School

Below is a picture of the school I go to, known commonly as the Angelicum, but officially as the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas. This is a Dominican school, and my primary contact there (also teaching a class I have) is Sister Helen. She is a wonderful little nun with an English accent. Like most of the people here she is very accomodating to us. She works hard to make our experience wonderful and fruitful.
The first two days of school here consisted of Orientation - both at the campus and at the school. For those poor students who do not speak Italian (all but four of us), they have already started thier Italian class and after only two days here, have spent 6 hours in the Italian classroom and a couple more practicing back here at the campus and around Rome. God bless them!
As for us 'other four' Italian speaking students, one has had three years, one has have three semesters, and myself and the last student have had one semester. I had been surprised (and I thank God) that my Italian after one 'official' semester is actually better than the other students' italian, except the one with three years of course. I attribute this to a few things: My love for the Italian language, a great Italian teacher last semester at Hamline, the help of Matt Willkom, and three years of trying to learn Italian on my own. It is funny, but a lot of the students come to me for help around the city and for practicing thier accents. This is probably because the Italian teacher here, Giovanni, singled me out on the first day of class as a 'model' of how to speak Italain as an American. Thanks Matt! (By the way, he loves my 'Roman' accent)

I spend most of my time wandering around the city to re-aquiant my self. I have found that my memory has held out well for the last four years since I was last here. I remembered the Treve Fountian like I was standing there yesterday (actually, I was). I was standing in front of the fountain facing it and without looking to point to my favorite ice cream shop. Yummmmy!

Well, that is all for my first 'week' (two full days) in Rome. I will write about my weekend later.
Ciao!

This is where I go to school (look at the cute little cars!)

Prayer Intentions for Feb 11

Today on this third preparatory day of Lent:
Autumn Arguelles
Amy Ashmore
Dave Babish
Stephanie Backer
Fr. Bill Baer

May the Lord bless all of you this Lent. Amen.

Today I went to the Lenten station church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. This church is dedicated to Saints John and Paul who were martyrs of Julian the Apostate's persecution in the 4th century.

Prayer Intentions for Feb 10

Today on this second preparatory day of Lent at San Giorgio in Velabro:
Denise Alizio
Maria Amundsen
Dan Andersen
Shelley Andersen
Special Intention from Shelley

May the Lord bless all of you this Lent. Amen.

Today I went to the Lenten station church of S. Giorgio in Velabro. This church is dedicated to St George the 'Great Martyr'.

First 'Real' day in Rome

Today is my first 'real' day in Rome, that is, my first non-jet-lag day. Today I had a student orientation at the campus and a student orientation at the Angelicum (the Ang from thus forward). I managed to get out of taking most of the Italian class that is required of all students. The teacher, Giovanni, has asked my to join the rest of the class for the last couple of weeks. Until then I am doing Italian learning projects on my own, including reading the Italian paper and discussing it in Italian with people here, as well as reading an Italian book and writing a paper about it.
I have found that I feel very much at home here in Rome. It is now time to eat, so I will write more later. Ciao! -Christoforo

Viva Roma

My first day of Rome went well. I had so much jet lag that I could barely think. But overall, I am glad to be back the la cittá eterna (the eternal city). I had had much opportunity to use Italian, and I have found true what many people have told me; "If you make an effort to speak italian to the Italians, they are honored and respond very welcoming (even of not-so-great attempts)." There are some pictures below of what what on this first Day. I will soon get a picture of the place I am staying: the "Bernardi" campus of the University of St Thomas. I will also soon get a picture of the school I go to: the "Angelicum" (The pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the same school Pope John Paul II went to!).
Now I must sleep. Peace and God bless.
-Christopher

Anna Emmel was on the same filght as me. This picture was taken after we had finaly arrived in Rome. Our flight was from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, then from Amsterdam to Rome. It was a total of about 12 hours in the air.

Packing time came soon enough. I finally decided to pack Tuesday Feb 8th 2 hours before I was to go to the airport. Talk about last minute!