Day 11 (6/15/11):

We woke up early this morning and headed back to the Vatican! This time, we planned to attend the outdoor Mass in St. Peter's Square. We thought we were running late and that the Mass started at 9:00 a.m. It was about 9:20 a.m. and luckily the Mass did not start until about 10:30 a.m. so we got actual seats in the middle of the crowd! We noticed the crowd was broken into two seating sections and there was a space between them for people to walk through, and we were sitting a few rows back in the second chair section. There were a TON of people there, and every now and then a group would start singing or playing instruments or something of the sort.

We had a little time before the mass begun, so we worked on our homework until the Mass started around 10:30. The Pope actually came out in his Pope-Mobile and drove around the crowd!! We were really shocked, but very excited to see him in the midst of everyone. To our surprise, he drove right down the space between the seating sections, and we were literally 5 people away from him!! It was so cool. We got some excellent pictures!

The Mass was conducted in at least 6 different languages! Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Portugese, and maybe even some others. I tried to pay close attention to the Italian to fiure out what was being said, but only caught small pieces (it wasn't repeated in English). He spoke about God, the Holy Spirit, the troulbe in Afghanistan, and other world events. After his long speech, diferent priests came out to say something in their home language, then the Pope would say something after. They acknowledged different groups of people there either as a Parish or from school, and the people from the group would all cheer when recognized and the Pope would acknowledge the group by waving or pointing or something similar. A few times, the groups started to sing a song or do a quick performance in the crowd. It was so interesting to watch and experience.

It was starting to get really, uncomfortably hot outside, so we headed out to get out of the sun and have some lunch before class. We found a random restaurant on our way towards school and decided to stop there. Jackie got fettuccine with a garlic cream sauce and I ordered a pasta dish with a meat sauce, but instead received spinach and cream cannolini! Totally not what I was in the mood for, and slightly disappointing. Oh well, though!

We had a really good class today, learning more about the future tense. The last half of class we did a fortune telling exercise in pairs, which was a lot of fun! It was also great practice for using the future tense.

After class, Jackie and I headed to a restaurant near school/Piazza Navona. We were craving chicken, or some kind of meat! One thing I've come to realize is that meat is harder to find around here. Fish is much more easily accessible, which is great... but I do love some meat too! Jackie got chicken parmesan and I got a chicken dish with artichokes cooked in breadcrumbs and potatoes. While there, this large group of people on a tour arrived. A nice older couple from Kansas sat next to us and we chatted all about their trip and where they are from. After dinner Jackie wanted to go for a run so she headed back to the apartment while I went on a walking tour near Piazza Novana.

I started my tour in Piazza Navona and walked towards the Santa Maria della Pace church. It should have been closed at that hour, but there was a German orchestra playing inside! Oh my... it was SO beautiful! The church was lovely, but the music was just spectacular. I didn't stay for too long, but took a quick video with my camera so others can hear it later. Once outside, I heard some beautiful voices singing! It turned out that next door to the church the choir was practicing. People in the street were standing in awe looking up at this 2nd story window, listening to the music. You couldn't see anything, but it just felt really special. the rest of my walking tour was around the streets of that area, and it felt nice to explore a little more.

Once I got back to the apartment, Jackie and I quickly got freshened up and went to go watch Game 7 of the Stanley Cup!! We had discovered a bar called Scholar's Pub that was going to show the game. We first met up with some people from school at Campo de Fiori, and went to a bar called Mercato for a couple pre-game drinks. We must have really been talking up hockey to our new foreign friends because we had a good group of people coming with us to watch the game! After a couple hours we headed to the Irish bar to watch the game. It was packed with Bruins (and Canuck's) fans!!! If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was back in Fanueil Hall! The game started for us at 2:00 a.m., but it was totally worth staying up for. It was interesting watching the game with people from all over the world, including Switzerland and Germany, who really didn't know much about hockey. Jackie and I were having fun explaining the rules of the game... hopefully they were right! :o) The bar was supposed to closed at 3:30 a.m., right after the second period, so we got to see most of the action and some really great goals! then it was off to bed for a few hours... It was so great to wake up to a text message the next day saying, "WE WON!!!"