Florrie Elizabeth.

The year 2016 is at an end. It has undoubtedly been a turbulent 12 months of highs and lows, and has thrown at us many, many (mainly political) surprises. On a personal level, 2016 featured the best seven weeks of my life over summer as well as possibly the lowest few weeks too across the year- but let’s not dwell on them right now. In July 2015, I wrote a Bucket List and, last year, I feel I was preeeetty successful in completing some of them.   Okay, so I may not have completed no.1 on the list (I am indeed studying French but perfecting it maaaay take some time) but I certainly did eat a stack of at least four pancakes- at an iHop in Orlando, Florida. Raspberry and white chocolate- I remember it well. Did it live up to my Bucket List expectations? Oh, yes. I also managed to tick off the slightly more extreme third thing on my Bucket List- a trip to New York. What a city. I definitely intend to return one day in the future. One day I was in New York City, the next I was a...

Summer is well and truly over. In fact, it had ended over a month ago, but only in the past week have I fully accepted that the weeks of going out in just a t-shirt and shorts are finished for the year. To say that my summer was an adventure would be an understatement. Interrailing across Europe, flying out of the continent for the first time and getting a place at university... These past three months have been simply unbelievable. As I closed that Mathematics exam paper for the last time on 24th June 2016, I had little idea that my summer would be the whirlwind that it was. One week on, and I had flown to the Netherlands for the beginning of eighteen days of walking 30,000 steps a day, train journeys and simply incredible sights. Four weeks on, and I had flown to New York City for, undoubtedly, my greatest holiday. Five weeks on, and I had flown inter-continent to the Sun State of Florida. Seven weeks on, and I had received my A-Level results, which I was fortunately absolute...

Agreed by all, the train to Split from Zagreb was beautiful but unpleasant at the same time. With mountainous vistas, cliff drop-offs and fields of evergreens, the view from the train was picturesque but the carriages rocked from side to side as we travelled up and down the mountains, causing a lot of travel sickness. Six hours on, we arrived in Split, with most of the group not too excited at the prospect of boat travel to top it off. We arrived in perfect time to make the 3pm crossing to Hvar but unfortunately ferry tickets were sold out, which meant an unplanned three hours in Split. Whilst the rest of the group chilled in a cafe (and recovered from travel nausea), I ventured into the town, walking down the palm tree-lined promenade and glancing into the lives of wealthy yacht owners. I even spoilt myself with a chocolate ice cream.  Finally, it was time to get the ferry across. We had high hopes for a smooth boat trip, with incredible views of the Croat...

What a wet and dreary 24 hours in Zagreb. We arrived before noon, giving us most of the day to see Croatia's capital city. However, as the train from Ljubljana progressed, it became more and more apparent that we wouldn't be seeing the sunny, humid weather that Croatia is known for in Zagreb. Instead, heavy downfalls of rain plummeted across the city, meaning the streets were practically empty of people except for hardcore tourists making the most of their visit.  Another issue arose when I learnt that my bank was denying me from getting money out. I had little euros left and needed to pay for our first hostel in Croatia. Panicking, we went to the hostel anyway and thankfully found out that we could pay for our night's accommodation in euros. Thank you, Hostel Chic! After hanging our sodden clothes on the end of our beds, we set out into the centre dressed in every waterproof covering possible. Before long, we caved from the rain for a bit and headed into the f...

So far our most humid location, Prague proved to be as close to a hot day at Disneyland Paris as it comes. We arrived at our hostel, dropped our bags off and quickly headed into the centre as, once again, we only really had a day and a half to spare. Prior to our arrival, I hadn't heard much about the Czech Republic's capital city but now I can confirm that it deserves much more hype than it receives.  Once we had wandered about the high streets, up to Wenceslas Square, we came across the most fairytale of markets, selling Russian Nesting Dolls and pins. This was situated right next to the renowned Astronomical Clock, which, on the hour, presents a short display of the Seven Deadly Sins to a usually huge crowd. Beside this is Old Town Square, which was simply beautiful, with colourful buildings of intricate architecture. Afterwards, we walked to arguably the central focal point of Prague- Charles Bridge. This crosses Prague's large river and connects the castle ...

Arriving in Berlin at around 3:30pm, we reserved our seats for the next train and got the S- and U-Bahn to our hostel. If you are planning on Interrailing, DEFINITELY reserve seats for the following train if travelling in the height of summer. As I write this on the train to Prague, there is chaos in the carriage as people without reserved seats get kicked out of seats that were reserved. Hours of travelling with nowhere to sit is certainly not ideal after miles of walking in every city. For the remainder of our first day, we wanted to get a feel for the city, so we hopped back on the train once depositing our bags at the hostel and went into the centre. Groups of five or below should buy the Klein group ticket- it works out at €3,46 if dividing the cost between five people for unlimited travel on the U- and S-Bahns for 24-hours.  We visited the Holocaust Memorial, with 2,711 columns that increase in size as you go further through the site, reflecting the overb...

The day had arrived. After months and months of planning, researching and stressing, our Interrail adventure was about to begin. Following a very early alarm (3:35am- the joy), we packed our bags into the car and flew from London to the capital of the Netherlands- Amsterdam. First thoughts: how can a city, with a population of 800,000, have so many bikes. They are everywhere. As we discovered during our two nights there, there are even such things as 'bicycle barges', which are boats that only play host to the bicycles of Amsterdam. Our busy morning consisted of a car, a plane, a train, a tram journey and lots and lots of walking. An accidental booking for the month before meant that, for about an hour, we were left without anywhere to sleep. Admittedly, we had a very stressful start to our Interrail trip.  Fortunately, accommodation was found and we were promised complimentary breakfasts for our stay. Result. For the first afternoon of our time in the city, o...

Admittedly, I have never considered myself a fantasy type of person. Except for my slight obsession with Harry Potter, little of the literature I read, the films I watch and the TV series I follow falls under the fantasy genre.   Until recently, that is.   One month ago, I finally got round to watching 'The Lord of the Rings'. It took fifteen years after the first movie came out for me even to consider watching it. It's long. It's got elves in it. Why would I want to watch it?  Now, I know that there are many reasons why I would want to watch it. Full to the brim with action, the scenery is breathtaking, the antagonists are perfectly abhorrent and Orlando Bloom makes one lovable elf. Frankly, it's got everything I could wish for in a movie- with the addition of Gollum and a couple-thousand Orcs. I liked the first movie so much that, within the week, I'd watched all 10 hours of the trilogy. 'Two Towers' is now in my top 10 all-time favourite films. ...

If you're one of the literary buffs who has heard of Christopher Marlowe's 'Dr. Faustus', you'd probably be surprised to hear of a theatre production of the play involving full-frontal nudity, rape and a whole lot of bodily fluid. Recently, I watched The Jamie Lloyd Theatre Company's adaptation of the play and, yes, that is exactly what it entailed.  'Dr. Faustus' follows the aspirations of academic Dr. John Faustus, who, in exchange for 24 years of power, wealth and honour, agrees to sign his soul away to the Devil. Lloyd's modern rewrite of the play intelligently mixed old with new; instead of presenting heavy criticism of the Catholic Church, the play focuses on the dark side of celebrity. The titular role of Faustus was performed by none other than Kit Harington (aka Jon Snow of 'Game of Thrones'), who, you'll be pleased to know, was very much alive at the Duke of York's Theatre, London. For those who know the plot of ...

As always, I am unbelievably excited for Britain's biggest music awards- the BRITs. Every year, I wait in anticipation to find out which artists have been nominated for an award and who is performing on the stage. Something that makes this year even more exciting (for me, anyway) is the fact that I am GOING to the BRIT Awards! No, no, I wasn't invited (though I will forever hope to be), but I received a pair of tickets to the awards for Christmas- eeek! So, this Wednesday, I am heading to The O2, London to watch performances from the likes of Justin Bieber, Adele and, my utmost favourites, Coldplay. Over the years, the BRITs have played host to many wonderfully wacky performances from a variety of artists. These are my particular highlights from the past ten years... Er, okay, so I may be slightly biased as a lifelong "Alouder" but Girls Aloud were the centre of the glitz and glamour of the awards show back in 2009, when they performed "The Promise" with ...

The past few months have been some of the busiest of my life so far. In the last six months alone, I've applied to university, revised, had interviews at universities, revised, got offers from universities, turned eighteen, done a bit more revision and, of course, visited the Harry Potter Studios. It's all been  a bit manic and now is no different. With mock exams just one week away and the actual exams looming, life currently seems like just one blur of work. True, that is what I had expected when I enrolled for A-Levels eighteen months ago. However, did I expect to get to the stage when social activities seem a hindrance, this early in the school year? No. It's only February; my first exam is over three months away and I'm already at the stage when doing something as minor as watching TV is affected by the constant feeling of guilt that I'm not working out the coefficient of friction or re-reading 'Frankenstein' for the umpteenth time. I don't mind s...