Life in Rome has been pretty exciting lately. Some of these updates are from a few weeks ago, but better late than never, right? The Thursday before going to Assisi we went to the Scavi Tour. The Scavi is the excavations under St. Peter's Basilica where the bones of St. Peter are. It was by far the most amazing experience I have had in Rome. It is so hard to describe how incredible the experience was, it is something everyone should have the opportunity to experience.
I told you in my last post that family week was a few weeks ago and I spent it with the Magee's, so here is a rundown of the week! On Monday of family week we went to the Vatican Museum's for Liturgy class. It was so awesome to see so many beautiful paintings, especially the ones we've been studying all semester. We also went to the Sistine Chapel, which we incredible! The work was unbelievable! Later in the day we had another liturgy class at Il Gesu, the Jesuit Church in Rome. It was started by St. Ignatius of Loyola. We stayed and watched a light show, which was pretty interesting! After, I went with Rylee to her parents hotel before dinner. We hung out at their hotel, which was really nice before heading to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Rome--Da Vito e Dina. We met up with Tim and Rylee's friend from high school, Meghan. It was a really fun time. Tuesday morning we woke up early and went to the Colosseum. It was my first time going there and it was so cool seeing it! Can you believe that in ancient times they could fill the Colosseum with 80 thousand people in 5 minutes! Insane! Tuesday night, Rylee, Maggie, Jeremy, Mrs. Magee and I walked over to the North American College for adoration. It was a fantastic night. There was a large group of students from Franciscan University, so it felt like being at home. 
On Wednesday morning we went to the Papal Audience. It was one of the best experiences I have had since coming to Rome. We saw the Pope give his weekly Wednesday morning speech and got a blessing from him! We love you Papa!! Wednesday night I met the Magee's at Abbey Theatre. Abbey is the best because its an Irish Pub that has the food closest to home. French fries, wraps, and burgers are always great when your missing home a bit! We had a great dinner and got gelato at my favorite place--Frigidarium! It was great!! Thursday was another great night with the Magee's. We heard that the pizza place across from Abbey was really good, so we decided to go there for dinner. Well it was true!! The pizza was some of the best that I have had in Rome and after we went back to Frigidarium for gelato! It was so fun to have dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Magee before they left to go back home! They were so good to me and made it much easier when my family wasn't there. On Friday we went out to dinner for our Florence trip the next day. It was a great meal and it made us more excited to go to Florence! 
Florence was a really great day trip after a nice family week. We took an early morning train up to Florence to spend the day checking out churches for Liturgy class. Rylee and I decided to pack our lunches so that we would have enough time to shop through the leather market. Thanks to Mrs. Magee for bringing Rylee some peanut butter, so we could have PB&J sandwiches! When we got to Florence we got off the train and made our way to the first church. We went to Santa Maria Novella and explored the church. It was beautiful. After we walked around the city. It was great because Florence is the perfect walking city. There aren't many street and everything is pretty close. We walked over and took a quick look at Dante's church and then went to the Duomo. We took some time to explore the Duomo and went back to meet Dr. Dawson. Dr. Dawson was so generous to us and took us to a museum to see the David, the famous statue by Michelangelo. Afterwards we were free for the day, something we did not expect at all. We had plenty of time to shop and explore. I went with Caroline, Rylee, and Tori to a small leather shop near Dante's church. It was locally owned and some adorable! I got an amazing leather purse that I am in love with! It was a great day. We were able to explore for the rest of the day before getting some pastries for the train ride home. Florence was a quick day trip, but totally amazing! 
One of the things on my list of things I had to do when I was in Rome was go to a soccer game (better known as calcio in Italy). The Monday after our trip to Florence Rylee, Tim, and I went to the AS Roma vs. Torino game! It was so awesome! Getting there was an interesting experience since its not in the best part of Rome. The stadium is the old Olympic Stadium, which is really cool, but there was so much trash and beer bottles all over the place. There were a lot of drunk men walking around, so Rylee and I were really happy that Tim was there. We got there in perfect timing to hear the song "Grazie Roma" playing. Now, I love sports and when I say love I mean it. I grew up watching every kind of sport, but my favorite is football (GO RAVENS). I don't know to much about soccer, but I do know that the passion Europeans have for soccer is unmatched to that of any American sport. Don't get me wrong, but the Colts Band, Mishael Miller singing the National Anthem for 16 years straight, and screaming O! at Orioles and Ravens games is something I love and cherish, hearing thousands of people, grown men included singing this chessy love song was amazing! After the song we took our seat and watched the game! Tim loves soccer, so he was so excited, while Rylee and I were a little confused. All in all it was an amazing experience and Roma won! I am so glad I went!!
It is hard to believe that I will be leaving this amazing country in a few short weeks, but everything has been so worth it!
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