As you can probably tell, my presence on here has been non-existent for almost a year. This post has been written since August, awaiting the perfect time to upload. I was going to reflect on the entirety of 2014 but as September onwards mostly consisted of starting University, there will be a separate post on that. It was such a hectic, stressful yet an amazingly fun year which flew by, full of experiences that I will never forget. Amongst the blurry months of studying ridiculously hard, I managed to fit in trips abroad, a very special gig and many laughs with friends. To give you an idea, I'll give you a month by month update.
- January and February - Birthdays! We began the year by celebrating my great Nan's 92nd birthday, with a big family meal. Then in February, it was my turn to celebrate turning 18! I had a great week, a meal out with my family to Hickory's, a new small chain of american-style restaurants which serve complimentary popcorn as soon as you're seated with a choice of sweet or salted. As a massive popcorn fan, that helped towards my choice of birthday venue! Later in that same week, all of my closest friends and I celebrated at another restaurant, with free cocktails! I got so many amazing gifts, messages, a LOT of money and I got to spend the whole week with the people I love.
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| Ring - Pandora |
- March - Bastille Gig and Spain! The very last day of February was the first day of a great week. On the Friday night, my mum, one of my best friends and myself made our way to Manchester to see my absolute favourite band - Bastille. After three past failed attempts at buying tickets to see them, I finally had the chance. I usually take tonnes of pictures and videos at gigs so I can look back and remember how great they were (also so I can watch back what I couldn't see, being rather short and all), but with the atmosphere so intense, the entire crowd dancing together for two hours and almost hugging Dan Smith, I didn't get a chance. However, I am so glad because I got to fully enjoy every moment and that night will be etched in my mind forever as being the best gig I've been to.
The Sunday after, was the day I left for a week at a Spanish school in Salamanca with 9 of my classmates. Despite freezing, torrential rain every day and siesta-ing over our essential shopping time, the week was excellent. Living in a Spanish lady's house with 3 other students from all over the world as well as my friend from home who was now my roommate, and going to Spanish classes for 5 hours a day, with no English speaking whatsoever, was a truly great experience and I learnt so much (even if the Spanish 'mama's' cooking was terrible). Considering the cathedral was built between the 16th and 18th centuries, we spotted a famously odd sight, can you spot it in picture 2?
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| Catedral Nueva - Salamanca, Spain |
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| Can you spot the strange sight?* |
- April, May and the beginning of June - Exam Season! April and May pretty much consisted of stressful revision for my looming final exams and coursework and textiles deadlines. Two days after finishing my last exam in mid June, I was off to Venice!
- June and July - Summer! In the middle of June, my parents, my best friend and myself flew from Manchester to Venice Marco Polo Airport for our long awaited trip to Italy. We stayed in a lovely, family-run hotel in Lido Di Jesolo, a 40 minute bus and ferry ride away into the centre of Venice. It was an amazing experience to finally witness the magical islands of Venezia for myself. In my opinion, Venice itself was overrated, over-priced and too touristy for my liking. However, Murano - the glass making island and Burano - the lace making island were much more enjoyable to visit. They both have less of a commercial feel and you are guaranteed to experience a warm, traditional welcome courtesy of the locals living on these islands.
Whilst we were here, we also visited Sirmione, Lake Garda and Verona. The weather was perfect as we visited Lake Garda in the morning, strolling through the cobbled streets and wandering into the countless gelato shops and jewellery shops. On the other side of the peninsula, through the hilly cobbled streets, we found a tiny pebble beach beneath the castle walls. Children and adults swam in the aqua tinted clear waters of the lake, cooling off from the humidity of midday.
That afternoon, we made our way to Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet. After we made an essential food stop, in an authentic Italian, serve yourself/eat all you want type of place (I chose bruschetta and chocolate torte - how very Italian) we took a few photos outside the original Colosseum, built way before THAT one you instantly think of in Rome, split up with the parents and went to do some shopping on the main street! We spent hours in and out of shops like Cos, Zara and Stradivarius - my all time favourite European clothes store. With only 45 minutes before having to meet back at the coach, we realised we should maybe go to see the sights that Verona is most famous for, and what we actually went there to see. Juliet's balcony, statue and love lock-adorned gates were filled with tourists taking pictures of each other, but that was to be expected. I was expecting to see hand written letters to Juliet, as seen in the film 'Letters to Juliet' but this was not the case. However, the graffiti messages along the walls were still very sentimental and it was one of my favourite sights.
As well as the vast amount of sightseeing we did, we spent our fair share of relaxing days on the beach, so we could unwind after the stressful exam period.
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| Venice |
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| Burano |
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| Burano |
- August - Work, work, work and RESULTS DAY! Most of August was spent working as many hours as I could in my part-time job and visiting family whilst awaiting my results. I didn't get the results I needed to get into the University I had applied for, but on results day - the irrational decision maker that I am - I applied through clearing, had an interview and secured a place on a completely different course all before 8am. The tears of sadness, anger and frustration turned into tears of happiness and laughter. I was accepted to study a degree in International Journalism!
Until next time,
Amelia x
P.S As we have just started a new year, I once again hope to regularly post with fashion, beauty and lifestyle updates. However, as I am still settling in to an increased workload, they may be a bit irregular, but we shall see!
