Easter in Rome

Figured it was about time I blogged about Rome since I've been back for nearly a week and a half now. (The picture is of me in front of the ND flag in front of the Colosseum waiting for Stations of the Cross with the pope.)

Rome was beautiful and amazing. Notre Dame does a trip/pilgrimage every year for study abroad students in Europe so it was nice to be around a bunch of ND kids. There were over 100 of us there!

I flew out to Rome Thursday morning with my friend Ashley since the 2 of us don't have class Thursdays. We got in and the weather was beautiful! 60s and sunny. A nice change from the rain, cold, and wind we'd been having in Dublin. We headed to the villa we were staying in (me just for one night since I took the place of my friend Kaitlyn). After that, Mike, an ND student studying in Rome, showed us around the city. We walked by the Colosseum and Forum. We went into the Pantheon. That night we headed to the Basilica of St. John Lateran for mass with the pope. It was crazy to say the least. The crowd jostled to get a glimpse of the pope and to get communion. It was interesting. The church, mass, and music was beautiful. That night we had good Italian food and wine! Italy is definitely my favorite country for eating so far.

The next day we picked Kaitlyn up from the airport around noon. After dropping her bag at the villa, we found pizza for lunch. Then we just walked around the city some more. Ate more pizza and got gelato. Then we headed to the Colosseum for Stations of the Cross with the Pope! We had to wait for a long time but it was worth it.
Saturday morning we had to be up early to get to the Vatican. ND had arranged for a guided tour of the Vatican Museums for the group. The tour was amazing and a bit overwhelming. The museum was really crowded due to the holiday but it really helped that we had a tour guide to get us through. After a lunch of pizza with an Italian waiter who liked to sing to us, we headed back to the Pantheon and then went on a short walking tour of various churches with relics of important saints.

That night we ate a great Italian dinner again. Then we headed out to see the Trevi fountain at night. It was beautiful.

The next morning we were up early again--this time for Easter mass at the Vatican with the pope. We looked outside that morning and it was a little cloudy but we thought nothing of it. Unfortunately, it started raining just as mass was about to start. And I was wearing a white dress and had no rain coat or umbrella. Despite the rain, mass was an amazing experience. My favorite part was the papal message after mass was over. The pope said "Happy Easter" in probably 80 different languages with people of those languages cheering loudly when he got to theirs. It was really cool.

We treated ourselves to a hearty Italian lunch after we changed into dry clothes at the hostel and then just bummed around the city. We stopped in a couple different churches that we'd missed on our walking tour (no shortage of churches in Rome) and braved the Spanish Steps in a steady rain. We called it an early night, exhausted from two very busy, early days.

The next day I met up with Ashley and Kaitlyn again. We met a priest Ashley knows from home, Father Matthew, who is studying in Rome for a few years. He brought an Augustinian brother along who happened to be Irish! The two of them showed us around the city. The Irish brother took us up to the terrace of the Augustinian house in the Vatican to give us a great view of St. Peter's. They showed us to a few beautiful churches and treated us to pizza for lunch. We walked by the Spanish steps again and Piazza di Popolo. They also showed us to a really great gelato place right by the Vatican. After we parted ways with them, we went to Castel Sant'Angelo which had great views of the city. Then we wandered to find another gelato place that was recommended to us. On the way to the train station we went by the Trevi Fountain again so Kaitlyn and I could throw coins in to make sure we'd come back to Rome someday.

And then it was time to leave. We got back into Dublin late that night, welcomed back by lovely Dublin weather (really cold and really windy).

I've been working on a big paper since then and am looking forward to the end of my classes this week. Paris this weekend and hopefully between finishing up my paper and starting to study for finals I can update this blog! Can't believe how quickly time is passing. I only have a little bit more than a month left here in Ireland!