All about me :-)

While I'm on an all-about-me tangent, I thought it would be an appropriate time update my biography! It's always great to have updated information just in case a job or internship pops up that you really want to apply for. Having a strong resume and biography will help you compile an application quickly an efficiently. You always have to be one step ahead of your potential employer, and you always have to put your best foot forward! Here's my "best foot":     

Amanda Grohowski is a senior at the University of Florida double-majoring in Telecommunication News and Music Performance. Driven by her two passions of storytelling and music, Amanda one day hopes to merge her passions in the field of arts media.   

Amanda currently works at WCJB TV-20, a local ABC affiliate news station in Gainesville, Florida as an associate producer, photographer, and web editor. She is responsible for editing content for the station's daily live newscasts and assisting in the successful delivery of news to much of North Central Florida. Amanda also works as a reporter, multimedia journalist, and news anchor for WUFT News and its respective NPR affiliate WUFT-FM 89.1. She has previously interned at WESH 2 News in Orlando, Florida, as well as at the Hippodrome Theatre in Gainesville as a marketing assistant.   

Amanda has been playing the violin since she was 5 years old.  She has studied with Dr. Janna Lower, a Juilliard graduate and Head of the String Area at the University of Florida, and Mrs. Cindy Camp, a Juilliard graduate from South Florida. Amanda served as the Vice President of the University of Florida's Symphony Orchestra. She also performed as a featured soloist with the Treasure Coast Symphony when she was 15 years old.   

Amanda has her black belt in American Kang Duk Won Tae Kwon Do and is a strong advocate for healthy living and fitness.

The Perpetual Student: Me

My last semester is coming to an end at the University of Florida, and I have to decide soon which graduate school I want to attend in the fall! So with all of the applications I've had to do recently, I did some reformatting of my existing resume to get my information up to date. Check it out, I'd love some feedback! :-)

Here is my updated resume:

AMANDA GROHOWSKI

Traveling on a tight budget!

Traveling is a dream for so many people but sadly, money restrictions often prevent people from making their travel dreams a reality. I know that's the case for me. I can list you easily two dozen countries and cities that I would love to visit but can't because of my tight budget. I'm a senior in college after all.... paying my grocery bill is hard enough sometimes!

So how can you do it? How can you see your dream location without breaking the bank?

Jaime and Liana looking for money in their
bank accounts... Just joking! They're trying to
figure out the metro map in Paris.

One of the most valuable resources I came across recently is Skyscanner.com. I was able to get roundtrip tickets to and from London Gatwick on Virgin Atlantic for around $600 total, and it was great! For an international flight like that, Skyscanner was able to keep the cost fairly low. Do a quick search for your dream destination and see when tickets are the cheapest so you can book your trip now!

If you happen to travel to Europe, for inter-country travel I would always recommend taking buses between locations instead of flying. It's much cheaper and really easy to handle when you're abroad. The two bus lines I would recommend are Eurostar and FlixBus.

And how about when you make it to your dream location? Eat smart and have fun, but plan ahead! Map out your meals and when you plan on eating out at restaurants so you don't overspend on food. So, if you have a long day of sightseeing ahead, stop at a grocery store and make some PB&J or Nutella sandwiches to take on the go. That way, you can really enjoy running around without running out of steam.

My favorite destinations in Europe

Hey there! I'm back and as promised, I'm here to share some more of my favorite place (and experiences!) from my spring break trip to Europe. My friends and I went to four different countries, and I'm going to break everything down by location. Here are my two favorite sites from each place we stayed in:


Amsterdam, Netherlands:

• Canal Cruise- This is a must, especially if you only have a few days (or just one!) in Amsterdam. We went on one when we visited the city, and it gave us a nice survey of main historical spots in town.
• Heineken- OK, so this isn't exactly a location, but Heineken beer comes from Amsterdam so you've got to pick up a bottle of it from any local brewery while you're there. That is, unless you're not into beer or are not of age of course!

View from the top of Gravensteen
Castle.

Gent, Belgium:

• Gravensteen Castle- Do you love touring castles from the Middle Ages? Well, I do now! This castle is a beautiful slice of history in the center of a modern, thriving city. From the top of the castle, you can catch a neat glimpse of the entire town.
• Belgian Chocolate Shop- Calling all sweet eaters! Belgium is known for it's delicious chocolate and lucky for us tourists, there are chocolate shops on almost every street corner in Gent. Take your pick, they're all delicious!

Attack of the pasta in Paris,
France!

Paris, France:

• Eiffel Tower- I know, this is a given. My friends and I went to take a lift to the top of the tower in the afternoon one day, so we were able to see it in the sunlight and all lit up at night! I would suggest doing the same if you plan on visiting Paris anytime soon, but word of advice, bring extra layers because it gets chilly!
• Food, Food, Food!- Eat your heart out in Paris! The food is so delicious and Parisian wine is pretty great too! The best food can be found in the little cafes scattered around town, but try everything for sure.

Touring London on one of the
tour buses

London, U.K.:

• Choral Evensong Mass- Everyone should go enjoy one of these choral masses at St. Paul's Cathedral in central London. You don't have to have any particular religious affiliation to enjoy the choirs sing in this gorgeous hall. It gave me chills!
• Bus Tour- Just like a canal cruise in Amsterdam, a bus tour in London gives you a nice overview of the entire city. I would suggest though finding a bus tour that you can hop on and off of. That way, if you see something you like, you get right off and do some exploring!

"Abroad like changes you"

From left to right: Me, Jaime and Liana!

The first time I saw Benito Skinner's video about going abroad, I absolutely (and shamelessly) died laughing. Me and two of my girlfriends were gearing up for our spring break trip to Europe, and the video just hilariously mocked our obnoxious excitement for the vacation.

Me feeding pigeons in Amsterdam,
of course.

So, I'll back up a bit. Europe. London. Manchester. Amsterdam. Gent. Bruges. Paris. And then back to London again. Yeah, that was and still is our plan! People either think we're totally crazy or encourage us; nothing in between. Nevertheless, seeing as we are on the second London portion of the trip and none of us have died yet, I think we are doing pretty alright, thanks to the million of touristy travel guides we looked up beforehand.

The classic Paris pic!

I will break down all the details of our trip in posts to follow, but I just wanted to share why we chose to do this trip over break. We all know each other through music classes at UF and for me, it's my last "big break" before I graduate. Of course, I/we wanted to do something worthwhile. We know a group of friends going on a cruise to the Bahamas and while that's great, it's not as exciting in my eyes. An open bar is fun for about one night, but that's pretty much it. You really don't get to see much of the world in the process. That's why Jaime, Liana and I picked Europe.

Me chilling by a random lamp
post outside of the Louvre.

It's definitely helpful to know people abroad if you want to travel around *especially* Europe. Luckily for us, Jaime has a dual citizenship in Belgium and her father knows so many people all over the EU countries. We were babied for the first part of our trip -- picked up from airports and fed delicious meals -- but now, we feel have become seasoned travelers! We safely navigated Paris alone and we found our way back to London (thanks, easyJet).

I'll be posting more to come, but for now, here are some pictures from our trip so far! Bonne nuit, mes amis!

The struggle: Dvorak's String Quartet in G Major, movement 1

At UF, I am in a string quartet with three of the loveliest human beings I know: Duan, Jaime and Ted. Last semester, we were grouped together by our professor to play Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8, and wow, was that a challenge. That piece pushed us to explore raw emotion and all that is ugly in the world. Now, I have to clarify something. The piece itself is absolutely beautiful and a masterpiece of darkness; it is not one bit ugly. The emotion that it conjured up, however, was deep and, to some extent, evil. That quartet was a huge work to take on and I think because of how well we handled it, our professor decided to challenge us even more.

This semester, he assigned us Antonin Dvorak's String Quartet in G Major. First off, this quartet couldn't be any more different than the Shosty quartet we played last semester, but it definitely came with its own challenges. This quartet is clean and rhythmic and bright. The first movement at least, is almost 90% related to technical ability and precise delivery of what is written on the page. And for those who are reading this who aren't musicians, believe it or not, "just playing" what's on the page is sometimes a lot harder than it seems. 

Earlier this week, my quartet performed the first movement of the quartet with pretty decent success. We held everything together and had some strong musical moments. But for me, I want to work more on finding emotion in the piece. Yes, it's written in a happy key and has lively rhythms, but it also has its own moments of heartbreak that foreshadow the later movements of the quartet. So, with that being said, here is our performance from Monday! Please let me know what you think; any feedback is helpful. :-)