This is the first post in a series...

...a series on the theame of "I'm in ______ and you're not!" But I'll get to that in a moment.

So between the last post and now Christmas happened. It was nice, the family did family things, the Church did Churchy things, and a good time was had by all.

Before Christmas, the semester ended and I ended up with a B average, which is not bad for UD. Now comes the fun part. This semester, I'm in Rome, as in the capital of Italy, not the town in Texas. More accuratly I'm in a suburb that is about 45 minutes out of the city by bus, but it's still cool.

Last Saturday morning, I attended mass at the Vatican, in St. Peter's Basilica. The alter at which we were was in one of the basement catacome-y things, so on the other side of the alter was a hallway, with a window in the wall opposite us, through which could be seen the tomb of St. Peter. On our left was the tomb of Pius XI and on our right was the tomb of JPII.

From the Vatican we went on a walking tour, and saw the Spanish Steps and Trevi fountain before meeting with the rest our groups on the Campdolio(sp?). That is one of the most popular places in the city for weddings, and we are in some couples photos, cheering maddly because they were nice, and put up with their photographer's shenanagans. From their, we walked down the back of Capitoline Hill into the Forum. When they say "all roads lead to Rome" this is where the proverbial roads are leading. That's what the picture above is -- my feet on the road leading down into the forum.

The lady running the bar accross the street* was really nice to us, and the closest thing within walking distance that is open on Sunday. So, many fun things going on. Stay tuned as the Doppelganger, the Trec, Nick, and I go looking for a comic shop (we have a map and directions to the place, if we don't get at least one funny story out of this than something is wrong) and we attempt to get tickets to the Olympics.

There is a new link in the side bar to my new photo bucket where I will be posting the best of my pictures this semester.

*the Italian 'bar' is more like what Americans call a 'cafe', it serves cappucino, pasteries, and the like.