Going Hard in the Papal Paint

Buona Pasqua, everyone!

My last weekend getaway was to Roma, Italia, in honor of Christ’s resurrection. Woot woot!  The trip was the perfect mix of faithful reflection, city exploration and fun with great friends.  This is kind of a long entry, so you may want to grab a snack and kick your feet up for this one! 

Thursday

When I left for Rome on Thursday, I was so excited to finally embark on a trip by myself.  Although I encountered a little bit of difficulty finding the train station to take me to the London Stansted Airport (read: I was sprinting through Victoria, yelling, “Terravision? Terravision!?”), I luckily built enough time into my schedule so that making the next bus still got me to the airport with plenty of time. The flight arrived on time, and I hopped on a bus to Termini Station, the heart of Rome.  There I met my hosts for the weekend—two of my closest guy friends from highschool—and they took me to grab some falafel.  LOL I know...falafel when I am in the heart of pizza and pasta-y goodness? Do not fear, 1) it was incredible falafel and 2) I would certainly have my fair share of Italian foods throughout the rest of my trip.  Afterwards we trekked to their apartment, conveniently located across the street from the Colosseum.  No joke.  It was quaint but safe and homey.  I spent the rest of the night catching up with them and meeting some of the friends they were studying with here in Rome.

Reunited outside the Colosseum:)

Good Friday

Friday was my first day on the Notre Dame Holy Week Pilgrimage, a journey of faith I signed up for a few months ago.  I met 30 of my fellow classmates (who were from ND study abroad programs in Dublin, Bologna, Rome, Toledo, and London) early that morning outside of the Colosseum for a morning prayer service.  I immediately liked our pilgrimage leaders.  One came from ND, and the other had lived and studied in Rome for many years; together they made an extremely knowledgeable and religious pair.  They lead us on a walking tour through many of Rome’s beautiful churches, and in the process we saw spectacular passion relics, such as the relic of the wood of Jesus’ cross, located in the Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.

London girlies at the Colosseum. 

The Arch of Constantine

Ridin' solo in front of a blue sky (haven't seen that in a while!)

My favourite part of that morning was when we arrived at the Scala Santa, or the “Holy Stairs.” According to tradition, these are the steps where Jesus stood during his Passion on his way to trial. St. Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine, brought them to Rome in the 4^th century.  The marble stairs have been covered with wood to preserve them, but there are spots on the stairs which are uncovered, allowing us to see supposed drops of Jesus’ blood.  Pilgrims venture to the stairs (especially on Fridays in Lent) to climb them...entirely on their knees.  On each of the 28 stairs, the pilgrim says a station of the cross or a decade of the rosary.  Sound pretty simple?  Let me tell you...no.  For an able-bodied, young adult, the stairs nearly had me groaning in pain.  The wood was sharp and hard on my knee caps, and crawling on my knees for nearly 20 minutes was taxing on my muscles.  In combination with our Good Friday fasting, climbing the steps was a brutal physical reminder of Jesus’ suffering.  It was simply beautiful, and upon reaching the top, I felt invigorated by the Holy Spirit. 

Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

The Holy Stairs

Friday night brought another moving religious experience.  At 6:45 our group headed to the Colosseum, the site of Stations of the Cross.  Two and a half hours later Pope Francesco himself emerged and gave a blessing over the candlelit service.  The Stations of the Cross then commenced...in Italian! It was fun to recognize phrases and words based off my knowledge of Spanish.  Each station concluded with an Our Father said in Latin.  In the Liturgical Choir back in South Bend, we sing nearly exclusively in Latin, so I loved being able to pronounce words! I felt so cool and worldy.  The service was simply beautiful, and as soon as it ended I literally *crossed the street* and was at my friends' apartment.  Can you say convenient!

Holy Saturday
On Holy Saturday we were supposed to gather at 7 am at St. Peter’s Basilica.  Ha. Ha.  My body clock trumped my alarm clock, and I finally got to the Vatican around 10.  Whatever, it's my vacation, right?!  Either way, this morning was hilarious.  Get this: I started out by taking the metro all by myself to St. Peter’s.  This required purchasing a ticket, hopping on the correct train and even switching lines.  (However, there are only two lines on the Roman metro because whenever the government tried to build another, it would run into ruins.  Rome problems!)  When my journey went flawlessly, not going to lie, I felt like an Italian badass.  But it just keeps getting better!  After I popped out of the metro, I walked nearly a half mile towards the Basilica...and NONE of the tour company representatives tried to sell a tour to me.  I guess I must’ve looked like an Italian woman just doing her thing!  Unfortunately, doing my thing kind of ended when I approached the Vatican borders and had to hop a fence to get in—oops.  Definitely not the kosher way of entering the square.  However, I did manage to find the Notre Dame crew in a crowd of thousands of people (don't ask me how), so it all worked out.

We then toured the Basilica together, and once again I was extremely appreciative of our tour guides, who told us interesting stories about every statue, painting and relic in sight.  The basilica, which was in construction from 1506-1626, was even more magnificent than I remember after my 2006 Europe trip.  One interesting fact I remember was that those who decorated the Basilica used visual illusions to make the space seem grand yet intimate.  For example, statues and words would become larger in size as they were higher up in the building, making them seem closer.  In fact, the letters on the innermost part of the dome are nearly ten feet high-- like two of me!  After our tour, nearly 100 Domers congregated to receive our mass tickets.  It was like a little party in the middle of St. Peter's square:)

In front of St. Peter's Basilica

Who has two thumbs, killer dance moves and a ticket to see the Pope? THIS CHICK.

We spent the rest of the afternoon inside the Vatican Museum.  Conveniently, this was the only time it rained throughout my entire trip...winning!  The Vatican Museum is GIGANTIC and completely filled to the brim with mindblowing portraits, frescos and statues.  Unfortunately, the museum was so crowded that it became uncomfortable to walk through.  I felt kind of like a cow being herded through a ginormous cow maze....not cool.  Yet I did not let the unending masses of people discourage me from my main mission:  sneaking a picture of the Sistene Chapel (which is technically against the rules, but whatever).  You can see documentation of my success below:

Doing the "Papa Frank."

Snuck this baby with my iPhone!  Me-1; Vatican Museum Guards-0. 

The fun continued Saturday night when two of my close ND friends invited us over to their apartment in Rome for a home-cooked Italian meal.  We were floored when we arrived at their place for a number of reasons.  First, the security guard was a PAIN and couldn't actually believe that 10 college-aged kids wanted to have a nice dinner.  She must've checked up on us every half hour just to make sure we weren't burning the place down.  My experiences with her made me very grateful for our safe yet very chill security guards back in London!  Secondly, I could not believe the quality (and quantity!) of food they made us.  As I sat down to my plate of breaded chicken, peppered pasta, bruschetta and caprese, I sheepishly asked, "Do you guys eat like this every night?" And they said YES!  What the heck!!  Thankfully I quickly got over my shock and just ate everything in sight instead.  I could not think of a better way to top off a spectacular day.

The Rome kids apparently eat like this every night...so did I pick the wrong program, or what?

Dinner crew, feasting like a champion today :)

Easter Sunday
Now the main event!! My start to Easter was a little goofy.  Sunday was officially Europe's Daylight Saving Time, so overnight we had to spring our clocks forward.  This greatly concerned me, seeing as I did not want to be late for Notre Dame's 7:45am meet up time at the Vatican!  So I took extreme measures to ensure my punctuality, starting off with rummaging through the apartment for an analog clock.  I was unsure if iPhones switched automatically or not (spoiler alert: they do), so my plan was to set my iPhone alarm for 4am.  Then I would wake up, compare the time with the analog clock and either give myself one or two more hours of sleep.  This may sound complicated, but luckily it worked! At 6am I hopped in the shower and got all dolled up for Jesus.  I left the apartment shortly after and headed to the metro, praying it was open (I did not really want to walk an hour in the dark by myself!).  GREAT NEWS: it was!   So I just sat back like a pro and rode my way to the Vatican.  I even got there early enough to stop in a local coffee shop and pick up an Americano and a CHOCOLATE croissant.  Happy Easter to me!!

When it was time I headed to the South gates of the Vatican, where I found an entire mob of Notre Dame kids.  Let me tell you: I gave (and receieved) so many hugs that day.  We were all crazed with the excitement of our reunions and the spectacular mass we were about to celebrate!  After 90 minutes, we reached security and were able to head inside Vatican walls.  We spent the next hour marveling over our amazing seats and taking an absurd amount of pictures. 

Great friends, Easter, pastel, mass with the Pope.

Can life get any better?

Oh yes it can...sunshine too :)

After our impromptu photo shoot, we prayed a decade of the rosary to ready our hearts.  Because of our detailed program, we were able to follow along with the narrators, who spoke in a combination of Latin, Italian, Spanish and English.  The mass itself was no different.  Pope Francis spoke exclusively in Latin, but the parts of the mass were read in a number of different languages.  The service really brought to mind the universal component of my faith.  Most likely, I will never again be at an event that draws people from nearly every country in the world.  And what was so beautiful was that this event wasn't a conference or a negotiation; it was a celebration.  Suddenly we weren't Americans, or Britons, or Italians...we were all Catholics, joined together through the beautiful mass.

After the service, Pope Francis rode through the crowd, blessing children and kissing babies.  It all sounds quite phony, but his actions felt very genuine in person.  He was extremely well receieved by the crowd and was gracious and humble in response to our admiraiton.  Of course I could not understand his speech, but apparently he spoke of world peace-- automatic crowd pleaser!  I am so excited for this man to lead our Church.  I really hope he stays as down-to-earth and welcoming as he was on Easter. 

Before exiting the square, 40 domers gathered around and sang the alma mater.  Classic.  It was insane to look at my classmates and see where Notre Dame has brought us.  In that moment, I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for my parents, who have sacrificed so much for me to go to ND, and my school, the reason I was there.  After our touching moment, we weaved our way through the crowds, and I said goodbye to my ND friends.  I grabbed some gelatto (chocolate obviously) and walked through Rome back to the Colosseum.  It was so fun to explore the city by myself and in the sunshine.  This is something I would have never been excited to do before studying in London, but being here has made me confident in my navigtion abilities! 

And it turns out my confidence was legit, because I ended up finding the Colosseum. I reunited with my hosts, and we headed to one of their friend's apartments for a huge Easter feast, cleverly nicknamed "Easter Feaster."  We ate our fill of tacos, bruschetta, stir fry, you name it!  It was so fun to meet my hosts' friends.  They were a really fun and welcoming group of kids:)

Easter Feaster with the Minnesota kids!

Monday
Now that the pilgrimmage had officially ended, I wanted to spend my last day in Rome sightseeing.  Luckily for me, my hosts are studying architecture, so they were able to tell me anything I could possibly want to know about these buildings: the architect, years of construction, historical significance, etc.  The city, of course, was still packed with tourists.  It was hard to even find space to take a picture!  But yet we persevered, and I managed to see the Forum, the Victor Emmanuel, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Piazza Novana, the Pantheon, and a ton of other stuff I'm forgetting.  My favorite spot they showed me was Frigidarium, where I had the best gelatto of my life.  I'm pretty sure the store employee got the idea that I wanted chocolate overload, because after I asked for a scoop of all the chocolatey flavors she even dipped my entire bowl in white chocolate.  There was definitely no language barrier there!

The Roman Forum

The Victor Emmanuel Monument celebrates the first king of a united Italy.

With my two incredible hosts.  All the way from Homestead High School to the Trevi!

To top it off, we went to an authentic pizza place where I treated myself to an entire sausage pizza.  Rome 2013, no regrets!  We were a little tight on time, but I managed to make the bus from Termini to Ciampiano.  In a few hours, I was home safely in London, taking back with me a little bit of a sunburn and memories to last a lifetime.

Sausage pizza... like duh.

In conclusion, I loved Rome.  The city of course is insanely beautiful.  I was able to dedicate a lot of my time on faithful reflection, putting me in the right mindset for the holiday.  I also got to spend a weekend with two of my best guy friends in the entire world.  I am so grateful for their hospitality. Lastly, I confirmed my abilities to do things on my own, such as navigate a metro system, hail non-sketchy cabs, and function in a foreign country.  Overall, I just could not believe what an amazing weekend this was....probably my favorite trip so far :) 

Cheers,
C



Making a wish for good measure, but I honestly can't think of a better life than the one I'm living now.



American Girl at Heart

Hey all.  I'm just a little homesick today, and I wanted to rep my country at work...we may or may not have gone a tad overboard (that's for you to decide!).  I want to give a special shoutout to my grandmother for the killer flag pin I'm sporting on my left lapel!

I really do intend to get another entry out to you all by the weekend, but I'm in the middle of four term papers, so no promises :(

Cheers anyways,
C

Family Lovin' Part TWO

People.  Do I have a treat for you...another entry dedicated to Bobber family fun! Woo!

Last Saturday my father and youngest sister joined me for a whirlwind weekend in London.  I had SUCH an amazing time with them.  It would have been quite fun to have the entire family visit together, but in a slightly selfish way, it was spectacular to have *two* weekends of visitors.  When they arrived, I retrieved them at Waterloo station and headed back to Conway, my residence hall.  After grabbing breakfast on the South Bank, we crossed the Thames and explored Westminster.  I hoped to start with a tour of Parliament, but I had not pre-registered our tour, so there was not enough space.  Never fear, there are a couple more things to do here in London!  So we dashed to Trafalgar Square, where my dad and sis had way too much fun posing with the lions and fountains.

Posing with the lions, no shame!

Also no shame.

Afterwards, we checked out the Churchill War Rooms—how cool!  These barracks are where Churchill and his cabinet hid underground during the bomb raids on London in the 1940s.  I had no idea this museum even existed before coming to London, and it was certainly one of the coolest things I've done in the city.  I especially enjoyed learning about Churchill's political advances and defeats, given my time here in Parliament.  Once we exhausted the museum, we spent the rest of the day dodging in and out of coffee shops and ticket booths to avoid the snow and sleet.

I'm at a payphone.

Still no shame.

That night we had a fun dinner in Covent Garden and stopped by Ben’s Cookies (classsic) for dessert.  Honestly, I cannot get myself enough of those coconut cookies!  I exercised great constraint by waiting to enjoy them in the comfort of the Park Plaza Hotel.  After Bobber Family Takes London Part One, my mother was sure to book my father and sister a nicer hotel so they would not have to experience the lovable dump known as the Z Hotel.  Therefore, my dad and sis got to stay at a gorgeous hotel overlooking Westminster.  Our room was even big enough so that once we pushed the beds together, I could sleep between them that night!  We had such a fun sleepover, nomming on our cookies and falling asleep by 9. What a life.

I love this guy!

After our incredible sleep, we woke early to head to South Kensington for mass at Brompton Oratory.  Little did I know I accidentally brought them to the Pre-Vatican II 1962 mass.  It actually took us five minutes of the priest murmuring in Latin and facing the altar for us to realize that he wasn’t speaking English.  Ooops.  Either way, the mass itself was something to experience...it really made me appreciate the changes our church has undergone in order to make the mass more inviting and interactive. 

After that fiasco we went to the Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels are housed!  Unfortunately it was brutally cold...and that’s coming from a girl who has lived in this 30 degree, cloudy city for nearly three months now. We enjoyed running from tower to tower not only to be indoors but also to see the cool exhibits inside, such as old torture instruments or armour.  The Crown Jewels were absolutely the best though.  I oh so badly wanted to try on that crown!!

Outside the Tower of London, a historic castle on the north bank of the Thames.

Pound it.

Sunday continued to be a rush.  After stopping by a traditional British pub for lunch (had to expose the crew to Steak Pot Pie and Fish n Chips!), we ran off to a matinee showing of Jersey Boys at The Prince Edward Theatre.  I had never seen the musical before, so I was quite entertained! The actor who played Frankie Valli was the cutest, and we enjoyed recognizing some familiar songs.  We sang all the way home to my flat, where one of my roommate’s families was hosting a large dinner for my friends!  Twenty of us crowded around our flimsy kitchen table and gorged ourselves on ham, mash, salad, dessert and fine (read: Sainsbury’s) wine.  These two hours were some of my favorite during my family’s entire visit.  I loved introducing my father and sis to my makeshift family here in London:)

Prepping for Jersey Boys! Oh, what a night!

With two of my favorite people at flat dinner.

My families combine!

Monday was my last day with the two, but unfortunately I had class from 9-5.  (That “study” part of “study abroad” really gets to you sometimes) SO, the mad dash continued once I was released from class.  I rushed to Parliament to show my dad and sister a much expedited tour, but at least they did get to see debates in both the Commons and the Lords!  We grabbed dinner in SoHo and then treated ourselves to another night of fine entertainment: Les Miserables.  Yes, this is my second time seeing the opera in three weeks. No, I do not care.  I could probably see it every day for the rest of my life if the tickets were free!!  We had closer seats this time around, so I could really see the anguish in Jean Valjean’s face.  Let me tell you...it got to us.  At the end of the show, I was reaching for anything that resembled a tissue.   

Inside Parliamentary grounds.

Les Mis round 2!

We could NOT believe how good this show was.

Unfortunately the waterworks did not stop when I had to say goodbye to my family.  As we hugged goodbye in the hallways of Conway, I did not want to let go :( I was once again reminded that seeing family is the rudest tease about what I miss most from home: those I love.  I cannot believe how blessed I am to have all four members of my immediate family fly all the way across the Atlantic to see me.  Although I am sad that my time in London is running thin, I cannot wait to run straight into their arms again.  So thank you, this time to my dad and little sis, for giving me an incredible weekend.  I love you two so much.

Cheers,
C

Prague: Czech Us Out!

Sorry about the title guys; I couldn't help myself:)

So let us begin this delayed entry with my journey to the last destination in my stellar spring break line-up: Prague, Czech Republic.  Like in Vienna, our group's plan was to venture to our next destination via night train.  (Background info: we purchased these tickets in a group from a random Polish rail agent over the internet…in hindsight probably not the smartest idea, but we got a killer price discount.)  So, it's fair to say we were caught completely off guard when the conductor told us our tickets were not valid for this train.  Apparently the first conductor in Vienna took a portion of our ticket that we needed for this ride!  Eek.  The train began moving while we were still negotiating with an agent, so it became a scary reality that we might actually be dumped off this train in the middle of Poland.  The issue finally got resolved 40 minutes into the train ride when one of my groupmates dropped 340 Polish Zloty (approx $105) to buy new tickets for us.  THANK GOODNESS.  We were finally able to settle into our cozy 6-person sleeping compartment (twice as many people in the compartments we had in Vienna), and we slept until we arrived in Prague at 8 am.

Smile, but be careful not to smack the person across from you with your elbows! (Legitimate concern)

Upon arriving in Prague, we were still quite chilled from Prague, but at least excited to see sun and NO snow!  Our accommodations, the SG1 Hostel, was in the heart of Old Prague, just north of the Charles River.  Just like the website suggests, it seemed nice, so we were psyched!  The man working at the desk, speaking in great English, suggested attractions and tours for us.  We could not believe our luck...this great service and location for only 8 euro (approx $11) a night?!  *LOL note the ironic foreshadowing*

We began our walk around the city to find it was deceptively FREEZING.  I was bummed to drop 500 Czech Kronas (approx $24) on a hat and gloves, but I was left with legitimately no choice haha.  Thin wallet> hypothermia, any day.  After bundling up, we walked on the Charles Bridge towards Old Town and the Jewish Quarter.  There we joined a walking tour so we could learn some fun facts along the way.  This guide was especially skilled with pointing out the different architectural styles within Prague.  I had no clue that the city prided itself on blending so many different types of architecture.  It was charming, random and eclectic.

View of Prague from the Charles Bridge.

Believe it or not, this was actually the coolest hat I could find in Prague.

In front of the Astronomical Clock in Old Town, a famed Prague landmark.

Pic of New Town's market and shopping center.  This square is where my tour guide celebrated when the communist regime collapsed in 1989.

After walking around a bit, we ventured back to the hotel for a shower.  Ha. Ha.  The fact that the shower stalls were located in the hostel's kitchen should have been our first indicator that this would not be an enjoyable experience.  But don't worry, I quickly got the picture once I stepped in the shower stall and discovered that the drain did not work.  In fact, the thing was overflowing with other peoples' filth.  And to top it off, the water was freezing.  Classic.  So it's fair to say I didn't shower for the rest of my Czech experience hahaha.

One by one we experienced the worst shower of our lives, and afterwards we ventured to the outdoor market for dinner.  There I indulged in a few Trdleniks, which are virtually churros cooked in a spiral pattern.  Not only were these suckers 50 Kronas, (approx $2.50) but they were AMAZING.  I had like four.  Sorry I'm not sorry.  Later that night, when we returned to our hostel, we continued to realize the sketch that was happening right underneath our eyes.  The nice English-speaking employee mentioned earlier completely vanished, and in his place was a creepy one-toothed Czech woman who only knew English cuss words.  She was simply mental.  We could not have locked our door any more forcefully that night!

Trdelnik (pronunciation unknown): THE BEST FOOD EVER.

Well we all survived Friday night, so when we woke, we were pleased to see such a sunny day outside!  We first ventured just a few minutes away from our hostel to the Lennon Wall, which used to be the site of anti-Communist graffiti in the early 90s.  The wall was decorated by young students who rebelled against the government, and still to this day is seen as a sign of youth thought in the world.  Today it is decorated with lyrics of peace and love, inspired by Beatles songs.

Cheesing at the Lennon Wall.

Jesus made an appearance.

After checking out the Lennon Wall, we stayed on our side of the Charles River to explore the gorgeous Prague Castle, the largest coherent castle complex in the world (its area is nearly 70,000 square meters).  As we explored the complex, we witnessed the Czech changing of the guard.  In my humble opinion, this was nothing compared to what we have in London, but hey, it was still pretty cool!  My favorite part about the complex, though, was the breathtaking St. Vitus Cathedral.  I was in awe of how the light shone through the cathedral's pastel stained glass.  Note that the picture below does not do the view justice!

Grabbing a little snack during on the way to the Castle.

4 girls, 1 very serious Czech guard.

Inside the Cathedral.  Sigh.

We finished the day by going to an authentic Czech beer house for dinner and then heading to the Lennon Wall one last time.  There we smoked a few Viennese cigars and reminisced about our favorite memories from this unforgettable week.  Overall, we loved Prague.  It certainly was not as cheap as we had heard, so our wallets suffered a little bit.  Also, staying at that hostel made us feel like we were legitimately one second away from getting murdered, but we made it through!  Everything about the trip--good and bad--was an unforgettable memory.  I hope one day to return to this majestic and authentic city, except maybe next time stay somewhere else...anywhere else hahaha.

Thanks for your patience in waiting for this entry! Stay tuned to hear about more Bobber parties in London and my Easter weekend in the holy city.

Cheers,

C 

This group pic was taken by a random tourist who had a very interesting idea of subjects in a picture frame.  Thank you to my group mate, who let me use this photo! :)