I Spent 8 Hours of My Day on Harry Potter!

Don't let the title fool you, I didn't do a great deal outside of sitting on the far right of that theatre for over 5 hours. For those of you who aren't familiar with the play titled "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", it is . Because it's as if this play is an entire book the length of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, there are two parts to this play. The first part is 2 hours and 40 minutes long with a 20 minute intermission and the second is 2 hours and 35 minutes with a 20 minute intermission as well. Now it's clear that someone would have to be absolutely delusional to be willing to sit for that long for one whole play, so they give a break that last about 2 hours in between the two parts allowing enough time to walk around and grab some dinner.

A wonderful thing about the theatre district in London is that a lot of restaurants in close proximity offer "Theatre Meal Deals". Some places offer two or three course meals for only £15 when you show your ticket, which looks something like this:

Tickets for this show can cost from £160-£290 ($197-$358) depending on the day or where your seat is located in the theatre. I know what you're thinking and no, I definitely did not spend that much money to see this show. One day in class, my professor mentioned this ticket lottery specifically for this show called the Friday Forty. If you get the app Today Tix, you can enter in a weekly raffle to get tickets to BOTH parts for only £40 ($49). The first time I entered, I didn't win. However, the second time around I found out that I had won right before my tour at Westminster Abbey. I received a notification that I only had 15 minutes to claim my tickets and I was both extremely excited and terribly anxious. Unfortunately, my EE data was being slow and the wait for it to load was agonizing. Eventually, I decided to just use my T-Mobile LTE and I claimed the tickets just in time! I was extremely excited at this wonderful opportunity and I couldn't believe that I had just gotten it.

The only thing in my way now was that I was supposed to work that day. Luckily for me, I had an amazing mentor that had no problem letting me leave work early to go see the show because she understood how much of a great opportunity it was for me and I was doing a good job at the gallery so far. The pickup time for the tickets was an hour before the show and it was only about a 10 minute walk from the gallery, so I didn't have to leave too early. After I got them, I bought myself a quick lunch at Tesco and sat at the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain in Piccadilly Circus.

When I arrived at the theatre to take my seat early, I had no idea what I was getting into. All I knew was that it was an extension of the Harry Potter series and that its ratings are through the roof. Something that I didn't know was that it's a play and not a musical, so I expected singing throughout and there wasn't any to my surprise. However, there is really cool choreography in the show, but I wouldn't call it dancing. The visual and audio effects are notably astounding and they did such an amazing job with it.

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I didn't come out of this experience with just a memory of a spectacular show; I ended up making a new friend. Meet Rosie, the sweet woman who sat to my left the whole time!

We chatted for a bit during the intermission during Part One. It was my first time really chatting with a native Londoner outside of work or class. Once Part One ended, we shared what we thought and then she asked me what I was going to do in the meantime. I told her I was just going to look for somewhere to grab dinner and she asked to come with me. I was quite surprised and a little bit skeptical. I was a bit scared she could be weird or creepy, but it all turned out completely normal.

We ended up going to Shake Shack across the street from the theater. She got her usual burger and fries and I got my usual portabella burger and fries later as well once I realized I was hungrier than I thought. It wasn't my first choice since I was thinking of trying a Theatre Meal Deal, but it definitely hit the spot. There were some awkward pauses in conversation, but she was very sweet and friendly and we got well-acquainted. We discovered that our birthdays are just two days apart and she was even kind enough to invite me to her party! She took me to one of her favourite bakeries that was a couple of blocks away and I tried amazing cinnamon bread. With the hour or so we had left, we walked around Piccadilly and Oxford Circuses and then made our way back to see Part Two.

Since then, we weren't able to see each other very much because we're both quite busy people, but we had a delicious dinner at a nice restaurant called Flat Iron at its Covent garden location. Typically, people wait over an hour to get into this restaurant during dinner time and they don't accept reservations. Luckily for us, she knew someone who works there and we were actually able to make a reservation. It was a really nice time to catch up with each other and share a good meal before I returned home.

We still talk to this day and our friendship is one of my most valuable relationships I gained from my study abroad experience. I highly encourage anyone to take the leap and make a new friend wherever you go! You never know what could come from it and now I have another really great friend who lives in London xx