ciao ragazzi! i hope you have all had a wonderful week and enjoyed all my guest posters, aren’t they all just the greatest?! we are still in italy for one last day but i wanted to pop in today to share five of my favorite memories made on this trip since we have been here all week!
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one: tour of st. peter’s basilica in vatican city, rome. as i have mentioned before, my father-in-law is the president of our college so he is friends with other presidents of similar sized colleges. well, one of those presidents is a total rome buff and just so happened to be in rome at the same time as us so he offered to give us a personal tour of st. peter’s! i cannot tell you how lucky we were! he seriously knew every single detail and had an incredible ability to combine the history side and the faith side. i had been to st. peter’s before, but this tour is the one that made me fall in love!
two: my first blogger meet-up. i never would have guessed that my very first blogger meet-up would take place in a foreign country but that is exactly what happened! i have followed brighton keller’s blog and instagram for a few months now after finding out she was a fellow auditor, blogger, christian combo and she posted a picture on instagram about a week before i was leaving saying she was headed to italy. well i commented just asking where she would be and hey, i was going to be there too and she reached out and suggested meeting up! it was so sweet of her, since i would not say we were “blogger friends” but rather we just commented back and forth on pictures from time to time. well, let me tell you, i am SO glad she suggested meeting up and that we were actually able to make it happen. i was a little nervous going into it but we just started talking and spent the next three hours like we were old friends. she is seriously sweet as can be, is incredibly intelligent, and has an inspiring love for jesus. i am hoping for many more blogger meet-ups in the future since this one went so well!
three: napping on the beach in positano. matt and i headed down to the amalfi coast yesterday to finish our trip and our first stop was positano. there is not really anything to do in the town except enjoy the food, beach and views so we did just that. it was so sunny and incredibly warm that after lunch we just laid down on the beach and accidentally napped for a good hour and a half!! would have been even longer but a dog came over and woke us up, ha! i have never been one that could fall asleep at the beach or in public areas but hey, when in positano i guess!
four: visiting the abbey founded by saint benedict in montecassino. since our school is named after saint benedict, we of course had to visit the abbey where he began his order. i honestly was not expecting much since it was a monestary, so i was shocked to find that it is a stunning structure with amazing courtyards and one of the most incredible churches full of mosaics (my favorite) all atop of huge mountain with panoramic views! made me very proud to be a benedictine alum 🙂
five: late night life talks with my favorite italian. when we went to florence, we stayed at the villa where our college has a campus, the same place i lived just two years ago when i studied abroad. when i studied there, i was lucky enough to make friends with the woman who coordinates our program. she is the funniest and so full of life! our last night there, she took me aside and we had the most amazing life chat that i will never forget. she reminded me above all, to never accept any limits and not to let anyone put water on my fire; lessons i think we can all appreciate!
ps: my first post for marley lilly’s blog “the monogrammed life” should be up sometime today for their friday fashion feature so make sure to check that out!
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i will be back to regular posting next week, hoping to share some more memories of italy (plus another five memories since five is certainly not enough). make sure to follow along on instagram since i will surely be posting more pictures there next week as the reality of real life sets in!
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“the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
-saint augustine
