Sono arrivato...
Well...Here I am...in the Eternal City.
It's currently 5pm local time, 11 am back in Boston. The day has been so long and exhausting, I hope that means I shall sleep well tonight!
After departing Boston yesterday at noontime, we arrived in Newark to await the flight to Rome. Seminarians are SO easy to pick out of a crowd, and it wasn't long before there were a few dozen of us at the airport---trying to learn names, faces and dioceses.
Our flight to Rome took off as scheduled and was a typical international flight---not enough sleep and exhausted upon arrival at the destination. Kevin Staley-Joyce, a Boston guy studying in Rome and part of this years early orientation team met us at the airport, so it was good to see a familiar face amidst a sea of unknown.
After arriving at the NAC, the second year men gave us the traditional "clap in"--when new men arrive for first year the older men in the house line the walkway and clap for us as we enter the NAC for the first time. Similarly, when deacons leave after 4th year or priests after their 5th year, they are clapped out as a way of congratulating them on finishing their studies.
We followed a typical orientation schedule of meeting, Mass, lunch--then we went to St. Peter's Square and said a prayer before breaking into a few different groups. I went with the group that climbed the Janiculum Hill behind the college to see a park that guys sometimes run in together...
Now it's downtime until evening prayer at 6, and then dinner and evening activities. They told us we should be done around 8/9 and then I hope I'll be so exhausted I'll just crash.
Thank you to all who have been praying for me and sending me your well wishes---making the decision to come to the NAC was so different than making the decision to attend SJS--the main reason being that I had to leave the country and pretty much everything I know...
But as I know--if it is God's will for me to be in Rome then He will bring peace to my heart and I will know His will...
Until next time---Pace e bene,
KPL
It's currently 5pm local time, 11 am back in Boston. The day has been so long and exhausting, I hope that means I shall sleep well tonight!
After departing Boston yesterday at noontime, we arrived in Newark to await the flight to Rome. Seminarians are SO easy to pick out of a crowd, and it wasn't long before there were a few dozen of us at the airport---trying to learn names, faces and dioceses.
Our flight to Rome took off as scheduled and was a typical international flight---not enough sleep and exhausted upon arrival at the destination. Kevin Staley-Joyce, a Boston guy studying in Rome and part of this years early orientation team met us at the airport, so it was good to see a familiar face amidst a sea of unknown.
After arriving at the NAC, the second year men gave us the traditional "clap in"--when new men arrive for first year the older men in the house line the walkway and clap for us as we enter the NAC for the first time. Similarly, when deacons leave after 4th year or priests after their 5th year, they are clapped out as a way of congratulating them on finishing their studies.
We followed a typical orientation schedule of meeting, Mass, lunch--then we went to St. Peter's Square and said a prayer before breaking into a few different groups. I went with the group that climbed the Janiculum Hill behind the college to see a park that guys sometimes run in together...
Now it's downtime until evening prayer at 6, and then dinner and evening activities. They told us we should be done around 8/9 and then I hope I'll be so exhausted I'll just crash.
Thank you to all who have been praying for me and sending me your well wishes---making the decision to come to the NAC was so different than making the decision to attend SJS--the main reason being that I had to leave the country and pretty much everything I know...
But as I know--if it is God's will for me to be in Rome then He will bring peace to my heart and I will know His will...
Until next time---Pace e bene,
KPL
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