For the past two summers, Philadelphia native Hilda Bacon took her granddaughter to experience The Harry Potter™ Concert Series with The Philadelphia Orchestra on the lawn of the Mann. Her granddaughter's name is Anjali Kana Ruth Badenoch, and she goes by Kana Badenoch. She is 14 years old and lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where Japanese is her first language. Kana expressed interest in writing about her experiences of being at the Mann and her feelings about being in America. She liked the exercise and challenge of putting her thoughts into an essay. She will be moving to Philadelphia in the summer, in time for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban™ on July 26th. She is so excited! Please enjoy the below adorable and heartfelt essay from Kana.

Watching Harry Potter at the Mann Center

Harry Potter was me and my mom's special thing. This is how it all started: at the time we were living in Japan and one day my mom decided to let me watch the Harry Potter movies because I was too young to read the books. We watched all seven movies in one day! I instantly fell in love with the characters, the story, and the magic. Once I got older, I read all the books - I read them both in English and Japanese. They were amazing! To this day, every once in a while, we will do a Harry Potter movie marathon.

I live in Thailand and two summers ago, my mom and I visited my grandma in Philadelphia. I was flipping through the newspaper to find something to do, and a small article about a concert of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone movie at the Mann Center caught my eye. I didn't know what it was, but I got so excited, I was jumping up and down and asked my grandma if she could get us tickets. She did, but she had no idea what Harry Potter was.
 
The concert itself was a whole new experience for me! For starters it was outdoors, we sat on the grass, and we could bring food AND we got totally soaked from the rain - I had never been to a concert like that! There were also many people wearing Harry Potter costumes and t-shirts. Watching my favorite movie with live music and saying the lines in the movie out loud with other Harry Potter fans was amazing. Now my grandma knows what Harry Potter is and it is now our special thing. Last summer, we visited Philadelphia again and of course went to watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at the Mann. This time we brought rain ponchos and didn't get wet!
 
My grandma just emailed me that the tickets for the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban concert at the Mann were now on sale. I asked her to get tickets on the lawn again. Although it's months away, I am already jumping up and down! This year, we are moving to Philadelphia from Thailand and I hope my father will be able to join us and be part of our special thing. 

But it's funny to think that we started our special thing at the Mann when I was in 6th grade and I will watch the last movie when I am in college! I will have grown up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione at the Mann.