Lauren Tabbron shares her favourite things to do in Manchester
Jess Astbury regales tales of festivities in warmer climates.
Unfortunately for my friends and I, we were nowhere near cool enough to make our post-exam Cornwall getaway a holiday that Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents would be proud of. Instead it was more Sun, Scrabble and Satisfied Parents, and you know what? I bloody loved it.
Renting a house in Penzance is hardly rock ‘n’ roll, but it was our first taste of freedom and we bounded into that beautiful sun-lit house after a mere 8 hour train journey packed full of rowdy sun seekers and stag dos.
For most of us it was our first experience of being fully responsible for ourselves away from home, and it served as the perfect test run for university life. I proudly put packet mix chicken fajitas on the table for dinner, feeling incredibly proud of my own skills, ignoring the fact that Old El Paso isn’t exactly the most challenging of meals. Our conversation now included such thrillingly adult words such as deposit, rent, insurance. We sat on the floor in train stations, feeling happy and salty after surfing lessons, not minding the half an hour wait for the tiny train.
There were no binge-drinking sessions on our tranquil holiday, unless you count the one quiet pint in the local pub. Not only were a few of us not even old enough yet, but we had no need to. Often we’d end up laughing until our sides hurt and we were delirious with giggles, no alcohol needed. Twister, Snap, Shithead, Slam, Whist...I’ve never played so many board games in my life on that holiday. Cool it was most definitely not, but we were happy visiting lush garden parks and completing the children’s treasure trail on St Micheal’s Mount.
It was the delicious juxtaposition of having no parents around with total freedom to let loose and deliberately choosing to regress, to stay innocent, to play the child one last time before university claimed our teenage hood forever.
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