In Which I Attempt to Ride a Unicycle. . .

It's a dreary day here in Rome, but you can't win them all! My time here is winding down (I can't believe it!) but I am trying to soak up this beautiful time here and am really looking forward to a program-wide trip to Bay of Naples this weekend. Who cares that it is a 100% chance of rain all weekend. . .

Something I learned about myself:

You’ll never know if you don’t try.  If you would have asked me yesterday morning if I was going to attempt to ride a unicycle that day, I would have a) laughed b) rolled over because I would have thought I was dreaming or c) glared at you because you’d probably be laughing at the thought of me doing it. Anyways, yesterday after a glorious afternoon of sports at the NAC (North American College—the American seminary in Roma) which pretty much consisted of me running around like a lunatic screaming ‘ISN’T IT SO NICE TO BE ABLE TO RUN AROUND OUTSSIIDDEEEEE??’ we were on the roof which boasts the best view of Rome and I ran into my friend Taylor. I went back down to the field to play get beaten soccer by a darling little girl that was there with him and he cranked out his unicycle. At first I was just in awe of the whole situation, I mean it's not every day you see someone pedal across the field on a unicycle, but then I got the courage to ask if I could try. It wasn’t an easy process, and involved lots of screams on my part, BUT I made it up and even pedaled a little bit. All the credit goes to Taylor, who was incredibly patient. You have to start somewhere, right?

For my self-esteem, it's a good thing that no one took a video. .  .

The Best Thing That I Ate:

It’s worth noting, first off, that I ate FOUR pieces of salami at this meal. After such a wonderful Easter Monday, it was such a treat to be able to sit down at a local mom and pop restaurant near Castel Gandolfo. This particular place is known for their meat, so for this non-meat lover it took a lot for me to get over myself. HOWEVER, everything was absolutely delicious! Lots of warm bread, fresh cheese, pasta and vino. I am going to miss meals like this. . .

I was too busy gorging my face to take
a picture of the rest of the meal. . .


Dinner is more fun with friends and adorable children. 

An Adventure I Went On:

Easter Monday day trip! It is an Easter Monday tradition to flee Rome and go spend time outside of the city since it is a holiday. After an extremely efficient morning, we all got on a bus and started at the catacombs of St. Sebastien. It was cool because we took a bus where I had walked the week before, which gave me some sense of accomplishment. After a visit through the catacombs, we went off to Castel Gandolfo which is where the Pope’s summer residence is. He was actually there that day, too, but unfortunately had a previous commitment. Nonetheless, it was absolutely beautiful, and I met the nicest priest who blessed my rosary only to later find out that he is the Holy Father’s secretary! It’s funny how life works sometimes. After a pre-dinner dessert, we went to the next town over where we had dinner and enjoyed time with each other celebrating the joy of the Resurrection! How blessed are we that we have 50 days to celebrate this joyous Easter season?!

Illegal shot taken in the catacombs.. .
.

                                                     

                                              Castel Gandolfo with my swiss guard boyfriends in front. . 

The Craziest/Most Interesting Thing That I Saw:

For the record, I almost wrote a post mentioning class, but then decided to talk about something a little more important. But being the classy person that I am, I’ll tell you about seein beer in a vending machine. Classic Rome. When I’m forced to adjust back to American life, one of the things that is going to shock me will be not seeing this in your friendly neighborhood vending machine:

                                                      

This has taken some serious getting used to, and I have yet to take advantage of the whole ‘put in a coin and out pops a beer’ thing, but who knows. . .It’s just one of those things that people don’t think twice about here. Hey, more power to ya. For now, I will stick with my coca-cola light.