Over the Weekend

I am in Rome. Every day since I arrived last week on the Due Santi campus have I had to convince myself of this reality. So many things have happened since last Monday that I scarcely know where to begin. Every day has progressively gotten more and more incredible, reaching a climax today with...wait, I won't tell you yet.
On Friday the class took a trip to the Castelli Romani which are the small towns in close proximity to the campus. We walked up to Castel Gondolfo, the Pope's summer residence, and then to Nemi, closing with a “fast food” Italian dinner along Lake Albano.
Saturday was great as Jacob and I decided to go into Rome that morning. Firstly, Rome in the morning is great, secondly we had amazing pastries. We had heard about this tiny pastericcia just a hop skip and a jump down from the Vatican from a good many friends, so that was our first destination. It is just a little hole in the wall, but the pastries are so large, absolutely delicious (not as sweet as American doughnuts), and extraordinarily cheap! We breakfasted on those in St. Peter's square, and as we had no napkins, we both ended up very sticky and thirsty. This just gave us the opportunity to utilize the water fountains in the square where the water is delicious and cool—just what we needed. The day further consisted of buying stamps and postcards, un po' di studying, gelato, Piazza Navona, and some old Italian street musicians. The fellow with the accordion had to duct tape his accordion together and the bassist's strings were so old they clacked more than made a tune. It was delightful. I spent the second half of the day with my roommates, Madeleine and Jessie, jaunting around Rome, and then we returned for the traditional campus wide wine tasting event with Monseigneur Fucinaro. Everyone clad in spiffy attire and perhaps a little tipsy, and the evening was a great success.
Though everything thus far has just been so outstanding, today was definitely the highlight. My friend Jill and I walked to Castel Gondolfo (only 4 kilometers away) for Mass at eight this morning. Our hopes were to stay there for the Pope's Angelus at noon. We met up with quite a few other students a few hours later and waited for three hours to get into the small courtyard in the Pope's summer residence. Naturally, being the UD students that we are, we all sat there with our homework for tomorrow's classes as we roasted in the sun. Not until I pushed my way inside did I realize how intense this was going to be. The capacity of the courtyard is about 2000 people, but it feels so much smaller. The large window that our beloved Papa, Pope Benedict XVI, was going to come out of was only a little higher than the second story of our dorm and I was standing directly front and center. As the minutes dragged by, I began to get so excited. Cries of “Benedetto!” and “Viva il Papa!” were echoing through the courtyard. Finally, after a lifetime, he emerged from the door and the crowd erupted in cheers and screaming. We were all waving and cheering (and I was crying) and he just looked over us all with such incredible love just gushing out. He spoke to us and then we prayed the Angelus and some Glory Be's—I'll never pray those two prayers the same way ever again. What was also incredible is that when you're there, you feel such unity with the rest of the Catholic Church. A lovely old Italian woman turned around in front of me as we were leaving and saw my tear streaked face, and simply smiled and touched my arm and said, “hai veduto il papà." I just replied “Si, si!”
Dr. Hatlie said it best when he told us in his orientation speech that we would be utterly “saturated” in Rome. I think that this is the best way to describe it. The doses of grace, beautiful sights, learning, and of course wine and good food, just fill one to the brim till one can't be filled any more. Deo Gratias!

Just keeping it classy, as usual.

On First Looking Into Rome

My very first real experience with Rome took place at the Fumicino aeroport. I and the other students who were on the group flight waited for about an hour and a half to gather our luggage, then to discover that there were still a few unfortunate souls, namely Jacob and Patsy, whose luggage had not been found (luckily I was not one of them!). By this time, the majority of the students had left to catch the bus headed to the Due Santi campus, and so about eight of us were left. We made our way to one of the customer service desks and waited in line for a few minutes. The woman at the counter directed us to the next desk: that was where we could get this information sorted out. After proceeding to this counter and waiting for about fifteen minutes, we were sent again to another counter. This was finally the correct one, and following a long process of paperwork, Jacob and Patsy announced to their chagrin that the luggage was still in Washington D.C. and would be sent along presently. Having gotten that beastly business sorted out, we proceeded through customs extraordinarily quickly as the customs gentleman was preoccupied with a traveler who attempted to go through with what appeared to be an absurdly large umbrella (there was plenty of gesturing and loud cries of “che cosa, che cosa!?”). Dr. Hatlie, first a History professor and now the Dean in Rome, picked us up and drove us to campus, telling us a little about what we saw as we passed along the outskirts of Rome.

Arriving on Campus:

I could not believe it as Dr. Hatlie pulled into the campus driveway and we scrambled out onto the walk. It is utterly magnificent. I didn't expect the gloriousness of it I suppose, and to see sprawling vineyards, a forno, olive trees, and beautiful dorms just is overwhelming...what more could a student ask for? The entire place lends itself to your pursuit of learning and stimulates your enthusiasm for just living. My roommate freshman year at UD, Jessica, asked me before I left for Rome what I was most looking forward to. It took me a little to think about it, but then it hit me: I'm most excited about being there. Not merely physically living there, but truly existing there and living life to the fullest. A semester in Rome is such a great gift to be have the opportunity to do. I mean, you're in ROME! The history is so amazing, the culture so rich, everything so beautiful. WOW.

Musings on an Eventful Summer

Come to think of it, of all the summers to have before heading off to Rome, this has been probably the most ridiculous. I did not have a steady job over the summer I was able to work here and there with some of my lovely previous employers. Though jobless, the past few months have been far from filled with relaxation and preparation for Rome. Almost everything that could have happened did happen! I traveled to Colorado, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusettes, attended plenty of weddings and anniversaries, became a god-mother to an adorable cousin, climbed mountains, went to a Philosophy Institute, camped at the Easternmost point of the United States, and above all caught a ripping case of pneumonia! Add that to spending the rest of my time with friends and family and you have a very intense, but utterly spiffing summer. Perhaps not the ideal one to have before Rome, but it makes it all the more exciting, don't you think?

One day before departure, I am (basically) all packed. I'm surprised at my own motivation here--generally I am freakishly packing an hour or two before. Because I am the student who will be at the outbound airport the earliest (my flight leaves Maine at 5:45 AM--eek!--and gets to Dulles Int. at 7:30), I have been given the responsibility of checking my fellow students in and making sure they're all where they need to be and such. I was sent much information about each student, including phone numbers, hometown, date of birth, and even photos! I have the ammunition to become the most epic stalker. But of course, I'd never, ever even think about doing something like that.

Never Say Never

I have always had somewhat of a vendetta against blogs, yet here I am, typing away my own very first blog entry. Oh, c'est la vie! I know I am not witty or clever, and this being so have resigned myself to the fact that my blog will be yet another place where nothing much of any consequence will be said. Be assured that my posts here will mostly be various ramblings and lots of photographs of what I encounter, but for the sake of those at home I shall do my best to chronicle my events in greatest detail. (And yet, I do pride myself on my stunning Henry Adams references...)

But enough of that! I have been given the utterly glorious ability to study abroad in Rome for a semester, and I hope to keep somewhat of a "journal" of my adventures.
I am leaving in five days and it feels so utterly unreal. (I've never before been to Europe.) People keep asking me, "So you must be getting so excited!" and I smile and nod and say, "Oh, yes, so much so!" The sensation is an odd one however. It doesn't feel like it will actually happen, but is more like this swell anticipation of an event that will never actually occur. I've been trying to convince myself, but that doesn't quite work either.

"You're going to Rome in five days."
"Oh, yes!"
"Wait, HULLO!?"

I just hope I won't drop from the shock of it when I land in Italy. I'm just going to throw my whole being into it! It will be grand.

Ciao!