Toga, Roma, Popa! (Part I)-- A train ride to remember

I have been avoiding this blog post for far too long, because, quite simply, it's going to be far too long. This weekend, my "church buddies," Melissa and Katie, and I went on an ADVENTCHA (pirate-speak for "adventure")!!! Or, what it is better known as to the masses, a pilgrimage. Ha! Masses! Pun!

Instead of parading outside around St. Thomas Aquinas this year for Palm Sunday, I paraded around Europe, and attended Palm Sunday mass at the Vatican. Oh, and as you've probably heard, there's a new pope! And it just so happened to be his first Sunday mass. It was SO COOL!

But first: getting there!
Our train ride to Rome was probably the most exciting train ride of my life. Wait... yeah-- out of the two I've been on, it was definitely the more exciting. Katie's ticket was for a different car, but Melissa and I were together. So we boarded car 95, and looked for cabin 10, and what we found before us was a dark, small, already occupied car.
"Um, bonsoir?" I muttered. "Ah, CIAO! Scuzi, Umberto!!" It was hard to tell with the lights off, but I had a feeling, call it a sixth-sense if you will, that are cabin-mates were Italian.

And Italian they were! Melissa and I sat down on opposing benches, both of us between older gentlemen and teenage boys. It was silent for just a moment, the only time during our 15-hour journey, before rattling-offs in French, Italian, and English began. "Do you speak English?" "Parli Italiano?" "Parlez-vous français, peut-être?"

Luckily, one of the younger guys spoke English, and a man spoke French. And of course, we all spoke an exaggerated version of sign-language. For everything else, we had Siri. Quickly, we learned that the two teenagers were students of the two gentlemen. The gentlemen introduced themselves by their first names, along with what farm animals shared similar names, and proceded to share with us the boys names, followed by how they were terrible students. They were very interested to hear where we were from-- particularly Melissa. They didn't understand how she went to school in Columbus, but was from Toledo. They really liked to talk about Italian immigration patterns to the United States, and were eager to hear what we thought of an obscure Italian politician, of whom neither Melissa nor I had ever heard. And by "obscure," I mean "the president." Clearly, Melissa and I need to brush up on our Italian politics...

Me with three of the Italian students, and their
 non-French/English -speaking "Prof"

The night continued with each of the 30 Italian students trying to cram into our small 6-person cabin to meet us. Apparently, they had never met Americans. I don't know about Melissa, but I didn't mind at all! I felt like such a celebrity! They were all very friendly-- particularly the boys. As the entered and exited, the "Profs," as their students affectionately called them, introduced them to us by giving us their names, and how good of a student they were. The profs and their students definitely had a different relationship than that of the student-professor relationship in the United States. The students loved to take pictures of their professors, and didn't seem to mind when their teachers called them stupid.

By the end of the night, the non-French-speaking professor seemed to have forgotten that Melissa and I didn't speak any Italian, as he monologued about... well, I'm not sure what. We just nodded. Then he offered to let us live with him for free over the summer if we taught English in their school. It seemed like a bargain to me! ...But we forgot to get his email address. Zoot Alors!

As we were going to bed, the Professors kindly told us, "If anything bothers you in the night-- a bad dream anything-- wake Umberto," pointing to their student. "Not us!" they added laughing. Their stop was in Bologna at 6 am, and of course Melissa and I were still asleep. They were extra quiet to not wake us, but when I did awaken, they each kissed me on both cheeks before leaving, saying, "Ciao, bella! Enchantée, ma cherie!"

Needless to say, our Italian adventure was off to a good start!