Catching Up

So I think I've been skimping on my blog posts recently. I've been having one of those weeks where everything just seems to wear me out completely and by the time I get back to my room and am ready to post something to my blog I'm completely worn out. I haven't slept better than this in a LONG time. As soon as my head hits the pillow I'm out like a light. It's funny -- the first night I spent here I fell asleep in the middle of a rosary I was praying before bed (I know, you probably shouldn't do that... but I was tired!) and I woke up in the middle of the night with it almost around my shoulder. Not that you really need to know that, but in retrospect it kind of makes me laugh.

This is the fort that overlooks the town of Assisi. I actually ate lunch under its walls :)

This is where I'm going to attempt to catch you up on everything that has happened in Umbria. We arrived around eleven on Monday morning to a beautiful convent (yes, convent, look it up) of Franciscan friars. They showed us to our rooms and then allowed us to unpack a little bit before the program started. I was used to having pretty good cooking at the Villa, but the food here is unbelievable. We get three course meals at lunch and dinner. Out of this world how good the food has been. Anyway, lunch for that afternoon was at a pizzeria, as I may have mentioned earlier, and it honestly was the best pizza I've had in Italy thus far. The pizza is called Four Seasons and was just a whole lot of awesome. Met with Francesco afterward and toured for a while. I've finally started to get pictures up from Perugia and Assisi so the link in the top will be updated until at least Sunday so keep checking back if you'd like to see more of my photos.

Yesterday was my trip to Assisi. It's a very small town but one of the most beautiful and interesting places I've visited in Italia.

This the Cathedral of San Chiara (Claire) from the Fort.

I didn't realize it was possible, but Assisi was even hillier than Siena had been. Thankfully I was prepared for it and the hills didn't really bother me all that much. We visited just about everywhere in this wonderful town. We saw the crypt of San Chiara and the Basilica of San Francesco, even though the crypt was closed :(. We also visited the places that were of great importance to the formation of the Franciscan Order.

Apparently at the Church of St. Francis, which is pictured below, if you do what is required you can gain indulgences from visiting the small church inside of the newer church. I didn't even know indulgences still existed, but it didn't stop me from gaining one for myself.

The church of St. Francis.

I bought a few small souvenirs for myself and friends back home then we boarded the bus again and returned to Perugia.

This is our entire group in front of the Basilica. The woman on the far left (Jenny) is in charge of our program through the Villa.

Nathan took this picture of me by that fort I mentioned earlier. That is San Chiara in the background (right) I can't remember what the church to the left is called...

So that was my Assisi trip. Awesome.

Today we woke up to have three hours of Francesco's class before our tour of Perugia. It was another beautiful day for us. The things we weren't able to see on Monday we visited today. Below you will see a picture of one of the oldest churches in the world. Francesco was saying that it was unusual for it to be open and it wasn't even part of his plan to visit it so it was quite a good surprise.

That's a pretty sweet church, you might say...

We visited churches, ruins, and just about anything else you could imagine. We even visited San Domenico's church. It's awesome to see so much of my patron saint around Italy. This church has the biggest stain glass window in all of Italy.

I won't go through each place we visited, because that'd be just as boring for you to read as it would be tedious for me to recap. If you want to see where I visited, just look through my pictures. 

As we were walking around today I realized that I didn't have a picture with Francesco yet. I thought it was fitting to take a picture with him in his hometown so I managed to get three with him overlooking the skyline of Perugia.

Francesco and me :)

Tomorrow I have Father Meinrad's class and then we have the afternoon free. At 5:20 (my time) I have an interview with Student Life to be an RA next year so please keep me in your prayers as I take this next important step. Friday we go to Norcia & Cascia and then Saturday we will be travelling again to Orvieto. Hope everything is going well state-side. I will see you all in less than a month. It's hard to believe I'm down to a month in this wonderful place, but even the best things have to end some time.

Ciao and God bless!