When in Rome...

"When in Minnesota, do what the Minnesotans do" started sitting on the runway in the airplane, where frigid temperatures and a spontaneous blizzard caused the engine to fail, the fuel to deplete, and trucks to come to de-ice the plane.  This made me only more anxious to fly away!  After 3 hours, we finally departed behind schedule to Amsterdam.  Luckily, we had a long layover scheduled so we had just enough time to go through quick security (where I happened to be a popular suspect as I was searched thoroughly and asked numerous questions...."no officer, that's just water I swear"), and walk right through the gate onto the next plane.  Unfortunately, I hadn't really slept on either plane ride so the bus ride over to Bernardi Campus in Rome--where I was supposed to be enjoying the view--turned into a 30 minute snooz.  

The afternoon was filled with orientation activities, mass and dinner.  I had just showered and was in my PJ's and was ready to crawl into bed, but I couldn't resist when a few girls asked me to go for a walk around the neighborhood and get a first taste of Gelato!  That was the first time I realized I didn't know any Italian.  But luckily, body language can go a long way and soon I was devouring a carmel delight!  It wasn't until 30 minutes into our walk that we realized the 7 of us were just "tagging along" and had no idea where we were going.  It was during our back tracking that I began to realize that I was not in Minnesota anymore.  I learned some important things:

1) All the cars here are mini but it doesn't make them any less frightening.  Around the big Piazza they drive fast, there are no lanes, they don't signal, and if you look at a car, they assume you see them and are giving them permission to go forward. I had more confidence about crossing, though, when I saw a dad with a baby stroller just book it across the street without looking.

2) Our "Minnesota nice" ways of smiling at passerby's has quite a bit of different connotation here.  It could mean either you're 'coming on' to them...or, you're another one of those weird people who may not be mentally healthy... 

3) Not very important, but the trees here even look different--they look like broccoli.  And they have palm trees!  

Outside of the Vatican (click to enlarge)

Inside of the Vatican (I'll take a better pic)

The next morning we had more orientation until 4pm, and then we took our first walk over to St. Peters square to see the Vatican.  I'm sure I'll be adding better pictures later, but it was pretty to see the Vatican with the pink sky and with the Christmas nativity and lights still up in the square.  We were told to keep our heads down and then look up once we entered the center of the Vatican so we could take it all in with our first glance.  My first glance left me speechless.  It is so beautiful and every inch of that place is filled with statues and figurines of holy people I hadn't even heard of.  One fact that Fr. Justin (who is our chaplain) told us, was the Vatican is built so that when you walk in, you don't feel as small as you should compared to how big the Vatican really is.  This is because of its architecture.  The pillars you see surrounding the Vatican are HUGE and make you feel really small, but if these were used to hold up the Vatican and give us that same feeling, they would need to use TONS of those big pillars to fill the place!  In reality, a human can fit in the letter "O" in the words written on the tops of the walls!

We were able to enjoy our first community night dinner complete with pasta, pork, salad, potatoes, birthday cake, and wine!  I'm not sure if I believe that Americans are the only ones who eat alot...