User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4156536-20110717001709

College. For me right now, the Harry Potter series means college. 'College'..it just sounds intimidating to me. Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. I know, I know. I'm perfectly aware that Hogwarts isn't a real place. Professor Dumbledore will not be sending me a letter to invite me to learn magic there. And sadly, I won't be boarding the Hogwarts Express anytime soon. I've grown up living an extremely blessed life. I am a lucky girl with two amazing parents that I am so grateful for. I've done well in school and I'm looking at a possible scholarship to play volleyball for a very good university. When my mom tried to read Harry Potter to me for the first time, I refused to hear it. It sounded like a dumb kiddy book and I was too cool to have her read it to me (even though i was only 7 years old). I picked it up at the library when I was 11 which ironically I only did because it was becoming the cool thing to read. One chapter in and Harry Potter had grabbed me by my wrist and immersed me in a world that was cooler than anything I could ever have imagined myself. So naturally, like everyone else on the planet, I became infatuated with a boy living in a cupboard under some stairs. So what does Harry Potter have to do with college? I'm about to be 18 and in a year I hope to be attending the University of Montevallo. The idea of college scares me beyond belief. I won't be battling You-Know-Who, but I'll be in a new place surrounded by new people, away from home and everything I know. Growing up with Harry Potter and his world has been an incredible journey and it has come to represent home for me. So with everything Harry Potter coming to an end, the books...movies..I was worried there'd be a HUGE hole in my heart. I mean, thats my comfort zone...looking forward to the next Harry Potter movie or reading the next book... I've been horrified that it won't be around the way it used to be and that it will feel different to read the books knowing that it is all over now. But I've realized that instead of wishing it would never end, i should take all the lessons that I've learned.. all the wise sayings from Dumbledore.. all the love that I feel for these amazing characters and apply it all to my life. I have been influenced by Harry Potter to stick to my beliefs, never give up, and love the most that I can. Sitting in a movie theater the other night, watching the conclusion of the Harry Potter series, I came to believe that I'll be alright in college... If Harry Potter is going to move on with his life, then so should I. So bring it on college, I know that all will be well.