Ciao, Roma.

Today was our last full day in Rome and many of us took advantage of the free day given to us for shopping, resting, exploring, and enjoying the sights of Rome for the last time this trip. We then meet late this afternoon for a bus ride over to St. Mary Major to celebrate mass together. Following mass we had an amazing farewell dinner together at a local restaurant. We now have a long night ahead of us that includes packing and studying for our last oral examination. We look forward to being back in the states tomorrow night! Upon our return I will give everyone access to the blog so they took can post their comments and pictures from the trip. Ciao, Roma!

The Chapel in Saint Mary Major where we celebrated mass this evening

Monday at the Vatican

We have had such busy days of fun and excitement but have a few last pictures and comments to post before we head back home tomorrow morning. Monday we started the day with a quick class session in the basement of our hotel and then walked over to Saint Peter's square for a guided tour of the Vatican Museum and the Pio-Christian collection of early Christian sarcophagi. This tour lasted all morning and ended with the much anticipated Sistine Chapel. We were then given a quick break to grab some lunch and a quick nap before touring the Scavi underneath St. Peter's, many commented that this was their favorite portion of the trip. We then celebrated mass at San Agostino in a small chapel dedicated to his mother Monica and enjoyed a lovely walk back to the hotel. Overall, it was a very eventful and fun day!

An evening in Roma.

Statue of Saint Cecila, found in the Basilica, after her body was recovered where she is defending the faith with her hand position.

Saint Paul outside the wall from the back of the high altar looking forward

This morning we began our day with a lovely mass with old friends from Loras at St. Paul outside the wall, followed by the Catacombs of San Callisto. Following our return to ground level we hopped back onto the bus for a short drive outside the city of Rome to Ostia Antica where we were able to enjoy the ruins of the port town and a lovely lunch in the sun. Our afternoon consisted of a wonderful reading from Augustine's Confessions which took place in Ostia! We finished the day with a trip to the Basilica of Saint Cecilia which was absolutely beautiful. Many of us even took advantage of the long walk home to enjoy the city lights of Roma. Overall it was a splendid day and we anticipate lots of time in Saint Peter's square tomorrow. Ciao!

Roma!

Ciao everyone! We apologize if you were worried after not hearing from us (especially after the last thing posted was about the erupting volcano outside our windows), but we have safely arrived in Rome and are just finishing up our first full day here. Our hotel is absolutely beautiful, and literally is right next to the Vatican. Last night we had dinner on our own so many of us walked across the street to Saint Peters square to make sure the Pope was still awake.

This morning we started the day with mass at the Basilica of Saint Clement (which was extremely chilly) and a tour of all of the layers and history of the building. We then walked over to the Coliseum and spent a while taking pictures and listening to the rich history of the area. We enjoyed true italian food for lunch and a little shopping before getting back on the bus to head to The Cathedral of Rome. We have been trying to get a lot of group pictures at different places for the blog. Hope all is well in Dubuque, we have a busy day of events ahead of us tomorrow. We have internet access for our stay in Rome so look forward to many more pictures!

Group inside the Coliseum this morning.

The view from our window.

A group shot at a Greek and Roman Theatre with a view overlooking Taormina, Sicily.

The eruption of Mt. Etna following evening mass.

An image of all of us getting ready for mass in San Pancrazio, Taormina, Sicily.

Last Days in Sicily

Greetings all! Today we end our last full day in Sicily in a town called Taormina. After an early wake up and 3 hour drive, we arrived to find we get to stay the night in what looks like a beautiful castle : ) We had the whole afternoon to explore, so some of us enjoyed a fun afternoon of shopping and tasting the pizza of Sicily. We also completed our first Oral exam today, which thankfully we all survived. Tonight we celebrated mass in a beautiful church at the end of the town, and when we walked out we found the volcano, Mt. Etna is erupting! We are getting ready for dinner and night activities now, but just wanted to post a few pics of our day's adventures. Tomorrow we are putting on plays at an old theatre and then taking off for Roma! Blessings to all!

The altar of the Church outside of Palermo.

The Church where we celebrated Mass this morning in Palermo.

The lovely ladies of the trip outside of the Cathedral of Palermo.

The view of the Meditteranean from the windows of our hotel this morning!

Ciao, Palermo!

Tonight is our last night in Palermo and we could not have asked for a more beautiful day. We began with mass at a beautiful hidden treasure Church in the center of the town, followed by a quick tour. We then drove outside of the city and climbed almost a hundred stairs to an amazing Cathedral. We spent over half an hour looking at the details of each wall alone. We were then given a little time for shopping and walking around the town, many pictures were taken as we were on top of Palermo with a gorgeous view of the Meditteranean. Another Church was then explored in an old castle of Palermo. Here we saw how the elite group of people celebrated the Eucharist many years ago. Finally, due to the good weather of the afternoon (in the morning it rained quite a bit), we were rewarded with a small trip to the Sea where many of us were able to put our toes in the water and enjoy some galato! Tonight we are all studying for our first oral exam and practicing skits that we will soon perform at an old theatre. Tomorrow will be our last full day in Sicily as we are all anxiously awaiting our trip to Rome. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Church of Saint Nicholas where we celebrated Mass this morning!

Night view of one of the temples which is decorated with the colors of Italy in celebration of their 150th anniversary of Italy being unified

Ciao,

This morning we departed from our hotel to attend a beautiful and private mass at the Church of Saint Nicholas which overlooked the entire city of Agrigento. Following our mass we went to the Museum of the Valley of the Temples next store to view some very old pottery. Then we went to the Valley of the Temples where we viewed 7 ruins of Greek temples, they were absolutely beautiful and encouraged thought about the importance of Greek influence on Christian culture. All of this was before noon! We then hopped back into our little bus for a two hour drive to Palermo, the capital of Sicily. Here we were given a two hour break to shop and then were taken to the hotel where we now await dinner and night activities. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we are enjoying our adventures!

Sunny Sicily with the group in front of the Greek theatre ruins

Here is the group gathered at the ruins of the Greek and Roman Theatres!

2nd and 3rd Days in Sicily!

Bonjourno,

We are sorry for skipping a day in the blog, but our hotel in Siracusa did not have internet access the second night! We had a wonderful first day, beginning with our trip to the catacomb di s. Giovanni (one of the earliest catacombs) and a visit to a Greek archeological museum, all within walking distance of our hotel. Later that afternoon we traveled over the bridge to a small island where we enjoyed a very interesting lunch (some food had tentacles!) followed by a tour of the cathedral and town. It was a fantastic day followed by mass at the Church of Saint Lucy (Patron Saint of eyes) and another dinner at the hotel and a good night’s rest before our early travels this morning.

Today, Sunday, we began our morning a little earlier with packing up all of our bags and moving out of our first hotel. We traveled to ruins of both a Greek and Roman theatres. The weather was 70’s and sunny. While you were all sleeping, we were enjoying the sun and scenery of Sicily. We then jumped into the bus for a two hour drive to a small town where they discovered beautiful mosaics in 1929 which they are still restoring. Another 2 hour drive lay ahead of us in which Fr. Joensen entertained us with a wonderful lecture about philosophy and the history of Agrigento our current location in Sicily. We are all very tired and ready for an early bed time as our wakeup call is scheduled for 6:30 and a full day of events lies ahead. We are finding that internet is harder and harder to come by, so check often but know we are all thinking of you and anxious to keep you updated on our travels.

The group gathered in the coach bus before leaving for Chicago!

Here is a blurry view of our first sight of Italy!

Safe Arrival in Italy!

Hello All,

We are writing to you all before bed after a wonderful dinner provided by our hotel. It has been a very eventful 24 hours since we first loaded the coach bus for O'Hare in Chicago. Our flight to Munich was very long, but we all slept well only to wake up around noon in Germany. In a frantic dash to our next plane we made it aboard and traveled another 2 hours to Catania. At this airport we were greeted by our spunky tour guide, Rudy, who will acompany us to all of our destinations in Sicily as well as Rome. Although it is only mid day in dear old dubuque, we are all very tired and anxious to start our adventures tomorrow. We will try and keep the blog as updated as possible (around night time), but know we are all alive and well enjoying Southern Italy!