Well, since I've been here, I've been REALLY homesick. I've had a hard time adjusting to the newsness of the city which came as a shock to me. I finally went to the Study Abroad Italy office in Rome and talked to our program leader. She gave me suggestions about how to deal with my feelings of homesickness and helped me a lot. I have also been getting amazing support from family and friends telling me to get off my butt and go explore!! I love it!
Saturday was filled with going to some appointments at school to apply for my "Permesso di Soggiorno" or Permit to Stay here in Italy for the next three and a half months. We had to present our passport, our acceptance letter to JCU, and 116 Euros. After the appointments were over, I went back to my friend Casey's apartment to plan out weekend trips around Europe. Casey, her sister Bliss, and I went to a small Pizzeria for dinner and had a great meal!
After dinner, I went back to my apartment around 9:30 and my roommates asked me to go out with them for the night. Our original plan was to go to the Coliseum to get some pictures and then go out and explore the night life more. The bus we were waiting for was taking too long, so some of us broke of from the group and went to the bars! There is a booming amount of bars over by our school and the streets were PACKED! There were people all over the place and driving was almost next to impossible for the people in their cars. What shocked me was to see Italian families sitting down to have dinner at restaurants around 11:30 PM. The restaurants and bars were packed! We got some drinks at a bar called "Friends" near campus, and hung out in the street. After staying at that bar for awhile, my three roommates and I walked across the bridge to Campo De'Fiori to go and hang out. Campo De'Fiori is a huge square on the other side of the river where there are tons of bars and restaurants. It is always packed at night with locals and tourists! We went to a bunch of bars and got cheap beers. The best beer I've had over here so far has been called Peroni and a huge bottle of that costs about 2 Euros! Total steal! How can you not have some?!?!
After a late night of being out with the roommates, I got up to go to Sunday Mass across the river. I met the Study Abroad Italy program leader, Lisa, at the tram stop and her and I took a bus to Santa Susanna Catholic Church. It is an English speaking church and going to Mass really helped me with my homesickness. The Mass was amazing and made me feel like I was at home. The song that we sang during Holy Communion today was "You are Mine" and for some reason, it made me think of my Grandpa Kasprzak. I got a really comforting feeling when I thought about him and knew that he was watching over me in heaven while I am studying and traveling abroad.
After Mass, I took the tram back to my side of the city and went to the open air market with Casey and Bliss. There was anything and everything at this market and it stretched for blocks right behind our apartment buildings! It was awesome, and it runs every Sunday from 7 AM until 2 PM. I also go some Strawberry Gelato while I was walking up and down the streets which was a nice way to start the afternoon. After we finished at the market, the three of us went to go explore the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica with our friends Jake and Tynisha. We took the tram over to Vatican City and walked around the square. It was amazing to see the simple and awesome beauty that the Vatican has. There are these neat little water fountains in the square that are constantly flowing with crisp, cool, clean water for people to drink. It sounds minor, but it's the best thing in the world! The statues of the saints around the square were huge and had amazing detail! I took so many pictures too! The inside of the Basilica was amazing and Sunday afternoon Mass was going on at the altar. The security is very tight there, and if a person isn't covered from shoulders to knees, they are not allowed in the Basilica. There were so many amazing statues, paintings, altars, and artwork. It was breathtaking. We also ventured into the tombs of the popes. I knelt down and said a short prayer and the tomb of Pope John Paul II with other Catholics from around the world. You weren't supposed to take pictures in the tombs, but I turned my flash off and took pictures of the Tomb of St. Peter and the Tomb of Pope Pius XI. I tried to take one at the Tomb of Pope John Paul II, but there were too many security guards around it. After spending the afternoon at the Vatican, our group got on a bus and went in a circle around the city. We thought we were completely lost, but then realized we got off at the correct stop with a stroke of luck. We brought the tram back to the apartment, and then got a bunch of the students in our apartment together for dinner. We ordered pizzas in and hung out on the balcony. I also skyped with the family back at home today to catch up on life. Had a great weekend with my roommates and friends, and I'm doing so much better now. The grinding of tram brakes, ambulance sires, the sound of buses driving by the apartment are becoming familiar sounds in my life. I love Roma so so much!!
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