Greetings from Rome

Looking out the window of the plane, I see land that spreads for what looks like millions of miles. And then I can barely picture the tiniest moving spec, that happens to be a car. I got to thinking, there is at least one person in that car, and the size of that person compared to the whole rest of the world did not even seem measurable.  That one person could be me, but I was on that plane, in the air, flying to, (I can't even believe it,) Rome, Italy for an entire semester! The world is huge, and I am beyond blessed to have this opportunity. 

Sorry it has taken me so long to finally write here! It's taken awhile to get adjusted to everything here in this amazing city, but I've got a schedule under control now so it'll be easier to keep you updated more often.

Here are the "cliff-notes" version of what my life here has been like so far.

The first day we went to the Vatican, and what an incredible way to start this journey. The next full day was my birthday and we traveled to Castel Gondolfo to see the Pope! THE best birthday present ever to stand literally 50 feet away from the Pope, and him wave and say a special blessing in all different languages. Amazing to see how many people around the world gathered and cheered for Pope Benedict. Felt a great sense of unity in the Catholic Church.

Other awesome things:
1. Saw the Trevi Fountain at dark, all lit up-beautiful
2. Have eaten gelato almost every day, and am determined to try as many flavors as possible
3. Landed an internship with EWTN News Station at the Vatican! Best day ever. So excited for the opportunities to come with this!!
4. Went for a run around the streets of Rome! Feel like I'm doing something outside the cultural norm but oh well.
5. Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, as well as many other famous and beautiful basilicas.
6. Ate lunch at the Pope's favorite restaurant at the SAME table he always sat at! Most blessed meal of my life.
7. Traveled to Assisi for the weekend and had quite a few adventures. Watch this video for your own entertainment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs7VmGrSUtQ&feature=g-hist
8. Working on speaking Italian, but most of the time people just laugh-like this 9 year old boy I played foosball with, but he made my day.
9. Of course, I'm taking classes as well which are going great.

So far, I could not have asked to a better start to this semester. At my first day working for EWTN, I transcribed a bunch of interviews by priests. This is one memorable quote that I hope to live this semester by.
"Coming to Rome broadens horizons. You meet Catholics from all over the world. You get in contact with the center of the Church, with the history of this extraordinary city. It changes you. It makes you a better human being, and it makes you a better Catholic." 
Well said.
Ciao for now,
Emily