"Paris is always a good idea"

...A good idea indeed!  Originally Paris wasn't on my list of top places to visit, but I am definitely glad I got the chance to this past weekend.  Despite being freezing and snowing the whole time (okay, so like 30 degrees for the high...I'm becoming a bit of a cold weather wimp here!), Ana, Erin and I made our way around to all the major sights in our 3 short days.  Immediately upon our arrival at Orly Airport on Thursday evening, we realized that the language barrier and finding our away around would be our two most difficult tasks of the weekend--minor things, right?  Haha.  My French is limited to "oui" and "merci" which can only get you so far, especially when we kept saying "si" and "grazie" by accident instead!  By the end of the weekend, I found myself actually wanting to go back to speaking Italian just so I could feel more competent!  We ended up getting by with a few minor hiccups--the first of which was getting from the airport to our hotel by way of a series of 3 buses and 2 metro rides (it probably took about 2 hours more than it should have!).  We also realized by the first evening how spread out everything is in Paris.  We stayed close to the Latin Quarter which was a cool area, but we had to use the metro all weekend to get to the main parts of the city, and even between those main monuments.  I was expecting something similar to Rome, where everything is no more than 20 minutes walking distance (at least from us in the Tiz...we do have it pretty good!).

So on Friday, after a much-needed night's sleep, we set out to explore Paris, starting with Notre Dame.  The main feature of the Cathedral that struck me was the huge stained glass windows, which stood in stark contrast to the Gothic architecture.  On Sunday we returned to Notre Dame for mass--which of course was all in French--so, although I couldn't understand a word, I had a beautiful Cathedral to admire once again!  I found myself singing the Alma Mater in my head the rest of the day after seeing the words "Notre Dame" all over the place.  A little piece of campus in Paris :)  After seeing Notre Dame we visited the famous Sante Chapelle upper chapel, a royal Medieval Gothic chapel which was built to house King Louis IX's (later a saint) collection of the relics of the Passion of Christ.  The interior is dominated by stained glass, each section of which pictorially represents a part of the Bible, from the Book of Genesis to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.

Notre Dame = amazing!

Stained glass inside Notre Dame

Sante Chapelle

The real food gems of the day were the nutella crepes we ate the the morning as well as a lunch of warm tea and fresh baguettes with ham and cheese.  After lunch we met up with Ana's friend from Mexico who is studying in Paris, and he took us to the Cor Jesu (Sacred Heart of Jesus) church at the top of a hill which overlooks the city.  We couldn't take pictures inside but the mosaics were incredible, supplemented by the fact that we walked in as Adoration was taking place, which really made the subject of the mosaic above the altar (the Holy Trinity) come to life.  As it started to get dark on Friday, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower in time to see it sparkle and light up.  Then we went to the Louvre since there is free admission on Friday nights and saw the highlights including the Mona Lisa and the Wedding Feast at Cana.  It was crazy to think that it took us about an hour to see just one wing of one floor of one section of the museum.  It is HUGE!  Since Friday was Ana's birthday, we went to a super nice place called Buddha Bar for dinner and had amazing spring rolls and sushi (the latter of which I normally don't prefer, but it was actually really good!).

Mmmmm....nutella crepes

Most of the day Saturday, we spent at Versailles, which is about 30-40 minutes outside of Paris, and very accessible by metro.  The palace and the gardens together were much larger and grander than I had imagined.  Pictures can't do the place justice, but here's a few just to give you an idea if you haven't been before.  It was very cold and wintry outside, so the gardens weren't exactly at their prime, but I can only imagine what they look like in the spring!  Versailles may have been my favorite part of the weekend--just imagining all the important political figures that have stepped foot in that palace astounds me.

In front of the Palace of Versailles

About to enter the Hall of Mirrors

Marie Antoinette's bedchamber

Looking at the side of the palace from the gardens

Once we got back to the city, Ana and I got stuck in the metro station for a half hour because our tickets had become de-magnitized by our phones in our purses.  The ticket machines to buy new ones only took credit cards (and ours weren't working) and coins (of which we didn't have any).  So we went to the ticket window and Ana approaches the guy working there and says, "Do you speak English?" to which he responded, "No." At that, she proceeded to explain our situation in English, saying "Okay, so our tickets don't work." haha.  We had to use a lot of hand motions to get our point across, and even at that, he did very little to help us.  We ended up having to pass cash across to Erin who had already made it through the barrier from the train to the metro for her to buy us new tickets.  All in all the experience was a bit traumatizing and made us pretty delirious for the couple hours that followed!  Once we finally got out of the metro (I'm telling you, we probably spent a total of half a day on metros during the weekend!), we walked along the Champs Elysees in the snowy weather, then warmed back up in our hotel before going to an adorable French restaurant called Polito's where we ate pumpkin soup, mashed potatoes, and a French specialty, beef bourgiugnon.  Yum.

Snowy Paris!

On Sunday after mass at Notre Dame, we walked around by the outside of the Louvre and again by the Eiffel Tower, but in the daylight this time.  We decided it was too cold to go up in the tower, so we enjoyed it and got our snowy pictures from below.  The afternoon went by quickly and before we knew it, we were savoring the last bites of our macaroons and then packing up to head to the airport.  We got back to Rome late on Sunday, so my three hour 8am music class followed by an hour and a half philosophy class on Monday was not fun!  It was definitely an eventful weekend made much more simple by the fact that there were only 3 of us traveling together rather than a huge group.  This week, we just had classes on Monday and then departed Tuesday for our class trip to Northern Italy.  We are touring many small towns in the Emilia Romania, Veneto, and Lombardia regions.  I'll post about the trip next week when we return!  Ciao for now :)  Vi amo tutti!

Church Tours, Lent, A New Pope, and Experiencing the Faith in Rome

Wow, what an eventful week this has been!  To start, last Saturday, Deacons Nick and Doug gave guided tours of Saint Peter's.  I have of course been in the Basilica several times, but I had never been on a formal tour to learn all the background behind this magnificent place.  Let me tell you, I learned quite a lot!!  I found myself wanting to write down every little thing Deacon Nick said so I wouldn't forget!  All I can say is that you just have to experience it for yourself if you haven't already.  There is so much to learn about each funerary monument, mosaic, side chapel, altar, etc.  Literally EVERY single little thing in the Basilica is there for a reason and represents something of importance, so learning the many stories behind them is absolutely fascinating.  Here's a couple pictures of the tour with descriptions of some of the things I remember.

The Transfiguration by Raphael.  Deacon Nick explained to us that the apostles are trying to rid the possessed boy of demons.  The boy's parents wear green, a color symbolizing hope.  The woman in the foreground is the Church, wearing blue (indicating divinity) and red (indicating humanity).  Her gaze seems to be at nothing in particular, but if you moved Jesus from the top of the painting straight down, he would be the object of her gaze.  The two figures also would fit together like puzzle pieces, symbolizing how the Church is the Bride of Christ. Oh, and btw, this is not a painting--all mosaic! There are no paintings in St. Peter's!

Deacon Nick telling us about Bernini's Baldacchino covering the main altar.  Only the Pope and Cardinals whom he specifically appoints can say mass on that altar...other masses are celebrated on the altar behind it or in any of the side chapels.  The 4 large statues that occupy the corners surrounding the Baldacchino are indicative of the relic that the balcony above each holds (only 2 are visible in this picture).  They include St. Helen, Constantine's mother who brought relics from Christ's Passion from Jerusalem to Rome (the relics are parts of the cross and nails), St. Longinus, the soldier who pierced Jesus' side (relic is part of his lance), St. Veronica (relic of the veil used to wipe Jesus' face), and St. Andrew, St. Peter's brother (relic is his head).

All along the nave of the Basilica are floor markers that indicate the size of various basilicas throughout the world in comparison to the size of St. Peter's.  This one is for St. Patrick's in New York.

There are over 100 tombs in St. Peter's Basilica, 91 of which are Popes.  This one is of Pope Innocent XI, who, when his body was exhumed for beatification, was found to be preserved.  He was the first Pope said to be "incorrupt."  His body is now in a bronze sarcophagus with his face and hands covered by silver.

Obviously I could go on and on about all this amazing stuff.  Our Church history is so incredible...I can't get over it!  And as if all of this wasn't already great enough, on Monday we found out the news that Pope Benedict is resigning and a new Pope will be elected--all while we are here!!  The unprecedented resignation (hasn't happened in over 600 years!) was the topic of conversation at lunch that day, as we all marveled over how lucky we are to be here for this historic moment in time.  Even a week later as I'm writing this, I am still in disbelief that this is actually happening!  

On that same note, with the beginning of Lent last Wednesday, two of the other Saint Mary's girls and I decided to head over to the Vatican in an attempt to get into Ash Wednesday mass with the Pope, seeing as it was his last public mass before his resignation.  The line was extremely long, but we waited it out about 45 minutes and ended up inside the Basilica, standing behind the last row of chairs.  When the Pope, priests, bishops, and cardinals all processed down the center aisle, I was probably about 10 feet away from them!  The mass was of course all in Italian and some Latin, but I could make out parts of the Holy Father's homily, and then at the end, Cardinal Bertone, Secretary of State, gave a speech thanking the Pope for his service to the Church and for being "a humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord."  At this point, the congregation gave him an almost 10 minute standing ovation.  The whole experience was both emotional and heartwarming--truly one that I will never forget.

Il Papa emerging for mass with Michelangelo's beautiful Pieta behind him

A very full St. Peter's Basilica for Ash Wednesday mass

Last time seeing Papa Benny!

And wait...it gets even better!!  As the girls and I were leaving the Basilica and walking through the square, we were stopped by a producer from NBC who wanted to interview Americans (we probably screamed "America" since all 3 of us are blondes!).  A couple minutes later, Anne Thompson from the NBC Nightly News is standing there introducing herself to us, and before we knew it, we were on camera being asked about the mass.  We each made a few remarks on what we thought of it, but when it aired that night in the States, only my quote was included!  So I had my couple seconds of fame on the national news from St. Peter's Square.  Now that's not something that happens every day!  Here's the link to the video, for those of you that haven't already seen it on Facebook :)

This weekend, the majority of the girls on the program were traveling, but since I am going to be traveling a lot during the upcoming weekends, I stayed in Rome.  It was a very relaxing, quiet weekend.  Friday morning, Ana left early for Barcelona, so she woke me up so I could go to Station Churches.  Station Churches are an annual Lenten event for English speakers living in Rome, during which mass is celebrated at a different church in Rome each of the 40 days of Lent.  It's going to be a great way to visit some of the churches I haven't been to (which, surprisingly, is the majority on the list).  The only thing is that mass is usually at 7 am, which means leaving the hotel between 6:20 and 6:30 most mornings and literally waking up almost before the city does! ... needless to say, this won't be happening every morning, but I am going to try to make it to a few.  I mean, when else can you visit 40 different historic and beautiful churches, all in walking distance from where you live?!  So my first Station Church was Saints John and Paul this past Friday.  It is a bit of a distance from the hotel, but one or two of the deacons goes with whichever students show up that morning.  It was only me on Friday, so I got a personalized tour/background on this particular church.  I've never seen a church with so many chandeliers before, by the way--and they were all brought from the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, since it is the titular church for the Cardinals from New York (each Cardinal has his own titular church in Rome).  Aside from seeing another beautiful holy site, it was great to experience mass in English at a church in Rome, other than the little chapel we use for SMC masses.  

San Giovanni e San Paolo

Since I was already up and ready for the day early on Friday (not really sure how I was able to do that and still have energy!), I then went with Deacon Doug for his planned tour of San Giovanni in Laterano, the Bishop Church of Rome.  The deacons have planned outings every week, but again, I was the only one to show up since so few girls remained in Rome this weekend, so I had yet another personalized tour.  San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran)---not St. Peters--is actually the official seat of the Bishop of Rome, who is the Pope.  So it is actually more important than St. Peters, because of this and because of the fact that it was the first church built in Rome after Constantine legalized Christianity.  It contains several relics, including the skulls of Sts. Peter and Paul and a piece of the table from the Last Supper.  I had already visited San Giovanni last semester, but it was a much more enriching experience having a personal guide!  Afterwards, we walked down the street to Santa Croce in Gerusaleme (Holy Cross in Jerusalem), a church that I had never visited--and boy, was I glad I got the opportunity to do so!  This somewhat non-descript church contains relics from Christ's passion, including pieces of the true cross, nails, thorns from His crown, and the finger of Thomas, who touched Christ's side.  Seeing all of these relics takes faith to a whole new level.  

The Pope's chair in San Giovanni

On Friday afternoon, Hillary and I went exploring to the Aventine Hill (one of the 7 hills of Rome) to check out the views and the orange gardens up there.  It was absolutely beautiful!  Probably one of my favorite things to do in Rome is see the city from various vantage points--so far I've seen it from the Pincio at Villa Borghese, the cupola of St. Peter's, the Gianicolo above Trastevere, and now Aventine Hill.  While we were up there, we saw the Knights of Malta Keyhole, a garden framed perfect view of Saint Peter's dome.  Fun fact: when you are up there, you are looking through 3 countries at once....you're standing on the independent territory of the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, gazing across Rome, to Vatican City.  How crazy is that?! 

View from Aventine Hill

Knights of Malta Keyhole :)

So I think I gave you all more than enough to ponder for this week!  It's been crazy, but good, and all of the busyness is good for me to keep my mind in the here and now.  As most of you probably know, my crazy, Marley of a dog, Tucker, went to doggy heaven last Saturday.  Seeing as my dogs are such an important part of our family, it was heartbreaking to lose the little guy to cancer, especially since he was only 3 years old.  A big part of my heart is at home, but I know that although I often long to be with my family during this time, I am where I am meant to be.  It's times like this that I need God the most, and being here, constantly surrounded by incredible reminders of the faith makes Him pretty much impossible to give up on.  One of my Lenten promises is to see God in at least 3 ways each day, whether that is through the kindness of a friend, the satisfaction that comes with speaking Italian, or the sights and sounds of this crazy city.  I read a reflection about hope in the face of loss today from the Notre Dame Faith website, and this line really spoke to me.  

"Our struggle is not about us. It’s about what how God can transform even our sorrow into joy; how even in the shadow of this very real cross, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it."

A good reminder today and always.

Missing my baby Tuck <3

Only in Italia!

I find myself laughing at the craziness of some of the things that happen here....let me give you some examples....

My philosophy professor doesn't want to be stuck inside a classroom at 8 am just as much as we don't want to, so he often takes us out for coffee/cornetti/pizza!  Today, we had to stay in the classroom since it's kinda of cold and rainy outside, but he sent some girls to get him a caffe macchiato and cornetto from Pascucci.  And he told everyone else they were free to leave and get a second coffee of the morning.  Several of us didn't show up back to class until 8:20, and he could have cared less!  Love how relaxed school/life can be here!

Also, today in philosophy, we had an open, general discussion about anything we wanted to talk about and we started to talk about differences in the treatment of women in America and Italy since we are talking about misogyny.  One of the girls remarked on the fact that an Italian man was pulling her hair on the bus the other day so she got up and moved seats.  Our professor said (in Italian), that she should have said "Stop it, you asshole, or else I'm going to call the police!" hahaha.  He is so crazy but so entertaining at the same time.  I kind of feel that way with all of my professors here.  It makes going to class like watching a theatre production--you never know what is going to happen!

In my music appreciation class, my professor always goes on rants about random things, so when he was taking attendance on Monday, he says, "hmm, Mackenzie. It's such an interesting name.  I mean, it's weird.  I've never met anyone with that name.  It sounds like a county or a country or something.  Tell your parents good job on that one."  .... ummm, thanks?  I guess?

Another random thing...this morning when I walked into Pascucci, Signora Patrizia who always works in the mornings, was blasting American music (today it was Maroon 5!) and dancing to it in front of all of us.  Definitely made getting up for an 8 am class worth it!

I guess with all this randomness, I'm trying to say that I love how jovial people can be here.  I feel like nothing gets taken too seriously and maybe that's the way it should be.  Italy is on to something :)

Firenze!

Last weekend I went on my first weekend trip of the semester.  Destination....Florence!  Ana, Lauren, Emily and I all took the hour and a half-long train after our last class on Friday night, settled into our hotel, and set about exploring and in search of dinner right away.  Thank goodness for google maps on our iphones--sure saved us a lot of time and spared us from getting too lost in a brand new city!  Florence was surprisingly a lot smaller than I imagined it to be and our hotel was in a great location, just a 5 minute walk to the train station and about a 7 minute walk to the Duomo and other main sights.

Benvenuti a Firenze!

Saturday morning, we all set out, Rick Steves Italy guidebook in hand, for the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, more commonly known as the Duomo.  The first thing we did was climb the almost 500 steps to the top of the cupola--a must-do in any city.  So far I've done that in Rome, Verona, and Venice.  Let me tell you, although the climb is exhausting, the view is well-worth every step, and it makes for some amazing panorama photos!  The inside of the Duomo is fantastic as well--much plainer walls than I expected, but that makes the ceiling of the dome, on which "The Last Judgement" is painted, stand out all the more.  Our second sightseeing event of the day was going to the Uffizi Gallery where famous paintings such as The Birth of Venus are housed.  I absolutely loved the many rooms of Renaissance-era paintings, especially those of the Madonna and baby Jesus by Filippo Lippi.

At the top of the Duomo, overlooking the city

Ceiling inside the Duomo

Bellissima!!

It's interesting to visit different parts of Italy because you can tell their historical development just by looking at the buildings and subject matter of the statues, paintings, etc.  Unlike Rome, which is an ancient, Medieval Renaissance, Baroque, and modern city all in one, Florence is most clearly a Renaissance city.  You can just feel it as you roam through the quiet streets.  I love it.

After breaking for lunch and an obligatory gelato, we walked around by the Ponte Vecchio and stopped in some shops.  Of course we had to return the next day as well to get another peak at all the beautiful leather products.  I refrained from purchasing anything for the time being, but Ana got some adorable flats custom-made by this adorable old Italian shoemaker.  It's the small moments like those that make me realize what the Italian culture is all about.  Most everyone is so laid-back, and the concept of time seems almost non-existent here.  I think the US could benefit from a little bit of this :)

How amazing does this gelato look?!

Ponte Vecchio

Saturday night we found an amazing restaurant thanks to Emily's gluten-free Italy book that accommodated all of us and treated us like queens!  It was by no means inexpensive, but it was well worth it considering the fact that the nice waiter kept bringing us everything from free champagne to biscotti.  It was honestly the best restaurant service I've ever experienced during my time in Italy.  Usually service is not prioritized here, especially toward tourists, so it was a pleasant surprise!

On Sunday, we started our day by going to the Accademia, the museum where Michelangelo's David is housed.  It was too amazing not to sneak a few pics :)  But I feel like everyone should get the chance to see this statue in person.  Usually I can stare at a statue for a few minutes and be ready to move on, but there is some kind of magical quality in this one that renders you unable to look away.  The attention to detail and the way the statue seems to "move" is incredible.  Later in the day we ventured over to the Basilica di Santa Croce, the church that contains the funerary monuments and tombs of many famous Florentines, among them, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo, Dante, and Bartolini.  It was so surreal standing in front of them.  Yet another moment of "I can't believe I'm actually here."  The historical significance of every place I visit makes it all the more wonderful.  America seems so young in comparison!

The David

Santa Croce

In front of Michelangelo's burial place

During Sunday afternoon we roamed around and ended up going to Piazzele Michelangelo.  It was beautiful at sunset as we overlooked the river, Ponte Vecchio, Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, and the whole Florence skyline.  A great end to a great weekend for sure!

My Firenze buddies!

This school week has already flown by--can't believe it's almost the weekend again!  This weekend I'll be staying in Rome, since I want to be around for the deacons' tour of Saint Peter's Basilica on Saturday.  I'll post about that in a few days!  Arrivederci until then!

Smile, it'll be okay

I always try to maintain a positive tone in my blog posts and writing in general.  While I'm here, traveling Europe and studying abroad, that's not a hard thing to do.  But despite my awesome surroundings, I've had my share of setbacks in these last few weeks, and I can't pretend to ignore them. I'll be honest--some days I just want to sleep or cry or ignore the realities of life.  And occasionally I do.  But I have found that on those days, I need to embrace the healing power of this city.  So I walk. And walk.  And walk.  To wherever I want to go.  To see whatever I want to see.  To shift my focus away from the negative and toward the positive.  To think and reflect and meditate.  It of course doesn't erase those underlying feelings of despair, worry, and loneliness, but it does allow me to go outside of myself and take in the world around me.  Today was one of those such days, so I walked to the Colosseum, took several pictures, sat and enjoyed the view, grabbed a cannoli, and eventually made my way back to the hotel.  Feeling much more refreshed, but of course not 100% better, I walked into my room to find that my roomie, Ana, had written with post-it notes on the wall above my bed, "Smile, it'll be okay."  What a simple, but much needed reminder.  A message of hope and encouragement.  While there are several things in my life that I should be sad about, there are also several things I should be happy about.  And with one comes the other.  I've found that it's so much easier to be positive, thankful, and in touch with friends, family, and faith when things seem to be going well.  It's a very different story when you take everything bad that happens to you as yet another event in a seemingly never-ending downward spiral.  It's hard to pray and have faith when you have no hope of things ever getting better.  But that's when a smile is most necessary.  It doesn't necessarily mean that you're "faking it" or pretending that everything is alright--rather, it means that you have the hope that God will take care of you and open your eyes to see the good in your life.

Quote for the day: "God's plans for your life far exceed the circumstances of your day."

Photo of the day: Tucker, because who couldn't love that smile?