Oh the joys of the early morning!

I finally figured out how to change the language settings on Blogger! It automatically switched to Italian the first time that I logged on here, but that meant that I couldn’t understand anything. I was merely guessing and hoping for the best every time I pressed something! Haha. Now it should work, so that’s good. If only I could get my pictures to upload now… That’s the next step!
I definitely hit the snooze button a couple of times this morning. Ah, sleep! Why are you so elusive sometimes? In spite of the pain, waking up to a gorgeous sky and choruses of birds always manages to make things better!
Today we had a three hour philosophy class. Dr. Hadley seems like a really nice, but interesting guy. He let us out a bit early, which is always nice! Normally it’s only supposed to be an hour and a half, but my English teacher is still in the USA. He should be getting back tomorrow though, which means that we will have a three hour English class on Thursday. I would rather have that then the philosophy class. We also had a meeting for a class that I am going to audit, People & Places of the European Past. Basically it consists of ten lectures and/or tours. It should be very interesting, especially to get a bit of a deeper glance into the things around here. The first lecture is on Monday evening about Emperor Constantine & his mother Helen. I’m looking foreword to it. Other than class, today has been just a work day. It’s amazing how much reading three teachers can assign in only one day! Ah! Tomorrow I’m hoping to go into Rome & study for a while there. Hopefully the wonderful public transportation system will be willing to comply with this desire!! Good night!

Silly songs with Larry

Today was the first day of classes. Ah, the joys of 8am classes. I know that it really shouldn’t be all that bad, but really. They are not fun whatsoever. Especially when one has to get up incredibly early in order to get some hot water! Besides the fact that I didn’t want to get up, my classes were interesting. I had Western Civilizations I, Western Theological Traditions & Art & Architecture of Rome. All of my teachers seem really cool. The classes look like they’ll be really interesting, though really hard. Alas, UD does not give easy classes. It’s good for me…It’s good for me…It’s good for me… Maybe if I keep repeating it, it won’t be so bad! Haha.
After class, I had to go into the Albano post office and turn in some official paperwork informing the Italian government that I am in the country and that I’m planning on being here for the next four months. Usually the paperwork never arrives back before I the end of the semester, but if it does, I have to go register with the police & give them my fingerprints. Afterwards, Maria (one of my roommates) and I went to the park to do some homework. The park was beautiful! We drank our yummy drinks (out of the bottle…barbarious!) while reading our theology homework.
Other evening activities included another mandatory meeting, dinner & veggie tale sing-a-longs! Oh, great fun! :D

I've got... the Holy Spirit!

Today has been a disappointment. I woke up freakishly early hoping to get into Rome for mass at one of the basilicas. I did get a nice hot shower (the first one!), but the bus never arrived! By the time that I got to the bus stop, there was already a large group who had been waiting for two hours. We eventually decided that we were just going to go to mass on campus, eat brunch & then try again. By the time that we got out there afterwards, there was a group of about 50 UD students waiting there…and buses had yet to arrive. At least one must have come by, but all of the others completely passed by the stop. Most were stuffed with people, even standing in the aisle, so they could not stop anyway. A bunch of people decided to go to Albano, but the buses decided not to come for that route either. Some of us decided not to walk there because it’s about 2 miles away, uphill, and the road does not always have a shoulder on which to walk. Finally a bus came for Castelgondolfo, and half of our group jumped on. Sarah Anne & I thought we wouldn’t have made it, so we didn’t go. We were really bummed, especially since it turns out that we probably would have made it anyway. We stuck around the bus stop for a little while longer, but we just decided that it was too much trouble to wait any longer. Sarah Anne is taking a nap on my bed, since she’s locked out of her room. Hopefully, this day will get better soon!


OK…later update.
Naps help to make everything better! After we woke up, we watched the Italian Job. We thought it would be fitting. Sarah Anne had never seen it, and she really enjoyed it. Afterwards listened to crazy oldies & danced around the room. Considering the lack of insulation in this place, I am sure that everyone in the building could have heard us dancing the chicken dance. Oh, was it fun!! Lol.
Tomorrow is the first day of classes starting at 8am. Bleh! I am not looking foreword to it! Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just live here for a while without actually having to work? Haha.

First Day in Roma!

Today was an early day! We had a lovely wake-up call at 6:30am in order to have time to get ready and eat breakfast in order to leave for Rome by quarter to eight. I almost had a sort of warm shower today too. We really need to figure out the warm water schedule!!

We had a lovely mass in St. Peter’s in the chapel of Sts. Simon & Jude. Their remains are buried under the main alter. Monsignor Fucinaro (I have to check the spelling of his name), our chaplain, said the mass. I’ve only heard him twice before, but he had some really good homilies. The church is beautiful, and it was really fun to watch everyone’s initial reactions. After mass, we split up into groups for walking orientation tours. Dr. Flusche, the Art & Architecture professor, led our group. She has lived in Rome for the last twelve years, but she’s originally from Texas. She showed us:
-a relatively cheap little coffee shop near the Vatican
-bus #64, how to use it & how to NOT get pickpoketed
-the Campo de’ Fiori (a local fresh fruit & vegetable market by day)
-the Jewish Ghetto (famous for its chocolate cookies & artichokes)
-the ruins of a gate dedicated to Octavia (the sister of Caesar Augustus) & a theater
dedicated to the nephew & one-time heir of Caesar Augustus
-the Capitaline Hill & the forum
-Termini, the main train station in Rome

We stopped in the middle of the tour to meet up with all of the other groups in order to eat a very yummy pizza lunch. We were supposed to go out on another tour after lunch, but the restaurant was a bit slow so we had to cancel it. Oh well. I guess that we are going to go on another such outing next Saturday. Hopefully now I shall be able to get in/out of Rome. Or at least in theory I should be able to. Lol. It looks like we might try and go into the city again tomorrow since we have a free day. We shall see!

Pictures: St Peter's, the Chapel of Sts. Andrew & Simon, I'm touching the foot of St. Peter!, Random shrine on the side of a building near the Vatican. (They're all over the place!)

Day Two!

Hello!
Just wanted to jot down a little something, so my blog would stop looking so empty! Today was my second day here in Italy, and everything has been going wonderfully! The flight over here was, of course, long, but it was nice. I didn't get much sleep, but neither did anyone else. Somehow it makes it all better when we are all zombied out together... Everyone was falling asleep during the opening mass & convocation.
Today was a day full of meetings as we get to know campus and how things run. We were going to take a trip into Albano (the nearby town) for gelato, but inclment weather cancelled those plans. A bunch of people took the bus in anyway. We walked around the main street a bit, attempting to acclimated ourselves to the sights, sounds & crazy Italian driving! :D A bunch of us watched Roman Holiday tonight, but sadly we realized that the chances of meeting Gregory Peck on the streets of Rome are pretty slim. Alas.
Tomorrow promises to be a very full day, for we are getting up at 6:30am for mass in St. Peter's and our first outing in Rome. It's going to be one full day of walking tours! Hopefully I'll have enough energy afterwards to write & maybe post some pictures.

Good Night!
-Steph