First, We Rome.

Just a forewarning: this is actually about 2-3 blog posts all rolled into one. To anyone reading, you may want to read this in shifts. But I can explain why I did this--just see below (somewhere within this novel).

Yes. Today was the day—the first day of my life I stepped into another country: Italy, to be exact. You know, I think I’m still in a little bit of shock. I mean, I’m in ROME! (or, “Roma” as they call it here). I kept asking myself: Am I really here?? It still doesn’t seem quite real. Well, first let me give you a little run down of what the past 48 hrs or so have been like. Jan 26th: After arriving in Minneapolis a day and a night early in case of bad weather and staying at the wonderful Skildum household, Mama Skildum and Like-a-Cousin Heidi Skildum dutifully get me to the Minneapolis airport at 5am—and even pack me a cute little brown paper bag lunch. There, I join the rest of the Malta crew: seven from Luther (Well, I guess six at that time—one met us over there) and seven from Concordia Moorhead College. Mama Skildum and Heidi Skildum sent me off with some hugs and a brown paper-bag lunch for the road (which I was soooo thankful to have later-on). They were my stand-in family for a day—the real parental send-off had taken place a few days before, involving some teary eyes, final hugs and pictures, double and triple pass-port and bank-card checks, last minute cutting of mole-skin to fit inside my shoe of my smaller foot, and final cautions and words of advice. Although, the Skildum’s were my stand-in’s—I have to hand it to them: they did a pretty quality job taking care of me—and it was definitely nice to have some “family” there for the final send-off.



Anyway, things started out a little rocky: I got out of security after everyone else, didn't know where they went, couldn't remember the gate, got a little panicky after having visions of them all flying off without me, asked someone for directions, found the gate board, and finally found the group. Then, the introductions began...


So, that’s how it started, but things went up from there. I think we have a pretty good group: 7 Luther and 8 Concordia. 3 guys and the rest girls. 2 group leaders: Kent (a retired Luther Philos professor) and Lynne. They are a really cute older couple who also led this group a few years ago. Anyway, we flew from Minneapolis to Chicago and Chicago to Washington DC. A very nice Luther chaperone was with us through Washington DC. We bonded a little in the huge D.C. airport (there was an outdoor tram to get to the other side!) during our 4-hour layover, I made my last American phone-calls, and then we boarded for ITALY!! We were all a little nervous for the flight because some repairs had to be made on the plane before we got on. The international flight was an experience in itself: 8 hrs. and 45 min filled with fast-paced flight attendants, bad food, cramped sleeping positions and few hours of sleep--but this was all made up for by a grand finale. About 7 in the morning a beautiful sunrise welcomed us into Italy. We had made it.



But I don't think things finally sunk-in until after the passport stamps, the luggage pick-up, and our load onto the bus when I finally had time to look out the window and comprehend where I was. I began to get so excited: I was in another country!! Things didn't look a whole lot different until we headed straight into the heart of Rome on our way to our fancy hotel "Casa Tra Noi". Things were BUSY, the buildings all had balconies and multiple colors, cute little cars were parked everywhere, and everything was soo BIG! Not to mention there were ancient buildings just lying around in random places...


Ok. Pause: I haven't actually had free internet connection until recently, so, when I started this entry I was still in Rome, and typing offline to paste this in my blog later. Well, now it's later, and I am in Malta. We just arrived here this afternoon. I realize I've already written a lot, and I don't want to make this more of an epic post than it already is so I'll do a run-through of our three days in Rome.


Day One:

Visit to the Vadican City (St. Peter's Square). Saw the Pope at noon--he came to the window and blessed the crowd (really neat cultural experience). My first real Italian pizza and pasta--all I can say about that is: AMAZING. They do it right there in Italy, I tell you what. Then, lots of walking throughout the city. We saw a busy piazza (or, "square") where people were painting, being painted, entertaining, and shopping all over the place. Walked up the "Spanish Staircase" (115 or so stairs), visited one of the ritziest shopping districts in Rome, saw the Panthean (a round church) and a huge stone fountain (forgot the name)--the water in Rome is pretty much considered sacred. By the end of our first day's travels we were all feeling the cobblestone on our feet, all the walking on our legs, and the jet lag on our entire bodies--we were exausted. We were lucky to be served dinner (3 courses!) and breakfast at the hotel. After walking so much all day, a nice big Italian dinner tasted very good.



Day Two:

Met the coolest tour guide ever. His name was Nino and he loved to talk about his city--the slogan was: "Nino knows..." and I think he may even have a website: ninoknows.com--? something like that anyway. It could be worth checking out. Anway, first he took us through parts of the Vatican Museum. Let's just say I didn't know what was in store. From the ancient statues and churches (such as, DiVincci's Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Chathedral), to gigantic "punch" bowls and mosaics--they had it all in there. It was hard for me to believe that such beautiful and enormous things could even be created and designed by humans--not to mention, they did this all before an era of power tools... After we toured this portion of the museun (it was too huge to see all of it) we went to the ancient ruins and saw Caesar's Palace, among many other seriously old building fragments. I couldn't believe that I was looking at some of the same structures and walking on some of the same paths as people did in biblical times--it just blew my mind clear away. Next stop: the Colliseum. Yep-- that was amazing too. The Romans were some architects, I tell you what...Then, it was a long walk back to the hotel and another really grumbly stomach from the long day of walking

Day Three:

Caught the bus to meet our second tour guide Joseph ("Yoseph" is how they pronounce it, I guess). This was our Roman Church Day. I can't even remember how many cathedrals and chapels we looked at--and I'll just say: Joseph is a really nice guy, and very knowledgable--but he maybe a little too knowledgable. By the time we were done touring these churches, I was on such an ancient church-information-overload. I still can't really keep all of them straight. There was one that was very interesting. It was three floors, and each one was from a different time period--very cool. And, of course, all of these churches were all amazingly beautiful inside. This was our last day in Rome. I was a little sad to leave this historically rich, bustling place--but I was also very excited to get to our final destination: MALTA of course!

Whew...well, that was Rome in a nutshell. Next post I will tell all about this first Malta encounter.