Standing On Top of St. Peter's...Unreal.

Had quite the adventure today at the Vatican, but really, what day isn't an adventure. Dressed up in my business suit and met the editor of the Catholic News Agency and headed over to St. Peter's Square that was already over flowing full of people from all over the world to celebrate the Canonization of 7 saints!

So here's what happened. I was supposed to be the photographer and take pictures for EWTN, up on the colonnade, but I didn't have a press pass, so I snuck past the first round of security by walking behind the editor. Then we saw the elevator on the backside of the columns, and decided instead of going up, we'd be closer taking pictures from below. So we got a seat up front on the ground.

However, once mass started, we still couldn't see anything, so we decided to try to go back up. Once again, got past the first security guards, but once we got to the elevator, they saw that I didn't have a press pass, and forbid me to go up. The editor went up without me and tried to get me help, but I was out of luck waiting outside the square for 45 minutes...(I couldn't get back in without waiting in line with the thousands of other people, and I couldn't get up the elevator without a press pass.) I tried explaining to the Italian men guarding it that I worked for Catholic News Agency, but they didn't speak English, and I don't know enough Italian, so I was in a harsh state of language barrier, and it pretty much made me want to cry, but instead just prayed I would eventually make my way up there with all the other people from the press. Luckily, the press director finally came down, but that wasn't a pleasant experience either. He started yelling at me because I didn't have a press pass, (but really I had no way of getting one because I'm just interning)...still, thank God he let me up.
Also thank God the elevator didn't break while I was on it, what a shaky ride that was high up to the top.

Once I finally got up there, it was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. The perfect view of the Pope and all the Cardinals, Priests, and Deacons up on the altar outside, and then 80,000 people flooding the square to witness the canonization of these 7 remarkable people, now Saints! Took some great pictures, and felt so thankful for this opportunity. Even my boss at EWTN said he's never been on top of the colonnade, so I know I was very fortunate to do this!

Afterwards, had some time to talk with the editor about possible internships working for Catholic News Agency in the future. It's awesome making all these connections here!

Awesome day witnessing history, experiencing the bureaucratic system in Rome, and keeping my professionalism together. Learned 2 lessons: One, always have a press pass if you're a journalist, and two, always PERSEVERE to get what you want...and never give up.

Epic Pilgrimage

Last Saturday was definitely the best one I've had yet here in Rome, and one of the most memorable days of my life. Our group of 25 students walked over 20 miles on a pilgrimage around the entire city of Rome, visiting all 7 major basilicas. It was the most humbling and faith enriching experience I've ever had. We began our journey by leaving at 6am in a silent hour walking to the Vatican. Carried the banner through St. Peter's Square, and prayed inside the basilica as our first stop of the day. Over the course of the day we also visited the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Santa Maria Maggiore, St. Sebastiano fuori le mura, St. Croce in Jerusalem, and St. Lorenzo fuori le mura.





Although I've been actively involved in my Church at home, I've never had the experience of publicly proclaiming our faith-and it was a wonderful experience to sing throughout the streets of Rome, pray the rosary out loud..(might I mention, we prayed 4 full rosaries today and sang a divine mercy chaplet), praise the Good Lord in all the Churches, and be surrounded by a fantastic group of people all doing the same thing.

We arrived back at 8pm, so 14 hours of walking today-almost a full marathon. It was great to spread joy to the world. Had a lot of people ask where we were from, and I won't forget this one old man who made the sign of the cross and pointed at our banners. Awesomeness.
It also made me think, how so many people are martyred, even today, for proclaiming the word of God.   And how fortunate we are here, to be able to do it freely. There is no way this would happen back home in Grand Rapids, but in Rome, people do this, and it's amazing.
Blessed to have this opportunity.

Putting the Puzzle Together

This morning woke up early to get to the Vatican by 7am for Mass. It really is the best way to start off your day. Afterwards, got 30 cent pastries and cappuccino with the group. I love mornings like this in Rome. The city is quiet, you don't have Indian people coming up to you all the time trying to sell you cheap squishy balls or purses, and it's a great atmosphere to wake up to and thank God for where you are and your blessings.

At the Vatican this morning, I ran into my boss, Alan, from EWTN, along with David, who worked awhile for the office in Rome, but is now moving to Washington DC to produce a new nightly show for the station. Right away I thought, how cool would that be to work for them in DC someday! I wished him good luck with the show, and thanked him for helping me get settled with the internship here.  He told me about future opportunities working for the Catholic News Agency in Denver, which would get me started and then could move up from there.

The irony in this is that this afternoon, I happened to meet the director of the Catholic News Agency in Denver, because she happens to be in Rome for the next 10 days. It is so incredible how God is showing me these opportunities, hopefully helping me put the puzzle together. Sunday, I will be working with the director at the canonization mass at St. Peters. We will have VIP passes to take pictures of the ceremony..So excited!
If I meet the Pope, I will definitely post a picture. haha.
Also got to go to a press conference this afternoon and meet and interview the Archbishop Gomez of Las Angeles.

I know I still have a lot of time to figure out what I really want to do with the rest of my life, but something David said to me today really made me wonder. He said "when I wake up in the morning, I don't feel like I have to go to work...because I enjoy it so much." That's what I want to be able to say with whatever I end up doing.

Amalfi Adventure

Saturday, Mary and I made a pack to put the entire day in God's Hands. All we planned was that we were getting on the 5:40 am train to the Amalfi Coast. Little did we know of what was to come.

Left the Villa at 4:30 am, took a night bus to Trastevere where basically we felt stranded. Had never seen this part of town before, it was dark, and had no idea how to get to the train station from here. Luckily there was a nice lady in the coffee shop that spoke English that told us what bus to take. Got on another bus to Termini Station. Arrived at 5:35am and still had not purchased our tickets. We sprinted off the bus to the ticket machine, printed our tickets, and raced to the train (not even knowing which one to get on-had to look at the signs and figure that out-all in 5 minutes of time!) Found the train and literally as we stepped on, it started to move. All we could think was that was God's Hands right there.

Rode the train for 2.5 hours. Both of us stayed awake because we didn't trust any of the sketchy people around. Got off the train at Napoli Centrale (Naples). Had no idea where to go next so we asked the information station. Good thing she spoke English too. We had to buy another train ticket to get to Vietri. We got on the train that said "Vietri" but still not sure where to get off because the signs on the train didn't correspond with our ticket. We must have looked really confused because a nice Italian guy helped explain to us where to get off.

So after an hour we got off at the sign that said Vietri. But that's all there was. Just the sign. We felt so stranded because there was absolutely nothing else around. We were at the top of a hill, so we looked out to see where to go. The view was breathtaking. Mountains surrounded us, colorful buildings over a few hills, and the ocean in the distance; a beautiful sight.

Decided it would be best to walk towards the civilization. Figured out that we had to take a bus to get to the actual Amalfi Coast. We got on the first bus we saw. A lady started speaking Italian to me but all I could say back was "No parlo Italiano" and she said "No speak English" haha. Then I said "Amalfi?" And she said, "No, Sorrento." So we found out we got on the wrong bus. Got off at the next stop. An old Italian man saw us looking at the sign and pointed to what bus number we had to get on. I tried to communicate by using my English-Italian phrase book and then found out we needed to buy a bus ticket. So we did that and finally got on the bus we needed to.

The bus ride was an hour long, of going around curves on the mountain. I felt like we were going to fall off the cliff at any moment. Every time we turned, the driver honked the obnoxious horn so no one would run into us. Besides feeling nauseous, the view was incredible.

Praise the good Lord when we arrived at Amalfi. 8 hours of travel and we finally made it.  The entire bus ride I had to pee like Niagra Falls, so when we got there my first goal was to take care of that. I had to buy gelato in order to use the bathroom.  They sure get you in Italy.

Unfortunately as soon as we sat down at the beach, it started raining. I only got to eat half of my peanut butter sandwich before we had to get up and find shelter. That was a hard task itself, because there was no place to go without having to pay for something. We walked around different shops, trying to stay dry, then just decided it would be best to eat lunch in a restaurant because there was no where else to go. Had some delicious pizza at a place that looked out onto the ocean; very nice.

Then the sun came out! Used this time to take some great pictures and enjoy the outdoors. It was gorgeous.

The sun didn't stay out long, but we made the most of it. After a few hours we made our journey back home. We had to do the same exact thing as we did on our way here. Bus back to Vietri, then bought another train ticket (harder to communicate with people this time because they spoke absolutely no English). It was pouring down rain, my socks felt like sponges, and our train wasn't coming for another hour. Still, we kept positive. This day was in God's Hands.
The train came, but it wasn't the right one, so had to transfer to a different train later. That train took us to Napoli Centrale, where this time we had 8 minutes to buy our tickets and find the right train, so you can imagine, we did have to sprint again.
But thank the good Lord we made it!

2.5 hours back to Roma. Took the metro and a bus to get back home.
Overall, even though today didn't go how we pictured it, it was still an amazing day. God protected us and led us on our way. We put all our trust in Him, and he helped us on our journey!
Grew so much, learned a ton. Conquered the train, bus, and metro system and feel empowered to go anywhere in the world.

Meeting Cardinal Dolan!

Awesome things have happened since I got this internship with EWTN. Seriously I am so blessed to have this opportunity. Wednesday, I met Cardinal Timothy Dolan! Had dinner at the Sor Eva restaurant by the Vatican and sat at the table right next to where he recorded an episode for his radio show! A few students from our group got to ask questions directly to Cardinal Dolan and he answered on the air. After the show, I recorded my question to be put on a future episode, so stay tuned!

Overall, he is an outstanding representative of the Catholic Church. He has high energy and enthusiasm for our faith, the ability to defend it, and relates to people personally.

Friday, I had another wonderful opportunity to be a reporter for EWTN and interview a representative of the Human Life International Organization. Got to experience the kind of work a broadcast journalist would do. Felt like Katie Couric. Just a real awesome time to do something I can definitely see myself doing in the future. Who knows. After this interview, took a cab with the camera guy and other journalist to another interview at the Piazza Navona. This time, we interviewed a priest, who is also a famous chef and author. Another energetic man of faith. He even gave me gelato :)
Life is good.

VIP access at the Vatican

Thursday was the Ordination of Deacons Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. I was fortunate enough to be the photographer for EWTN news, so I had special access throughout the mass to take pictures of the ordination. 29 seminarians became Deacons, and it was incredible to see the joy on their faces up close as they were ordained. They made a huge milestone in committing to a life for God. It gave me the chills and made me proud and excited to see the future of the Church in these young men right in front of me. I've never been to a more ceremonial mass before. The Holy Spirit was definitely present throughout the entire Basilica, that was filled with hundreds of people.

During the 3 hour mass, I was privileged to sit right in front of the first pew, directly in the center of the altar. Something I know most people do not even get to get close to in their life. Blessed to have that opportunity. Also attended a special reception afterwards at the Pontifical North American College, right outside the Vatican and met some of the ordained Deacons, other priests, and others from EWTN.

A day I will not forget. Glad my eye was able to survive a few hours so I could enjoy the mass and take quality pictures.

Italian Healthcare

To start with the positives, this week I got to experience healthcare and the hospital system in a foreign country. Looking back I'll probably be glad I got to do this. As for now, I wish it was over.

A few days ago my left eye got really red and irritated. I went to the pharmacia to get some drops, which didn't help, so went and saw a "doctor." Walked up 5 flights of stairs into what looked like someone's apartment to have the doctor look at my eye. He was wearing jeans and a ragged t-shirt, did not wash his hands, and started stretching my eye out and poking at it. At the time, I just wanted to leave, I could not see hardly anything and it was painful to open my eye. So he told us to go to the hospital. 2 hours later using public transportation we get there, just to wait another 2 hours while my eye feels like a bonfire is at its peak inside. Found out people in front of me had been waiting 6 hours, so we knew I'd be there all night if we stayed just to get into see someone. Luckily, the nurse put a drop in my eye that numbed it for awhile so I was able to open it to walk down the street. Traveled back to the pharmacia again and got different drops this time that were supposed to heal my whole eye.
Well, that didn't happen. Another day passed, still not able to see a doctor, and my eye was killing me.

Thankfully yesterday, I got into see a REAL eye doctor. Nothing like America that's for sure. His office was in his house, the phones rang every 10 seconds and there was no secretary to answer them. After an hour of waiting, he told me my eye was pretty tricky to fix, but was definitely possible. Apparently I have a corneal ulcer. Freaked out. But at least I got the right drops and medication I needed. Will be going back tomorrow to see if progress has been made.

So basically this whole experience has made me appreciate the quality care you can receive in America. Although there is a lot of controversy in how our healthcare system should be run, we are very fortunate to have the doctors and quality services to help our citizens.

Have been praying to St. Lucy, the patron Saint of eyesight. A little bummed I had to miss out on traveling this weekend, but I know it's better to get healthy first so I'll be able to experience more later.

Greetings from Rome

Looking out the window of the plane, I see land that spreads for what looks like millions of miles. And then I can barely picture the tiniest moving spec, that happens to be a car. I got to thinking, there is at least one person in that car, and the size of that person compared to the whole rest of the world did not even seem measurable.  That one person could be me, but I was on that plane, in the air, flying to, (I can't even believe it,) Rome, Italy for an entire semester! The world is huge, and I am beyond blessed to have this opportunity. 

Sorry it has taken me so long to finally write here! It's taken awhile to get adjusted to everything here in this amazing city, but I've got a schedule under control now so it'll be easier to keep you updated more often.

Here are the "cliff-notes" version of what my life here has been like so far.

The first day we went to the Vatican, and what an incredible way to start this journey. The next full day was my birthday and we traveled to Castel Gondolfo to see the Pope! THE best birthday present ever to stand literally 50 feet away from the Pope, and him wave and say a special blessing in all different languages. Amazing to see how many people around the world gathered and cheered for Pope Benedict. Felt a great sense of unity in the Catholic Church.

Other awesome things:
1. Saw the Trevi Fountain at dark, all lit up-beautiful
2. Have eaten gelato almost every day, and am determined to try as many flavors as possible
3. Landed an internship with EWTN News Station at the Vatican! Best day ever. So excited for the opportunities to come with this!!
4. Went for a run around the streets of Rome! Feel like I'm doing something outside the cultural norm but oh well.
5. Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, as well as many other famous and beautiful basilicas.
6. Ate lunch at the Pope's favorite restaurant at the SAME table he always sat at! Most blessed meal of my life.
7. Traveled to Assisi for the weekend and had quite a few adventures. Watch this video for your own entertainment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs7VmGrSUtQ&feature=g-hist
8. Working on speaking Italian, but most of the time people just laugh-like this 9 year old boy I played foosball with, but he made my day.
9. Of course, I'm taking classes as well which are going great.

So far, I could not have asked to a better start to this semester. At my first day working for EWTN, I transcribed a bunch of interviews by priests. This is one memorable quote that I hope to live this semester by.
"Coming to Rome broadens horizons. You meet Catholics from all over the world. You get in contact with the center of the Church, with the history of this extraordinary city. It changes you. It makes you a better human being, and it makes you a better Catholic." 
Well said.
Ciao for now,
Emily