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Published: June 21st 2007
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So, the past two days have been pretty boring....
Except for when we got to see the Pope. When we got to the Vatican we were escorted by a Swiss Guard into our place in the chapel... It wasn't in St. Peter's Basilica, but rather in this massive theatre which sat probably around a thousand people. Then we watched via video feed as the Pope went into the Basilica and greeted the people who weren't special enough to get seats in our building... Then, he came into our building and walked down the aisles as everyone mobbed him. Unfortunately, we were in the back row in the middle, so I didn't ever get very close, but it was still really neat. One thing I did notice was in the very front row there was a group of about 20 or 30 brides, all dressed up in their wedding gowns, and Benny personally greeted them and apparently gave them a quick blessing for their marriage. All of them cried.
Anyways, then the Pope delivered blessings to all of us in 6 different languages--Italian, French, Spanish, English, German, and Polish. What was neat was that he recognized every group that
was there individually, so everyone was going nuts... When he called out University of San Diego we all screamed and yelled and he waved to us. It was surreal. Anyways, we were all dressed in business casual attire, but it was outrageous how crazy some of the people from other countries got. It reminded me of the World Cup, because everyone was wearing their countries' respective colors and waving flags and stuff. Had I known it was going to be so fun I would've gotten dressed like the rest of the people.
Also, a quick side note, you can all say that you've been blessed by the Pope, as he made sure to extend his blessing to all of my family and friends.
After the trip to the Vatican, we had to meet at the U.S. Embassy for a speech about culture and Italy's involvement in U.S. Business, Politics, and War. It was fairly interesting, but since all of us had been up since 7 a.m. it was a little overwhelming. After the speech, a few of us, including the woman who organized the trip for us, decided that we needed a little more recognizable taste of America, so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe across the street from the embassy for drinks and appetizers. I had a blended margarita which was probably the best tasting thing I've ever had, just because I havent consumed, much less seen, ice since we arrived in Italy (It's been hovering around 100 degrees everyday since we got here).
Today when we woke up we went to John Cabot University, which is the American University in Rome. There, we listened to a man named Reza who got his M.B.A. from USD. He came up with the idea for the machine that you see at Home Depot that automatically puts the right amount of coloring into cans of white paint. Needless to say, we all think he's pretty loaded. Something else really cool that we all realized was that yesterday we were technically in 3 countries... Italy, Vatican City, and the U.S. (since the embassy grounds are considered U.S. soil). I'll also be visiting a fourth country on my trip called San Marino, which I believe is actually smaller than the San Marino in California.
My mom wanted to hear more about my hotel room, since she was thoroughly entertained by my first account of the bathroom. My hotel room, unbeknownst to me, is actually the biggest out of anyone else's, because it is a handicap room. Everyone always walks into our room and says something like "Whoa! This room is massive!" Something that boggles my mind, though, is that the room is not accessible unless you walk up a flight of stairs. Also, our bathroom is raised about 2 inches off the ground, making entering it a physical impossibility if you are confined to a wheelchair. We also have a shared patio with the room next door, which is bigger than both rooms put together. There's no furniture outside, though, so we hardly ever use it. Also, our room isn't numbered. Everyone else has a room number, but since we are in a triple room, we are on a different floor, which isn't on floor 1, 2, or 3, but rather on what I call floor 1.5... We are in Room H. No one knows how to call my room, so I usually go hang out in one of my friends' rooms until we decide to go do something.
Tomorrow we are departing for our first weekend excursion to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast/Capri. I'm really looking forward to getting out of the city for a few days and heading towards the coast where it will probably be much cooler. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing Pompeii since the better part of my High School career was spent studying the lives of some people that lived there in 74 A.D. I've told people that I know all about it and they are kind of looking to me as a tour guide of sorts to fill them in about Caecilius, Quintus, and most importantly, Grumio. Hopefully I'll be able to relive some of the "Latin Wars" memories as I walk the streets that inspired them.
Sorry about the lack of pictures for this post... Except for a couple of the Pope there really wasn't much else to show. I'll make sure to take plenty of pictures of Pompeii and the time I spend on the coast, though.
Ciao!
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anonymous
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I think I speak for myself AND Laura when we say we're disappointed you still haven't gone to Old Bridge Gelato yet. Miss you!