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

Movie Night!

Yesterday was a fun day and today is shaping up to be pretty good as well.

Yesterday class was pretty low key and we got out early. I was suppose to meet a friend at Old Bridge Gelateria in Vatican City for gelato, but her test ran late and she didn't make. I didn't really want gelato any way so I grabbed lunch. As I was walking the Vatican City I saw a place where you can buy 10,000 Rosaries for 60 euro. This made me laugh. 10,000 roeries what is any person going to do with that many rosaries. I am pretty sure that is enough to give 2 to every person I know and will talk to in the next year. Another thing that made me laugh was the couple that sat next to me at lunch. They were from the UK so I understood every word they said. They were on a cruise and had to be back at the boat in just a few hours. She was very worried about getting back on time and convinced her husband was wrong and she was right about where they needed to go. I am pretty sure he was write and that they probably got lost after leaving the restaurant. There exchange at lunch also made me chuckle.

When I got up from my usual afternoon nap, at like 6pm (I didn't go to sleep till like 4 but still) I decided I wanted to make it a movie night. I began going through iTunes looking for a movie to rent. I choose Away We Go and began downloading it. While it was downloading I set out to find popcorn and get dinner. I wanted to make kettle corn and was not sure I would be able to find pop corn kernels but I did. When I got back my movie was done downloading and I made my kettle korn. It turned out really great considering the poor condition of our stove. Movie night was a great success and I am going to have to do it again.

Today my class was canceled because everyone else has mid term reviews. This has allowed me to sleep in and now I can have a lazy day.

A few pics too

I ment to give you a few pics in the last post so here you go.


This building is the Laurentian Library, and the other picture is a pic of me in front of the Hog Statue. In Case you have forgotten we beat Auburn 44-23 that day.

Florence

I spent this past weekend in Florence and it was a ton of fun! We left by train on Friday morning and arrived in Florence at about 10 o'clock. We got to see all the big sight including the Duomo, Santa Maria Novella, the Laurentian Library by Michael Angelo, and the brother to Drooling Hog Statue on campus.
I also spent ample time in the leather market and bought lots of really cool Christmas Gifts. The purchase I am most excited about did not come from the leather market, but from a very famous leather shop called Misuri. They are famous for their gilded leather and the purse they designed for the queen. When I was here in high school I bought a belt and have loved it ever since. I was hoping to purchase another buckle for my belt, but they were so friendly and gave me such a good deal that I ended up buying a whole new Belt. Special thanks to Dean Maness from St. Agnes for giving me directions before I left this weekend I would have never found it without her help.
This weeks classes should be pretty low key. We are going to spend a lot of time studying St. Peters, and figuring out what needs to be done to prepare for mid-terms. I probably wont be seeing much of my roommates because they have mid-semester review for studio on Thursday. I am extremely gratefull that I do not have to take studio while here. It is allowing me to enjoy my experience 10 times more than I woudld have if I were in studio.

Update

I figure it has been a few days since my last post so I better update the world on what is going world. It has been an average week here in Rome filled with class site visits, and the first day to sleep-in in about 3 weeks. That great day came today. I slept until 11:00 it was amazing. This afternoon I went to lunch with my friend Mary Beth and then went to class at 4. WE had class at 4 because we did not have class this morning. Things I have setteled into a routine here which is nice. Tomarrow is Thursday which means the worse class of the week. We are meeting out on a construcation site for a new government build wich will be pretty cool. Hopefully the professor isnt planning of also lecturing becasue the site is about an hour away from the class. But this woman is crazy so who knows.

I am looking forward to this weekend. We are headed to Florence. It should be a wonderful time! This week I have also booked my Thanksgiving trip to Athens, and my weekend trip with Catherine to Cinque Terre. Both should be amazing trips. I plan to book the trip to Salzburg next week.

Orvieto

Ahh! It was a wonderful and relaxing weekend. Orivito is a quite little town, that is allmost 100% car free. The streets are small and a joy to walk. The big must see sites are very few. There are really just 3, the large cathedral, the old cathedral amd the bell tower. It is the little side streets and beautifully average mid-evil and renissance buildings that make you feel like you are on a movie set that really make Orvieto grand. It was an amazing escape from the city! I got to sleep in full size bed which was amazing, esp. considering that my bed here in Rome is a little less than a twin. We couldnt have ordered more amazing weather. Cool and Crisp, perfect for blue jeans and a light sweater.

We also traveled to Perugea for the day. It to was a lovely destination with a movie set feel. The we visited an entruscan well and a museum that contained may regligious art pieces. The day was very enjoyable.

Sunday we visited a few small towns to tour a small museum and see a Roman Theater. Both were very interersting and we returned to Rome mid afternoon. Over all the weekend was very enjoyable and a lot of fun.

This week should be a very nice one. Today we didnt have a tour, but a very interesting lecture. Wednesday our morning class got moved to late afternoon, so I will be able to both sleep in and enjoy lunch with Mary Beth.

We are jet set (more like train set) again this weekend and off to Florence. We are all looking forward to a lot of shopping and word on the street is that there is a Taco Bell in Florence as well.