Vita è Bella!

Ten Minute Post

Hello all! I am alive and well, fear not. I feel bad that I don't have more time to update this blog, but in all sincerity, I'm doing my best. Sorry I don't have more pictures up too! I think that once I get home in May, I'm going to just take a couple days straight to update everything, all my pictures and random memories and stories... because I'm woefully behind, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get caught up during the rest of my time here.

Last weekend a few of us went on a retreat to Assisi, and it changed my life! It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had... and I doubt I can even put into words just how much it meant to me. I felt as though God was present throughout the entire weekend, and graced every moment with His love and peace. Assisi is the most peaceful place I've ever been to, and I will do all that I can to return someday. But my comments on that will have to wait until a later post, when I can attempt to do it justice. :-)

Unfortunately, though I felt more peaceful than I've ever felt before over the weekend, Monday crashed upon me with more waves of stress and anxiety than I expected. My head was still off in the clouds at the start of the week, but the weight of the world pulled me back down with vicious force. Class registration packets came out, which led to an entire day filled with thoughts such as: "Wow... will I even be able to graduate in four years?" and the inevitable "Holy crap... what am I going to do with my life once I get out of school?!?!" I'm working for a double major in Religious Studies and Philosophy, and my long-term goal is to obtain a Master of Divinity... but it's a little bit trickier to schedule out the courses for a double major and a minor than I anticipated. I had a couple very frustrating conflicts, but hopefully things are all worked out now. We'll see, I'm sure! Then on Tuesday, I awoke with the alarming revelation that spring break was just over a week a way, and we didn't have a single hostel booked in Germany or Austria! That was not a good feeling. So I spent most of the day comparing prices, booking rooms, and finetuning our itineraries. I felt a lot better after that... until I walked into my room and realized that, before spring break, we need to pack everything in our rooms up as though we were never there.

You'd be amazed how many random pieces of junk you can accumulate over the course of two months. It's dreadfully appalling! Even worse, this junk (plus clothing and textbooks and shoes) has a way of spreading out into every little nook and cranny of your room. I have no IDEA how I'm going to fit everything into that suitcase. None of us do! So this weekend, I'm going to kick it into gear and start packing up everything. I'm going to do all of my laundry, start choosing travel attire, and cram everything I can into my two suitcases. It'll be good practice for returning home in May, I suppose! Wow, that's coming fast too...

Anyway, this week has been a little stressful. I suppose it seems even more so after the peace of the weekend, but things are looking up now. I got a lot accomplished today, and even got to go for a walk to St. Peter's Square! The weather has been rather dismal and gray, but it's still nice to get out and explore. Tonight we're taking a night train to Venice (it leaves at 10:50 and arrives at around 5:20 AM!) We're going to spend the day there, and it's bound to be completely exhausting and wonderful all at once. I can't wait to see it! It still doesn't really feel like we're leaving tonight though... hm. I'll spend the rest of the weekend church-hopping around Rome and packing. But come next week, I plan to continue updating you guys on all of my adventures.

So have a fabulous weekend, and stay tuned until next week! Ciao, and God bless :-)

posted by Sarah @ 5:09 PM