Randomness :)

Santa Sabina

Wednesday started the beginning of Lent! After pulling an all nighter...which probably wasn't the smartest thing to do but there were four of us so it was fun :)...we had mass at a church that was an hour walk from Bernardi here. I have to admit I had a very difficult time staying awake but it was a very nice mass with over fifty (i think) preists up at the altar...which was amazing! After that we walked back and had breakfast and the rest of the day most of us didn't have class so we had the day free. Those of us who stayed up all night slept most of the day which felt really good! Later in the evening then a small group of us went to dinner with Fr. Carola which was a good time!

Thursday then we had class again which started at 8:30a which was a bit of a challenge to get up for seeing as though we have to get up earlier to walk 35 minutes to class :) It really isn't too bad of a walk it just gets annoying sometimes because you have to leave in such an advance, but I love the exercise! So, we had two classes today and then we came back to Bernardi in the afternoon.

Gabbie and Darren by the river

"The Duomo" (cathedral)

To our surprise, when we got back and checked our email we received one that said that our professor who was supposed to take us on a tour this morning (Friday) was ill so we wouldn't have to be here for that. So on a whim three of us wanted to just skip Italian this afternoon and take a weekend trip. So we packed a bag and in a half hour we were headed to the train station hoping to get to Zurich, Switzerland. Well, to our disappointment, the tickets were extremely high when we got there. So we turned around and stopped for dinner and headed back. Well we were back for a bit and were starting to regret that we just didn't go ahead and do it because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. So after a couple hours we headed back to the train station (which is quite a walk mind you :-p ) We got there and there were no more international trains leaving anymore for the night. We decided then that we would just hang there for a while and early in the morning we took a train ride to Florence, Italy. (This was my very first train ride by the way) We planned on spending the weekend there but hotels were hard to find and mine and Gabbie's feet weren't doing so well (I think I broke a toe or something in my foot) so we decided to just head back tonight. It was a really fun day though. Walking around the shops and seeing the river and all the pretty scenery! I will never turn down any of that!

Well, that was my excitement for the past few days. I think the weekend is going to hold a lot of rest and homework. I need to stay off my foot as much as possible so whatever is wrong with it will heal. Everything else is going very well here and everyday holds new adventures! I keep you all in my prayers and hopefully I will hear from you throughout the semester!





PS... here is a pic up from our Terrace view...I will get better ones soon! :) ENJOY!



Ciao!