I'm home!! (Part 1:Rome)

It was wonderful!! The sightseeing in Roma and Vatican City, a train through the Alps, staying in Pulheim, Germany, the crowds from all over in Cologne, Mass with 1 million fellow Catholics, and THE POPE - who could ask for more??? It was awesome! I wish I could post ALL of my pictures, but that isn't exactly efficient, so you will all have to come visit me in St. Louis soon!

There is just so much to say! I'll split up all my writing into separate entries, but I'm sorry - they are going to be long anyway!

Part 1: Rome
OK, so we started in Roma (Rome in Italian). 97 people total from about 6 little towns - 16 of which were from Ft. Loramie. My friend Aaron from Ohio State was the only one in my class, but in Ft. Loramie we are pretty close with everyone, even though we haven't tlaked since graduation. It worked out REALLY well though. The group got along great and I haven't laughed that much all summer. (Blessing #1 of infinity)
We saw a ton of sweet churches which were each special in their own way, the Pantheon, the Colloseum and Trevi Fountain. The Vatican was gorgeous. I'm sure it was 100% sweeter because I'm Catholic, but it was just gorgeous. I got to stand in the place where all those people waited for the announcement of the new pope and I saw the little pipe where the smoke came out and the bedroom window where Pope John Paul II waved right before he died. I saw his grave too and Saint Peter's grave. They were beautiful. Then we walked all the way to the tippy top of the dome and got to see the whole city - I'm pretty proud of my picture from up there!
While in Rome we stayed at a church and slept on the floor in the basement. They made "showers" for us outside in the yard which were freezing cold, 7 of them in a row, all together with a semi-see-through curtain between us and the people sitting in the yard - so much for modesty!! We all took shifts between guys and girls and fought for night showers so it was dark and less weird. I had flashbacks of volleyball showers. It was hilarious though. We got to go to mass everyday (sometimes in English and sometimes Italian) and we prayed a lot too. It was really cool to talk about faith with people who have grown so much since you last saw them!!
They we took a train to Germany through Austria and the Alps. It was a 15 hour trip with three differents trains. The one we were on all night was a sleeper car though, so that was awesome.