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!

A weekend FULL of adventures

MY WEEKEND

PART ONE: This weekend six other students and I went to Paris. I won’t pretend like everything I do here is absolutely amazing so to be quite honest, it wasn’t as great as I had hoped/thought it would be. However, it was incredible seeing the Eifel tower, Pantheon, Louver, Luxembourge Palace, Notre-Dame, the Conciergerie, Arc de Triomphe, Assemblee Nationale, Place de la Concorde, and Eglise des Invalides, and it was amazing sitting down and eating French crepes, croissants, wraps, and delicious wine. Not to mention, I am the navigator throughout these weekends, so finding all of these landmarks, and deciphering the French underground system was a rewarding experience. Paris is an absolutely beautiful city.
Our flight into Paris was uneventful, after we got off the plane and we met a really nice Canadian couple who gave us tips and hints on visiting Paris. We took an hour bus ride into the city, and I was able to easily find our Hostel. When Sarah and I booked the hostel, we knew that, because there were seven students going on the Paris trip, not everyone would be completely happy with the accommodations. Because there were no seven person rooms, we were forced to choose an eight person room (unless we wanted to pay an additional 70 Euro for the bed we wouldn’t use). Logically, we chose to only pay for seven beds, and everyone was aware of this. Once into our room, we noticed there were clothes out on one of the beds, so we had a stranger-friend living with us for the weekend, some people took notice that being in a hostel means having a shared bathroom and shower. For me; I have absolutely no problem “roughing it”. I have no problem sharing a room with eight people, I don’t even care about sharing a room with a complete stranger, I don’t mind sharing a bathroom, or sleeping in bunk beds, or not having room cleaning come into my room while I’m gone to fluff my pillows and make my bed. I understand what living in a hostel means. I am a college student, so I am well aware that fancy Hilton hotels are probably out of my budget at this time in my life. I have been raised sharing everything, to have an open mind, and spend money wisely. I was very happy with our accommodations, while others let it be known that they were not. Needless to say, some stayed, while others spent the night elsewhere. Regardless, my time spent in Paris was a learning experience, I saw so many landmarks, wandered countless streets, ate delicious food, took tons of pictures, de-coded the underground system, and got us back safe and sound to Castel Gandolfo.
PART TWO: The second part of my weekend was also, incredibly rewarding. Sunday morning, we woke up at 4:30AM in order to catch the fist underground train to a bus. The hour long bus ride took us to the airport, where we waited two hours for our plane, and flew two hours back to Italy. We got back to campus around 12. My original plan was sitting in the lounge to do homework the rest of the day, but had a last minute change of heart, and decided to go on a hike instead. We hiked up to Castel Gandolfo (which sits on top of an inactive volcano) and hiked down to the inside of the volcano, where there is now a lake. The entire hike took about four hours. Once we made it back to campus it was time for mass. I had no time to get ready, so I threw on a pair of jeans, sweatshirt, and head band; this was the first day I went out looking like an “American”. While driving up to mass it started pouring rain, so I was forced to run from the car to the church. To put it shortly, I came into mass looking like a “hot mess”. (Sidenote: I didn’t shower since Friday, because I was in a hostel over the weekend) Bing a little self-conscious about my appearance, I wanted to sit in the back of, to avoid any weird looks from Italians who always dress up. Sarah, however, insisted on sitting in the front. About five minutes before mass, my Italian teacher was sitting beside me, and an old man came up to her and asked her something in Italian, pointing to me. She nodded, and said “Si”, then turned to me and asked me if I wanted to do the second reading in mass. “In English right?” I asked…..”No, Italian…it’s ok we can practice!” My Italian teacher replied. I am still pretty sure the old man thought I was Italian, and was able to fluently speak.
NOTE: For those of you who don’t know, I absolutely positively HATE public speaking. My mother, all but forced me into being a lector at mass, and every time I was scheduled to read at mass, I got incredibly nervous, cold, and shaky before, and basically memorized the reading for that day, so I wouldn’t make any mistakes.
I said yes. Two minutes before mass was to start I sat in the pew with my teacher, whispering the reading to her, while she corrected my butchered words. I wrote all of the little notes, and hints I could get down on my little piece of paper. Saying I was nervous would be the understatement of the century. I asked myself what I was doing, agreeing to go up in front an entire congregation of Italians to read the second reading in Mass, only knowing Italian for three weeks, looking like a complete disaster with my high school sweatshirt on, and hair in a wet, messy, tied up bun. Regardless, I went up to the podium and read my little Italian heart out. (At this point I’m pretty sure the old man was regretting asking me to read) I finished reading and looked proudly out into the congregation, for the most part I got blank stares in return, I’m not sure if they couldn’t understand me, or were just stunned from my appearance…or a combination of the two. Then I looked to the right of me, and saw my sister and Italian teacher with beaming faces, smiling encouragingly back at me. (It was kind of like the smile you would give a little kid who just finished last in a race.) It didn’t matter to me, how bad I pronounced the words, or what the congregation thought of my awful Italian, because I did it, and that’s all that matters! How many people can say they read a scripture reading in Italy, in Italian!? I took it as an learning/humbling experience. One that I will NEVER forget!

PS the I included a picture of the me and my reading above! the picture of us brushing our teeth was in our hostel! :)

Muhaha

We are off to Paris today, lets home Sarah dosen't fall asleep too many times on the airplane...hehehe

Mamma MIA!!!!!!!!!

Hello all! For all who asked, I didn’t take any pictures of us dressed in our costumes, Sarah did…so check her blog! Monday we spent the day at Palatine Hill, one of the Seven Hills of Rome, Tuesday we got to bike riding along the Old Appian Way, which is the very first road in Rome. Wednesday was our free day which, of course, was spent doing homework, and studying for our Italian exam we had today (Thursday). However, Wednesday night we went up the hill to Castel Gandolfo for wine tasting.

This week has kind of been a huge eye opener for me. As I go, day by day, experiencing things such as bike riding on the very first road ever built in Rome, visiting ancient ruins built hundreds of years ago, going to Venice and sitting in a gondola, or wine tasting…IN ITALY!, I find myself thanking God for the opportunity to be here, and trying to soak in every bit of Italian culture I can get. However, it is now becoming more and more apparent as I get older, of the differences that exist between individuals. I guess you could say this is the first week I have felt “homesick”, not because I want to come home, but because I miss the company of my friends and family. It is frustrating, sometimes for me, being with people who don’t always appreciate these amazing opportunities….