Day Three of Rome: Woke up at the buttcrack of dawn to go with a group of students to get into the Vatican museum when it opened. I'm pretty sure it's like the hugest museum in the freaking world, and I would've spent days exploring every last part of it, however: what I really wanted to see was the Sistine Chapel, and so since it gets quite crowded in there, booked through most of the museum just to get to it. Since I've been in an art appreciation course, I learned a little about the chapel, the different paintings and fun little facts... for instance, Michelangelo depicts the bishop that forced him to paint loincloths over some of the nudity in Hell, with donkey ears and a snake biting his manhood. It's pretty hilarious.

Once the tour was over we jetted to meet up with the University tour, and were able to see the Trevi Fountain, the boneyard church (they decorated with, you guessed it, human bones. gross!), and Our Lady of Victory, which houses the famous sculpture of St. Teresa in ecstacy (it was much smaller than I had anticipated). While awaiting our afternoon round of tours, we were looking in the window of this place to eat, and a man down the street yells to us "No, my friends! Please eat here, it is cheaper and much better portions!" And, since we were students, he didn't charge us the usual 15% fees, and we enjoyed homemade tortellini for 6 Euro. Perfecto!

That afternoon we went inside the Colosseum and wandered around, enjoying both the scenery and the chance to embaress some English-speaking pottymouth punks who didn't think anyone understood what they were saying. The rest of the afternoon was spent on the University's tour of ancient Rome - the Forum and the Circus Maximus specifically. Way cool! We got to have Mass at the Motherhouse of the TOR friars, which is the order of Franciscans that runs our University. As it turned out, the superior general (as in, head honcho) happened to be present at our visit and was, in fact, Croatian! So that was fun.

On our final day in Rome, we got up at the even-earlier buttcrack of dawn to arrive at the gates of St. Peter's in time to snag the first spots in line to get in for the General Audience. After waiting two hours in the pretty chilly Roman morning, the students ran through security to snag the best seats possible for the audience - the front three rows of quadrant one, the area the Pope passes through twice. We enjoyed another two hours after we'd actually gotten the seats, and even though everyone was deliriously tired, we were so giddy we sang praise and worship until Papa Benny finally came through. And he did, ride through on the Popemobile and pass by our gate waving to us, not even five feet away from being able to touch us. He gave his address in Italian, but we're pretty sure it was something about what St. Paul says about the Holy Spirit. At that point in the ceremonies different cardinals announced the big groups present in their native languages, and Benedetto greeted each, also in their native language. We all waited and finally jumped out of our seats to scream and wave when the announcement finally came "the students and faculty of the Austrian campus of Franciscan University of Steubenville"... and Papa smiled and waved at us repeatedly through all two minutes of it. Yeah, I think I permanently damaged my voice box that day... whoops. After the audience he came back through again, shaking hands, kissing babies (including TWO of the kids of faculty from FUS), and... well, for whatever reason, he didn't see me and skipped my hand. I admit, I was a little bummed out for a few hours afterward, but then the thought occured to me that the most AMAZING things had already happened for me, and I'm over the lack-of-hand-shake thing now.

That afternoon I finished up my tour of the city, checking out the Piazza Navone where Bernini's famous fountain is (and is currently under construction), the Pantheon (a pagan domed temple which became a Catholic parish... it has a big hole in the top that they drop white rose petals from on Pentecost), and St. John Lateran, where we celebrated Mass. To top off our last night in Rome, a group of my friends, led by my good buddy Joe, dined at this little Italian restaraunt where you order nothing - they just bring out three shifts of like, five different plates of food, and you stuff yourself until you feel almost immobile. They finish it with cake and a shot of mandarin juice. The place was run by a family, so the grandma would come out and pat us on the cheek and say "Americano", and the old man would clear our dishes, and - when we got up to leave, kissed the hands of all the girls. It was so incredibly cute.

Pretty much Rome was amazing, though definitely exhausting, sometimes overwhelming, and hard to make a pilgrimage, staying in a four-star hotel and all. Assisi was a different story, and truthfully a different story for another time because I am freaking exhausted. Much love everyone, please forgive my lack of entries lately!