My Second Full Day in Italy

Since I was up late blogging and talking on facebook to Laura and Kassie I didnt object when Sean pushed the snooze button and actually suggested we sleep another hour. So around 11 o'clock we started off our day in Florence. We ate an exquiste breakfast for staying in a hostel and then started our roughly planned wandering. We saw every building that was marked on our map today. It was quite an adventure, but it was fun wandering around such a gorgeous city. A few times we stopped to just people watch and it was funny how easily it was to spot some Americans. Just look for the North Face jackets or bags and you can be fairly guaranteed they are American

My first observation of the day has to do with wandering down the streets. It is similar if not the same as one of my observations from yesterday. Streets which can look like alleyways in Italy lead to wonderous surprises around every corner. I have been disappointed to find out that any building worth seeing, including churches, we have to pay to get into. But on one of my "alley" excursions we came across a church that we could go into. So Sean and I went in for awhile and marveled over the beautiful architechure and extravagent detail inside.

My favorite spot of the day was Piazza Michelangelo. It was a spot on the top of a hill where we could look down upon the entire city. It was intriquing to see where all the buildings are in relation to each other. It also confirmed my second observation of the day that all the touristy destinations are closer to each other than I would have thought. It really wasnt bad walking around to all the sites. We saw everything you might want to see in 5 hours walking around. I havent really been to two many large cities in the states that would count as touristy but I doubt they would all have such centerally located sights.

This observation led me to confirm my idea that I want to travel around when I am young rather than when I retire. We saw plenty of older folks walking around but none of them could have walked around as fast or as far as we did. I would rather have these wonderful experiences now and make sure I get to see the world. I want to be able to appreciate other cultures because I have been surrounded by them rather than having seen them on tv. I want to have interesting and exciting stories to tell at age 25 instead of 75. I want to see as many places as I can now and then visit them again when I have more money to do the things I couldnt afford now but wanted to do.

My third obseration of the day is how small the cars are. The cars in Italy are even smaller than the cars in Belfast, which means they are way smaller than the cars in the states. The mini "semis" as I like to call them can be so small that I can almost see over the top of them standing flat-footed. They are soo tiny! I really cant imagine how many trips it would take those mini semis to carry a load from one factory to the other in the states.

We came back to our hostel around 5 and made pasta again. We laughed at the irony of eating homemade pasta while in Italy. Oh the excitement of being poor college students. Six new people arrived to stay in the other rooms. Two were from South Africa and only sparked my interest to travel there. They both grew up in South Africa and I asked them for all their tourist tips and hints. They told me about Cape Town and the Costal Garden route that I should take. They talked about Safari tours and whale watching excursions and museums about the apartheid. I definitely have added those things to my list of places to visit and things to see. In a later blog I will be listing my traveling bucket list, but for now I will stick to updating you on my daily travels.

After supper we planned some more of our trip and then started our night out in Florence. We wandered past our favorite buildings of the day en route to the Arno river. We considered getting our first gelato but decided to eat it during the day when it is hot outside. Currently the daily temperature is in the 60s, which is warmer than the 50s in Ireland. Our final destination on our late night journey was to the Piazza Michelangelo. It was so gorgeous to see the city all lite up for the night and even some of the stars could be seen. It made me think about what everyone else is doing at this moment. I wondered what everyone in Iowa would be doing on their Wednesday afternoon at 2:45pm. So if your nose started itching around then, it was because I was thinking of you. So no matter how cliché and overused this phrase is, whenever you miss me remember to look up at the stars because those are the same stars I look at each night and know that I am thinking of you and love you.

So that concludes my adventures in Florence by rain, shine, and starlight.

The First 24 Hours in Italy

Literally 24 hours ago I was landing in the Pisa airport on my flight from Dublin. Since that time I have saved the town of Pisa from a leaning tower, got lost countless times on narrow Italian streets, and explored Florene in the rain.

Yesterday, March 29th 2010 Sean and I took the 3 pm bus to Dublin and tried to look over some traveling plans on the way. Sean is my sole travel companion for the first week in Italy until our friend Mackenzie joins up with us on Easter. Sean is from Boston and is planning on being a lawyer someday. He is a really laid back guy and is pretty much fine with going to see whatever I want to. He has a great sense of humor, which helps when we get lost in Italy. He is an overall great guy and it is nice to have such an easy travel mate! So that is the low down on my travel partner when I reference him in the following blogs.

In the boarding line we met 3 girls from Boston who were studying in Cork for the semester and on their break as well. They had a very similar Italy trip as ours and we shared ideas as to what we wanted to do. We learned about a bar in Barcelona whose name translates in English to shots. They have around 200 different shots all costing 2 euros! We will definitely be hitting that bar up when we are there! We had heard that bars in Barcelona were really expensive but if all the shots are only 2 euros then it will be a fun night!

We landed around 11:50pm in Pisa and were met by Francesco, the man who owns the hostel we were staying at. He drove us there and showed us various hot spots in Pisa along the way. Sean and I got a private two person room to share. It was really nice having our own space to spread out in and not having to worry about others. We pretty much got everything ready for the next day and then went to bed. The alarm clock woke us up about 7 hours later at 9 am. We got ready and then hit the road in hopes of finding a nice grocery store. That was the first observation I made about Italy, all the grocery stores are tiny. You wont find a Hyvee or even a Tesco over here. All the supermarkets are tiny and carry a limited selection of items. The second observation I made was that Italians obviously eat less peanut butter than even the average European for peanut butter was no where to be found. There went our idea of eating peanut butter and jellys to save money..

After that we went in search of the streets that would get us to the Leaning Tower. After backtracking from two completely different routes that failed to take us to streets we recognized, I asked a man on the street where we were on my map and how to get to the Leaning Tower. He kindly showed us the way which was completely opposite the direction we thought we should go. So after a few minutes of walking we came across streets we knew were right. This walk led me to observation number four about Italy, the streets are tiny just like the supermarkets. Those streets would only pass as alleys in the small town I come from whose population is 8,000 not 70,000! At first, I wondered how so many cars could travel down these narrow streets and not cause traffic jams and then I realized there are not as many cars here as there are in the states. More people take public transportation which reduces the number of cars traveling around at a time. But I still do not know how a bus could fit down those streets! I did see small buses about half the size of a normal one going down those "alleyways" so at least buses of that caliber can fit. Observation number five is that most of the streets are one way. One reason why the roads can be so narrow is because they only have traffic going one way on them. I wonder if the street width was solidified before cars were invented. My common sense says they were, but I dont know the absolute truth on that thought.. anyone?

Observation number six, you can be walking along a windy, narrow Italian road and suddenly pop out into a grand Piazza! The piazzas, or squares, are surrounded by normal neighborhoods that you must walk through inorder to get to the Piazza. I feel like most monuments in the states and even in London were right out in the open. They were like hey everyone look at this cool statue or building, but in Italy even the Leaning Tower was intertwined with the neighborhoods. Dont get me wrong the Leaning Tower and all the other buildings in the Campo del Miracoli take up a large amount of space, but they seem to be nestled into the town not necessarily standing apart from it. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me after looking at the Leaning tower because all the other buildings in the square seemed to lean, but I felt better when my travel book explained that they all lean to certain degrees. I was shocked to see how much the Leaning Tower actually does lean! It is about 4.1 meters off the original vertical axis. At the Campo del Miracoli, or Field of Dreams, Sean and I got the classic pose of holding the tower up. It was funny to watch so many people taking pictures of that and then to try to position my hands perfectly to "hold up" the tower. We then started our trek to the train station and stopped for our first dish of pasta along the way. I had penne with crab and white sauce. It wasnt the amazingly awesome pasta I had my hopes up for but it was still very good. I am sure I will have my fair share of pasta while in Italy and I bet I will find that mouth-watering dish that I fantasize about.

We then boarded the train to Florence, or Firenze, as it is called in Italian. I accidently had us get off at the wrong Firenze train station and we had to wait 15 minutes until the next train came so that we could hop on for the next stop. When we got there we had a 10 minute walk to our hostel but started off going in the opposite direction again. We realized it after a few minutes of not finding the right street and turned around. We knew we were going the right way because some of the streets were right but the street we wanted we couldnt find. After a few minutes of critical thinking and wandering up and down the streets we found the one we had been looking for. After that the navigating was pretty smooth sailing and we found the hostel with out a problem. Andy is the name of the guy who owns this hostel and he met us there and showed us our place. Once again we opted for a few extra euros per night for a hostel with a good rating and great reviews. So far this seems to be the way to go. In this hostel we have a private two person room and the price includes free breakfast, free internet, towels, linens, a shared dining room, and a shared bathroom. We have seen one other person the whole time we have been here so it basically feels like we have our own flat in Florence!

After we got settled in, we went for a stroll down the streets of Florence. We wandered to various Piazzas and then to the famous Duomo. I am sure that I will see many other amazing cathedrals in my time in Italy;however, this was truly a spectacular sight! The shear detail on the windows must have taken a long time let alone the detail on the entire building! If you ever make it to Florence, this is definitely a must see!

Our wandering was cut short as we were caught in a torrential downpour with my umbrella nice and dry at the hostel. So needless to say we started our walk back with pit stops in local shops when the downpour intensified. Even with those pit stops I was still pretty wet. We stopped in a local Spar to pick up bread, meat, pasta, and sauce for our dinner and lunches. This will make for some cheap meals as it only cost us about 2.50 euros each! Considering the traveling and housing costs are so expensive, we are trying to save as much as we can! We then spent the rest of the night relaxing and looking up travel plans for the next few days as it rained outside. We will definitely be walking around Florence tomorrow night, rain or moonlight.

A Reflection on My Time in Ireland: The First Few Adventures

The first adventure I went on was to Belfast Castle and the Caves. Sean, Jenna, Jitske, Jakob, and I embarked on that adventure on Sunday February 7th. On the way up we found this massive tree to climb in. It kind of reminded me of the tree which my Dad and I build a tree house in. But unfortunately, as we climbed the hills the clouds started to roll in and we ended up not being able to see any of the view when we reached the top. This is a picture of us at the very top of the climb. You can't see any of the city below. The next picture was taken by a friend who climbed the hill on a very nice day. You can see the difference is paramount. Regardless, it was a fun hike and I will definitely be taking my family there when they come.



My first trek out of the Belfast area was to see the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, the Northern Coast, and Giants Causeway. That adventure occurred on Valentines Day, my second weekend in Ireland. The trip started a little early since we had gone to bed pretty late the night before. So to the detriment of the Irish country side some of us slept a little on the way there. Granted, I didn't sleep the whole way because I did want to see some of it, but my drooping eyes got the best of me in the end. I did however see a lot of sheep and lambs which made me feel right at home considering it is lambing season. We got such a big group together to go on the tour that we filled a whole tour bus! There were 50 of us students exploring the Northern Coast together. As I look back on the many trips I have taken, so far I would have to say this is my favorite! I really loved everything about this trip! This was the Ireland I had come to see. The coastline is gorgeous and the view from the rope bridge was amazing. We spent so much time on the rope bridge taking pictures that the man yelled at us to keep moving!

The fairytale behind the Causeway is that an Irish giant and a Scottish giant built the rocks as stepping stones so they could meet up with each other and fight. These tessellations are truly a spectacular sight. And the view from the hillside is even more awe-inspiring. I would definitely recommend that anyone who visits Ireland visits the Northern coast.

The trip concluded with a visit to Bushmills distillery. I have to say that I do not have a taste for straight whiskey, but that I wll be working on it in my few months here.

A Reflection on My Time in Ireland: The People I Now Call Friends

As I am preparing to embark on my Easter break adventure I have realized that I never blogged about my last few adventures. I feel this is a disservice to you and will try to rectify that in this post. The main reason why I haven't blogged about it was because I was waiting to put pictures with the post. But once I got the pictures, I never got around to blogging about my adventures. So I will start from the beginning..


The first time my travel weary eyes saw the green fields of Ireland a surge of excitement shot through me. I was finally here! 15 hours of traveling and I was about to start the adventure I had waited for since I was 5. I still remember meeting my first exchange student when I was 5 and how amazed I was that she was living so far away from home. That was the moment when my spark to study abroad began to kindle. That little flicker has developed into a giant flame over the years as I spent 10 months with Nadine, my German exchange sister, communicated solely through emails with friends who were studying afar, and talked to others about their experiences abroad. The sight of those green fields on January 27, 2010 was the start of my adventure. As my ring states, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." And this was it! This was my first step in a long journey of discovery.


The first few days were spent in orientation. I learned all the tips and tricks for getting the most out of my semester. But more importantly, those first few days were when I met all the people who have developed into my closest friends here.

The first time I saw Mackenzie I was in the London airport and we were going through security right by each other. We found out later we were on the same Chicago flight. I remember her striking up a conversation with two young travelers about snowboarding in Colorado and being tempted to chime in. I remember sitting a row behind Sean on the flight to Belfast and being tempted to ask him if he was studying at Queens as well, but not wanting to look creepy I just wrote in my journal. That first night in Belfast, the house I live in hosted a party for all new students and that is where I first met Jakob. I remember seeing him a few times at the party, but I didn't talk to him until we were all getting ready to leave for the club Rain. I teased him about not being a "real" German since he wouldn't come out and party with us. And I made him promise to check and make sure I was awake the next morning for orientation. That next morning I was ready to go to orientation and dropped by Jakob's room to make sure he was awake and that was the beginning of me being the responsible one in our friendship. haha Jakob and I started talking to Jitske during the tour of the captital on Friday January 29th. When we got back to Grant, I invited her to have pizza with us and hence beginning our tradition of eating together. The first time I met Lainey was at the statue outside of the Lanyon building. Mackenzie had brought her to hang with us and so we ended up spending the rest of the day together and having a blast. It was either that night or the very next day that the 3 of us got a boxed wine for the Valentines Day Giants Causeway treck and ended up drinking it all that night. It was quite a fun night and marked the beginning of our wine nights. Fabian, my spontaneous and crazy German friend, I met Saturday February 13th at a party at his house. I remember he was wearing a gray LSU t-shirt and jeans which stood out to me for multiple reasons. One, I had already learned that most guys over here dress up more than just a t-shirt and I was missing the familiar guy apparel. Second, he had an American t-shirt on but didn't look American.. So I struck up a conversation with him and told him about the Giants Causeway tour the next day. The next day he was sitting on the bus ready to go, and that was the beginning of our adventures together. I met Trine and Julia one of those first few days in the pubs. Trine helped me pronounce a boys name called Pierre Eve. For the life of me I could not say his name until I heard Trine say it! For anyone that doesn't know, it is really hard to understand a French person with their rolling R's in a pub. haha

St. Patrick's Day in Ireland

I have gotten a lot of inquiries about my St. Patrick's Day in Ireland and after seeing that Lizzie wrote about hers in Dublin I figured I better write about mine in Belfast!

The day started off with my alarm clock ringing at 8:45am. Man was that early since I couldn't fall asleep the night before because of anticipation. It was like the night before Christmas! I started getting ready for my big day and friends started arriving around 9:30 to make our breakfast feast! All in all ten of us ate cheese and ham eggs, fruit, pancakes, and soda bread along with our drink of choice! This started our day off to a good start. :)

We then headed off to the parade in the city center. With ten people it takes a little while to get everyone going and we missed the start of the parade but with a little side road maneuvering we were able to catch up with it and see the middle to end of the parade. It was a lot different than any parade I have ever been to. The floats were literally walked down the street! There were poles coming out of the sides of the floats and people were walking them along! Even though that was the case for most floats there were still some pretty exotic ones as my picture shows. There was nothing incredibly Irish about the parade such as leprechauns and four leaf clovers. But the funniest part of the whole parade was kids dressed up as grass! The best way I can describe this costume is to pretend the kids were wearing ninja turtle costumes and then imagine large pieces of fake grass sticking out of the shells. Unfortunately, I do not know of anyone that got a picture of the grass children.

Overall, the parade was very politically correct in that it had no religious or Irish symbols in it. Since St. Patrick's Day is originally a Catholic holiday and the Irish have adopted it as a national holiday, religious symbols are avoided to minimize the tensions between the denominations.

After the parade we went to a local Irish pub called Kelly's Cellar, which is one of my favorite pubs in all of Belfast. It has a really nice Irish feel about it and is more relaxed and homey than the other crowded bars. I had my Guinness for the day at Kellys. That drink was for everyone who asked me to have a drink on Patty's Day for them! While I was drinking my Guinness in this genuine Irish pub, one of songs from ps I love you came on and regardless of the cringes from my Irish friends it made me smile and get really excited to be in Ireland drinking a Guinness on St. Patrick's Day! I am pretty sure it was Galway Girl that was playing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWjyP1iW3vs . Everyone should watch this clip and pretend they are in Ireland drinking a Guinness with me, Cheers! :)
After the traditional Irish pub we walked down to the city center to see what was going on there. We went to another pub called McHughes. It was a really nice pub all decked out in green, but my favorite part was the country music they played! I have not heard country music since I have been here and it was a little bit nostalgic for me and a few friends. We found ourselves singing the lyrics very heartedly a few times! :)

After McHughes a group of us went back to Grant, my house, to relax and enjoy a few cheaper drinks. At about seven or eight we headed back to the pubs for the night. I ended up dancing and having a great time that night but was soundly asleep at midnight because I had a paper to write the next morning!

St. Patrick's Day in Ireland was a fun experience and I have officially checked it off my bucket list. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, but I am also excited for St. Patrick's Day in Iowa next year.

Why Am I Here?

At some point in life I am sure most of us have asked the question, "Who Am I?"Most likely it wasn't as dramatic as the scene from Zoolander, but none the less the question was still pondered. I do not believe this is the best self-reflective question we can ask ourselves because we are always growing and developing as individuals. I know for a fact that I am not the same woman today as the girl I was ten years ago. In 5th grade, I had no idea the adventures and hardships that I was to endure. So I pose a better question to ponder, "Why Am I Here?"

Why is it that you are in this place in life at this exact moment? Who are you there to help? Who is there to help you? What are you supposed to learn from this situation or time in your life?

Many people just go through life and take fore granted the fact that each day is a gift. Every day is a blessing and a lesson should be taken from it. Life would be so much more satisfying if people reflected upon the lessons they learned during the day.

One of the lessons I learned today was the value of a true friend. When times are hard and you feel like giving in friends are the ones who help encourage you to keep going. They are the ones who are right beside you putting in long hours at the library. They are the ones who listen to you vent or give you a hug when you need it most. Friends are truly something to be treasured in life.

Friday I went for a run around an area in Belfast that I hadn't been to yet. It got me thinking about the new experiences I was having. Ireland is another chapter in my book of life. So why Am I Here? Why am I in Ireland for the spring of 2010? What am I supposed to be learning about myself and about life here that I couldn't anywhere else?
All of these are questions that I pondered as I ran the streets of Belfast. I know that I have learned many things by studying in Belfast, but I also know that many more lessons are yet to be learned. I know that I will forever leave a mark in the people lives that I have met, just as they will mine. I know by personal experience that the world does not revolve around small town Iowa like some people back home like to believe. I know that good people exist everywhere, but so do bad people. I know that English comes in many different styles and dialects that can be so different from my own that I hardly recognize them as English. This just shows how different even the most similar of things can be, and makes tolerance for differences even more imperative.

Many reasons why I am in Ireland have not yet been revealed to me. Some of the experiences may not have significance until I have completed more chapters in my life. But I do know that this chapter will be full of adventure and growth. And that this is one chapter in my life that I am trying to slow down because I do not want it to end..

Do Not Worry About Tomorrow For Tomorrow Will Worry About Itself -Matthew 6

I have been contemplating what my next blog post would be about. A lot of different ideas came to mind and I have been meaning to write a post for about a week or so, but tonight I decided to just write. So this post doesn't really have a direction or a purpose. I am just going to write about all the thoughts and topics I have contemplated over the last few days.

1. The fist topic I am going to write about is communication. This topic in itself has many different avenues that I could write about and I will touch on a few of them. Being one of the few native English speakers in my friend group here has opened my eyes to the complexities of language. I have felt many times that these people who are sitting in front of me and conversing in a language that is not the one they have been learning since birth are much more intellectually advanced. I have shared my view with them that I am amazed by their ability to speak another language so well and that I am sorry I cannot repay their courtesy. While I feel ashamed to be a member of an English society that is so far behind on accommodating other cultures and emphasizing the importance of learning other languages, they view learning English as a necessity for communication with the vast majority of the world. It was eye-opening to see that they did not feel they were "catering" to us by learning our language but only improving their ability to communicate on a larger scale.

On the topic of communication, I saw a familiar phrase the other day on facebook and it succeeded in making me cringe, again. If you have ever heard anyone proudly say, "If they want to come to America, then they better be able to speak our language" or any derivation of this phrase, then please direct them to the nearest airport and send them to a non-English speaking country for awhile. The shear ignorance of that phrase appalls me. If you have ever tried to learn another language you know how hard it is. Do these people think that learning another language comes easily? Do they think the immigrants or visitors like not knowing what is being said around them or not being able to communicate with others? When I was in Germany two summers ago I hated not being able to converse with everyone else when they were speaking German. And now two years later, I still hate not understanding what people are saying when they speak in their native tongue. So for all those people who are self-centered enough to believe that these people don't want to learn the language, you should probably try to learn a language yourself and see how easy that is.

Another communication subtopic is communication with me! Some people have been asking for my mailing address and so I figured I should get that out to everyone cause I do love packages.. :) If you are sending a package mail it to this address:

Amanda Finneseth
Elms Village
Grant House Room 202
78 Malone Road
Belfast
BT9 5BW
Northern Ireland

(If you send me a package let me know when you send it out so that I can make sure to go check for it in like 2 weeks. That is roughly how long it takes the package to get here and if I don't pick it up in 3 weeks they send it back. So let me know! Cause I don't normally check that mail collection area.)

Letters ect.. are delivered to my house since they don't have to be signed for and that address is:
Amanda Finneseth
Grant House Room 202
64 Malone Road
Belfast
BT9 5BT
Northern Ireland

I love getting mail whether it is in the post or via email. There is nothing better than waking up in the morning and having a few emails from the ones I love back home. It is a morning ritual to check my email before I go to class and always starts my day with a smile when I see a familiar name in the inbox. So for everyone who has been so great at emailing me: Mom, Grandma, Aunt Maria & Bob, Abby, Kassie.. and a few others have been semigood at it.. THANKS! And for all your slackers, I would love to hear from you.. haha :)

2. The second topic which is weighing heavily on my mind right now is my career path. It is hard to know exactly what I want to do with my life and uncertainty is something that I do not do well with. I know you are probably thinking Amanda it's okay you have plenty of time, but I am a planner and like to do things to the best of my ability the first time around. So that is why the title of this post is the verse from Matthew 6. I am trying to focus on the fact that I know life has a way of working itself out and even though my plan might not be what I end up doing, I will be doing the plan that I am supposed to be doing.

Currently, I have a lot of decisions with my career and life path that I must make before this semester is over and they are weighing on my mind. I wish I could find the perfect path for me, but maybe that isn't possible. Maybe the perfect path is created by stumbling down paths where you were once uncertain or coming to dead ends when you thought the path was clearly paved. Wherever my path leads I cannot see yet. I feel like I am at that moment in time where I am preparing for my big journey. I have packed my essentials: the books of knowledge and guidance, the nourishment of education, and the encouragement of family and friends. But now I am just wandering until I find that path which calls my name. The one that I recognize as my path, the one that was made for me to tread. This path will not be straight, but windy. This path will not be paved but rugged. There will be times when I will not know what is around the bend but it is at those times when I must remember to "not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself." ~Matthew 6