Thursday, August 27, 2009

a beautiful mess

Today, my roommate, abby had to go to the hospital
she wasn't feeling well, and it turns out.. she has a lung infection
she's on antibiotics and all types of medication, but she's recovering well

on top of that we had a lot of things to do
ps (all these things were hours and hours of walking and navagating)

we both had to go to the agency and talk about the third roommate
and about the monthly rent and so on and so forth
(turns out its a lot less expensive than we thought it was!)

and we made our way to the hospital that she went to earlier
she paid the fees, hopefully, tomorrow the school will reimburse her, like they said

but underneath all that hectic to-do list
we saw some beautiful sights






interesting statue, very cool



still can't get over how beautiful the streets are



our lunch, an italian hot dog



poot girl was sick and had to run around town



the river dividing florence



only one of the many churches in florence


i'll update soon,
and hopefully everything works out


xoxoxo
amanda jane

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

true mate, roommate

so me and my roommate, abegail, have found an apartment
its very very gorgeous.
the other ones we were looking at were horrible
terribly ghetto, and the italian men were extremely sketchy

so yes, we found a place.
but we are putting out an add for another roommate
at the polimoda and other american study abroad schools
(since there are three beds)

but the agency to find the apartments
its getting on my nerves,
we have to put down three months rent
we have to pay the agency a finder's fee
a security deposit too....
(and thanks, FIT, for not telling us these things)

any way, so i withdrew all the money i needed to pay them and
its almost all over with

this past week has been horrible paper work
meetings and apartment hunting in the hot hot sun

but abby and i have bonded
and i'm so glad i'll be rooming with her
we just have to find one more...









we decided to draw florence tonight because we couldn't spend any euros
since we just threw it all at the apartment...
wonderful idea though!



a little italian boy came over the abby's paper and drew circles on the page
we had no idea what he was mumbling, but he was adorable





florence is so beautiful at night!!
keep following my blog!



xoxoxo
amanda jane

Monday, August 24, 2009

learning the language




so today when i was walking back from our small dinner
with my roommates, two italian guys were leaning against their cars
(fat ones i might add)
and eying us up
one of the guys was whistling and attempted to woo us with his italian words
fortunately i knew a good amount of italian and raised my hand to my forhead
as if to have a headache and said
"leave me alone" in perfect italian and walked on by

they were so surprised! his friend laughed and laughed at him!
and my girls were so amused!
i had to teach them both the phrase

hahah i'm catching on pretty well!


ciao!

xoxoxo
amanda jane

to stress or not to stress

So yesterday we did a "speed room-mating" thing
which was a smart idea of the school
but it didn't work out as well as i'd hope,
we were supposed to move around the tables, but
certain people refused to move because they had their minds made up

huh, so i got a little stressed, i couldn't find my roommates
and a lot of people weren't as focused on price as i was
they were more... vacation oriented
hurrmph


boy, was i freaking out
no one else seemed to have the same idea
i found one group... but it didn't feel right

and then i met these two girls, who were going through the same thing i was
all this drama and cliques that were made due to the roommate situation

so we all had the same ideas and morals
we went appartment hunting today
wheph! i'm exhausted, and my feet kill me!

we found a place that we like, but we'll keep looking for more tommorow


so tiered right now, wish me luck
i really need to find a good, inexpensive place to live

xoxoxo
amandajane

Saturday, August 22, 2009

catching up

so, here are a bunch of photos i took
along my travels, starting from the departure
just to catch you up.





daddy and me on the way to jfk...



rickety ol' jet to florence


can you see the alps??



sitting in the cab, exhausted!!



all of my bags have arrived!!
(the hostal that i'm staying in for a week)



an open church with classical music being played



a merry-go-round in the center of town



only one of the many street artists



how beautiful are the streets in florence?



its a tradition in firenze, that a couple write their initials on a lock and throw the key into the river, their souls stay there forever



all of the students went out for dinner together



the frutta fresca was delicious

i'll upload many more to come!!

ciao!!

xoxoxo
amanda jane

mi dispiace

sorry for the late post,
i know some people were worried if i actually survived the plane trip to florence
( i know i did too, the last flight was terrifying.. o thought the small jet would fall appart)

but here i am!
its my second day, and what an experience!!!
i finally got internet! they offer it at the hostal for 18 euro for the whole week.

everything is so breathtaking, me and two other girls (who arrived a day early as well)
we were just walking around the city in silence
its, like i said, breathtaking

right now i'm going out to diner with the rest of the group,
i'll upload my pictures later tonight
and write about it later as well

ciao!

xoxox
amanda jane