April.

April started as March ended. Alcohol.

I went out for a few drinks with a couple of my housemates and my friend Jess in Headingley. We stayed in Box for a few hours, then I got a taxi into town to meet my friend Tom and his friend Izzy at Yates'. We were in there for a few hours then wandered down to Stone Roses where we stayed until 6am. It wad a great night and surprisingly I didn't feel hungover the next day, despite having 3 hours sleep and getting to work for 11am.

I really like this picture. Tom, Izzy & I looking very jolly.

Over the past few months i've been to quite a few gigs in Leeds, including bands and comedians. Russell Howard at Leeds Arena was my final one for a while, and he didn't disappoint. I went with my cousin, Josh, and we loved it. Earlier that day i'd been at work and my friend Nathan (who was also going to see Russell that night), came in saying that Russell was in the Apple Store downstairs. I got all excited (not that I could do anything as I was working), and sure enough, a few minutes later, Russell Howard walked past our store. I freaked out but was frustrated there was nothing I could do about it, Nathan however, went up and got a picture with him. Needless to say we all hate Nathan now.

The only picture I got because I was too busy laughing.

During the Easter Holidays, I went to Alton Towers with my friends Sophie, Fallon and my sister, Emma. The weather wasn't perfect but for the majority of the time it stayed dry. We stayed over in a cute little hostel near the park overnight and went back for a second day on the rollercoasters, managing to get on pretty much every ride throughout the 2 days. Even though it was only overnight it was really nice to get away from Leeds for a bit.

Went on Nemesis. Em loved it, I looked like a thumb.

I've also been busy putting my degree to some good use finally. I've been organising a Cancer Research fundraiser as Josh has absolutely kicked ass since he was diagnosed*. It's basically a talent show for younger kids to show some of their creativity and enjoy themselves, there's also your typical community fundraiser things like Bric-A-Brac, Tombola, Raffle, Quiz, Bake Sale, other stage performances etc. It's just great to put everything i've learned in the past 4 years towards such a great cause, and if it helps even one person get the treatment they need or maybe just give Josh a little boost then it will have all been worth it. If you're reading this and fancy coming, here's the Facebook event and if you want to book tickets, just get in touch with me!

Then came my last ever student loan. This was a bittersweet occasion, so I treated myself to some new clothes, a Pandora ring, a couple of jackets and a few other bits to get me through this difficult time. I now have less than a month left of University. On one hand, I can't wait to get all of it done with. I can't imagine what it's like to not have any work looming over your head or stressing about revision. It must be so nice and peaceful. But on the other hand, i'm going to miss it. A lot. I'll miss my housemates and the drama-riddled street that is Headingley Mount, i'll miss being a student and feeling like it's okay if I mess up a bit now because technically i'm not an adult yet, i'll miss getting discounts everywhere, i'll miss Headingley all together, and in a way i'll just miss the campus. But all good things must come to an end, and I need to start looking towards the next chapter and to more adventures around the world.

Annabel
*Update: he's had the malignant tumour removed from his thigh and received 3 nerve grafts. He was told that after the op he would have a leg brace on for 5/6 months. It was taken off after a week. I'm still convinced he's not human or it's an elaborate prank because it's just not phased him at all and he's inspiring us all with the way he's just stayed himself and not sat around complaining. 

March.

March began with a momentary panic.
This is the month I hand my dissertation in and the rest of my life is decided on this.
Okay so that's a little dramatic, but it's big. So how did I settle myself down for this? The answer is quite simple;
Alcohol.

(Be prepared, this one is going to make me look like a raging alcoholic)

Coincidentally, I had a works leaving do and my housemate's birthday night out on the same day. And it's fair to say, I completely overdid it. I'm not going into details, however i'm sure it's "one of those nights" my friends will be reminding me of for some time.

The Association where I teach dance had their annual 'Presidents Night', where we celebrate the change over from our previous President, to a new President for the year ahead. Some of the groups from Showgroup put on a little performance and Emma & I sang House of Gold by Twenty One Pilots. We then preceded to drink copious amounts of alcohol, after which I went shouting "after party at my house" and a few friends came over until the early hours.

Em & I dancing after many an alcohol.

For my Mum's birthday, we took her out a few times. The first was as a family to Tick Tock Unlock in town. It's one of those game things where they "lock" you in a room and you have to find clues and solve puzzles to get out. It was very stressful but we all enjoyed it. We also went to see the new live action Beauty and the Beast. It was honestly a great film. I hated the way they changed so many things when they re-did Cinderella, but this was more or less kept the same. The music was insane, I had goosebumps the whole way through. To be honest they did go a little crazy in Be Our Guest with the CGI but i'll let them off for now. My sister & I also took Mum to see Michael Flatey's Lord of the Dance at The Grand Theatre (not Dad's cup of tea). My sister and I didn't really know what to expect, let's just say we were sat the entire time with our mouths open in shock.
INCREDIBLE.

We escaped! Can't get rid of us Rileys that easily.

Me and the work pals went up to Manchester for a night to visit our friend, Mick. Despite Viv dropping both of our McDonalds milkshakes at the train station (Viv hurt her shin but my heart was broken more at the fact I was really looking forward to that milkshake). We had a really good night and all got a go on Dave's Nintendo Switch (I didn't have a clue what was going on, I was just winging it). After Mick told us a dramatic bedtime story at 4am we eventually drifted off.

Another weekend I had a family friend's 18th. There were a few people there that I hadn't seen in a while which was great. We played a few drinking games and my cousin managed to twist my arm and convince me to go to town with him and another of our friends despite only having £5 to my name, (shout out to Bank of Dad). From what I remember we danced to S Club 7 and Paramore, until we called it a night at 4am and went for a takeaway.

Em & I (again) managing to take a nice drunken picture.

Unfortunately we lost another LEGO soldier, Kelsea, so we went out for pizza and prosecco at Buca di Pizza - if you go, get the BBQ pulled pork. It's the most amazing thing i've ever had in my mouth. The bubbly was actually really nice too. Afterwards we wandered over to Roxy Ball Room for a couple games of beer pong, ping pong and pool, where I put my excellent beer pong skills to good use (I was a little rusty having not played since Australia). All in all it was a good night with great people.

So you know, life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, and as you are reading the Life of Riley, I always keep things as honest as I can. This month, my cousin, who's practically my twin, was diagnosed with cancer. Yeah, it's pretty damn shit. I have to say though, the way he's handled it just makes me admire him even more than I already do. He's an absolute trooper and isn't letting anything stop him from carrying on how he always has done, it's amazing. What's also amazing is how our family and friends (we're all pretty close knit anyway) have come together and we're doing Race For Life's 'Pretty Muddy' in Josh's name in June to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Within less than a day of our fundraising page getting set up, we'd raised over £300. Within 3 days we had over £800. And within 5 we reached 4 figures. We're now almost at £2k.
The kindness and generosity of others overwhelmed us all and I think it gave us all a well needed boost. If you're reading this and you've already sponsored us, or you're about to, or you've even just shared the link on Facebook, seriously thank you, from the entire Riley clan.

And to end the month on a positive note; my dissertation is finally handed in!!!

If you didn't take a photo handing in your dissertation, did you even hand it in?

My course celebrated by doing the Otley Run in fancy dress; Carnival theme. We just used it as an excuse to go absolutely nuts with chunky glitter and feathers.

Me and some girls from my course. On the top row from the right we have my housemates Sian, Ellie and Me.

Not gonna lie, I wanted to keep this on forever.

Slimming World update: Due to a lot of late night sessions in the library and dissertation stress, my weight hasn't been great this month and in total i've put on 5 pounds, which i'm completely okay with because I had a lot of celebrating to do after handing my dissertation in!

Annabel

January.

Happy New Year!
So here's a fresh new year before us, I wonder what it will bring? Fingers crossed it brings everyone success and happiness. For me, 2017 will bring my graduation, a trip to Canada to visit my sister from another mister Priya, my 23rd birthday (it freaked me out the first time I said that), and being a Bridesmaid for one of my close friends, Rachel.

Now this is quite possibly the shortest monthly round up I've ever done and hopefully will ever do. In all honesty i've been quite busy this month but i've been too occupied with enjoying it to take any pictures or to remember to write about it, so i'm just going to do a few bullet points.

• I recovered from NYE just about (I actually fell up some stairs that night and really hurt my knee - I couldn't walk properly for a few days!
• I gave my cousin her birthday present, which is tickets to the Harry Potter Studio Tour.
• Did non-stop work for Uni because it seems like deadlines are coming out of every orifice.
• Mum and I started shopping for bits and bobs for the room swap (I can't wait to completely redecorate).
• I actually needed to take a dyslexia test at Uni, but i'm all clear.
• Us Bridesmaids went to Rachel's house to sort more things out for the wedding but we ended up just ordering a takeaway and watching Bridesmaids.
• Viv and I went to see Passengers at the cinema and very much enjoyed Chris Pratt's derriere. 
• Mum's Christmas present was tickets to go to the Emmerdale Tour at ITV Studios, so we had a grand day out along with lunch at TGI Fridays (and lots of cocktails).
• On the same day it was my work Christmas do. We went for food at Akbar's and the food was great, but I was stuffed beyond belief. We then went for some drinks afterwards, then I made my way to the cinema.
• Because I was now meeting Megan and Charlotte to see the final episode of Sherlock at Vue. It was amazing. Ben C is bae and Hudders is the Queen of sass.
• I got drunk with my work friends. Again.
• My sister had GymFest performing at Leeds First Direct Arena. Like what?! I just saw my sister on the same stage that i've seen Bastille, Lee Evans and McBusted, and will see Green Day, Kings of Leon and Russell Howard on. It's just so bloomin' cool.
• I moved back up to my Uni house for my final semester EVER.
• The final event of January was going to see Two Door Cinema Club at Leeds O2 Academy for the 4th time. They were brilliant.

So really I just wanted to enjoy January and make the most of what was going on after a busy Christmas, which is also why I didn't write a December round up. But hopefully February will be more exciting!

A quick update on Slimming World, i've now lost a grand total of 1st 5.5lbs. Feeling pretty chuffed with myself to say the least.

Annabel

November.

November had the perfect start - I went to see Bastille in Leeds First Direct Arena. Last time I saw them was when they supported Two Door Cinema Club in 2013 (and I bumped into Dan in Baa Bar next door, feeling pretty smug). The gig was awesome. For the encore, Dan miraculously appeared right next to us on the tier 2 balcony and sang Two Evils and we pretty much just died right then.

Dan & Will on the balcony during the encore.

The night after I went out with my housemates for a few drinks. As i'm sure a lot of students understand, a few drinks never usually stays "just a few drinks". I went into town around midnight to meet up with a few friends from school, and we went to Key Club for a few hours. I ended up bumping into my cousin who I spent the rest of the night with. We then wandered down to Stone Roses where we danced until around 6am (I was wearing heeled boots and my feet started to hurt so I took them off at this point. My feet were soaked with what I can only assume was a cocktail of drugs, alcohol and piss. Bit of advice: don't do that). Needless to say those socks went in the bin and it took me over a day to recover from that night.

Me and my cousin Harriet stumbling home at 6:30am, lipstick half gone.

I had also been editing the annual backstage video for Showgroup. I think it's a great way to showcase all of the hard work that goes into the shows and it's a nice way to thank all of the helpers for everything they do. If you want to give it a watch, here it is!

We also started rehearsals for our annual Christmas Show, in which i'm going to sing The Power Of Love (not technically a Christmas song but it was on a Christmas advert) and my sister is going to dance to it. I'm also choreographing a routine to 'Carol Of The Bells' by Metallica (bet you weren't expecting that), so i'm hoping it will be an excellent start to the holiday period.

Towards the end of November, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them was finally released, and of course, myself, Emma, Viv and Nathan went to see the midnight showing - we weren't going to wait any longer! The film was awesome and Eddie Redmayne was the perfect choice. 

Then on the Sunday, Emma finally got her 16th birthday present from me (11 months later), we went to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour in London. Although we had to get the Megabus at 6am, we had an amazing day and even got to squeeze in a quick visit to Madame Tussauds. I promised Emma i'd buy her a wand, so she chose Newt Scamander's from Fantastic Beasts, then we made the long journey back to Leeds.

Chilling on the Hogwarts bridge.

And of course, to finish the month off, there was lots of alcohol. I went out with my cousins for lots of shots and cocktails, then on the last night of November I went out for my housemates birthday, we had a great night but in true Annabel style I crashed and burned way too early.

Me and the cousins; Josh, Jordan, Sam, Chaz, Haz and Me.

Sian, Ellie and I in Canal Mills. I really need to get a longer lasting lipstick.

I wasn't going to write about this, but I always try to be honest when i'm writing my posts and one of the reasons I write this blog in the first place is for me to look back on everything in the years to come. Last week, I joined Slimming World, and to be honest, i've found it a lot easier than I thought it would be. it's a fantastic way to lose weight but still have little treats to enjoy! So after my first week weigh in, i've lost 4 and a half pounds and i'm on cloud 9 right now. Next month I may start a little weight loss counter on my round ups!

On a final note, it's Christmas in 24 days!

Annabel

October.

So for the majority of October i've been doing Uni work (yes, i've only been back 3 weeks and have shed loads to do) and organising for my dance show.

As i'm in 3rd year, this was my last Varsity (as a student), and unfortunately, Leeds Beckett lost the rugby final for the first time in 12 years. It was a little annoying, the Leeds Uni students got a bit cocky but i'll let them enjoy this one. Despite our defeat, we all went out and got smashed anyway. On the way out, our Uber driver, Ali, was telling us his life story and our drunken selves were giving him some advice (oh dear).

Yeah, we also got a selfie.

October half term. Every year since I was 5 years old, this has meant it's time for the annual Showgroup show. 17 years and still going strong. It stresses me out to the max but I just love teaching the kids and bringing together a show with the teachers, trying out different things every year. Every weekend of October is pretty much taken up with rehearsals and I honestly wouldn't have it any other way.

Us Showgroup teachers! Harriet, Me, Emma, Sarah and Jess.

The show went amazingly and we all recieved such good feedback. It really does make all the stress worth it in the end to see the kids enjoying themselves.

A quick snapshot from our backstage video which will be going up next month!

I also finally uploaded my video from my Aussie adventures to YouTube! It was difficult squeezing 5 months of my life into 15 minutes, which is probably why it's taken me over 4 months to finish it. But here it is if you want to give it a watch!

Annabel

September.

Here it is! 3rd year! I can't believe that i've only got 1 year of education left. Thank god for that. After 17 years of non-stop learning (apart from my "Gap Yah"), it's finally the beginning of the end.

Maybe the biggest thing that happened for me in September was moving into my new house for 3rd year into Headingley. This will make it so much easier to make those early lectures and i'm just excited to live in a house with all girls. Unfortunately because none of us really thought to arrange it earlier, we need to go the first 2 and a half weeks without WIFI or a working TV. I'll be doing a room tour just like the one I did in Aus soon.

A benefit of working for LEGO means you get a free Merlin pass for yourself and another, which means free entry to anything Merlin (Alton Towers, Sealife, Thorpe Park, Legoland...). So my sister and I went for a day out in Manchester where we collected our passes from the LEGO Discovery Centre in Trafford, then went through the attraction and decided to visit Sealife next door too. We then went for a bit of a shop (I actually started my Christmas shopping), which was when Em spotted Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright in Selfridges. Which is really depressing because she had no make up on and she still looked stunning.

Walking around Trafford.

We also had another work get together which went the usual way: getting completely smashed. I don't remember falling asleep, but apparently I crashed pretty early and just wouldn't wake up. Oops.

I decided to get a group picture before the alcohol began to flow...

Towards the end of September I went to London with Viv from work, and we went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in the Palace Theatre (which coincidentally is on Shaftesbury Avenue, where Harry, Ron & Hermione apparate to in the Deathly Hallows Pt1). No spoilers here, but what I will say is that it was quite possibly the best live experience of my life. I loved it. The way they do the magic on stage is so so clever. We stayed overnight in an AirBNB near Kings Cross and on the day after we wanted to put our Merlin Passes to good use. We went on the London Eye which is something i've been wanting to do for ages - that's now ticked off my Bucket List!. We also visited the London Dungeons and went for a quick walk around London Sealife. Total ticket prices for that day: £0. Winner winner chicken dinner. We then made our way to the coach for our 4 hour journey home.

INSANE. Go see it. NOW.

And of course, i'm now officially in 3rd year. The stress is real, and I already want to pull my hair out. Graduation can not come quick enough!

September was actually a great month as far as gig tickets go. I managed to score Green Day, Russell Howard, Two Door Cinema Club and one more that I can't tell you about yet... They're all in the beginning of next year and i'm so so so excited.
Annabel

July & August.

Well first of all, apologies for going a bit AWOL for 2 months. After getting back to England I wanted to take a little break from my blog and make the most of being back at home with my family and friends and in all honesty, I kind of forgot for most of it! I'm just going to bring you quickly up to speed with what i've been up to before I start my 3rd year of University.

July was pretty much just a lot of homecomings, a lot of alcohol but also a lot of staying at home because I was hella poor.  It was so great to get to see all my friends again, i'd missed them so much!
There was a couple of surprises, one being me surprising my class at dancing;

And my sister also surprised me at the airport. I'm not going to show you that video because 1. it's too long, 2. I look minging because i've just gone 24 hours sat in the same seat without a shower and 3. I cried.
The big one was an afternoon at my house where various family members and friends came over for the day and my Mum put on a glorious buffet. There was a lot of alcohol and a big game of Cards Against Humanity so i'm just going to leave that one there. Then the next few days included a few sleepovers and days out with friends.

So August!
It was pretty much mostly me settling back in at work and earning some dolla again. However August is host to the best day of the year; my birthday. It was a pretty quiet one compared to my previous birthdays. 22 sort of marks the beginning of no more exciting birthdays. It literally is downhill after 21. Through the day we just chilled out at home and I got to Skype Priya and Tarrena which was awesome. In the evening my cousin was having her hen do (3 years belated, because she couldn't stop having babies), so we all went for drinks at the usual spots, Wetherspoons, Revolution, Yates'. Later on, me and Harriet wandered up to Propaganda, where I used to work, to finish the night off.

On the 20th I went to join my family in Spain, where they had already been for a week. The weather was gorgeous, it was in the low 30's for the majority of the week. One day we went to the beach and me, my sister, my three cousins and my auntie went Parasailing, which is something we have all been wanting to do for a while.

Just hanging around off the Costa del Sol.

So September should start to pick up with me actually having money to do stuff now and with University starting. I'll be moving into my new student house soon so there will be posts about that and Freshers Week so i'll be posting more frequently in a few weeks!
𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

June.

Well. Here I am, back in England. After the craziest 5 months of my life. Now all the surprises have been done and dusted, I can post this about my last month in Australia.

June started with me coming home from 4 days away in Cairns (the highlight of my Aussie adventure, which you can read here), with exactly 4 weeks left.

Priya, Tarrena and I got free tickets to an event in the city; a Jungle party, where we got some free Leis. There was also a baby crocodile and a python for you to hold and get pictures with. The snake I had no problem with, it was so interesting, and they don't feel at all how you imagine they would. The baby croc on the other hand was a little different. Whilst I knew that if I didn't hold one, i'd regret it, I was still a little nervous! The scary thing was that they prefer to be held against your body where it's warm - which also means bringing it's jaws closer to your face! We were assured that she wouldn't bite but you never know.

Loving the snake - not so loving the crocodile!

One day I actually made it into the city for the first time in ages. I went to some souvenir shops and then met up with Priya and Dillon to go to the Immigration Museum. I'm not a massive museum person so this wasn't of massive interest to me, but it was free and it beats sitting in my flat all day. After that we went to Hosier Lane, where the walls and street floor are covered in graffiti. It looks awesome.

Hosier Lane (apologies for the terrible quality - I've had to cellotape my phone together...)

With it being the end of the semester, a lot of people started to leave after the second week of June, so there were many opportunities to get well and truly smashed. These were the last opportunities i'd have to finish off my liver here so I gave it a good go.

We also went for a day trip to the Grampians National Park. We got a bit lost as it's pretty big, but once we found a spot we went for a walk, took some pictures and then sat down for a barbie. It was absolutely freezing so after a few trips to sit in the car to warm up, the chicken was ready. After the feast we headed back to the car and drove back to Melbourne.

Me being a starfish with the amazing view of the Grampians.

Kiri and I went for a day out in the city. First we went for a wander round the winter market and I tried and failed with my haggling skills. After some food we then went to Hosier Lane (it was nice to see it in daylight this time) and got a lot of pictures of the street art. The next stop was St Paul's Cathedral where we lit some candles. It then started throwing it down outside so we called it a day and made our way home.

Hosier Lane street art.

On my last full day Tarrena and I went to the Melbourne Sea Life aquarium and I went into some souvenir shops to get the last of my gifts for people back home.

For my last meal before making my way to the airport, me and my friends all went to 8 Bit for a burger. Tarrena and Priya started to get a little upset but I didn't start to tear up until it was time to go to the airport.

After what is quite possibly the best 5 months of my life, I made my way to the airport to be reunited with everyone I left behind in February. I'm not going to go into some massive soppy paragraph about how much I will miss my Melbourne friends (1. because I could go on for hours and 2. because I will most likely start crying again and 3. because I already kind of went on a rant about it). All i'm going to say is I really really hope it isn't goodbye, and it's just see you later.

After a gruelling 24+ hours of travelling back to the other side of the world, I walked out of security and saw Mum and Dad waiting for me. After a few hugs, I turned around and saw my sister, who I wasn't supposed to see until that night. I'll just let you see for yourself in the video:

ᗩᑎᑎᗩᗷEᒪ♥

May.

The penultimate month of my Australian adventure is finally here. This unfortunately means that funds are growing slim and the workload has caught up to me after 3 months of partying, so i'm afraid this wasn't the most exciting of months.

To start May off Priya, Tarrena and I went on a bar crawl in the city of Melbourne. In total we went to 3 bars and 1 nightclub. Somehow I acquired a sombrero that I was very protective over for the rest of the night.

Quick selfie before the bar crawl!

This month we had quite a few nights in (our livers seriously needed a bit of a break). So we had a pamper party, and on another occasion we had a taco night.

I look about 12 in this photo...

As part of one of my modules this semester, we needed to put on a live music event. We threw a Beatles inspired afternoon at a retirement village and even hired a Beatles tribute band to play. The music was brilliant and before the end of the event people were up dancing. When it had finished, people came up to us and thanked us for a great event and said they loved it.

Everyone dancing to Twist & Shout!

So one of mine and Priya's guilty pleasures is to visit Max Brenner, a chocolate bar. Unfortunately this is located right next to our gym (and a Nandos), so walking to the bus stop after a good gym sesh takes enormous self control on our part, and isn't always successful, hence how I got this picture. What you're looking at is 2 double chocolate cookies wth vanilla ice cream sandwiched between them, then on the side is melted chocolate and a little pot of sprinkles. It was amazing, but I made the schoolboy error of pouring the chocolate on the ice cream, not realising that the chocolate would go cold. Classic Annabel.

During the last weekend in May, I went to another AFL game, then straight after went to an indoor music festival in the city. It was okay, to be honest it was just like any old night out. After getting home at 2am I had 2 hours to make sure all my packing was done before I needed to leave for the airport to go to Cairns with Priya, Dillon and Nikole for 4 days.

So when this post goes up i'll have just got back from Cairns. I'll be writing an individual post of my adventures up north in a few days. Here's to my last month in Aussie land!

ᗩᑎᑎᗩᗷEᒪ♥

April.

To kick this month off, we went to a Traffic Light Party (if you've never been to one, essentially you wear green if you're single, yellow if "it's complicated" and red if you're in a relationship). Usually you wear coloured shirts but this one was dress in black and you get coloured glow sticks. We had a pretty good night but the venue wasn't that great so halfway through we bailed and left to go to our favourite nightclub.

Bre, Tarrena, Me, Priya and Lou ready for the Traffic Light Party.

Unfortunately April saw me settle down with a bit more Uni work that I had to do. I keep forgetting about the main reason I came here and that it can't always be parties every night and catching up on my sleep during the day (maybe). So the partying lifestyle took a bit of a backseat this month with me trying to save up money for a trip to Cairns (Queensland) at the end of the semester too.

My building sometimes has activities for the residents to go on for free, and the first one me, Priya & Tarrena decided to go on was Go Karting & Laser Quest. We were split into 2 groups for the Go Karting and I came 5th out of our 7 in the race... I blame it on the no power steering, that was bloody difficult! We then went for a game of Laser Quest where I came 2nd out of 15, hell yeah.

So a guy from our Uni here decided to throw a party where he lives on a farm. He hired a DJ, put on a bonfire (with marshmallows), there were lights everywhere and there were many games of beer pong. The whole night is just one big blur to me but what I do remember is a lot of drinking, a lot of dancing and a lot of roasted marshmallows. At around 5am I eventually managed to get a little bit of sleep - 1 hour curled up next to the bonfire on a pile of soot. The hosts parents then made us all bacon and egg sandwiches which was amazing. Soon after we all piled back onto the bus and made our way home. All in all it was a brilliant night.

Priya, Tarrena & I after waking up next to the campfire in a field at 6am.

So yet again, we decided to go to another international boat party. You were encouraged to come in your national dress/colours, so I went in my navy top and tied some red and white ribbon to my wrist, then tucked a Union Jack into the loop of my jeans. It was a good night and after a lot of dancing on the boat we then made our way to the party bus to be taken to our favourite club, Billboards.

Tarrena (Australian), Priya (Canadian) and Me ready for the Boat Party.

The morning after the boat party, Priya, Louisa and I needed to be at the Uni campus at 9am for a trip to Phillip Island (this is where the Hemsworth brothers grew up). However after a night out, this can be quite difficult. And after a phone call from Priya at 8:55 that woke me up, I was very surprised that I even made it.
Once we made it to Phillip Island we went for a coastal walk along the beach and then up along the cliffs. The views were gorgeous. On the way back however I managed to cut my foot on a rock (as we were walking along the beach we all decided not to wear our shoes). Typical me. So then I had to walk back a mile with sand getting into my cut. Not very pleasant. When I was patched up we walked to the sand dunes where some of the others slid down on boards into the sea. After that we made our way to the Penguin Parade, where every night penguins walk 4km back to their little homes. They were adorable!

Group photo with Woolamai Beach in the background.

So I obviously wanted a permanent reminder of my first big adventure, so I went to get my first tattoo. I had a bit of an entourage/support group that insisted on coming; Kiri, Nikole, Priya and Tarrena came to cheer me on/laugh at my pain. The joke was on them though, it didn't really hurt. I got the map of Australia not only as a reminder of this awesome opportunity that i've had, but because it's also a reminder that i'm stronger, braver and a lot more capable than I ever thought. I've already said if you went back in time and told younger me that I was living here I wouldn't believe you, and I think this has made me grow up so much as a person. Don't get me wrong, I still have the brain of a 5 year old sometimes, but living here has already taught me so much.

Goodbye tattoo virginity!

So that's April. I can't get over how incredibly fast this has all gone. Here's to my last 2 months Down Under!

𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝