No Complaints.

Something I learned about myself:

Things are a lot easier when you don’t complain. I don’t usually consider myself someone who complains a lot (unless there is no honey mustard in the student restaurant, then anyone and everyone will hear about it). If you’ll indulge me in complaining for a moment, I hate laundry. Hate. It. I’m lucky that I have made a deal with the world’s greatest mom—she washes and I fold. You know that looming feeling when you know you have deliberately put something off? Yep, that was me today. SO after successfully refreshing my facebook newsfeed seven times in five minutes, I realized that if I don’t do laundry I’d be in deep trouble for tomorrow. As much as I wanted to curse the dirty clothes while walking the unbearable thirty feet to the laundry room, I acknowledge that it doesn’t do me any good to complain to myself and let’s face it, that would just distract me from daydreaming about Swiss guards and eating nutella.

In an effort to avoid complaining about the lack of dryer,
I'll direct your attention to the lovely hanging contraption that we get to use.               

The Best Thing That I Ate:

Brunch. We are blessed enough as a program to have three wonderful men at the North American College minister to us and they cooked brunch for us on Saturday morning. Not just any brunch, American brunch! Dunkin Donuts coffee, hash browns, egg bake and pancakes with SYRUP. I could have cried eating this meal . . .Okay, maybe I did. There was great company and after we ate seconds and thirds and fourths, we got a tour of the North American College. The roof of the NAC has one of the absolute best views in Rome and after some lovely prayer time in their chapel, we all basked in the sun outside on their sports field. To make things even better, I got to eat a fresh orange--although it did come at some personal pain, when I pulled an orange off the tree, another one wacked me straight on the nose. Cute, right? Although the food was delicious, it was such an honor to be in the presence of these men who have given everything to serve the Church and Catholics everywhere. 

I was too busy eating to take a picture of the food,
but you can see how beautiful the view is! 

Deacon Ryan is a lot cooler than I am and could juggle four oranges, where I couldn't even yank one off the tree without getting a welt. 

An Adventure I Went On:

Nettuno! As a part of my politics class, we all ventured about 35 miles south of Rome to a small town called Nettuno. We were there for the 68^th anniversary of the Allies landing on the beach in Nettuno. It was such an amazing opportunity to be able to learn more about history and the important sacrifice that so many Americans have made, and seeing that American flag was oh so sweet. After a few ceremonies, we went over to go see the tomb of St. Maria Goretti. We found out when we arrived at the Church that they were closing, so even though the priest was clearly yelling in Italian Elise and I opted to sprint down the steps so we could catch a glimpse and say a prayer. And a prayer it was, to be in the physical presence of a saint whose story is one of God’s unbelievable mercy was a truly beautiful experience.

Beautiful Nettuno.

Gorgeous memorial. 

St. Maria Goretti, Pray for us!

The Craziest/Most Interesting Thing That I Saw:

Rocks. But not just any rocks—rocks from 2000 years ago. As a part of my Catholicism, Commerce and Culture class we went to the Roman Forums. Now, I’m usually the girl in museums/historical places who has troubles comprehending the magnitude of it and asks questions like “Wait, you mean this is the actual column that was here 2000 years ago? Are you SURE?” This is usually met with both annoyed looks and encouraging glances from people who are clearly much better informed than I am. The Roman Forums are both beautiful and expansive and I was able to enjoy a wonderful class and learn a lot more about ancient Roman history (and the bird poop makeup that they wore). Gross.

Part of the Roman Forum behind us. 

Can you believe that I get to have class here?

Prayers to everyone back home participating in the March for Life, count on prayers from across the ocean!