Is the Pope Catholic?

Bonjorno! Surprise friends, this monastery has the internet! It is quite expensive but thank God in everything.

So I left you off in Austria. Before we entered Rome in our dreadful, smelly, hot, small sleeping cars we had a great time singing "My Favorite Things" around the horse fountain in Salzburgh and frolicking in the field below the real Monastery that the Sound of Music took place. The Gazzebo was just as beautiful as in the movie, but we couldn't enter it because it is now locked from everyone hurting themselves by jumping from bench to bench. If you could have just seen us all riding along in our cruise bikes through the country of Austria with the mountains in the background, you wouldn't be able to resist smiling in peacefulness.

So we arrived in Rome, and immediately met our new tour guide and roamed around the Vatican with the Sistine Chapel and  St. Peter's. I wish I could explain to you all the meanings and beauty that is within these structures that goes beyond the eye, but alas I do not have enough time to mention everything! But let me tell you, being able to witness both the Sistine Chapel, especially seeing the Last Judgement and participating in mass in St. Peter's during  Pentecost Sunday with the Pope, was quite extraordinary.
Did I just say I say I took mass with the Pope?
Yes, yes I did. In fact Mano, Chris, Rachel, Margo, and Dash all got free tickets and got to sit 2\3 back from the front in St. Peter's. I saw the Pope pass by like 15 feet away, but Margo got a video of the Pope coming directly in front of her to bless a baby. Literally right in front of her in all his gold splendor and humility. It was glorious. Listening to the boys and men choir and the two huge organs while seeing the sun light coming down onto the alter and joining in the chant in Latin, was a humbling and graceful experience to partake with people from all over the world.

The next day we ventured into the Roman Forums, where one would think it is filled with ruins, but according to our tour guide is filled with meaning and continuity. Again, the things we learned from Romans were lessons that only experience can find, and I do not have the time to try and enlighten you. But I hope in the near future to come back and fix that.
We also saw the contrast within the Roman culture (and ourselves) - in engineering marvel and man's potential for evil.

Later we took a night walk around Rome, had an amazing gelatto, threw coins over our shoulder in the Trivey Fountain hoping for love, and are planning to continue our romanticised travels tonight.
I won't even mention our academic time in the University of Rome, by the Olympic stadium, practice track, and the beach volleyball tournament- where we learned all about the new technology and research concerning bio mechanics. Plus an extreme tightly, packed bus ride, in which most Europeans don't wear deodorant...

Chao from those blessed from the Pope