Day 20

Day 20 desperately called for a late, slow morning. I woke up a little after 9, leisurely got ready, and then just chilled some. We had to check out of the hostel by 11, and our train didn't leave till 2, so we waited until the last second to leave the hostel. (We were too close to the train station and just not close enough to the city center to leave our bags in the hostel storage closet and go do anything for real in the morning. Well, if we had felt at all inspired to wake up earlier, maybe. But that was not happening).

We had a late breakfast at the same cafe from yesterday because they're nice enough to take meal tickets. I tried to draw out our time there, but there's only so much you can do until someone needs to sit at your table.

We pretty much just hung around the train station for the next few hours. Confession: we did have McDonald's fries. It was necessary. I was due for it.

Several trains kept getting cancelled, so I was somewhat worried and constantly trying to check on the status of our train. Everything went off without a hitch for us, though. We had somehow been able to get really cheap premium class seats for this train, which proved to be very nice. Premium class came with a free beverage and snack. I sat across from two little Italian kids, who tried really hard to talk to me, but just didn't know enough English. We had a little nonverbal communication here and there, though. They were super cute.

The hour and a half kind of flew by, honestly. Soon as I knew it, I was back in Rome, and then after an obnoxiously crowded metro ride, I was back on campus. I spent the evening relaxing and Skyping with my mom before going to mass.

Mass was FINALLY in the "little" chapel around the corner, which is actually a decent-sized, gorgeous church. I did the readings again, and my voice echoed all throughout the church (for all five of us in attendance to hear).

Following mass, we discovered that no pizza had been provided for us this week. We (or at least I) made it pretty clear that this was a devastating blow, so the priest (whose name escapes me) decided he'd take us out for pizza across the street. The pizza was amazing, and it was actually a really fun little gathering. Five girls, one priest, and one deacon/seminarian. A very good group!

After all that, I got in a good Skype session with Aubba, which I enjoyed very much. I finally got to hear about her new job some!

I really can't believe I have a midterm tomorrow. Life is so crazy right now. BUT--I love it.