ITALIA!

On the 7th June I hopped on a plane and travelled to the gorgeous country of Italy with my equally gorgeous boyfriend, Jamie. It was our first holiday abroad together and the longest time we have spent together.. and I loved every minute of it. 

We had a very early flight on the Friday morning, 7:25am to be exact, so there we were at Gatwick airport at 4am ready to check in, eat, wait and board the plane. We ate at Armadillo's (a little joke I have with Jamie, as my last name is Italian 'Amodio' and people find it hard to say, so they call me Armadillo!) and had a fry up and porridge. We trudged the shops for the rest of the waiting, picking up some magazines, crisps and a pair of sunglasses for Jamie! 

Now, I'm terrified of flying but the flight was only 2 hours which just flew past! (Pardon the pun ;)) and then there we were, touching down in the beautiful Marco Polo Airport in Venice. 

Over the next few days, we explored the lido we were staying on, Lido Di Jesolo, an hour and a half drive/boat trip to Venice, which was lovely! Very touristy and purpose built for tourists coming from central Italy, Germany and overseas but we loved it! We had a private strip of beach which ensured we had a sunlounger at all times and we found the nicest pub called 'The Black Cat' where we ate or had drinks EVERY DAY. The food, my god the food, was AMAZING there. Tortellini, Carbonara, Piadina Clubs, Pizzas. Drool. As well as the Lido Di Jesolo, we of course visited the floating city of Venice and it was everything I imagined and more. We took a ride on a gondola and explored the back streets of this beautiful place - it truly is the best place to just get lost. 

Through our holiday providers we also took an originally, unplanned and unknown trip to Verona and Lake Garda. Now, being a HUGE Romeo and Juliet fan I of course wanted to visit Juliet's balcony and Jamie of course wanted to grab the breast of the 'lucky for love' Juliet statue! Haha, as well as the balcony we visited the Roman amphitheatre there and had a traditional Italian pizza! Last of our travels was Lake Garda and the town of Sirmione. We didn't realise that we had flown over the lake and Jamie had gotten a picture a few days earlier and up close it was even more spectacular! We explored the castle there, saw Roman Spa ruins and took a boat trip which showed us the hot bubbling springs under the water's surface! 

All in all, it was an amazing holiday and I didn't want to come home!! I miss it so much and it's been over a month since I was there! COME BACK TO ME ITALY <3

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So.. I'M BACK!

I took a long hiatus after two posts due to being SO busy with university work and not feeling in the right frame of mind to blog once/twice a week! I read back my last post which was from January and saw that I have created a list of things that I plan to have achieved by this time this year, so let's recap and see what I have achieved so far! 

''So the plan for 2013 is -

- Live at home in Essex with my mum and step-dad

- Get a job

- Learn to drive with my boyfriend's dad

- Hopefully pass my test by my birthday in July 

- Pass my first year of University

- The usual - tone up and eat healthier (I say this while munching on heroes!)

- Go on holiday to Italy with my boyfriend''

Judging by the check list, I have achieved a fair bit of what I set out to this year, which is actually quite encouraging! For starters, I am still living at home with my family and I am enjoying it, however, of course, at times I wish I had stayed moved out or lived on my own but I still don't feel like I would have been ready to set off by myself set. Secondly, I FINALLY HAVE A JOB. I have been working there for about 2/3 weeks now and it's long hours, late nights, occasionally rude customers and full air con but I'm really enjoying it and although it may be a smaller pay than my previous job that I was working on trying to get back, my colleagues are great and nearer my age and it feels awesome to be earning my own money again! This leads me to my next few points, for example, learning to drive my boyfriend's Dad. I haven't passed my driving test by my birthday like I was planning doing, as me being me, spent all my money and ran out after 3 lessons. However, I did pass my theory in May and am earning monthly so I will be starting up lessons again as soon as he has a slot for me! :) In addition, I am still an average sized, wobbly girl but I'm feeling pretty comfortable in myself and my skin and the moment, albeit I probably need to eat healthier and work out more but hey! I may even join a gym now that I can afford membership! OoOoOoOo Ria don't make promises you can't keep.. haha! Penultimately, I had the BEST holiday in Italy with my boyfriend, Jamie. We eat loads, saw loads and chilled loads! (I will upload a post shortly after this one ALL about it!) and finally, I PASSED MY FIRST YEAR AT UNIVERSITY!!!!! with 2 firsts and 2 2:1's - overall a high 2:1! And I'm over the moon, all of my friends passed and I'm so proud of each of every one of them! Looking forward to my second year now! Although, I still have 2 months until I start again.. roll on 30th September!

Anyway, I'll quit the rambling! 

Thanks for reading and I hope your new year resolutions or personal achievements have been successful or are going well, see you guys soon. 

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