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!

Under the Stars of Firenze

My titles are becoming more 'floofy' I think. I don't know if I like that or not.

A picture of the Florence skyline tonight.

Today was a pretty lazy day. I woke up and went for a walk, came back and watched a movie, and then Dan randomly showed up so we went to the English mass at the Duomo. This was a good choice for multiple reasons, but it was a great decision because I was asked to the second reading. Talk about a once in a lifetime experience. The whole place echoed with my voice and I could hardly believe that I was doing a reading inside the Duomo in Florence, Italy. We stayed after a little while to talk to Don Mario and Dylan, but after that we picked up some dinner (I had a delicious sandwich with ham and cheese and eggplant and mmmmmmm) and now I'm about to go outside to drink wine and smoke cigars with Dan and Bridget. This has turned into a quite relaxing weekend and I'll be wanting more of these after the next two weekends that I have in store.

Until next time, mi amici, God bless!

Saw this on Facebook tonight and really liked it:

Everyone longs to give their self completely to someone,

to have a deep soul relationship with another,

to be loved thoroughly and exclusively.

But God, to a Christian says,

“No, not until you are satisfied with living loved by Me alone.

I love you, My child,

and until you discover that only in Me is your satisfaction,

you will not be capable of the perfect love that I have planned for you.

I want you to stop planning, stop wanting,

and allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan existing—

one that you cannot imagine.

I want you to have the best. Please allow Me to bring it to you.

Just keep watching Me, expecting the greatest things.

Keep experiencing that satisfaction knowing that I AM.

Keep learning and listening to the things I tell you.

You must wait.

Don't be anxious. Don't worry! Don't look at the things you want.

Don't look around at the things others have gotten or that I have given them.

Just keep looking to Me, or you'll miss what I want to show you.

And then, when you are ready, I'll surprise you

with a love far more wonderful than any you would ever dream of.

You see, until you are ready

—and even to the minute, to have both of you ready at the same time—

until you are both satisfied with Me and the life I prepared for you,

you won't be able to experience the love that exemplifies your relationship with Me

and is thus, perfect love.

And dear one, I want you to have this wonderful love.

I want you to see in the flesh, a picture of your relationship with Me

and to enjoy the everlasting union of beauty and love.

I am God.

Believe and be satisfied.

- St. Anthony of Padua, 1247 -

Mountain Biking. No. Really. MOUNTAIN Biking.

Today has been very, very, interesting. Woke up early and walked twenty minutes to rent mountain bikes for the day. When Pietro had told me we were going mountain biking I assumed trail biking, like I had done in the states... man was I wrong. Hills and peaks like I've never ridden before. It was awesome, but incredibly difficult.

Countryside I was riding through.

So after all of that working, we made it back to the Villa where we were late for lunch, so Pietro called ahead and they more or less made a feast for us. It was incredible. After all of that, I went to dinner, which, as usual, was absolutely delicious. I probably had more wine than I should've, which I got great wine at the supermarket for under €3. After dinner, Bridget and I went outside to have a cigar and drink more wine and we invited Father Meinrad to join us after he had finished with confessions. One thing led to another and we ended up going into Settignano to drink with him and Pietro. It was a fantastic night and a great overall day.

Tomorrow I plan on resting my tired bones and sleep in. A lot of the group is going to Siena, but I'm planning on going there later this semester. Hope everything is going well in the midwest (even if it's cold). Oh, and a shout out to all my St. James Academy peeps: Thanks for reading and following my travels -- I really appreciate it and I'll try to make it up to SJA before you guys get out of school.

Salute di Settignano, Firenze, Italia!