Ok, I'm barely keeping up, but thanks to the washing machines all being taken up, I have some time to spare, even though I should be reading or doing homework right now, because we are going on a retreat this weekend, one that we are not allowed to bring homework on.  Well, I promised to talk about Assisi, and anything else that I missed last time, so here we go...

Assisi, let's see, we got up really early, and left Bernardi at 7:15am.  The bus ride was 2 and a half hours long!  However when we got there, it was absolutely gorgeous.  We first made a stop at the church that is in the city below Assisi, because that is where St. Francis built his church, and that is also where he died.  The church was amazing, and actually, it was built around St. Francis' Church, so right in the middle inside the Church is another small church.  And believe it or not, but the roof of St. Francis' Church made me think of quilts.  Mom, you definetly still have the influence of my thinking when I am looking at patterns of any design! 

But instead of just describing this beautiful city to you, here are the pictures that I took while I was there:

This I think is a good place to start.  This is me, obviously, with Assisi in the background.  We hiked all the way up to the top of the hill where the big castle is, because there is also a small castle that we did not go to.

This is one of the sidewalks that basically looks like a lot of them that go off of the main road.  Walking up the stairs, by the way, you can see the back of Aaron and Steph.

This is just another picture from above of Assisi, except without me in it :) 

And the main reason to go to Assisi, is to see the Basilica of St. Francis, well, here it is.  Isn't it just beautiful?!?

And this is a closer up look at the enterance to this very exquisite Church, or since it is a Basilica, here they call them Duomo.

And of course you need a group picture outside of the basilica with an amazing Umbrian View, which basically is just what the area around there is called, its kinda like a county back home.  Also there should only be one person by now that I have not named before in past pictures, and that would be the guy second from the left.  That is Brian, he is one of the seminarians from the NAC (North American College), him and two other seminarians contribute every Wednesday night on our community nights.

Well, here is Halley, Meagan and Theresa leaning over one of the walls at Assisi looking at yet another beautiful view.

Ok, well here is just another picture of a group of us in Assisi hanging outside of the basilica, but also here you get to meet one of the other Seminarians that comes over to Bernardi every Wednesday, and also sometimes on Friday nights when we have adoration.  He is the second one on the right and his name is Deacon Tom, and he will become a priest in only about 100 days now, and he will be the youngest possible you can be to become a priest!

Well, I think that is all the pictures I have.  The only other thing I want to say about Assisi, is that I absolutely love the soft colored bricks, it makes the town feel so warm and look so beautiful!  I hope you all enjoyed the pics, and if you have any questions, just ask, I will try and answer them asap.  And I will just update everything that I missed this time later, because it is time for me to get back to the grind of things here  .  Bye bye!

Ok, I'm back, and yes I'm still alive!  It's been awhile I realize, but I've not only been super busy, but I've also been waiting to get some pics developed to show you, so my stories can have visuals.  So, the last adventure that I promised to talk about was Ravenna, and I realize that it was already over a week ago, but now I have proof of how interesting of weather we had! 

From the beginning... We went to Ravenna as a class trip for 3 of our classes, European Politics, Church and Culture and Dante.  We left early of Saturday morning, and took a train up to Bologne where we switched trains to go all the way to Ravenna.  Well in order to get there you need to go through the mountains.  When we entered a tunnel, going through a mountain, the last weather we saw was rain, well when we came out of the tunnel the ground was covered in SNOW!  By the time we got to Bologne it was sleeting out.  So there was slush everywhere, and the snow coming down was really wet.  Everyone quickly grabbed some lunch, some went to McDonalds, may God forgive them !  And the rest of us went to a pizzaria.  We got back on our next train, and it was a double decker, so, instead of enjoying the beautiful view that we probably got, I slept :)  and it was sooo nice.  When I woke up, we were in Ravenna, and it was raining, no snow on the ground, well at least not yet  !  So, thankfully our hotel was only a block away, and we all got in safe and sound, with minimal water on us.  After that, we had a full day of touring, which was not so much fun in the rain that was being pelted at us now by the wind.  Thankfully the weather changed...for the worse!  It turned into sleet, and it was freezing and the wind was blowing, and umbrellas were dying.  Then we even got to wait about 20 minutes at a bus stop, outside bus stop, for our bus! 

That would be us!  Umbrellas new uses we found were: blocking wind, and keeping snow off of us.  Other then that all huddled up and singing helped keep the cold to a minimum.  Well, even though the weather was no fun, which made us not want to slowly walk through the beautiful town of Ravenna, we did see some great sites, like these:

This was in the Arian Baptistry, and it was a mosaic of Christ's baptism, if you haven't already guessed.  Also, if you remember from earlier entries of mine, I used to say the word Fresco alot when it came to art work, but now it is Mosaics.  Anyone know the difference?   Ok, well if you don't a mosaic is a bunch of small pieces of marble that are all put together to make this amazing piece of art work, and a fresco is a painting.

Ok, I guess that is the only picture I took in the buildings that we went to.  However I do have some pictures from before Ravenna that I will show you now and give you a brief description of where, who and what.

For my Church and Culture class, we take a class trip every Thursday for our class, and our first one was to the Museum of Roman Civilization.  And this was a huge map of Ancient Rome.  In the top right corner, by the river is where the Bernardi Campus now is.  Also you can see the Coloseum, well at least what it used to look like before they started taking marble from it.  Also the oval to the left of the Coloseum is called Circo Massimo, or Circus Maximus, and you will see a present day photo of that next, but that is where the Romans would hold chariot races.

This is not Circus Maximus, but it is a fountain on the way to the museum where that map can be found.  In the Picture with me is Theresa, she is graduating while she is here, and plans on moving to Washington DC next year I believe.

Behind us IS Circus Maximus.  And this was taken while we were on a walking tour with our professor that came with us from St. Thomas, Dr. Reichardt.  Starting right next to me is Malina (my roomie), the Christie, Cat, Theresa, Dr. Reichardt, Ed/Edmond, Meagan (my other roomie), Ann (a grad student from St. Thomas), and lastly Aaron (my partner in crime back at Campus Ministry).

Also on the walking tour we hit the prison cell where St. Peter and St. Paul were kept.  This was what you saw on the far wall when entering the small room.  A little history on this room:  They used to lower the prisoners through a hole in the ceiling, and when St. Peter was down there, a spring of water came up through the floor, and the prisoners would be baptised by St. Peter while they waited for their death to come.  Now in the place of the spring there is a well.

Quick side trip, this is four of the big group that went with to see the Passion of Jesus Christ.  This was before we saw the movie obviously, since there are smiles, and no tear stained eyes.  There is Aaron, Christie, Brenda, and Steph.  Some of our group did not get to go watch the private viewing because they had their first day of Philosophy class, and were not to miss it, so they have to wait until the beginning of April to go and see it, because that is when it comes out in Rome, so by then I might be able to go see it again, and actually watch the entire thing with out having to look away or close my eyes.

No, I'm not standing on a cliff, but I am standing right outside of my all time favorite church so far.  It is called St. Mary, Alter in the Sky, because you have to go up about 120 steps to reach it.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the church, like many small churches, and even some bigger ones.

Oh, Valentine's Day.  They may not celebrate it in Rome, but we did in Bernardi.  The reason that Ed is the only guy in the photo, is because he was very sweet and bought all the girls a single yellow rose, like the one Malina has in the picture.  All of the girls in the photo got dressed up and we went out to eat and had a wonderful time.  On the left top, there is Steph, Brenda, and Cat, then right below them is Christie, Ed, Malina, and Hallie, then below them is Theresa and me.

After a wonderful meal and night on the town, a chick flic is next on the menu.  So we all went into the guys lounge, because the girls vcr wasn't working, and we watched Roman Holidays with Audrie Hepburn, very good movie!! 

We like to get dressed up here!  Well, actually this was us going to a concert in the Vatican that the Pope would be attending, because it was a concert of the poems he had written mixed with songs.  It was amazing, my first time seeing the Holy Father himself!!!!  I think this is the first time you might be seeing some of these people, so again I will say who everyone is.  Top row: Theresa, Ed, Matt, Kevin, Eric, Aaron, Cat, Brenda, and Dan, then it is Me and Christie pulling up the bottom.

While waiting in line to get into the concert hall, Theresa got a private tutored italian lesson from a true Italian :)  It was quite the site!

Then when we did get in, they must have had quite a few bags of goodies left from the World Youth Day in Rome, and one of them was a world peace scarf/banner thing, and this would be Aaron being his typical self.

Just to let you all see, but this is our Dining Room, and on Wed. nights, which are our community nights, all the tables are pushed together in the center for one big family table.

Ok, I think that is alot of stuff for today, I will show you the rest of my photos another day, because then you can see them in moderation and not all in one big clump.  But for a preview, I will be talking about my wonderful day trip to Assisi, and and interesting night out on the town celebrating Steph's 20th Birthday, and other fun adventures that we had stumbled upon.  Until then, God speed, and can't wait to hear from all of you again!!!

Hello once again!

Well I know I have not written a lot lately, and if you check my page regularly, you might realize that my last entry before this one came public on Thursday.  Well it has just been that busy, so it took me extra long to get that page right and the pictures to work, because I scanned them! and now you don't need to crane your neck to see them the right-way up!  I'm getting better!  Anyways, this week... 

We started classes, and are already doing homework for most of our free time, which isn't to much of a problem right now, because it is raining alot.  I am trying to think of anything that is sticking out in my memory, so I might forget some of the fun stuff.  On Sunday I went to the Latin high mass at the Vatican, and actually it was the Feast of St. Peter's chair that day, and The statue of St. Peter that you saw earlier was dect out in the Pope's wardrobe, which would be the tiera, and red cloaks.  It was absolutely beautiful, and parts of the mass were said in English!!!  Then mass got out just in time for us to get outside of the Church to receive the Pope's blessing, which he gives every Sunday at noon.

Also since Wed. was Ash Wed. Rome has started its annual Stations Churches, which has been going on for 1500 years!!  And what it is, is just daily mass at a different church every day, English mass at 7am and Italian at 5pm.  So, it has been quite a few early mornings for me already.  But I cannot complain, because some of the churches that we get to go to, are rarely open, and one only opens twice a year!  Other then that there is not a lot going on in my world here.  I am however going to be going to Ravenna this weekend, and will tell you all about that when the time comes.  It is going to be cold though, forecast is showing high 30's to low 40's, brrrrr.  And I'm about to get more pictures coming, so you will have more to pleasure the eye.  Until then, Goodnight, Farewell, and I will talk to you soon!

Ok, its been a while since I have added on, but I do have some special treats for you this time.  I won't be writing much because it is already after midnight, and I need my sleep.  The real treat is not having to read my writing, but that instead of always seeing these however beautiful pictures of paintings and buildings, you also get to see people now and put faces to the names that I will be writing about.  So I am going to just start with pictures and small explanations underneath them.  But real quick before I do that, I must say, I got to see the Pope for the very first time tonight, and it was utterly amazing!!!  We were invited to a premier of a concert that contains his poetry mixed with music, so he came for the concert, and we said the rosary in Italian before hand.  I just wanted to share that with you because it was the most amazing site, even though it still seems like a dream.

This is the courtyard right in the middle and by the enterance of the Angelicum.  We get to hang out here before classes start.  Even though now that classes have started there are many more people around, and it has been a lot rainier and not so much sun :(.  In the picture is Clare, Tim, and Ann.)

This is also in the courtyard, but instead it is the fountain there.  That would be Kevin, one of the seminarians, and Beth, who is from St. Kate's.

Before classes started we went on a quick walking tour outside of the Ang, which just happened to be to the Coloseum, which I know isn't in the picture, but it is only about a 10 to 15 minute walk away!  This would be Kevin again, and you know me, then next to me is Cat, and I dare you to try and pronounce her last name...Sprynczynatyk!

This is also on that little tour.  The arc that you see in the left hand side of the picture is Constantine's Arc.  Then in the picture is, Steph, Cat, Matt (guy in sunglasses), Christy(underneath Matt), Aaron, Kestutis(with back to us).  Kestutis was our guide, and is actually a student at the Ang.

This picture was taken when we were looking for St. Peter in Chains church, and took a wrong turn and ended up in the "Ghetto".  There is Brenda, Me, Cat, Meagan (one of my roommates), and Malina (my other roommate).  And of course behind the camera was Edmond who became the photographer for most of our pictures on this walk.

This was the scenery behind us in that picture above.

This is in St. Peter's, if you can't tell with St. Peter right there.  If you look at the foot that I am touching, you can see that it is worn away, and that is because so many people would say a prayer and come up and either touch or kiss his foot.

Ok, that is all for today!

Ok, it is a new day.  And I went shopping, so I'm a little better, though I still have no money.  I will be going to the grocery store tomorrow and buying food to make, and spending my weekend meals the old fashion way, making them!  After getting through my bad Monday, I did think of something good that happened that day.  In the morning we went to visit with the Missionaries of Charity, for those who do not know this group of women, it is the group of sisters that Mother Teresa formed, and that we get the opprotunity to volunteer with!!  The house that we visited was for homeless men.  So on one of the floors in a hallway, there was an elderly man sitting in a chair.  We talked to him for a little bit, but then the sister that was giving us the tour started talking.  However, I was nearest to him, and he started talking to me.  I found out his name was Gus, and he has the most precious smile that I have ever seen.  He was a lot of fun to talk to, especially when he started to sarinade me (forgive me if I spelt that wrong).  Then we also were able to listen to another resident sing and play some songs on the guitar that were from the 50's!  That was a ton of fun, unfortunately I forgot my cameras!!!!  How could I have done that, I do not know, but I plan on going back, and I will get a picture of Gus one of these days!  However, to get to the house, a few of us walked and afterwards I did a ton of more walking.  So, to truly understand the dirtiness of Rome, I took a picture of my socks and shoes for you, and all of the dirt and blackness was from this one day, and yes, my shoes are suppose to be completely white except for the 4 bars of dark blue!

Those were definetly dirty!!!

Ok, well that was an update on that day.  Now I guess I should update you with yesterday and today.  Busy days for me!  Yesterday I had 4 hours of Italian, 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening, why that way I do not know!  In my 7 hour break I spent a wonderful amount of time napping :)  and chatting on the phone, especially with my mommy who was helping me with my lovely money situation the best she could.  I also chatted with Alex who is now a new member of the wonderful TEC family!!!  Well, the rest of my time has been pretty boring with tons of Italian class and homework :-s So instead of boring you with my homework, I have really fallen behind on the pictures I have taken this past weekend.  Also when I figure out the scanner here,  I will post some pictures from last semester that some Tommies might enjoy to see!  But here are my weekend photos...

This is a picture of a French Gothic church that is along the Tiber River, and is on our way to the Vatican!

This picture was taken inside the Vatican after our tour of the excavation site underneath where they found some of St. Peter's bones.  I say some, because he was killed by being crucified upside down on the cross and his feet were cut off.  But this picture is one of many alter sites that we say after the tour when we could take pictures again.

Though this is a pretty dark picture, the best part of it is what I wanted to capture.  These are the chains of St. Peter.  When he was arrested, these were what held him prisoner.  They are displayed in the church of St. Peter in Chains (go figure! )

This is just a picture of the church of St. Peter in Chains.  Very beautiful inside, and where you see columns on the side, there are side alters, frescos, and statues on the otherside.

To give you an even better feel of the same church, this was the fresco painted on the ceiling!  It is not as clear as I had hoped, but you can get a pretty good idea.

This picture is from St. John's Basilica, behind the gold bars are statues of St. Peter and St. John.  Then all along the walls are statues of various Saints. 

This was actually down below the main alter in picture above.  In most churches here, by the alter there will be stairs like you would see in Beauty and the Beast that curve and meet in the center, and there will be something of great importance to that church down there.  Well this is our Lord, or as I like to say now "Ecce Homo" which means "behold the man."

Quick break from the many churches that I have visited.  These are two of the three men that randomly hopped on the metro one day when we were going somewhere and began entertaining us.  It was a lot of fun listening to them, however I had no money to give to them for their hard work, maybe next time.

Just incase any of you were wondering where I was staying for this semester.  This is our lovely Bernardi Campus, which you can see when crossing the bridge.  So now you know where home is for me these next few months.

Via di S. Teodoro.  This is what our street signs look like!  And I thought of sharing this one imparticular with you because of my Johnnie cousin, Theo!  Also if you want a quick translation, the sign means "way of St. Theodore."

This is one of the main events of being in Rome.  Seeing St. Peter's Basilica up close and personal.  I must say at night it is especially gorgeous with the dome lit up, but the circle infront of the church is also amazing.  There are statues of all the saints in a circle around the center of the piazza, if I may say piazza, which is just a open area that normal contains an oblask, which for those who do not know what that is, it is like the washington monument.

Ok, this is my last picture for the day.  This is our most common dessert for dinner.  And in all honesty, the most unliked dessert as well.  This a warning to those planning on travelling to Italy, most of their desserts are made with alcohol, rum is the most common.  Who ever thought that if you would eat a whole cake that you would not just be consuming a lot of calories, but could possibly get buzzed off of it as well!  The ones that smell like alcohol, I refrain from, because the crust is normally soaked in rum !

Well that is all I have for you now, and I know that was really long, but at least it was mostly pictures!  I would love to hear from you all again, and to see who is all exploring my travel log, so please sign my guestbook!!  Love you all and tonight sleep well!