During February, I had my first round of finals. Since we start our fall semester in mid-October, it puts the finals off until then. Thankfully, I only had to take one final in Italian. They take it easier on the new students their first semester or two. But I will have to be taking them in Italian later on. However, the one I did have to take in Italian was my Greek test. All of them turned out well. Most of them were oral tests which lasted about 15 minutes. The Greek was written and took me 2.5 of the allotted 3 hours. But a few weeks later, I found out that I had gotten mostly A’s with two B’s. So, overall, I’m very happy and thankful for all the people who prayed for me. Next round is in June. I might actually still be in school for my birthday.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Natale–Christmas
This Advent-Christmas season I wasn’t able to come back to the States. But I did get the next best thing. I went immediately after classes up to Aviano Air Force Base. There was a 4-day retreat about the Air Force Chaplaincy program that I attended. That was great. It was very different that I thought it would be. The Chaplains on base, non-combat zone, resembles a parish priest in many ways. We enjoyed serving the all of the Masses, but Christmas was especially nice. The 5:30 Mass had the children’s Christmas pageant. I was in the kitchen cooking our Christmas Eve dinner. It felt great getting back in a kitchen, even if I didn’t know where anything was in that kitchen. We had a proper feast: bacon wrapped shrimp, velvetta-rotel dip (Brian’s handiwork), artichokes with lemon butter, French onion soup, chicken kiev with wild rice and asparagus, and pumpkin pie (also Brian). We were stuffed for the midnight Mass, which was packed. The next day we had a wonderful Christmas Day mass. Afterwards, we dined at a very kind and generous family’s house. The food was simply incredible.
The hospitality that we received there was absolutely beautiful. We could not have asked for more. We are so thankful to everyone there that gave us the best Christmas we could have enjoyed away from our families. We received so much. We are praying that God blesses them for all they’ve done for us.
On the 26th, we stopped back in Rome for a quick wash of the clothes and repacking before heading out at stupid o’clock the next morning for Ireland.
Fr. Patrick was a great host. We stayed in the heart of Cork. Ah, it was good to hear English again. We took a few trips around, but mostly just relaxed. Luckily, we found a Pizza Hut. Unluckily, we got stuck at the train station for 1.5 hours in the driving cold. On Sunday, there was a Solemn high Mass for which we were asked to serve. I was amazed about how intricate each server’s job was. While I didn’t get all of the prayers because they were in Latin, it was a very beautiful Mass. On the way back, I spent a day in Dublin before flying back alone. It was a very fun city. Somehow, I thought it would have been bigger. Regardless, it was a wonderful trip full of great experiences.
