Harry Potter + Scotland + Me = This is really unhealthy...

Some awesome Scottish people: Ewan McGregor, Gerard Butler, Sean Connery, The Proclaimers, Scottie (as in “Beam me up”), Adam Smith, David Hume, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns.

Some awesome people who’ve lived in Scotland: Alisse Frandsen, Jesse Smith, Ann Vom Lehn, Kevin Calderwood (my former Stake President), Jaren Hinckley (Greatest Music 101 Professor EVER), President Cecil O. Samuelson, and last but most certainly not least...can I get a drumroll please: 

J. K. Rowling!

Reason 58,204,819,304 why Scotland, and more specifically Edinburgh, is awesome—IT INSPIRED HARRY POTTER.

Initiate brain explosion from sheer awesomeness.

So naturally, as quite possibly the biggest Harry Potter fan ever to exist, one of the first things I did when I got here was see the Harry Potter sights.

Oh hiya, Tom Riddle’s grave! Real father and son pair!

That's right Voldemort, you were already dead before you were thought up. NO CHANCE. Maybe you should've stopped by Edinburgh before you created all those horcruxes. Serves you right for underestimating Muggles.

And here's some more Harry Potter-inspiring graves!

William McGonagall--the worst poet in the history of Scotland (according to the tour we briefly bummed off of) inspired the coolest professor ever. At least he was good for something.

Elizabeth Moodie, namesake of Alastor Moody, more commonly known as Mad-Eye Moody. SO COOL.

So JK took some liberties with the spellings, but that’s OK…they fit the characters better anyway.

Also, within the graveyard lies one of the most haunted places in Edinburgh, haunted by the Mackenzie Poltergeist, who I'm betting inspired Peeves the Poltergeist.

AND St. Mungo exists, the namesake of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I found a St. Mungo's Parish Church today when I was researching churches in our constituency for work.

But that’s not all!

Behold! Hogwarts!

This school was founded by a super-rich guy for orphans to get free education. Not only did its 4 towers inspire the Four Hogwarts Houses, but it’s historical association with orphans inspired JK Rowling to make Harry an orphan, perhaps the single greatest driving force behind his character and his immense love. SO. COOL.

And last, but not least, I ate lunch at the little restaurant where JK Rowling began creating and writing Harry Potter—on napkins.

This is Alix, one of my intern friends and fellow obsessee.

MERLIN’S. PANTS. MUST. STOP. HYPERVENTILATING. NOW.