Ok, here’s a confession about this week’s bucket list item: it was never on the list.
Let me explain. My roommate Sarah and I have two obsessions. One, of course, is Harry Potter. Anyone who knows me knows that 67% of the reason I came to Fordham was because it looks like Hogwarts. Sarah and I have read the books a kajillion times, watch the movies constantly, watch documentaries about Harry Potter, listen to Harry Potter music, own costumes, own Death Eater tattoos, own replica necklaces of the Deathly Hallows and Horcrux locket, go to midnight showings…the whole fanatical nine yards. The other obsession we have is with Green Day’s Broadway musical American Idiot. If you haven’t seen it – GO NOW. It’s amazing, but by some stroke of unfortunate Broadway decision-making, it’s closing soon.
Bear with me- I promise these two items relate.
Yesterday, in an incredible turn of spontaneous events, Sarah and I found ourselves on a RamVan into the city at 3:00pm to purchase $27, 4th-row student tickets to American Idiot (my 4th time seeing it, Sarah’s 7th– did I mention we’re obsessed?). After wrestling with the crowds of Times Square and getting our tickets for next Thursday, there was too much Manhattan-spurred adrenaline pumping through our veins to head back to the Bronx so early. Then something caught our eye: Harry Potter: The Exhibition.
Located on 44th street right off of Times Square, the exhibit is currently housed in the Discovery Times Square building. They also have an exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Pompeii right now (which are cool as well!), but let’s be honest – Harry Potter Exhibition is going to draw some serious crowds. Including unsuspecting, spontaneity-thirsty Fordham students who happen to walk by… which is exactly what happened to Sarah and me.
Now, I know that this takes the fundamental idea of the bucket list and ignores it. But I have prepared a ready defense! The bucket list is all about having new experiences that you’ve wanted to try for a while. What more could I have possibly asked for out of life than to be surrounded by Rupert Grint’s actual clothing, or stepping into Hagrid’s hut, or being sorted into Gryffindor, or throwing a quaffle through a goal?
That’s right – I threw a quaffle. And I scored every time. I probably would have been the greatest Chaser that Hogwarts had ever seen. Sigh.
For any of you fellow Harry Potter crazies out there, I highly suggest visiting this exhibit. It’s a little pricey, at about $28 for a ticket- and there’s no student discount. Even for Hogwarts students. Bummer. However, it’s probably the cheapest Harry Potter experience you’ll have- Harry Potter World is a whole plane ticket away, and I hear the Hogwarts Express charges thousands of Galleons for Muggle riders. The exhibit is only here for a short time, and NYC is the last leg of its North American tour! So, strike while the mandrakes are young, and head over to Times Square to Harry Potter: The Exhibition.