Im Excited!

I haven't blogged much this week because it has been a pretty boring week with this whole design workshop thing. Since I am not participating I have slept late and begun gathering some stuff for Grad School. In other words not an exciting week but a fairly productive one.

Yesterday, we found out that class on Monday is canceled because our professor is still recovering form surgery. This means I have a little extra time on my hand so I decided to see if I could find somewhere to go. I looked into Venice because I have feeling I am going to want more time there than what I will get when I go with my class. I decided against it because it was just going to be more than I was willing to spend for 48 hours.

Then I began looking for cooking classes I have been thinking about taking a cooking class for several weeks. So with my moms help I was able to find what looks like a very good cooking class. They only do them on Fridays so I won't be doing it until Dec. 11th. That is the last Friday before finals so it will be a very nice way to end my semester. It is crazy to think that, that was my only free Friday between now and then. Between now and my cooking class I will spend 4 days in Athens, 5 days in Northern Italy, and if all goes as planned 3 days in Salzburg. Oh yea I still have class 4 days a week and several Friday field trips planned as well. Basicly this last half of the semester is going fly by (Wednesday marked the official half way point)!

Good Start

This week has started off very well, and appears to be shaping up into a very nice and relaxing week.

On Sunday I went to church on the internet. It was really cool. No it isn't as good as the real thing but for a student who is studying abroad it gets the job done and is a huge blessing. For those of you wondering what kind of crazy stuff goes on at internet church, this is how it works. The church I go to in North West Arkansas, Church at Pinnacle Hills, started an online worship ministry. Since I was in Rome on Sunday I thought I would try it out. To attend you go www.crossoverworship.com Just before the service time the online minister will launch the broadcast and come on his webcam to welcome everyone. You can log into the chat portion of the website before the service if you wish. Then when the service starts it plays on your screen. During the offering, Chirs, the online minister stops the broadcast and comes to you via his webcam to tell you how you can tithe online and asks you till fill out a connection card online just as if you were at church for real. Then he sends it back to service. During the invitation at the end of the service Christ comes back on and speeks to us one last time. No, it wasn't real church but it was very nice to come together with a group of believers for worship.

Yesterday I got all the paper work taken care of to get my package out of customs and today I got the fees payed. Lets just say this package has been a cultural adventure and I will never again look at Cheetos without thinking about Italy.

We started the Roma Tre Workshop today. It will be an easy week for me but a very busy and stressful one for everyone else. I am not participating in the workshop, but have been asked to write an article for it so I will be in and out from time to time at the workshop. Other than that I dont have anything I have to do this week.

After lunch today I went and got gelato. It was the best I have had yet. There was a line out the door the entire time I was at this place and I bet it took me 10 minutes to get my gelato.

The weather has been beautiful here so far this week.

Graduate School

I have made a decision. No, I don't know where I am going but I have decided where I am going to apply. I have chosen 5 programs. 4 of them are 2 year Masters in Higher Education programs and the other is a 1 year masters level program of the study of the Bible and what ministry looks like in you daily life. At this point there is not a front runner among these programs. I am excited to see over the next few months where the Lord will put me. I hope to make a decision by mid March as to where I will be next fall.

As many of you know I love tradition and do not always handle change well so you prayers for guidance and contentment over the next few months with regard to my decision for grad school are greatly appreciated.

So without further a do here they are...

Colorado State University
Kanakuk Institute
University of Arkansas
University of Georgia
University of South Florida

Football

What I wouldn't do to watch just one down of Razorback Football!

With all of my closets friends on a bus Rollin' with the Razobacks to Oxford to watch the Razorbacks take on Ole Miss, and a beautiful fall day here that just begs to be spent in a football stadium it is safe to say I truly miss Razorback Football. I am however grateful that the Razorbacks are playing a morning game and I am in Rome this weekend so I will be able to follow the game via the play by play updates live on ESPN. I got really excited for a few minutes this morning when I found out the game is being broadcast on ESPN360.com, and then I found out that Italy is the ONLY country in Europe that does not support the broadcast. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! But as I mentioned earlier at least I have the live updates on ESPN.com.

I feel good about this game and after the great show the Razobacks put up last week I think we can win!

To those of you who buy me Christmas gifts 2 tickets to whatever bowl the Razorbacks are playing would be the BEST Christmas gift I have ever received. Just so you know!

To those of you I told I might call during half time, it doesnt look like that is going to happen because our wireless internet is out so my IPhone is out of commission today.

Happy Birthday William!

Today is my cousin William's brithday! He is turning 9 and since it is his special day I wanted to give him a little shout out. He is having an ATV birthday party, which sounds pretty cool to me. Happy Birthday William! I hope you have a great day and a lot of fun at your birthday party!

In other news...
I have survived mid-terms. They werent aweful but they weren't super fun. The best part is that they are behind me. It is rainy here today, but it made for perfect nap. Which was nice since I was up till 3 am working on one of the most rediculous projects ever.

We are headed to Hadrians Villa for the day on Friday. It should be a nice way to end the week and then I will have a quite weekend here back in Rome. I think I might go see UP in Italian. I wont understand what they are saying but the music and the story are so good I dont think that it will matter.

Happy Birthday Nana

So it has been a very busy week here in Rome. It is mid-term week. I have had 4 mid-terms this week 2 for each class. I have finished 3 of them and have 1 left on Thursday.

I went to Cinque Terre the weekend with my friend Catherine. She was a year behind me as St. Agnes and is here for the semester with John Cabot University. She was a wonderful travel buddy. We had a great time. We saw all 4 towns, and completed 3 of the 4 hikes. It was beautiful and the weather was very nice. We stayed in a little town that only had one restaurant. It was so nice to be a a quite tranquil place. You don't realize just how hard the city is on you until you are away from it. The trip was amazing and I hope to post so pictures this weekend after things slow down.

Today is my grandmothers birthday! So Happy Birthday Nana!

More Pics

the Duomo in Florence, Ponte de Vechia, and St. Peters