A WEEK IN SORRENTO

Sunday

Beautiful Sorrento image

As some of you may know, last month I took a trip to Sorrento, Italy for a week. I'd like to start by saying I would fully recommend this to anyone who is looking for somewhere new to travel to. Our hotel wasn't actually in Sorrento itself, it was located just outside in a small town called Sant'Agnello which was about a 5 minute drive or a 45 minute walk to Sorrento.

Hotel in Sant Agnello Italy

The hotel we stayed in was very nice but I have to say it was quite outdated but this didn't matter much because most of the time we were out exploring. There was a swimming pool as shown but nobody really used this during our time there because it wasn't hot enough. The temperature while we were there ranged from around 14-18 degrees, which was perfect temperature to walk around in but it wasn't hot enough to sunbathe in (although, incidentally I did get sunburnt whilst the local Italians were wearing hats, scarves and gloves but I'll continue to forget about my unfortunate pale skin, and think about the highlights of my trip).

2017 BEST BITS

Tuesday

Happy new year everyone I hope you've all had the best Christmas and 2017. I know that 2017 was a huge year for me with so many changes and it was all very exciting so I thought I would share all of the excitement.

JANUARY:
- Passed my driving test on the 10th of January (after being terrible at it for 9 months).
-13th January: I got a car (Frankie the Ford Fiesta).
- On the 30th of January I went to the best concert I'd ever been to which was Drake.

Drake at the boy meets world tour

FEBRUARY:
- I saw Two Door Cinema Club live on the 7th.
- From the 13th of February until the 16th I went on a trip with college to Krakow, Poland. In this week I had the experience of going to Auschwitz, Birkenau concentration camp and Schindler's Factory.

Entrance to Auschwitz concentration camp

MARCH:
- In March I spent a lot of time with friends and did bits of photography for some A level coursework.
- Adam and I saw Circa Waves, one of my favourite bands in Bristol on the 27th.

Circa Waves band live in Bristol

APRIL:
- 3rd of April: MY 18TH BIRTHDAY - I had my first legal drink which was a cherry bakewell cocktail from the Cosy Club.
- 8th of April was my birthday party with all of my favourite people and my first night out.

Family photo for 18th Birthday

Best friends at 18th birthday

MAY:
- May mainly consisted of revision and also consisted of 2 different nights out.

Friends out night clubbing


JUNE:
- 1st of June, I went to Bristol zoo and then shopping in Bristol.
- Adam and I also went to Thorpe Park on the 22nd.
- 27th June: FINISHED COLLEGE/LAST EXAM
- 29th of June we went to bath.

Bristol Harbour


JULY:
-MORE COCKTAILS ON JULY 1ST.
-On the 7th of July I went to 2 parties in 1 day. The first was a pool party which was hilarious because the pool didn't actually get delivered on time, but we still had lots of fun with a home-made slip 'n' slide. The second was a royalty themed party in the evening where I wore a queen mask with very small eye holes so I was bumping into everything.
- 11th of July: AFTERNOON TEA (my first ever).
- July 20th was my favourite day out of the summer where we went to Cheddar Gorge. Those of you who know me know I love cheese! I was in my element seeing how it was made, tasting it and buying it.
-21st July: My second baby niece, Scarlett was born.
-24th of July I went to London for the day; went to the science museum and did some shopping.

Friends in beach fancy dress at pool party

Teenage girl holding baby niece

AUGUST:
- 7th of August I went on my family summer holiday to Cyprus where we stayed in a villa.
- 8th of August was karaoke night (me and mum sang No Scrubs by TLC).
- 11th of August was our night out in Ayia Napa.
- 12th of August we stayed in the villa and I organised a talent show which was one of the funniest things I'd seen.
- 14th of August we had a birthday and an anniversary to celebrate so we had nice tea and nice drinks.
- 17th of August: A LEVEL RESULTS DAY! I got BCC and went on a night out in Southampton on the night of results day.
Protaras Beach Cyprus

SEPTEMBER:
- Cocktails in Bath on 3rd of September
- 16th September: Moving in day at uni and first night out of fresher's week.
- 17th September: Lethal Bizzle in Bournemouth.
- 23rd September: Fresher's Fayre.
- 25th September: The official start of university.

3 university freshers in student halls


OCTOBER:
- More nights out and getting settled into uni.
- Big Halloween night out.

Night out at Aruba Bournemouth



NOVEMBER:
- Christmas shopping at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth on the 4th.
- 12th November: Meal at Casa Brasil.
- Ice skating in Bournemouth on the 21st (I cannot ice skate for my life I don't even know why I wanted to go but I'm glad I did it was so hilarious).
-25th November: More Christmas shopping in Southampton
-26th November: Mulled wine at the German Christmas market in Southampton
-27th November: Went to a care home with friends from my uni course to interview the residents for an assignment.

DECEMBER:
-10th December: Flat Christmas party in the day followed by a work Christmas party in the evening.
-14th December: Last uni night out of the year before the Christmas holidays.
-22nd December: Drinks with my friends from home then we somehow ended up on a weird night out in my home town.
-25th December: CHRISTMAS DAY (I had too much to eat/drink so I fell asleep on the sofa at 8pm AKA spending Christmas the right way).
-29th December: Day out in London and Winter Wonderland.
-31st December: NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY.

university friends at a party

university students at a party

friends out for drinks at the pub

mum and daughter at winter wonderland in London

I have had the most amazing year thanks to everyone who was a part of it. I will hopefully do a post like this at the end of this year too. I would love to hear about the best parts of your year and your plans/goals for next year.

Thank you so much for reading :) x

HELLO, FROM UNIVERSITY.

Monday

Last Saturday was the day that I moved from my home in Wiltshire to University. Since last Saturday, a lot of weird, crazy and exciting things have happened. Obviously moving to uni came with the "delight" of fresher's week which included excessive drinking, meeting new people and for some reason, lots of drum and bass. University hadn't properly started for a lot of people until today so fresher's week was the opportunity to get all of the partying out of the system (although fresher's is still continuing this week unofficially and I'm heading out tonight). During the last week, I have made some amazing friends, especially the people in my flat. I am in a flat with 5 different people in halls of residence and we have all looked out for each other since day one.

university student in fancy dress

For me, fresher's week was all fun and games until I got fresher's flu. THIS IS NOT A MYTH. I am still suffering from fresher's flu and I could not move from my bed on Friday. The days where I could go out of my flat, I had drunk people running up to me with lines like "why aren't you coming out tonight?" and "come to my pres" as if no one is allowed a day off of drinking. What's worse is I didn't even know these people. I did have fun nights out but even when I didn't go out because I was feeling rough, I'd still have fun nights in with my flatmates. One night we played a girls board game (boys played too) where you answer questions to find out whether you are a bitch, a tart, or an angel; I will leave you and your imagination to work out which one I was.

Even though it has only been 9 days since I've got here I feel like I've learnt so much. I've learnt how to make noodles and pasta, AKA student necessities. I've also learnt how to find the best deals and spend around a tenner on food shopping, my grandma would be so proud. As expected, I do still have a lot more to learn but I'm having fun while I'm learning about student life and that's the main thing.

Thank you so much for reading :)

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 :)