11 Settembre - Photo link and other such important stuff

Hey all! Copy and paste this link to view some photos.

Leaving home, Amsterdam, and first couple weeks in Rome photo link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51236&l=e279a&id=673165606

My family's Christmas card photo shoot link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41394&l=2da71&id=673165606

Time in Melilla (last couple weeks): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36829&l=33302&id=673165606


OK, now that THAT important business is out of the way... Ciao! :-) I need to get to some homework I've been putting off for hours, and hop in the shower, but really quickly I want to let you know that life has been settling down into some kind of rythm and patter lately... and that's a good thing! Although Rome isn't my favorite spot on earth, I'm adapting to it, and beginning to even appreciate all its unique charms, I guess. I'm enjoying my roommates a lot, and slowly starting to get to know a couple more people at the school. I also met a neat bunch of other Christian students at the church on Sunday, and had a great time hanging out with them.

My classes are going well - I'm in 4 lit classes (did I mention this?), and that will definitely keep me hopping with reading, I think! I've also got an Italian 101 class that I usually dread going to, but actually find myself enjoying once I get there. My Roman Influcne on English Literature class is FACINATING... It's being taught by a professore with a humanities/history background, rather than specifically English background, and I feel like I'm getting a broader picture than just Literature because the class (and his knowledge) engulfs a much broader sphere. The Roman Influence class and my Survey of English Lit class (focusing on Anglo-Saxon to Milton) has also had some REALLY interesting lectures and discussions on Christian theology... I suppose you really can't delve into historical literature without running into strongly Christian-influenced works, but I guess I just didn't expect teachers at a secular university to really dwell on it. It obviously isn't from a pro-Christian perspective, however, I do feel that the teachers aren't making it ANTI-Christian... I'm pretty sure that neither of them embrace Christianity, but they also are "sophisticated" enough to be tolerant of all religions... :-)

On the homefront... or at least the domestic front, I've really been enjoying experimenting with culinary creations. My latest endeavors have included lentils. I got a kilo of them for less than a Euro, I think, and they've been feeding me well! I also have whipped out cornbread and bread pudding and crepes and other easy things I generally have a feel for, even if I don't have a recipe off the top of my head. Without baking soda or backing powder, it's a little difficult here, but I found some vanilla-flavored leavening agent that seems to work... OK! :-) But, I decded the other day while I was doing dishes and chatting with my roommates after making dinner that I really enjoy being in the kitchen a lot more than I do sitting and studying... Don't worry, I haven't decided to drop out of school yet, or anything, but I am going to tuck away some ideas for a future business... Maybe it's my parent's influence... I've been so spoiled growing up with people who run their own business that I really can't imagine working for someone other than myself in my adult life. We'll see... but I DO have some great ideas for lentil soup recipes! :-)

I REALLY need to focus on the homework waiting for me now... Thanks for tuning in, check out those pictures if you get a chance. I know it isn't quite as convenient as having pictures posted right on this blog, but since I already loaded them to a website once, I thought I might as well use that right now!

Love and Hugs to all of you!
Dani


Day trip to Bracchiano:

On our way to the train station - in front of the Victor Emmanuel


Ellen and me waiting for lunch


Sophie and her beautiful blue eyes


I liked the door!


In a really cute little piazza


Max and me in a really, really old and dirty staircase

3 September - Sunshine and school

Good morning from sunny Rome!

After the last depressing blog post, I think I owe y'all another blog highlighting some POSITIVE things!

I'm sitting in my kitchen just a little stunned at how God DOES work - isn't it funny how sometimes he lets things get uncomfortable, then a bit more uncomfortable, and just when you thought it couldn't possibly get any MORE uncomfortable, it does? Kind like being lonely, and then you get a little more lonely, and then it presses to even MORE lonliness, until you just KNOW that God is going to have to sweep in and save the day, because nobody else would be capable of doing that? As much as I hate being in the process of being stretched and stretched and stretched even more, I do like the heroic part where the knight comes riding in on a white horse! :-)

This weekend has been better! Much better than the week. It isn't perfect, of course, but nothing this side of heaven ever will be!

Let's see, beyond just adjusting to the environment more, I DID get into all the classes that I wanted to get into. I'll have a heavy-on-the-Lit-side load (Intro to Lit and Criticism, Survey of English Lit, Romantic Poetry, Roman influences on English Lit), along with Italian 101. But I had a really good meeting with my advisor (I felt better about the school!), and I saw getting into these classes as a clear indication that I should stay. I was walking home from the advising appointment, and I stopped in the middle of the street (Well, OK, it was the sidewalk, you DON'T stop in the middle of the street around here!), and I said, "OK, Lord, you got the classes worked out, I'm in. I'll stay, I'm committed, and whatever you've got in store for me in the next semester, I'm not running away."

Once I had that decision made, I felt like I could go ahead with buying school supplies, putting up pictures and postcards, and talking to my roomies about rearranging the kitchen and hall in order to make the place a bit more homey and liveable! Yay for domestic-minded roommates! :-)

The other huge highlight of my weekend was going to Church yesterday! I'd gone on Wednesday and nobody was there, which I found out yesterday is because they don't have Wednesday night service during the summer.... It'll start up soon. Anyhow, I got to church early, had a lovely chat with the Pastor - who I really like - and then went to the "young singles" Sunday School (I'm not sure how to feel about that - it creeps me out a bit... I don't feel like a "young single" kind of person, I feel like I should be in the youth group still! Ahh well... :-) ). I met a couple really sweet people - including the Pastor's wife who I think is a gem! - and then enjoyed the church service with whole families. There's nothing more musical to me than hearing a church sing together along with a baby crying in the back of the church and toddlers whispering to their parents behind me :-). Pastor David introduced me to the Campus Crusades director here in Rome, and it sounds like CC might be hosting a lunch sometime this fall for all the American students here in Rome at the various campuses if they want to come. He asked if I'd be interested and I said, "Would I EVER!"

Anyhow, I feel like I AM connecting more with my roommates - Saturday I made Pasta Salad and we all trooped through town to the big park and had a picnic - complete with GRASS! The plus, of course, is that this is Rome so there was a beautiful fountain as well. :-) Yesterday two of my roomies and I went school supply shopping and ended up buying gelato and sitting at the base of some of the columns at the Pantheon to people watch.

And TODAY I start classes! I'm just a touch nervous, but actually really excited to get this show on the road, so to speak. I've got a couple weekend trips I'm hoping to schedule in (Spain to see my friend Nate before he heads back to the states, maybe Scotland or Ireland with my roomie Ellen to visit friends, the church retreat in Germany for the singles group, and maybe back to Africa for Thanksgiving... along with heading up to Venice for a day or two, hitting the Cinque Terra again, and I'd LOVE to go to Austria!), so I really want to just know what my school load is going to be like.

Thanks again for the prayers! They're SO appreciated!

Love and Hugs,
Dani


At the Pantheon


A typical moment while hanging out with Max and Sophie... :-)


Meet the rubbish man!


One of my favorite spots in Rome - the Pantheon