i'm aaaaalive!!! :)

Hey there friends.
All is well in Prague.
I will write more on Wednesday because that is when I will be in Serbia!
I'm very excited.
today i bought crystal from an old man in an antique shop. It had dust on it. :)
I refused to buy a piece of crystal from a shop that had a ton of crystal in it....all the same, all factory made.
Well 5 min left.
Muuuch love!
:)

Kisses

short but sweet

so basically...
i'm alive :)
i have to keep this short
cuz i'm getting charged by the min for internet
its soooo expensive!
The concert was fantastic.
Food was great
we leave for prague tomorrow morning at 8am. 1am your time. :)

its a 6hr drive...

wish me luck in finding a phone/internet where i'm going!

and maybe it'll be cheeper!
love
amanda

today and yesterday

Sorry about not blogging yesterday, i wrote a whole long thing and hit "publish post" and it didnt work and deleted my entire message. So yesterday we went to the Esterhazy Palace and played in the Hydan Hall. One of the best acousticly sounding halls in the world. I loaned my violin to a woman in a professional grom for about $50. We spent a lot of time today talking about Hyden. We went to his church where he was burried and to his Haus (house) :) My favorite was after dinner walking around, takin pics....Our hotel room is a little warm but mostly comfortable. The people on the trip are working very well together. There are some times where we get a little bitter with eachother but thats to be expected in spending so much time with eachother.

I'm tempted to tell you what the real vienna is like...or let you keep the imaginary thought of what vienna would be in your imagination. I think i wont say...Its just different. :)

*********************************************

That was yesterday, now today.

Today was more of the vienna i had expected. We went to a HUGE church that was built from 1150-1560...it took that long. it was beautiful. Schonbrunn Palace. It. Was. Beautiful. Google it. Gorgeous. Beautiful...fantastic. Then we got to go to some little shops. walk around a bit and have another great dinner.

This is all for now.
Internet is very expensice for the hour.

Love,
Amanda

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!!!! ...oh do i have stories.

WELL! I'm safe in Vienna, Austria! But wow the stories of how i got here!

First off...
I about missed the bus from Coe to the airport. But no worries obviously i made it.
Second.
Our flight left Chicago 1hr 1/2 late. Which ment, that i missed my connecting flight in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Thennn
I spoke with a very nice ticket counter lady...who then said "if you make your connecting flight you must get on it, but if not i make resorvation for you on different flight"
....so going through the language barrier i figured out that i would forsure get to Austria on time. I was worried that I was going to be booked on a much later flight which i would THEN have to (...jetlag is making my mind not function) find my own way to the Hilton Hotel. WOOT WOOT!

But!
No worries!
I made it to Vienna ON THE SAME FLIGHT as the rest of my group! :)
then...i realized. whoops. what about my bag. feel free to think ahead, assume, and laugh a little.
yes
you're correct
i have no bag at the moment.
but!
not to worry....it will be delivered promptly between 6-9pm this evening. :)

So for tour stuff today, we went to a HUGE cemetary...where Mozart, Strauss, and Beethoven all had monuments. It was pretty darn cool.
Well it is 10 E per hour....which would be about $15 or so per hour so its not my turn anymore!
More tomorrow.
much love to all!



JOSIAH SARAH AND KADEN! I LOOOOOOOOVE YOU!
love you mom, and dad, and gma(s) and gpa(s) aunts uncle's and friends. :)
ttyl <3

aaaaand we're off!

the next time you'll hear from me i'll be in vienna!

much love till then.
Amanda


PS.
if Josiah, Sarah, and Kaden read this.....GO HAVE FUN TODAY AND I LOOOOOOVE YOU! KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS! AND LOOOOTS OF HUGS! <3

Coe Practicing

So we're all at coe practicin like crazy.
we practiced for about 5 hours today. and at 5 we have a pool party!! woot woot!
Its hot and sticky in cedar rapids...
sunny
breezy....and really humid.
We will practice another 5 hours tomorrow, a cookout.... then we're off on tuesday morning!

<3

I forgot that some of you dont know what I'm doing on my trip. and why i'm going! :)
So here's my explination....oh quick disclaimer:

i cant spell. So from here on out, excuse those small errors.

I will be in Vienna and Prague from June 23-July 1. This is with Coe College Orchestra.

http://www.coe.edu/uploads/pdfs/academics/music/haydn_orchestra.pdf

This shows you where i'll be playing and when. I think its kind of fun to look at.

I will then be flying to Serbia to see Milana and Tara (foreign exchange students that lived with me and my parents a few years ago)
Milana and her family are taking me to Bodrum, Turkey for a vacation.
I will be gone untill the beginning of august.

ok, now it should be clear what's going on. enjoy.

packing.

so i'm basically done packing.
i'm sure you dont want to hear about that except that i got it all into 1 suitcase!!!!
woot woot!
:)

well, this will be it till after i leave washington.