Breathing new air

Today was probably my favorite day yet. After class and lunch, I walked away from the group and had an afternoon that was incredibly fulfilling. I took a long, slow walk around different parts of the city. I tried to get lost in my further exploration of our town with the hopes of finding my way back, but I actually had trouble getting lost ;) I did find a neat spot to look out over the cliff that provided an excellent bench for journaling. After this, I headed to the Duomo and just sat in quiet in the large cathedral to think and pray. Made my way to the library in town which I've been itching to check out, and got to read for class at a window overlooking a beautiful courtyard with lemon trees. AND I returned to San Paulo to find 3 letters (two from Nick and one from my good friend Christine from school) which was really exciting. Mail always makes the day even better :)

I am not sure if I mentioned her yet, but I have a friend that I've really enjoyed getting to know here named Hilary. She's not in the Gordon program, but rather a student from University of Bath (in England) spending 8 months in Orvieto teaching high school students English. She's already been here for about 5 months, so her Italian skills are far better than mine and she has lots of Italian friends she's been able to introduce me to. She's also a Christian and is connected to the church that is held out of our monastery (so she knows the families and directors involved with our program). We met for capuccino today, and decided to go for a double treat by buying gelato too (I'm making you all jealous, sorry. I'll stop mentioning the gelato everyday if you want). We walked with our refreshing treats to a park right near San Giovenale (the cathedral where I'm joining the choir) and breathed the afternoon air in a way that revitalized me and made me feel very comfortable. The whole day has been quite a breath of fresh air amidst the very full days here that can actually be overwhelming at times (not in the way that they are at Gordon, but mostly because there's so much I want to do/people to talk to, which can get draining when I don't take time for myself).

For dinner we had pizza, which is very thin-crusted, so they bring out 5 or 6 different kinds for us to try in succession. Our favorite is the dessert pizza they bring out at the end sometimes with Nutella. Tonight though, the one that had grilled zucchini and eggplant definitely made its way to the top of my Italian pizza list. I'm now babysitting for the Howard family (the professors with two girls and a little boy) and I'm actually reading for fun! Finally picked up The Shack since I've been encouraged by so many people to read it and I actually have time now.

Oh, another exciting thing is that I've found a friend to do a Bible study with. Abby is a Gordon art student who I didn't know extremely well before this trip, but we've had some great conversations already and have decided to read a chapter of Matthew together each day. It's nice to have that, especially since the church services are in Italian and I really like to have other people who I can be in the Word with.

Tomorrow we're heading to Rome. Gonna hear the Pope, and I'm really looking forward to it!