Cleethorpes born, Cyprus raised.

I was born in a little seaside town called Cleethorpes. For 8 years, I went about my daily life as any other kid would do. To be completely honest, when I try and look back on when I lived in the UK, I can't actually remember much, only the significant parts, like Christmas.

April of 2009 - age 8 -  my family and I packed up and moved to a tiny little island in the Mediterranean, called Cyprus. Literally within a week of us moving there, my nan and granddad were already out on holiday because they missed us so much, ha! I can remember stepping off of the plane and the heat just hitting me. Scorching weather, swimming pool in the back yard, literally like paradise!

Almost as soon as we moved there we got into the local school of my beloved little village of Ozankoy. My brother and I had these gross yellow and black tshirts and shorts as uniforms. We looked like little bees ha! I actually really liked it at school, even though me and Bill were the only blonde haired, blue eyed kids in the entire school, the other kids took to us straight away, they actually wouldn't leave my brother alone, pulling his hair and cheeks. Also, we were the only people in the entire school, apart from the english teacher and the principle, who actually spoke any English.

The following June after we moved there, my mom and Mark got married. We went down to the other end of the island, Paphos. We spent two weeks with family and what an ace time we all had.

The September of that year I moved to a school with an English curriculum. It was at this school that I met my best friends, we have stuck together from then ever since, through thick and thin. I moved school again in year 8. Again, here I made some life long friends. At our school we used to have four lots of exams a year, two of those exam weeks had hot weather, so after our exam in the morning, we used to get the bus to the beach. My favourite thing about Cyprus is, everyone is so chill, everyone goes out together, mixes and becomes friends. I literally have such a diverse group of friends, some people can be complete opposites, but still stick like glue, its mad.

I think because I have mixed with so many different people and I have grown up around Muslim culture, that my mentality towards most things in life would be totally different if I would have grown up in the UK. I know for a fact that I would look completely different, I would probably speak completely differently, I probably wouldn't listen to the music that has shaped me, I would probably have  a small group of friends and never leave this town, I probably wouldn't feel the need to travel and explore different countries and cultures, I probably wouldn't speak another language. I probably wouldn't know the people that I love, and that thought scares me, actually.

I really am so blessed to have has this opportunity to grow up in such an amazing place. I've got some absolutely ace memories. Summers were always awesome; clubbing, beach parties, house parties, boat trips, chill days around the pool, beach days, paint balling, go karting, gigs, jam sessions on the football pitch with drinks and pizza, star gazing around the pool all night.

Cyprus to me will always be home. It is where I grew up, made all of my friends, learnt my life lessons, learnt another language, finished school, discovered and developed my love for music and art. I would definitely say that I'm adapted to village life and the culture, it's what I have grown up with. No matter if you move away from Cyprus, you will always find yourself back there one day. Even though my friends are now all over the world at university, almost every summer, we are all reunited.

My 2016

My 2016 was possibly the biggest year of my life so far. With the most extreme highs and lows, and the hardest decisions I've ever had to make.

My year started in Sri Lanka with my family, the most beautiful country full of adventure yet plenty of relaxing. We spent most of our time in Hikkaduwa on the beach and learning to surf, we also visited Kandy to see the most incredible Buddhist temple and to Pinnawala to see the elephants in their natural habitat.

My next little venture was back to my hometown of Cleethorpes to visit family and of course, Kim. After a long wait, I could finally wrap my arms around him. I also went to my first UK gig, Neck Deep, with my cousin Jordee and Kim and met my friends Lois and Charlie at the Manchester O2 Academy. What an amazing night, my first experience of almost being trampled on in a mosh pit ha.

The next four months of my year were taken up by studying towards my IGCSE's. A brutal and long winded process, but in the end, all my hard work was totally worth it. All the extra classes actually turned out to be a laugh and I made some of the best friends, who also supported me through my decisions for the next step in my life, I couldn't of asked for better mates, and I know for sure they'll be for life, no matter how far apart we are now. And with that, I left school, with a splash, literally, we had the biggest water fight on our last day of high school together.

After leaving school, I had two weeks of pure mental memories. We all had such a great time with boat parties, clubbing, water parks, beach days and of course, my beloved Cyprian, where we all basically grew up ha! I turned 16 and had my leaving party and closed this chapter of my life in Cyprus.

With a very tearful goodbye, I packed my bags and flew to Ibiza for two months in the summer to learn my 3rd language, Spanish! I was met at the airport by a good family friend, who couldn't have been a bigger help. I settled into my language school and made some really awesome friends from all over the world. I was staying in Ibiza old town with a Spanish family, who didn't really speak much English. One night I barely slept and the entire of the next day I felt unwell. I left my class early to rest and received the most heart-breaking news. My uncle Will had passed at the tender age of 21. Immediately, I packed my bags and got the next flight to the UK, to be with my family.

For the next few months, I spent most of my time with my family. Being freshly moved back to the UK, I didn't really have any friends, as I have been living in Cyprus for the past 8 years - that's half of my life, by the way. It really proved to me how different people actually are, in the sense of actually making an effort with you in real life, rather than promising plans through a screen. Culture shock was definitely an understatement, it has taken me months to settle in, and I'm still struggling to make friends, ha, the people here are so different compared to Cyprus.

When I started getting myself out there more, I had some great times in the summer, such as my first GYPO fest! Not to forget Reading Festival - my 16th birthday present - which was secretly arranged between my mum and my best friends. They had to keep it from me for months! Reading was possibly the highlight of my year, 6 straight days spent with my best mates from Cyprus. This was where I literally almost died in mosh pits and had to be physically dragged out by my friend ha. It has been a lifelong dream to see RHCP and they were better than I had ever anticipated, I swear I felt my soul leave my body, it was that much of a heavenly experience.

In September, I started college. I made some good mates, but college doesn't really seem to be for me. With that, two weeks into college, I managed to land myself an apprenticeship, which is absolutely great, I work with some really awesome people and I'll be getting a Business Administration diploma from it too, which is a plus.

Then, the wedding of the year rolls around. Jordee G & Mikey B became Mr & Mrs Brompton! I think we all needed this absolutely amazing day as a family. Literally the best wedding I have ever been to. The build up over the past two years was ace, the excitement of my family got to the point we could all burst and the actual day completely topped it, better than I had even imagined!

A quiet few months passed and Christmas finally rolled around. I had been looking forward to this purely because my mum, brother and stepdad were coming over from Cyprus. Christmas was awesome, yet chaotic, as always, we have such a massive family, my brother and I struggle finding time to spend between everyone.

To top off the year, my mom, brother, stepdad and I went to Amsterdam for a short trip. What a beautiful place! We spent most of our time wondering round and sight seeing. The red light district was definitely... something. It was actually exactly what I thought it would be. We also found the Fault In Our Stars bench! I really cherish all the time I get to spend with them and I didn't want it to end!

I've learnt a lot in 2016. I've learnt to take things as they come, to keep strong, to work hard for what I want, to appreciate the time I have, to relax and to love with all of my soul.

Sri Lanka

My family and I travelled to Sri Lanka for the new year of 2016. From where I lived, Cyprus, It took two long car journeys, a hell of a long time spent at airports and two five hour flights, and we were there! To start we had a week in Hikkaduwa, a beautiful little coastal town, where life revolves around the beach! There I experienced the crazy driving of the buses and tuk tuks, exotic fruit and laidback life of the locals - which, living in Cyprus, I was pretty familiar to anyway. I spent most of my time in Hikkaduwa on the beach, soaking up the sun - well, trying anyway, I was still white as a milk bottle - and in the sea, which is where I had my first surf lessons - little waves for little me, ha. We also had little day trips to places not far away, like Gaule, where we got the bus to see the ruins and the ancient walled city, what an incredible place!

We then travelled to a town high in the mountains, called Kandy. Here we visited the Buddhist temple, of which was one of the most fantastic historical places of worship I had ever been to. Where we were staying, we were directly next to an all girls primary school, where they would sing prayers for 15 minutes every morning, which echoed throughout the entire town. Also a large group of monkeys would run and play in the trees right near our room.

Our final trip before heading back to the capital for a night before leaving, was Pinnawala. Pinnawala was a long two and a half hour trip further into the mountains, but it was totally worth it. The entire little village was based around one single tourist attraction, the elephant orphanage. There is a large lake where the elephants played in the water, sunbathed and got fed bananas, no chains, no restricted areas, just purely in their natural habitat. This experience was literally one of the most soul satisfying, just to see these beautiful animals looked after in the correct way.

Sri Lanka was absolutely amazing! It was definitely my kind of trip, lots to see and experience. I would definitely suggest it to anyone looking to have a little bit of an adventurous holiday!

Trying to blog.

As I'm writing this, I don't actually know if I'm even writing in the right place, ha! I'm still trying to figure out how to upload blogs to the right places. I've always loved writing, I've had so many different little travel journals, which I usually paint or sketch in and also add little things into, such as tickets or Polaroids. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion I should start a blog to document my experiences and to record my thoughts and feelings to share with others. Little tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated to help improve my blogging and writing skills. Who knows, I might actually get pretty good at it someday!