Bittersweet Symphony

I know you guys missed me, but I have finally returned! I kind of feel like a train hit me tonight so I'm going to try and summarize the last few days as quickly as possible.

Friday: Around two I met Jenny and girls from the program to play soccer with local kids a part of her (Jenny's) Catholic group. It was absolutely awesome! There were so many kids who were just soaking in what it meant to live. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. We came back to the Villa and I found a version of Braveheart for us to watch. So that was Friday in a nutshell. Quick, interesting, fun, etc.

I had no idea that St. Dominic's tomb was in Bologna. It was such a pleasant and awesome surprise!

Saturday: Father Meinrad and I ventured to Bologna on Saturday. We visited with Steve Figoni and had lunch with his amazing young family. They then toured us around what has become one of my favorite cities in Italy. I wish I could've stayed there longer but I had to be back to have dinner with Don Mario, Dylan, Brendan, and Dan, and Padre's flat. He is one of the most interesting people I have ever met and his apartment fit that personality. He had priceless works of art and Pavarotti playing throughout. Although the best part was the picture of Rappin' Ronny Reagan he had. Then Father continued to give us wine, food, and good discussion for the rest of the night. I'm going to miss Dylan and Don Mario when I have to leave this wonderful country in three weeks. Of course, as you noticed, I didn't blog last night either and there is a very good reason for that.

The beautiful Bolognese countryside.

After dinner was over I walked over to the Ponte Vecchio with Dylan to meet Ingrid and a few more people from the St. Thomas Moore Society. Around 23:30 I figured I should get back to the Villa because our bus for Monte Oliveto left at 7:30 this morning. As I was sitting in San Marco I realized that I only had one week left in Florence. One week. So I grabbed my stuff and went on a journey to track down Dylan and the gang. I had an idea where to look, but both of those places I didn't find them. I think God wanted me to spend last night in Florence because I was heading back to San Marco in one of the back roads I rarely use and I randomly bumped into Dylan. It was awesome! So I dropped my stuff off at Ingrid's apartment, we got some wine and we walked around the beautiful city of Florence admiring the life that came out after dark. Around 2:30 I got the drunchies, as Dylan coined it, so we got a Kebab at what Dylan also proclaims as the best Kebab place in Florence. The night wrapped up around 4:00 where I passed out for about an hour and fifteen minutes before waking up and taking the first bus back to Settignano around 6:00.

Sunday: Today we went to Monte Oliveto, a Benedictine Order that was reformed by St. Bernardo Tolomei. The Abbey is located just outside of Siena and it was interesting to see all of the scenery again of that beautiful area. We got a personal tour from one of the monks and even celebrated mass with them. After mass we went to have a wine tasting. The monks at this Abbey make wine, olive oil, and an array of other useful products. They make the only white wine I've ever tried that I actually liked so I decided to buy it and bring it home to share with my family. I'm a red wine type of guy, so it was incredibly surprising that I could tolerate a white wine let alone like it. We ate an amazing lunch with the monk pictured below. It was nice having a small group for this trip. It made the entire experience that much more intimate.

I feel really bad because I can't remember this monk's name, but he was awesome!

We came back to Florence and I stopped in town for a few hours, soaking up what's left of my time here. Came back to the Villa, remembering I had gotten less than two hours of sleep the previous night, ate dinner then took a nap. Woke up a few hours ago and figured it would probably be nice of me to update this blog thingy that I decided to do.

All streaks must come to an end: even one as awesome as my blog streak. 8 Days and I leave Florence for good en route to Rome. Things are moving so fast now! Gah!

Love you guys! Hope you don't hate me too much for forgetting to post for two nights! Ciao a tutti!

God bless!

AS Roma v. Fiorentina!!

Today has been amazing. First, I got to sleep in, which is always a good thing. Second, I got to see my favorite team play! Woot! As an added bonus, Francesco Totti started today (he's pretty old so he usually doesn't start). It was just an amazing day for many reasons.

This is a picture of the crowd in the middle of the game. They were a rowdy bunch.

The game had such a crazy atmosphere. When you watch European games on TV you don't really get the same feeling, I can say that with relative certainty. The stadium was absolutely electric. Of course, this is where I can also peg my biggest complaint. Of the things I could understand, the phrases and words that stood out were all the cursing and generally unwarranted yelling. These fans booed everything; they started spouting off when things went wrong; every time a player would go down they would start calling him names; they were just a rowdy group that would fall off a cliff before saying something against their time. I can appreciate that to a certain extent, but this was absolutely mad. De Rossi went down with an injury around the 88th minute and they again started calling him names and booing as he limped off the field and a sub replaced him. Unsportsmanlike and unwarranted. Even the players on the field weren't like that. For me that was the black eye of the entire experience and to the Italian sports fans that I saw today.

On a brighter note, I got to see both Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi -- my two favorite players on the field at the same time!

This is from a corner kick.

Both of them played extraordinarily well in a hard fought match. It was a special day for Totti as well. He scored two goals today and both were record breaking. They were his 200th and 201st goals in Serie A play. That puts him in sixth on the all time list for Italian football. I actually have a picture from one of his goals which you will see below.

Awesome picture, right? This was the penalty kick that gave him his 200th goal. Goalie dove the wrong way!

The rest of the pictures from the match are up in the top right where I normally post my albums. Hope you guys enjoy them.

Tomorrow we leave for Umbria and Perugia around 9 AM. This apparently means we have to pack up our rooms entirely and move them somewhere that hasn't been determined yet. Kind of frustrating. I guess it's a head start for Rome? Either way, it's going to take me a while to put all of my stuff together. Anywho... I think that about sums up my soccer game. It was an unbelievable experience and if you ever have the opportunity to see a game you definitely should.

Until next time, my friends.

God bless!

Wandering

Do you know what time it is?

Tool Time!

Sorry... got distracted... at least I waited a few days for another 90s reference. That makes it better, right?

Today was pretty chill. It was a great change of pace. Most of my group went to Siena for the day, so I decided to take my alone time and explore Florence in a more intimate way. It was awesome just marveling at the great things around Firenze. I was looking for a place to find a Mahjongg set, but I have been fruitless so far. On top of my freedom, I was finally able to sleep in!!

As I was getting back on the bus for Settignano, I ran into Father Meinrad so we were able to catch up on our adventures of the day. People started rolling back in from their trip around three or four, so I went to the lounge to hang out with them. It was just a relaxing day in general as we talked about classes, soccer, and trips that we are planning. Talked to Will, and we'll probably make it to Sicily and Calabria the first weekend of April. I'm really excited for that.

Now I'm watching AS Roma v. Napoli. I can't believe I'll be going to my first international calcio (soccer) game on Wednesday. That game will be Fiorentina v. Internazional (Inter Milan). I will be seeing Roma play on the 20th of March.

God bless!

Felt bad for almost posting without a picture from Italy. As great as Home Improvement is...

La Vita è Bella

Spending the last two weeks in Europe has taught me quite a few things. Whether it be about myself or the world I live in, it has been quite enlightening.

It is becoming much harder to get up everyday. The excitement isn't quite at the levels from my prior trip to Ireland, so motivation to get out of bed is back to normal. But that also means I'm getting enough sleep, now. It's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't, situations.

If you can't read it, this is a statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi.
If you don't know who he is, don't feel bad. I don't know either.

So yea... Today I had five hours of Italiano. There are limits to how much language I can absorb in one day -- and we got dangerously close to that limit today. After all of my classes today, a group of us headed into Florence. I had intended on getting running shoes in town, but that quest continues to elude me. So I'll try again at a later date. On the bright side, I got two soccer jerseys for 8 euro. They are replicas from the World Cup, but I think they are still really cool and quite well made.

We're about to watch Life is Beautiful at nine, but that's all I've got planned for now. Although, I have to reshuffle my entire Spring Break now... grrr.... let's hope I keep my sanity through the entire thing. I love you guys! Keep reading and commenting! I want to hear from everyone!

God bless!

For most of my evening I have reflected upon Life is Beautiful. There is so much in this movie that entire novels could be written about. Subjects so diverse that it would put my blog to shame. What struck me as I watched tonight was the selflessness of Guido. I'm trying not to ruin the movie for anyone, but if you haven't seen it, you have something to do this weekend. There is more to selflessness than simply putting someone else's needs in front of your own. As Guido showed so clearly throughout the entirety of the movie. His love of his son and his wife shattered worlds that couldn't even fathom the way in which this small man approached his life. It was hard for me to see the humor or react to any that was present in the WWII segment of the film, but therein lies the beauty of this masterpiece. Even in the bleakest of times, life can truly be beautiful. Whether the charade Guido performed for Joshua is realistic is null. Guido is the image of our inner childhood. A childhood so vibrant and alive: an inner child that all of us wish to hold on to -- at least for moments. It's films like this that make you consider your life in new light. Count the blessings you have, regardless of where you are, what situation you are in, or what hardships you face. Dance when everyone is crying, sing when the world tries to silence you. We only have one life: make it beautiful.

Recuperating

I finally got to sleep in after more than a week of "go, go, go!" I woke up at ten, took a shower, then headed out to our lounge area to hang out. Spring break and travels was brought up, so I decided it would be good to at least get started on my plans for Austria and Germany. This project completely consumed my morning, but I finished all of the itinerary for this nine day trip. I set a budget for my spring break as a third of my budget for Europe, and I pretty much nailed it as far as my price estimates are concerned. We're going to fly into Frankfurt on the Friday of break and make our way down through Nuremberg and Munich before terminating our break in Vienna, Austria. I'm really looking forward to it. Now I just have to find two other people to fill out my group, and we should be golden.

This is the back of the Cathedral in Lucca.

What else did I do with my day? Not much else. I'm sitting down now to watch my favorite team (Roma) play calcio with Pietro whose favorite team is their opponent Inter Milan. Let's hope Roma pulls this one out for me. I always enjoy bragging rights. I've also considered watching the Super Bowl tonight, which will start at midnight here. We'll see though. If anything interesting comes up today or if I have anything worthwhile to say, I will update later tonight.

God bless!

Daniele De Rossi -- my favorite player on my favorite team. Go Roma!

Ok, so here's the update: I watched Roma v. Inter Milan and it was a bella partita (beautiful game). Roma ended up losing a player on a bogus call, but it was still a great game. Final score 3-5. The most amazing part is that I will be able to see Roma play Fiorentina the day before we leave for Umbria! It was a magnificent stroke of luck.

I'm thinking about watching the Super Bowl, so hopefully I can stay up long enough. Honestly, I don't care who wins between the two teams, but I have the opportunity to watch, so why not? Buona sera!

First Day of Classes

School has officially started in Florence. After an hour of orientation, we were immediately immersed into our first Italian class. They split us into two groups (since there are forty of us). It was a lot easier than I expected it to be. I think that my solid background in Spanish is helping me immensely understand what is going on in that class. Honestly, I don't think I've enjoyed my first day of classes as much as I did today. Daniel and Giovanni are our two instructors in Italiano, and their philosophy was total immersion from the start. They didn't use English unless it was absolutely necessary because no one understood. Absolutely fascinating.

Florence from the Villa. You can see the Duomo in the back.

So after Italiano we broke for lunch and preparation for Father Meinrad's class on Reformations in the Church. We used my computer to show the videos we saw -- so I immediately became the A/V man for the Villa. Luigi Giussani (the founder of the Liberation and Theology) was the subject of our first class. He had an awesome point of view on how the world works and the happiness inherent if you are just willing to see it. It might get a little taxing having every class for two hours, but for once I think I can enjoy it.

After our final class a group of us got together to play soccer up the road a few kilometers. It was awesome playing soccer with everyone. We had originally played on a grass field, but it ended up being too wet. The game moved to a parking lot. This was good and bad. One of the guys ended up kicking the ball well over the walls we were playing around and into a cemetery. I ended up climbing onto the roof of one of the mausoleums in order to find where the ball had wandered off. It ended up resting under a movable steel staircase. After THAT adventure we headed back to the Villa for mass and dinner.

Overall, even after only a few days, this has been incredible. It will only get better from here and that makes me really excited. We have a beginning of the semester party at nine, so that'll be awesome.

The statue in the square outside the Villa.
I couldn't make out who it was... sorry!

Verdict for the party? Awesome. A local guitarist came in and played Italian and American songs and we all sang and danced (most did hesitantly). It was like a gay tarantella, to steal a verse. But it is getting late here and I"m starting to tire out. I have no idea what tomorrow has in store for me, but hopefully I'm able to make it into Florence tomorrow and get a little shopping done...

Oh! But if you guys hadn't noticed, there are links in the top right to my photos (at least some of them) from Ireland. Just click on the links and enjoy! God bless!