spaghetti rehab.: Call me Mrs. Ron Weasley

**excuse my laziness in Blogging. I made this London trip November 12th-14th. Yes, I finally blogged. Please go back to your daily routine after rejoicing.

For those of you that don’t know, I would rather be “magic folk” than a “muggle”. The Harry Potter series consumed the entirety of my childhood and I truly believe that the wizarding world is out there (as much as I still believe Michael Jackson is still alive). I wait, longingly yet hopefully, every day that my Hogwarts acceptance letter will come FINALLY (via Owl post obviously).

That being said, a few weeks (or months, whatever you wanna call it) ago I took a trip to London to seek out my wizard husband (Ron, duh....Hermione you ain't got nothin' on me girl). Well…more realistically, I went to see the things that inspired JK Rowling to write the series that has prevented me from doing well in school. (She is my Queen.)

This is my first travel post (yippee). Anyway, before I get into the details of my ‘wicked’ weekend I would like to tell you that all my stories will be completely abridged. Meaning: I know you don’t really care about everything I tasted, my feelings at every point during my trip, everything I saw, touched, smelled, or whatever else. Ok, maybe you care but I honestly don’t care enough to write it all. AND I promise I will keep all adjectives to a minimum, unlike many study-abroad-college-aged-bloggers (that I stalk) who think it’s normal and cool to use words like “plethora” “wondrous” “breathtaking” and “picturesque” over and over and over again. Annoying.

So now you know how I really feel. And why I hate blogging…and adjectives. Don’t worry bloggers who are freaking out right now, I wasn’t thinking about anyone in particular. Just kidding…I definitely was.

Ok. London. Took a plastic Ryanair airplane that landed in bumbleville* England about an hour and a half outside of London.

So, you know, after casually (accidentally) leaving my passport in the duty free shop. We found a bus and made our way to the center of London.

I erroneously told my London friend that I was taking a bus from the airport to Victoria Station when really it was Victoria COACH Station. God, I can be such a Muggle sometimes. But thankfully it was freezing and pouring rain during the hour and a half I searched the streets of this foreign city. Oh London, you’re not very good at first impressions. Finally, I saw my friends. Luckily they were easy to spot: both decked out in North Face and holding Starbucks cups. How very Midwest-American of you.

Things I did (sorry I have a list fetish):

1. Went to dinner at a real LIFE English pub! Filled with real LIVE English people who were speaking in real LIVE English accents! When I ordered a butterbeer at this pub they snarled at me; I pouted.

2. Went clubbing near Piccadilly Circus. No Big Deal. Side note: I like clubs in London better than the ones in Bologna because 1) The volume of the music doesn’t destroy your ear drums 2) English 3) I think people actually take showers before going out!

3. Took a red-double decker bus home from the clubs. Obviously I found it completely necessary to scream “THIS IS SO LONDONY!” at every chance I got. How embarrassing.

4. Met up with my friend Mark from Madison. Walked the old streets of London. Drank warm beer with him(no it was not stale keystone light). Did a pub-crawl. My favorite part of the crawl was to see that every pub, at any time of the day is filled with people. But then again I would always be drinking with weather like in London…

5. Paid in Galleons.

6. Went to a Christmas market. I bought one thing. Of course I managed to purchase the most unnecessary (and most overpriced) product at the market: a string of cinnamon sticks. (insert redeeming quality of mine…)

7. Mastered the Patronus Charm. (Mine is a Lizard. Actually it's a Zebra...DiVA)

8. Got destroyed by the pound. Let me tell you: I absolutely hate English money. Number 1: it is very hard to differentiate the bills. Number 2: I’m sorry Queen but you are ugly, it is selfish of you to be on the bills. Obviously, Ron Weasley should be on there. Number 3: The exchange rate is deadly. England, can you please stop having a rockin’ economy so I can pay less than 10 dollars for my Starbucks?

9. Saw the regular Londony sights. I would tell you all about them, but you can read other boring-adjective-filled blogs that will explain all of those sights. Or you can just watch the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie Winning London. Up to you.

10.Saw Chicago on Broadway. In London. Weird that our midwestern selves chose that show. Whatever it was fabulous.

11. “Minded the Gap” on the tube. (if you’ve ever been…you’ll know what I’m talking about.)…see they don’t really speak English in England.

Numbers 5 and 7 are lies.

Anyways, my trip to London was a blast. I had so much fun speaking English again, although in some cases the English accent cannot qualify for real English. American is the only real language…but you already know that.

My regrets: I did not meet Ron Weasley. I did not get to Ollivander’s for my wand. I did not apparate to Hogwarts. And I did not cheat on Ron with Draco Malfoy. But I have the rest of my life to live and I’m sure I will be meeting you again, London!

Thank you to Dana, Emily and Mark (my fellow Badgers) for making my trip a success!

Oh also, I despise the word reckon’. If I hear it one more time I will smack someone in the face.

Always look LEFT when crossing the street in London,

Mals

…kidding, please look right. Cheers.

*I got yelled at for swearing on this blog. The *star* means “use your imagination for what could potentially be here”. You can let your mom wash your mouth out with soap this time.