The journey continues...

We've been in Rome for two weeks now, so I suppose it's time for a blog. First-off, I would be lying to say that this has been an easy journey for me, but with God's grace it has been a blessing. Each day I ask His will be done, and each day I get to lift up my suffering and pain to be with His. God is good.

Enough on that now. My last blog was a day-by-day update, so that one will be a subject-by-subject update. First impressions of Rome? Let's go!

School

Before coming to Rome, people told me that while here there isn't really homework and your entire grade for a class comes from your final. Perhaps this was true for them, but it is certainly not true to spring 2016 Bernardians.

Dr. Lev and Dr. Heaney have given us some pretty fair chunks of reading to do throughout the week (to put it lightly). I struggle to know when we have homework and am definitely behind. I'm trying to decide if it's worth trying to catch up or if I should just start were we left off. How important is this reading homework? Aka, how much do our quizzes, tests, and papers depend on it?

I love studying in groups, but people have only done that a few times here. Reading is easier for me when we're doing it as a team. Lizzy has taught me how to have my computer read to me, so that helps some. I am blessed to have such a wonderful, thoughtful roommate.

Food

The food here is basically what we think of as "Italian food" back in America. Most meals consist of pasta or pizza. For breakfast we have continental breakfasts at Bernardi. I usually get some cereal, yogurt, a piece of fruit, a pastry, and a roll with honey. I find it is helpful to scavenge some food from breakfast for lunch. Otherwise, lunch can get expensive; plus, I've found that panini aren't very filling for me.

I'm getting by ok, but with all the walking we do, I could use more food. Group cooking is the best, though I haven't done a ton of that yet. We made a good size dinner for everyone yesterday in honor of Tasha's birthday. That was fun. Tasha is precious, and I loved her expression when she walked into our surprise party.

Food-wise, we get most of our food at the grocery store down the street. I have tried gelato twice and learned from my second experience that getting my own gelato is just way too much food/sugar for me. Gelato has twice the sugar that ice cream does. It didn't leave me feeling that great though I must say it was filling.

Household Life

I love my Bernardi family. That doesn't mean that no one ever annoys me, but these people are great nonetheless! The seminarians are obliged to say the liturgy of the hour throughout the day, so it's nice to join them for many of those. Community dinners are special. I look forward to our first "official" community dinner next Wednesday.

Living in a household lets you learn a lot about yourself. I've discovered many of my own faults through others. For example, I long for attention, and I can see many other Bernardians calling out for attention too. We're a really boisterous bunch.

So much has been going through my head and heart lately, and I find myself pretty reserved around my fellow Bernardians. That said, I appreciate their presence and those moments when I can tell people are really looking out for me.

Extra Adventures

We've gone on a few adventures while at Bernardi. There were, of course, the guided ones to see Padre Pio and the Colloseum, etc.

On Friday the seminarians went on a trip to Venice (which sounded amazing). Most of us lay folk went to spend the day with the Lay Center. I expected our outing to take about two hours but it took five and a half. Because of this, it ended up being rather stressful for me, being out and about when I just wanted to get back to Bernardi to do my laundry and homework. I learned from this experience that I am more of a home-girl than I thought.

Schedule

My sleep schedule has been "on fleek!" God is so good. Back home in America, I always have trouble falling asleep and getting up. I end up going to bed at midnight and not falling asleep until 4am and then I nap a lot during the day. Basically, it's an insomniac disaster.

God has been WONDERFUL in this regard here. I usually get to bed between nine o'clock and ten thirty and get in a good nights rest before the next day. God has been so good. I usually fall asleep within minutes once my head hits my pillow. I think part of the reason I sleep so well is because days are hectic. Thankfully, I made it through the days without naps. I've learned to prioritize a good sleep schedule over homework. If I went with my American-schedule, I would be up until 2am reading for class, and everything would be an avalanche from there due to sleep problems.

I have to be careful not to loose this great sleep schedule by going out late with people. I went out with a group last night and discovered that, after a certain hour, I should probably just stick to Bernardi. When I go on outings I expect them to take an hour or two. Other people enjoy more spontaneity which is fine but can be stressful for me when I know I have stuff to do (like hold into this sleep schedule).

Taking care of myself and my needs takes self-control in cooperation with the grace of God.

Lent

Oh my, guys! It's Lent! Lent is pretty cool. I've been offering up a daily Divine Mercy Chaplet or Rosary. I have also given up interrupting people in conversation (something I have often found myself guilty of) and trying to dominate conversations (my attention-seeker self tends to get pretty desperate when the conversation doesn't include me as a central part).

These are wonderful offerings. They are helping me to grow as a person. Then again, it's almost too easy for me. Going into silence is comfortable for me (though I do tend to long for attention from others). I have found lately that when people actually do talk to me I'm both honored and caught off guard. If I'm forgetting how to socialize with people, that's not good.

That said, the reason for my silence is that I usually evaluate my words before I speak them, and if the motive of my words would be to get attention or to put someone else down, I tend to not speak them. This results in my rarely speaking to people. I've been offering up the loneliness of this. God's grace has been good to me. As long as good is coming from this, I can continue to offer it up and accept God and Mother Mary's embrace in my loneliness.

There we go. That's a shorter post than usual. Hope things are going well for everyone back home. Your prays are ABSOLUTELY appreciated!

And we've been here 4 days, and so much has happened...

I was going to wait a week to post my next blog (just for the sake of note being a blogging-manaic), but I've been encouraged to post a new blog about our first days at Bernardi. So much has happened it's ridiculous. No wonder I am exhausted to the point of tears. But at the same time my heart is singing for joy. Bernardi is a pretty cool experience.

One of the reasons I really wanted to go to Bernardi was to come to learn about myself. I am someone who sticks to a routine, and I usually try not to test my stanima in trying new things because I know I have a breaking point. Yet, as I am entering into adulthood, I want to get to know myself better, and what better way is there than to step into a life that is strictly structured by others, experience myself in a whole different culture, and come to know so many of my favorite people not just as friends but as family?

Day 1 (& tangents)

So much has happened since we arrived here that it's hard to know where to begin. Our first full day at Bernardi involved a lot of Orientation. Orientation consisted in sitting in the dining room listening to our director describe Bernardi life to us and provide us with guidelines for our safety in Rome. It was super interesting stuff, and I enjoyed it. At the same time sitting on our butt for hours can be exhausting, so the breaks we took were MUCH appreciated. On one of our breaks I decided to check out the terrace. It may sound like I'm just saying this, but my first glimpse of the terrace left me thinking that heaven must be something like it. The night before when we arrived at Bernardi, I thought it was cool but didn't quite have the surroundings or beautiful views that I expected. The terrace proved that all wrong. I was in absolute awe gazing over the river to the churches on hills and the beautiful sky. The river view is my favorite. The whole terrace is beautiful with beautiful flowers and lots of nice tables and chairs to sit on.

I enjoyed watching traffic from the terrace as well. Traffic in Italy is pretty much horrifying and amazing (though not as horrifying as in Peru). Cars basically go where they want at the speed they want and they part where they want. Budging in traffic is normal, especially for the cyclists. I was greatly amused at the sight of a man who kept on stepping into the middle of traffic at the light offering to wash people's windshields on the spot. There are pretty creative ways to make money here in Rome I guess.

On Monday evening we took our first walk to St. Peter's Basilica. It's a pretty cool place, need I say? The walk there isn't bad. It was nighttime with clear skies and we go to walk around outside of the Vatican admiring the view, the statues, the nativity, etc. Afterwards we went out to eat, and I tried my first carbonara. To be honest (don't hate me for this), I'm not a big fan. The carbonara I've had at Bernardi since then has been better, but there was way too much sauce in the carbonara I tried that first night. If people say "small servings" are a thing in Italy compared to America, well... not at this restaurant at least. They actually brought the food out on a skillet, and I couldn't finish half. (P.S. To go boxes are not a thing in Italy.) I'll randomly throw in here, we had evening prayer on the room at maybe 10:30pm.

I should mention how much I love my roommate. She played one of her favorite Christian songs for me our first night at Bernardi. I love being looked out for. It's also really nice that we have our own bathroom. It's small, but we don't have to worry about working around more people's bathroom schedules than the two of us.

Day 2 (& tangents)

If I remember correctly, Tuesday was our first walk to the Angelicum. We went in the Kitchen Groups we've been assigned. Kyle was my group's leader, and it was a cool walk getting there. We got to meet and listen to Dr. Dominic. He is HILARIOUS, and I am thankful for that especially considering the amount of time we spent sitting in that classroom. We also met Dr. Lev who is also a hoot and an amazing women. I'm thankful that the people here are so engaging, because even with their being this way I am always ready to burst out of class as soon as it's over. Sitting in a classroom just tires me out, I guess. Or maybe that's just in Italy.

I love all of the walking we're doing, but it gets exhausting. My feet keep on asking me, "WHAT do you think you're doing? When did you sign up for this marathon?" Nevertheless, I don't think I will have to worry much about weight gain here.

Tuesday was our first night at the supermarket and in the kitchen. I finally got soap so that I don't have to shower with water alone. Unfortunately, I think I'm allergic to the shampoo. (Oh well. These things happen. Bummer.) I hope to find some that works better for me somewhere along the way.

Back to the kitchen. I split a pizza with Liz M. and Tasha but was still terribly hungry and was so blessed as to be allowed to eat with a great group of people: Kyle, John, Lizzy, Therese, Patrick, Jordan? It was the best food I've had in Italy yet. Home cooking at Bernardi tends to please my tastebuds more than eating out (thus far at least). That night a bunch of us ate gelato on the terrace.

Day 3 (& tangents)

Wednesday was a big day. Everyday feels like a big day. It's so exhausting, but also cool. We walked to the Vatican for a private audience with the Pope. My highlight from that day was when I first saw cute little Pope Francis ride out in his Pope Mobile waving. HE'S REAL, GUYS! FLESH AND BLOOD! We have such a cute Pope.

The private audience was exciting yet a bit tiring. I'm trying not to be a fidgety child. I must get used to sitting still for long periods of time for the sake of adulthood. We heard the readings in a bajillion languages, and it was pretty exciting whenever the English speakers came out. I'm not going to touch on this a lot, but there was circus that performed for the Pope that was pretty embarrassing. They weren't wearing enough clothes, and I don't think the Pope really enjoyed it. His facial expression was the only good thing about the performance.

After the Papal audience I went off with Cassie, Michael, Miguel, Josh, and Caroline. I got some delicious pizza (my first pizza in Rome). I was expecting it to be a lot thinner than it was from what I had heard and was happy with the reality. We ran into Kyle and Alex while on our search for the "bagno" and stopped at a cool store with tons of beautiful mosaic paintings and cute souvenirs. I will certainly be going back there later on in the semester. I had to control myself and abstain for buying anything this early on, because I could have easily bought out half the store.

Before our next activity we got some nice pictures with the Swiss guards. Then we went on a scavi tour (I think that's what it's called?)...maybe you can tell I'm too tired to look things up right now. That would require climbing out of bed and crossing my room (heaven forbid). It was a neat tour. The thought that we were actually under St. Peter's was amazing, and we got to gaze at St. Peter's bones from a distance. What strikes me is that I got to see the bones of someone who actually knew Jesus here on earth. How cool the experiences of St. Peter must have been! WOW!

After the tour I was feeling pretty emotionally and physically exhausted. I felt like something must be wrong with me that I had just walked into St. Peter's and wanted to leave, but exhaustion does that to you. I know I can go back another time. I was glad to learn that MK wanted to head back to Bernardi too, so we set out and ran into Therese, Liz M., Josh, and Caroline along the way.

Speaking of learning about myself, I have confirmed that, yes, I am very much a "home girl" (even in Rome). While I love adventure, I am also so drawn to just feeling safe and at rest here at Bernardi. Whenever we arrive home at Bernardi it is such a relief after our exhausting adventures. But I wouldn't give up our adventures, because we're actually stepping out and doing some living and I love that! I just have to find my limits, because while I am a "home girl," I am also someone who starts out every semester or adventure trying to do EVERYTHING and realizing that I can only handle so much.

Back to Wednesday. When we returned to Bernardi I took a MUCH NEEDED hour and a half nap. At home I have to worry about taking naps during the day, because I won't be tired enough at night. Thankfully, being tired enough at night have NOT been a problem here. Whereas at home I can take three to five hours to fall asleep once I hit the sack, I have been blessed to always be decently tired and to fall asleep within minutes after my head finally hits the pillow. The nap I took that day had nothing but positive affects on me. It kept me alive. (That's how exhausted I've been.)

After Mass, we had a pleasant Bernardi dinner. I enjoyed sitting at a table with Risa, Therese, Kyle, Alex, and Jordan. Reed and David have already made a rough draft of a letter for the Pope, but we've been thinking of great points to add to our letter (requesting to meet him) and are making serious plans for how to get the letter to him.

Day 4 (& tangent)

Thursday isn't even over, but a lot has happened. I am learning that for healths sake, I can't be a seminarian. (Ok, there are probably reasons than that why I can't be a seminarian, haha). But what I'm saying is that I spent the first few days at Bernardi trying to attend as many Jesus-events as possible: getting up early for Holy Hour, staying up late for Holy Hour, making it to every Mass. This is all good stuff, but sometimes what Jesus wants from me (as my spiritual director tells me) is to take care of myself and this includes my body. I am learning that the only way I can remain sane is if I say "no" to these things from time to time and take a nap or listen to Taylor Swift or blog.

We got up at 7:30am (a ton of us ladies seemed to have problems with our alarms not going off this morning) and had a good continental breakfast. I'm learning to eat as much as I can for breakfast, because a lot is going to be required of you before your next meal is terms of walking, sitting, concentrating, socializing...

I took some time to pack by backpack, so I headed out with the last group - Lizzy, David, Alex, and Michael - and we took the Metro. I like the Metro! I would take it again! It's easy, so long as you know where you're going (which my fellow travelers did know).

We got to the Angelicum with time to spare, so I filled up my water bottle and headed in to class. After our first day, I'm very excited for our class with Dr. Heaney! The class has a lot of Philosophy to it, and I love love love Philosophy. I've already learned a lot about the relationship between the body and the soul and the afterlife in one class period, and I am excited to learn more from this cool and funny teacher.

And a stop at the Angelicum's bookshop, I went off with Lizzy, Patrick, Jordan, Ryan, Alex, and Josh V. We checked out a bunch of churches and... highlight of my day thus far = I got to feed some pigeons off of my feet!!! :) We stopped at a panini shop where the shipowner was incredibly nice. After this venture we found the building for our Italian classes and wandered off to one more church with some other folks. My this point I needed a break so spent some time sitting and talking to Jesus in a pew before wandering about the church a bit.

So hey. We finally had Italian class. We're split into two groups, and I like my teacher (Valentina) and my classmates! I'm really bad at learning languages, so it's kind of nice being in the smaller group and I am thankful for the patience of my classmates. We're moving at a fast pace in order to become at least to-an-extent fluent in Italian by the end of the semester.

After class was the incredibly tiring walk back to Bernardi. In the future, I will take the Metro back from Italian class. I thought I wanted to walk, but every corner we came to happened to not be Bernardi and by the time we reached Bernardi I was hardly even able to walk anymore, I was so tired.

Due to my tiredness I blogged for a bit while dinner was being prepared. (It's part of my self-care job. I would have loved to help cook, but I needed to maintain some sanity and have some me-time.) Dinner was great: chicken, beans, and all that good stuff. Way to go Josh, Caroline, and Liz M.!

The seminarians and a few other people went to Mass. I would have liked to go, but for sanity's sake I stayed at Bernardi, and I'm proud of myself for making this decision to take care of my self. Trying to do everything is tempting, but sanity is more important and a "sane Sheila" will bring God more joy, I'm sure.

I did a tiny bit of dish cleaning and carrot cleaning before coming up here to blog. I love the atmosphere of our crazy kitchen. It's especially fun when it's a kitchen full of girl listening to "Whoops, I did it again" and "Stacey's Mom". Well, it's only 8:30pm. The night is young, so I'll be off and back to blogging later. I'm looking forward to the weekend to regain my sanity and organize the assignments that I need to complete. Next week we will be on our normal schedule, and I can start figuring out the best way to manage my time amidst classes, studies, Jesus-time, and socializing.

I'll stop yammering now. That's for reading this crazy long post. If you've come this far, I'm impressed. God love you!

And somehow we ended up in London...

We finally made it and are settling into Bernardi! Hooray! Only seven hours late :)

Today was quite a day to live through. It started out simply enough. I ate breakfast, said my farewells, and was dropped off at the airport around 10:45am. I ran into Liz, MK, Patrick, and Jordan right away at the airport so we went through the baggage check together and settled down to wait for our flight. I went on some ventures with Liz, Patrick, and Jordan to get food. On one occasion we crossed paths with the sems on their way to their Atlanta flight. Oh! Need I mention "someone" had a torch lighter confiscated and another "someone" had a pocket knife mailed home and yet another "someone" brought a gallon of liquids. But we made it through all of that.

Throughout the remainder of our three hour wait the rest of the crew showed up (12 of us total). We finally boarded out plane and prepared for take off. We boarded the plane at 1:15pm and were supposed to take off at 1:45pm. Fifteen minutes passed. We tried to entertain ourselves. Then another fifteen. We start to look at each other and sign. Then another fifteen. We're starting to get a little nervous and/or annoyed. Another fifteen minutes pass. We only have a one hour layover between this and the next flight, and we still haven't taken off. Patience is not my virtue.

Our plane starts to back up from the dock. (Interior excitement!) On the runway we move forward for half a second, then stop. One of the shortest moments of excitement of my life. The speaker turn on and an announcement is made, "We are sorry for the inconvenience, but due to a problem with the engine we have to cancel this flight. We will be returning to the dock shortly."

You can imagine our expressions. Anxieties confirmed. So now we're all rather frustrated. I had pictured having problems with a short layover between flights but I hadn't considered the possibility of not taking off in the first place! (Oh well. We all have our firsts.)

All annoyed and confused passengers leave the plane. We have already decided that Alex should solve our problems... just because someone needs to take the burden, right? :) He's a good sport. Alex and Lizzy get in line to talk to security. They return to tell us that we have two options. Four of us can get on a ride to Philly in a few hours while the rest of us wait until tomorrow to board or we can just all wait until tomorrow to fly out. Ouch. The one upside was that we were planning on having a sleepover at the Thibaults. (Surprise, Mrs. Thibault! :) )

We all agreed that, as Kyle Loecker says, "No olive gets left behind," so we are just settling into our one-day-delay plan when...

Our group is called over to a desk where to hard-working women go through the system for an hour finding us all flights. At first they tell us they will have to split us up onto separate flights. They first send four of us to one flight. Then they give two more people a flight. Then another pair of two. Another. Another. We're down to Michael and me. When we are finally given our tickets we are delightfully surprised to learn that we will be flying with other members of our Bernardi crew. Once in line we realize we are ALL on the same flight!!! Who knows how they managed that, but God bless those women who put up with annoying computers and delayed flights on a daily basis! (A job I could not do)

We get onto our flight and the great part about it was that I made a friend! I sat by a man named Carmen who was on a return flight from visiting his daughter and newborn granddaughter in Minnesota. We chatted it up for a lot of the ride, and I learned that we was born in Sicily and spent his first six years in Sicily before coming to America. He shared how he's a musician and plays trumpet in a number of bands. He even write music and has received music evaluations from Stevie Wonder. He has connections. No biggy. 

So here's the funny part. (Well, the next funny part.) When we finally get off in Philly we soon run into Liz F. and Danielle and learn that the flight we were initially going to take from Philly to Rome hasn't even taken off yet. So we didn't need to make so many changes of flights... Anyhow, now all of our baggage is being sent to from Philly to London before London to Rome and accommodations have been made, so we stick with the new plan.

We board pretty soon, and the plane feels kind of like a private jet because it is so close to empty. I got a whole four seats in a row to myself :) -- a bit spoiled maybe. I didn't mind. I started to watch The Maze Runner, then switched to some of Mr. Holmes, then finally settled on Bing Crosby's High Society (which I didn't have time to finish before breakfast was served). Amidst everything I try once or twice to lay out and take a snooze, but my body always decides that when it should sleep is never when it will sleep. For a while I play some of the airplanes crossword puzzles with Liz. Dinner. Breakfast. Yada yada. It was a pretty nice flight: delayed an hour, but compared to our past experiences that's nothing. Besides, we will have a three to four hour layover in London coming up.

Are you still reading this??? WOW! YOU ROCK! To sum things up here rather quickly... we land in London and have our baggage checked. I go through a period of dehydration due to being forced to pour out my water at customs, a lack of drinking fountains, and the fact that their sinks all have hot water. After searching the airport with Patrick and then with Liz M. I'm all the more parched. Finally Lizzy and I decide to go see if any of the shops will accept Euros. Boy oh boy! They do! So I get my hydration.

Flight #4. So we are a mix of a crabby and overly-enthusiastic bunch. We finally board our plane from London to Rome (knowing that we could have been in Rome hours ago if things had gone as originally planned). I guess the engine of our flight #4 plane also broke down, but British Airlines was smart enough to discover this before we boarded the plane and they quickly got us a very nice substitute plane. We just had to wait until another plane missed it's takeoff so that we could take it's place.

By now I actually am exhausted. I can't think clearly to stay upright well; I'm starting to feel sick; I need sleep. I snoozed on this last flight as much as I could. The feeling of arriving in London was one awesome thing, because it's my first time landing in Europe, but landing in Rome was even awesomer! We were so ready to be done.

At this point it is maybe around 6:00, Rome time? Exhausted. Sleep deprived. Filled with mixed emotions of joy and grumpiness. We get to the baggage check. Things went pretty well for me, but three girls had their luggage so missing :( Tasha got hers, and we're waiting on the other two still.

Ready to get out, MK, Cassie, Michael, and I head off to find a couple of taxis. To my AMAZEMENT, two beautiful girls are standing outside, smiling, and jumping up and down with a sign that says St. Thomas...

Yes. Liz F. and Danielle never made the ride to Bernardi. They have been at the airport for five hours waiting for a ride that they initially thought they had before discovering the truth and deciding to wait for the rest of us at that point.

Basically, I want to pronounce Liz F. and Danielle my role models, because how on earth do you smile so beautifully after a five hour wait in a room at the airport! (Repeat: Patience is not my virtue. I could not even imagine...)

I'll sum it up quickly here. MK, Liz F., and Danielle get a ride with a lady, and Cassie, Michael, and I take the other taxi. It's as we're getting in that I realize I forgot my carry on and can't get a hold of the fellow Bernardians who I left it with... nervous times.

Before I go, I MUST give a shoutout to Jesus Christ who made it so that --> even though I absentmindedly left my carry on with my laptop at the airport when I headed off to Bernardi, made sure that my friends brought the carry on to me later that night even though we couldn't get a hold of them in the mean time. 

Quick closing. We arrived at Bernardi, rejoiced in being welcomed by Thanos, Ryan, Kyle, etc. Thanos helped me try to get a hold of the Bernardians back at the airport without success (but thank you for trying!!! Big time!) We see our rooms and head to Vespers and Mass. A few Bernardian arrivals come in at the beginning of Mass. Partway through Mass the remainder of the Bernardians come in. Mass is following by a delicious and delightful FIRST BERNARDI FAMILY DINNER at which I got to sit by Deacon Joe and John McFaddon. I also got to meet Fr. Carola and Fr. William (or was it Williams? I'll know soon.)

In summary, I have the best Bernardi family ever! I love you all! I am blessed by your presence in my life! And so begins my first experience of community living...

THANK YOU, EVERYONE! BERNARDI ROCKS!!!

Tomorrow I Fly For 13 Hours...

I suppose now is as good of a time to write a pre-departure post as any. Tonight I'm going to be very busy taking care of the last few things before I fly out tomorrow. I feel my brain cells dying every time I look at my computer, so I'll try to not make this too long.

Well, guys, I'm going on an adventure! After finishing my incomplete class from Fall semester last week, this week has been dedicated to prepare for departure. Packing. It's a rather stressful word perhaps. I've made a number of shopping trips and have been lucky enough to make some great finds at Goodwill and to receive from clothes from my friend Lidia. One thing I love about this trip already is that I've been wanting to change my wardrobe from child to adult and buying "more sophisticated" clothing for Rome has allowed me to do this!

I packed pretty much half of my wardrobe at the beginning of the week and then went through it twice trying to pull out the "unnecessaries". My friend, Liz, came by on Wednesday and it was a comfort to know that I'm not the only one on this trip struggling with not overpacking. We went on a shopping trip and grabbed some good stuff.

Last night I went on my last shopping trip with Lidia (at least, I think the last one) before going abroad. My mom stayed up super late helping me eliminate things from my bags, because when we weighed them we found the large one was at least 10 pounds too heavy. I feel pretty good about what I've decided to bring and not to bring. It's good that if I suddenly panic and need something (like a pair of tan tights) while in Rome, it's not like they don't have their own stores.

I want to dedicate today to time with my pets and my family. I'm hoping to record some goodbyes with our 6 gerbils tonight so that I have that with me while in Rome. When you have pets with shorter lifespans like this, you have to face the fact you they might not be around when you come home. (So make your goodbyes count.) Hoping for the best.

I slept in late today, because that's what I do. I visited with my pets just a bit this morning and then sat down at the computer. My brain started feeling like much (slight headache) right away. After doing some dishes I decided to go for a 40 minute walk through the nearby neighborhoods. Thankfully we're not long in the negatives. (It's 33 degrees! It's above freezing! WHOO!!!) The walk was so refreshing. It's something people need to do more these days. I often don't go for walks because I don't want to walk alone, and I don't even have music to accompany me, but walking by yourself can be really nice and having your ears available to take in the natural sounds of the universe is far from a bad thing. If you're afraid to go for a walk by yourself, I highly encourage you to give it a try! I think if we are afraid to do things that are good for ourselves by ourselves, it simply shows a lack of self-confidence that needs to be worked on. Yada yada.

Ok. Well, I'm going to 5:15 Mass tonight to say goodbye to my home parish for a few months. I went to a different Church last Sunday, and I really want to get in my farewells to the beautiful parish before I go. Plus, I can think of few things that are a better way to spend the a day like this than going to Mass.

After Mass I will be saying a quick farewell and happy birthday to a friend before heading home for family and pet time. (It's easier to do anything responsible - pack, unpack, be productive - when my mom is around, so I'm waiting for her to get home from work to do most things.)

There shouldn't be a lot of left to do, so that's good. Still, there's enough. I have to unload my car before taking it to my dad's tomorrow. I want to get in quality time with each of my gerbils: giving them space to run around outside of their cages. Our family time might mostly consist in packing, but at least there's that! Hopefully there will be take for a sit-down meal. My sister comes home from college tonight, but I don't know at what time.

My goal (who knows if it will happen) is to be in bed by midnight with all of my bags fully prepared and labeled. A quick goodbye tomorrow with do, and I will be off! AHHHH!!!!! Laterz.

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