Roses

I woke up early on Sunday to get myself to the Pantheon. Once a year on Pentecost there is a special mass in the Pantheon. Fire fighters climb on the outside of the dome and drop millions of rose petals from through the hole (142 feet diameter) at the end of mass. It was well worth waking up early; the rose petals rained down at the conclusion of mass. My high school Latin teacher, Mrs. Cushman, would have been so proud that I attended! Once the priests (over a hundred of them) processed out, the alter server kids got to play in the roses with everyone else. The entire floor of the Pantheon was covered in rose petals. All together it was pretty spectacular. After Jill and I joined some of her friends for Chinese food which wasn't half as bad as I would expect Chinese food in Rome to be!

I moved all my stuff, once again. This time, I was moved to a convent, no joke! The convent, run by nuns, rents out rooms to make money. It is in an excellent location, right outside the Vatican and a 15 minute walk to my university, John Cabot. I was in awe with how beautiful the view was from my bedroom window. The convent sits on a very steep hill that I get to climb up twenty times a day. Consequently, it over looks all of Rome! For dinner, I walked to a panini shop near my school and got a salami sandwich and a beer. I walked around the town surrounding my new home and enjoyed my dinner! As it turns out I ended up living in the convent for a solid two weeks! I quickly be-friended a little old nun, Amelia. She only speaks Italian; therefore, our conversations are pretty mundane. I thought I was her favorite because she calls me Bella, meaning beautiful. A few days later I heard her call a girl bellissima, the most beautiful. Ouch.