Our columnist this week is Sophie Wood, who has just completed her first year on the BA Journalism course at the University of Sheffield.

Summer's in full swing and the holiday season underway. Thousands of young people fresh from exams have been jetting off for a fun filled week of sun, sea and...

Three weeks ago I embarked on such a trip, along with five friends. We arrived at the airport clad in our group uniform tops emblazoned with the slogan Kos...' and a comical reason for each of us.

Our destination was the Kardamos Apartments, Kardamena. After a groggy night flight (it was 50 quid cheaper, we are students after all!) we piled out of the airport and were greeted by our 18-30 rep.

I know as well as anyone that the reputation of your average 18-30 holiday is, well, anything but average! But I can say now, from our experiences, that it is very much hyped up.

True, some things may be done a little unconventionally. When we arrived at our accommodation at 5am you'd have thought we'd have been left to sleep. But no, we had our very own welcome meeting for the six of us in our bedroom!

We let that one go. The next morning we settled down for some serious sunbathing; slathered in a high factor of course the lobster' would not have been a good look for the evening bar crawl.

Barred Up', as the first evening's event was aptly named, was a night not to be missed. A time to get to know the town, get a feel for the place. Although it has to be said that the next morning I struggled to recall where it was exactly we had been as my friend and I searched in vain for her phone, which had somehow been misplaced during the course of the evening. It later turned up via one of the reps, who had spied it looking lost amid the shots of sambuca at one of the bars.

As far as first nights go, that one left its mark. And our group certainly made their impression on the rest of the guests at our apartment block. Maybe it was the vast quantity of fishbowl, 30 sambuca shots and countless vodka and cokes.

The most prominent group we befriended were 18 guys from Basingstoke. The night we arrived they drunkenly came to introduce themselves. Being as crazy as us, our groups got on so well that most evenings were spent together.

The usual European late night clubbing and then back to the hotel for early morning frolicking in the pool was the basic formula for most nights.

The highlight of the week had to be the foam party. Never before have I had so much fun sliding around haplessly in a massive swamp of bubbles dancing to The Prodigy like the world was about to end.

The atmosphere was incredible. It didn't matter if you'd lost all the friends you had come with. The free bar made sure everyone was sociable enough to start dancing with anyone and everyone around you.

The holiday blues kicked in as soon as we landed back in England. Nine to five selling Soltan at Boots seems a far cry from applying it on a sun-soaked beach.

I've yet to get my photos developed because that really does mean it's all over. Ah well, at least there's a possible trip down South to see the boys to look forward to...