Rome is like every city you've ever been to and nothing like every city you've ever been to...all at the same time. You've got your graffiti, you've got your smoggy air, your smelly buses, and your camera vetted tourists. But you've also got sisters and priests appearing around every street corner, getting to watch the amusing antics of 50 purse vendors running away from cops every other day, people playing accordions on the subway, and coffee taking the place of water in any Italian's diet(---so therefore, your little studying abroad self's diet). It took me probably til I was about to leave to really say I was comfortable with the city and comfortable finding my way around. (Although it only took me a few days to get annoyed by the ACTUAL tourists... ..something I was never...cause please, I belonged in my Roma from day one) That's how life works I suppose. It was amazing to be walking and then all of a sudden come across the Pantheon...or the Colosseum. And the amount of stunningly beautiful churches in Rome is absolutely mind blowing.
Now...Pasta is everywhere. Gelato is everywhere. And coffee is everywhere. I'm ok with all of those things though, so it was all good. Oh, and Romans love their dogs. I didn't see that many families, I guess just the nature of living in a city. But there were many...many dogs. There were tiny smart cars everywhere, umbrella vendors appearing out of nowhere when it started to rain, and pictures of Mary on many of the apartment buildings. Oh and there was St. Peter's 5 minutes away from where we lived. Rome is a city with a life and mind of its own.
So that was the city life. (And I talked a bit more about that in my first post I posted-- that was supposed to be one of many--- if you want to go back and read it :p) But besides the city itself, it was really the people that God sent this semester that made this trip the biggest blessing....Firstly, I'd like to send a big shout and thank you to Father Scott and Deacon Taylor and Josh! They came every week so we could have a holy hour (and confessions from Father) and they brought so much joy and peace to our group...I'm so grateful for all they did for us this semester and for all the laughter they brought every time they were with us. I'd also like to talk about our super fantastically amazing RD for a second now... Miss Corinne. She is one of the most loveable and giving people I have ever met. I am so grateful for all that she did for our whole group. Between planning our smaller pilgrimages and trip to Poland, she still found time to help us with little things and make us all fall on the floor laughing with her crazy and silly self all at the same time. (Example: the day we all pretended we could actually legitimately African dance ... inspired by Corinne. Hopefully...uhhh... that video never goes anywhere). Annddd I can't talk about inspiring people without including our RAs: Miss Erin and Mr. Henry. I'm pretty sure those two both have a little ray of sunshine that they bring around with them everywhere. They would probablyyyy deny that. Ya know, cause they've got their problems: Erin's meanness which I've explained to her is similar to butterflies hitting people, and Henry's sassiness on about the same level of meanness. Butttt on a serious note, they shouldn't deny the joy they brought to all of us... They shouldn't because it's true. These two self-sacrificing people showed our group what it means to really be joyful followers of Christ. (We were the founders of the Happy Bear club... tis a grand club... you should ask me about it sometime. Or just come up and shout "Happy Bear!" as loudly as possible when you see me. Either is acceptable) Annnnddd I'm super de duper uber grateful that they stated getting us all to pray the Liturgy of the Hours with them recently...some favorite memories and Jesus time right there that will hopefully continue... (yes,yes I am a holy roller who asked for a breviary for her birthday because of those two...shhhh don't tell anyone)
All the kids of the program were blessings too. I want to send a huge thank you for the silliness, caring, love and friendship that all the students in the program this semester showed me and everyone else. There were SO many little things that brought such joy to my heart over the last 3 months thanks to all of them. Some of my absolute favorite memories were from the impromptu jam sessions and dances we had in our tiny little common room at the residence, VIP wine&pizza nights with guest speakers, playing the cup game wayyyy too many times after dinner, and taking random trips to gelaterias or the 30cent pastry shop... Oh, and bar beato. Can't forget bar beato. Corinne, and some of the other girls in the program would make coffee in our common room and we'd pay a few cents and the money would go to a pregnancy center. Speaking of loved shown, the sweetest little old Italian man, who runs a cafe right by the residence we lived at, would donate pastries for free so we could use them to make money for bar beato. So kind.
There were SO many other people who came into mine and everyone else's lives just briefly for the semester who were amazing blessings. There was the bus drive in Pollone who let about 10 of us ride for free. There was the Missionaries of Charity ,who some of us got to work with a few times over the semester, who showed us what real love was. There were the men at the Missionaries of Charity houses who also showed us just as much and more love as we thought we were going to show them. (I remember some of them saying over and over again to us as we left one night: "God bless you!!!") There was the Italian lady who worked at the bread shop down the street from our residence who said she had never managed to get to St. Peter's in her whole time there. (St. Peter's was down the street from us). I'm not really sure why she hadn't gotten to go, probably just from too much work. But her working there didn't keep her from being overly generous. She, on more than one occasion, threw in lots of free stuff for our group when we bought dinner there. There was Claire who by an act of God's providence I got to meet. She was a consecrated virgin, who was one of the kindest and realest people I have ever met. There was the Assaf family (Mr. Assaf is the head of the program), who showed us huge amounts of love and generosity in many different ways.There were the host families we stayed with when we went to Poland, who fed us and housed us. There was our tour guide when we went to Auschwitz who wanted to make sure we understood how grateful we need to be for our lives. There were two beautiful students in Prague who showed us around Prague and helped us get housing when we were there for two nights. There were the many many people who worked at all the gelato shops I went to that put up with me asking them to pick flavors for me. There was SO much love shown throughout the whole semester that I can't even really fathom it.
Our trip to Poland was probably one of the highlights of the whole semester. We went to Warsaw, Krakow, Czestochowa, the city JP 2 is from, Auschwitz, the city Maximilian Kolbe lived in, and saw so many other amazing things too. While Roma will always have a special place in my heart, Poland is a place I want to go back and live forever....No exaggeration. The people had so much faith. At one point we went to stations of the cross that were walking stations, I think in Warsaw. We went to the most amazing Palm Sunday procession I've ever seen in Krakow(there was Polish music and fire dancing... enough said) and then mass afterwards at a beautiful basilica. It was one of the most touching things I've ever experienced. You really could feel the people on fire for their faith in that city and really everywhere in the country. We also got to visit the Divine Mercy shrine and learn more about St. Faustina. One of the sisters there gave a little talk to us. She was pretty amazing. She talked about how St. Faustina fell in love with Jesus.
We went to mass at a church Maximilian Kolbe and some other men had built in another city. There was an amazing priest ever there who said mass for us. He spoke of how Jesus had really appeared to him once and he spoke of his encounter with Him. He spoke of how we need love in our lives desperately. He reminded us of what St. Paul said about how if we don't have love we are nothing. Love is the only language that we need. We had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz. It was one of the most eye-opening and saddening things that I have ever seen. Our tour guide made sure that we understood that we must never let those people go forgotten. They had dignity and we must always remember them. We go to see the cell of St. Maximilian Kolbe where he died after he took the place of another man in the starvation cell. That is what true love really means. That was beautiful to see that light in the darkness.
We also ended up getting to spend a day in the Czech Republic, on our way home from Poland. There were so many people there who showered kindness on us too. People made sure we had a place to stay and showed us around to special places in Prague. We met the most amazing people on that trip that I don't think I will ever forget.
Then we came back to Rome and amazing things were about to happen. I have to tell you about Easter and the Canonization. Easter was beautiful.I got to go to the Easter vigil inside St. Peter's and then the mass outside St. Peter's on Easter day. What a huge gift that was. And it was so amazing to get to see Papa Francesco so many times! Easter day we all had an amazing time at the villa where the program has had their campus in the past. It's a little outside the city. It's a good thing that it wasn't where we stayed this semester though, or I would never have gone into the city. That campus was stunning. There were trees and flowers and an open field. It was lovely. It was the first Easter I've ever been without my family, but it was a filled with friends, laughter and happiness.
Annnnnddd goodness gracious. The canonization was absolutely insane. It was the week after Easter. Our group by the grace of God, was in the right place at the right time. We had been wandering around the millions of people squished everywhere in the city the night before the canonization, trying to figure out where to camp out.Anddd at around 11:30 we were standing right by where the crowd started moving towards St. Peter's. We followed the crowd and then got swept in. We were squished into standing room only for about 8 hours. Most of us took turns sitting. We napped, we prayed, we sang, we laughed, we took 5 minute power naps, we got grumpy, we went a little crazy at points. The crowd would move a few feet every hour or so. It was quite the strange sensation to move only because a million other people are moving around you. At around 7am though, by Mama Mary's intercession and the grace of God we got pushed right into St. Peter's square. We were right next to people who had been in line since 2pm the day before and 9pm...when we had only accidentally stumbled into line on that street at 11:30pm....wow... God is good. Then the canonization mass was beautiful...the sun came out for part of it. JP2 and John 23rd wanted to make sure there was at least a little sunshine. :) There was such joy when Pope Francis named them official saints! The priests came out to distribute communion with yellow colored umbrellas and they all marched down the square all in a row. It was a beautiful sight, especially since we were farther back in the square and I wasn't sure we were going to get communion. It was so special that we did get to receive communion though! Not going to lie though, I think I fell asleep during part of the readings... only for a second or two though. ;) Also... sleep is a beautiful thing. I don't think I've ever been more grateful for sleep than the night of the canonization. (Fell asleep at 5pm on Sunday... woke up at 6:15am on Monday...like a pro.)
The last few days were kind of a blur. Went on a few adventures. Met up with some Domincan sisters on one little side trip. Got to visit Nettuno, where St. Maria Goretti is from one of the last days. Walked around the city by myself on my very last day. Said goodbye to everyone who was left whilst eating gelato.
Annnnddd then said my goodbyes to Roma.
I feel like I've just woken up from a dream, ever since I've been home. It was one of the most amazing trips I've ever had. It was definitely hard at some points, don't get me wrong.. But it was all such a blessing..every single second of it. I cannot believe I got to see and experience everything that I did. It's crazy. Absolutely crazy. But a good crazy. :) This little summary can't really begin to cover the 3 months...but I hope I was able to share at least partly the blessing that this semester was. Thank you Jesus for all that you have shown us all this semester. Annddd I will now leave you with a quote from one of the books we read this semester (....or rather, were supposed to have read) that I think summarizes the feeling of all who get to enjoy the beauty and peace of Roma.
"And joy pervades her quiet heart." ~from the Aeneid.
If you stuck with me this whole time... I thank you :)
Ciao!
Blessings,
~Paula
