"I know the heart of life is good"

Hi!

Updates from Rome:
Spring Break starts this Friday. I cannot wait! My mom is coming and it will be an amazing, much needed break from classes. In other news ...

As the Romans do:
- My roommate is dating an Italian, Matteo, who I love. He is so much fun and is really helpful when trying to learn Italian. He was appalled that I like to go running outside and that I enjoy peanut butter and apples. Italians also have a hard time saying my name, so Matteo always says, "Ciao Caaaiiilllann!"
- Italy is kind of racist! Was not aware of the extent until I began reading articles, hearing stories, etc. My PoliSci prof recently informed us that Italy passed a law where foreign born and Italian born students cannot be taught in the same classroom during primary school. There is also a lot of tension in the north between Italians and those of Middle East or Muslim descent. The mayor of Torino explained, "We don't want them here, so why would we build mosques?"
- Picture this: 65 degrees, sunny, gorgeous day! I am, of course, wearing flip flops and no jacket. Italians, on the other hand, are still wearing their fur coats and boots!

Italians still entertain me and I find a new reason to love them and be fascinated by them on a daily basis.

Other important things:
This past weekend I was in Paris with my friend, Ally, from back home! Ally is studying abroad in France and we met up in Paris for the weekend. We have both known each other since kindergarten and it was great to be with a friend from home.

On Friday, I left for Paris at 7am and was at the Louvre by 12:30. I stayed for 2 hours (not as long as I would have liked) but saw all the paintings I had been dying to see for so long. Da Vinci in person! Woah! I also went to the Musee d'Orsay which I actually enjoyed more than the Louvre. It's an impressionist museum and I saw all of my favorite artists ... Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet, Matisse. It was amazing. I cried when I saw Degas' "Tiny Ballerina" in person, which has been one of my favorites since I was little. That night, Ally and I went to the Eiffel tower with a bottle of wine and baguettes. We were very classy Americans.

On Saturday, we had a full day. We headed back to the Eiffel tower again and went all the way to the top. Dad, I really don't think you could have handled it. I was getting nervous on the elevator up to the top. But the view was totally worth it and it was so much fun to actually be at the top of the Eiffel tower! After, we went to the Arch de Triumph. The Arch de Triumph is in the center of a traffic circle where (I believe) 12 lanes merge. There are no traffic lights, no stop signs, and no lanes. It's a free-for-all and was very entertaining to watch. We also spent a lot of time walking around Paris and taking in the sights. We eventually made our way to Notre Dame. I was actually able to go to Confession at Notre Dame (!!) and the Priest had studied in Rome. It was fun to talk to him and he gave me a lot of advice and information that I needed to hear.

On Sunday we went to the Peter-Lachaise Cemetery (the most visited cemetery in the world). It was huge, beautiful, and full of gothic and eccentric tombstones. Ally and I were able to see Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Jim Morrison's tombstones! I actually saw Jim Morrison's tombstone, which was something I had to do before I cam back to the States. There were also a lot of tombstones dedicated to those that had died at Concentration Camps during World War II. They actually had a tombstone dedicated to the victims of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp, which was the camp I visited while in Germany. Later on Sunday, we went to see Sacre-Coeur and walked around Montmarte. Ally and I even bumped into the grocery market from the movie Amelie!

That about sums up the weekend. It really was an amazing time and I am so happy I was able to go. Probably won't update again for another two weeks, but hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather!

You are loved and prayed for,
Kait


"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with somebody else when you're uncool." - Lester Bangs, Almost Famous

And for all those kids without facebook ... here are my pics,
http://picasaweb.google.com/kait2311/CiaoBella#

"The Heart is an Autumn Wanderer"

Guten tag!

School is starting to get busy ... 3 midterms and an annoying research paper are getting in the way of my traveling through Europe. I have been here for 2 months. Unbelievable. I feel like I am getting used to it though (took awhile) and I am feeling more comfortable living in Rome every day.

New things:
1. Chinese Food = heaven
2. The city is starting to get busy! Tourists are flowing in.
3. You can tell how much walking I do by looking at my shoes (aka, they look like every pair Casey McCorry owns).
4. I am reading Franny and Zooey. I am recommend you read it as well.
5. I hand washed clothes. Yes, I did.
6. I like to cook (weird).

Other news:
This past weekend I went to Hamburg, Germany to meet up with one of our amazing family friends, Nicky. Nicky was in Hamburg for work and invited me to come along. I flew on my own and even mastered the German subway system (S Bahn). Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and is the largest non-capital city in Europe. It also has the most waterways second to Venice. It was so strange and so much fun being out of Italy. Italy really should just be its own continent. Germany was clean, big, organized, filled with Starbucks (delicious!), and was covered with amazing architecture.

The first day, Nicky and I walked around and did a little site seeing. On Saturday, we went to Neuengamme, a concentration camp on the outskirts of town. It's hard to put into words what it was like to be at a concentration camp. About 50,000 people died at the camp and it was one of the larger satellite camps in Hamburg. I have been to the Holocaust museum in D.C., I have read Anne Frank and Night, but I don't think anything could have prepared me for being at a concentration camp. It was haunting, chilling, and humbling. The most terrifying thing to me was how organized the entire process was. I felt sick knowing that Hitler (and others) had overseen the plans of the camp. The most intense part of the visit was when I read about a 16 year old Russian boy who died at the camp. He had been at a labor camp in Russia, and he became home sick. He thought that if he set one of the buildings on fire, they would send him home for poor behavior and he would be able to see his family again. And so he did. Instead, the boy was sent to Neuengamme where he was put on trial and later executed. They had a copy of the last letter he wrote to his parents. It was the most amazing thing I have read or come across, and I am crying now thinking about it.

After the visit to Neuengamme, Nicky and I went out to dinner for my birthday. German food was delicious and a nice change from pasta. After dinner, we went out to St. Pauli's/Reeperbahn which is the "Amsterdam" of Germany. We walked around and took in the odd/crazy sites, and went to a bar. My favorite part of the night was watching an entire bar full of Germans sing a song that seemed to be the anthem of Hamburg.

On Sunday (my 21st!), I got a grande coffee to go (!!) and walked around Hamburg in the morning. Like Italy, everything in Hamburg was closed on Sunday so it was pretty much me and a few others walking around. I bumped into St. Nikolai - a once massive church with some remains intact following bombings in WWII. The steeple was a couple stories tall and you could barely make out the top because of the fog. St. Nikolai is now used as an anti-war memorial. I also went to see St. Michaelis, and fortunately mass was currently going on. I am getting a good mix of Catholic masses in different languages.

The rest of Sunday I spent traveling, skyping, and I went to the Irish Pub, Elliot's, down the street to celebrate my birthday with some roommates.

I never imagined I would have spent my 21st in Europe. Never in my wildest dreams. But it's been an amazing trip. It has been a humbling experience.

You are loved and prayed for,
Kaitlin

"Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things - air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it."
-Cesare Parese