Paulsen family year abroad

9/10: Our place was a 5 minute walk from the train station, and we started the process of unpacking and settling into our new home for 2 weeks. Bob and I did the usual routine of a grocery run and dinner making; fortunately there are two local grocery stores close by in addition to an Amazon fresh. This was so fun to experience and then take the kids to grab a few items and walk out after scanning the app. Their faces were hilarious! You really feel like you’re stealing.

9/12: Off to Warner Brothers Studio to see where HP was filmed! We originally were going to take an Uber, but Bob figured out we could take two trains and a bus that would get us right where we needed to be. In the end, our journey on public transit cost us a total of $15 instead of $100. Yikes. This was another instance that affirmed to us that we should travel as the locals do instead of what we normally do in the States!

Simone helped to open the doors to let us in.

Through to Platform 9 3/4!

The Weasley house made perfectly to 1/9 scale.

All the letters flying about in the Weasley house were individually hanging from the ceiling.

Dobby! He was a VR character, but they made wax creatures

so the actors could have a visual to talk to.

Gringotts bank - this pic does not do this space justice. The goblins were SO real. It was absolutely incredible.

Reaching for the cup in Bellatrix's vault

Hogwarts made in miniature scale used for a lot of the filming. This was SO impressive. Everything was made perfectly in such tiny proportions.

We spent 4 hours going through the studio, which we thought would be more than enough, but we could've spent a few more hours. My main takeaway was complete astonishment with the process of making the HP series. The level of detail with set making, costuming, makeup, and special effects was incredible. I would love to spend more time reading and learning about the producers and creative minds that created these movies, including Stuart Craig. We saw a model of his office where he would start with blank pieces of paper and sketch how scenes would be created. My non-creative mind is blown away by people who can do this!

9/6: We checked out of our place, and drove to the Edinburgh train station. We returned our car with no issue (we were a bit worried they’d charge us for the scratched hubcap). We settled into our seats on the train for our 5.5 hr ride to Cheltenham Spa. The kids did a great job using the time to finish up schoolwork for the week.

Bye Edinburgh!

It was a very short walk from the train station to our next place, and our host met us at the door to welcome us and show us around. We were immediately impressed with the great layout of the kitchen/family room and everything was super clean. We got the kids settled in and Bob and I walked to pick up the rental car. We did our grocery run, and came home to have a cozy Friday pizza night. The kids were still not feeling 100%, and we were all excited to relax in our lovely place and continue watching Harry Potter!

Bob worked his magic for a sweet rental

9/7: Today we’re headed to Oxford (45 min drive). We got to see a few different colleges that comprise Oxford (Christchurch and New). A number of HP scenes were filmed in these spaces which was really fun for us. The kids enjoyed taking pictures of the exact scenes from the movies. One highlight was seeing the dining hall that was an inspiration for the Great Hall in HP.

HP staircase

The dining hall - 600+ years later students still eat here every day. There are 2 sittings for dinner: the first is casual cafeteria style, the second is formal where you have to wear a gown!

The Christchurch quad

Thinking about coming here for college :-)

The famous tree from HP

HP bridge

Stopped for HH in Burton on the Water on the way home from Oxford. The Cotswalds are full of cute little towns like this.

9/8: We went to nearby Gloucester to check out the Cathedral.

More HP settings!

Exciting for us to see right where these scenes were filmed!

Thomas’s chapel in Gloucester Cathedral. I really liked this space. All of the stained glass was blue with beautiful imagery for each to individually interpret. My artsy pic with the worn down stone shows others love it too!

These panels were lovely and thought provoking for me to read. My family had gone ahead of me, and after I finished reading them I took pictures of the panels for them to read in case they missed them. This wasn’t exactly new information for me, but I definitely learned some things, and I thought it was very well summarized in plain, easy to understand language.

A few pieces really stood out to me. First, that above all, Jesus taught us to love one another and to be inclusive. The bread and wine remind us of His presence in each of us.

Second, he was put to death because he was critical of Roman leadership excluding some people from the community. They felt Jesus could undermine their authority.

My faith and beliefs have certainly changed and evolved over time. I loved reading these panels and thinking about our current world.

There are so many current day examples of exclusion, including in churches. People are being silenced by authority because of perceived threat to the people in power.

Thinking about and discussing real issues in depth with Bob and our kids is my favorite part of this journey. Quinn and Simone are naturally open minded, and it feels like we’re all learning and changing together as we massage different angles on various ‘serious’ topics. Bob and I can provide perspective from various life experiences to give the kids a landscape of how our opinions have changed over time.

Family bonding and learning together are our top two goals for our journey!