Easter and Beaches

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I missed you all sooooooooo much this weekend...I think this was my first Easter away from home! I thought I'd make sure you knew that before I told you how fun my weekend was 😊
Sunday I got up at 5am to make it to our Easter sunrise service in Villa Bourghese, a huge park overlooking the Vatican. We had a brisk 45 min walk to make it there, but it was a beautiful morning and it felt good to start off my day in the peace of the early morning instead of my usual 10am roll out of bed and rush off to school. As I walked up the hill into the overlook where the service was I looked out across Rome. It was so beautiful, the morning clouds were still hanging low over the vatican and surrounding buildings; and the quiet peace of early morning was lingering before the bustle of the day began. The service was beautiful, about 20 or 30 of us gathered around to sing old hyms printed off on a sheet, so familiar that no one even needed the words printed out. In between songs everyone shared memories of special Easters or a special meaning Easter holds for them, then Dave gave a short devotion on the responsiveness and responsibility of Mary, Peter, and Paul at the resurrection of Christ. As the service ended we walked together to the church for a breakfast they had prepared for us. I met several new people studying here--it's so great to find christians here, we all feel the need for the fellowship we've left at home.
After breakfast I headed home and started making lunch. Our oven is small so it took me about 2 1/2 hours to finish everything, but everyone walked in the door hungry just as I finished, so it was perfect. I made a ground beef and cheese quiche, a chicken and rice casserole, salad, and corn, with the traditional Italian columbus dove cake for dessert. Lukily it all turned out and we had a great time. When lunch was over I took a four hour nap, went out for a light dinner, then went to bed.

Monday could definately be defined as one of the best days I've had here!
I got up at 9 and met 5 other people to head to a beach for the day. We walked from the vatican to the train station where we caught a 50 min train to one of the nicer and less crowded beaches in the area. We swam, layed in the sun, played cards, ate pizza, and had an overall great time until 5, then headed back to Roma for dinner. I had a slight detour because the train was crouded and I was unsure of exactly where to get off, but ended up home shortly after everyone else.
I met up with my friend Mike then we went to Esthers to get ready for dinner. After a short shopping trip I began cooking our first course; spagetti alla carbonara con pecorino romano----mmmmm, I love this stuff! I got lucky and made it right, I didnt tell them until after that I had never made it before and was mostly guessing...but it worked! Esther made our second dish; thin beef filets with sauteed mushrooms and onions with a wine sauce. It was amazing. We had to take a break for cards before making nutella and jam crepes for dessert.
After dinner Esther's roomate's family took us all out for drinks at an Irish pub near Piazza Navona. It was nice to be around a family, even though it's not mine it is still a comfort. We wandered around town for a while after we left the pub and met up with some other people for a bit before heading home. Definately a great day!

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