Full of Thanks! And the start of Advent :)

be sure to read the two new posts below this long one...

Wednesday night

Nothing really beats good ol’ American food. We’ve been missing it a lot lately, especially the meat. Simple delights like hamburgers are rare here, unless you frequent McDonald’s or Burger King (which I am somewhat ashamed to say, I think I’ve had more fast food here than I have back in the States!).

Wednesday night we did not have our normal community night because we were celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday. Since we discovered the Bernardian grill, we decided we definitely need to put it to use more.

After Italian class on Wednesday, four of us divided up and went on mission to buy groceries. Kalynn, Thomas and I went to the nearest grocery store from school and our mission began. Chicken (do we get bones or filets?), ground beef, parmesan, hamburger buns, mustard…wait, there is no mustard ANYWHERE?

After a bit of a zoo trying to find the necessary items, checkout was another adventure. We have this wonderful system of tickets to use, but the problem is the majority of them come in 1 and 2 Euros. Thomas and my total came up pretty high, so the poor cashier lady was stuck recounting our tickets about 5 times and we just felt so awful for making her go through all this work.

Then we trudged the 25 minute walk home carrying all our groceries.

When we walked into Bernardi, the smell of garlic had already permeated the building. Oh joy joy! (simple fact: I am absolutely in love with garlic.)
Joseph was already cutting and washing and heating things up. The grill had started. The fun began!

Since the boys were doing all of the cooking (I seriously feel so much more convicted to work on my cooking skills here with all these men already know all this stuff!) I was able to start studying for Italian.
The minutes ticked by.
My stomach growled.
The smell of garlic krept up under my nose…
Until finally…
DING DING DING!
(Yes we have a dinner bell and YES I love when I hear that noise!)
Fr. Justin was even there (he had brought a football as well for our Thanksgiving festivities-praise the Lord!) and led us in prayer and finally we could feast!
And feast we DID! There was SO MUCH FOOD! It felt so 4th of July…so American…so GOOD!!!! There was about 5 pounds of carbonara (an Italian pasta, with egg, parmesan, and bacon), a multitude of spicy hamburgers, and Joe’s AMAZING soy-something-of-goodness-chicken marinade.
I ate SO much.

(the group breaking out into song...)

Only about twenty minutes into dinner someone broke out into song.
Which broke out into another song.
Which turned into Build Me Up Buttercup, which turned into Disney song marathon (of which Fr. Justin knew EVERY song),
which turned into Piano Man (Alison and I dominated by knowing every verse-good thing we keep that Vosters' wedding tradition!),
which turned into American Pie,
which turned into Bohemian Rhapsody (and Paul’s amazing air-piano and air-guitar skills),
and simmered (I’m not even kidding you) not until about an hour and a half later with Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls (I’m not sure why they weren’t too thrilled about those choices).
Fr. Justin had to get back to the NAC, so of course we led him off by sitting him in a chair and all standing around him singing “Happy Trails” to him and as he walked away “So Long, Farewell” from The Sound of Music. A few songs drifted from there, ending with some Christmas ones, but it was by far the most memorable community night ever.

We basically ARE living in a musical.
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Thursday night
Thanksgiving in Italy!!!

We ate a 35 pound turkey! It was the hugest most amazing sight ever. Manuel (our Peruvian chef) is my new hero. He also made riced potatoes. I was SO excited to have a bit of Grandma Eunice there, Italian style.
We sang Albequerque is my Turkey! (mom teaches this song to her preschoolers-it was a hit! Fr. Carola was even a big fan!)

Fr. Carola told Paul, Eamon and I that for our penance for Advent, we couldn’t sit by each other or even at the same table because we were causing such a ruckus. He even joked that I better lay off the wine! (I had hardly drank any-ha).

It was very difficult to focus in class that night…even if it was only 45 minutes long because I missed the naps I usually take on Thanksgiving! Afterwards the girls I’m in class with (Alison, Claire and Katie) made our usual stop at the Irish pub down the road, the Scholar’s Lounge for their happy hour…aka partaking in the goodness that is an English speaking pub, funny Irish accents, drinking Strongbow, and reflecting on the week.

We were excited to be able to end our evening there by watching a little of the Detroit-Tennessee football game! Claire’s family is a die-hard Detroit fan, and their Thanksgiving tradition is to sit around the TV watching the Lions lose! (Ha that is actually HER QUOTE not mine!) We were all SO excited just to see football, especially on Thanksgiving! Also, the rest of our group was able to go out and play a football game, but we couldn’t since we had class. You’d think Fr. Buckles, being American, would cancel class. But alas, he only cut it in half.
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Friday
A Dutch Monsignor and an Italian Dinner
I just studied all day, preparing for our midterm in Martyrdom on Tuesday. In the evening I went to mass at the San Lorenzo youth center. Monsignor Everardus de Jong from the Netherlands was celebrating mass. After mass we were able to talk to him. He was excited to hear I was from Wisconsin. He had studied at Catholic U in DC where he got his PhD, and visited a friend at the Norbertine Abbey in DePere! When I told him I was from a nearby town of Green Bay, he got SUPER excited and exclaimed “AH the dairyland! You are the state of milk, cheese and eggs! Just like Holland!” and was so excited and began pointing at the map showing where he was from. I told him my Grandpa still like to speak Dutch a little, but when I told him my last name, he was disappointed because it didn’t sound Dutch. Haha!

Then my friend Katherine who is from St. Kate’s back in St. Paul invited me over to dinner at her apartment. She’s doing a home stay here and lives with an old Italian woman. It was a super cute cluttered apartment, and Katherine and I enjoyed a lot of mozzarella and tomatoes.

I came back and was able to Skype with my parents because it was my dad’s birthday! It was awesome to talk to him because I’ve been busy studying the past two Sundays and haven’t been able to catch him on the phone when I’ve called mom. Then I stayed up til 2am talking to everyone else in the fam because they all were coming home from Milwaukee to celebrate dad’s birthday. I also was able to be the first to wish Jen a happy birthday because TECHNICALLY it already was her birthday HERE because it was 2am here, even if it was only like 5pm there.
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Saturday
Saturday morning we had mass here at Bernardi (the joys of having a chapel right here in our house and of knowing priests studying at the North American College! Mass in English praise the Lord!) Afterwards the boys wanted to teach us this game they really like to play. It ended up lasting for almost 3 hours and I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep so I took a nap, studied a little, Katherine came over, and we got ready to go to St. Peter’s.

The Pope was having first advent vespers! It was beautiful. There weren’t that many people who knew about it, so we were scooted towards the front row, so when Papa came by, we were very close. St. Peter’s was looking very festive and ready for Advent, and the Pope’s vestments were absolutely beautiful. It was a wonderful start to the season!

On the way out I ran into Cosima, a girl I have met a few times who is from Germany as well as the Sisters of Mercy from Alma, Michigan.

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Visits with Old Friends

Afterwards I went to the Pantheon. Stacey Wilson, a friend from high school who has been studying in Florence this semester, and two of her friends were visiting Rome for the weekend. It was SO neat to see her here! We found a cute restaurant right by the Pantheon, which was all decorated for Christmas with pretty lights. Wow it’s so amazing to be able to meet people you spent a good number of your earlier years studying with and just pick up again in a foreign country! We went all out with dinner, wine, desserts for each of us to share, and ended with grappa! (The girls studying in Florence were also studying Italian cuisine so we had to experience the grappa—which is basically what remains of the grapes at the end of making wine. Basically it is the most alcoholic part of the wine making process. This is what I made of all of it anyway.)

Well what the girls had usually had grappa in, because it’s so strong (40% alcohol), was just a little shot glass or some sort of snifter. Well the waitress came out with four champagne flutes full of grappa!!!!!! It was intense! Needless to say, we could NOT finish it! It was quite the experience though. J All in all, it was a nice relaxing long dinner…we spent four hours at the dinner table! It was just a typical Italian dinner, and so enjoyable to be able to catch up with Stacey and show her a bit of Roma.

First Sunday of Advent with the Missionaries of Charity

(Sisters making some sort of cookie)

This morning (Sunday) Kalynn and I woke up bright and early to go to the Missionaries of Charity, since we couldn’t go on Friday. We got there about nine, and started sweeping and mopping. We were worried about finding a mass to go to during the day, but praise be to God they had mass there at 10am!

It was so wonderful to be there for our first mass of the season of Advent! Some of the men were especially making a bigger ‘to do’ about getting ready, putting on the nicest clothes that were around, combing their hair, etc. And what more of a blessing was there when we walked downstairs and found two of the Little Sisters of the Lamb were there as well! One of the sisters told me that she heard my friend Susan Verly was doing very well as a postulant because one of the sisters from Rome went to visit their convent in France where Susan is. Apparently they were at the MC’s because they knew a man that now was living at the house. He used to live on the streets outside of their convent and they ministered to him there. They introduced him to the Missionaries of Charity and the house and he has been happily living here for quite some time and the Little Sisters come to visit him every once in a while.

It was such a blessing to be able to be there on a Sunday, especially on the first Sunday in Advent, to see the men so in love with Jesus and wanting to be at mass and live their faith by celebrating the sacraments. It was a wonderful experience of community, of coming together with a common faith and giving time to praise the Lord for the blessings they have in their life. I was getting so choked up because I was truly seeing the fruit of the sisters’ ministry and vocation. Yes, the sisters work to provide shelter and food and health for the men, but the TRUE fruit of their ministry is the seeds of faith they sow that grows into a true love of Jesus. The men here are brought to life not just physically, but especially spirituality. Here they have regular prayer and mass, and from the nourishment of the sacraments they love and serve each other more. The joy they all had at being there was very evident, and reminded me of the simple yet profound love of Jesus and how I need to be reminded of this beautiful poverty. Especially at the start of Advent, this was a great reminder of how to better prepare for the coming of our Lord at Christmas!

May God bless your Advent season and may you see Him every day, especially by coming to Him in prayer and Thanksgiving for the many gifts He has given you, of life and love!

God love you!

Into the Silence

This weekend we went on silent retreat as a community. Yes…silence. I had never been on a silent retreat before and was excited to have this quiet time. Being in such a busy city with so many amazing things going on, I wanted to have a weekend to be quiet just be with the Lord.
It was kind of funny because I’m definitely not a quiet person. A few of the others and myself were kind of nervous about how the retreat might go, and if we could keep silence through it. I was mostly thinking I would randomly break out in laughter at dinner or some other point.
The retreat house is on a hill looking over a beautiful lake, and across the lake is the Pope’s retreat house. The hills were filled with shades of green, orange, red, and yellow leaves on the trees. I’m not really sure if there can ever be a “true fall” here, since the leaves don’t actually seem to be falling off the trees any time soon!
Right when we got there we had mass, followed by dinner. We got all of the talking we could do out, and once we left the room, we began our 36 hours of silence.
The weekend was beautiful. Fr. Carola, our chaplain, led five of the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatious of Loyola. We had a lot of time then to reflect on those readings from scripture, celebrate the sacraments, pray the Liturgy of the Hours, enjoy the outside, and listen to the Lord.
It is quite an amazing experience learning to step back from the business of life and just speak with the Lord and most importantly, to listen to Him speak to your heart. It was even kind of awkward emerging from silence on Sunday during lunch, because I was just getting used to it. But the awkwardness quickly lifted and the room roared with laughter and excitement as we all shared our experiences and the joys from the weekend. Dr. Cavanaugh noticed that we were especially chatty at dinner that night, and joked about how we were trying to make up for our lack of talking all weekend.
The Lord really blesses the times when we make the decision to take time away to pray and listen to Him. I am so happy we were given this opportunity, and hope to do it again!

Universality and Mission

My recent blog from the Catholic Studies blog:

During my experience here, especially in my classes, I am constantly struck by the universality of the Church. Three of the classes I am taking are with students from the Angelicum and there are students from all over the world. There are students from India, Africa, Poland, the United States, South America, Germany, and the list goes on! It’s so wonderful to see how the Church is so diverse in Her peoples, but immensely unified in Her Truth.

We are so diverse in our nationalities, but also in our vocations. While the majority of the students at the Angelicum are religious brothers, sisters, and priests, there are a number of laity as well. Some of them are married, some are single. Some have law backgrounds, and some interested in art. Even among the religious, their charisms and apostolates are varied. The thread that binds us and makes us whole is the Truth and love we find in Jesus Christ and the Church He founded. It is so inspiring to see the way the Lord calls each of us. He has a specific vocation for us all.
The first is holiness. He wants us to be a part of His mission in life, so He calls us to Himself, to imitate Him in our striving to be holy in order to gain eternal fellowship with Him in Heaven.

Our second call is to our specific vocation as either a call to religious life, marriage, or the single life. God asks us to draw closer to Him by giving ourselves more to others…taking the holiness we’ve drawn from Him and give it back to Him by giving Him our lives to make them fruitful. While these vocations are all so different, they compliment each other so well.

And I think I can say the third call is even more specific, to the vocation each of us have in the mission given to us in Jesus Christ. For some it may mean going off to proclaim His Truth in foreign missions, some of us to stay at home and proclaim Him to those at home. It may be through teaching, being a doctor, a counselor, an artist…whatever gifts we have been given we are to use for the greater glory of God!

This is the most exciting thing I see about my time here—seeing the universality of the Church and Christ’s specific calling in each of our lives. May we always seek to strive for holiness and listen to His very specific calling in each of our lives, to “Come to the Father” and allow Him to lead us completely.

God love you!

A Dominican Experience in a Franciscan Home...aka Assisi!

This past weekend we went to Assisi. It was wonderful to be able to get out of the city for once and see the countryside! We left on a bus from the Angelicum early Saturday morning. Fr. Benedict, one of the Domincan priests, was the leader of our bus. He is an extremely joyful Dominican from Colorado. He became fearless leader for the trip.

Right when we got there we attended mass at St. Mary of the Angels. There were seven thousand pilgrims from Rome there. It was wonderful to see all the youth there. They led the music for mass. It was the first time at a large Mass that I had heard guitars and more modern music. I enjoy the traditional music, but this was quite refreshing as well.

All the pilgrims were quite packed towards the front of the church. Behind us stood the little church where St. Clare had her hair cut off. It separated the church of St. Mary of the Angels in too. It looks quite cute and a big comical stuck in there, but so precious that they wanted to persevere such a remarkable little chapel, especially the history of such great saints as St. Francis and St. Claire!

After Mass we started the pilgrimage up to the Basilica of St. Francis where his body is. Fr. Benedict had the Angelicum flag wrapped around him like an Olympic champion. Bryant and him found some sticks and hung it high.

The hike and especially the view from the basilica was absolutely beautiful. The sunlight and the fog shining down on St. Mary of the Angels made it look just like Heaven…or about what I would imagine Heaven to be. It was so wonderful to be able to see the extensiveness of countryside. I really do miss that in Rome.

All day they had adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the basilica. Seven thousand youth, religious, laity were all gathered together in prayer right over the tomb of St. Francis. It was such a blessing to be able to visit St. Francis and see everyone else there also desiring to get close to this inspiring saint.

I managed in my time of prayer to lose the rest of my group. I was kind of disappointed because I wanted to see the other churches of Assisi and did not know how to get to them on my own. This came as a blessing in disguise, because I was more free to also take in all the beautiful countryside of Assisi. I ventured off on my own and was able to soak up the Italy I truly enjoy—seeing the little houses perched on the hilltops and being chased down by a dalmation guarding his house. (Okay so I didn’t enjoy that too much, but it was quite amusing).

After a refreshing day of exploring the hills that St. Francis called home, we ended with a candlelight prayer vigil. We processed down the hill singing and praising God with the light of Christ guiding our way.

I cannot wait to go back and visit more of St. Francis’ home!

Viva Roma

Video for Catholic Studies talent show :)

Siena, the Beach, and Hail

-St. Catherine of Siena's church in her house

Backtracking two weeks ago...I went to Siena with our group! We venerated the relics of St. Catherine Of Siena (only her head...Rome has the rest of her body) ;) and were able to celebrate mass in the chapel of her house! What a blessing. :)

Sunday we went to the beach in Ostia. What an amazing time. And I'm pretty sure it was snowing in Fargo and some of Minnesota that same day. We all had a good laugh at that.
We also built a sand basilica to "study" our art and architecture skills. Bryant managed to throw it into our slideshow at the end of class, and our professor had a good laugh and was glad she was there in spirit.

That night I got to talk on Skype with my parents and my grandpa Art which was such a joy and absolutly HISTERICAL. Skype is a way to talk to people on the internet. You use a microphone and a camera so you can see and hear each other. Grandpa could not grasp the fact that he could see and hear me and that I could tell he was wearing his Simon's Cheese hat when I was an ocean away. And then to hear that I had been at the beach that day-well that was something else! Everyone here who was in teh computer lab had a good laugh and thought it was pretty cute.

Last weekend was a wonderful relaxing time. Thursday (October 30th) we went to the Colosseum for our Martyrdom class. In the evening, Thomas, Katherine and I ventured out to go to mass at St. Peter's. The Pope was going to make an appearance after mass and address and welcome in the new school year for all the Pontifical Universities. (That includes the Ang where I go).
Needless to say we were pretty excited about that! But not minutes after having left Bernardi there was a CRACK and it started to rain...ten minutes later that turned into a downpour, followed by antoher CRACK nad HAIL!!!!!!!!! Yes we trudged to St. Peter's in the hail! The best/worst was that the rain was coming more horizontally so that every INCH of my pants were soaking wet. Thomas' poor cassock was drenched and luckily Katherine had wrapped her Bible etc. in a plastic bag otherwise they would have also been drenched. Needless to say we were shivering and a pool of water quickly formed around our feet beneath our seats. We shivered with cold...but then again, we saw the Pope! :)
Later that night we watched Gladiator-we all felt pretty sweet about having visited that site earlier that day.
Friday Besides serving with the Missionaries of Charity, I took a wonderfully long nap and at night went to the Youth Center again for mass. Afterwards I was able to meet a lot of wonderful people from all over the world again. A missionary group is here studying for 9 months with the Emmanuel community. I happened to meet a guy from Australia who worked with a girl I know from St. Thomas this summer on stuff for World Youth Day. Small world!
After mass and fellowship, we had a time of praise and worship, adoration and confession. It reminded me of Cor Jesu and an SPO prayer meeting put together. It was beautiful! :)
Saturday was the Solemnity of All Saints! We went to mass at a church nearby, then Joe, Hannah, lizzie and I cooked a feast for lunch! We even made bruschetta--YUM!

Sunday morning Katherine and I went to the flea markets in Trastevere which you can get so much for so cheap! It's crazy. It was quite the experience. Katherine got boots for 5 Euro!
We went to mass then came back so I could work on my first paper I've done since the spring!

It was really strange being here for the election. A lot of people stayed up to keep updates on what was going on. It'll be weird with changes going on and me not being home until June. I keep praying though that the Lord will have His hand in this time for our country.
Keep praying for the respect for life.

This morning we went to the Mamertime Prison, which is where Peter and Paul were imprisoned, and where Peter baptised many prisoners, and where an angel led him out so he could escape. But while he was walking, he met Jesus on the road, and asked Him "Lord, where are you going?" (Quo Vadis?) Christ said he was going to Rome to be crucified a second time. Peter knew this meant he had to turn back. He went back into Rome, and was crucified upside down.

Tonight I think I'm going to watch Power Rangers in Italian :) Thomas found a DVD for 1 Euro, and a lot of us were reminiscing about how much we loved that show. It should be interesting!
Friday we'll serve at the Missionaries of Charity (MC's) again, and Saturday there is a trip with the Angelicum to Assisi!

I pray all is well for you!
God love you,
Sam

Hill outside an Abbey we visited after Siena

the Key to Cutting Cantaloupe...don't let it fly into the garbage

Last Friday Kalynn and I started serving at the Missionaries of Charity here in Rome. I have been very excited about starting to do some service here, especially being able to work with these sisters. They are working on the canonization of Blessed Mother Theresa, who has been such an influence on the world, and especially to me and in my seeking of my own vocation. Our first visit with Fr. Carola we were able to visit the room Mother stayed in while she was in Rome.
Friday morning we managed to use the metro, which was the first time I’ve really done it outside of being in our big group. It is pretty easy, but gets a little daunting when we have to switch lines at Termini, which is the busiest and most chaotic stop of all. Most of the time you are sandwiched in like a bunch of sardines. It is borderline ridiculous but also hilarious watching it all happen.
We made it to the sisters at 8:30 am on Friday, greeted by one of the men from the home. The sisters at this site run a house for men, most if not all who are immigrants and couldn’t go back to their homes. We quickly meet Sister Gabriella, a short Indian sister who is about a foot shorter than I am and was busy cutting up broccoli.
Sister Gabriella orders us to both put on aprons and we will dig into work right away. I have never served with the Missionaries of Charity before, but Kalynn has on many occasions and gave me the heads up of not knowing what to expect—every day is an adventure with these sisters! I put on my apron and awaited my mission for the morning.
I stayed with Sister Tobit and cut up vegetables and cantaloupe while Kalynn was sent off to do a variety of tasks—starting out with helping serve breakfast, cleaning windows, tidying up the men’s room, washing clothes by hand, and ending with helping serve lunch. I struck up conversation with Sister Tobit and kept her amused at my lack of cutlery skills. A good part of my cantaloupe slices lept into the garbage before I was able to grab them.
Sister Gabriella came bustling back every once in a while to make sure everything was going okay, and shook her head at me and wondered why most of the food looked discarded. Sister Tobit stifled a laugh and muttered “God is merciful!” to help me feel better about my lack of talent in the kitchen. She also told me that no matter what I study or what I will do in the future, I must know how to cook and clean. These are the essentials of life.
Wow, do I have a lot to learn! It was beautiful morning and I look forward to all the Fridays to come that we are able to spend with them.

God love you,
Sam

The last two weeks...read my previous 2 posts first

Sunday Oct. 13th we got to sleep in a bit and then headed over to St. John Lateran for mass. It was very exciting because this is the Pope’s church. Many people think of St. Peter’s as the Pope’s church but actually as the bishop of Rome this is his church. The Pope lived here until the 1400s when he moved to St. Peter’s. It is quite amazing and contains the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul! This is also where all the synods take place…and there is actually one going on right now!

More amazing and one of the great proud times in our time here was that all thirteen of our seminarians got to serve there! It was really funny because there are so many of them that every one just got a small “job” as a server…but we were so proud! It was awesome to see them up there.

Afterwards Fr. Carola took us to visit the Little Sisters of the Lamb, a beautiful religious community that my friend Susan Verly just joined in France! There are about 8 sisters in this particular convent, and they live absolute poverty, even begging for their food, but in that they bring Christ’s love and Word to the people they encounter.

Every Sunday night we have community dinner. I was able to sit with Mrs. Cavenaugh (Dr. Cavenaugh is teaching a class on Martyrdom and his wife and three boys live with us as well) and two of their little boys who are HILARIOUS. I am excited to talk to her more because I found out she has a degree in Social Work and does therapy in one of the hospitals in the Cities.

Monday the 13^th marked our first real day of school! We started out on site at St. John Lateran for our Art and Architecture class. We ended up not being able to go in though because there was the thanksgiving Mass for the first (East) Indian saint that had been canonized the previous day! There were hundreds of Indians who had made the pilgrimage for this joyous occasion. It is so important because there is immense persecution of Christians going on in India right now, I believe from the Hindus, and the government just sits back and watches. The witness of this saint is sure to be a model for all Christians, especially Catholics, of the joy of loving Christ and following Him even amidst all the persecution.

Also in the afternoon we had Italian, followed by the first women’s night with Nina our chaplain. I’m very excited to have this time of formation and fellowship, and Nina has so much to offer us.

Tuesday we had our first class with Dr. Cavenaugh—Martyrdom. About halfway through class someone accidentally opened the door and looked around confused and Dr. Cavenaugh, trying to help him out, asked “Are you looking for martyrdom?” The guy was very confused and left and after that Dr. Cavenaugh realized that maybe that wasn’t the greatest way to phrase the question. J

After that most of us (minus the seminarians and some others who are taking a Philosophy course) headed to Patristics. This class is taught by a Dominican priest, Fr. Ditton. I met some Irish seminarians, as well as many of the seminarians from the NAC. We were the largest group of laity in the class. It’ll be a very exciting class going over the history and works of the early church fathers! J

After that we all went with Fr. Carola to the Missionaries of Charity. They have a house where they take care of men off the streets. This is also the place where Mother Theresa would stay when she came to Rome. We were most blessed to be able to see the room where she stayed. This is also where they are putting together the information needed for her Beautification. Please keep them in your prayers and ask for Blessed Mother Theresa’s intercession!

The sisters are absolutely beautiful in the joy they have of their vocation and the love they pour out to care for the men here. Myself and at least one other girl and some of the seminarians are going to serve here this semester. I’m very excited for what this time will bring!

Wednesday our early morning class is Spiritual Theology with Fr. Paul Murray, another Dominican priest who was a confessor for Blessed Mother Theresa when she would come to Rome. It is so beautiful…it’s basically like sitting in spiritual direction, except with 50 other people.

At night on Wednesdays we always have our community dinners. We start off community night with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for an hour, a very high Mass (with a lot of incense), a short discussion—this time we were able to hear more from the Little Sisters of the Lamb, followed by community dinner and ending with night prayer.

Thursday classes consist of Martyrdom again, Italian, and Christian Anthropology. Christian Anthropology is taught by another Dominican priest (can you tell I go to a Dominican Pontifical University?) Fr. Luke Buckles. It is also just like spiritual direction. His focus is just education us for life. It’s the study of humans from the Christian perspective. We’ll be reading some Theology of the Body, The Dignity and Vocation of Women, The Splendor of Truth, and some other pretty rockin’ stuff.

At night we went to mass on top of the Spanish Steps. Fr. Carola was saying mass for the Jerusalem religious community there—a French religious community. It was beautiful…their singing echoed wonderfully in the church. It was also strange and amazing to hear Fr. Carola speak in French!

Later we just hung out on the Spanish Steps for Marisa’s birthday. Lemoncello is horrible and I had my first Big Mac ever…in Rome (don’t judge—lol). It was yummy and amazing!

Friday we were supposed to go to the beach but it was raining. But it was amazing because we don’t have any classes scheduled for Fridays so we spent the rainy day doing homework, napping, and some of us girls watched My Fair Lady. At night some of us went to the San Lorenzo youth center. It’s a youth center commissioned by JPII in the 80’s for students and pilgrims to come to pray…and the World Youth Day cross is there right now! We started with an international rosary followed by Holy Mass which was said by a bishop from Ecuador who has been here for the synod. We met people from all over the world. The youth center is run by the Emmanuel community…a Charismatic community of lay people and some priests rooted in France.

Saturday we left early for Perugia and Eurochocolate Festival! It was great to get out of the city…but the festival was still quite crowded. We managed to find a place to eat overlooking the valley, town, and near hills around us. Had some yummy hot liquid chocolate and Milka bars and chocolate liquor. To the left is the view from the place we ate lunch.

Sunday me, Lizzie, and Sarah went to Mass at Christo Re, where again the priest was very excited to see young people and we met a seminarian from Cologne who was trying to translate what Fr. Was trying to say to us. He is studying here and somehow I wound up speaking German again. Why do I always find myself speaking German here? My Italian will never improve but my German might! Then later I went to a small prayer meeting with my friend Katherine from St. Paul’s Outreach back at school and we had community dinner again.

Monday we had class and went back to St. John Lateran to finish our tour. At night we went out to the Nag’s Head, a Scottish pub, for Justin’s birthday. The girls are getting into the habit of making up sweet renditions of songs for birthdays, so we sang him a rendition of “hold onto that feeling” it was quite impressive I must say…and I’m sure the whole pub was annoyed by the loud weird Americans.

By the way…they were playing Bruce Springsteen all night! I was soooo excited. J (And kind of shocked/confused! Ha)

Tuesday we had class and then I went to the youth center for adoration and mass. Ran into Katherine there which was a pleasant surprise.

Wednesday class. Holy hour, mass, discussion, and dinner…

Thursday we had class, and some of us went out to lunch with our Italian teacher. I just listened but it was good to try to soak up some more of the language. Then three of the girls and I headed to our Christian Anthro class and came back absolutely wiped out.

At 9pm though they were having mass and then adoration with a bit of praise and worship so a small group of us went to that. That was beautiful and made me miss First Fridays and Cor Jesu at St. Thomas really bad. I miss praise and worship songs that I know. Although we all laughed to ourselves at the opening song for mass because it was non other than “On Eagle’s Wings” and we just thought Fr. Joncas would be itching back at St. Thomas that his song was being played in Italian over here! It was soooooooooooo funny!

The priest who said mass was from Toronto so he was so generous to us that the first part of his homily he spoke in English to us. It was beautiful because he spoke of the synod going on. The synod is a meeting of bishops from all over the world. (I believe they do this once a year). This one they were focusing on the Word of God. He was saying it has been so amazing to be with the bishops from all over the world because you always hear about news about persecutions and things in other countries, but to actually have a priest from India where a lot of his flock are being killed is so real and present to you that you know the importance of strengthening the Church with God’s Word and why we are here.

Please, I beg of you, pray for these holy priests from this synod. It concludes on Sunday and will definitely have a huge impact on the Church. Also pray for those being persecuted…especially for the Christians in India.

I have been very moved and impressed by all the people that I’ve met and all the experiences I’ve had so far. I cannot believe I’m blessed to have so many more months here.

Please keep us all in your prayers.

In Christ and Mary,

God love you,

Sam

Blessed Mother Theresa-pray for us!

Firenze and Fr. Alessandro

Friday October 10^th (Happy Bday Missy!) we left early for Florence. We had the joy of touring some major churches, monasteries and museums with our Art and Architecture professor, Dr. Elizabeth Lev. (Google her if you have the chance. She’s a rockstar). She is absolutely brilliant and absolutely hilarious. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know the city with a brilliant guide to explain the history through an artistic lens. We were fortunate to visit a lot of places and receive a lot of knowledge and wisdom of the faith from our professor.

Most memorable though was our time at the Duomo. We were rushing to mass at the Baptistery. We nearly overwhelmed the priest and congregation at the Gospel as we tried discretely slipping into the back pews. This is quite difficult to do with twenty-eight college-aged students and only five rows deep of pews in the church. We tripled the congregation and caught the server quite off guard as he scattered off to find more hosts to be consecrated. At the homily the priest asked us to move up and fill in, which we did—we packed the pews full. The priest himself was somewhat of a spectacle. He was quite overwhelmed and excited to have over two dozen young adults added to the congregation, and even though we couldn’t understand much of his rapid joyous Italian, we picked up “giovani” exclaimed excitedly many times, which we realized was the Italian word for “youth!”

He was short, gentle and old, but his huge vibrant eyes and enormous wide smile made up for any frailty he had—the energy from him immediately penetrated the hearts of us all, even though we could only understand a few words of his rapid Italian. We knew from his eyes and smile that he was very excited to have this enormous addition to his congregation.

After mass he came out to greet us, and a woman from the congregation who spoke English and who was a great friend of Fr. Alessandro translated his joyful message to us.

His love for the Lord permeated our hearts with his passionate words. His eyes watered with tears of joy to see so many young students and seminarians wanting to know the Lord more. His message was simple yet profound: love Jesus; love others.

Each of us carried his words with us, but more importantly the deep yearning to live the love he had for our Lord more deeply in our lives.

As we left the baptistery, he asked us if we would care for a personal tour of the cathedral. Our professor graciously let go of every plan she had for the day. He took us in where no one else was being let in. Behind the main sanctuary of the church were three side altars. At one we were most privileged to pray before were the relics of John Christendom.

Then he took us where only the priest of the cathedral is allowed to go—the sacristy. Now this is not any ordinary sacristy. The wood detail in all of the cupboards is very intricate and beautiful. It is a wood inlaid—every shading on all the pictures is a different piece of wood. Dr. Lev was very impressed and made sure we knew to soak this up because no one gets led back here. Also this is where a very important priest (whose name I forget) hid when he was being sought out to be killed.

The rest of the day paled in comparison to that experience…but Dr. Lev scrambled to rearrange our schedule. We got tours of another church and a museum, and the rest of the group left and eight of the girls stayed overnight.

We finished off the night by finding our hotel and a place to eat.

Saturday we got up early to go see the David. We went to the wrong museum and ran across town to the Academia…to find out it was going to be 14 Euro and that we were not quite willing to pay that much to see a large naked man…so we opted out and went to the Duomo again to try to make it to daily mass. We were late…only by 10 minutes but they were already at the consecration! (Italians are pretty quick!) so we went to pray before the tabernacle and who was there but Fr. Alessandro. J He saw us as he was walking out and was so full of joy to see us again! He said yesterday when he was with us and the seminarians he was in PARADISE. He spoke again of the love of Christ and to listen to Him with all our hearts. It was again such a blessed encounter with such a loving man.

The rest of the day we worked at our own pace around Florence…which was lovely. We basically just checked out all the markets, had a long relaxing lunch, went to the markets some more, ate some gelato, sat down outside the Duomo, people watched, and headed back on the train to Rome.

No, I haven't died, but I did go to an ordination

Sorry that I have neglected to write for a while. Classes started last week, and I’m still sick from the plague. Aka a cold that turned into a hacking cough and grossness. 10 days later I finally decided to be smart and pick up some medicine.

Being over here has been a wonderful witness of the beauty of religious life. It seems wherever you go you run into a priest, deacon, seminarian, or religious sister. Three of the classes I am taking are taught by Dominican priests. Now that classes are in full swing there are religious habits flocking the courtyard and hallways of the Angelicum. I’m starting to feel the need to dress up more and feel out of place when I’m not in a skirt or in black. Actually it is really just quite funny but also very beautiful. The presence of all these religious figures is a true blessing, and as I get to know some of them more personally, I am excited for what the coming months will bring.

So I guess I’ll backtrack to two Thursdays ago—Thursday October 9^th. In the evening we went to the ordination of the deacons from the North American College Seminary. There were 25 men (I believe) being ordained to the transitional deaconate at St. Peter’s Basilica. Just think--in one year we will have 25 new priests! Praise the Lord! The ordination was absolutely beautiful. If you ever have the chance to go to a deaconate or priestly ordination…I strongly encourage you to do it. The tradition and the beauty and the JOY of this celebration is overwhelming and extremely grace-filled.

The whole time the men were being prayed over by the bishop and seeing their faces as they processed in and out I could not help but feel the joy on each of their faces of knowing one’s vocation. God is calling us to a life of joy. No matter what vocation you choose, God is asking you to share in his love…and of course there is suffering in that but there is also immense happiness. This is so true for the religious life. If anyone has any doubt about the happiness of the vocation of the priesthood just go to an ordination. I could not help but seeing the joy reflected in the faces of these men as the same joy I saw in my cousin Dan and brother-in-law Arch this summer on their wedding days as they bound their lives with their wives.

These 25 men may not have a physical wife that they are giving themselves to, but they had that same joy reflected in their faces and the whole celebration was about this…the joy of giving themselves entirely to Holy Mother Church. It was also very exciting being there with the thirteen seminarians in our group…this must be especially exciting for them, considering this very well could be them in a few years! All in all it was a wonderful grace-filled evening, ended with some wonderful pasta and wine of course! Praise the Lord for Pastarito!

more

http://blog.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/rome/archives/2008/10/first_things.html#more

link to the blog i'm doing for Catholic Studies...basically the same thing but it's for school officially.

also, let me know if you can view my photos now without making an account. Sorry about that.

Pax Ex!
God love ya :)

Pictures

Here are the beginnings of my photos:

http://samsalbums1.shutterfly.com/

Scavi, Pilgrimages, and Colds

Friday we got up early for Italian class and then met at the Vatican for a Scavi tour. We were able to pray before St. Peter’s grave—imagine, our first pope! We also got the chance to pray before John Paul II’s grave. It was beautiful to be able to be so near to the resting place of such a holy and loved man who really influenced me like a father.Being in St. Peter’s was another breathtaking experience. There is so much to see…so many holy relics and images. So much grace and so much Truth! The Lord is present so vividly in all the imagery in the space. The highlight was that we were able to attend their evening daily mass there.

Saturday seven of us got up very early to join the Christendom College group and Fr. Justin for the Seven Church Pilgrimage. This is the same pilgrimage St. Philip Niri took thousands of pilgrims on every year. We started at St. Mary Major, then St. Lawrence outside the Walls, Santa Croce, St. John Lateran, St. Sebastian, St .Paul outside the Walls, and finally with St. Peter’s. It totaled about 20+ miles of walking…which would have been very difficult, except it was so beautiful because every church we went to had so many saint’s bodies and relics that the grace from this experience really helped carry you on. We ended at about 7 pm and were able to join the Christendom group for pizza for dinner. It was wonderful being able to get to know anther group of Catholic Americans studying here!

Sunday we got up early and went to St. Paul outside the Walls for mass with the Pope! Wow I cannot believe we got to see the Pope twice in one week! It was again such a blessing to be with the Holy Father and so many other holy people!Well as you can see it has been quite an exausting week.
I did run into some seminarians I know from the North American College! It's quite a small world really. :) Matt Wiering...who was my old chaplain's cousin and also my brother in law's best friend sat next to me at mass and is also helping out with our chaplaincy here at Bernardi. Also Jake Strand, who is a Milwaukee native. The other seminarian who is helping out with our chaplaincy is from the Madison area. Wisconsin is being represented well here!

On the way out I finally got to meet Nina, who is our amazing woman chaplain. She is originally from near Cologne, Germany. She is a consecrated single lay woman...and charismatic! :) She knew my friends from Spring very well so I was really excited to meet her. We ended up being at the back of our group on the way to lunch and then she wanted to stop to say hi to some German bishops. Well the rest of the group went on and I was behind with her...meeting 3 German bishops! Ah! Ha it was awesome but I get really nervous/excited around people like bishops, etc. so it was really unreal for me...and then she wanted to introduce me and tell them I spoke German! So that was embarassing because the auxillery bishop from Trier was asking me where I was from and I was so nervous/excited I responded "Bernardi!" Ahaha! He was confused and Nina just laughed at me and I was like...."Oh no...I mean...Wisconsin"

What was so amazing was meeting all the people aroudn us. A whole lot of German people...either who were just studying here or visiting...were flocking around to say hi to the bishops and meet each other. Then on the metro I met a lot of people from a youth group run by the Emmanuel community. There are youth studying and visiting from all over...the youth group is a place for these pilgrims to come together from all over. I met people from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and all over. Nina is going to incorporate some of her ministry with us with this group. Friday night they have adoration and rosary and usually a Cardinal comes to lead it! What a blessing! I'm so excited. :)

We had lunch at a place where Fr. Carola's friend owns it...and I ended up ordering some pasta with octapus of course. I have the oddest luck with food...Yes there were tentacles and all!

Then we had chaplain orientation...so we got to officially meet Nina and Fr. Carola. Fr. Carola is a rock solid Jesuit who knows absolutly everyone...even the Pope! He was talking about our community life etc...and it was just so beautiful. He has so much wisdom! Every Wednesday we have community nights. At 5:30 there is a holy hour accompanied by confessions. Then at 6:30 we have mass. Following mass we meet together to discuss various topics and visit with various guests. Many bishops and cardinals have come before. Fr. said that he things George Weigel will be coming and even Scott Hahn! Not to mention ARCHBISHOP BURKE!!! :) Following we have dinner together and night prayer. We have our first official one this Wednesday. :) Fr. said he used to ask Pope Benedict when he was Cardinal Ratzinger...but unfortunatly he's a bit busy now to be able to do that.

Wow. I'm so excited! :) And just what a great time to come together as a community...this wonderful community that I feel we already have been forming!

Yesterday we had an intro to Dominican kind of class with Fr. Charles at the Ang. Then Marisa and I went grocery shopping...and got way lost. We eventually found it though :) And a place to get our own Mary's sandwhiches! (Ah I miss Mary at the Binz at St. Thomas....) Mary's Snack Bar...had some yummy egg bacon sandwhich. YAY meat!

Then we had Italian class. Marta...our teacher...was trying to talk to someone in the back and was like "quiet quiet I can't hear Sam is laughing too loud" and I wasn't even laughing! I'm already getting a reputation here...oh boy!

Then I went to evening mass at Sancta Maria del Popolo near our place. And also managed to make a yummy pasta dish all in the microwave :) Frozen veggie mixes do wonders!
I went to bed early because I was hacking up a lung. Everyone has a bit of the plague here and it is NOT good times. :(
Today we went to a museum Thanos arranged for us which really ended up being the history of the Roman sewer system...Er....neat cultural experience Thanos?

At 3 we have Italian class again and afterwards some of us are going to happy hour at the Hard Rock Cafe and then I'll probably go to mass and back here to hang out.
I am gearing up for one more week like this until we start classes on the 13th.
God love you!
Sam

Papa!!!

http://www.fotografiafelici.com/index.php?page=scripts/inserimento&num_file=226&cerimonia=8275%2003%20Udienza%20Generale%20Uscita%20Jeep%20Piazza%20-%20Exit%20Jeep%20Tour%20Square&data=2008-10-02%2021:28:37&cod=193&language=ING#foto

Yes we saw the Holy Father yesterday! I cannot believe it actually happened. It was quite breathtaking. We got to the Vatican at about 8 am and were almost the first group in. It was quite a mad dash/run/ (even sprint sometimes) to the chairs when they opened the gates. We managed to make it to the front left and Tim and Joe (some of our seminarians) let me up front next to them. They said the Holy Father usually will drive past in the Pope-mobile right in front of us after I got up there. And they were right! He came out on our side and was literally just 2 feet away! We had a group of girls from Opus Dei behind us from Monterrey Mexico! I thought of Fernanda immediatly. :) I tried speaking to a couple to our right in German but the guy I think was kind of embarassed for me and just started speaking English to me. Haha that was embarassing. It was amazing to hear the Pope address all the different countries there. There were so many!

The Pope extends his apostalic blessing on all of our family and friends back home...especially those who are sick and suffering. Know that I am praying for you and so is the Holy Father! Have hope! :)

I really cannot describe how amazing the experience was. It is pretty hard to grasp the fact that I just saw him and he was so close to us! A bishop (I think...or priest...or Archbishop depending) announces the different groups present for each language. Our group was announced and we all jumped up and cheered and we have a lot of loud guys so our yell was nice and loud. :)

So we were there from about 8am until 1pm...grabbed some lunch and headed back to Bernardi. I had some HUGE blisters. :( Had a nice relaxing afternoon on the terrace :) And then we had community dinner. Fr. Carola was gone (our chaplain) so we didn't have our normal discussion night we'll usually have. But it was a very fun night :) We ended up playing a wild game of Trivial Pursuit and got to hear some crazy stories of Matthew's summer job sheering llamas. :) He worked for a guy names Floyd! It was hysterical.

This morning we had our first Italian class with Marta! Wow it is weird... I keep trying to translate into German and I don't even remember German that well! It was fun though. We learned how to order things from the "Bar" (aka coffee shop) adn then we got to try our skills out at the Ang's bar.

Lizzie adn I then tried some pasta with some of the seminarians at a close pasta place. Amazing! Except I'm not getting enough meat because the pasta gets burned off so quick because we walk so far every day!

Then we met Dr. Lev back at the Ang to take a mad bus trip to the Catacombs of Pricilla. One of Dr. Lev's good friends gives tours there. It was amazing. We started out with mass by Fr. Justin and Fr. Dereck--both from the diocese of LaCrosse! Danielle--this is THE Fr. Dereck you know from Steven's Point! How cool! He just got sent here last month by his diocese to study. :)

But yes we had mass in the catacombs among all the martyrs on the feast of our guardian angels! Wow amazing...and claustrophobic!

Then Dr. Lev's friend gave us an amazing tour. He's brilliant...so must history just in all the art on the walls and everything...One of the first depictions of the Blessed Mother is on the walls! :) So much proof of the Church's history and the Truth found in Her. :)

Afterwards we had a crazy trip back on the bus and the metro. I thought we were going to die and was not appreciative of being dominated by many of people crowded around. Gross-ness. But that's okay...because we had martyr's dust on us. :)

Then Marisa Laura and I went for a little run down by the Tiber River :) And then went out to eat at a place where the guy greeted me in German and we had a quick convo. :) aha.

Well it's real late here and I have to get up early for Italian class again and then the Scavi tour! Saturday we are going on a 7 church pilgrimage and Sunday mass at the Vatican.

Woahs!

Love you all and miss you!

God love ya!

Sam :)

comments

I updated this so that anyone can leave comments so you don't have to have an account to leave comments. So please do!
Can't wait to hear from you!
xoxo
God love ya!

3rd day and still running

Sunday night we had more orientation and then Fr. Justin from the diocese of LaCrosse said mass for us here in our chapel. Following we had our first community dinner. It was great to have all of us smooshed around one big table in the basement sharing life with each other. I can't wait to experience more of these nights.
Yesterday we had our orientation at the Angelicum where we will be studying. Actually, it turned out to be a start to the first class of Church and Culture of Rome (AKA Art History etc). She is ABSOLUTLY hilarious. Very spunky. We will alternate weeks going on site to listening to her lecture. She's also bringing us to Florence the 10th and Bologna later on in November.
After that we got a mini tour of the area and ended up at noon mass at GESU (The "motherhouse" of the Jesuits). WOW. Amazingly beautiful. There was so much to take in. Also my first mass in Italian. Very interesting. St. Francis Xavier's arm is there as well as (I think) an arm of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The reality of the saints here esp. is amazing!
Afterwards some girls and I meandered about just taking random streets wherever we felt like it. The life around here is so busy...there is just so much to see! We managed to meander all the way to the Tiber river...and realized the Vatican was a hop skip and a jump away...so why not?
Wow it was exciting and also very unreal to fathom being at the Vatican. There were so many people just gathered around St. Peter's square...it is so beautiful to see everyone from all over the world! We just sat in the square and soaked everything in for about a half hour. Laura Lizzie myself and Claire- (Liz's pix)
Again...I can't really describe it. It's crazy being here. Everywhere you go you walk past a historical monument that just stands about various shops and restaurants.
After all that crazy walking we finally got back and I got an exciting present...MY LUGGAGE! :) Praise the Lord!
Afterwards Laura Marisa and I ventured over to the Borghese Gardens for Laura's track workout...I got my butt kicked but it was great!
Went to dinner...thought I was getting pasta with ham and a little salad. Turned out it was just 8 small pieces of smoked ham...some leafy greens...parmesan....and a huge lemon. That was neat. ;) But we had the house wine (thank you Aunt Jackie for the tips)...and I was zonked out. :)

Tuesday
Today we had orientation with Fr. Charles at the Ang and then got a mini tour and afterwards he said mass for us in the chapel there. It was great to have it in English. :)
Then Leandra Rick Mike and I walked around...I got my first gelato! (raspberry) Oh man...I'm going to have to contain myself!
We got some school supplies and they dropped me off at the art store where I wandered about in heaven for a very very long time....
On the way to the art store Leandra and I were walking along in a Piazza then halfway down the steps we stopped to look at a map and realized.....we were on the Spanish steps!
Rome is crazy like this!

Then I walked back and it was soooo so nice to be able to walk myself home! :)
Back at Bernardi I just relaxed, Leandra and I went grocery shopping, I made some noodles, and sat on our terrace looking at the city and made my first sketch...of St. Peter's dome :) (Yes I can see it from our terrace! :) )

I'm going to go to bed soon. We're getting up at 6 tomorrow morning to walk to the Vatican to attend our first Wednesday audience the the Pope!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D
Ciao bella!
xoxo
God love you!
Sam :)

At Home in Rome

Hello lovely family and friends!
I am here and SAFE in Roma!
And it was a LONG trip coming here! I left Friday night at 6:45 from the Appleton airport. Jenny, Arch, mom, and even DAD was there! For those who don't know, my dad got sent down to Texas to help put the power back on after the hurricane and everything and wasn't supposed to be home for another two weeks. I was finishing packing Friday afternoon and mom came home from school and DAD WAS THERE TOO! It was a wonderful surprise since I did not think I'd see him until December! Praise the Lord!

I was really nervous about all my carry ons and everything...I managed to pack only one huge bag, my carry on was Jenny's backpacking pack and my "purse" was my regular backpack from school. I don't know how I managed to get through with that but they didn't really care!

I got to Minneapolis and had to walk it seemed like a mile to the other end of the airport but it was so nice because I was able to meet up with the other 8 St. Thomas students there! We finally left St. Paul at 9:15 and landed in Amsterdam at about 5am USA time/12 noon there. The majority of the group got on a flight right away but Laura Janas, and Marisa Wachtel and myself had a later flight out of Amsterdam...not until 5:45! So we bummed around the airport, I took a little nap on the floor, and it wasn't really that bad.

The woman I was sitting next to on the flight to Rome was from Tokyo and her boss lived in Appleton originally! What a small world we live it. :)
We arrived in Rome finally at 8pm Roma time. We were SO EXCITED to finally have been here after what seemed to be the longest trip of our life! Unfortunatly to make it longer my luggage never came...! :( We were worried because Thanos (The campus director over here) had arranged a car to come pick us up at 8pm and by the time I got it all sorted it was past 9pm. Apparently my luggage never left Minneapolis! At least they found it though and it should be arriving any time now. Thank you Lindsay and Mrs. Adams for the packing tip! I had enough clothes and things in my carry-on to be taken care of.
Well the car was still waiting for us...the 2 men hardly spoke any English-it was so funny. Us three girls were just SO HAPPY to finally be out of an airport! But then the car ride I think I feared more than the flight. I think we almost died 20 times. There is no such thing as traffic rules at all. We were in this big 8 seater van and the driver would speed up and slow down and go through stop signs and make illegal turns like it was the way you were supposed to drive! It was quite the Italy driving experience.
Dad, I do NOT suggest us renting a car while being here!

We made it to Bernardi (the name of the campus/building where we stay). It is much more busy than I would have thought around here. It is SO BEAUTIFUL though! I just kept running to the girls rooms and saying over and over again "We are REALLY here!"
I'm soooo happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Leandra (my roommate) and I got up for morning prayer in the chapel (this building was an old convent and YES we have our own chapel! I can stop by to visit Jesus any time!) and then breakfast. All of the seminarians here have been in Europe since the beginning of September for a pilgrimage and to do some of their own travelling so we got to hear some funny stories from that.
Jenny--some of the guys went to INNSBRUCK! I ausgeflipt :) Unfortunatly they didn't go to the Butse Hutte. :(

We had a bit of orientation and now we have a break until more orientation later.

We have an exciting itinerary ahead of us. There are a lot of things planned for us to attend. On Friday October 3rd we get to go on a Scavi tour! AND what I am MOST excited for is the ordination of the NAC deacons at St. Peter's!

Thank you all for your prayers and support! I'm so excited for this year!
God love you!
xoxo
Sam

Beginning

This is the start of my blog for the year while I'm studying in Rome, so that my friends and family can get a glimpse of my experience! I leave Friday, September 26th and my program ends around the first week of June. Please pray for myself and my group!
God love you!