TWO WEEKS IN CYPRUS

Thursday

Protaras beach in Cyprus

As some of you may know, I recently went on a family holiday to Protaras, Cyprus in early August.  On this holiday, a lot of alcohol was drunk and a lot of halloumi was eaten; fitting the occasion. The six of us went to Cyprus for ten days which was sooo not long enough! I still have holiday blues now. Three days into the holiday, the family met three of our BFFs who we usually go away with out there which added to the festivities.

As opposed to usual holidays I've been on, where people will ask me if I lied about going on holiday because I come back as pale as previously, I did catch a slight tan. Although, most of the days I didn't make an effort to sunbathe because I was busy enjoying the luxuries of the pool to ourselves in the villa, or enjoying ice cream and the beach. Incidentally, the Ferrero Roche ice cream in Cyprus is among the best ice creams I have ever tasted.

pool at villa in Cyprus

Going on holiday is one of my favourite things and I love the day time so much because you can just relax and the most stressful thing is worrying about putting sun cream on, which is a worry I don't mind having. However, the night time is for eating and drinking your own body weight and partying, for me anyway. The only stress in the night time is being so full that you are struggling to finish your dinner but it tasting so good that you can't stop; which, again, is a worry I don't mind having.

family and friends on holiday in Cyprus

Our night times consisted of karaoke, where I sung "No Scrubs" with my mum, which was quite a spectacle. They also included nights out in Ayia Napa. Ayia Napa was such a good night out if you ignore all the reps trying to get you into each of the clubs and being given shots with any drink you order. Although, we didn't go out every night. One night we stayed in the villa and did our own talent show which was the funniest thing. Acts included: a rap (by me), a roast, pool game activities, mind reading, etc. 

two girls at the Ayia Napa signs

While we were away, we had some celebrating to do. We celebrated a 24th wedding anniversary and a 24th birthday on the same day. Here we had a very nice meal and I think I had about 4 passion fruit cocktails that night to start with. I could not stop drinking them and I couldn't get over how nice they were. When in Rome and all that...

Before this year, I had never stayed in a villa before. Any time I had been away we would always stay in hotels so this was a pleasant change. It had a lot of advantages like eating whenever you want (I need to stop talking about eating), getting ready for the night time when you want and the option of staying in or eating out. In an all inclusive hotel, I will often get bored of the food in the main restaurant because they more or less put the same sort of food out each night and I'm quite the fussy eater so I would normally have pizza and chips every night (I'm not even joking). Eating in the different restaurants gave us different choices of food each night. For me, the best thing about the villa was being able to get into the pool in the middle of the night after going out without getting into trouble. 

pretty lights in a villa garden

Overall, I loved the whole experience and I would recommend a villa but one close to an area with a lot of stuff going on so that you wouldn't feel isolated. 

Highlights of the holiday:
1. Getting 119 with the bat and ball
2. Winning the talent show
3. Passion fruit cocktails
4. Waterpark
5. Watching my uncle dance to feed em to the lions.

Thank you so much for reading! I'd love to know where you have travelled to and about your holidays :)



LIFE UPDATE: UNIVERSITY

Sunday

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know that this year I have been doing my A levels and applying to universities. I got offers back from all of my choices and with the results I needed and I have recently been accepted into my first choice, Bournemouth University, to study Communication and Media. YAY!

My A level results were:
Media - B
Philosophy and Ethics - C
English Language - C

I am happy with these grades knowing how hard the exams were and how nervous I was because ultimately, all that matters is that I got into my first choice university.

Now it's time for the exciting part of shopping and moving down! Shopping for homeware, shopping for stationary, new clothes; you name it, I'm going to shop for it. I have already got tickets for freshers' events and nights out in freshers' week so September is going to be a very exciting month for me and any of you who will be starting university soon. Obviously I can't wait to study either.

Stay tuned for my uni life updates!

Thank you so much for reading x

Bournemouth pier

TERROR ATTACK ON ARIANA GRANDE CONCERT

Wednesday


After hearing about Monday night's terror attack on an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, I was truly devastated. A venue holding around 21,000 people including many children and teenagers was thought to be the "perfect" place to commit an act of pure evil. Among the 22 people that have passed away so far, approximately 12 of them were children. An 8 year old girl was killed, ruining the lives of people close to her and for what? An 18 year old girl, the same age as me, doing A levels, just as I am, was killed in this brutal terror attack; and what had these innocent people done except go and see one of their favourite artists in concert? For a lot of people, this was their first concert and many had been looking forward to it for months. A concert should be remembered for the music and pleasure you feel from watching and listening to your artists, not for fear and tragedy. 

Ariana Grande singing live

Despite the horrendous actions of Monday night in Manchester, there are a handful of people who are not showing sympathy for the people affected by the incident. For example, The Daily Mail has attempted to blame Ariana's choice of clothing for the terrorism. Other than being the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, it is also disrespectful to the 23 year old artist who is traumatised by the terror attack upon her concert on Monday. The star tweeted "broken. from the bottom of my heart, I am so so sorry. I don't have words", apologising for what had happened even though none of it was her fault, it was the fault of an extremist, sadistic group motivated by evil and ignorance. No one deserves to go to a concert to not come back, end up severely injured or fear for their lives. This was nothing other than a brutal attack on innocent people. Ariana Grande has offered to pay for the funerals of those who lost their lives to this tragic incident. How can anyone blame somebody who is willing to show this generosity?

However, this radical attempt at dividing Britain has failed because Manchester, and the United Kingdom are stronger than ever and there is so much support being spread through the communities. Support has been shown not just by the British people but from people all over the world. Unfortunately, I have never been to Manchester but the sense of community there that I have seen on the news is unreal, especially at yesterday's vigil. This just goes to show that nothing is going to break Britain no matter how many attempts of terror there are and the support in Manchester recently such as taxi drivers taking people home, hotels giving those targeted a place to stay and even homeless people helping the wounded makes me amongst many others, proud to be British.

Thank you so much for reading. RIP to the beautiful 22 whose lives were taken from them too soon. 

Manchester vigil for Ariana Grande terrorist attack


MY EXPERIENCE AT AUSCHWITZ - BIRKENAU

Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp used in the second world war by the Nazis. It consisted of Auschwitz I, Auschwitz Birkenau (II) and Auschwitz Monowitz (III). Auschwitz I was originally used for the Polish army but in the 1940s people began to use it as a concentration camp. It was decided that this camp was not large enough for the mass extermination of not only jews but homosexuals, Jehovah's witnesses, gypsies, etc. As a result of this decision, the Nazi's built Auschwitz II especially for the holocaust. Here, the living conditions were significantly worse than the first camp and seeing these conditions was unforgettable. Auschwitz II was also overwhelmingly larger than Auschwitz I or III although, some of it was blown up by the Nazi's to try to hide the terrible things that they had done. It was so empty and quiet, there were no birds, just visitors.

Entrance to Auschwitz Birkenau
Birkenau watch tower at Auschwitz
Some of the exhibits in the Auschwitz museum were absolutely heart-breaking. For example, the shoes that had been taken from them were displayed; even the hair shaven from their head was displayed. The people sent to the camps had all of their belongings with them as they were lead to believe that they were travelling to some sort of resettlement, a new life for them. When they arrived at the camps they would be judged and selected but they weren't aware of this. They would either be pointed in one direction for a "shower" or another direction to work. The people who were sent to the "shower" were also told to remember where they had put all of their belongings for when they come out of the shower but the shower wasn't really a shower; they were being sent to the gas chamber. There was an exhibit of the gas chamber at the museum with empty cans of the Zyklon B gas which was used. Seeing this was a very emotional experience but it was nothing compared to what it would have been like 75 years ago.

Image exhibition at Auschwitz

Another one of the many thought-provoking exhibitions in the museums was audio clips of Nazi's exclaiming their hatred for the Jews. They likened them to vermin and said that they should be exterminated. There are so many things wrong with this. 1. The Jews and all of the other millions of people murdered in the holocaust were all PEOPLE. Just like the Nazi's were (arguably) people just like I am a person. 2. This was only 75 years ago, that is not a long time. 3. How can a political party influence the genocide of 14,000,000 people?

I have not included all of the details about the concentration camps I visited because it is something you'd need to experience yourself. I would recommend for people to visit a concentration camp if possible because seeing it for yourself is honestly unforgettable. If you can't get a chance to visit one then I would also recommend even researching facts about the holocaust and concentration, labour or death camps because it is a thing that people should be aware of to make sure that nothing like this happens again.

Thank you for reading.