House Trip to Capri and Friends in Rome

This weekend, our house was privileged to take a trip to the beautiful island of Capri.  Thanos, the program manager, takes the group every semester on a trip that suits the personality of the group as a whole.  And because we have such an awesome house, he went all out, taking us on "the biggest trip he has ever planned."  Friday morning, we were on the bus at 5:50, heading south to Naples so that we could catch the ferry to Capri.  Arriving in Naples, we made it on board moments before we pushed off heading towards Capri.  The island itself is absolutely gorgeous.  Full of beautiful cliffs and surrounded by incredibly blue water, the setting was marvelous.  The island, though, would not necessarily be my first vacation destination.  There were a ton of Americans there and it was rather tourist-y.  Also, it was strange not having anything of religious significance in a place that I was traveling to.  Being the seminarian I am, I tend to go to places that, while they may be beautiful, also have some religious significance.  Capri was a bit lacking in that regard.  Despite the fact that I probably would not have chosen to go there, we still had a great time.  When we first go to the island, we took a boat tour around the island.  The boat tour, which was the equivalent of a "Hollywood stars" tour in LA, was neat, but I lost interest with it like halfway around the island.  I just don't really care about which famous Italian designer lives where or where the most romantic spot on the island is.  After the tour, we ate lunch in town and had quite a bit of free time.  So during the free time, a large group of us took a ski-lift up to the top of the mountain and see the views, and let me tell you, it was amazing.  Riding up the mountain was very peaceful and I even saw some mountain goats.  While my battery died on the way up, the views were spectacular.  The day ended with a super tasty limoncello smoothie (Capri is famous for their limoncello), which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I had a very fun time in Capri and was glad I was able to head down there for the day.        

Capri

Ryan and Max on the ski-lift to the top of the mountain!

Now, I have here another typical Ryan picture, but I think that this one will require a bit more explanation.  Ryan is here on the boat ride with Dr. Rota, the St. Thomas professor that came over with us from Minnesota.  And let me tell you about Dr. Rota.  The first thing that needs to be said is that Dr. Rota is the man.  He is super smart, an awesome teacher, and is a great man to have in the house.  He also, is the proud new father of Elizabeth Irene Rota, who was born here in Rome like 8 days ago.  Ya, we have a baby in the house.  (The girls are super excited.)  But anyways, it is a blessing to have such a solid man both teaching us about the faith and just living an authentically joyful Christian life.  Having his whole family here has been a ton of fun and he has really helped make the semester as great as it has been.  And as I was pulling Ryan out of my backpack (he wasn't behaving, so I stuck him in there...), Dr. Rota asked me about Ryan and immediately volunteered to take the picture.  I was so excited.  So here is Ryan with the one and only, Dr. Rota.      

On Saturday and Sunday, two of my good friends from St. Francis, Steph Sheehan and Katie Slavin, were in Rome and I was able to spend quite a bit of time with them.  While it was a fiasco trying to find them at first without cell phones or a reliable internet connection, we eventually met up and I had a really good time.  Being able to share all of the things I have learned with them was just great.  Because it is one thing to tell someone a story about what it was like when Pope Francis was elected.  But it is another thing to stand in St. Peter's Square and be like "Ya, that's where the smoke came out and that's where I was when Francis was introduced to the world."  And too, with this blog, I feel like a lot of people know what I have been up to, but I have no idea what they have been doing.  So it was great to just be able to talk to them about their semesters and what they have been up to.  I think I showed them a good Roman time, seeing a good number of the big sights.  One of the highlights was going to my favorite gelato shop, The Old Bridge.  Located right across the street from the Vatican, it was here that I celebrated the Lord's Resurrection after the Easter Vigil, and this is where they hung out with Ryan.  Overall, I had a very good weekend with them and being able to share what I have been up was very cool.  It made me realize what an incredible gift it is to live in Rome and the the fact that I have been able to call it home for the past 3 months is just mind-blowing.  The Lord continues to be very good to me and I cannot thank Him enough.  

Sts. Peter and Paul - Pray for us!