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Why I Love Harry Potter

20:10:00

As today is the 19 year anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone being published, I thought it would be an appropriate time to publish this post, which has been sitting in my drafts half-finished for months.

I've tried to write this post twice already, but both times it has come out as a rambly, emotional mess.

Since the first time I read the books (I was 7), Harry Potter has held a special place in my heart. I became obsessed, and truth be told, I still am. I know I certainly wouldn't be the same person I am today, or have the same values, if I hadn't grown up with them.

The people, or characters, have become my best friends. I see myself in several of them, and in more ways than one, they have taught me to be at peace with myself. And then we have the world itself, which is sometimes hard to believe is fictional.


But now, before this, too, gets way too emotional, I'm going to get into the solid reasons:
  1. As I mentioned above, it is sometimes hard to grasp that the entire wizarding world is made up. There is so much detail in every single aspect that it certainly feels real. Every little detail matches up, and relates to something in a later book and it is so incredibly well done. So many of the well-developed fan-theories blow my mind, because they are all backed up by evidence in the books, and it leaves me convinced that they were done on purpose. 
  2. The characters in these books also seem so real. None of them are perfect, which is what I love about them, and each of them seem realistic. I think Hermione is perhaps my favourite, which may be because I used to be a massive know-it-all and I love Emma Watson
  3. This sounds cheesy, but I have learnt so many things from the books. The entire series is a lesson in itself, but within each book there are so many 'hidden' ones. Dumbledore's words of wisdom are obvious, but have honestly made me a much better person.
  4. The last, but the most important reason, is the home it has given me. The books have been there for me through the last few years of my life, and Hogwarts has given me a sense of belonging. I felt like I fit in with the characters, as if they were my best friends, and that Hogwarts truly was my home, because I know it so well. Whenever I've felt alone, the books have been there to show me that I'm not, and that I do belong.

I feel like this blogpost hasn't really given my love for the books the praise they deserve. I can't put it into words, but in this blogpost I've focused more on my love for it, rather than why, if you're interested. I also have photography-focused blogposts up about the Harry Potter Studio Tour, which is honestly so amazing (Part 1 - Part 2).

I also have a post about my favourite books up here, and last year I did a (very rambly and emotional) post about fandoms, and why I love them so much. 
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Thoughts

What Leaving School Feels Like

19:28:00

As of yesterday, I have officially finished 11 years of school.

Yesterday was my last day of school here in this town. I'm moving out next year, to go to sixth form in another city. I'm happy and excited for that, but there are so many things I'm going to miss about my current school.

I've been here for the past four years. The first three were filled mainly with confusion and a feeling of isolation, but this past year has possibly been the best year of my life.

The teachers here have helped me so much. Sure, some of them suck, but there were also great ones. Teachers who would stay after school and tutor me, encourage me, comfort me, and accept it when i couldn't hand in work on time. They were helpful and nice, always, and I'll miss them.

And then there are my friends. As I mentioned, the first three years here weren't the best in terms of friendship. I made good friends, but they weren't right for me. I couldn't tell them my innermost thoughts, and I couldn't trust them to be there for me whenever. This year, that's all changed. I found myself a new group of friends. They love me and appreciate me, and although they're years older and will be strewn across the globe next year, I desperately want to keep in contact with them.


Someone has also come into my life this past year, and she has quickly become one of my best friends. We've been in the same class since the beginning, know she won't judge. Instead, she'll give advice and make jokes about it, to cheer me up.
but weren't any more than acquaintances. We're opposites, so I suppose the phrase 'opposites attract' is true. Even so, I don't think we've ever had a fight. We bicker and tease each other constantly, but no one makes me happier than she does. I can tell her everything, and I

I don't think any of them realise how much they've done for me. Without them, I truly don't think I'd be ready to move out next year. They're fun to be around. They invite me out, they come over to bake cupcakes with me, and they comfort me when I'm a crying mess, without even asking why.

Their individuality has helped me love myself. Their fearlessness, their confidence, has taught me that I don't need to be afraid to be myself, because they will accept me no matter what.

This post is all over the place and very emotional, but I'm sure you all know the feeling. This place, this school, that I've belonged to for the four most important years of my life is no longer mine. Sure, I can come back and visit, but it's not the same. I won't walk along the same corridors again, laughing and joking with the people I love most.

Not every day has been good, but I wouldn't trade that for the world. The people I've met, the memories I've made and the confidence I've gained here at this school means more to me than I could ever explain, to myself, to you guys, or to the people in question.

I never thought my last day here would make me cry. I've been counting down to this day for the past year, and now that it's here, I would do anything to just have a few more days here.

I did a post similar to this a few weeks ago, where I talk about my #1 biggest fear in life.

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Music

Music Favourites // June 2016

20:22:00

I love music, and although I can't sing, play an instrument or write songs, I appreciate it a lot.

I haven't done a post like this since January, and my music taste has evolved and grown a lot since then, and so I decided to do another Music Favourites. You can see my previous ones here and here.


In the past few months I've learnt to listen to music in a different way. I usually fall in love with artists or albums, rather than individual songs. Recently I've discovered covers on youtube, and also started using Spotify slightly, so I tried to feature those here:


I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker
This cover is by the wonderful Eve Miriam, and I love it so much. I've been singing this song for days, and the original version just isn't as good. The editing in this video is also absolutely incredible.  Her channel in general reminds me a lot of Dodie (more about her below), as she does amazing covers, but also short artistic videos of places she's visited.

Paint
And then there is the actual Dodie. Incredibly talented, and she sounds like a friend who is singing directly to you. Quirky is the one word I'd use to describe her. I've just been loving all of her songs recently, but mainly Paint. I'm sure you all watch doddleoddle already, so there isn't much more to say about her, but if you don't, just know that you're missing out.


Next to You
This is one song in particular that has comforted me when I feel alone. I don't know how else I can explain it, but Ally Hills' voice haunts me at the same as it makes me feel like I've come home after a long day out. When I have trouble sleeping, this song always comforts me. It's so beautiful and emotional, and this is the number one song I wanted to share in this post. It just means so much to me, in a way I struggle to describe. For some reason, blogger won't let me insert the video here, but it can be found on youtube and I highly recommend it.

The Great British Breakfast
As I mentioned, I rarely listen to songs by playlist. This is the first one I've actually discovered and regularly listen to, and so far, I'm into it! It's such a happy playlist, and I tend to listen to it while I'm in the shower in the morning, as it sets a good mood for my day. The music on it constantly changes too, so I never get bored of it.

Adele
If you've read this post, you'll know how much I've grown to love Adele recently, in particular her newest album, 25. It is an amazing album, but I've talked so much about it in that post that I wanted to feature some of her older, lesser known songs that I absolutely adore:

Ed Sheeran
I think I've mentioned this guy in both of my 'music favourites' posts so far, so I'm sure you all know how much I love him. I have over 100 songs of him, most of which are obviously on old EPs, but I recently found a few I had never heard before, and I love them all, so I wanted to share them with you. The first three are on X Wembley Edition, and the rest on the EP Don't which I didn't know existed:
Those are all the favourites I'm talking about today, but that was quite a lot. I hope you're not overwhelmed, and that you check them all out, because I love them all so much.

Also, are you following me on bloglovin? I hit 100 followers not long ago, and I'm already at 123. My 17th birthday is in just over a month, and although I know it's unrealistic, I think if I could hit 150 bloglovin followers before then, it would feel as if all my dreams had come true. So if you'd like to help give me the best birthday present I could ever wish for, I'd love it if you follow me on there.

I'm so grateful for every single one of you, and thank you for all being so supportive. 

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Twitter

Events

The Best Day // My Adventures in England

19:27:00

 You know those days where nothing in particular happens, but it's just such a good day? I had one of those this weekend, and so I figured I'd tell you all about it, because it was just so lovely.


As I'm sure you're aware (I mention it in practically every blogpost, sorry!), I'm over in England all the time to visit my family. I was there this past weekend, and the small town I'm from there is possibly my favourite place on earth.

I love it there so much. Everything just feels better when I'm over there. Everything seems less important, but the world looks so much more vibrant.


The sun was shining so brightly that I wished I'd worn shorts. In town, I found a cool vintage shop. I've never been in one before, but they are so worth the hype. I'll bring my camera there next time and show you all, and I'm sure you'll love it just as much as I do. Racks lined with old clothes, that musky smell, it was the kind you hear about in unrealistic books. I ended up buying a very stereotypical oversize denim jacket for $15, which I've worn every day since.

Apologies for the filter, but I lost the original!
Everything just looked so beautiful that day. The sun extra bright, the sky extra blue, and the buildings extra... majestic. Please tell me, why are all English buildings so incredible?

The flowershop I walked past on the way home was blooming, and everyone was so friendly. I gave my spare pound to a man who had asked me for it earlier, to help feed the homeless. He said he's never had anyone come back after they said they would, and I know that I am usually one of those people.

The park was blooming. I had to walk through it to get home, and I'm so glad I did. As I sat on a bench in the sun, the ground around me was completely covered in purple flower petals. I met two adorable dogs, and petted them, and they climbed all over my lap. Adorable.

That day, those few hours, were unbelievably blissful, and just what I needed. I have those kinds of experiences quite often, but rarely mention them on here. This day, however, even puts me in a good mood almost a week later, and I have some cute photos from the trip that I wanted to share anyway. These are all taken on my phone so I wouldn't exactly say they're my best work, but they amke me happy! For regular, on-time, updates of my life, follow me here on Instagram!

Something I'd really like to mention -  I've become part of the #teenageteam on Twitter. It's for teenage bloggers, and you're welcome to join if you're interested! Everyone is so lovely and friendly, and I love getting to know everyone!

I hope this blogpost put you in a slightly better mood, or perhaps you could save it for a day you're feeling down. I have two other photography blogposts about places in England that I love here and here.

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Events

Hello June

14:27:00

June is a big month for me. I graduate school, I start my summer job, and I move out of the house we've lived in the past four years.

So, I'm back with what I hope I'll manage to keep as a monthly post, where I talk about last month, and set goals and plans for this month.


May was very exciting for me, and overall just a great month. You can read last month's post here, but I'll sum it up for you:

May's goals:
  1. Do well in my exams - Ehh, I guess I can't complain too much. I did well in some of them, but others didn't go amazingly. I guess you could just say I'm very glad that they're now over.
  2. Spend time with my friends - I did have a lot of happy times with my friends, but not as many as I'd like. There were birthday parties (which were amazing), pizza dates, and long emotional phonecalls. I've loved it.
  3. Workout often - Definitely not. I think I've been on one run this entire month. Oh well, hopefully this summer will help my motivation.
May's plans:
  1. The Adele concert. Truly life-changing, and I wouldn't even say that's exaggerating. I love it SO MUCH! It was just such a great, sunny day, and we had such great seats at the concert!  For a full, emotional post about the experience, check out the post about it here.
  2. Birthday parties - I went to two of them, one of which was a pizzanight with three good friends of mine. The other one (which was for two of my friends) was meant to be a BBQ on the beach, but as it started raining, it turned into an indoor BBQ. How we didn't set the flat on fire I'll never know, but it was one of my favourite nights anyway.
  3. My brother moved home! I'm very happy to have him back home, although as most brothers, he's quite annoying. Of course, I still love him lots, even if he does constantly criticise my waffles! Fine, maybe he does have a point there.
May has been a good month, but now onto June! In fact, as it is my first month of summer and I have very few 'goals' for this month, I'm not going to do goals, and instead just do a list of exciting things/plans happening in June!

  1. Graduating school - how crazy isn't this? Sure, I still have what would be sixth form left (I'm starting IBDP if anyone knows what that is), but it's still terrifying and strange for me.
  2. Moving house - If you've read this post, you might know a bit more about my situation. It's not a bad thing, I'm super excited. In two weeks I'm moving house to our summer cabin, and after summer I'm moving to a different city. As I said, I can't wait, but it's still going to be stressful and sad to leave all my friends here.
  3. Okay, one goal - blog regularly. I have loads of posts prewritten, but I just forget to post them, which is just me being disorganised. For the entire summer, I'm trying to blog regularly, hopefully more than once a week.
  4. I start my summer job - This summer I've gotten my dream job of working at a bakery/cafe. Sure, it's still a job, but I can't wait. And it's close to our cabin and right by the sea, so it'll be amazing!
  5. Camping - Next weekend I'm hopefully going camping with my group of friends! As I mentioned above, I'm moving away and so are a lot of them, so this will sort of be one of the last times we'll all be together. It should be fun, but also quite sad.
Those are all my plans/goals for this month! As I've mentioned, I'm sure it'll be a great month (and summer), but at the same time it's, in a way, the end of a big part of my life. That sounds so dramatic, but I suppose it is true.

I hope you've all had a great summer so far (sorry this post is up about a week late in June! I've been abroad). Let me know what the most fun
thing you did in May was, and one thing you're excited for in June! I'd love to hear about it.

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