The Place I Found Myself

I have been to a place that was beautiful

Where I discovered, I hoped, I dreamed

My whole being was immersed

In all the splendor around me

Sailing across an ocean of awe

Carrying me far from home

A place where beauty is determined by character

Not by standards

No one was the judge of me

Even I lost that power

And God took my hand

Led me to His creation

Guiding me through the walls of this town

And all the way He spoke of beauty

What it really means

While we made the last step He turned to me and said

How much He loved me

How much He adored me

And told me I was beautiful

And I believed Him.

Rome... So Many Memories

May 23, 2010

The past couple of days have been so crazy! Friday we took the train to Orvieto to visit the Gordon students who are studying abroad there. It was so beautiful there and it was certainly perfect for an art student to go study there. We got to see the Il Duomo, which is a huge church that was built between 1290 and 1320. It was so gorgeous and huge! It was amazing to think that the people back then could build something like that. The ornate carvings on the side depicted the story of Creation from Genesis. The interior was equally as massive and had amazing stained glass artwork as well as many of the panels of window made of alabaster. It was incredible to be standing in such a master-piece.

That night we left for Rome from Orvieto around 5 and took the train. We got to Rome and went to find our hostel. I had never stayed in a hostel before and I was nervous about staying there. It was called Ciao Bella and we had to search all over two streets for the place! It took us a good while until we finally found it. It was inconspicuous because there was no sign, just the name on the door buzzer. We were so relieved when we finally did find it and luckily we were all put in the same room. I was pretty nervous throughout the whole ordeal, but luckily we were safe because our group was so large.

Since we found the hostel at 9, many of us were ready for dinner. We went to a sweet little restaurant and I got this really good pasta dish with bacon in it. Everyone was ready to go sightseeing after dinner, so we went to the Trevi Fountain, because we heard it was more spectacular at night. It really was lovely with the light playing off the water and the statues. It was quite impressive and I was taking about a billion pictures. After Trevi, we ventured over to the Pantheon , which was also quite spectacular. I'm amazed at just how large all of these ancient buildings are. I stood in front of the door of the Pantheon and was so tiny compared to it. I could not get over how massive it is.

On the way back we were walking back to where the hostel was and four American boys came up to us, drunk, and asked if we had any weed. We all looked at each other in disbelief and said no. They then asked us where we were from and we said Boston. They told us they were from Canada and then used some obscenities to describe poor Canada. We saw them again fifteen minutes later and one stood next to me and he reeked of beer. I was so disgusted. We had, at this point, gotten lost and they asked how to get somewhere. My friend, Ricky, laughed because we were lost and sober and we knew they'd never find what they were looking for drunk.

We got back to the hostel after being lost for about an hour and by then everyone was done. We got ready for bed and went to sleep around 2 am. At about 3 or 4 in the morning we were all awoken by loud banging on a door down the hall. A drunk guy lost his key and decided to banging on the door every five minutes for the next hour. Ricky and Danny were going to go yell at him but on the off chance that he was dangerous, they decided against it.

So after an awful night's sleep, we got up at 8:30 am and got ready for, again, another busy day. At the hostel we met a guy, Adam, from North Carolina and he was by himself, so we asked if he wanted to join us around Rome. He agreed and was really nice and chatty with us.

We started the day with the Vatican and that was really beautiful. There were so many different statues around it. We only stood in the outdoor part of it, but it was still impressive. I was amazed at how vast it is. All of these monuments are so large and amazing. It's a tragedy that buildings aren't made like that anymore.

After the Vatican, we went to the Colosseum, which was really impressive. It was so large and old, but really something. I went inside with Ashley, Adam, Danny, and Ricky and took a ton of pictures... of course. I was amazed at the maze at the bottom of it. We were all amazed at how many people would have fit inside of it. It was just so massive!

On the way over, we saw the Roman Forum, which was cool. It looked like a graveyard for Roman ruins. There were all these huge chunks of ornately carved pieces laying everywhere.

At 4:30pm we left to catch our train that was around 5:45 pm, only to learn that the direct train back to Perugia was not running on Saturdays. We ended up leaving at 6:43 pm on a train to Florence and then catching another that would take us to Assisi. The train to Florence took three hours and the Assisi train took just one. It was so exciting to see Assisi all lit up from the train and we all got up, ready to catch the bus that would be arriving one minute after the train stopped. So we booked it off the train and ran to the exit. But, the train stop looked different from the one from the day before... because we got off a stop early. We couldn't get back on in time and had to walk back to Assisi. It was quite the walk and a kind elderly woman gave us directions on how to get back as well as an address to a hostel, in case we couldn't walk anymore. We were told to walk to a large church and go left. While we walked there were tons of cars going by and honking and waving flags because the Italian soccer team won against Madrid in Madrid. We waved a t-shirt and yelled "coucho," which means "soccer" in Italian.

After the church we got to a tunnel that cars drove through and we were confused about what to do. We thought it was to unsafe to walk through so we went to find a different route, until Ricky stopped a taxi van. We were so thankful and we split into two taxi vans to go back to Assisi. We were so happy to have gotten in them and that we didn't have to walk anymore.

We got back to CEFID safely and happy about our successful trip. Through all the stress and multiple times we got lost, we still had a good time and saw a lot of Rome. I bonded a lot with my peers and we all enjoyed ourselves. We now have many great laughs and memories with each other, which is the most important thing.

Ciao!

Ciao Ragazzi!

Right now, (not really now, because I'm now back at CEFID, but earlier today) we have been given some time to explore Assisi and pick a spot to go and observe an area of Assisi.
I am (was) sitting in one of the main piazzas near a rather large building that I believe is a church that Francis of Assisi preached in front of. It is quite beautiful, just like everything else here. There is a huge mob of people standing under two of it's arches all anxiuosly holding cameras, waiting for the perfect shot. A small water fountain sits in the center sputtering to the pigeons and wide-eyed explorers. Small shops adn cafès border the piazza with their open doors.
The view from this place is captivating with it's eyes set on the landscape and small towns. The mountains create a lovely backdrop to the sprinkled trees amongst the clusters of buildings. Assisi gazes on this treasure from it's hilly home. This truly is a precious place.
Assisi, and just Italy in general, is already so different from the United States. There is so much history here and the new blends in with the old. Each building compliments the next and accentuates the beauty of our ancestors. The use of cars has dwindled due to the narrow roadways that are lucky to fit a mini cooper. Wherever you want to go is within walking distance. The size of everything seems smaller than in America, even if it is more crowded.
This is such a beautiful place and I am so blessed to be here. America does not compare. The history is deep and rich and probing. For example, today we visited the library in town (Biblioteca Sacroconvento) and we were able to look at some ancient documents ranging from the 6th century to the 14th century. They were written in Latin and had gold embedded in some of the pages. We saw a book that was an ancient copy of the book of Maccabees. Then we saw the room that all the library's ancient manuscripts were held and it was incredible to be in the same room as all these extremely old and beautiful books. There was an entire collection of the copies of the books of the Bible!
Italy has so much to offer and so much history that it is hard to imagine all that has already taken place in this country. America really is incredibly young. This trip makes me feel more and more proud of being an Italian-American. My family is from a place of great importance and of great culture. My mind is still spinning at how amazing this trip already is and all that I still have yet to discover!

Oh Hey, I'm in Assisi, Italy!

May 17, 2010

Wow! I am finally in Assisi! There was quite a lot of travel to get here, but it was well worth it. The landscape from the plane was breath-taking and so different from America. On the bus that we took from Rome to Assisi, we saw all these beautiful hills and a few fields of sheep! It was incredible to see all the sweeping slopes of Italy. The houses on the way over looked a lot like the homes I saw in Arizona last summer, which was strange to me, and unexpected. Nonetheless, they are still molto bella!

Upon our arrival, we were greeted with, literally, a city on a hill. Assisi had all these levels and you can work your way up or down, depending on where you want to go. We had to take a bus to get to the top of the city so that we could take our luggage down the slopes instead of up them. And when we got to CEFID, the monastery we are staying at, I was welcomed to my room by a beautiful view of Assisi and the surrounding area. During the day you can see all of the activity down below and at night you can see all the tiny lights. This view is really something.

We got pranzo, (lunch), at a tiny restaurant in the piazza, (main square), and most of us got pizza. Italian pizza is definitely much better than American. (There is so much less grease!) And after pranzo, I got a cioccolato, which was like a hot chocolate... but not at all. It was more like hot pudding and it was great! I couldn't get over how different it was from American hot chocolate! But, regardless, it was good and some of my new friends had a taste of it as well. They enjoyed it too.

As we walked through the city, we were able to see some ancient buildings, such as buildings that were around at the time of Christ! There was even a building from before Christ! (Don't worry, I got pictures.) The buildings that Wendy showed us are from Francis' time, and many were buildings that he had preached in front of or lived in, or were just around during that time period. Many of the buildings, however, look as though they've been around for a while.

After pranzo, we had some free time to get to know the town. A big group of us did some wandering and we got to go up to an old tower. We walked through the back-roads of Assisi and saw some dogs that we barking at us from on top of a roof. At the end of the night we went to a cafe/bar in the main piazza and shared wine. I still don't know if I can get used to that taste, but I will appreciate the cultural aspect of it.

Well, that is all for tonight! Tomorrow we are hitting the ground running with our projects and interviews of the local townspeople. So until, tomorrow, arrevaderci! (sp?)

When in Rome...

This May I will be journeying across the Atlantic Ocean to the beloved home of my ancestors... the Italians! I will be traveling to Italy is pursuit of journalistic truth and seriously gorgeous pictures. I am getting very excited about this trip and really want to keep up this blog so that I can write about my experiences there and to other places that I travel. For instance, I still need to make a post about the missions trip I lead to Mississippi! I will do that soon, because that was such an incredible trip.

But anyway, back to Italy! What an amazing journey! I am going through school and it is a journalism seminar. We are going to get the opportunity to interview a family member of the Amanda Knox case and cover this huge debacle. This is going to be crazy, getting to write about this huge case that has already gotten so much coverage. As I said before, I will have to keep up this blog and give updates about my new journalism skills. (I'm much more of a creative writer than a journalist, but, heck, I can deal for Italy!)

When you see an exciting opportunity like this, take it. I was slightly hesitant about going on this trip because I am not so interested in journalism. However, the more I hear about this trip and the more I think about it, the more excited I get! I am going to be going to Italy to cover this huge case and then I get to write about it. How awesome.

Because of this trip, I am also getting more into blogs and blogging. I am really doing a horrible job of keeping up with this thing. Maybe if I get off of Facebook more, I will be on this more! We shall see. I need to just keep getting things out there and I am very thrilled to share my experiences with the blogging world. Hopefully someone out there cares about what I have to say... We shall see.