Studying Across the Hey Seas: Feeling the Christmas Spirit in the Air

Greetings to all! A special shout out to my random friends in Russia viewing my blog. Thanks for tuning in.

Highlights of this past week. Ready, set, GO!

Last Sunday, I spent the day in Assisi with Kate and Jen. We got up very early, took a warm and toasty train at 7:45, and spent the entire day there. We enjoyed it very much, and we all agreed that it was one of our favorite towns period. To describe it briefly, it is a gorgeous, Medieval town filled with beautiful buildings, breathtaking churches, and misty, mysterious scenery. Both St. Francis and St. Clare are very important to Italy and to the Catholic faith in general of course, so it was so cool to see everything that they have there in relation to these saints. They had clothes they wore and other relics in addition to their tombs. We also saw an amazing exhibit within one of the smaller churches. It was called "Santa Maria delle Rose" by an Italian artist named Guido Dettoni della Grazia. He created a handheld object made out of either wood or marble that showed the Virgin Mary in different positions. One shows her kneeling, another pregnant, another holding the baby Jesus, another her carrying water to the well, and another as a dove for the symbol of peace. You can hold this small object in your hand and it feels like you are holding Mary's hand. There were 33 of them on display in a semi-circle, representing the 33 years Jesus lived. The symbolism, craftsmenship, and meaning truly amazed me, and I couldn't get over how cool it was. The day was well spent to say the least.

Next highlight: we got to have Mass in a chapel with Father Becker (a priest from our St. Ben's/St. John's community spending some time in Rome) in St. Peter's Basilica. He walked us into this big church, took us over to a statue against a wall, and walked us down a hidden staircase behind the statue. Yeah, I felt pretty cool going down a secret passage. Then, we had Mass in a small chapel under the floor of the Vatican. These chapels are filled with other random groups throughout the floor - Father Becker said you need to reserve them in advance if you want to hold a Mass down there. It was an incredibly awesome experience. Afterwards, he invited us to coffee/hot chocolate at a place near the Vatican and even though we were supposed to be back at school for class, we couldn't pass up that opportunity. We were very grateful to our program director for being so understanding when we showed up almost an hour late for class :). That same day for Theology class, we were taken to Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Little did I know that St. Paul was buried in Rome. This meant a lot to me, because the Letters of St. Paul are my favorite books within the Bible.

Tuesday night, we had the opportunity to see an Opera concert as a group. This concert was not an actual opera, but a performance in a small church by four opera singers, singing many different arias. Even though I can't understand a word they are singing, I enjoyed myself very much. The Baritone singer in particular was such a character, getting in the faces of the audience and putting on a show. I was also surprised that I recognized so many of the songs - thank you random movies and TV shows! We really enjoyed getting dressed up and seeing this performance as a group.

Also this week, I got the chance to see the inside of the Colosseum. This was a pleasant surprise, because for our history class, we were only supposed to see the Roman Forum. We found out when we got there that our ticket didn't work for both the Forum and the Colosseum like we were hoping, and I could see the disappointment on everyone's faces when our professor broke the news to us. Well, this professor is the same one that bought some of us cookies, so even though he acts tough, he has a soft spot for us. So after class, he pulled some strings, and we were able to see the inside of the Colosseum. I was so amazed - it was truly incredible! So big, so intelligent, and so similar to what major stadiums look like today. We read a lot of information about the gladiator fights between the criminals that the spectators would watch, as well as animal fights. This information was so fascinating...even though it costs money to see the inside, I highly recommend it - super cool!

Thurdsday, of course, was Thanksgiving...we got dragged to Florence for the weekend, which was no fun at all ;). We didn't have class on Thursday or Friday, so we got to leave Thursday morning and stay until Sunday. Now, Florence is famous for its leather goods. I swear, when we left today to come back to Rome everyone's luggage doubled due to what everyone bought. Countless boots, belts, wallets, and purses were bought. Yes, I too was bit by the leather bug and bought a small purse. This may be shocking to some, because I'm not a big purse person, but my red vera bradley purse at home is getting very beat up so it was a practical purchase! So when our train arrived in Florence, the first thing most people did was hit up the leather market. The streets are lined with vendors selling all kinds of leather products, in addition to ties, sports jerseys, italy gear, jewelry, and the like. Thursday evening, our hotel treated us to a Thanksgiving dinner. We got to have some turkey and mashed potatoes, and yes, it was not near as good as my mom's or grandma's, but I sure appreciated the gesture - it made the day feel at least a little like Thanksgiving. The best part of the dinner was how sentimental it got. Our director's wife had us go around every table and have every person say what they are thankful for. Every single person was thankful for our study abroad group. Thinking back to meeting these people almost 4 months ago, it is so fun to see how we have become a little family. It was so wonderful to spend such a wonderful holiday with people I am so thankful to have met. Many great dinner conversations were had, including one table discussing what everyone in the group's spirit animal would be. I'm proud to report that they assigned me a golden retriever as my spirit animal. I am honored! The next day we had art class for most of the day, but we did get one break where we spent some time by the river. The city of Florence quickly became one of my favorites. It is a big city, but it has such a small feel to it. We walked and saw so much of the city. We spent some time taking pictures on the bridge filled with shops of blow-your-mind expensive jewelry. After class, we had the mission of finding Jen some leather boots. These boots in general are very expensive, and she was looking to go no higher than 80 euro. We eventually ended in a store by our hotel that we had stopped in yesterday. The owners immediately recognized us, and Jen showed them the particular boots she wanted, finding out they were 120 euro. She told him she could not pay that much, and that she was a student. He then proceeded to give her a student discount of 100 euro. But Jen stayed strong folks, saying she would be willing to pay 80 tops. The owner sighed, spoke some things in Italian to the other owner, and took her downstairs to try them on. She loved them of course, told him again she would only pay 80, and amazingly enough, he agreed! She was in shock for awhile afterwards. I knew it was a great purchase for her, because the next morning, she rolled over, looked at her boots, and said, "Good morning, boots!". We enjoyed a nice dinner at a restaurant we had visited last time we were in Florence and it was delicious a second time. The next day, we had class again and then ate lunch that we brought in a park near our old hostel from our last visit to Florence. We spent a lot of the day walking around and enjoying each other's company. Today, we had the whole day to explore, so a group of us went to a Palace near the river, which was very impressive! In the back, there was a huge garden where we spent most of our time. We also went to Piazza Michaelangelo, which had an incredible view of the entire city. We ended our time in Florence with a pretty humorous story. About an hour before we needed to head back to the hotel to catch our train, Kate, Jen, and I were walking around the city. Both Jen and Kate were very tired. Then, Kate said something that was unheard of - that we should get gelato to pass the time before we had to go. Kate NEVER suggests gelato, and gives Jen a hard time whenever she suggests it, so I knew she must really have been tired. There was a place Jen had seen that she wanted to try, so we got there and Jen ordered first. Now, she ordered a small cone (the smallest they had) with two scoops. I thought this would be a nice, small size for a snack. The lady then proceeded to put the first scoop on Jen's cone, taking a scoop so gigantic that all three of our jaws dropped to the floor. She added an equally big scoop on top of that one, and added circular waffle wafers, saying, "I make you Mickey Mouse." Woah. Now normally the gelato we get is like 2.50, 3 euro. Especially when it's only two scoops. Guess how much this gelato ended up being. 7 euro. 7 EURO?!?! By the time Jen informed us of the price, it was too late - Kate and I had already been given our Mickey Mouse, over-priced gelato mountains. We then stood outside in the square, trying to make a dent in this gelato bigger than our faces, busting a gut the entire time of how funny this situation was. At least it was incredibly delicious :).

As we got back to Rome, the city is decked out with Christmas lights and trees. It really has me in the Christmas mood, and I am currently listening to some Christmas music while I blog. We are so excited to experience the Christmas season here in Rome. I discovered riding back on the train that we just had our last group trip and most likely my last train ride in Europe. The end is less than 3 weeks away, and it is really setting in as a reality...I will probably only blog a couple more times! Bittersweet feelings for sure. I will now give you the pleasure of viewing some nice, random pictures. I am naturally a disorganized person, so posting pictures under the appropriate paragraph is not really my style, so from now on I'm going to put some of my favorites at the end of my posts :). Enjoy! Missing you all.

Peace and Blessings,
Laura