Hi there! I'm Amanda, blog poster extraordinaire! I'm a 22-year-old California girl born & raised...by way of Ohio, where both of my parents are from and most of my family still lives.
I recently graduated from SF State University with a degree in photojournalism. I spent my last semester at SF State as the Golden Gate [X]press Newspaper Photo Editor, and the semester before that as a staff photographer for the publication.
In April, with graduation fast approaching [yikes!], a friend and classmate of mine, Erika, mentioned that her sister, Marj, was looking for someone to take over her "amazing job in London as an au pair," and that someone should definitely do it! I had no idea what I wanted to do post-graduation [public relations, journalism, photography, something involving discussing news? I had so many ideas yet no concrete plans], and the job sounded amazing! I asked Erika more about it later that day, and by the end of the week, I was 100% sure I wanted to do it. I told my at-the-time-current job that I was leaving at the end of July, and that was that!
I grew up in sunny southern California, and went to school in cloudy San Francisco, so I really feel like I've been able to experience California life from both sides. I preferred the cloudy weather of San Francisco, so the weather in England is certainly treating me well! People ask me what part of California still feels like "home" to me, and it's hard to decide; I lived in southern California for so long [18 years], that that should be the obvious choice, but I learned and grew so much in San Francisco and have so many friends still there, that it's hard to not call that home too.
I'm hoping to take some trips to other countries while I'm here. I have weekends off for the most part, and am hoping to get to at least Paris by the end of the calender year. I have a lot of European roots [Poland, England and Germany, at least] that I want to explore those more while I'm here as well.
Other than the above, I'm a writer, music listener, word reader, technology lover and cherry cola addict.
This blog is my diary of my time abroad, including adjusting to living in a country where I know fewer than 20 people to start with, some major family changes and whatever else I can come up with! Thanks for stopping by!
