First Day of School!!!

+JMJ+

TODAY WAS MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

I had two classes today, "Introduction to physico-matemathical and biological sciences," and Latin.  I'm still not even sure exactly what the first one means.  As for Latin, well, know I am learning a dead language in a foreign language.  Hopefully that's as confusing as things will get around here...not likely!!

Even though I understood very little, I had an awesome day!   I was so happy to be back in school and I felt very excited to learn.  I really think the understanding will come, with lots of hard work and even more grace. I am recognizing so many words now, thanks be to God!  I just have to figure out what they mean when you put them all together like the professors do in lectures.  Minor details, right?

And I made MORE new friends!!  Some of them are from Poland!  When they told me they were from Poland, pretty much the first thing I did was smile really big and then say "I LOVE POLAND!"  Their responses weren't nearly as enthusiastic, but give it time, I am sure they will want to tell me all about their homeland...yay!

Ok, off to some time with Jesus now.  More to come!!

Loose Leaf Paper, and Other Important Things in Life

+JMJ+

Tomorrow is the first day of school!!!  Woohoo!  I am excited.  Today, after the opening Mass, I made a Polish friend and ran into a friend I made last semester.  The Mass was SO beautiful.  Both the clergy and the congregation (well, most of the congregation was made up of clergy students) were so reverent and the music was absolutely beautiful, definitely elevating for the soul.  And of course, Jesus was there:)  It made me feel so blessed to be a part of that school.

On my walk home from school today

I got some school supplies this afternoon to prepare for tomorrow.  By school supplies, I guess I mean some loose leaf paper.  That's been about the extent of my preparation.  Actually, that's not exactly true.  There was also the entire summer of application paperwork and the month long Italian class.  But really, there was so much leading up to even that.  Everything in my life, growing up in the faith, discovering a love for theology, making good friends, going to Ave Maria, studying abroad last semester, and so many itty bitty things that, all together, have prepared me for my first day of school at Santa Croce tomorrow.  And constantly, through everything, prayer: other people's prayers for me, the intercession of the saints in heaven, the souls in purgatory, the powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother, and even my little prayers.  It is amazing to take time to step back and reflect on how God has brought me to where I am now.  So much grace!!!  Thank You, Jesus!!  With grace and loose leaf paper, I am set to go for tomorrow!

As promised, here is some documentation of our Iron Chef competition last night.  It was SO fun!  I was super impressed by what the students came up with.  I am pretty sure I wouldn't have come close the the gourmet level they performed at.  Annnnnnd it was delicious.  Can we do this everyday??

Each team had to have a main dish, a side, and a dessert

Team Delicioso--our winners!  Plus a baby and two small children...

Props to the guys for their winning side dish and delicious and creative Nutella mousse! 

Team Venture

Dolce e Bella took the prize for overall presentation--you can see why

Here they are with one of our esteemed guest judges.  There was some real pressure on our chefs!

Happy Sunday!!

+JMJ+

Happy Sunday!  Today is happy indeed.  I went to Mass this morning at Santa Maria del Rosario, one of my favorite churches in Rome.  It was especially fitting considering tomorrow is the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary!  Woohoo!!!

Santa Maria del Rosario

I am hoping today will be a day of rest, with some time to do little things that need to be done, to talk with my family (family, if you are reading this, I want to skype you!!!), and to prepare for tomorrow.  Tomorrow is the opening Mass for the academic year at Santa Croce!  So exciting!!  I am excited for classes to begin on Tuesday.  I should probably be scared and intimidated, but...ain't nobody got time for that!!  God is way to good and generous for me to freak out; He always provides for what He wants, so really, what do I have to worry about?  I just have to remember that all semester...

"Pray, hope, and don't worry.  Worry is useless.  God is merciful and will hear your prayer." -Padre Pio

Tonight, we are having an Iron Chef competition with the students!  That should be super fun.  We picked up secret ingredients yesterday...mwahahahaha ;)  I hope we have some cooks in the house!  Keep checking the blog to see how that turns out.  Ciao ciao for now!

The Return of the Blogger

+JMJ+
After a long hiatus, I am back to blogging!  Hopefully regularly.

So what has happened since the last time I posted?  SO MUCH!  Here's a few highlights:

• I have moved again!!!  And am now in a "permanent" home for the next two and a half months.  Woohoo!!  I really cannot believe that I am living here.  I step out my front door, look to the left, and I see the colonnades of St. Peter's.  It is such a grace and a blessing!  Really though, everyday, it is so hard to believe.  All I can do is thank God and just be in awe.

  

  Mama mia!

• The students from the USA arrived on Friday!!! YAY!  There are sixteen of us all together now. We are quickly becoming one big, happy, American family.  We live in a building with two apartments upstairs and two downstairs.

  

  The common room...we are working on coming up with a more appropriate name for the room  where we take our meals and transform into a cafe style hang out place.  This was a little banquet we held to celebrate a long day of successful scavenger hunting.

• Also on Friday, I took my Italian test!  Some things I knew, some things I didn't.  On Monday, we got our tests back and went over them.  By the grace of God, somehow I did not fail!!!  But really, I am pretty sure the Holy Spirit basically did the prepositions section of the test.  I am so bad at prepositions.  I guessed on almost all of them and only missed one.  Here, the Lord had another (there have been so many) opportunity to close the door to the possibility of me studying at Santa Croce; again, He kept the the door wide open.  So, on Monday I will attend the school Mass to open the academic year, and on Tuesday I will start my classes at Santa Croce.  Thanks and glory be to God!!!
• Also on Monday, we had a party at school to celebrate the end of the Italian course.  You really cannot imagine what this was like.  Seriously, I could not believe that this happened.  Basically, everyone came into the biggest classroom and groups of priests (there were a few lay people too) would come up and sing a song, always reflecting the culture of their home country.  Some of them even danced or played guitar.  AND everyone loved it!!  They all had their cameras out, videoing the groups.  People participated like it was a completely normal thing.  It was so funny and so awesome!!

  

  See this?  Yep, not even joking.

• Here a few giant blessings the Lord has sprinkled throughout the past two weeks:
• Mass said by some of my classmates on the altar over the tomb of St. Peter
• Mass said by Cardinal Burke on the tomb of Blessed John Paul II.  On the same morning, we ran into a Polish Cardinal we knew and his secretary, an awesome Polish priest we met last semester.
• North American College deaconate ordinations in St. Peter's, followed by a beautiful reception at the NAC where we got to greet the newly ordained deacons and where I ran into quite a few people I knew

  

  The deaconate ordinations of 41 men studying to be priests to serve the Lord in the USA!!  Get ready for an awesome gift, homeland!!

• I ran into Fr. Hasser, an awesome priest from my home diocese, HERE in Rome, TWICE, UNPLANNED!!!  That made me so so happy.
• I have been so very happy.  Thanks be to God!  So much grace...can't even handle it.  But really, I definitely couldn't handle anything without the grace of God.  I hope the Lord is planning to inundate me with even MORE graces as my classes start on Tuesday!  I will need it!!

A Short Something, Better than Nothing!

+JMJ+

Hello!

Internet is indeed rare at this point, my friends, and I am indeed tired, so this will be short, but...well, it'll be something!

After three weeks of Italian class, I'm practically fluent!!

Hahaha.  Just kidding.  I'm pretty sure I'd say yes to anything if you asked me in Italian; except for one question:  Capito?  Well, usually, no, io non capisco!!

But really, class is going very well.  It's actually really funny; no one in my class seems the least bit concerned that we're supposed to start working on degrees in Italian in a week and none of us really know the language yet!  I am in good company.  My class has learned just enough Italian to make fun of each other, so class has gotten pretty entertaining.

I've been quite busy making preparations for the study abroad students to come at the end of the month.  So exciting!!  It's kind of weird to think that was me just a semester ago.  It's really weird to think that I'm now a student trying to learn Italian and attending a pontifical university in Rome.  Is this real life??

Well, I must be going.  Time to organize the semester calendar!  Yeah!  It's probably important to know what day class starts...yes, yes I should look that up.  TTFN, ta ta for now!

This is the beautiful view from my classroom window!

Status: Second Class Hobo

+JMJ+

On my way into Trastevere one day

Thanks to Divine Providence, I am living out my dream of being a hobo!  Well, pretty close.  I consider myself a second class hobo, since I am living inside of places, going to school, and have a sort of job, but am really dependent on people's charity and generosity.  First class hobo would be sleeping on the streets.  Second class is good for now.  On Sunday, I moved from staying with an awesome Italian family to staying with a friend of mine in a small apartment.  In one week, I will move again!  Yay for not having a permanent address!

The apartment I am in this week does not have wifi, so my posts will probably be even more inconsistent than they have been so far.  

My weekend was very good.  I basically moved my stuff, spent a few hours cleaning books, did all of the normal things I do, and moved!  It's been awesome to spend the fast couple days with my friend, Corinne.  We've traded stories of our summers, shared pictures, and laughed A LOT.  We're going to have to give up speaking in English pretty soon though, or else I'll never learn Italian!  BUT, we have started praying the Liturgy of the Hours together in Italian.  It's really fun, and really funny.  It takes longer for two reasons: I read much slower in Italian and I start cracking up every five seconds.

We've started making preparations for the students who will be studying abroad to come, which is super exciting!!  We're going in just a couple minutes to see the apartments where we all will be and figure what we can do to make them even MORE AWESOME.

My Italian is coming along, by the grace of God, slowly, but surely...but slowly.  Everyone in my class has learned just enough Italian to start making fun of each other, so things get pretty entertaining sometime.  I love my classmates.  They are hilarious.  Just the fact that we all showed up in Rome to study in Italian without knowing any beforehand, really, is pretty funny to begin with.

I must end here for now.  More next time I am blessed (or cursed) with wifi!  Maybe I will get more studying done now that I don't have internet...well, regardless, in all things may Jesus Christ be praised!  

Pray for me!!

How to Know If Your Elevator is Roman

+JMJ+

Want to know if your elevator has Roman tendencies?  Here are a few common characteristics to watch out for:

1.  Floor "1" is not actually the first floor.  It's the second floor.  While American elevators use "1" to indicate the ground floor, the "first" floor that you encounter, Roman elevators use "1" to indicate the "first" floor above the ground floor.  This is terribly misleading when using the stairs.  But, we are talking about Roman elevators, not Roman stairs.  That's a whole another post.

2.  There are buttons that display "0" or "T."  Important: these two symbols are used interchangeably to indicate the ground or main floor.  Floor zero...because you have gone zero floors up?  For anyone from my home parish, where the "T" button in the elevator indicates the lower "terrace" level, the Roman Elevator's "T" could be very confusing; but, now you know.

3. There are buttons that display negative numbers.  Welcome to the basement.  And, in my case, this is where the coffee bar is.  I press that button often...

4. The "24hr" symbol on the press-for-help button does not mean that help is available 24 hours a day; it means that you will probably have to wait 24 hours for help to come.

4.  The doors do not sense your presence.  In other words, if you are in the way when the elevator doors are closing, they won't stop for you; rather, they continue to close, full force, squishing and bruising their victim.  This is also common in Roman Bus doors and Roman Crowds.  Cars will stop for you, but nothing else will.

Ok, I made up number 4, but it is probably true.  Nothing in Rome is available 24 hours.

It is amazing how tired at the end of the day, how much I've done, and how much I still have to do.  I must go do ALL THE THINGS.  Good thing "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" Philippians 4:13.  With Jesus, ALL THE THINGS are possible!!!!

Week 1: Finito!

+JMJ+
Buonasera!

I have to get back into the habit of posting regularly.  Mi dispiace!  I'm sorry!  Hopefully once my life becomes more regular, my routine will as well.

Yeah right, like I will ever have a regular life.  Funny.

Well, after one week back in Roma, I know a million times more Italian than I started with and about a trillion times less than I need to know, I've made some great friends at school, I'm more tan than I ever got in Florida, and I have enjoyed beautiful Italian meals with my Italian family every night.

I'm watching my third Italian soccer game with my Italian family.  It's so fun!  I'm starting to learn the Italian players' names.  I don't even know American football players names!

This past week has been challenging, but very good.  What a cliche statement.  Meh.  However cliche, it is appropriate.  So much...where do I begin?  This is why I need to blog everyday.

How about my daily routine?  Why yes, yes there is some regularity in my life.  Thank you, school:

6:30am
Wake up.  Ok, fine, in ideal world, wake up at 6:30.  In reality, it's usually a lot closer to 7am.  I clean up my room, get dressed, brush my teeth, eat breakfast (cereal and caffe), and (if it's a closer-to-6:30 day) do morning prayer.  But not necessarily in that order.

7:30am
I'm off!  To get to school, I walk, then take a bus, then take a tram, then walk some more, through Piazza Navona, until I finally arrive at my school.  The whole trip takes between a half and hour and an hour, depending on traffic and when the bus decides to come.  Apparently traffic will be crazy tomorrow morning because it is the first day of school for elementary, middle, and high school.  I usually arrive early, so I have some time to spend walking around Piazza Navona, praying in the chapel, or, if I didn't get my coffee at breakfast, taking a caffe macchiato with my classmates in the lower level of school.

9:00am
Class begins!  This is the part where I understand very little of what is spoken, but quite a bit of what is written on the board.  So, as long as whatever the professor is talking about is the same as what she's writing on the board, I should be good, right?

11:00am
Time for a 15 minute coffee break.  Now, everybody goes down to the lower level, floor negative one.  Seriously, that's what it's called, I'll take a picture of the elevator button tomorrow.  A cluster (no lines--please, we're in Italy) forms around the two coffee machines (which produce better coffee than any American place ever, and for only 40 cents).  It's a grand time.

Disclaimer: I took this picture in the US...but you get the idea: Coffee.  Break.  Coffee break.

11:15am
Class resumes, and Erin is a much happier, alert student for the next hour and fifteen minutes after that coffee break.

12:00pm
Our professor stops class and we all stand to pray the angelus.  So. Awesome.

12:30pm
Class is over.  On Monday and Wednesday, this is the beginning of my three hour lunch break.  Other days, I am done for the day.  There's Mass everyday at the chapel at my school at 12:45pm, which is super awesome and super convenient.  Yay Jesus!  Then, some of my classmates and I walk to a close grocery store, buy cheap but delicious sandwiches and fruit, and go find some nice steps to sit on and eat lunch (pranzo).  After lunch, I try to find somewhere to make a holy hour (being in Rome, it's harder than you'd think--everything closes from around 1pm until around 5pm).  Then I head home!

Waiting for the tram to take me home today

6:00pm
By the time I get home, it's usually already 6:00pm.  Amazing.  I use the time before dinner for homework, studying, and showering.

8:00
Dinner time!  Right now, I am staying with a beautiful, generous Italian family.  They are so awesome. Seriously.  We have dinner together every night around 8pm.  Dinner is always wonderful!  I get to practice speaking Italian a little bit, but right now I mostly just listen.  By the time I've constructed a coherent sentence, the topic of conversation has changed.  Oh well; it will come!  Unfortunately tomorrow is my last day with them.  I want to be adopted!

8:45
After dinner, sometimes Paolo (the dad of family) and I read Shakespeare together...in Italian.  Or, rather, he reads to me, explains the words, I try, and he helps me.  It is so fun and so hilarious!  He, like a good Italian, is very loud and very expressive.  Needless to say, our Shakespeare sessions are always entertaining.  I spend the evening studying, blogging, listening to Italian television, and sleeping.  Which is what I need to do now.  I have to leave extra early tomorrow because of all the traffic from the first day of school apparently.

Buona notte!!!

Oh Happy Day!

+JMJ+

If I were going to send a real postcard today, this would definitely be it.  Why?  Well, I wish I would have gotten a better picture, but these guys had a huge knife sharpener in the back of this little truck and were standing right here in this side street sharpening swords and kitchen knives!!  It's true!!  I don't even have words!

Here are the study session pictures I promised yesterday:

Studying Italian!

Studying Italian...

STUDYING ITALIAN!!

Studying Italian...?

Obviously, I was awake to take that last picture, but that's about where I ended.  I mean, I had a lot to do!  My professor had assigned the entire first two units of the book!

...Or so I thought.  Let me give you a little bit more background.  Because my class if full of students from all over the world, the lectures are not taught in English; they are entirely in Italian, with a few Spanish and English words thrown in here and there.  Now, did I mention that I know practically ZERO Italiano??  You can probably see where this is going.  When I showed up to class today, I asked one of my friends about the homework, to which she responded, "We weren't assigned any homework...?"  Oh.  Well, I guess I'm two units ahead now.  It was pretty funny.

I had Italian class all day today.  My brain is feeling more tired (stanco) than Italian at the moment.  But, it is a tired and happy brain.  I am exhausted, I have a TON to learn, and I am so happy.  Praise be to God!

Also, lesson of the day: DO NOT try to go for a "quick" visit to St. Peter's after noon on a Wednesday.  Guess what Wednesdays are?  Papal audiences.  "Hey, why don't we just go see St. Peter's after the papal audience in the morning while we're here anyway?" said every tourist ever.  I tried to go during my lunch break (understand that my lunch break is three hours long), and I still didn't have near enough time.  Be warned!

Ok, I have to try to study a bit more tonight.  I will try to post in Italiano sometime soon!  Buona notte!

"Let the Studying Begin!!!"-Things Erin Should Have Said Three Months Ago

+JMJ+

Greetings from Roma!

It is so hot and sunny!  I need to find some sunscreen!
But...ain't nobody got time for that!

Today was my first day of class...even though the academic calendar says the first day of class is tomorrow. Ha, typical.  In Rome, almost no website, or really any schedule for that matter, is very reliable or unchangeable.  Class was great!  Intro today included a placement test, a coffee break, and the beginning of our course work.  I tested into LEVEL ONE ITALIANO (yeah!!), with at least twenty other people.  I guess I'm not the only one who shows up in Rome to study without knowing any Italian.  I made more friends during the coffee break!  I met two other women from the US who are studying communications and canon law at Santa Croce.  I made more friends from lots of other countries.  Thank God for coffee breaks!  As for the course work we did, it was difficult, but it was good.  I've been studying all evening!  Stay tuned for pictures of my productive study sessions!  I hope that ends up being more exciting than it sounds!!

Rome, my New Home

+JMJ+

I registered for the next five years of my life today!  Yeah!  And I made friends!  Mom would be so proud.  The day went well and was very productive: I registered for classes, prayed, saw the tombs of the two popes who will be canonized SUPER SOON, and the tomb of St. Gregory the Great, whose feast day is tomorrow.  I practiced speaking with people and I've even done some studying.  Some, but not enough, so I must go do more now.  I felt so at home walking through the streets of Rome today.  What a blessing to be back!  

Mamma Mia, Here I Go Again!

I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaack.  I’m typing this post from 35,000 feet in the air somewhere between Indianapolis and New York (sitting in the back, right by the bathroom…).  Usually at this time of year, I’m flying in the opposite direction, down to Ave Maria University.

However, I am not going back to Ave Maria.  I am going back to ROME!  Surprise!!!!  Believe me, it’s a surprise for me too.  I didn’t find out until about three weeks ago that I would be going back for sure.

Let’s back up a little bit.  I spent the spring semester studying abroad in Rome as a sophomore with Ave Maria University.  As you could probably tell from my last blog, I loved being over there.  There are so many particulars I could point out, the city, the Churches, the Holy Father, the culture, the food, but what I think was most beautiful about my time in Rome was that I felt like my whole way of life was elevated.  I lived more simply, yet more richly, and learned a lot about depending on Divine Providence—and I LOVED it.  The possibility of returning someday to continue my studies or to work crossed my mind more than once.  However, even my elevated lifestyle and musings of returning wouldn’t have been enough for me to up and decide to leave everything to go back.  Anyone who knows me pretty well could probably tell you that it takes a lot to motivate me to go after something big, or even not so big, for myself.  I’m typically a more of a receiver than a “go getter.” 

The good Lord knows that’s how I operate, so that’s how He presented the opportunity to return to Rome: as something I basically only had to say yes to.  Really, it is amazing how little work I myself have done to make this happen.  (Side note: I have never been on such a short, tiny flight on which SO MANY people have to use the bathroom.  I’m pretty sure half the plane has been in and out of there by now!)  Anyway, if you talk to any foreign student studying in Rome, they will tell you the two hardest things about their position are finding a place to live and a way to support themselves.  Suddenly, by the grace of God, I had both of these offered to me.  As a friend I made in Rome put it when I explained my situation, “This doesn’t just happen.”  My musings about returning to Rome went from mere thoughts to a lot of prayer and a lot of paperwork.

The more I prayed about it, the more clear it became that it was God’s will for me to pursue this, whether or not it came to be in the end.  With more prayer came more peace, more paperwork, and more small miracles.  If I were to describe them all here, this blog post would be much too long.

Just about three weeks ago, I received the official acceptance letter I needed to apply for a student visa.  Just four days ago, my visa (with my PASSPORT) arrived in the mail.  Just about three hours ago, I said goodbye to my family, and headed through security with my one-way ticket to catch my flight to Rome.  It is hard to believe this is happening!!

So what will I be doing in Rome?  I will be studying theology and philosophy at the Pontifical College of the Holy Cross, hereafter referred to as Santa Croce.  I will be working as an RA for American students studying abroad.  I will (hopefully!) be learning Italian VERY quickly.  First and foremost, though, I pray that I will be living in the most holy and lovable will of God.  That is what motivates me to leave everything.  That is what brings me to Rome, and that is what I want to accomplish there.  And I'm going to have fun doing it!!  I am SO excited, and even though there are a lot of hard things about this, I am so happy and so humbled to be going back.  Thank you to everyone who has helped me, encouraged me,  and prayed for me!  Please, keep the prayers coming! And keep up with my blog!

I will post this as soon as I have internet access (which is guaranteed nowhere as long as I am in Rome).

“Blessed and beloved be the most holy will of God!” –St. Josemaria Escriva