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

hello and welcome!

Hello and Welcome to my blog!! I have decided to start a blog as I think it will be the easiest way for me to stay in touch with people back home when I leave for the USA and I am looking forward to letting you know what I have been getting up to through my words and pictures! I shall try to keep the posts fairly short and please feel free to comment any ideas or suggestions or whatever is on your mind at the bottom of the page. Before I begin I should probably say that I have never done a blog or so much as a diary before and trying to decide what to put in the first post was very difficult but in the end I have gone for a very brief overview of my year so far, it has certainly been an interesting one!!! 

As you are probably aware 2013 has proven to be a very exciting year for me so far, first off was my trip to Spain in January to go to Barcelona, Zaragoza and Madrid which resulted in me very jamily managing to get tickets to see the best sporting rivalry on the planet - the El Classico (Real Madrid vs Barcelona at the Bernabau for you uncultured souls!) I do not know why I thought it would be clever to mention this in my blog as my words definitely can't do it Justice, the atmosphere was incredible, from the moment I walked into the ground the whistles were piercing and just seemed to get louder as the night wore on, especially when Lionel Messi was on the ball - I wonder what was going through his mind knowing that over 90.000 people are screaming for his blood? Whatever was on his mind it definitely wasn't on the game which was a steamy, gritty affair that ended in a 1-1 draw with the young real Madrid defenders Rafael Varane and Fabien Coentrao looking particularly impressive. Why Real Madrid want to sell Coentrao is beyond me, and why Manchester United thought Madrid would let him leave on loan makes even less sense, but that is the nature of transfer deadline day! Was anybody else glued to their radios for the entire evening or am I alone on that front? This chilly winters night in Madrid has definitely been the highlight of my year so far (I enjoyed it even more that transfer deadline day!) :).

outside the bernabau - please excuse my jose mourinho scarf!
 I don't know what I was thinking when I got that either!

I have always likedd living in England because of the opportunities it presents to travel far, wide and cheaply around Europe and I have a feeling this will be something I sorely miss when I leave, my week in Spain was a lovely last trip and provided me with some fantastic memories and pictures to take away with me :D Below is a picture I took of the basilica del Pilar in Zaragoza lit up in all her glory on a crisp and clear winters night - I think she is the most beautiful building I have had the pleasure of seeing!

Basilica del Pilar, Zaragoza

Things took a bit of a turn for the worse after my little holiday to Spain, I decided to leave my job at the cooperative and switch back to my old job with Holland and Barrett which would involve less hours and less stress which are both very beneficial when you are trying to prepare to emigrate at the same time! Things went a little pear shaped after I handed in my notice as I had quite a nasty accident on my bicycle which resulted in a broken wrist, a very broken bike and reconstructive surgery on my knee as I had managed to rupture all four ligaments which hold the knee joint in place. Needless to say I was also off work for several months but unfortunately as I had already handed my notice in at the co-op they would only pay me sick pay for 3 weeks, meaning I had no income whatsoever for 4 months... damn!! There are however also positives of having such a long time off of work, I had time to do things like participating in a man vs food fish finger eating competition where I managed to devour 37 fish fingers in forty minutes! Congratulations need to go to my friend Oz, who did Australia proud by devouring all 60 of his fishfingers in just 14 minutes! his record still stands on the wall of fame in the pub 4 months later!

fish finger challenge

During my recovery I also got the opportunity to accompany my Uncle David on a midweek trip to Baden 'so nice they named it twice' Baden, Germany. Baden Baden is a very posh spa town nestled between the Rhine and the black forest that is a popular destination to unwind for the rich and famous - the WAGS were based there during the 2006 world cup! More recently it seems to have been taken over by the Russian oligarchs who have been buying up property within the city helping to keep the city clean and picturesque as well as keeping keeping BAden Badens casino in business. the casino at Baden Baden looks very nice from the outside however I can tell you very little else about it as needless to say they wouldn't let me inside! 

I think that during this blog I shall also include the odd bit of advice for holiday makers and the target of today's advice is how not to buy a train ticket in Germany. While using the trains in Germany please ensure you validate your ticket!! In order to do this you shall first need to buy your ticket, once purchased obviously before this ticket can be used as a ticket you need to stamp it yourself from one of the many validation machines provide, these are usually lcated at the top of trees or at the bottom of wells, or in my case at the very end of a platform, behind a fence. But don't worry! should you forget to validate your ticket before you board the train there is a nice ticket conductor on the train itself! He will be more that happy to shout at you in front of the other passengers, tel you the ticket you have just purchased is invalid and make you buy another one on board the train for twice the price! he did all of this in English, what efficiency!

In the mountains behind Baden - Baden

After a lot of pain, blood, sweat, tears and physio therapy (and a lot of fishfingers!) I am now finally back at work and on my bicycle, and I hope to be running within the next couple of weeks!! Something I have really struggled with since my accident is controlling my weight, I am now carrying around a rather large spare Tyre and have gained over 2 stone during my period of inactivity, and with only two months to go now until the wedding I think one of the major early themes in my blog shall definitely involve my battle to lose the bulge!

Brighton beach

As if the accident was not enough to cope with, there has also been something else ongoing throughout 2013, the small matter of my wedding day and emigration to be with my wonderful fiancee Amanda Minute - without a doubt the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world :)  Getting to this point (I shall be leaving England at the end of September and getting married on the 2nd November) has certainly been a roller coaster of a ride and this shall be the subject of my next post so please stay tuned :)