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...

From the picturesque mountains of Bled, we got the coach to Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital city. I'll be honest- none of us knew that much about the place at all. Ljubljana is a place that I only learnt about from Interrail planning; little is heard about it from the city where I come from. Ljubljana prides itself on being '2016's Greenest City' and you can immediately determine why: recycling bins are everywhere. Probably not the reason you'd set out to visit a city but significant to Slovenia all the same. As we got our coach to the city at mid-afternoon, we first checked out the kitchen to start planning for dinner. Well, I can safely say that the kitchen at the hostel was almost unusable. It was so, so small. Always check to ensure that the kitchen is actually a kitchen when booking hostels. As cooking was no longer an option, it was time for yet another picnic meal. Courtesy of Spar Supermarket, I had a slice of pizza and a Milka bar. Nutritiou...

Our longest journey by far turned out to be well worth the pain. Although it was nine hours long and we waited for the wrong bus in Bled for over an hour, we had a Harry Potter compartment and we arrived at our destination- Lake Bled, Slovenia. What a place. We lobbed our bags into the lockers at our hostel and immediately went on the hunt for a restaurant to eat at (nine hours of travelling can certainly work up an appetite). Pizzeria Rustica served us enormous pizzas and also some pizza-burgers, which are basically burgers with pizza dough for bread. According to my friends, pizza-burgers are something that should be brought to our hometown.  As it was relatively late by the time we had finished, we only had time to walk to the lake itself before getting to bed. On arrival, we had been asked by the hostel whether we were there more for the night life or nature. Considering the fact that we were deprived of at least 20 hours sleep, we went for nature, rejecting ...

Despite arriving relatively early in Budapest, the overbearing heat that suddenly hit us prevented any fast movement. Of the cities we have been to so far, Budapest has the most unique culture, with its abundant numbers of markets and quite religious population (Budapest is home to the most populous Christian community in Central Europe and has the largest Calvinist population on Earth). Once we had acclimatised (slightly), we set out for lunch. Similarly to Vienna, everywhere was just... Shut. Perhaps as a result of its religious background, many of the shops in Budapest are closed on Sundays or, if not completely shut, chances are that  the store will close at 2pm. The people of Budapest must be the most forward of thinkers; no 11pm nip to Budgens on a Sunday for lunch for the following day. That meant that it was time for another cafe visit, which had water vapour fans to cool its visitors. Eventually, we began to see the sights of Budapest. Beginni...