Ho ventuno anni!!!! (I'm 21 years old!!!!)

I just wanted to thank everyone for the birthday wishes. The mail table was quite crowded with all of my birthday cards. You all brought a smile to my face! Thank you so much for thinking of me and going out of your way to send cards and emails from miles and miles away. I am so excited to come home and see all of you! You guys are the best ever. I will be flying home on May 7th :) Sorry I didn't keep up with blogs as well as I would have liked, but I thank you for following along with my journey. This has been the best experience of my life and I am so happy I got to share it with all of you. I will continue to write, so don't give up just yet! Thanks again for the birthday wishes and cards.

Mom - Thanks for my Girl Scout Cookies...You're the Best!!!

Hugs and Kisses
Ciao, xoxo

Barthelona...they like to speak with a lisp, not sure why.

For Spring Break we went to Cabo!!! Just kidding :) We did Barcelona for three nights then spent the rest of the week in Ireland! It was out last time flying Ryan Air, which I am thrilled about. I have never been a fan of flying, but it has never been worse than when I fly with Ryan Air. I found myself sitting on the plane before take-off wondering if I would even make it to Barcelona. Haha that sounds so horrible, but I honestly sat there before take-off and landing wondering if the pilot was qualified enough to fly a plane. I mean an 8 euro flight…I can’t expect too much. I remember thinking how bad I would feel for my mom. Haha let’s just say I will never fly Ryan Air again! Yay! It is honestly such a bizarre airline and super cheap…they don’t even serve complimentary drinks during the flight. Although, they do offer BURGERS…how random! I started laughing to myself when the lady came over the speaker announcing that we could purchase burgers. Later in the flight a women came down the aisle, looking like Vana White, selling smokeless cigarettes…again I laughed to myself! When I woke up from my nap, no joke there was a cart going down the aisle…not with drinks, but with PERFUME! What? I was so confused. The final thing they offered us was a Ryan Air Membership Card…I wanted to raise my hand and ask who in their right mind would want to purchase a frequent flyer card for such a crappy airline! But I splurged and bought you all a frequent flyer card…NOT!

We arrived in Barcelona, realizing that our Spanish we once knew had been taken over by the Italian we are learning…very similar, but definitely not the same. We got in the cab to go to the hostel and Caitlin plops down in the front seat, smiles at the cab driver and says, “Hola, como estas?” The cab driver proceeded to growl at her and completely ignored her question. We later learned that they don’t speak Spanish in Barcelona, they speak Catalan. They also talk with lisps…so they call it Barthelona and they thank people with Grathias!

We stayed at Kabul Hostel right off of Ramblas street, which is a main street with lots of shops, restaurants, and street performers.  The first night we opted out on going out with the people from our hostel (they took everyone out each night to a different place). Instead we went to My Bar…well not my bar, but it was called My Bar! It was a lot of fun, mostly because they gave us free peanuts! We met a group of guys from England who were on vacation for one of the guys’ bachelor party. They were super nice and really funny.

The next day we walked to the beach!!!

On the way there we shopped at the open air market that ran down the walkway to the beach. It was soooooo nice to see a beach! It made me think of home. It was so pretty and nice and sunny! We had lunch at a little restaurant on the strand…they had the best Sangria!

This is one thing I learned about Spain…they don’t go out until 2 in the freaking morning!!! There is no way I could have studied abroad in Spain, it would have kicked my butt. Each day we had to come back and take a nap around 8 or 9…then wake up and get ready to head out at 2am (which is normally the time we are coming home from the bars). We went with the hostel to a club called Razzmatazz (sounds fun huh). We took the tram there at 2am, danced until 6am, then headed to the beach because we had made a pact earlier in the day to watch the sunrise in Barcelona. Caitlin, Olivia, Whitney, and I sat on the steps at the beach and watch the sunrise. It was absolutely gorgeous! But of course Olivia’s camera died just before the sun came up. I googled a picture for you guys.

The sun was neon orange, it was incredible. We managed to get to the hostel at 8am just in time for breakfast…ate breakfast and went to bed at 9am. Hahaha I can’t even believe that we did that. Like I said Spain would kick my butt.



We took a long nap, then went to one of Barcelona’s famous parks. It was a Sunday so there were so many people there. It was such a fun environment…a bunch of groups of friends sitting around, relaxing, making music, laughing, playing soccer, napping, etc. It was great. We just sat there and people watched. It just kind of put a smile on your face watching everyone interact.

We found a small little pond where you could rent boats for 30 minutes, so the four of us paddled around this really pretty pond as the sun was starting to go down.

No need for an explanation! Hahahahaha!

We headed back to the hostel for a nap. But here is the problem when you go to bed at 9am that morning…We planned on waking up around 11pm so we could do something that night. We all set our alarms and took a nap at 9pm. 8 hours later we woke up wondering why it was 5am, apparently none of us woke up that night to go out..Oops!

We went to the castle the next day, with beautiful coastal views!

After that we attempted to go to the top of the highest point in Barcelona, but the trolleys weren’t running as often as they said they were. We ended our day out going to the Temple Sangrada Familia…it was really neat, except for the cranes that ruined my pictures. We ended our trip walking down Ramblas. Barcelona was great! It made us so happy to be by the beach, but I will not miss the night life.  


Hugs and Kisses.
Ciao, xoxo

Amsterdam.

I was kind of hesitant to join my friends in Amsterdam because I am not into drugs and definitely not into prostitution (in case you didn’t know). Butttt I am so glad that I decided to go because it was one of my favorite cities in Europe! I didn’t know what a pretty city it was!

It was our first time flying on Ryan Air, which everyone raves about because it is so cheap…about 16 euro for a roundtrip flight. They fail to mention how inconvenient, tiring, and stupid the airline is. Dad, you thought Scandavian Air was bad…it’s got nothing on Ryan “Shitty” Air. You have to pay to check a bag, you can only have ONE carry on (not even an additional purse or anything), your carry on can only weigh a small amount, you have to print your boarding pass at home or pay a penalty, there is no assigned seating so you have to stand in line at the gate for a good 40 minutes before getting on the plane, AND they fly into random airports, which aren’t even in the city of where you are headed. For example, we had to take an hour and 45 minute bus to Pisa…flew from Pisa to “Amsterdam,” but then had to take a 2 hour bus into Amsterdam. So for a flight that was 1.5-2 hours, we were traveling for 12 hours. Realll fun! 

I felt at home in Holland since the fam and I took a cruise on Holland America Cruise Line this summer…hahaha I told my friends.... “I’m surprised a lot more people don’t recognize me since I sailed on Holland America!” Haha as you can see, I still have a great sense of humor :) We stayed at Shelter Jordan Christian Hostel because we heard nice things about it, and mainly because we got French toast each morning!

The first day we went to the Van Gogh museum…it was such a great experience. I remember growing up studying about him, and attempting to paint some of his most famous paintings in my art classes as a young girl. It was funny though because I think that one of his most famous paintings was “Starry Nights” and everyone was so excited to see it in person. However, one by one each of us learned that “Starry Nights” wasn’t in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam….instead it is on display in New York…go figure. I really enjoyed the museum, and I think a lot of it is because I appreciate art a lot more after taking my painting class this semester. I really liked one of his paintings and I would love to get a print of it for my bathroom.

So there I was taking a picture in a museum that didn’t allow picture taking (don’t judge me)! I used my phone, so I figured I wouldn’t be as obvious…I played it really cool, but I guess not cool enough. The guard grunted at me, so I smiled and put my phone away :) Although, it didn’t stop me from taking a picture later of THIS GUY…who falls asleep in the Van Gogh museum???

And clearly he is not just “resting his eyes” like dad likes to do, this guy found a spot and passed out.

That night before going out we spoiled our dinner with these lovely treats…this is what happens when you are living on a budget. We all went in on the most random snacks, but let’s not lie they were all delicious! Yup…that’s Nutella, peanut butter, fruit, and a block of cheese!

The next morning we woke up really early in hopes of getting into the Anne Frank House. We tried to get there right before they opened, but that didn’t work. I swear people in Europe get a kick out of making Americans look stupid. All we had to do was take the tram one stop, but managed to miss the first stop. Then we had to change trams, going in the other direction…fun times! We got right into the Anne Frank House, which made me really happy. We all learned about the Holocaust and read a book about Anne Frank when we were in middle school, so it was nice to have the opportunity to experience and enter the building where they were in hiding. It was crazy to be in the building knowing that she lived there with her family not that long ago. It was a very small museum, but nonetheless very impacting. It gave me the chills to read entries in her journal and watch videos of her family and friends. It was extremely heart wrenching, but I am very glad that I had the opportunity to experience something so significant. But then I proceeded to fall down the stairs walking to the first floor. I swear I am not a complete ditz… I just enjoy sharing these stories cause they make my blogs a little more enjoyable. 

We grabbed a bite to eat then headed to the Heineken Brewery.

As I was waiting in line I realized that a beer brewery was probably a waste of money for me because I’ve realized that I am allergic to something in beer because I start to break out and my heart beats reallllly fast. Although, being that I am not 21 yet (wrote this before my 21st bday, but now I am LEGAL), I probably shouldn’t share that with my family members ;) It was actually a great experience…and my friends were more than willing to drink my beers.

It was very interactive, lots of information, and even a place to film and email a music video (you can ask mom for it if you want to see me make an absolute fool of myself)!



We had a lot of fun, it was well worth it! After that Caitlin, Olivia, Jeff, Matt, and I went to the famous “I Amsterdam” letters. The five of us kind of stuck together during the trip because it is hard to travel in big groups.

We all were laughing hysterically as Jeff took a picture in each individual letter, meanwhile everyone else visiting Amsterdam had the honor of having him in the background of their pictures. Imagine what this couple thought when they looked at their photos! 

We went on a nice walk along the canals before meeting the rest of the group at Sara’s Pancakes. Oh mannnn where do I even start about Sara’s Pancakes. I don’t think we knew what exactly we had in store for us, but we left there with the biggest smiles on our faces. We each ordered these hugggge pancakes, about 12 inches in diameter!

Olivia and I split an entrée one and a dessert one…they were delicious! After dinner we went to the red light district. I won’t go into detail, other than the fact that it was disgusting to see so many women selling themselves like that. We had seen a few swans prior to that evening, and it was so weird that there were almost a hundred swans swimming in the canals that went down the middle of the red light district. Extreme opposites.

The five of us separated from the group once more and found a nice little pub…we sat in a quiet little corner, ordered drinks, listened to music, and had really good conversations. We found ourselves really happy, all of us really enjoyed ourselves. I am really glad that I decided to go to Amsterdam…it has been one of my favorite cities, so beautiful, calm, and lots to do. 


Hugs and Kisses
Ciao, xoxo!

I spent over 2,000 Koruna in Prague!

It felt strange getting two 1,000 Koruna bills out of the ATM when we arrived in Prague...but that is only equivalent to $105. The worst part about flying to Prague was when they took Olivia’s peanut butter at security (They consider it a cream) :( Peanut Butter is not big in Italy, so when we find some at the store we are pretty happy girls! It was funny how many times it got brought up… “I can’t believe they took your peanut butter!” Prague was such a fun weekend…it was definitely the largest culture shock I have experienced since coming here. It reminded me of Russia, but I loved Prague and we had a great time.
We got to our hostel, the Czech Inn, on Thursday evening…so we checked in at the Czech Inn ;)

My roommates and I got a one bedroom apartment for the night, which cost about the same as a regular room we would have shared with complete strangers. The Czech Inn was the nicest hostel we have stayed at so far, probably nicer than some of the hotels I have stayed at. We had a big room, nice bathroom, and kitchen all to ourselves – it was awesome!

We were so excited that we were able to cook breakfast each morning, it felt like home! The first night we had our first Mexican meal since arriving in Europe…it was delicious and well needed! The girls and I got all ready to go out, but had a better time hanging out in the apartment, drinking wine, telling stories, and laughing until our stomachs hurt. We were kind of embarrassed when we talk to people and told them we were in Prague, but not going out. Guess that’s what happens when you get five silly girls in a room together. Olivia and I made a delicious breakfast the next morning!!!

We took the tram into Old Town Square where we met up with one of the free walking tours. It is so neat how all of the cities have free tours (some lasting for 3 hours) and all you have to do is tip at the end! The city was pretty cool, way different from all of the other cities we have visited. 

That night we went out for an authentic Czech meal…it was down the street from our hostel and one of the hostel employees recommended it. The food was sooo good! I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that I ordered a cheese plate! Olivia and I split the most amazing Czech beef dish with potato bread dumplings, it was delicious. We split the cheese plate, entrée, and cucumber salad for only $5 each, and we had sooo much food! It was incredible. One of my friends has run into her friend from home who was studying abroad in Prague, so we ended up hanging out with him and his friends that night and they took us to a bar. The next day we went to the Prague castle, Charles’ Bridge, and famous cathedral.  

The weather was really pretty, which was nice because it rained the day before. The John Lennon wall was such a fun place to take pictures.  The wall was really cool, full of color, and interesting artwork.

We enjoyed taking pictures and finding different phrases that we could take pictures of.

After that Caitlin and I went on a hunt for one of the many Thai massage places we had passed. I had the most amazing massage!!! It was the best massage I have had and so relaxing, which we definitely needed. That night we went out to dinner to celebrate Caitlin’s 21^st birthday (my roommate). We found a Mexican restaurant…as you can see we definitely miss Mexican food in Italy! After dinner we braced ourselves for the famous FIVE story club! The girls and I had so much fun! And Caitlin had us hysterically laughing at the bus stop before heading home. She had a great birthday and we were glad that we were all together to celebrate! Not sure if you are aware, but I have been to Paris…Twice! Haha well maybe just the airport, but now I can say that I have been to Paris ;)

Hugs and Kisses! 
Ciao xoxo

I haven't forgot about you guys, I promise!

I just wanted to give a quick update on what I have been up to, since I haven't had time to update my blog. I wish I had time because it is my journal while I am abroad, and I don't want to forget anything. But I continue to travel and am loving every minute of it. I need to blog about Prague, Amsterdam, my weekend in Florence, Barcelona, and Dublin!!! Ya good luck writing five blogs Amanda!!! :) Dublin is by far my favorite trip! I told everyone that I could definitely see myself living there for a couple of years...but not anytime soon, don't worry! I am in the process of looking up internships for the summer. Fun, right? But bad news...my laptop died :( Massimo took it to get fixed and I guess it was the motherboard, so we opted out on fixing it for 340 euro ($500). I will just bring it home...maybe daddy can work his magic. But luckily Massimo is able to back up all of my stuff on an external hard drive. I was afraid I lost everything, phewfff! It is not fun not having a computer, especially since I have a lot of papers due at the end of the semester. I have my eye on a MacBook Pro...looks like I'll have to crack open my piggy bank hehe. Guess What??? My sissy is coming to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I am still hoping my mom decides she wants to come across the country to see me too. (Hint Hint Hint) I am sooo excited. I am making a list of places I want to take her, things I want to do, and lots of fun stuff. So mark your calendars, Amanda will be returning to the states early May :) Hopefully that received some smiles! haha. I love you all.

Hugs and Kisses!
Ciao xoxo

Something to help decorate your refrigerator!

Amo Italiano e studio molto! (I love Italian and study a lot!) Shocking I know, but I really do go to school...

We have small tests every week or so in Italian!

Sorry this is side ways, I know that bugs my mom. But if you can't read it, it's 100%

And here are my first three paintings! The bidding starts at 10 euro! Haha not like anyone would want a painting of a teapot, bottle, paper, and glove. Enjoy! ...and naked model still to come! eek!

This one is my least favorite, cause I was too rushed, as you can see by the crooked bridge. Oops!

I also got a 98% on my finance midterm! So it is not a waste of my dad's money after all...I am getting an education in addition to all of these fun adventures :)

xoxo

Ciao.

Brad Pitt followed me to Venice...kind of.

While most of you fabulous people were walking your hearts out for Purple Stride in honor of my dad, I was rocking the purple with my masquerade mask.

We took a day trip to Venice for Carnivale, and apparently Brad Pitt and Angelina were there too. Who knows, I might have walked passed them since everyone was wearing masks and costumes. This could be them...

We took a charter bus and got there in the afternoon and stayed until the late evening. It was so much fun, Venice was absolutely beautiful and the Carnivale celebrations were incredible. The bus parked outside of the city, so it took us 45 minutes to walk to the main part of the city (and I am still managing to gain weight, hmmm) Once you got to the city we walked through a ton of small little streets that led into the main piazza. I don't know how the people in Venice find their way around.  I don't have any pictures to show you because I was too concerned with keeping up with the group, otherwise I would have never found the piazza. We stopped at a small pizza shop and had the most amazing pizza. See you can't even tell by the picture that I make such an effort to capture pictures for you guys, I couldn't even wait to take a bite. You can't tell but the slice was huge!

We always seem to get lucky with weather with the places we have been visiting. The sun was out and the sky was so blue...I appreciate it because it makes my pictures look way better :)

It was so exciting to see bodies of water for once! It reminded me of home. My favorite part was, of course, the canals. I am not sure if gondalas are considered a tourist trap, but they are pretty pricey. Some people said it is because the guys have to own and maintain the boats. We split the cost among four of us, so it wasn't that bad, and it was one of my favorite parts of Europe so far! Anddd they only sing at the Ventian in Vegas and movies. So I sang instead, haha jk.

After the gondola ride we went to dinner at a little restaurant near Piazza San Marco (where all of the festivities took place). We ate at Al Conte Pascaor, which I later realized was a seafood restaurant. I played it safe and ordered the lasagne, BUT you will be happy to hear that I tried Olivia's Spaghetti alle Vongole (CLAMS) and I loved it! Eeek, can't believe I said it. Mary would not appreciate this haha. Everytime I try something new I think of how you will all be so proud, especially my daddy. I have pictures to prove it!

Yummy Lasagne!

Don't mind my pretty roommate in the background. Yup those are clams going into my mouth.

At the end of the night the city had a huge ceremony in Piazza San Marco...there was an incredible fire show. Such a great way to end the night.

Although extremely tired, it was nice to come home and hear about the Purple Stride event that my family attended. For those of you that don't know, I spent 6 months helping plan this fundraising walk for pancreatic cancer before leaving for Italy. I was sad I couldn't attend the event, but it was nice to know that many of our family and friends joined dad, mom, and Ali! Here are some pictures of the event. It is such an amazing feeling to know that I helped put together an event that raised $87,000. I was able to write a letter to honor my dad and the other survivors that they read before the walk. Thank you all for your participation and support. I know my dad was extremely surprised with the turn out and thanks you all for being there!

Dad, you are such a handsome fellow.

TEAM GENE!

And I am sure my Uncle Mike would like for me to announce that Dad and Mike won the leizure walk!

Love and miss you all! Don't forget to remind your family and friends how much they mean to you :) We live for ourselves, but also for each other!

Hugs and kisses!

xoxo

ciao.