On Friday night, a group of approximately 200 students boarded buses outside of Schine Student Center for what was likely to be one of the most memorable weekends of our entire lives. For the next day and a half, we were split up onto four buses, and as a group, we made the trek to Houston to see the Syracuse Orange play in the Final Four.

As I prepared for this odyssey of a bus ride, I figured I would need to find a way to entertain myself. The bus ride was free, so I figured I was justified in spending approximately the value of a bus ticket on movies from iTunes. I downloaded easy-to-watch classics such as “Step Brothers,” “The Other Guys,” “50 First Dates” and even some heavier fare like “Nebraska” and “Les Misérables.” I was prepared to embark on a deep dive of laptop cinema.

Once I boarded the bus, I discovered there were actually televisions the whole bus could watch together. Was I mildly upset that I maybe wasted around $50 on iTunes? Perhaps a little, but I will get to watch those movies on my laptop eventually. Besides, those movies are all classics, so they’re good to have.

The bus ride began smoothly, though it was somewhat intimidating to process being on a 30-hour journey. The first three hours went by in a breeze, though my buns were beginning to sore and I could not grasp we were merely 10 percent through our journey. As people started to get somewhat restless, it officially became time to play a movie. A voice came over the loud speaker: “Who wants to watch ‘Mean Girls?’”

“Yaaaaaaaasssss,” the crowd immediately screamed, honestly including myself. It’s a great movie. But then someone spoke up and said that they had all eight Harry Potter films, and the opportunity of a lifetime was presented.

Instead of watching random movie after random movie, we could watch one streamlined story. In fact, story is probably not even the best word — we could watch a modern epic.

Not everyone was a huge fan of this Harry Potter decision. The girl sitting behind me actually threatened to punch me for defending Harry Potter slightly too adamantly. Hopefully she doesn’t have similar feelings reading this, but I can admit, it was midnight and I was shrieking with excitement.

Over the next 24 hours, Harry Potter became a constant in our journey to Houston. As we travelled through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and finally, Texas, the boy who lived was with us for every step.

Harry Potter was thematically the perfect choice for this trip. After all, it’s a movie about magic, and what could be more magical than Syracuse University’s Tournament performance this year? More so, the Harry Potter saga is about friendship, teamwork and even school pride.

The Harry Potter series is essentially the film series of my childhood, with the first film being released at Thanksgiving of kindergarten, and the last the summer before 11th grade. Just as we watched Harry Potter grow from a boy to a man over the course of a bus ride, I have done the same over the course of two decades.

Watching these movies was both of a reminder of how far I’ve come, and where I am now. I have spent so much time and energy planning for my future. How many credits do I need to take? New York or LA? When do I get my internship? For this weekend though, I could finally appreciate the journey getting to SU.

Though I may not talk to the people on my bus again, I leave this weekend feeling like the only thing stronger than a family: A Hogwarts House. Just for this weekend, we were Gryffindor, and I felt as if I was watching Trevor Cooney try to catch that golden snitch. He may not have caught it, but cheering him and the team on was an honor and privilege of a lifetime, and a memory I will never forget.

Erik Benjamin is a sophomore television, radio and film major. His column appears weekly in Pulp. You can email him at ebenjami@syr.edu or follow him @embenjamin14 on Twitter.

Published on April 3, 2016 at 9:32 pm