Milan, Torino, and Wisconsin!

Erin, Stephen, Dylan, and I in the Alps

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Well, my semester abroad has come to an end.  It was a fantastic three months filled with lots of fun, prayer, memories, and excitement.  In fact, it lasted right up until I got to the airport on the morning of Saturday, April 20th.  My last four days of the semester were spent on a short pilgrimage to Milan and Torino.  It was great!  I was not really expecting much from Milan, but I was blown away by the Duomo there, especially its stained glass windows (which are the tallest in the world).  I could have spent all day gazing at the stained glass, they were so impressive.  But as great as Milan was, the second leg of our journey was even better.  We went to a little town in the Alps called Pollone (not far from Torino), which is where Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati's family had their summer home.  For those of you who don't know about Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, I would encourage you to visit http://www.frassatiusa.org/ to learn more about him - he is a wonderful contemporary saint for young people.  The cool part was that we got to stay at his family's summer home, and by summer home I mean mansion - it was amazing!  As I'm sure many of you know I LOVE the mountains, so I absolutely loved Pollone and the Alps (Blessed Frassati was an avid mountaineer himself).  We even got to go on one of his favorite hikes up to the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Oropa.  It was so beautiful - grassy fields with grazing cows, flowers of every color and variety, gushing waterfalls, and of course snow-covered mountains.  We had such a fun time climbing up the waterfalls, having spontaneous snowball fights, and picking wildflowers.  The shrine was gorgeous, and was one of the highlights of my whole semester.
So it was great to end on a high note.  I have to say, that I was ready to come home when the 20th rolled around.  It was smooth traveling, and I was just thrilled to see my family again!  It was my older brother's birthday too, as well as Lil' Sibs weekend at Marquette (where he goes to school), so I got right back into the excitement at home!  The fun just never stops it seems!

Back together again!

In conclusion, I would say that every part of my last three months has been absolutely incredible - far surpassing my wildest dreams!  I literally could not have planned a better semester if I tried, especially with all of the excitement going on in Rome recently - Holy Week, Easter, and of course the election of Pope Francis!  I will certainly never forget those moments - definitely memories to last a lifetime!  I guess what I am trying to say is that this has been a fantastic semester, one that I will never forget!  Thanks for letting me share it with you!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme

Today we went on our Seven Churches of Rome pilgrimage.  This is a pilgrimage begun by St. Philip Neri in the 17th century.  Essentially pilgrims pay a visit to Rome's four major basilicas (St. Peter's Basilica, St. Mary Major, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. John Lateran) and her three additional pilgrimage churches (St. Lawrence, Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, and St. Sebastian).  We did ours as a walking pilgrimage.  So it was right around 18 miles of weaving our way through the city of Rome.  It certainly made for a great last day here, because it provided a prayerful opportunity to see all of Rome one last time.  Plus we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day (though perhaps we could have asked for a cooler one - it was hot)!  I couldn't have asked for a better send-off from Rome!
The adventures just never stop though, because tomorrow I leave for Milan and Torino!  We're going to spend Wednesday in Milan, and then Thursday and Friday we will be up in Torino.  In fact, we will actually be staying at Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati's Villa, so it should be a great time, especially since I love the mountains!
Also, this will more than likely my last opportunity to update this blog before I return to the United States on Saturday.  So thank you all for taking the time to keep up with this blog throughout my semester, I have really enjoyed sharing it with you!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Our Lady of Divine Revelation celebration

I had this illusion that things would settle down after finals, but instead things have only gotten crazier!  But that's a good thing, because we are certainly not wasting any of the time that we have left!  On Friday April 12th, I spent the morning going to the last few places in Rome that I still had on my list to see, which was a lot of fun.  But the afternoon was even more fun and spontaneous, because I went to meet some of the other students at a place that was on all of our lists to see - Tre Fontane (the place where St. Paul was martyred a little outside of Rome).  So we went there and found there was an enormous celebration and Mass at the shrine of Our Lady of Divine Revelation across the street, because it was the 66th anniversary of the Marian apparition there (if you want to read about it see: http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/approved/appariti/trefonta.html).  It was a beautiful Mass attended by thousands of people, and it was very interesting to learn about the apparition there - it sort of reminded me of the shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin. 

With my roommate Alyson on a bridge over the Arno River

Then on Saturday two friends and I went on a day trip to Florence.  We had such a great time!  It's amazing how unique every city is in Italy - it felt so different from Rome.  We saw everything that did not require an entrance fee.  One of our best finds was a piazza with a gigantic market - we literally ate lunch off of all the free samples of meats, cheeses, breads, pesto, dips, and chocolates - it was delicious!  We also made sure to sample some Florentine gelato before heading back to Rome because Florence claims to be the birthplace of gelato (not like I need an excuse to eat gelato though).  I also loved the Duomo - it really is as amazing as people say it is!  The outside of the building is unlike anything I have ever seen before, it is absolutely ornate.  The cultural aspects of Florence really came through, which is part of what made it such a neat city.
But I think the sight that I enjoyed the most was Piazzale Michelangelo - a piazza up on a hill that overlooks the entire city of Florence and the surrounding Tuscan countryside.  It was absolutely beautiful - the Duomo towering over the red roofs of the buildings, which sit delicately above the glittering blue-green Arno river; all set beneath the brilliant blue sky.  It was hard to take it all in at once!  In fact, that's how all of Florence was for me - beautiful, so much so that it was difficult to absorb it all.

An overlook of Florence

So I was hoping after all of our early mornings and late nights of travel that today would truly be a day of rest for me.  It started out that way - I was able to attend Mass at St. Peter's followed by my final Angelus with the pope here in Rome (actually during the Easter season the pope prays the Regina Caeli instead of the Angelus, since it is a hymn of Easter joy).  Then I returned to the Villa for our going-away picnic lunch, which was a lot of fun!  But all of the peace of the morning is now displaced by all of the chaos of girls packing.  Although I don't fly home until April 20th, we have to move out of the Villa Tuesday morning, so I have my room check is in about three minutes.  It is just hard to believe that the semester is already over and I will be heading home soon.  Now that it's almost over it does seem like the semester went pretty fast.  It definitely has been a blessing to have this opportunity - in fact, I'm actually loving this crazy Sunday afternoon in Rome!

Summer!

Sunrise at Piazza Garibaldi

As of 11am this morning it is officially summer for me!  That's right, I finished my last final this morning - we had one final last week in Poetics, two yesterday (Humanities and Theology), and one this morning (Art and Architecture).  Let me just say that I absolutely love summer, so of course I had to celebrate the occasion.  Actually my sister helped me to celebrate, because she surprised me by sending me money to go and get a tartufo - it is a fancy kind of Italian gelato, so I had a tartufo for lunch!  It was great! 
I have really been enjoying my time here, it's hard to believe that it's coming to an end so quickly.  In fact, besides having my last final today, I also had my last internship today.  I'm disappointed to see this come to an end because I have had such a great time, met so many great people, and learned so many new things.  For example, today I did seven transcriptions, and so I had the opportunity to learn about the Papal Foundation, the Vatican conference on adult stem cell research, and hear the interview of Pontifical Hero Award recipient, 14-year old Elizabeth Lobato.  It really is amazing all of the doors that have been opened to me through this. 

Celebrating the first night of summer at St. Peter's

In the meantime, I'm really trying to make the most of the time I have left.  I have several more trips planned before the end of the semester - to Florence, Milan, and Torino, so it will be busy.  But I'm also trying to make sure that I'm not missing out on anything here in Rome.  So on Tuesday, for example, four of us got up a little before 5am in order to catch the earliest bus to Piazza Garibaldi (a piazza known for its views of the city of Rome) to watch the sun rise over Rome.  Well, it turned out that we had over an hour to wait for the sunrise.  But we had a great time, and it was certainly worth it because it was beautiful - just like my whole experience in Rome so far

!     

Monday, April 8, 2013

Neuschwanstein Castle

This past summer my family hosted a girl named Cosima from Germany for a few weeks.  We had a great time with her over the summer, and the good times continued this past weekend, because she and her family hosted a friend and I for the weekend at their home in Munich.  I have to say that staying with a German family made the trip that much better, because we really felt engaged with the German culture, and we had so many excellent conversations.  Plus, we had built-in tour guides to show us around.  They took us through the city of Munich on Friday morning, and so we got to see all of the major sights - St. Peter's Church, St. Mary's, the University, the Opera House, the Parliament building, the Palace outside the city, the 1972 Olympic grounds, the BMW headquarters, and much more.  They took us out for lunch at a typical Bavarian restaurant.  The food was good, but even more amazing was the fact that the restaurant has been in operation since 1294! 
After lunch they drove us two hours through the scenic Bavarian countryside to Neuschwanstein Castle.  This is one of the world's most photographed sights, because it was built by King Ludwig II as an idyliic fairytale castle.  It certainly felt like we were in a fairytale when we visited, because the whole place was shrouded in fog.  So it was a neat atmosphere, but not conducive to pictures (I didn't actually take the photograph I included here). 

Salzburg with Cosima, Kim, and Mrs. Sperling (l to r)

Saturday we took another drive on the autobahn (we went over 130 miles per hour), this time across the border to Salzburg, Austria.  I had heard so much about the charm of the place, and it certainly lived up to expectations.  It was absolutely wonderful!  We went on a fascinating tour of the town - starting at the cathedral and ending in front of Mozart's birthplace.  The city just seems so quaint and timeless - it was everything I hoped it would be.  We also took advantage of Salzburg's reputation for great pastries to try some authentic Austrian strudel - delicious!  Then in the afternoon, we took a walk up to the fortress overlooking the city.  So it was two castles in two days for me - imagine that!  This one was like its own little town; yet it also gave us some beautiful views of the main town below.  There was an accordion player up at the castle, and so looking out over the mountains the hills really were alive with the sound of music!
Finally, on Sunday we went on one final tour of Munich.  This time we walked through town by the Marienplatz (where we saw the famous glockenspiel), the cathedral (which belonged to Pope Benedict when he was archbishop of Munich), and then through the English Gardens (a park which dwarfs central park, and even has a man-made river where we watched surfers surfing in the cold).  So all in all we had a great weekend; but now it's time to gear up for finals this week.  The semester is coming to an end fast!

Symposium

These are three videos on my study abroad experience that I made for the Celebration of Ideas Symposium at Silver Lake College of the Holy Family.  So anyone who goes to Silver Lake, please refrain from viewing these videos until after Friday's Symposium.  Thanks so much, enjoy!

 

Part I - The Villa Serenella

 

Part II - Piazza Garibaldi

 

Part III - St. Peter's Square

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

A friend made on the hike

Yesterday was La Pasquetta - little Easter - here in Italy.  For some, this day is of equal importance to Easter itself!  Typically, Italians spend the day picnicking in the countryside.  So we decided to live Pasquetta in the Italian spirit and spend the day out at Castel Gandolfo.  Castel Gandolfo is a gorgeous place just outside of Rome that is located on the shores of Lake Albano at the foot of the Alban mountains/hills.  It is also the summer residence of the pope, and the place that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is temporarily residing.  We had a great time!  We explored the quaint little town, and ate gelato in the square outside of the Papal residence.  Then two of us went on a hike up the nearby Monte Cavo.  We were told it was three miles one way to the top, but it turned out it was 15 miles round trip.  It was worth it though, because we had a good time and got some good views of the countryside.  Plus we made it back in time to have a picnic supper by the lake with the rest of the group - chicken drumsticks sent by our cook and chocolate bars - dinner of champions!  So we had a great time - it was a nice day, a beautiful place, and fun time with friends.