Weekend Affairs

Nothing much really happened in the past few days. On Saturday night, a few friends and I were going to go to this event called "La Notte dei Musei", which means "The Night of Museums". It's an event all around Italy where tons of galleries, exhibits, and museums are open for free. There was about 80 in Rome that were open until 2 am, so I was pretty jazzed about going. Everyone kind of crapped out though, so I ended up just sitting here working on my 7 page paper.

I was also supposed to go to church Sunday morning. We weren't going to go to the Vatican because we wanted more information before we went, but I found a Methodist church in English about a mile away. Once again, people crapped out. Also, this morning we have off, so a few friends and I were going to go run errands out by the Vatican. I'm sure you can fill in the next sentence... people bailed. I did get to listen to a sermon from the church Steven and I go to when I visit him at school. If you ever get a chance, check this guy out- his name is Rex Kenner at Grace Fellowship Church in Latham, NY. He is amazing! I'm a few weeks behind in his series, so I listened to part 1 of 4 on marriage. Good stuff!

I would say I have a more independent attitude then a lot of college students. I don't need to wait on people, I feel comfortable doing my own thing, and I don't really care what people think of me when I do. But here it's different. I'm not yet comfortable walking around alone (although I can get myself around the city- and I can do about 1/3 without a map!) so I have to depend on others to go with me. It's so frustrating! I'll be comfortable soon walking around alone during the day, but I don't think I'll EVER go anywhere alone at night. There are some super creeps here.

But yesterday turned out okay. Four of us went to study and I finished my paper and I'm ahead in my work, so I feel really good about that. Besides my housemates coming in at 4 in the morning both Sunday and Monday morning, I've been sleeping well. I ran out of bread on Friday and chose not to buy it on Saturday (primarily because it was POURING all day long), which was a mistake because bakeries are not open on Sundays. Not even in the Jewish Ghetto (although we did find a really sweet cafe there!). So I ended up eating tomatoes and olives with crumbled cheese for dinner. Yes, I am still a college kid even in a land known for it's food.

On a side note, do not believe people who tell you that "nothing is open on Sundays", because that's a lie. In fact, Sunday was the best day so far to head out and do things, for me at least. There's hardly any Italians out because their holy days revolve around massive family meals, which makes everything a little more relaxed and less crowded. A lot of tourists are out, so it's the only day when you can wear sweatpants out of the house without getting excommunicated. There are a lot less car honks and derogatory comments toward females, so that's always nice as well.

Overall, I am adjusting very well culturally. I've come to know what to expect from certain countries, so this hasn't been too difficult, which is really encouraging. I think all the prayers from home has a part to play in that as well :) I do want to go to a Spanish speaking restaurant though, because I'm dying to speak another language that somebody understands! There are a few things that I hope improves, so keep those prayers coming!