Really? That's it?

Ciao everyone, and good afternoon from Roma. I have emerged from under my mound of work these past few days to really get to feeling like I'm doing pretty well with the papers, tests, and research I've been needing to do. It was not an easy process, nor would I want to repeat it, but at least I'm ahead again, which is dandy.

I really got to thinking about it this weekend, and today's a fitting day to discuss it since it's such a round number: 5 weeks from today, December 23rd, I'll be returning to the States from my European adventure. Kirsten and I will surely be jet lagged, traveled-out, and our brains a little addled, but I know we're both pretty excited to see home again. It's been a long time coming, and I think it feels even longer for me than you back home, just because I've seen so many places, buildings, foods, cultures, and traditions that I just have a hard time categorizing it. I mean, I've been to Italy, The Vatican, Greece, Switzerland, Germany, and Egypt, and I've got Turkey, France, and Spain on the horizon. That's a lot of countries, considering I'd been to two of them prior to coming to Europe.

I've been to Florence, Milan, Anagni, Casamari, Celano, Bracciano, and Roma in Italy, seeing all the sights and taking in Italian culture after studying it in class for so long. I've been to countless churches, seen innumerable frescoes, paintings, arches, apses, and excavations, and that's all just here in Italy. I've been to one of the cleanest places in the world in Interlaken, Switzerland, and one of the dirtiest, most crowded in Cairo, Egypt. I've seen the pyramids of Giza, the Acropolis in Athens, and the Colosseum in Rome--all within the course of a week at one point.

Long story short: I'm seeing amazing things, meeting great people, and having a blast in the process, and I am coming home in just 5 weeks. That's it and that's all folks. I left home on the 19th of August, and that's 13 weeks ago. 91 days ago, and I've got 35 left.

You can look at that as only 35 to go, or you could look at it as I've got 35 more to make some more incredible memories, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Anyway, just got pensive during these past few days of insanity and thought I'd ramble away with my musings for a minute. It's pretty cool to think about, what I've seen, and that flight back home at the end of all of this will be a more appropriate time to really decompress everything, but until then, I've got some more things to do and places to go!

My papers this week are on comparing two medieval apses in Santa Prassede and SS Cosma and Damiano and how this connection is linked to Pope Paschal I and the Carolingian Renaissance, and the other on Papal Infallibility and the process of how it was derived, what it means, and how it affects Catholicism in general. They're both of interest to me in a few ways, but together they total over 20 pages, and I'm just a bit tired of working on them now. Plus, they're both due so close together, it's just a bit of a drag. This time next week I'll pretty much be out of the woods though, and that's definitely a good thing.

Yesterday I went on a site visit for class to three churches in Trastevere, or an area to the South of St. Peter's and where I rarely ever go. It's a really nice area, and the churches were all really cool; my camera battery is charging right now or I'd post the pictures. They'll probably make it up tonight onto Picasa or something, or maybe a blog soon. I'll let you know, though; they're definitely worth seeing.

I started planning my life post-program here in Europe today, and it's a bit stressful, figuring out what to do. It's just so expensive to take the train several times instead of at once. From Rome to Venice, it's 56 Euro, and Venice to Paris it's 102 Euro, so it's something like 200 bucks. However, Rome to Paris is 140 dollars, and Venice is another 60, even though it's the same route. Venice is one of the most expensive places in the world to get a bed, and I have to if I go, since I have to have a place to put all of my luggage down. I think I may just spend the night here in Rome from the 12th-14th, then the night of the 15th take the train from here to Paris, and it's a night train, so that saves me a night. From there, I'm in Paris the 16th all day til the day of the 19th, when I'll take a night train to Barcelona to meet Kirsten on the 20th. Good times! Then from there, it's Barcelona til the early, early morning of the 23rd and it's coming home day.

Whew!

I'm really looking forward to this weekend in Istanbul; I've only heard really cool stories about it, and I can't wait to go and see the Bazaars, the churches, maybe the baths, who knows? It should be very cool. I hope you're all having a nice week, and until next time,

Ciao.