Croatia 2015

I went to the beautiful Croatia  at the end of June with my madre. Unfortunately she wasn't so keen on my plan to make a quick pit-stop at Hideout festival on the way (still my ultimate festival goal) but it was a great trip nonetheless.

We stayed on an island called Lopud, one of more than 1000 islands that line Croatia's coast. It makes up one of the three Elaphiti Islands and is accessible via boat from Dubrovnik. In fact, Lopud is so small that the hotel we stayed in is the only hotel on the island so it's great for those who love the quiet life. However, there were many activities still such as jet skiing, kayaking and a range of walking trails that allow you to explore the island in all its glory. We took a coastal path that brought you to the top of the cliffs and allowed you to see the beautiful crystal blue water of the Adriatic sea. We also hauled ourselves up a LOT  of steps to reach the castle ruins that stood at the top of the highest point of the island. The view was incredible, particularly as we went in the evening so the sun was beginning to set. When were climbing the last few steps we also came across a gang of goats (trust me, there a lot scarier than the goats of Vine), almost turning around for fear of being charged but I'm very glad we didn't. I found a huge hole in the ground at the ruins, barely just avoiding falling into it, which I can only imagine would have been some sort of dungeon back in the day. It was very creepy. There were also ruins of an old church and monastery dating way back to the ninth century.

On one of the last days we visited the ancient city of Dubrovnik, known as the "Pearl of the Adriatic".  The first thing I noticed was the cats of Dubrovnik, sauntering about and sitting wherever they pleased. They were clearly used to tourists stroking them as they didn't bat an eyelid at all the attention they received. For a reasonable price visitors are permitted to walk the 1.2 miles of the city walls that encircle the Old Town. It gives you a great panoramic view of the whole of the Old Town and the sea. When you visit Dubrovnik you can't miss the fact that it is the setting of King's Landing, the mythical land in Game of Thrones. It has become the biggest selling point for the city, attracting Game of Thrones fans the world over. Unfortunately, I'm still on season 2 so I wasn't too familiar with the specific scenes that were filmed there but I made sure to take my fair share of photos for future reference.

For something a little different, we also decided to check out the exhibition War Photo Limited that we overheard an Australian tour guide raving about to his group. It displays war and conflict photojournalism and was really insightful. I learned so much about the city's turbulent history, a history that is much more recent than I had expected; you can even find bullet holes in many of the city's buildings, over 50% of which had to be restored after the Yugoslav war. There was also a feature on the Ukraine riots at the time we visited and there is an upcoming exhibition on the violence in Congo in Autumn that I would love to check out. If you ever visit the city I would definitely advise you to go and visit the exhibition which permanently houses the feature on Dubrovnik and the Yugoslav war to learn about its past. Plus it provides some much needed air con.

So a big thumbs up to Croatia from me. Next time I will definitely be going for Hideout though.

PARKLIFE 2015

Main Stage • MK MK MK • Crowd ft. wired guy • Me and Liverpool Liz <3

A little late post on my time at Parklife! Living in the city centre, Heaton Park was a short tram / Parklife party bus ride away and the i n c r e d i b l e line-up was unmissable, how could I say no?

My personal highlights included MK and Duke Dumont. MK's set was at an out-of-the-way stage down a long road lined with trees. It was pretty spectacular especially when he span "My Head Is A Jungle". However, I was a little disappointed that he didn't play more of his popular remixes, it was more of a hardcore house set without prominent melodies or lyrics. Duke Dumont was incredible. We started out on the crowded outskirts of the tent but before the set had finished we had managed to tactically manoeuvre ourselves to the middle of the crowd, which was surprisingly spacious. He played all his hits ("I Got U" was BANGIN') and also included some floor fillers which I loved.

A new DJ I discovered at the festival was Hannah Wants. I hadn't really listened to her much before but her set was insanely good, playing so many old school tracks such as "Little Bit Of Luck" and "Do You Really Like It" ~is it is it wicked~. We were all pleasantly surprised by the set that Karen Harding performed too and left with a major girl crush.

Unfortunately I haven't got over the fact that I missed FKA twigs and we also didn't arrive early enough for Fuse ODG which was a shame because the sunny weather would have been a perfect match for his afro beats. Nonetheless, we did have the BEST pulled pork and nacho cheese fries ever that day.

Also, after my boyfriend showed me a video of DJ EZ's set I am now obsessed and truly gutted that I didn't see him. Granted, Duke Dumont was amazing (they were on at the same time, the downfall of festivals) but DJ EZ would have provided that little bit of hip hop and grime to the festival that I thought was lacking with all the dance and electronic DJs.

So I would highly recommend Parklife to anyone who is thinking about going. There's no camping, amazing artists and a great choice of food. However, alcohol and food is about £5 a pop so if you're planning on spending there, you better save up! Also, as a side note, there was a lot of dilated pupils walking around. So be prepared for the wiredness.

A List Of All The Shows I Have Watched During First Year

Degree in Procrastination anyone?

• BREAKING BAD
• BROOKLYN NINE-NINE
• DEXTER
• FRESH MEAT The most accurate portrayal of all freshers everywhere.
• GAME OF THRONES
• LES REVENANTS Great for all those learning French, and not just some rubbish soap opera that your GCSE teacher recommends!
• LUTHER I FECKING LOVE IDRIS ELBA
• MISFITS When Robert Sheehan left, I was out.
• MOCK THE WEEK
• ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK The moment when tampons were used to make headpieces for the Christmas show in season 2 is hilarious.
• PRETTY LITTLE LIARS With the knowledge that this show is into its sixth series and still going, I don't think I can carry out this rigmarole any longer than series 3.
• PRISON BREAK Sucre is my Spanish spice for life.
• RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE
• THE FALL Way better than 50 shades.
• TOP BOY
• 90210

The next series I'm planning on watching include Gossip Girl, Peaky Blinders and literally all of the TED talks episodes. But please do tell me your faves and I'll definitely add them to my ever growing list!

Lille

I went to Lille with the French Society from university this weekend and it was quite fabulous. I was expecting it to be a rather traditional, old city but I was pleasantly surprised by the lively, vibrant life that was bustling about there.

We started the weekend off watching the rugby with a beer in a cosy pub. It was great to have us 'rosbifs' sat next to frenchies when our teams were competing against each other. We also grabbed a bite (I had a burger of course) to line our stomachs for the night ahead. After a drink at a different pub we commenced the night at La Plage, a really cool tiki bar that had such good dancehall-type music and even had sand covering the floors. The barmen were very lively (one of them a little too affectionate) and of course us Anglais were hanging around like barflys, living up to our reputation. The cocktails were too good to miss though. We then went on to club Smile which to me was typically European in the sense that a song would play for about 30 seconds then the remix would hit and it would change to an equally electro dance pop anthem. But it was a great time given that there were poles and platforms that we all took full advantage of.

The day after we spent time exploring the city, visiting the main square and Vieux Lille which I loved as there were so many winding roads complete with the beautiful architecture that you can only find in France. It was there that I also found the love of my life in a brasserie but I'm still not over him so I won't go on about that for too long...

That evening we had a giant group meal (there were about sixty of us) at La Chicorée, a lovely restaurant situated in the main square. I, of course, had another burger (which even had a hash brown in!) and was hardly surprised by the look on the waiter's face when I stated that I wanted it très bien cuit. You know how they like it to be practically alive on the plate. To wind down afterwards a few of us then went to watch The Kingsman in a cinema right by where we were staying. I thought it would have been dubbed in French but I read along with the subtitles instead to learn some new words. The film is bloody brilliant by the way and I would highly recommend giving it a watch. Oh and the French accent is way sexier when someone is whispering it in the cinema. I was having a good listen to the conversation of the people behind me.

To finish off our trip on the Monday we went out in style by paying a visit to a lovely crêperie called La Regalade. Leaving Lille and knowing we had to face a ten hour coach journey back to Manchester was a little disheartening but I knew a service station McDonalds was on the horizon. We were also treated to a gorgeous sunset on the ferry so that helped a lot.

If anyone else has been to Lille before I would love to know what you got up to!