BEST DAY EVER

Friday (2/8)
Just when I think Rome can't get any more exciting, it does!

Excited for the Scavi Tour!

Slanted stairs up to Vatican Dome

Rome and Vatican City

This morning we met at St. Peters to get an exclusive Scavi tour of the bottom of the Vatican.  While waiting through security, we talked and made friends with the Swiss guards.  Our guide took us down underground where the original rooms of the City were once above ground.  She talked to us all about the history and usage of each of the rooms and showed us amazing frescos.  Then she took us to the climax of the tour: Peters grave marked by a lamp you peer at through a hole in the stone wall.  Following this, she took us to the place where the altar would be, and there showed us the actual bone remains of Peter, found on the altar just a short distance from where he was crucified upside down in St. Peter's square.  What more evidence is there of Peter being the rock of the Church?  Afterwards, our tour guide left us and we walked around the amazingly beautiful basement of the Vatican where there  is a hallway where all the popes are buried on either side.  There was so much to look at!  From the bottom of the Vatican to the top of the city, a few of us paid a few Euro to climb hundreds of sloping steps to the very top of the Vatican Dome overlooking the city.  I don't feel so bad that I still get lost here because from above, the city still looks so big and confusing!  I took a picture of Vatican city from above and realized it is exactly identical to the picture that is on the face of my credit card!  How cool!  The rest of the afternoon a few of us relaxed and ate some lunch in the warm sun, observing some skateboarders and happened upon the "Piazza Navona (supposedly the most beautiful Piazza in Rome)--filled with artisans and fountains.  After grabbing some gelato, we headed to class.  Fridays we are supposed to do service, so Fr. Justin led our group past the colosseum to the Mother house of the Missionaries of Charity...the same house where Mother Teresa lived, worked, and eventually died.  We were able to see the room where she died in the house.  In there, nothing is touched since her death.  Even the calendar on the wall is still set on the date that she died.  We were also given the opportunity to pray in the chapel she prayed in, and we were able to talk with Sister Alaina, who personally knew Mother Teresa for 20 years until her death, about stories of her life and mission.  The whole time I couldn't take my eyes or attention off of Sister Alaina.  Sitting in the same room as Mother Teresa prayed and attended mass in, and speaking to a close friend of hers was indescribable and quickly became my favorite part of my Rome adventure so far.  It was so cool to hear about Mother Teresa and her love for chocolate, her mischievous but loving side, and her relationship with Pope John Paul II.  When asked what was a piece of advice Mother would say to her, Sister Alaina replied, "Give to God what he takes, and take from God what he gives."

Mother Teresa's bed where she died

Afterwards, the whole group went out to dinner and shared some great wine, pasta, and conversation.  A few of us were feeling adventurous and walked to a nearby Irish pub, "Scholars" to get some beer and be in a lively atmosphere!  After a long walk home my body collapsed from the busy yet incredibly fufilling day.