Rome if you want to...Rome around the world!

Fulfillment.  There is no better word to describe this semester than that.  As the semester came to a close, saying goodbye to all of the new friends I've made, and patiently awaiting the arrival of my Dad and sister, I have had a lot of time to reflect on my semester abroad.  Coming abroad was never in my plan, but as it turns out it was in God's plan, so I am truly blessed.  My decision to come to Rome was extremely last minute, and my last minute I mean that I started the application a week before it was due.  Luckily, that last minute, going out on a limb was one of the best decisions I have ever made.  The past four months have proven to have been the best of my life.  In a short re-cap I've been living in the heart of Rome, 10 minutes from the Vatican, for four months, traveled outside of Italy to Barcelona and Madrid, Spain, London and Oxford, England, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Paris, France, and within Italy to Arezzo, Orvieto, Assisi, Siena, Pienza, Florence, Santa Marinella, Sorrento, Naples, Ariccia, Pisa, Bologna, Cinque Terre, Venice, Pompeii, and Capri, went to all seven Pilgrim churches in Rome, attended the canonization Mass for seven new saints, ate countless amounts of pizza, pasta, and gelato, studied harder than I ever have, all while finding myself in so many ways. 

I've learned so much from coming here.  I've learned that sometimes first impressions are true and other times they are not, having a best friend in a foreign is a God send (literally), walking 4 miles in boots will probably lead to blisters, staying in a hostel sucks--always, as does sleeping in the airport, as many times as you outsmart the system, it will beat you at least once, seeing ancient ruins around ever corner will never get old, the Pope is the most precious man alive, America doesn't know what old is, rice balls sound weird but they are delicious, there is no such thing as too much gelato, trains are very efficient, but stations are crazy, the Italian immigration system is terrible, if you want water you have to pay for it or get it off the street, you can learn a language enough to get by in a country where you have never spoken the language before, getting lost in a foreign country is a good thing, there is beauty everywhere you turn, and faith can be discovered in the most obscure places.  There are just some of the many things I've learned and I don't for a second think that the learning I've done will end when I leave this beautiful city. 

I am so thankful that I have been able to have this experience.  When we arrived Dr. Dawson played us this song from Beauty and the Beast.  I have learned that there is more than this provincial life.  This has been a once in a life time experience.  I hope that one day I will be able to come back to this place I have grown to love so much, but I will never casually walk past the Colosseum, have class at St. Peter's Basilica, see the relics of more Saints than I can count, or become a part of a culture I could have only dreamed about.  As I prepare to leave Rome, I am so happy I came here.  I have been given more than I could ever fit in my suitcase and I leave forever changed.  Grazie Roma!       

114.

4 months. 16 weeks. 114 days. It is hard to believe that the study abroad program has officially ended. The past few weeks have been amazing!  When Rylee and I got back from Paris it was back to the grind writing final papers, the last week of classes, studying for finals, and fitting in everything we wanted to do in Rome!  Good news is that my Dad and sister have decided to come to Rome!  As of right now they will be here in three days from now!  The first few days after getting back from Paris was full of writing my Christology paper.  Rylee, Jeremy, Maggie, and I went to the NAC for the last adoration of the year.  It was really great and spiritually filling for the last few weeks.  On Thursday the dorm got together for a Secret Santa Christmas Party.  We ate pizza and brownies, listened to Christmas music, hung out, and exchanged gifts!  I got a poster from Maggie full of postcards that said "I will fresco the world for you," my favorite quote of the semester.  We had a really nice time!

On Friday it was the last day of classes!  Hard to believe that after 16 weeks of hard work, we were so close to the final stretch!  Friday night we went out for a spiritual event to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  We went to the Lay Centre in Rome, a place for graduate students in Rome to live.  We had Mass with the Pope's theologian, who was incredible man, and afterward we had dinner with the Austrian Ambassador to the Holy See and there was a nice concert by Jacob and Dr. Simpson.  It was so much fun!  On Saturday, the actual date of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Benedict comes to Piazza Spagna for a huge celebration.  I met up with Rylee and Tim to see the Pope!  We were so close!  The picture I got of the Pope (with no zoom) was one of my favorites of the year!  The next day I spent most of my time studying for the coming finals and finished my project for Philosophy.  That night we were invited over to the NAC for Mass and a party afterward.  We had a tour of the NAC, went to the roof, where there was an amazing view, and headed to Mass.  After Mass we had a nice little party with the seminarians!  We had wine, cheese, and crackers, and it was quite fun!        

The next few days were full of exams, studying, and seeing the city!  It was crazy busy, but hey we were in Rome, so it all turned out okay!  Wednesday morning Rylee and I got tickets to go to the Papal Audience.  We work up early and went to see Pope Benedict!  The audience was pretty small, but it was amazing!  We got to see the Pope again and we even got to see him write his first tweet!  So cool, right?  On Thursday, Rylee and i decided to take a tour of Rome, going to some of our favorite places and taking pictures.  We went all over the city taking pictures and remembering some of our favorite spots and we finally threw coins into the Trevi Fountain!  That night we went out for the final dorm family dinner.  We decided to go to Da Vito e Dina, our favorite restaurant in all of Rome!  It was amazing!  It is hard to believe how we've come!  We started knowing very few people and some of these people have become some of the greatest friends.  I am seriously gonna miss these people and I can't wait to hang out with them on campus!

Friday! Friday was my last final exam.  It was a quick 15 minutes and turned out pretty good!  After I started packing.  Packing up four months of my life in a different country was pretty difficult!  I loved Rome, but it will be hard to say goodbye.  Later, Rylee, Tori, and I walked around and went to Villa Borghese, a park we hadn't made it to.  It was fun, I love these girls!!  That night I met Danielle, Tracy, Sarah, and Marie for dinner at Le Fate in Trastevere.  They have an amazing student menu and it was so much fun!  After we headed to Abbey Theatre for our final night out.  We met up with the rest of the dorm and had a blast!  It was definitely one of my favorite nights of the year!  Saturday morning we woke up to our final day together!  Rylee and I decided to go to San Lorenzo the only church of the sever pilgrimage churches in Rome that we hadn't been to.  It was really great!  I continued packing and then got ready for Mass and our final dinner.  It was so great to see all of the host families, Seminarians, Italiaidea teachers, staff members, and the rest of the program students!  It was a great final meal and Mass!  I am going to miss being here with all these amazing people!  I wouldn't have changed this experience for anything!  I am so blessed and happy I came!

Paris, Je t'aime!

When I was in the 5th grade picking classes was one of the most exciting days of the year.  Going to middle school was exciting enough, but we were finally able to pick whatever classes we wanted to take.  One of the big decisions was what foreign language we would take.  We had the choice of Spanish or French.  After weighing the pros and cons of each class I decided upon French class because in 7th and 8th grade we got to go on a field trip to Canada.  Good decision making skills right?  So from 7th grade to Freshman year of college, 7 years, I took French.  I began taking French for a trip to Canada, but I fell in love with the language.  I was never the best at it, but I enjoyed it so much.  After 7 years, one of the best teachers I have ever had, and a love of the French language I finally was able to make a dream come true of going to Paris and using the language I had come to love so much.  Studying abroad was one of the best decisions I ever made for more reasons than one, but I found that traveling around Europe was one of the best parts.  And guess what Paris was incredible!

Rylee and I woke up at 3am to catch our 6:45am flight to Paris Beauvais airport.  After a public transport bus, a 20 minute stop waiting for some cars to move, a Terravision bus to the airport and a 2 hour flight we arrived.  We than had to take another bus for an hour and a half to the city center.  Our first task was figuring out the metro system.  I had heard so many great things about the metro, except that is was pretty expensive.  Luckily, my high school French teacher, Madame Baker, gave me lots of tips on what to do.  We got on the metro and headed to our hostel.  I was super nervous about the hostel since the reviews were pretty bad and we have had some other bad hostel experiences, but it turned out to be really great, and thank God. We headed into the city and our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe.  We climbed the Arc and it was the most incredible view of Paris.  It was truly breathtaking.  

After the Arc de Triomphe we walked down the Champs Elysees toward the Christmas markets.  It was amazing!  The shops we cute and I loved the Christmas market.  The streets were lined with Christmas lights, Santa was taking pictures with children, and there were booths full of French food and gifts!  Rylee and I got our first crepe with Nutella in Paris and it was delicious.  We ate our crepes and made our way over to the Louvre.  As we got there the sun started to set and the colors were beautiful.  We made our way in (its free for students!) and explored.  We went to the Mona Lisa, La Joconde, in French and it was much smaller than I originally imagined.  It was pretty cool to see!  After we headed out and began walking around Paris.  We found the love lock bridge, watched the sunset, and got a great view of the Eiffel Tower.  After we went to Notre Dame for Mass.  It was really amazing!  The gothic church was beautiful!  Tim recommended a great bookshop near Notre Dame and we went there after Mass.  It was the coolest bookshop I've ever been in!  Once we explored the shop we got French onion soup from the Christmas market and then headed back to the hostel for the night.

We slept in the next morning and then headed office to Versailles for the after noon.  We got there and were super hungry, so we bought a baguette.  What a French thing to do!  We walked and ate our baguette and finally arrived at the Chateau Versailles!  We went inside and explore the rooms, saw the bed of Marie Antoinette, and walked around the gardens.  It was beautiful!!  I loved it!  After exploring Rylee and I headed back to Paris.  We went back to Notre Dame to take pictures and walked around for the rest of the night!  We had another crepe and walked through the market again.  We went over to the Eiffel Tower to see the light show.  It was truly magical.  We went and sat by the tower, took some pictures and made our way to the Champs Elysees again.  It was cool to start and end our trip at the same spot!  After we went back to the hostel and headed back to Rome early the next morning. Paris was one of my favorite cities! I loved it and I hope to go back someday!

Thanksgiving Weekend!

The night before Thanksgiving the CUA students got a special treat.  President and Mrs. Garvey were in Rome for a conference, so they came and took us out to dinner.  It was nice to have some familiar faces from home right as Thanksgiving was coming and the food was amazing!  We had a large four course meal filled with great dinner conversation.  It was a perfect prep for our four day weekend in the Bay of Naples. 

While the rest of Americans were off with family eating turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, green bean casserole, and pie the 50 American students from CUA and Loyola here in Rome were having a typical Italian country lunch.  Being away from home was a pretty difficult thing and the program definitely realized that you they planned us our own Thanksgiving full of mozzarella, fried veggies, bread, meats, gnocchi, sausage, potatoes, tiramisu, and more! We headed out early Thursday morning to a buffalo mozzarella farm in the Campania region of Italy. This area, and especially this farm, specializes in making mozzarella.  We drove for about an two hours to the farm and when we got off the bus we took a tour of the mozzarella making facilities. They were packaging mozzarella made that morning--as fresh as you can get! We leaned about how they make the mozzarella, how its packages, and got a taste test.  It was different than any mozzarella that I have ever tasted.  After our taste test we got to see the animal, in particular the buffalo that live in the farm.  We got to feed and pet the buffalo who make the mozzarella, play with the calves, and see the ducks, peacocks, and chickens.  If I didn't know I was in Italy it seemed like a pretty normal farm.  Once we were finished with the animals we went into lunch.  When I tell you that I have never had so much food on Thanksgiving I am not kidding.  We had a five course meal.  The food we amazing, but it was so much!  When they brought out our bowl of fruit we were so excited to have a light dessert, when we were told that was only a palate cleanser we had a portion of tiramisu coming.  Needless to say we were all stuffed! 

Once we finished lunch we had a little more time to walk around the farm, then we were off to Sorrento, our home base for the weekend.  The ride was about an hour and a half through windy roads on the side of a cliff in the dark, but we arrived to the nicest hotel we have stayed at since coming to Italy.  We all had sea side views and large rooms, it was great!  After checking into our rooms we had a little down time and then dinner.  The last thing any of us wanted was more food.  It was literally like having two full Thanksgiving meals, Italian style.  For dinner we had four courses and I could barely finish any of it.  After our huge dinner meal we went out into the center of Sorrento to explore and go to a bar.  We found a nice Irish pub (yes, there are Irish pubs all over Italy) that was playing the Thanksgiving football games.  It was amazing to be able to watch the games, but it made me miss watching the game with my family back home.  When the game was over we headed back to the hotel for a good night sleep before a full day touring Pompeii.   

We woke up early on Friday to the most incredible view from the hotel balcony.  Sorrento is a beautiful Italian city and waking up to the sun rising over the mountains and the water glistening was incredible!  We had breakfast in the hotel and then got on the bus for Naples.  We went to the archaeological museum in Naples, which has some pretty cool displays of ancient artwork and household items.  After our time in the museum we were off to Pompeii.  In my mind I have always imagined Pompeii as a city cover in black molten lava and being able to see directly into house with ovens filled with baking bread and people sitting at their tables like any normal day--just encapsulated.  When we went there it was hard to believe that the city was once destroyed by a volcano.  We walked through the city saw the old homes, fast food restaurants, theaters, and bath houses.  It was a really interesting tour filled with lots of neat information and history!  After spending the day in Pompeii we got back on the bus to get to our hotel for dinner.  We enjoyed a nice dinner over looking the water and then went back to the Sorrento town center.  Here we enjoyed the Christmas tree, lights, and festivities.  It definitely got me in the Christmas mood!  After we hung out in the city center we went back to the Irish Pub for some Limoncello.  It was a really fun time with some great friends!

The next day at breakfast Dr. Dawson was so gracious to give us the day free to do whatever we wanted!  So, Danielle, Rylee, Christine, Maddie, and I went to Capri for the afternoon!  We took a  ferry ride over to the island and were greeted with the most beautiful blue water.  It was amazing!  We climbed up the hill of the island to the center of the city.  The view was amazing!  We walked through all of the shops and then down to the small marina on the other side of the island.  We walked down and went to the beach.  The water was crystal clear and the view was incredible!  We put our feet in the water and soaked up the sun!  Capri was amazing, beautiful, fantastic and one of the best places I have been!  We took a ferry back to Sorrento and had some delicious pizza!  The Bay of Naples is know for their pizza, so this was so good!  That night we went to a dinner theater.  Rylee and I sat together next to the only other American couple there.  We talked about our time in Italy and had a great conversation.  After our meal we went downstairs to watch the show.  It was hilarious.  There was one man who was a total ham!  It was great!  Afterwards we walked around town and headed back up to the hotel for the final night in Sorrento. 

Sunday morning we woke up and said goodbye to Sorrento and said hello to Naples.  Quickly we all wanted to say goodbye to Naples.  We arrived and there were beer bottles, trash, cigarette butts, and a lot of other junk all over the city!  It was a mass.  Immediately everyone was pretty uncomfortable and on top of that there were so many people.  The crowds were terrible! We went down to the Christmas market and it took us 40 minutes to walk through.  It was horrible! We had a quick lunch and were back to Rome.  All in all I loved the Bay of Naples and had a great Thanksgiving Weekend!!   

Grazie Roma

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!

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace..."

These past few weeks have been so full of excitement! First was the realization that as of now we only have three more weeks here in Rome...unreal!  Second was all of the work coming up in these last few weeks.  And third was coming up with all of the things I want to do before I leave.  I am beginning to get to a point where I am really wanting to be at home. A week and a half ago my dad had an accident at work, fell off a ladder, broke his leg, and had to get surgery.  It was really difficult to not be able to communicate with him to find out how he was doing, how the surgery went, or even just to tell him that I was praying for him.  I'm happy to say that he made it through okay--luckily, but it may be a long recovery.  So, my family has really been on my mind lately.  Aside for the slight home sickness these past two weeks have been amazing and I'm sure the next three will be just as great!  

Last week was family and even though my family wasn't here I still had an awesome time, mostly thanks to the Magee's! On Saturday we had a class trip to Assisi for the beginning of family week.  We left on an early train and were set to see lots of churches! Our first stop off the train was the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli at the foot of the Assisi hills. This is the church where St. Francis was called to his vocation and began his life of poverty.  After exploring the church we took a us bus up to the hills of Assisi. Our first stop was the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, built for St. Francis.  Before we went into the church Dr. Dawson was giving us some information on the Church, the history of St. Francis and the history of Assisi.  We were all sitting under a covered walkway when I felt a thump on my head.  At first I ignored it, thinking a rock or nut fell and hit me on the head, but a few minutes later I touched the top of my head and there was a large clump of bird poop. Yup, that's right I got pooped on by a pigeon.  Everyone was saying that its good luck, but I think thats just a dumb thing to say to make people feel better.  Thank God for Tori, who was amazing and got me a napkin to clean out my hair. After the bird fiasco of 2012 we went into the church. We walked around the Basilica of St. Francis and were able to see the relics of St. Francis!  

After seeing the Basilica we had a break for lunch and shopping. Rylee's parents invited me to lunch, so we went to a nice restaurant off of one of the main streets in Assisi.  I has some delicious lamb and potatoes.  It was great to have a nice meal and catch up with them!  After lunch we walked around Assisi and went into a few shops.  Assisi is where the original Nativity scene was created, so we walked into many shops with beautiful Nativities.  We grabbed dessert at a pastry shop and saw the Cathedral of Assisi, San Rufino. We met up with the rest of the class to see the Basilica di Santa Chiara, the Basilica of St. Clare.  There we explored the church and saw some of the clothes of St. Francis and Clare and the relics of St. Clare.  Probably the coolest thing we saw the the hair of St. Clare when she cut it all off when joining St. Francis.  After the Basilica of St. Clare we had one more church to see, San Damiano.  Tuscany is a beautiful area and it was perfect Fall!  While walking to San Damiano we were admiring the views with the colored leaves, vineyards, and olive trees.  We walked down a steep hill to San Damiano to see the home church of St. Francis.  It was amazing.  We had an amazing time in Assisi and it was an incredible pilgrimage and experience!