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! :)