The story of Amanda and Me.

So as promised here is the story of how I made it to be in Ohio! 5 years ago, mainly the fault of my dad I was quite a keen stamp collector, I enjoyed it as it is a fantastic way to learn about different peoples, cultures and places as a stamp can tell you an awful lot about the country where it is from, whether that be a famous celebrity from that country, a sportsman or a famous building. Well this hobby of mine led me to look for a foreign pen-pal (that really was all I was interested in at the time, not love!) online and I ended up with a pen-pal in Chile and the Philippines. These both lasted a couple of letters of swapping stamps and postcards before it petered out to nothing but I left my profile up on the website without knowing that it was soon to lead me to the love of my life :)

A small sample of postcards and letters from my collection!

At the same time in Cleveland, Ohio a girl called Amanda was getting incredibly excited as soon as a part of her degree she was going to be spending a six month semester studying in Rome (no, not Amanda Knox!). She wanted to practice her Italian and so decided to sign up to a pen-pal website to find a local to write too, luckily for me all the Italian men on the website turned out to be chauvinistic sleazeballs (thanks Italy :)) and so Amanda instead turned her attention to one of life's most pathetic creatures - a British male.

An Englishman abroad

Lord knows why Amanda picked me to message - I think she is still wondering what she's let herself into herself! But whatever the reason, I'm glad she did as that was where it all started. We started writing letters back and forth from which I got the impression Amanda was of midget proportions but with a personality I loved and could definitely relate too! I was rather reluctant to meet up at first as I did not want to meet someone I had met online and I didn't want to spoil the friendship that we had developed through writing letters, however curiosity got the better of me and.... I needn't have worried! We got on like a house on fire, Amanda definitely was not a midget and I even got a chance to rescue my damsel in distress on our first date as she managed to get stuck on one of the lions in Trafalgar square and ended up falling right into my arms :D

Two lovebirds

Amanda definitely enjoyed herself too as for reasons still unknown to me she decided to make the most of Ryanair and came to visit me at university for her Easter break from Italy. I got to show her the delights of one of England's most prestigious city's in Derby and one of the country's best beauty spots in the peak district national park, the home of majestic sheep and little mountains. Here we are enjoying the view from the top of Thorpe cloud near Ashbourne in the peaks.

Thorpe cloud

After Amanda returned to America that summer I think it hit us both how much we meant to each other, as being so far apart was absolutely horrible and we missed each other like crazy, no amount of postcards and letters can make up for actually being with someone (and we wrote a truckload of them, especially as I inexplicably initially refused to sign up to Skype due to reasons I don't even understand myself!). 

By this time I had also decided it was time to tell people about me and Amanda. This posed some problems for me as I was embarrassed to tell my friends and family that I was dating a girl I met on the internet, which might explain why some of you reading this are a little surprised to find out that we did in fact, not meet in a jazz bar in San Francisco!!!!!!!!

Not at a jazz bar, but at the San Francisco giants baseball stadium!

Since then a lot of money has been spent by us both on flight tickets back and forth, we have visited many different lands and seen many different sights and managed to survive months apart proving the saying that absence only makes the heart grow stronger correct! Last week I had my interview at the US embasy in which my visa was approved and so I shall be on my way to be with my fiancee on the 1st of October, with our marriage following shortly after on the 2nd of November!!! if you are still reading I hope you did not find this post too cheesy, there is a lt more that could be said and I am sure more shall be revealed as this blog progresses :)

Cleveland at Christmas time