quick thought

Just for one second can we please acknowledge how good-looking Drake is?

Thank you. That's all.

let's recap

I am back in Beantown!

Classes have been fantastic so far. This semester will require a ton of reading.

Last Saturday Kendrick, Kendall, Mabelly, and I went to a Rascal Flatts concert in Providence, RI. It was AWESOME .

This weekend the Tupelos head to Connecticut!

A fun semester is ahead. Lot of learning to be had.

exhaustion

you know you are exhausted when you put all of your dirty clothes into what you think is the washing machine and then you spend five minutes (incredibly confused) trying to figure out where the detergent goes.

you then discover that what you have actually put your clothes in - is a dryer.

there's not a soap holder there for a reason, grace.

buona domenica

Instead of writing a whole new post, I am going to share an email I sent to my mom about one of the coolest Sundays I have ever had.

I had really wanted to go to church here in Italy and on Sunday morning I was almost convinced that it would be too hard to get there because I didn't not speak the language well and I also did not/do not know the Roman Bus System. My roommate woke up early to go to Pompeii and instead of going back to bed, I could not go back to sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about going to church. I knew that it was one of my goals and one of things that I had really wanted to do while I was here.

Long story short - I made it!

here is the email:

"today was so great.
I'm going to bed soon so I'll write a lil' email now.
Basically i woke up early and all I could think about was "I need to make it to church".
So I took the address to the front desk man and he told me I could get on a bus. Bus 90. Bus 90? Ah. So I knocked on Elena's door and we put on dresses and walked to the bus stop.
Thank goodness I had written this address on a piece of paper because that's what we kept showing people.
we were guided by so many guardian angels today!
After we had shown one woman our address she went and asked the bus driver if the address was one of the stops. And another woman overheard our conversation and worries and she warned us that our stop was coming. We then walked about 5-10 mins down the street, stopped in a cafe to ask if we were going the right way and guess what? WE WERE. And then when we got to the piazza, we stopped an old lady "dove e' la chiesa?" (where is the church?) and the sweet old woman goes "la chiesa mormoni??" and pointed to the left.

Mom. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY AS WHEN SHE SAID THOSE WORDS. We looked to the right and the brown building had the name of our church on it!!!!! We were there in time for Sunday School and they have Sacrament Meeting last. My FAVORITE part was singing the hymns in Italian. I remember we sang "Oh, My Father" and "Where Can I Turn For Peace?" The youth speaker was this really sweet girl and the theme of sacrament meeting was adversity. it was perfect. One of the speakers shared my favorite scripture!!!!! i totally knew that was exactly where I needed to be - and Heavenly Father helped me get there. I was so glad Elena came with me. She said she really like it and it was the least intimidating church experience she has ever had. SOOOOOOOOO cool. and the missionaires spoke English! they had 4 sets of missionaries in that ward - 2 elders, 1 sisters and a couple from Lake Arrowhead. The couple missionaries were so nice! They said they are serving until the temple is complete, which could be 3 years -- wowza. It was awesome. It was like experiencing a baby mission.

Traveling internationally always blows my mind. Heavenly Father has so so so many children - but he knows every one of them, personally. How cool? But how crazy. So many different languages in this world. Lots of love. Love it. GREAT DAY. And we had chinese food for dinner :) hehe"

the end

I cannot describe the greatness of this day in words. Only in feeling. The Spirit was there. And I made it. I accomplished the thing which the Lord has commanded me and he prepared a way for me to accomplish it. Moments like this one are the building blocks to my growing testimony of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Heavenly Father knows and loves all of us. He knows what we can become. If we follow spiritual promptings and keep high standards our lives will be filled with the most joy.

oh my pizza

I just ate a whole pizza.

the end

buona sera

It has been a few days since I have updated this – so here it is!

The past few days have been really laid back; that’s the way I like it. We’ve started class and have been drowned in Italian (in the nicest possible way). I have purchased a purse, two scarves, and the Sandlot in Italian! I am waiting until we come back from Florence to make any big purchases. Which reminds me – We are going to Florence tomorrow! Bridgid, Lizzy, Olivia and I are taking the train to Firenze tomorrow afternoon. There, we will explore and I will get to see Kelly O’Connor – a sweet friend from high school! She is studying abroad in Florence this year through Pepperdine University. I am so excited. And then hopefully on Sunday, my friend Elena and I will be going to church here. I really hope so!

Class has been great, but almost exhausted. Today was the craziest day by far. After 3 hours of grammar and vocabulary, we had a special guest lecturer, Fabio Caramasci, come and speak to us. Two days ago we watched his documentary on the Tuareg tribe immigrating to Italy and today we were able to ask him questions. HE SPOKE SO FAST. I cannot explain this in a better way. SO FAST. THE FASTEST. But it was really interesting trying to understand and keep up with what he was saying. Usually in class we don’t really get to speak as the ‘natives’ do, so it was extremely eye-opening.

One confession: Two nights ago I ate at Burger King. I know, I’m horrible but eating out at Italian restaurants every night is really getting to me. It has never been my favorite kind of food and it was so rich and carb-y that I broke and got some chicken fingers. Sorry, everyone. I had to.

Tonight we have a test to do and then I’m going to bed! And then Florence! And then Church! And then Boston! This is so awesome. I love everyone in the program and getting to know them more than just as classmates. People are so incredible. Everyone has such a cool life journey.

Ciao!

today's adventure

1. Trevi Fountain during the daytime

2. The Pantheon

3. Piazza Navona

4. The Vatican, Vatican City

5. Vatican Post Office

6. Stopped at a Cafe for a snack

7. Rode the Metro to Via Nazionale

-Bought food at the supermercado

-Had some down time

-AWESOME, cheap, delicious dinner

-Hangin' with friends

this experience has already been more than words

rome: day two

we found love in a roman place

Today our adventures were all about Ancient Rome.

We saw the Palentine Hill, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Roman Capitol, and many other wonderful sites! Lizzy, Elena, and I bought lunch at a panini stand and ate sitting in front of the Colosseum. How many times do you get to do that?

We have walked so much - my calves will be so buff by the end of these two weeks. I am actually excited for class to start so that we have some structure in our schedules. But site seeing is also a blast.

For dinner we stopped by a small ristorante and while we were eating they played quality musica americana ("Wrapped Around Your Finger - The Police and "School's Out For Summer") I laughed because we had been talking about that earlier.

A few things I have learned about Romans

1. Everyone wears one of those puffy winter coat with the little puffy squares

2. Sometimes speaking English gets you good things and sometimes it gets you bad things

3. One man was wearing a Yankees hat today

I bought a postcard from the Colosseum today! Time for bed

Ti voglio bene,

Grace

il primo giorno a Roma

Ciao!

Today was our first day in Roma - what an adventure!

First, our group took our first flight from Boston to Frankfurt, Germany. It was so interesting hearing German as the primary language on the flight. We had fun watching movies, sleeping and eating some quality airplane food. Next, our second flight was from Frankfurt to Rome. Upon landing in Rome and getting our bags, we waited for our Professor and then took a bus through the center of Rome to our hotel.

The hotel is this really small bed and breakfast kind of place where you turn in your key every time you leave and the staff is very friendly and willing to help you speak Italian. After taking a nap and having a group meeting, a majority of us headed off into the city for dinner and walking.

Walking around the city was such a cool experience right off the bat. You start walking and as soon as you turn the corner, there are ancient ruins to your right and museums to your left. For dinner we found a sit-down pizzeria and ate some great pizza. My body was exhausted after the 3 flights in 3 days and walking and not eating for two days. (yeaa...)

And we saw the Fontana di Trevi! It was gorgeous and humungous and so awesome to see in person. After dinner, we had to eat gelato - of course! That was the cherry on op for me. Such a cool first night in Rome. Tomorrow is Epiphany, a national holiday, so stores will be closed. But we can walk around and have a ball.

It is great being here with everyone. I am excited for class to start and becoming more comfortable with the surroundings. What an amazing opportunity this is!

Buona notte,

Grace