La vita è bella.

Don't be fooled, the title is straight from google translate, but that doesn't make it any less true. . .It's been a crazy week here up in these parts. Being in this city for Holy Week is the most amazing thing in the world, and truly the opportunity of a lifetime. I pray that everyone is having a blessed Triduum! 

Something I learned about myself:

I have a thing for bling. Appreciate the fact that I just laughed at my own joke for an embarrassing amount of time. At today’s Chrism mass (I just spent five minutes trying to think of a theologically concise way of explaining the Chrism mass, but figured this would be better given that my explanation included ‘it’s SO cute’ and ‘you should have seen all the priests!! : Chrism Mass) Pope Benedict glided down the center aisle of St. Peter’s and although I was in possibly the most beautiful church in the world, feet away from the Vicar of Christ, the first thing I thought of was how shiny his vestments were today and how precious it was that he was wearing all that bling. There may have even been some squealing. You know me, always keeping it appropriate.

The cameras don't really do the bling justice. . .

Shiny AND Holy. Beat that.

The Best Thing That I Ate:

Don’t laugh at me (or more accurately, laugh at the computer screen). BUT I had the most delicious Chinese food the other night. I know, I know. Rome, Italy does not seem like the place where this would be possible. However believe it or not, there are some nights when one wants to eat something other than pizza or pasta and luckily we found something to hit the spot. I did have a bit of an identity crisis walking into a Chinese restaurant while in Italy, but that all changed once I saw the word ‘dumplings’. Not to mention the fact that I almost started drinking straight from the soy sauce bottle.

At this point, I was too busy drooling and not in
any shape to get my picture taken so luckily
the beautiful Laura pulled through for me. 

An Adventure I Went On:

To get an idea:

Can someone PLEASE appreciate the fact that this is
ALMOST the shape of the great state of Minnesota?! 

The Seven Church Walk is a Holy Week tradition that goes back several centuries. Along with several seminarians from the North American College, college students, and other faithful from throughout the city who could spend the day doing this pilgrimage, I spent the better part of the day visiting seven churches throughout the city, moving deeper in prayer during this Holy Week and growing in fellowship with the people that I was with. I’m not going to pretend like I didn’t wake up sore, or that I would have survived without my goldfish snacks (yes, I am still three years old) but it was truly one of the most incredible experiences that I have ever had. It is experiences like this that remind me of how truly blessed I am to be in this spiritually rich city. The blister on the bottom of my toe (I know, how does that even happen?) is a small price to pay. Through the fourteen total miles, I was reminded again and again of how blessed I am that I have the privilege of witnessing all the ways I get to see His glory manifested.

The Craziest/Most Interesting Thing That I Saw:

And then there are some afternoons where you climb down into an aqueduct. As a part of my class (the thought occurred to me that I literally never mention class, I promise I do go to school. . .) we went and visited the American Academy here in Rome. Of course what casual afternoon class would be complete without a visit to an ancient aqueduct? As soon as the trap door was lifted, I was the first one to volunteer to go down. Unfortunately there were a few inches of water so I wasn’t able to walk through it, but I did climb all the way down and peeked around. I was a little unsure about the latter being UNATTACHED to anything, but I kept my cool.

Here goes nothing. . .

Success!