to re- even the conversations with new member your trip and to share your friends in an Oxford pub. A photo experiences with friends and family. can capture a moment, but it can't They just shouldn't the primary focus substitute these experiences. There is of the trip. The key to achieving this a time and a place for selfies, it's just balance is to keep your camera in not at Hogwarts. your pocket as much as possible.

Take a couple of quick photos of the site you are seeing, then put it away.

When you come upon the centuriesAt the end of the night, the old stained glass windows of Glouces- struggle o f muggle life became real to ter Cathedral or ancient Roman ruins me because I got locked out of my in London, it shouldn't be seen room. I shared a room with three through a four inch screen. Sights muggles, and we only had one key like these deserve your full attention between the four of us. Unfortunatein order to be truly experienced. ly, the muggle responsible for keeping I am not the only person who has the key forgot to grab it when we left caught on to the Dark Arts of the for dinner. We got back to the hostel selfie stick. Several festivals like Lol- at about 2am after a fun night at the lapalooza and Coachella have banned bar and realized that none of us had

Jacquie Fillmore

the key. Of course, I could have easily unlocked the door with alohomora, but I couldn’t give myself away in front of the muggles. We tried some very strange methods of unlocking the door; the first involved sticking two bobby pins into the lock and jiggling them around, and the second involved sliding a credit card through the crack between the door and the wall. Neither method seemed like it would be the least bit effective, but I’m not an expert in muggle lockpicking. When we finally summoned our group leader, Dr. Sommers, to help us with the door, I decided I had had enough. I also felt guilty about disturbing him when I could easily solve the problem within seconds. I went to another room to avoid being heard, and whispered the incantation. The door unlocked, and the muggles didn’t know a thing. They assumed Dr. Sommers unlocked it using his own room key or something.

Mischief managed!

44 Higher Education Oxford University student reflects on her literary education at Central Michigan University Alyssa Shepard Traditional English literary education involves intensive reading and writing, with little time devoted to truly experiencing the story. The recent surge in popularity of the “active learning” style of education has caused some professors to reevaluate their classroom experience.

Some, like Dr. Joseph Michael Sommers, go so far as to take their class directly into the world of the literature.

A few years ago, Dr. Sommers valiantly led an Honors class on a whirlwind adventure in London, England, all the while studying comic books. The following year, Dr. Sommers took it a step further – taking a group of Honors and graduate students on a whirlwind trip of the United Kingdom, to study the wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter. The huge success of this trip prompted a yearly spring break trip abroad, to learn about literature where it originated.

First-year Oxford University graduate student Alyssa Shepard reflects on her personal experience with this new wave in English education.

“I was in Dr. Sommer’s class when he first taught the Harry Potter class. I remember being shocked that I was voluntarily taking an English class – with me being a Biochemistry major,

I tried my best to stay away from the English world, thinking English education a boring endeavor. This trip was incredibly special, and incredibly insightful. It changed my whole view of literary education. I learned so much more about Harry Potter than I thought was possible, just from placing myself in his world, in the United Kingdom.”

Shepard shares about her decision to attend Oxford University. “We visited Oxford, to see some filming locations from Harry Potter. I instantly fell in love with the place. I have never felt so at home in a foreign city. It amazes me now to think that I might never have applied to Oxford if it wasn’t for this trip, and, in reality, for Dr. Sommers. And it wasn’t only Harry Potter that did this for me – Oxford was a remarkable place filled with literary history. I have never been so excited about lit-

erature, and I am excited to see this kind of education emerging from the efforts of some wonderful professors.”

This new kind of literary experience has revolutionized the English education system. Since the inaugural trip Dr. Sommers led, there has been an increase in popularity in the English department at Central Michigan. Shepard states “After taking this trip, I liked the way Dr. Sommers taught so much, that I actually took another one of his classes the following semester. He should feel proud – I was never planning on taking any English classes in college, until he showed me the endless possibilities that can be unlocked from the literature. It is truly inspiring to be able to see a radical change in education occurring, especially at a time when this country could really use education reform.”

Higher Education 45 Emileigh Stoll When I first came to Central, I was not quite sure what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The only reason I was somewhat alright with this was because my grandmother said that she had the same problem at the age of fifty-nine. With this wisdom in mind, I began taking classes for a possible neuroscience major. I sometimes wonder if it was not for the Honors program that I might have stayed on this path. It is important that I made a switch (that all students make this switch), when students have a sudden realization that they do not like what they are doing. I was doing fine in all of my classes, but I disliked the materials and the kind of jobs it might guide me towards in my time after college.

Now that I knew what I did not like, I was kind of uncertain of what I did like. I tried to evaluate where I was at- in school and in life. The greatest joy that I found at college was the experiences that I had been a part of in the Honors programwhether that be an interesting class, any of the many social events that the program puts on, and of course, the PDP. It never crossed my mind to think that being involved in a program like this is actually a profession! From that point on, I’ve been passionate and committed to the field of higher education. Needless to say, when we were visiting Oxford University, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. This was not only a practical application of Harry Potter inspired locations, but

a location that inspired me personally.

We had an exceptional tour guide that was well prepared to answer my many questions. Some of my questions were geared towards dormitories, which was much more of a complex answer than I was anticipating. It turns out that Oxford University is actually comprised of 38 different colleges. Students do not apply directly to the University, but to the different colleges within the University. Therefore, a student may have several interviews to different college within the University. Students can live within their colleges of varying size, until they relocate off-campus. The colleges are not subject specific, but students are encouraged to meet with the different colleges to get a feel for where they fit in the best.

The major college that we toured was Christ Church College, where Harry and Ron had adventures in their flying car, as well as their first walk to the Great Hall. The dormitories were spread out around the college, some in a square around a large green and others stacked near our initial entrance. I was pleased to find out that Lewis Carroll was a student at Christ Church, and even wrote the tale of Alice in Wonderland after his adventures babysitting the dean’s daughters.

We spent some time wandering the grounds, and ended up in the beautiful cathedral. It was here that our tour guide described the intense interviews that come along with an acceptance letter to Oxford.

She told a story of her family friend, who had an interview with Christ Church College. In this inter-

view, her friend walked into a room where there were three places to sit: a milking stool, a regular table chair, and a studded-leather chair.

The adjudicators politely instructed her to take a seat. The rest of the interview consisted of the applicant describing their mental process how they chose which chair to sit in.

After this story, I spent some time reflecting on the educational system in the United States. I first started thinking about my time in high school. After being at college for two years, I can see how much my earlier education was oriented to making good marks on a test.

Good test grades mean good semester grades, which mean students, parents, teachers, and administrators alike are satisfied with your results and performance. However, I have come to see that this kind of education does not foster tor facilitate the healthy growth of creativity and individuality it takes to excel in the world of higher education.

Higher education embraces the spirit of thinking in new ways, and even thinking about thinking, just like that formidable interview question at Oxford. However, I feel that I have been able to compensate for my early education by embracing the spirit of the University in my current studies. I am constantly enrolling in Honors classes that encourage critical thinking and discussion and pursuing opportunities that challenge the boundaries of what I know to be true about the world. I have come to find out that this radical idea of thinking in new ways is not just a characteristic of Oxford, but reinforced in our own Honors program right here at CMU.

the

DAILY PROPHET A journal of the UK trip

Caitlin McBride

F

IRST IMPRESSIONS

Points of interest in this issue:  First Impressions and Highlights of History, 1  Food, Drink, and Dessert, 2  Surprises, and London: Day and Night, 3  The Studios and the End, 4

Weeks of planning, hours of a

ket shopping for a gaudy fox sweater. sleepless plane ride, and a Romanian Each city is a unique labyrinth of Rugby team later, we finally make it to the UK. The day greets us with grey sky, green grass, and a haze of drizzling water in between. 45 degrees feels much colder here than in Michigan.

My first and lasting impression: breathtaking hardly describes it.. The cobblestone roads drift down winding streets of centuries old buildings overlooking contemporary shops. In one instant, I can climb a winding hill to another level of the city hidden just beyond the next corner, the next I can be in an urban mar-

H

Edinburgh Castle

modern life folded into rich history.

Edinburgh is gorgeous, from the castle perched atop a cascading stone cliff down to the Diagon Alley-like winding storefronts of Grassmarket. The Cathedrals of Durham and Gloucester are divine—standing beneath towering vaulted ceilings and glimmering stained

glass is magnificent. It feels unreal that we can walk into a building that has stood for more than a thousand years, whereas in the States, a building is considered ‘old’ if it is from the 1920s. It is an entirely different world.

Walking through the cool stone corridors of Edinburgh, Durham, Gloucester, and Oxford, Hogwarts takes shape before my eyes. It is better than anything replicated in a studio or built for a theme park—I can walk through the real thing.

ighlights of history

Our guides took us through

siastic about Harry Potter as we were!

(It took some convincing for her to streets filled with history. In Edinbelieve we were interested in history burgh, we were greeted by an too!) And our lady of London made exuberant kilt-wearing Scotsman who even a walk through the financial offered tales of masked bandits on district interesting with her stories of the winding streets. Then, a graveRoman ruins, decomposing plague yard guide who was as dusty as the bodies in the underground, and the tombs themselves. In Gloucester, we London fire of 1666. were guided by a woman as enthu-

It seemed that everywhere we stepped was filled with history. I stood where the serial killer Burke was hanged. I saw iron instruments used to torture witches. I walked the underground crypts and through dormitories that have held students since before our country was founded. It was unreal!

H

ow to shop London

Hands down, the best thing about London was the shopping. As much fun as we had touring around the city with Mar, as soon as we saw Covent Gardens in full swing, bustling with shoppers weaving amongst carts bursting with bags and scarves, we were enchanted. I hadn’t spent much during the trip until that point, but something clicked.

Even better than Covent Gardens was the Notting Hill Market. When we heard it described it as a Saturdayonly open market full of antiques and things, I expected something a little small. After a quick ride on the tube, we landed on a street lined with tents stuffed with glinting antiques. As we pressed farther, we realized just how big the market was. On and on and on we walked

through block after block full of clothes, bags, books, tea cups, local food—anything you could imagine. I ended up going to a cash point half way through so I could keep shopping! It was the best day of the trip! (and way better than Cambridge would have been!)

A

Going to a show is without a doubt us that we could never get tickets,

Hailey and I went to the theater showing The Woman in Black. We got in, got tickets for £25, got the fastest dinner service of our life at a beautiful Italian restaurant down the street, and found ourselves in a tiny theater in the heart of London. The On Thursday night, despite Mar warning show only had two actors, plus the woman, and was a taste of real one of my favorite things to do. It is the perfect way to spend an evening without wandering listlessly around in the cold night air, and London is a city bursting with fabulous shows from small theater to big productions.

I

night (or two) at the theater

British theater. The buildup of the first act was a bit slow, but the second half was absolutely terrifying!

On Friday, I convinced Brittany to see a show with me. The musicals were all outrageously expensive, but I noticed a small poster for War Horse tucked away in the corner of the ticket office. I had wanted to see this

show for years, plus it is about Britain during World War I, so we were sold! It was one of the best productions I have ever seen!

The puppetry was so natural and life-like that after 15 minutes I forgot that it wasn’t a real horse on stage!

n the end...

A ten day trip 3,000 miles from

more day of exploring beautiful cities...

home was the experience of a lifetime, Or braving freezing wind and rain one and I have far more memoires than can moment and gorgeous sunshine the next be summarized in a few brief articles… to climb up the rolling hills and see a full rainbow stretching over the city…

Like trying falafel from a food truck just a block away from the tavern where JR Or taking a speeding double-decker bus through Oxford at night...

Tolkien and CS Lewis used to sit...

Or seeing Galileo's letters in the British Or getting up close to a very friendly cobra who spotted us through the glass Library and ancient Mayan tablets at the British Museum that I had just learned at the London Zoo... about the Thursday before….

Or putting up with cramped hostels, Or finding a mysterious toilet booth in hotels without toilets, dangerous selfheating towel racks, twisting tiny stair- the middle of a city square, which probcases, and scalding showers just for one ably was an entrance to the Ministry of

Magic….

Or riding the London eye at night, seeing the city sparkling below, getting to know people I have sat next to all semester, but never spoken to...

This was an absolutely unforgettable trip.

I was immersed in a culture so similar yet so different from my own, and was allowed to walk through a world that otherwise would have remained only fantasy. Truly, it was magic.

Hand graphic: https://www.pinterest.com/ pin/38702878023588517/ Owl Graphic: http://www.occlumens.eu/ dailyprophet/

The Daily Prophet Saturday, 8 March 2015

Adam Larimer First Muggle to Visit Hogwarts Hospitalized: Ministry Rumored to be Involved Muggle, Adam Larimer, with his fiancée in hospital, 5 March.

Adam Larimer, winner of a sweepstakes published in the muggle world that would have made him the first non-magical visitor to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, fell ill on Thursday, the day before his set departure from the United States. The contest was the first step in an experimental process that would decrease the restricted interaction between muggles and wizards as established by the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

There are rumors that the Ministry of Magic, which helped organize the sweepstakes, may have been involved in causing Mr. Larimer’s illness. “There has been an enormous amount of pressure placed on the Ministry by the international wizarding community over the idea of a stronger level of wizardmuggle cooperation and integration,” said a Ministry official who wished to remain anonymous. When asked if the Ministry was involved in the illness of Mr. Larimer, in order to bow to international pressure without admitting to doing so, our source replied, “The Ministry would never inflict physical harm upon anyone simply to save-face. If the Ministry were to give in to the wishes of the international community, it would do so publicly, and continue to press for stronger muggle relations in a proper manner.” Should such a response be taken at face value? It is difficult to say. There are also those who suggest Mr. Larimer’s illness was caused by wizarding officials either from the U.S. or other nations.

In an exclusive interview, Mr. Larimer was asked about he has handled his disappointment (though of course, he has no inclination that he was to be exposed to the magical world), “I was obviously disappointed when I found out I couldn’t go on the trip. I was really looking forward to experiencing Britain firsthand. Fortunately, I’ve been informed that I will be receiving compensation for part of the value of the trip. My fiancée and I are planning to use this money to vacation in Greece over the summer, so it’s not all bad I guess.” Mr. Larimer obviously does not seem too heartbroken over his misfortune, but one must wonder, if he knew what he was truly missing out on, would he feel differently? ~ A. C. Cusatory

Hogwarts Nurse Denied Access to Muggle Sweepstakes Winner Madame Pomphrey, of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had her request to tend to a muggle, who was to be the first ever non-magical visitor to the school, denied by the Ministry of Magic on Friday. The young man, a muggle by the name of Adam Larimer, won a contest secretly (to muggles, at least) organized by the Hogwarts Headmaster, Professor McGonagall, in cooperation with the Ministry itself. The sweepstakes was publicized widely in the Muggle world, promising a rather nondescript “magical” tour of the lesser seen areas of Britain.

The purpose of the contest was to test the waters for a greater integration between the muggle and wizarding worlds.

Mr. Larimer was set to depart from his home in Michigan, U.S., for Great Britain on Friday via airplane (a rather large tin box muggles use to fly from one place to another). On Thursday, however, he became ill and was hospitalized for an issue involving his lung. This unfortunately rendered him unable to fly. Upon hearing of the event, Madame Pomphrey, the Hogwarts nurse, offered to apparate to Michigan in order to heal him so he could make his visit as planned. Due to the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, however, this could only be done with approval from the Ministry. Madame Pomphrey accordingly sent an owl to the Ministry containing her request as soon as the news reached her. It was promptly denied. “I know how important this visit is to the future of wizard-muggle relations,” Pomphrey said. “If the purpose was to introduce muggles to our world in a way that offers friendship, I see no reason not to start by showing the benefits our abilities could have to their society, with medicine being of top importance. I could cure this poor boy in a heartbeat, and I could hardly think of a better way to make an overture of friendship on behalf of the wizarding community.”

No one from the Ministry was available for comment on this matter. ~ R. J. Veritus

MUGGLE INVADERS SPOTTED FOR FINAL TIME IN DIAGON ALLEY

Not-so-secret anymore?

Taylor DesOrmeau The evasive group of muggles were spotted just twice more, both in Diagon Alley, once Thursday and once Friday.

It may be the end of an era for the wizarding community.

It seems that the anti-muggle protection charm failed to inact Thursday, as muggles have pictures of shops such as Ollivanders’, Gringotts and Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. All magic folk had been evacuated due to the break-in of Hogwarts earlier that day.

Not only did the group now referred to as “Sommers Army,” after the group’s leader, escape ministry grasp numerous times, but they also did what the ministry feared: shared their experiences.

The charms seemed to work Friday when the muggles attempted to return to Diagon Alley. This time, it was disguised as Leadenhall Market in London, as it is to all muggles.

Thanks to cooperation with The Daily Propher’s own Rita Skeeter, The Ministry of Magic was able to obtain the group’s Saturday itinerary. The muggles must have been tipped off, however, since they never showed up to Cambridge.

Instead, pictures show they tried to enter through Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station early in the morning. Fortunately, this charm was not faulty and successfully kept the muggles out.

This was the last sighting of the infamous group of muggle wizard and witch-wannabees.

“Through the use of a muggle device called ‘Facebake,’ the muggles shared static photos, normal photos and stories to those in their muggle school and community,” said Arthur Weasley, a worker in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.

“It’s a fascinating tool that tends to mesmerize muggles young and old across the world.”

It looks like a massive amount of memory charms will have to be performed, which could take months. The other option is allowing muggles in on our magical secret.

The ministry hopes to track down Sommers’ Army for interrogation but has been unsuccessful to this point.

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