Festivals and friends

Oops abandoned my blog again! I intended to do a post about my week away in Rhodes with my friend Mollie but I completely forgot/am waiting for her disposable camera photos! However I spent 6 days with my friend Beth so I'm blogging about that instead!
Beth went to my primary school then moved away. She comes down to visit a couple of times a year and Mollie and I went to visit her for 3 nights in year 9, so two years on we went again! Here's a picture of us from last time just for the lols

 Oh dear- year 9 was not an attractive time! (just a warning, the other two are now seriously pretty and yeah just wow but I still look the same haha)
So anyway we arranged to stay with her because we were going to the Gentlemen of The Road festival and she lives fairly close by and so we caught two coaches and arrived!
The first day was a Thursday and we arrived at about 7.45pm. Beth's mum collected us from the bus stop and we went to a little part of her town where there was a jazz night (it seemed to actually be an event where a lot of teenagers met up and got drunk) and we met a few of her friends. We didn't see any music and instead just stood and talked but it was nice to see people who prior to then had only been faces online. We walked home at about 10. Something I find really strange when we met Beth is how easy it is to feel as though we haven't been apart. That sounds so cringey oops but yep!
The next day we packed for the festival then walked into town to catch the bus there at about 12. We stopped and bought a sandwich then met her friends at the bus stop. I was initially quite awkward but I could tell they were nice and within 10 minutes on the bus it was like we'd known them for ages (cheesy again I'm sorry). We arrived in the town of Lewes and walked for half an hour to the campsite. It was so hot and the only thing keeping me going was the thought of the sandwich when we arrived.
A few of Beth's friends were getting lifts there and had put up the teepee which was great and after checking in at the campsite we went over to it. The rest of Friday is a bit of a blur but we had a picnic outside the teepee then sat and talked and at about 4.30 walked to the festival.
Friday night was AMAZING! Some of the support acts weren't ones I knew but the atmosphere was great and it was just so nice. We managed to get to virtually at the front- I'd say we were in the second row, so close in fact that I managed to high 5 a polar bear (don't ask)

my high fiving friend (taken by my friend)

Vampire Weekend were really, really good! They were even better than I expected and they were really good performers. The only problem was how hot and dehydrated I felt after 5 hours of standing but that didn't ruin it for me as they were just so good!
Afterwards we intended to go late night swimming but by 11pm it was quite cold so we went back to the teepee where we talked, played truth or dare and yeah it was really nice.
On Saturday everyone was up by 7.30am - why?! I hate waking up early but once I'm awake I struggle to get back to sleep so I stayed up. We walked into Lewes and looked around, got some lunch in Waitrose and then walked back to the festival in the afternoon. There were only 4 of us (out of the group of 9) and we sat and watched a few support acts, one of which was Bear's Den. I'd never heard of them but they were so good and we ended up getting our 'festival guides' signed by them! I tried to insert a video but it won't work, try this link and honestly you won't regret it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgGHVf7dCdw
We then met the others and joined the crowd. It was much bigger tonight as some people had got day tickets and we thought we wouldn't be very near the front. The Vaccines were great as was Johnny Flynn and I loved Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, however the real highlight of the whole festival for me was Mumford and Sons.
By this time I'd been separated from the others and was very near the front, but Mollie somehow managed to reach me which was great because being in very close proximity to strangers can be scary! Mumford and Sons were honestly phenomenal and I ended up crying- a lot! I didn't expect to but they're my favourite band and ah I just love them so much! I kept thinking Marcus was looking at me which sounds so silly but I got really emotional.

A photo I took on my phone- not zoomed in

It was amazing to see them and there were some really annoying people near us who kept talking loudly through the songs but this didn't ruin it because they were just so amazing ahhh. Afterwards  Mollie and I ran through the crowd to get water and found the others. We walked back to the campsite and talked before falling asleep again.
The next morning I slept until 9 then we packed up and sat and took a few photos and walked back to the bus stop.

They were all so lovely that I want to cry

 We caught the bus back and Beth's mum picked us up in town and when we got home we showered (there were no showers at the campsite so I didn't wash for 2 days!) and her mum made us a huge bowl of chips (I only ate lunch on Saturday) then spent the day watching Friends and sleeping.

super embarrassing photo of me sleeping on Beth's sofa haha

The rest of our time at Beth's went way too quickly. We spent Monday making this amazing cheesecake which we left at Laurel's :-(

On Tuesday we saw Beth's friends again when we went to her friend Laurel's house for a picnic. It was lovely and here a few photos

you wouldn't guess we'd only known each other properly for a few days haha

They are all so lovely!!!!
I miss Beth so much ah I feel so emotional I feel like I'm going to cry omg

It's actually pretty cool that the three of us have maintained such a strong friendship when Beth lives several hours away, but I'm so glad we have :-)))
happy summer everyone!!
Laura x