Rome sweet Rome to Home sweet Home

I am at last home, settled in, and recovered from jetlag (for the most part). My trip home was uneventful; the eleven hour plane ride from Rome to Atlanta went as fast as an eleven hour plane ride could go. The seat next to me was empty, so I ended up having two seats for the trip! Sarah and I were greeted at the Akron Canton airport by fourteen anxious people holding signs ranging from, “welcome home” to “GO BACK! , to drawings done by my two nieces. It was wonderful to see everyone there and even better to know how much we were missed. From the airport, everyone went back to Aunt Judi and Uncle Bob’s annual Christmas party, where I talked my vocal cords off about my trip.

I knew I would be asked countless times “So, how was your trip?”, so during my 22 hour trip back home I tried coming up with a short, but complete response to this question. I came up with nothing; there really is no short way of putting how it was. So as a forewarning have lots of time set aside if you plan on asking how my trip was, and want a complete answer!
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Initially, I was very apprehensive about studying abroad in Italy. My fears were that it would be too expensive, I would not be able to be away from my family for two months, and my daily routine of eating specific meals, working out, attending class, and studying, would be significantly disrupted. Regardless of my fears, I decided to go, and looking back now, it was the best decision I could have made. The irony of it is that my fears did all come true; I spent entirely too much money, ate an insane amount of pasta, had gelato one too many times, and probably didn’t spend enough time working it off, I never got enough sleep, and spent as little time studying as I possibly could. However, I would not trade this experience for the world, it is one I will never forget, and one I will always hold close to my heart.

As I look back on these past two months, it was the very least amount of time I have ever spent in actual classroom setting, however it was the most I have ever learned in a given semester. I learned more than the different types of mechanisms in Organic Chemistry, the difference between transcendentalism and anti-transcendentalism in Theology, and the definition of gender in Hispanic culture in Spanish, I learned things that will actually help me in my future career, things that I will remember forever. For example, my two month long shopping frenzy was not to simply blow my summers earnings, there was some educational insight to it as well. I discovered the meaning of a Euro, and the monetary difference which exists between the US dollar, the euro, and the pound. I uncovered my sense of direction when I navigated myself, and my fellow classmates through four different countries. I discovered I had more courage than I ever imagined, when I decided I could read an entire scripture passage in front of an Italian congregation. I learned the true meaning of the word strength in London when Sarah and I shared a bed in our hostel, and spent the entire night cuddled up in our scarves and coats because of the VERY drafty windows. I learned of the art of negotiating in Florence, while I talked the street vendors down three euro per scarf, and walked away with twenty scarves for the price of ten. The list could go on and on, but the point is that this trip has lead me to find things out about myself I would have otherwise never discovered. I found my passion for cultural diversity, and willingness to learn. I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity I had, and even more grateful for everything I have learned from it. This trip has not come to an end; in fact it is just the beginning.

Crazy week!

I have discovered my posts are getting less and less abundant. I am sorry! This week has been a little crazy, with next week being our last here all of our projects, papers, and presentations are due. Most of the people here will simply do everything over the weekend, however I will be in London (ps I'm really excited for London for the SOLE reason that they speak my language! and I can even fake a pretty good English accent, thanks to my mom) :). So I have been tirelessly working night and day to finish all of my work before this weekend, so I have the weekend free, as well as all of next week free. So I am able to completely enjoy my last week here. Honestly, I am not ready to leave this absolutely beautiful country, the views here will never grow old, and I will probably never eat pasta..or gelato... again in the states after tasting it here. However, I am SOO excited to come home. I am very ready to be in the presence of the family and friends I love. Back my parents who I can talk to everyday without worrying about connections being lost over skype, back to my siblings who I can be loud and obnoxious with, and not worry about disturbing anyone, back to having my grandparents right across the street, and eating lunch there without paying five euro for a meal, back to having my best friends readily available to text, or talk to, without blowing up the phone bill! I am ready to celebrate the holidays at home, because there really is no place like home.

I love you and miss you all, see you sooonn!!!!!

Pictures are worth 1000 words...

So, this past week had been extremely busy, if you haven't realized by my lack of posting. So i decided to post all of the pictures that summed up this week as a whole. I went to the Vatican museum, and saw the Sistine Chapel. It was smaller than I expected, but Michael Angelo's paintings were absolutely amazing. I took a picture of the last judgment and of the creation of Adam. The pictures aren't the best quality however, because I had to sneak them! hehe. Thanksgiving was this past Thursday, and we went to church at the American Church in ROme in the morning. I met the cardinal of the church after mass, and also was able to shake hands with the American ambassador of the Holy See (AKA, The Vatican). Thanksgiving was very hard being away from my family, but this is a one I will never forget. I was able to share it not only with the students and faculty, but we also had another guest, Gina! Gina is good friends with my Nana, she has family that lives in Ohio, but lives in Italy. I got in touch with her, and invited her to our Thanksgiving. She helped Sarah and I make our Thanksgiving day cookies...we couldn't have done it without her! It was comforting having her here, because it was like having a little piece of home here in Italy with us. This weekend we went to Sorrento and Pompeii, it was incredibly beautiful. Sorrento has lemons as big as my head, and Pompeii has mold casts of thousand year old people who died and were preserved in the volcanic eruption. The pictures I included were of a 15 yr old boy curled up covering his mouth, in an effort not to breathe in the smoke, the other is of a 22 year old pregnant woman laying down trying to cover her mouth. Next, we saw an amphitheater made centuries ago. I was able to stand in the middle of the stage and talk, and the entire amphitheater was able to hear me. SOO, Sarah and I took that opportunity to put on a little show for all of the tourist in the amphitheater, and Sarah and I rapped to Eminem in the middle of an ancient amphitheater...awesome, right?!

Well, that is all for now. This week will be another busy one, but I will do my best to update. miss you all!

The Vatican!

Madrid!

This past weekend was amazing. I had the chance to visit yet another country, put my Spanish speaking abilities to use, visit my good friend from grade school and high school, and drink some amazing sangria. This post will have to be a short one, because I also had the chance to experience night life in Madrid, which does not start until 1AM and usually ends around 6AM. Needless to say, I am running on an hour and a half or so of sleep. We landed today from Madrid around 12:00, made it back to campus around 12:30, and I have been trying to finish homework since then! It is now 1:30AM and I tomorrow we will be catching the 8:20AM train into Rome, where we will be visiting the Vatican museums. Until I have time to fully describe Madrid, I will include a few pictures that illustrate the trip as a whole. The picture of the painting is a work from Picasso I saw in the Museum of Renia Sofia..here I was able to see the famous Guernica, by Picasso as well. The picture of the man holding me, (or me hanging ever so gracefully on the man..either or)is in front of the bull fighting ring in Madrid. The picture of Sarah, Katie, and I forming our grade school "SMS" sign is in front of the Palace Royal in Spain. The last picture is one I took from on top of the Banco Del Espana, looking out on the beautiful city of Madrid.

Enjoy the pictures, miss you all!

Busy, Busy!

This week has flown by! Monday we went to visit "Cinema City" it is Italy's Hollywood, were all of the movies and shows are taped. The picture I uploaded is me sitting in a directors chair, and me on one of the sets! Yesterday and today we traveled to a monestary where we lived a cloistered life for a day. We took a 30 min underground to catch a bus which took us an hour out of the city of Rome to an absolutley beautiful city. From there we had to take a taxi up to the top of the mountain where the monestary was. We toured two monestaries, St. Benedict, and St. Scholastica. It was the most beautiful and peacefull 30 hours of my life, I dont even have pitcueres of it becasue I wanted to be broken off from every part of the outside world. This morning I woke up at 5:30 and had 6AM prayer with the monks, then we had breakfast and I went to mass at 7:45 with a few other people. We made it back to campus around 5:30, then we had Italian class from 6:00-7:50, dinner at 8:00, then I had to pack for my weekend trip to Madrid tomorrow. We leave at 4:45AM, to catch a flight at 6:15, land in Madrid at 8:50AM. It is crazy, I get little sleep, and I always have something to do, but I am loving every second of it.

Also, I think I fixed the problem with posting comments, so anyone should be able to post, even if you arent subscribed. One last thing, one of my classes is an art class. This last paper I wrote was about an orphanage I went to last week, which was an amazing experience...so I wanted to share it on my blog as well...it also is a little shout out to any mothers out there reading this (Godmothers as well :) ). here it is, miss you guys!

This wonderful country has enlightened me to the artistic beauties which exist outside my own country. I have seen so many forms of art, from the She Wolf, to Roman graffiti, to the delicate pastries seen in bakeries. However, I recently had the chance to see a very different kind of art, the art of being a mother. Some might question this form of art; however I am fully confident in my idea. My vision of art is something not every person has, it is unique to the artist; it cannot be copied, or even taught, and true motherly instincts are not taught, they are simply known. The definition of a mother is not a woman who has given birth to a child, but rather any women who has taken on the responsibility of raising an individual, child or adult, blood relative or not.
This past Wednesday we had an amazing opportunity to step away from the attractions of the city, and business of campus life. We went to visit Mater Dei, an orphanage which takes in single mothers and their children. It is run by a group of nuns who have devoted their entire lives to helping the mothers, and raising their children. The mothers have all come from abusive relationships; as a result the children are often times rejected because of the horrific events their mothers have endured. Because of the personal histories of the women and children, the nuns have become adoptive mothers to both the children, and their mothers. They not only offer physical healing, but the spiritual and mental healing only mothers have the gift of providing as well. Mothers come into Mater Dei with and are mentally plagued with the memories of past relationships. The nuns then assume the motherly role of simply listening. It requires great deal of patience and understanding, a virtue not everyone possesses, but all true mothers have readily available. One of the sisters mentioned that often times the mother’s stories become taxing to the nuns own state of mind. Yet, they recognize that a huge part of the healing process involves listening; and for that reason the nuns will always have an open ear. This is one of the major beauties of being a mother, they perpetually give of themselves, despite any burden it may have on their own lives.
The same concept holds true for my own mother. I can remember when I was five I fell off my bike. I thought it was the end of the world, and with bloody hands and knees I ran to my mom crying. She calmly dropped whatever it was she was doing, and held me close to her. When I was in grade school, I remember holding my pet gerbil in my hands and watching it as it took its last breath. I was sure my world would end, and with my dead gerbil in one hand, and his makeshift casket in the other I ran to my mom sobbing, she stopped what she was doing, held me close, and took time to help me give him a proper burial. I can remember a year ago, being lost in a completely foreign country. I thought my life was certainly about to end, with my computer in one hand and tissue in another, I called my mom on Skype. She stopped what she was doing to answer, and comforted me from miles away.
I am not exactly sure what it is about mothers, but I feel as if their spirit itself is calming, it is innate; something a woman is born with, and in time discovers the incredibly powerful gift she has within her. Mothers are artists; there is no doubt in my mind, having the ability to stop all tears, heartaches, and even the end of the world.

The crazy things that hapen in ROMA...

Catch up Post!

Hello all! This post is coming from Florence; we got in this morning from a fast train around 11:30. All I can say about Florence is that it is absolutely beautiful. I was completely awe-struck when I walked out of the train and looked at all of the gorgeous architecture. For lunch I had the best Kebob I have ever had in my entire life (Kebobs to Italians are like Gyros to us). It was at a little hole-in-the-wall Arabic restaurant no tourists knows about, the only way we found out about it was because our amazing guide and program director, Danilo took us there. After lunch we went to the academia to see Michelangelo’s David…. it was gigantic, and we weren’t allowed taking pictures of it, but I snuck one…hehe. I figured it was okay because I’m putting it on my blog to enrich the minds of those people who don’t have the opportunity to see such a famous sculpture face to face… (also so I have physical evidence that I actually saw it!). Tonight we are going out to dinner, and maybe out on the town afterwards…we will see!

This past week seems like a blur, I feel like everything is going by so fast! I have been making memories here that I will remember for the rest of my life. Seeing the Coliseum, eating the best gelato of my life, shopping on fashion street, reading a scripture passage during mass in Italian (which, by the way, the priest who was at mass that day stopped Danilo, the program director, and said he was very impressed, and I must be very smart!). This week I also had a few moments I will never forget, Thursday we went into San Luigis church, they had a crypt in the basement. It reminded me of a cold cellar, it was damp and dark with kind of a musty smell. I looked up to the ceiling and saw this crazy looking chandelier. I had to take another look to figure out what it was made of…and as I looked closer I realized I was looking at sacrum’s, vertebra, and patella’s!! It was made of real bones! I guess the church, back in the old days, used to go out and pick up dead bodies and give them proper burials. I am still not sure how using bones as pieces of chandleries qualifies as a proper burial…but it was interesting never the less! Also, after coming back out into the church, we saw a priest kneeling down to pray. He got up once he saw us and started talking in Italian to our guide, Danilo, then he turned to me and said he want you to say a prayer in English. A little confused, I agreed and lead the group in a Hail Mary, the priest thanked us, and wished us goodbye. It wasn’t until I left the church, when Danilo told us he wasn’t just a priest, but a cardinal!! I SAID A PRAYER FOR A CARDINAL!! I couldn’t believe it.

Also, Tuesday while we were in Rome, I was walking past a resturaunt, and I saw this man dressed in a clown costume. Not really thinking much about it, I turned the opposite direction from him, so he wouldn’t bother me…I was turning to look as Sarah and about to ask her to walk with me when BAMM! The clown grabbed me from the back and squeezed me! I was freaked out a little…and you can see from the picture one of the guys got of it! I will put the picture up once I get it from him. After I told Danilo about it, he went up to the clown and had a “word” with him. Danilo is pretty much our protector throughout this trip, and he will defend us against anyone and anything.

Pictures: I put the picture of the bone chandeliere up..look closley and you'll see sacrums! Also, the picture of the David is up, along with a picture of Danilo and I ontop of Old Bridge in Florence. The picture of me kissing the pig is a tradition for all visitors of Florence to do...it is said to bring good luck!!

That is all for now, Ciao!