it’s a privilege to experience such a deep and intense desire for Jesus.

Lord, i just want to give my life to You. Open my eyes to the opportunities You are giving me to do so.

the past few weeks have been a whirlwind. i’ve barely been in rome! since my last post i went to assisi, florence, venice, vienna, reggio, and messina. for a second i didn’t wanna come back. i know right..who doesn’t wanna be in rome? haha but once i came back, i fell in love with the city all over again.

vigil for JPII at circo massimo

beatification mass! it was THAT packed.

st. francis, please pray for us!

you too st. clare! for clarity please =)

view of florence with crazy talented street performers? yea, why not!

oh venice…

as for vienna….i think this is the reason why i love this city so much! hahaha jk =P

finally climbed the dome of st. peter!

tivoli gardens. fountains everywhere! hello lizzie mcguire haha.

ciao from messina…reggio on the other side hahaha. so last minute! so Spirit-led!

and that’s just a glimpse of everything!
better updates coming soon..hopefully!

God bless,
theresa =)

hahaha man i am delayed! like my last post…i don’t have very many words for the past week or so. basically, i don’t know why God loves us so much, but He does. and he really truly provides!

if i can sum up the past few weeks since my last blog it would be with: where there’s a will, there’s a way. hmm but maybe more specifically..if it’s God’s will, then He’ll definitely provide the way.

basically..i was dumb and didn’t reserve tickets for any of the holy week masses. yea idk what i was thinking either. hahaha. but somehow i was able to go to every papal mass minus good friday. i now have a collection of colorful papal mass tickets and little booklets of the different masses in latin. insane. i also have nun friends. and swiss guard friends. hahaha.

complete blessings beyond belief.

happy palm sunday from il papa!

at san giovanni laterano for holy thursday mass. sat in the “special section” hahaha what the heeez.

super blurs but stations of the cross in the forum (across from the colosseo)

easter vigil at st. peter’s

easter sunday with mmy guardian angels! missionary catechists of st. therese! do i blend in? hahaha ahhh! =P

=)

if you’re around me enough…you know that i sigh a lot. and they’re not the “i’m tired” or “i’m irritated” sighs. they’re those “i’m so amazed” or “dangit i’m such a hopeless romantic” sighs.

this weekend was the EPITOME OF MY SIGHS. hahaha.

sorry i feel like i’ve been slacking on my blogs. last week was a kind of normal week of school. lectures and site visits to early christian house churches. those were definitely surreal. like yo imagine walking the same steps as the earliest christians. going underground to see three churches built on top of one another through the years and seeing the development of christian worship. i experienced history in a way that a lottttt of people would never be able to. as a christian..as a catholic…i couldn’t help but feel grateful for being a part of something so…GREAT. i’ve always been one for history and for “old things”…and this is why…it makes me feel connected to people of the past. like don’t you ever just close your eyes and picture how it was “back then”?

*sigh.

wow ok i just tried typing about my adventures around southern italy (pompei, napoli, sorrento, and capri) but man! words can’t explain haha. i’ll just cut straight to some pictures. i hope they make you sigh like i did! haha.

pompei: forget about the history books….this is real life!

from the top of castel san elmo. highest viewpoint overlooking naples!

chapel owned by the aquinas family. as in. saint thomas aquinas. say whaaaa??

haha ok one of the few super tourist pictures with me actually in it…..

when in naples…eat the freaking pizza. seriously i don’t wanna eat pizza anywhere else. ever. haha. well here’s the eat, pray, love pizza!!! (lantiga pizzera de michele)

when in sorrento….take advantage of the seafood!

morning view outside the bed and breakfast in sorrento. SIGH.

trying my best to take mental snapshots all daaaay

jellyfish and the bottom of the sea hahaha

at the top of capri…of course i would have gelato in my hand…

ended the trip perfectly by picking lemons! because they’re everywhere! hahaha

if anything..leaving rome strangely made me feel homesick and this weekend felt like a vacation. so coming back to rome felt like coming back home…to real life! haha weird.

yaaay praise God for such blessings. it’s been surreal. and continues to be!

til next time…
theresa =)

hahaha OH PS. skyped with my mom tonight. we both had green tea. sigh.

for those that don’t know…i am the youngest girl in my family with three older brothers. you can imagine how it’s been growing up. i was relatively spoiled but that’s been countered by my parents’ over protectiveness. i usually wasn’t allowed to go out unless i was with my brothers. and even after i got a car, my parents told me to be home by midnight (which ok i’ll be honest..usually never worked out haha).

so the fact that they let me come to rome…alone…is a surprise in itself. are they finally letting me grow up? because…what a place to grow up in! i don’t even wander around seattle, but i’m exploring rome (without a map) kinda just choosing streets to turn on on a whim, hoping it won’t lead me to some sketch mafia business, and stumbling upon really beautiful places!

i went to the store yesterday to buy my own groceries. which was an experience because everything is in italian. i mean ok i can tell the difference between carrots and radishes without the signs..but still. it was a little intimidating! and i had to be on a budget and make a list of what i needed?! and that list didn’t include chips, sweets, or coke. i had to really limit myself to the essentials. “think real food, theresa..” because not only do i have to get my own groceries…i have to cook for myself! i think the vacationyness (haha yes, vacationyness) is starting to wear off. i can’t afford to eat out for every meal anymore, so last night i cooked my own dinner! what is this..the wedding planner?! haha jk. but it was fun…and tasted pretty good i must say. restaurant worthy even! haha ok maybe that’s a big jump. but i liked it..and my roommates liked it, which is good enough for my standards.

this morning i walked around the outside market just outside my apartment. i meant to just buy eggs to cook for breakfast but i ended up buying some fresh produce and freshly sliced meat! mmm. haha i felt like princess jasmine in aladdin when she first sneaks out of the palace. amazed by the sights and sounds of the market…forgetting my purpose of actually being there…wanting to wander around and check out every vendor’s goods. i even got a bad look by one of the guys because i put my mushrooms in a plastic bag. he took my mushrooms and said “ahh no!” with a sad face..and put them in a paper bag. i felt like i offended his produce stand haha. he turned out being really nice and helped me pick out other vegetables. he also tried giving me an ostrich egg instead of chicken eggs hahaha. and so afterwards, with my groceries in hand and walking back to the apt, i thought, “i could get used to this…”

so there’s that. i’m starting to grow up. i budget each day. and when i come home i write down how much i spent and exactly what on. sigh. goodbye vacation. goodbye childhood. hahahahaha jk. dramatics naman.

ancient ruins…you can’t see but the colosseum is in the distance

dome of the pantheon. who knew the pantheon is……

…..a church!! cause i didn’t hahaha

st. catherine of siena’s tomb in santa maria sopra minerva

my first home cooked dinner here…woops forgot to take a picture of breakfast today! but i had prosciutto, salami, eggs, toast, and cheese

italians can eat. my stomach was not prepared for the five course meal tonight….five right? i can’t think right now. hahaha.

started at 7:30. ended at 11:30. yea. four hours. of eating. and drinking. ….what?

and for you guys who know me…i’m a slow eater. even for italians. maybe it’s cause i was eating with my american classmates..but i swear they finished their plates in less than 10 minutes. what happened to taking our time?! well whatever. i savored my food.

btw. i am now all for fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, and bacon. together. in one dish. i could eat that all day, err’day. hahaha.

buona sera from campo de’fiori:

….maybe the only word i’m decent at passing with an italian accent. haha yikes.

thanks mafil and bern for reminding me that i have a tumblr hahaha.

it’s been about a week and something hours since i’ve been in rome. and i still can’t believe that i’m here! i have no idea when my mind will ever be able to wrap around what is around me. i’m seriously baffled at the carelessness that the locals have of what’s around them. passing the Colosseum and the Vatican is part of their daily commute. they walk on ancient ruins like it’s nothing. i mean, i guess that’s like people in chicago with the sears tower or the empire state building in new york. it’s like me with the space needle. but even i enjoy every chance of driving down I-5 just to get that scenic view of lake union and downtown. here it’s just like, “there’s the trevi fountain…..ehhh” hahaha WHAT?!

so i’m caught in limbo…like usual. i’m trying to “fit in”…live the life of an italian. but i can’t help but just gaze down every street, peek at the random vendor’s merchandise, take in the smells of the pasterias! mmm. so to attempt to fit that balance, i’ve kinda put my camera down. i’ve had to resist the tourist look of a map in one hand and a camera in the other. it’s hard to really appreciate the environment when i’m fumbling around with camera settings. now don’t get me wrong, i’ve taken plenty of pictures…but even still….none of them can justify BEING here.

been to: the vatican, the spanish steps, the trevi fountain, the colosseum, the three major basilicas aside from st. peter’s - san giovanni (first church that wasn’t built from a Christian’s home; parish of the world), santa croce (contains relics from the Cross of Jesus, His nails, the thorns on His head, st thomas’ finger, and the relics of nennolina), and santa maria maggiore (first church dedicated to mama mary), Santa Scala (the steps JESUS WALKED ON when He was on trial by pontius pilate…we could only walk on our knees up the steps), walked along the tiber river, a bunch of random churches (they’re REALLY everywhere! haha), piazza navona (and a bunch of other piazzas! jeez louise they’re everywhere too. hahaha)

transportation isn’t too bad. walking’s fine..the cobblestone streets aren’t as bad as i thought they’d be. the trains are super easy to navigate. the buses are fairly easy to catch on to, too. crossing the street is completely BA though. you just walk and EXPECT the cars to stop. italians are cuhrazy. props to all the cars that haven’t killed me yet. hahaha.

as for the food…i’m still trying to figure out why everything tastes SO MUCH better here?! could it possibly be placebo effect?!

i’ll have to make an album for all my pictures, but here’s a few to get started haha:

the Vatican!

gelatoooooo (pistachio and hazelnut of course)

margherita pizza

the colosseum at night

my apartment (not pictured: super high ceiling, kitchen, bathroom, common room area)

my backyard: campo de’fiori; marketplace in the day, club scene by night

that’s all for now! dinner with my school program tonight. classes start tomorrow! haha woops i almost forgot i was here for school =\

arrivederci!
theresa =)

ps. i’m trying to figure out how often i’ll update. i didn’t even blog that much at home………well catch me on twitter (treeesantos) or facebook. and email me! hahaha as far away as i am from home, i still wanna know what’s going on! =P

ma$e be the one that’ll take you home… (hahaha with the original dollar sign, ke$ha!)

never gets old. summer days = 90s music.

this one goes out to chris hufana, we’ll miss you. thank you for being a true, committed, dedicated, humble, and kind brother. it sucks seeing all the potential in you and not even being able to use it anytime soon, but i know God has called you to bigger and better things. and wherever God plants you, that’s where you’re meant to grow(even if that means 3000 miles away from home!). so may you continue to grow into that man of God He’s planned you to be. see you soon!

and to everyone that was able to write to him last minute…..thank you for allowing me to be witness of love. of real love. of God’s love.