We just got back last night from what I am calling the 'Great Italian Adventure'. Five cities in four days! It was exhausting but so rewarding. It started with masks and unreal celebrations in Venice and ended with beautiful snow dusted Tuscany!
Something I learned about myself:
No matter where I have been this semester so far, there has been nothing more comforting than stepping foot into various churches. It has been a crazy month and a half here, I have travelled across Italy and even ventured out into Europe. I have gotten lost, there have been ups and downs, but so much of what the Lord has given me has been through what I have experienced visiting different sacred spaces. I have learned a lot about how rich the Church’s history is, but also about how constant Holy Mother Church has been throughout the ages. I especially felt this this weekend when I was travelling throughout Italy where I was able to pray where St. Catherine of Siena lived, light a candle for my parents in the Cathedral of Arezzo and prayed in the chapel dedicated to the Eucharistic miracle as witnessed by Peter of Prague. Read about that here, it is an amazing story. Not only was I struck in awe of with gratitude of God’s beauty, but also struck with gratitude for the opportunities for prayer in some of the most beautiful spaces on earth. Each time that I get a glance of the areas where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, I am overcome with even more gratitude for the Lord’s full presence.
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St. Catherine of Siena, Pray for Us!
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This has to be one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Right up there with choosing a college and deciding what pair of socks to wear today. But, since I was in beautiful Tuscany this weekend, I have to go with Ribollita. Now I don’t pride myself on being adventurous, but I knew that I had to try something local. I was not brave enough to try the pheasant or rabbit (bleh), but my soup had beets and beans in it so I consider that brave! This was the perfect meal to eat on a cold day with some delicious local red wine and great conversation. As I’m writing this, my mouth is almost watering because it was a b-o-r-i-n-g night here complete with a nutella sandwich and pumpkin seeds. You can’t win them all. . .
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| This picture was obviously taken before I became classy and learned how to hold my vino glass. |
An Adventure I Went On:
On Monday night I went to a wine tasting at a castle on the side of a mountain. I still can’t believe that those words just came out of my mouth (hands?). As a part of our great Italian adventure, we were able to Monday night climbing a mountain and spending a wonderful evening in an unheated castle—that’s what the wine was for. I learned how to be classier—I’m sure all of you knew that you are supposed to hold wine by the stem in an effort to not prematurely heat it up, but I did not. Also, I have devised yet another plan, this one involves finding a man who’s family owns a castle/vineyard on the side of a mountain in Italy. . .
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| Another day, Another castle. |
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| Fun fact: I decided to buy the wine that we sampled so I can have a classy wine tasting when my parents are here in a month.
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The Craziest/Most Interesting Thing That I Saw:
Venice. Let’s just say that the par for normalcy in Venice is walking around wearing a mask and holding a Styrofoam cup of hot wine (vin brule). That should at least give you some sort of an idea of what I was dealing with there this weekend! We left early Saturday morning for a whirlwind day trip to Venice. We got in around noon and I was instantly in awe of the canal-filled city. It was packed with people there to celebrate Carnivale. We ate a delicious lunch, spent the afternoon exploring the city, walking down by the water and of course buying masks and drinking hot wine! The energy was absolutely electric, and the city made for some pretty good people watching.
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We obviously fit right in.
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