Muggles in West Bumble and London.

Above: Location area for 12 Grimmauld Place.

Above: Still area for 12 Grimmauld..

Above: Continuation of the first two pictures.

Above: Outside of Gringotts Bank but in reality it's the Australia House (We're going to go back for a tour to see the room they actually use inside).

Above: The entrance to The Ministry of Magic, aka Scotland Yard.

Above: Ministry of Magic entrance again.. I'm knocking because the phone both in the movie is just a prop.

Above: Lambeth Bridge where the Knight Bus w/ the talking shrinking head and the old man w/ glasses drive through traffic and other buses shrinking and stretching.

Above: Lambeth Bridge..

Above: Lambeth Bridge.

Above: Lambeth Bridge.

Above: Sketchy Platform 9 and 3/4 ((it was moved for construction of the Kings Cross Station)).

Above: Me!!

Above: By itself.

Above: 4 Privet Drive =)

So today we went around for Harry Potter locations and we found some. There are more to find which we have a list but it got dark out and really made that impossible. Including the above pictures we're still going to: The Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley, the inside of Gringotts, The Great Hall, and a few other places =) ENJOY!!!

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

So just a quick update here. Alissa and I found a guide online earlier that shows many places that were used in Harry Potter movies so tomorrow we will buy a travel card and follow clues and go on a scavenger hunt just the two of us of these Harry Potter film locations. I'm super excited and cannot wait. I will of course take pictures of this event and post them later. Tonight is taco night, not for any real reason but because I have decided so.

Also on a sidenote about food, Mardi Gras is celebrated in England as Pancake Day and people have pancake parties and eat pancakes and celebrate pancakes. It makes me laugh, and I appreciate it.

Hope all is well for everyone =)

BEST DAYYYYY of my trip so far..

So today Elle and I went into Waterloo which I have now renamed Aqualoo. We then made our way to the studio which didn't look shady like the other gig last week, so that was a plus. So we get there and we are waiting in the waiting room area and the celebrity guests were waiting with us but we didn't really know who any of them were but that was okay. It ended up being the producers/directors or something of Slumdog Millionare, the 3 final contestants and John Torode from Master Chef, some actress and another woman who I didn't figure out who she was. So our job was to be in the "star bar" where there were drinks (beer, wine, OJ, water, soda) that sorta stuff and we had to be the crowd and the guests were sitting in front of the bar and I was standing behind with Elle and another woman and the barmaid, so we were actually on camera quite a lot. They did a funny segment where they had a couple and their caravan because there is a show tonight or a documentary called something like "A Love Affair: The British and Their Caravans". Something like that, super silly. And there was a comedian (Robin Ince) who interacted with the guests and star bar audience (us). At the end, when the Master Chefs were being interviewed by Richard and Judy of Richard and Judy's Star Bar, the people at the bar area were given the same food to try as the celebrity guests and it was a meat roll. So the comedian (on air) asks if I want some so I agreed to try it and I'm trying to get it off the platter onto my plate and he's like "No no, you have to stab it like this and just dig in!" so he takes my fork and just stabs the meat and makes me eat it haha and then everyone else grabbed some to try. And then without any warning he and his microphone come back to me and ask what I think and so caught off guard my only response was "It was tasty" (which now I look back and laugh because the scenario plays back in my head). And he hears from my accent that i'm American and asks where I'm from and I respond. And he's like "New Jersey? Do they eat a lot of meat there? Would you eat this back home?" And I still am just so confused and everything I say "Yes, I think people would eat this at home" and he asks me further if there is an all meat restaurant and I didn't know so sad, but then he turned to Elle and asked her what she thought and she said "It has a kick to it" and we all agreed and the comedian goes "Oh, that's just your aorta exploding". Sooo hilarious. And then we went to Leicester Square to the BK Lounge and then we walked around a bit and got back on the Tube and went to some guitar place so Elle could buy a guitar. It was a fabulous day, so many fun things happened. I'm very pleased and very happy, and also very tired. I need to find the show online somewhere, haha.

=)

Abbey Road

Above: National Gallery at Trafalgers Square.

Above: This is for Aunt Sandi, haha.

Above: A better picture of me w/ Jude Law's hands.

Above: Abbey Road (where everyone signs the wall).

Above: Abbey Road wall again.

Above: More Abbey Road wall.

Above: 4 of my friends crossing.

Above: Again.. haha.

Above: Abbey Road =)

So Wednesday was my friend Elle's birthday so we went into London, a big group of us, and our first mission was to find Abbey Road. We successfully got there after finding out the tube line we wanted was closed for the day but managed to make our way there. So we get to Abbey Road and four of them decide they want to cross it like The Beatles of course, only to realize that there are ridiculous amounts of traffic. Luckily the crosswalk was there with the blinking lights which means that vehicles have to stop for pedestrians so after a while they were able to cross. We then hopped on a bus to the National Gallery? National Museum? Lots of painting, we saw some Monet and a few other things but decided to take a trip to Leicester square which is right up the road from Trafalgers Square which is where we were. So we (Alissa, Elle and me) went to Leicester and took some more pictures of handprints and I got another pictures of me with my future husband Jude Law =) Then we went back to meet with the group and wandered around for 30 minutes trying to find this place a few of them ate at once and when we successfully got there, there was only room for 4 people so we split in 1/2. Half stayed there while the rest of us went with a kid who this is his second time at Kingston for study abroad and he brought us to this bangin pizza place on the South Bank. And we went to go meet up for waffles and eventually made it home. So here I am, in my room, had an amazing day with amazing people and i'm going to get some amazing sleep soon!!

BUT!! I have more exciting news on the acting front.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I took part in a commercial. Well.. next Tuesday i'm going with Elle again to London to be on a TV show!! It'll be on BBC and it's called "Richard and Judy's Star Bar". Basically there are like 30 people in the audience and there are guest comedians with the guest stars and they need people to stand around at the free bar to partake in the comedian's jokes and games and basically chill with the guest celebrity's. So I mean, i'm super excited. I'm personally hoping for Jude Law to be a guest but of course that wouldn't happen. There are quite a few Brits i'd like to see appear but I won't know who they are until I get there but i'll be sure to tell you more about that later.

I hope all is well over at home =) Love you guys!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Above: My hands in Ralph Fiennes handprints.

Above: Jude Law and I held hands.. sorta <3

Above: My hands in Emma Thompson's handprints =)

Yesterday I successfully participated in a TV commercial for Allen and Heath. The commercial was to promote a mixing table for DJ's so the DJ company shot a commercial. A fellow study abroad student named Elle was the one who told me about it so I went with her. We ended up taking the the Northern line to Oval which neither of us has heard of but we were in South South London and walked about a mile to a studio which looked really really sketchy at first and we finally get to Block A where it was being shot and I mean it was all under construction and a man showed us to the green room on like the other side of the building, and we were definitely thinking "This isn't validddd..." but it turns out it was. We met the director and everyone. We were the first ones there and were in the waiting room and finally more people showed up. There were probably about 9 or 10 of us total. I really had an awesome time. Elle has done this sort of thing before and she said she also never had so much doing it. We danced most of the time just bopping our heads or whatever and then according to the scene or scenario.. well.. I won't spoil it because the deadline to have it done is in about 3 and 1/2 weeks and we'll get a copy of so i'll share that when I get it. Now everytime I hear a song I just want to dance because we were conditioned in a sense to start dancing once we heard music, haha. But I mean.. who can say they were in London and shot a commercial? Well now I can =)

I've gotta leave for class in a bit so this is where I say au revoir!

Parliament, Globe Theatre, Portobello Market.

Above: Indian squat toilet. It's intriguing.

Above: Me and my friend Elle at Parliament on the steps where Henry the 8th would tell people of their death sentence.

Above: This is me hugging a fake tree inside the Globe Theatre exhibit.

Above: There were little rooms inside the bathroom with two open toilets and it amused me.

Above: Thatched roof of the Globe Theatre.

Above: Globe Theatre stage.

Above: Outside the Globe Theatre.

Above: Random restaurant but it has the same initials as my dad =)

Above: This was in Parliament.. we definitely thought it was alcohol but after I went over to investigate I figured out it was really just mineral water, haha.

Above: Window at Parliament.

Above: The Great Hall?

Above: Standing in front of Parliament.

Above: Parliament.

Warning: My brain is fried, but I need to update before I forget the info so if it's choppy and doesn't flow nicely, you're forewarned..

On Friday my British Life and Culture class took a trip to Parliament and the Globe Theatre. A bunch of us took the train together and went to Parliament to meet up with our professor and the rest of the class and took a tour. My favourite part of the tour was actually before we went inside and we had our picture taken and an ID made for us to wear around our necks while we were on the property. Our tour guide was very informative but had an unpleasant odor that followed him so I tried to stand as far away as possible which was a slight problem because he didn't speak very loud. So basically.. I didn't hear it all but I did learn about interesting things. We learned about Henry the 8th who had like 10 wives (exaggeration) but he even had one of them beheaded because it would seem less terrible to the public that his wife was killed instead of yet ANOTHER divorce, I also learned that the Queen actually only spends 45 minutes a year inside of Parliament. The building itself was extremely beautiful and I do not have any pictures of it from the inside because photos weren't allowed but I have pictures of the hall before the tour began.

We went to the Globe Theatre afterwards and it was like.. the 3rd Globe Theatre built because one of them burned down and the other got destroyed in the civil war, soooo it's not the original but it is basically the same. And the walls are actually made of animal hair and and plaster (well the parts of the walls that aren't wood), which I found really interesting. And the man whose idea it was to re-create the Globe was actually an American called Wanamaker. His daughter Zoe is also very well known in acting and if you have seen Harry Potter, she is Madam Hooch the Quidditch referee. It was really cool being in the Globe and I plan on visiting it later during their on season to see Romeo and Juliet.

Today I went to Portobello Market in Notting Hill (ohhhh Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant *sigh*), and basically it is a really really really long stretch of road with vendors and little shops on the street and everything (well mostly everything) has low prices. I bought a few scarves, a hat, a watch, some boots. All necessary things of course =P

It's been a long day, so i'm going to bed but I hope all is well over the river aka Atlantic Ocean =)

Edit: I was trying to go for "over the river and through the woods" in the above sentence but then I realized there isn't much woodland in the ocean so I settled for over the river. I could change it and not put the "Edit" but I want to leave it. Uh-oh. You know what that means! =)

Buttttttttt as my father pointed out I could also so "I hope all is well over the pond".

What's new?

Well, I can say nothing's new to share about but of course i'd be lying because lots of things are new! I'm in a different country and every (almost) experience is something new.

I guess I can start with the weather. It's snowing again, it's not just flurrying but it's snowing, that was super fun to walk home in. I hope it's not bad tomorrow because I am actually going for a tour of Parliament! My British Life and Culture class is going for a tour of Parliament and later in the afternoon we have a tour of the Globe Theatre which does Shakespearean plays. So that should be an interesting time.

I had my Sustainable Development class today which is an environmental class. It's actually an interesting class but when it came time for seminars I didn't know which to attend because they broke into their own sub-majors whether it be hazards, geography, etc. I of course asked my teacher and told her my dilemma and she asked me what my major was, so I told her communications and she actually asked me if I was really in the class or not. I of course am. It's just that over here students don't take electives, they take the classes towards their major only so when an outsider comes in, they don't have a place. So there I am, the American with no previous study in this type of science and I feel super out of place. I especially felt out of place today when a few kids were saying some not so nice and definitely not so true things about America, but my teacher cut them off before I had a chance to defend my country, haha.

I'm starting to miss home. When i'm at my house here I just stay in my room unless I need to do laundry or eat, and it's like i'm living in a dorm room again, blech. I am out and about most of the time exploring though =)

Anyway... the end.
Love you all!

Potato chips or should I say: crisps.

So over in America we have Lays the potato chip makers but the big one over here in England is Walkers.

Now i'd like to introduce you to the new flavours that they just released:

• Onion Bahji
• Fish and Chips
• Builder's Breakfast (Eggs, bacon, sausage and bean flavoured..)
• Chilli and Chocolate
• Crispy Duck and Hoisin

and..

• Cajun Squirrel

I mean seriously.. Cajun Squirrel? I'm curious, I won't lie. I'm determined to try all of them.. if it actually happens that will be a different story.

If you care to read more about these flavours, etc:

http://www.walkers.co.uk/flavours/default.aspx?ver=high#

TV and Photo Frenzy.

Above: The 2 pictures above were taken at the Globe Theatre
(More pictures from Photo Frenzy at the bottom of this post)

I decided that I was going to wait until today to make my next update as I wanted to include yesterday's events as well.. but let me not get ahead of myself and share some things about Friday..

On Friday I had my first TV: On the Box class which is basically a class where we watch some things on TV and we discuss why things were done, why the script is the way it is, why the background is that way, why it's shot a certain way.. it's very interesting. I have my seminar in the morning for an hour then a two hour break before my two hour lecture. Now, the class is really a continuation from a fall class, like a part 2, so everyone knows each other.. the professor knows everyone so when he saw me he goes "I don't think I know you" to which I replied "Yeah, haha. I'm Shelly from New Jersey.. in America". Now the reaction from the class was a "oooo" and some "aww's" which I don't really understand why the aww but anyway apparently they love American accents. So my professor then goes on and asks me who the son on NJ is. And I don't really understand and finally say that I don't know and he turns to the rest of the class in disbelief that none of us know so he gives us a clue.. he's not an alto, in fact he is a contrabass who is he? The answer is Tony Soprano of course. So then he asks me where i'm from and I tell him and of course he's never heard of Rowan University or been there so I tell him he should go and he laughs. The whole process was quite amusing, and made me laugh cause he is a funny funny man.

Now on to more fun things =P

Yesterday was my Photo Frenzy event. The school put together a last "get to know each other" event and we went into London and met at the base of the London Eye and went on a scavenger hunt to find certain landmarks and take pictures with our team. We had to figure out riddles though or facts for each place. In the end we got everything, and were quite pleased with our pictures. We ended up at a restuarant/pub called Tiger Tiger on Haymarket near Piccadilly Circus where we were given food and drinks.

Now after we were full of food and such, we actually went to go see the London Philharmonic play!! One of the girls in my group has a friend in the choir there and we got the friends/family tickets for 5 pounds, it was amazing. I mean at that time I was super beat from the day but it was still the perfect ending to the perfect day.

I have today, Monday and Tuesday off so I plan to just relax and enjoy a break since I have been going nonstop for two weeks.

Oh man.. i've been here two weeks already. It actually feels longer than that but also shorter at the same time.

Well, I hope you are all doing well =) I'm now going to post my favourite pictures from Photo Frenzy =)

Above: Double Decker =)

Above: This is the awkward bird man who hugged me after I gave him like 20 pence.

Above: Horse guards.

Above: Leicester Square (Chris bought us all roses at Covent Garden from the street vendor... because the vendor was just so darn convincing hahaha). That is why we have roses in our mouths.

Above: Chinese pagoda.

Above: We're pretending that when Big Ben ring's it's really loud.. obviously. Fun fact which most people get wrong.. Big Ben isn't the clock, it's the bell inside.

Above: Aquarium.

Above: You know you're in London when you're in the tube and there is a performer playing The Beatles.

Above: Westminster Abbey.

Above: Bronze Lion at Trafalgers Square.

Above: Tiger Tiger (the restaurant we ended at).

Above: My favourite picture.. jumping outside of St. Paul's Cathedral.