Paralympics 2012: Truly Inspirational Athletes

"Sport has the power to change the world, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does"--Nelson Mandela

I always look for quotes to start these things off because I feel like they set a tone for what I'm writing and can sum up what I want to convey without me pretending to be philosophical and inventing my own quotes. After attending a Paralympic event the other week this quote really spoke to me. The whole world watches the Olympics and for a brief period of time everyone is united in the fact that we are watching these athletes compete together, watching them meet people from all over the world and how they all represent their countries. Each country wants their own to win, but I always find myself rooting for everyone playing, especially if who I want to win is not competing. Sports, especially international events such as the Olympics and Paralympics, really do bring people together.

Needless to say I was extremely excited to be living in England during the games. A few friends and I made our way over to the stadium and sat in the nosebleed section, which has a surprisingly amazing view. The entire stadium was filled and a record number of attendees were there that night. It was a cool thing to be a part of. The atmosphere was incredible. Excitement was oozing from everyone. You just don't get that enough in daily life.

The Olympics are ridiculously impressive and to me are the ultimate challenge for athletes. The Paralympics, at least in my opinion, represent more than that and require more mental and physical strength to overcome their disability, to take control of their lives and adapt to what it has dealt them, and to obtain a world renowned level of athleticism. I feel like I am a decently in shape person and I love working out; I do it every day. I felt like a tub of lard sitting in the stands, the entire bag of snack food I had brought didn't help, as I watched people who were missing limbs, had mental illnesses, and lacked vision or hearing competing at such a high standard. No one has an excuse to not exercise, especially after seeing something like this.

We were lucky enough to get to see a track and field event, meaning we got to see TONS of events. When we got there javelin throwing was the main event. This quickly turned into about 4 different events going on at once and none of us knew which event to concentrate on. We just wanted to see everything.

We saw a Chinese man jump over 15m and set a new world record. He then did his second jump and broke his world record. I can barely jump 4ft much less 15m....    

The main events were the 100m heats for various different disabilities. We had no idea which heats were which as they called them things like T45 or T52. Not exactly explanatory, but we had fun nevertheless. The blade runners were by far one of my favorites. They are never the same length as the uninjured leg and they walk awkwardly. Not sure why they don't have blades that would make their legs even. Does anyone know?

Several world records were broken that night. We definitely picked a fantastic night to attend! My favorite race was the T52. Here's a picture so you know what I'm talking about.

 Toooooo cool!! We also got to see some world champions and the one and only Pistorius! He won his heat by about a mile.

The last events of the day were the blind 100m heats. There were varying degrees of sight capabilities and some could race without a guide. I can only imagine the courage it takes to run full speed at a target you can't see while being watched by thousands of people. These athletes really set the bar high for what a person can achieve.

If anyone reading this ever gets a chance to go see a Paralympic event I highly recommend it. It is just as thrilling, and much more inspirational, than a regular sporting event. As a huge sports fanatic I had high hopes, which were undoubtedly surpassed. I'm just happy that I got to experience it for myself. Go see the games and cheer on your country and all of the competitors! A chance like this doesn't come very often!

P.S. They had little remote controlled mini coopers that acted like carts to carry the javelins back to the athletes. We really got a kick out of them. It was a funny and unique way of doing things.

And yes I made odd sound effects every time I saw it move around.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."--Ambrose Redmoon

Harry Potter Studios

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live"--Albus Dumbledore

Yes ladies and gentlemen my fastastical nerdy dream came true! I went to the HP Studios in London. Needless to say I was in my own blissful little bubble of a world of nothing but Harry Potter and the making of the film. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I first arrived at the studios, but the entire experience, and believe me it was an unforgettable experience, blew me out of the water.

The line leading up to the beginning of the self guided tour had pictures of the actors on the walls, the ford anglia hanging from the ceiling, and quotes and information from J.K Rowling. We were guided into a room and shown a video and the screen then gave way to a door. Little did we know we would walk through those doors just the like actors did for years into the Great Hall. The first thing that caught my eye was the attention to detail. Details the cameras wouldn't always pick up and that most people wouldn't notice were literally everywhere. The objects on the tables and murals on wall were absolutely amazing.


I won't give a play by play of the entire experience, but I will highlight some of my favorite parts. My all time favorite parts were the ones where we got to see how the behind the scenes affects, such as costuming, makeup, wigs, animatronics, and character prosthetics. While there we learned that the actress who played Luna had made all of her jewelry for the film and we saw all of her costumes. It's great to see how the actors contributed and what other talents they have. Most actors are only known for one thing and by displaying these items it gives them more dimensionality.

The experience had every single prop you remembered and never even noticed from the films. The left absolutely nothing out. It is overwhelming to see just how many objects a film can accumulate. You thought hoarders were bad. Goooooooood grief. At least is was organized and they had really cool facts about everything you were looking at. The Gryffindor beds never changed size as the actors grew and the cameramen had to choose certain angles because everyone's feet were dangling off the end.


Whole sets were kept such as the potions classroom and Dumbledore's office.





















Another one of my favorite things was the overall lack of laziness. There were TONS of things that could have been easily done with CGI, but were made by hand. Moody's trunk with all the layers inside, the Magic is Might statue from the Ministry of Magic, Harry's house in Godric's Hollow. And these super cool working doors.

Can I just say that butterbeer is delicious? Look how happy we are drinking it. YUM

The surprises just kept on coming. The chess pieces from the Sorcerer's Stone were actually made and were enormous!

The next room after this consisted of all the animatronics and prosthetics. It really made me realize that there's so much I could do in film and I have only scratched the surface. I can't even wait to see where I end up in the film industry after seeing all of this. Yes, it's slightly cheesy, but I felt extremely inspired after seeing everything.





At first I was a little creeped out by seeing all of the goblin masks just sitting on a shelf staring at me with those lifelike faces, but then I just didn't want to stop staring at them. After taking stage makeup and have to make prosthetic noses and cuts for myself and failing miserably quite a few times I have major respect for those people who make them look flawless and easy to make.

Before touring the studios I always thought the dementors and werewolves were entirely the product of CGI. However, I was yet again wrong. Actors were put in harnesses with the torso of the creature they were playing on top of them. It seems weird until you see the picture. Then it all makes sense.











They also had a basilisk head that moved, Aragog and Buckbeak! Another one of my favorite parts was touring the actual Diagon Alley. I wish we could've gone inside the stores, but it was so cool to walk by the windows of the shops I imagined from reading and saw in the movies. There was so much in the windows to look at I probably could've spent all day in there.

I never thought I would think architecture and engineering plans were interesting, but holy crap. The next room was amazing. It was essentially wall papered with plans for anything you can possibly think of. Pictures do it so much more justice than my ravings can.

The next room had small models of things like the Beauzbatons carriage, Luna's house and the Durmstrang ship. What was more impressive were the paintings lining the walls. They were al of scenes from the film or inspired by certain aspects and exhibited artistic license.
I wish there had been pictures of them for sale in the gift shop because I would've bought every single one. It was great to see a different take on certain things or a static perspective of scenes.

 The last room was the most impressive and we spent the most time in there. There have been very few things I have seen that have stopped me in my tracks and made me just stare with a loss for words. The ENORMOUS, but not full scale,  replica of the castle was phenomenal. This model was the epitome of attention to detail. It was by far my favorite part of the tour. They definitely saved the best for last. You got to walk around the entire model and listened to the theme music. To sum it up it just made me extremely happy and in awe.

The only part of the studios that was not extraorinary was the gift shop. It was geared towards children, but did not have anything affordable for anyone my age and above. I ended up with peppermint toads and Hermione's wand, which is now on display in my room :) Laura and I did manage to have some fun in the gift shop as we always seem to do.

Reality needs to get on this level of awesome

As sappy as this is I really took this whole experience to heart. It goes to show that a movie and more importantly a series of books and move an entire generation. We grew up with these books and will always want to pick them up to read them and never be able to put them back down. The studios are an amazing contribution to the books and movies. It lets the readers who enjoy them both so much to actually experience them in person and more importantly to be a part of it and see just how much work went into the making of the films. I have never seen any movie set and everyone involved create something so imaginative. They have set the bar extremely high for those in the future.

"It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."--Albus Dumbledore

Pubs, Football, Cliffs! Oh My!

I've done it again! I went to Ireland. However, one thing is different. I went with my best friends and saw some really cool things I never got a chance to see. What's not to like? Well... it wouldn't be a vacation with me if weird things didn't happen. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for one heck of an interesting trip play by play. Don't worry I won't sit you down and show you a slideshow of all 659 pictures. Phew!

Day 1 & 2: A Journey of Epic Proportions

Many of you may not realize just how complicated it can be to get from London to a hostel in Dublin. Here's what we did and what you shouldn't do since it's overly complicated (but totally fun)

1. Underground from flat to Euston train station. For the non-Londoners that means a LOT of stairs with suitcases.
2. Train to Holyhead, Wales (3 hours of sitting fun... separated from everyone else since we didn't get seats together). It also meant I passed out for most of it.
3. Bus to ferry lobby
4. Stairs to another bus which took us to the ferry. Redundant much?
5. Ferry that made Laura and I sick. BUT... drum roll please.... I saw a SHARK. Yes I freaked out more than I should have, but hey I was excited and it turns out extreme excitement can momentarily cure seasickness.
6. Shuttle to terminal and a taxi ride to hostel where the taxi driver got lost in the city he grew up in.

Oddly enough we were tired by the end of that. (sarcasm for those who didn't pick up on it)

However being the true English ex patriots were are we decided to go see the sites and go out drinking. We made the fantastic choice to follow the music. We ended up in a tiny 2 story pub that had live music every night. We heard one of the best folk blues bands I have ever heard. Those guys can play some guitar.

We even got to meet one of them!

The next day we spent exploring Dublin. Everyone else went to the Guinness Storehouse and had a blast. I spent the day attempting to find some sort of museum/attraction that was open. Absolutely nothing was. I spent the day walking around Dublin in a futile search. Needless to say it was not the best first half of the day.

That night consisted of transport to Galway which was much easier than the trek I described earlier. We got in the football spirit and went in search of a pub that was playing the Ireland Euro cup game. We joined in yelling at the tvs and the Irish spent the rest of the night drinking until they had no more feelings or memory of the sad loss. We had an early night because the next day was nothing short of EPIC.

Next stop: the Cliffs of Moher!!!         Stay tuned for the next blog update in 2-3 days! This will most likely be a series of 3 parts.

Bring on 2012!

New Years! A time for resolutions! Although most people see a resolution as a plan for the first 2 weeks of the year, I plan on keeping mine. For once I actually have several resolutions that I put a lot of thought into.

I decided to send off 2011 with a bang. Laura and Derek were already in London and I made the journey there. How many Americans can say they spent New Years Eve in London watching fireworks on the banks of the Thames? This girl can! Laura and I spent the day people watching and just having a great time catching up since we hadn't seen each other in about 3 weeks. We met up with our friend Brittany for dinner and found an interesting place with god awful service. The English are definitely not renowned for their impeccable food service skills. They don't work for tips so I guess that plays a bigger part than I thought. We had a gourmet meal of microwaved cornish pastries and the driest cookie I have ever tasted in my life. Eat chocolate flavored chalk and you will have tasted the equivalent of my cookie.

Moving on. It's tradition for Laura and I to spend New Years Eve together and in the past 14 years we have only missed one year. We always watch the ball drop in Times Square. It always amazed me just how many people were crammed into Times Square and I always wondered what that would be like. I now know what it feels like to be a sardine in a can.

We attempted to move closer to the bank of the Thames, but moving 50 feet took 30 minutes so we decided that was a lost cause and went back to our spot on the bridge. Being as vertically challenged as I was I managed to not be able to find a spot to see over half of the London Eye, which was lit up and changed colors.

After 4 hours of playing word games, watching drunk people, buying over priced drinks and consequently giving up on drinking the countdown began!!  The countdown started at 30 seconds to midnight and the entire crowd yelled at the top of their lungs. Right at midnight the fireworks went off. London knows how to do a fireworks show. Fireworks were exploding everywhere and even coming out of the London Eye itself. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen in my entire life.

It was a pretty odd feeling to know that I was celebrating 2012 while everyone I knew back home was probably eating dinner.

That was just a small taste of the fireworks. The real thing was so much better!

My New Years resolutions include the normal idealistic things, but also some goals I want to achieve:

1. Keep in touch with friends and family back home more than I have

2. Get closer with my family

3. Audition for plays in England

4. Graduate from the MA program

5. Run in the total warrior marathon

6. Travel to 3 countries

7. Start making the documentary I have planned

8. Make more new friends

9. Eat a more healthy diet

10. Be a better person.

As cheesy or odd as some of those may sound, I AM going to achieve them all. This year is going to be amazing. I'm living abroad and getting an opportunity most people only dream of. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me :)