Wow!  After five straight weekends of travel (two day trips, three overnight trips, one out of the country) I am finally back in Rome for a few weeks!   Yes, I can honestly say that after just two months, "I am not the same, having seen the sun shine on the other side of the world."  There is so much to see and experience here in Europe, but it is always good to be "home" in Rome.  Trips require much planning and preparation and also reflection and recuperation so it is nice to have some down-time to get caught up.  Plus, there is much of Rome that I have yet to see!  Some of you asked about Lent here in Rome, so I thought I would devote a blog entry to this topic!  Then I hope I can update you on Assisi and Switzerland within the next week - both demand lots of time and will include loads of pictures!  :-)

A beautiful Lenten tradition in Rome is to visit the Station Churches.  This was started by men from the NAC, the North American College, who are essentially in major seminary and are studying for various dioceses in the U.S.  (Different countries send men over here to study at the pontifical universities, such as the Angelicum where we go or the Gregorian University where Fr. Carola teaches and their places of residence are called "colleges" so there is an English College for men for Britain, etc.)  Each day of Lent there is a different church assigned to the day and a Mass is celebrated there at 7 am, in English by a priest from the NAC.  Though this is very early and often the church is very far from Bernardi and involves a long trek to get there, it is really phenomenal. 

Every day is like a mini pilgrimage and it is truly an incredible way to visit some of the countless churches in Rome, including those that are not often open for the public to see.  I have only been to a handful of Station Churches thus far but each has been truly unique and beautiful.  My favorite has been the Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, where the chains that held St. Peter down during his imprisonment in Rome are displayed for all to see!  I recall the homily given by the priest this day, about our enslavement to sin, and the freedom that comes from obedience to Christ and his Church. 

Also, as much as I have come to love Italian liturgies and enjoy saying the Italian responses (I have a little guidebook to help!) and trying to decipher what is being said in the homily, it is really good to have Mass in English where I understand every word and can thus get a lot out of it.  Finally, the community at the Station Churches is fabulous.  It has been a good way to meet seminarians and students from the other Catholic colleges that are studying here in Rome (such as Christendom College and St. Thomas More College).  Going out for a cornetto and capucinno afterwards is an added bonus!

Another Bernardi Lenten tradition is to have "Lenten Angels" - something similar to "Secret Santas."  We all drew the name of another member of our Bernardi family and are to spend the 40 days of Lent lifting up this person in prayer and when Easter comes, we will buy them a small gift.  It is a beautiful exercise in generosity and is prompting me to think of others more than myself, to offer up rosaries and holy hours for my person, to make sacrifices and suffer for this person, and ultimately to will that this sister in Christ becomes more holy.  Praise God for this opportunity! 

 As we discussed at our community night on Fat Tuesday, Lenten sacrifices are meant to bring us closer to Christ.  We must pray in order to come to know Christ better.  We must fast from that which hinders our relationship with Christ.  We must serve and give to our neighbor and in so doing, serve and give to Christ.  Thus I have personally decided to make this Lent a time to come to know Christ better through scriptures, for as St. Jerome said, "Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ."  I am spending time each day praying with the daily Gospel reading, which has lately come from the Sermon on the Mount.  I am rediscovering the many riches of scripture and coming to love our Lord even more.  Praise God!  May he bless your Lenten journeys!

Yet another weekend of travel...yet another weekend of community-building, site-seeing, and expanding our minds!  Our Friday-Saturday trip to Bologna was with our fabulous art professor Dr. Lev, who studied during college here in this city and thus knows it well.  She was quick to inform us that Bologna is the culinary capital of Italy, and this was no lie, since the cuisine was the best I have tasted so far! 

We hopped on the bus at the bright and early time of 6:30 am and were in for a nearly five hour long bus ride.  There were plenty of tunnels, a typical rest stop on the side of the road featuring a snack bar and a huge array of chocolates, snacks, wines, and pastas - much more selection than the vending machines you get at wayside rests in Minnesota!  We were surprised to drive past snow-capped mountains since we hadn't seen this fluffy white stuff since last month in Minnesota!  And no, I cannot believe a month has gone by already!  Just three left! 

Though there was no snow in Bologna, the weather was rather frigid cold and we were not quite prepared with warm enough clothing.  Thank goodness for tape recorders (so the hands can stay in the gloves and pockets) and ear muffs (hooray for care packages from home)!  On Friday we visited the Church of St. Petronius, the patron of the town; the University of Bologna, the first university ever to be established; the Church of St. Mary of Life; and what is called the "seven churches" complex, which is essentially meant to replicate the sites of the Holy Land (including the Holy Sepulcher, Pontius Pilate's courtyard, etc).  I got to eat authentic Lasagna Bolognese for lunch (delizioso!) and our dinner was a magnificent four course spread.  My tummy was sure happy at the end of that day!

After a delicious breakfast at the hotel on Saturday (Italians know how to make breakfast pastries!) we headed to the museum of sacred art where we got exposed to a plethora of Bolognese oil painters and the genre of Counter-Reform art.  Next was a quick stop at the Oratory of St. Cecilia where beautiful frescoes of the life of this saint (who holds a special place in my heart because I dressed up as her and told her story to the kids all last summer) line the walls.  Finally, we visited the gorgeous Church of St. Dominic, prayed by his tomb (saw his skull), and went to Mass.  Then there was just time to grab a panino (sandwich) and some fresh fruit from one of the many stalls at the market and we hopped on the bus to come back to Roma! 

The rest of the weekend has been quite fun.  We watched the Audrey Hepburn film "Roman Holiday" last night while making signs to decorate doors since two of our Bernardians have birthdays today!  Ironically, their names are both Maria and their rooms are right next to each other!  The movie was fun too because we saw many of the sites we see on a regular basis (Trevi Founatin, Coliseum) and how Rome looked different decades ago.  This morning was Mass and the Noon Angelus with Papa Bene!  So many people crowd the square each Sunday to catch a glimpse of our Holy Father and hear his words of encouragement!  Praise God!  Sunday night community dinner is at 7 and it is bound to be delicious!  God is very good!

On Saturday Fr. Carola took us on an incredibly jam-packed day trip to the beautiful village of Siena!  It was about a three hour bus ride to get there but the scenery was unbelievable since it was the Tuscan countryside, and we prayed our Divine Office and rosary on the bus ride so time passed fairly quickly.  We had been warned by Father that in only one semester had NO ONE gotten sick on the ride (it was very windy at times) so he had opaque plastic bags "strategically placed" around the bus in case of need.  I did get pretty dizzy but I slept it off.  We did have one young man get sick on the way home, though we think it was some kind of food poisoning, not motion sickness.  All are well by now though!

I must first tell you a little about the great saint, Catherine of Siena, who was the center of this pilgrimage.  Born the 24th of 25 children in 1347 to a wool dyer, Catherine was an outgoing and imaginative youngster who was stubborn and imaginative.  She pledged her virginity to Christ at the young age of seven.  Catherine was greatly influenced by the Dominicans because they had a church and cloister very near to her house so it came as no surprise  that she took the Dominican habit by age 18.  She spent several years in solitude, teaching herself to read and write, from which came the great spiritual classic of  the "Dialogue," which I am currently reading for a class!  Yet she also committed her life to "social work" in the town of Siena, by serving the sick in hospitals, aiding the poor, and burying her father.  She worked tirelessly to bring about peace and unity in the Church as well, giving counsel and spending time in fervent prayer whenever truth was being compromised.  She died at 33 years old. 

Just like last weekend, it was so good to GET AWAY from the hustle and bustle of Rome. 
And Siena is a town of unbelievable beauty.  Our first stop was the Basilica of San Domenico  where we got to view the finger and head of St. Catherine of Siena herself!  This was quite unbelievable and I prayed for you all there in the presence of this great mystic and saint.  We also saw the harsh rope that she used to beat herself in order to mirror the sufferings of Christ.  Yes, some saints lived very extreme and austere lives!  Sometimes my small sacrifices (ie: giving up sweets for Lent) really pale in comparison! 

Next stop was the Basilica of St. Francis where we got to witness a Eucharistic Miracle that took place in the 13th century  A detailed account of this miracle can be found at: http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/siena.html.  Essentially, a thief stole some consecrated hosts out of the tabernacle at St. Francis and they were later found in the offering plate at another church in town.  The hosts, dirtied by dust and debris, were processed back to St. Francis to be reposed in the tabernacle and to deteriorate naturally.  However, the hosts did not deteriorate but remained pleasant and to this day, in the 21st century, they are still in tact.  We had some beautiful time of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and got to personally venerate Christ present in the hosts.  How beautiful is the body of Christ!

After a picnic lunch in the Piazza del Campo, where a famous horse race takes place each year we got some delicious gelato (I tried blueberry muffin flavor and pistacchio!).  The town was so quiet and lovely to walk around during our free time, however we ran into a few street sweepers (quite random!).  Then it was time to visit the Duomo, the cathedral of the town.  This looked like something out of Candy Land, in all honesty, because of the colorful stripes and geometric patterns.  The ambo (where the lector proclaims the Word of God) was huge and had animal statues beneath, resembling a small merry-go-round.  Yet there was a unique beauty in all this architecture in such a way that one was truly lifted up to our God.  I cannot help but think whenever I stand in a grand cathedral that God is so big and I am so small...he is eternal and I am his finite creature.  What a humbling thought!

Our last stop in Siena was the home of Catherine herself, where a chapel has been erected.  We celebrated Mass there, gazing on the crucifix that St. Catherine herself looked at when she received the stigmata.  And we got to view the cell where she spent many years of her life.  Finally, we ended the day at a monastery, praying chanted Latin Vespers with the monks there.  It was bitter cold by then and so, bundled up to the gill, we mustered up the strength to eat our dinners outside under a large floodlight.  We had quite a smorgasbord because people kept passing various foods around the group (olives, cheese and crackers, chocolate).  Then we warmed up a bit by playing an intense game of Ninja!  I must say that seeing the stars again truly made my day...una bella notte in Toscana!  The gorgeous Tuscan sky!

Today was our first out-of-Rome adventure since we have arrived.  We went with some of the Coulter family (our professor's family that is staying with us) on a day trip to the beautiful village of Tivoli.  Located just east of Rome, it was a beautiful breath of fresh air compared to the loud, busy life of the city.  We had our first experience with the city's metro system (both the red and blue lines!) and then took a bus for about 30 minutes to get there.  It is beautifully nestled on a hill with mountains in the background -  so picturesque! 

We began the day with Via d'Este, a former Benedictine convent converted into a pleasant country home for Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este in the 16th century.  Though the villa has simple architecture, the terraced gardens are absolutely elaborate.  The statues, pools, and hundreds of fountains made this an absolutely delightful visit.  There was even a "Water Organ" - an outdoor organ that plays music several times a day!  We got some great pictures here (see slideshow below). 

We stopped at a bar (what they call little coffee shops here) for a cappuccino and cornetto (a pastry) and then waited to catch a bus to our next stop.  To our great delight there were children everywhere and there was even a playground nearby!  It is sad to say that Italy's birthrate is among the lowest in the world and in Rome there seem to be more dogs than children on the streets.  It was so good to see so many bambini playing outside!  The bus driver was quite friendly and patiently helped us with our Italian a bit. 

Then we arrived at Villa Adrianna, perhaps the richest building project in antiquity, designed wholly by the Roman Emperor Hadrian (AD 76-138).  He had extensively traveled throughout his empire and hoped to recreate many of the monuments and sights he had seen in his travels at his own estate.  After Hadrian's death in AD 138, the villa was soon forgotten and fell into ruin.  It was not until 1870 that the Italian government organized the excavation of this site.  I absolutely loved wandering around the ruins, sitting in the green grass, hearing the birds chirping, seeing the olive trees and wild flowers, and breathing in clean fresh air!  It was incredible to imagine (and see the model) what this complex would have been like thousands of years ago. 

All in all, it was a truly necessary day of rest and rejuvenation!  We got to experience history and the beauty of God's creation and got to know the Coulter family better.  God is so good to us! 

We have survived our first official week of classes at the Angelicum (last week we had a couple introductory Italian courses and already took some field trips for our Art and Architecture class).  This is the Pontifical Institute of St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican university.  John Paul II attended the Angelicum!  It is located right in Rome's Historic Centre, just kilometers from the Coliseum and Roman Forum.  It is truly a beautiful place to go to school and it is such a blessing to study with seminarians, religious sisters, priests, and lay persons from all across the world.  It is refreshing to see so many collars and habits every day!  I have already met students from the Phillipines and Vietnam, as well as all parts of the United States. 

Monday and Wednesday are our very busy days with three classes apiece, Tuesday and Thursday are lighter with one and two respectively, and Friday most of us have no class!  My courses are phenomenal - it is SO GOOD to be taking classes that are all related to my majors Catholic Studies and Theology! 

Though I love all the courses I have especially taken a liking to Dr. Lev's "Christian Art and Architecture" course that will allow us to examine sacred art from the Middle Ages to the present.  She is a vibrant, feisty woman who is quite renowned in her field.  She sometimes writes articles for Zenit ("The world seen from Rome") and frequently lectures to tour guides at the Vatican Museums.  I had very little knowledge of art coming in, since I have never taken a studio arts or art history course, but already in two days I have learned to identity columns and vaults, as well as various styles of crucifixes and geometric floor patterns.  It is so cool to walk into a church and start applying what we learned in class!  I am a visual and kinesthetic learner so this is very good for me!

We are learning about Byzantine and Romanesque art right now and had an assignment to go visit Santa Maria in Trastevere and compare the beautiful mosaics there.  What a fun homework field trip!  Byzantine art uses a lot of gold and is very transcendental.  At Santa Maria you can see this style in that the figures are not very realistic - they are almost floating on the Latin words and are all looking outwards like a posed picture.  On the other hand, Romanesque art is incredibly natural and realistic.  Characters in these mosaics are interacting with one another and there are very real features, like curtains being ruffled in the breeze or a shepherd playing his flute. 

I will write later blogs to tell you about my other courses!  So much to say!

A great highlight of last week was the papal audience we got to attend.  Fr. Carola has some serious connections so we were able to get tickets and make it to the weekly 10:30 am audience that Papa Bene has in a Vatican auditorium.  We got there a couple hours early to get good seats and I'd say we were 20 rows back from the stage!  So close to our Holy Father!  There were probably 1000 people in that room, from all different countries, including lots of children who were singing and waving colored scarves so their groups would stay together.  It gave me so much hope for the Church to see so many bambini (children) excited about our Holy Father.  The cheers of "Viva La Papa!  Ben-e-detto!" were almost deafening.  Praise God! 

The actual audience lasted probably an hour and a half.  Papa Bene's arrival brought everyone to their feet in applause.  We heard a reading from the Book of Sirach in Italian, then about six other languages by priests from the respective countries (French, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish).  Then Pope Benedict gave his address, about St. Peter Canisius, as part of his current series on the Church Fathers.  Fr. Carola was delighted in the fact that Papa Bene chose this saint to speak about because Father had entrusted this year to St. Peter Canisius' intercession!  The address was in Italian, followed by the priests of various languages  introducing to the Holy Father the pilgrim groups from countries that speak that language. 

When they got to English sure enough the University of St. Thomas was announced and we stood up and got to wave at the Holy Father!  What a gentle man!  It was so sweet to hear some groups of children sing brief songs they had prepared for the pontiff.  Then Papa Bene spoke briefly in the language of that group of people.  You can read his English address here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110209_en.html.  At the end we all sang the Pater Noster together...this is the beauty of Latin as the language of the Church.  People from all different places that speak different languages can be united in this language.  It just gave me goosebumps!  How great is our Church and how beautiful to see our German Shepherd in person! 

Then to top the week off, we had the beautiful opportunity to pray by the bones of St. Peter, our first pope!  The Scavi tour brought us under St. Peter's Basilica (we could actually look up and see people standing in the sanctuary of St. Peter's!) right near the tomb of St. Peter himself.  The bones were discovered by a graffiti wall that read, in Greek "Peter is here."  When the bones were tested, they were said to be an old man from the 1st century, and there were no feet bones in the bunch, which can be attributed to the fact that he was crucified upside down.  It was a sacred moment for all of us to peer upon the bones of this great apostle and saint right before us...several of his jaw bones.  He is the patron of my parish back home...he is the rock upon whom Christ founded his Church...he was so human (denying Christ three times) yet our Lord chose him to shepherd the flock.  This was truly indescribable. 

Then just a few yards away was the tomb of John Paul II, our late Holy Father who will be beatified in just a couple of months!  I was emotionally exhausted at the end of this day...being in the presence of such greatness...praying for the intercession of these incredible, holy men.  I was in the presence of our first, last, and current Holy Fathers, in very different ways, during the past week.  We are blessed indeed. 

On Tuesday we had our first major field trip with Dr. Lev, our fabulous Christian Art and Architecture professor.  She is feisty, incredibly knowledgeable, and so funny!  For many of us it was also our first experience with the public transportation system.  The buses in Rome are VERY CROWDED and you really have to watch for pick pockets!  Our destination was the Catacombs of Priscilla, one of the 60-some underground burial sites in Rome. 

The idea behind the catacombs (a name that comes from the Greek words for "down" and "tomb") is that the over one million people in Rome could not all be buried in their own graves and early Christians did not want to cremate their dead because of their belief in the bodily resurrection.  Thus Romans created these underground labyrinths, which consisted in mausoleums for wealthy families and shelf graves to place bodies on for poor families.  The corridors were dark and damp - railings were wet because of the condensation and I was very glad I had my Merrills on because the floors were rough.  It was a little spooky walking around in this maze and our tour guide had a little fun by turning the lights out on us at one point! 

People were much smaller than they are now and the infant mortality rate was much higher, so many of the shelves were quite short!  I don't think I would have fit!  :-)  Bodies were not placed in coffins but were rather just wrapped in linen with lime.  All the graves were then closed with cement and the name of the deceased and date of death (very important - birthday into eternal life!) were written outside.  Some were anonymous if people were illiterate. 

Now here comes the cool part...the catacombs give us some of our earliest versions of Christian art.  Because of the incarnation, God becoming man, Christians have used images to transmit the Gospel message to the world.  Ancient Greeks and Romans were dependent on images to understand things.  These pictures could contain incredible amounts of theological information. 

There are definite patterns in the images we keep seeing.  Jonah appears quite frequently...in fact we later saw that he has a place of prominence in the Sistine Chapel because of the typological relationship between Jonah and Christ.  The ichthus, the ancient Christian fish symbol, is also common because of the way the Greek letters spell out "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior."  This symbol was used as a secret sign of Christianity when the religion was illegal.  I got very excited to see this symbol because of its prominence in the TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) program of which I am involved!
Other symbols include the anchor, symbolizing salvation and home; and the dove with an olive branch, symbolizing peace and new life.  The peacock was an ancient pagan symbol of immortality that was later adopted by the Christians. 

Perhaps my favorite part of the catacombs was seeing the earliest known image of the Madonna and Child.  It was very small and I definitely would have missed it had the tour guide not pointed it out, but it was truly beautiful.  With the mother and son is a star, showing that Christ is truly the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.  Quite magnificent! 

You'd think being in the catacombs would be kind of depressing and dreary, thinking of all these people who have died, but really it was a joyful visit, because of looking ahead to eternal life, a belief the early Christians truly clung to.  We must truly live each day with our eyes set on eternity, recognizing that this world is not all that there is.  

The past few days have just flown by since they have been so jam-packed!  We have had orientation sessions where we have learned the procedures of the Bernardi Residence where we live, the Angelicum (the Ang) where we are taking classes, and the library at the Gregorian University (the Greg) where we will have access.  We have had our first tastes of DELICIOUS Italian cuisine, including gelato (I had been craving this for SO LONG!) and pasta carbonara (with a bacon and egg sauce).  We have attended our first Italian Masses at Cristo Re Church, just several blocks from where we live.  I have an English-Italian Mass booklet that is helping but I can pick out quite a few words as well!  We made our first pilgrimage to St. Peter's and have already been to a papal audience!  We started our Art and Architecture class as well as Italian and are learning a lot.  We are beginning to know our way around town a bit and have learned to walk with purpose across the busy streets with CRAZY drivers!  Imagine turning a corner and saying, "Oh look!  There's the coliseum!"  Or passing a dozen churches on your way home, popping in to one and finding the skull of St. Agnes right in front of you!  This is ROME and I LOVE IT!!

It is amazing how in just a few short days our community has become so close.  There are 32 of us students, including 9 seminarians from St. John Vianney College Seminary at St. Thomas and from a seminary in Indianapolis, 7 laymen, and 16 women, including Catherine from Notre Dame and Naomi from St. Louis University.  Dr. Coulter and his wife and two children will be coming tomorrow to join us!  We are a diverse group - some come from suburbs and others farms; we have sophomores, juniors and seniors; some come from large families and others small.  One man is newly married, some have extensively studied Italian before and others not, and we have a variety of second majors ranging from Education to Business to History.  But we are united in our love for the Lord and our passion for our Catholic faith.  We have shared some great laughs and had some incredible conversations thus far.  We look out for one another, just like family.  In fact, Fr. Carola has told us that our task this semester is to "fall in love with each other."  With God's grace, we will do that:-) 

Praise God!!  We arrived in Rome safe and sound yesterday afternoon!! 

I met a wonderful fellow from Kuwait on my flight to New York, who was studying aviation at UND in Grand Forks.  Unfortunately he didn't dig the cold very much and now despises the color white because it reminds him of all the snow, but he is going to give the United States another chance by trying out Florida.  I think that will be more like the climate he is used to!  He told me that he is a captain in the Kuwait military and showed me how to write his name in Arabic.  Cool stuff! 

It was fun to be in NYC for a few hours, though it was late and dark out and we didn't see too much.  But the song from Annie was inevitably going through my head that whole time!  Then we were off on our 7.5 hour flight to Europe, via the Italian airline, Alitalia.  I got some reading done (yes, we have homework already!), ate dinner at 11:30 at night, took a good nap (I had no one sitting next to me so I could sprawl out like a bed!), and brushed up on my Italian a little bit.  I also got my first chance speaking it, when I ordered my acqua (water) or my suco (juice) from the flight attendant!  :-)  Before I knew it we were landing in Rome, where we were greeted with 60 degree weather!  No joke!!  We're not in Minnesota anymore!! 

I have so much more to say about our first couple days of orientation and the beautiful Bernardi campus, but have to go for now.  THANK YOU for all your prayers...know that all is well here!!  God is so GOOD!! 

Last January I had the great joy of traveling to Italy on tour with the University of St. Thomas Symphonic Wind Ensemble.  We had a grand time playing five concerts and visiting Sicily, Venice, and Rome.  Our two days in Rome were enough to make me fall in love with the city and make me want to come back.  In fact, studying abroad in Rome has been a goal of mine since my junior year of high school when I set my eyes on the Catholic Studies program at St. Thomas. 

The Trevi Fountain, the largest baroque fountain in the world, is a famous landmark within the city.  Legend has it that anyone who tosses a coin into the fountain will return to Rome someday.  An estimated 3,000 euros are tossed into the fountain each day and the money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for the poor in Rome.  I was sure to toss my coin while in the Eternal City (see the photo for proof!) and sure enough, I am going back!  Praise God!

Now my bags are nearly packed (my bathroom scale has been busy as I attempt to keep my suitcase under 50 pounds) and my departure draws near!  TOMORROW I AM GOING BACK TO ROME!!!  It started to hit me when we had meetings with our group of 30 students  or when we had Study Abroad Orientation, but until I actually set foot on that plane tomorrow I think I am still in somewhat of a dream.  

I am just ecstatic for so many things about this semester...experiencing the Universal Church in all its splendor, seeing our Holy Father, exploring the Eternal City and other parts of Italy and Europe, taking incredible courses from amazing professors at the Angelicum, building community at the Bernardi Residence, using the Italian I know and learning more, and growing in my faith.  Yes, there are some nerves there, such as worrying about my baggage arriving and the jet lag factor or getting pick-pocketed, but ultimately, my excitement outweighs my apprehensions. 

We will have many guides along our journey, including Thanos, the director of the Bernardi Residence; Fr. Carola, the chaplain for Bernardi; and two students who are staying for the whole year and have thus been in Rome for a semester already.  Ultimately, the Lord will provide for us and has many wonderful blessings in store for all members of our group! 

Please  keep us in prayer as we are "leavin on a jet plane" tomorrow, especially with the recent blizzards and our connection in New York.  Know that you are in my prayers as well!   I hope to keep you posted, through weekly blog updates, on my daily life and adventures as I spend the next four months overseas.  For now, arrivederci (good bye) and the next time I write it will be from ROMA!!!