Amanda Blog and Kiss

So I went to Rome and yadda yadda culture- gladiators- yadda yadda, but what I really want to show you first is the small things that I found!

Micro-Harmonica!

Piiiiiiccolo Gelato!

Itty-Bitty Bagels!

Scrimpy Little Shirts for Teensy Tiny Men!

And my favorite discovery:

Pocket Espresso!

Here is me enjoying my pocket espresso on the train to Milan, afterwhich I promptly fell asleep. So much for caffeine burst!

Infintisemal Amount of Caffeine!

And last but not least, a photo that I didn’t take of the buses in Rome. Because, while they may be small, they are quite quick, and my hands were always too full of cones of gelato to snap a photo.

Bitty Buses for Liliputian Commuters!

More on Rome & Milan soon!

Tomorrow I hop on a big tin plane bound for Rome where I will meet up with a friend, and afterwards take a train to Milan where I will see my cousin for a day.

Before that, however, I will take my Dutch driving test.

Take a guess which one I am more excited about!

This driver’s license thing has been going on for well over a year now, and I regret ever beginning the process, which is long and complicated and expensive and involves not one, not two, but three tests!  And the funny thing is, I don’t even need a license for living in Amsterdam.  I have an American license that suits me just fine should I wish to rent a car, and I have no intention of ever actually buying a car in this lifetime.

But I started the process, and am one day away from finishing it, so this will be a huge weight off of my chest.  I’ll consider it a Dutch right-of-passage if I get the damn thing, although none of my Dutch friends have their license either, so….

Yeah, basically it’s just been a waste of time and money.

Anyway!  The tin plane!  To la bella citta di Roma!

The first time that I landed in Rome, I was a naive and uncultured silly little thing of 18 years.  I was backpacking around Italy for 3 weeks on my own, and seeing what trouble I could get up to.  Plenty it turned out!

Rome was the city where I experienced my first body shot on a pub crawl.  In fact, I think it was the first time I had ever tasted tequila at all, much less off of the salty neck of another backpacker from Chicago.

Pedro was his name.

Aaahh, Pedro rued the day he ever came into contact with me when I nearly took his bottom lip with the lemon slice that he held in his mouth for me (ouch!).  From that point on, things got sketchy (or I should say sketchier), and resulted in poor Pedro literally carrying me through the city of Rome back to my hostel in the wee hours of the morning, stopping kindly to let me off so that I could puke at various points of interest such as the mighty Colosseum, which I assure you looks much less grandiose at 4 in the morning next to my pile of vomit.

Good times they were.

I do imagine, however, that at the much more mature age of 30 my upcoming trip to Rome will involve drinking in more of the culture, and less of the vino.  Priorities have to change at some point in your life, ey?

Titles of TV shows that I found interesting before learning the hard way that they were on the “adult spice” channel:

• Country Wives
• My Teenage Blog
• A Week In Provence
• Plumbers & Pipes
• Carmella has a wish
• Unsafe Haven
• The Cleaners
• Snowball Fight
• AssCapades 2, Ass Harder*

*OK maybe I could have guessed this one.

• Collecting urine samples from the dog without getting pee on my hand
• Vacuuming with my new Dyson vacuum cleaner
• Predicting within 3 chapters of a book whether or not I will like it (and thus abandoning it)
• Mixing up work and play twitters (and calling someone a “boob” from my work twitter)
• Pining over amazing shoes online (but never actually buying any)
• Helping my flatmate find The Perfect Dress for a specific occasion

If you can think of any position that requires all of the above then I’m your woman!

Last night I had a confusing dream about the girl from Florence NJ who is missing.  This hits close to home for me because it is literally close to home.  Her car was found next to the house I grew up in, where my dad still lives.  My cousins know her, she lives a two minute walk  away from my grandmother.

In my dream I had an idea of what might have happened to her.  But of course, it was a dream scenario, and while moving from the dreamworld to the waking world, while still in that fuzzy half-asleep place, I knew that my theory was incorrect.  But, similar to what her friends and family must be thinking right now, frustration led me to ask myself, “Maar wat is er gebeurd met dat meisje???*”

And then I laid there in bed thinking, “…Did I just speak to myself in Dutch?”

Surely this is a step in the right direction to full-blown Dutch-i-fication!  If I wasn’t so tired I would have high-fived myself.

But back to the subject at hand: if anyone has any idea what might have happened to Sarah Townsend, please please please contact the Burlington Township Police on 609-386-2019.  I have a lot of hope and faith that she will be back in her family’s arms soon.

*”But what has happened to that girl???”