Recap Part 3: All Roads Lead to Rome...and Hopefully Pass through Trevi

My time at home came and went very quickly after San Francisco – as expected.  However, I had a few more days, for better or worse.  Hurricane Sandy rolled in on the East Coast and delayed our flight for 2 days.  Though it was two more days spent at home, I was eager to go to Trevi, Italy for the VIDES International Conference.

Not that kind of CIA guy, but still.

When the time came, I boarded the plane and went from Louisville to DC then to Italy.  I sat next to a man who worked with the CIA and I spent much of the flight listening to the stories he’d experienced in his 25 years of service.  He was very level-headed, and for lack of a better word, normal in the sense that he was eager to get to Italy for a vacation of his own and not have to worry about work.

Upon my arrival in Rome, I made my way to the train station, with all my bags and began the 3 hour journey to Trevi.  I had very little sleep the night before and it was catching up with me.  My eyelids felt heavy and I soon drifted off to sleep only to be woken by the ringing bell with a voice announcing the next stop: Trevi.  I hurried to gather my bags, but one must be ready to enter and exit a train.  The train took off for its next destination with me still on it and I began to panic a little.  Luckily, there was a stop 4 minutes further and I decided I’d take my chances and get off at that place.   After exiting the train, I decided that my options were to get a taxi, call Sr. Gloria, or to catch a ride back to the station.  My first plan failed when I tried calling Sr. Gloria and found that her number was not activated in Italy, so I decided to hop back on the train and hope that I don’t get checked.  Without incident, I got on the train and exited at the correct station this time…only to be confronted by a new problem.

There's Trevi.  Now how to get there.

Imagine getting off a train at a deserted platform in a rural town with only a few houses around.  On a Sunday (which means that if there should be any services offered in that town, they will not be open on Sunday).  So, I stood at a fork in the road wondering where exactly I was supposed to go.  I tried calling Sr. Gloria and the hotel, but could not reach both.  It was the late afternoon and I began to wonder what my next move was.  A car drove by and I decided to try to ask for directions.  I tried speaking both English and Spanish, but could not communicate, so instead I pulled out the directions to the hotel I had written down and pointed to denote that I did not know how to get there.  The woman pointed up the road and said, “20 minuti”.  So, without further ado, I began walking down the road with no sidewalk with my baggage and the sun setting.  As I walked, I would stop and ask people for directions to make sure I was on the right path, and each time was the same answer: “20 minuti” in the direction I was heading – down a country road with no sidewalk dragging along my baggage.

It was a beautiful area, especially after putting my luggage in my room.

Finally, after an hour or so of walking, I arrived at the hotel.  Besides being a sight for sore eyes, it was a beautiful hotel in the scenic Italian countryside.  Like a refugee, Sister Gloria took me in, gave me a warm meal, and let me catch up on some much needed rest.

The VIDES Conference and experience in Trevi itself were entertaining in a variety of ways, especially since this was my first time in Europe.  Not only that, but there were volunteers from over 40 different countries at the Conference, so even though I was in Italy, it may well have been the United Nations. 

To start, I must share a couple embarrassing stories about meals with Italians, the kings and queens of cuisine.  Besides the fact that our unlimited table wine was comparable to $20 or $30 wine in the United States, we also had 5 course meals for lunch and dinner, which I was unaware of.  So, during my first lunch we started with a salad and proceeded to the pasta course (the primo), which consisted of a simple pasta with bits of ham.  I noticed that many people at our table served themselves relatively small portions.  I followed suit at first, but finished the first plate and went for a second, assuming this was the main course.  After I finished my second plate of pasta, then came the main dishes with sides (the secondo and the contorno) chicken masala with sautéed vegetables and roasted potatoes.  I realized I had made a fatal mistake with the second plate of pasta, but knew the food was too good to pass up.  Then, of course, following the main course they served a fantastic tiramisu that I could not pass up.  Again, I must mention that this was our lunch meal (though, in many places in Europe, it is the biggest meal of the day) and I felt as though I had eaten enough for the rest of the day.  Later on in the week, after I learned about the meal structure, I made a second mistake.  I had noticed that they always served fresh parmesan cheese with the pasta, but promptly removed it from the table after the primo course.  I boldly took it upon myself to save one of the small bowls of cheese to sprinkle on my main dish because I saw we were having a dish with chicken breast and tomatoes.  After I was served and started to sprinkle the savory cheese on my plate only to be interrupted by an Italian girl gasping and asking if I knew what I was doing, from across the table.  Confused, I replied with a simple, “Yes”.  She then smiled, following up her question saying that she just wanted to make sure as she had not seen that before.  I tried to explain that it was similar to having chicken parmesan and she kept giving a rebuttal that the dish was not chicken parmesan, but it was ok if I wanted to have it on my dish.  Realizing the difference in cultures, we called it what it was and laughed it off. 

The conference itself consisted of inspiring speeches from previous volunteers, Salesian Sisters, the founders and coordinators of VIDES, and even the Mother General Yvonne Reugnot and the Rector Major Don Pascual Chávez (who are current heads of the Salesian Order).  The theme of the conference was Recall, Rejoice, Renew and it was created to remind us not only of our roots, but of our chartered direction for the future of the organization.  As Mother Yvonne put it, we are “dwarves standing on the shoulders of giants”; which is to say that we are fortunate to have such a solid foundation laid before us by Don Bosco and Mary Mazzarello and with it we are able to continue to grow, love, and share our gifts.

Time went by too quickly in Trevi and we ended the Conference with in the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, where he was buried.  I felt a special bond to all the other volunteers during that mass; coming from all over the world, speaking a variety of languages, representing our unique cultures but all sharing in the same Catholic tradition and faith.  It was a beautiful realization and it brought me great joy that we didn’t need to know the Italian language to understand the Mass, we each partook in it with our spirit as a united family.

From Assisi, I proceeded to be a good tourist and visit Rome for a week.  I had a quaint little room very close to the Vatican (in fact, I could see the top of St. Peter’s Basilica from the hallway window) and the train station.  At first I thought I would be able to travel to many cities in Italy, but once I started out in Rome, I realized that one could spend years in Rome and still leave many stones unturned and stories untold.  The history, the art, the cathedrals, the food, it was all so much to take in – but I managed. 

I was able to see many of the incredible places that one must experience in Rome: St. Peter’s Square and Basilica, Trevi Fountain, the Coliseum, the Pantheon, the Forum, etc.  Above all though, I was able to see Pope Benedict XVI during his address on a Wednesday – a deeply spiritual experience that I can hardly begin to describe, but also very empowering.  I could write for hours about my time in Rome, but I feel it could just as easily be told through my pictures, though many do not do justice to the subject material.  Nevertheless, enjoy!

Pictures of Rome and Trevi

Recap Part 2: Into the West

I should have expected it, I should have known it was going to happen.  I spent much of the night after the wedding packing and getting ready for my trip out west: first to Phoenix, then Prescott, AZ, then to San Francisco.  My flight left at 6:40 in the morning and I only ended up with about 2 hours of sleep.  As I boarded the plane, I pulled out my notes to practice my speech, but began to nod off.  I woke about an hour later with a sore neck and dry eyes and opted to get some coffee instead of trying to sleep more.  Unfortunately, the airplane-grade coffee wasn’t cutting it for me and I was drifting in and out of sleep.  A bit later on, I arrived in Phoenix and had still not reviewed my notes, but I had all morning to do so.  I just needed to get to the conference first.

With ease (thank God in hindsight…) I made it to the conference center by public transportation, carrying my entire luggage, in time to pick up my packet.  Free coffee and snacks were given out, so I decided to have some breakfast and look at the program schedule to find out where my presentation room was.  As I was finishing up breakfast, I ran into some former classmates from the University of Louisville.  Again, it was refreshing to see familiar faces after being away for some time, so I caught up with them and passed the time.  Looking at my watch, I realized I only had an hour until my session began – and I had still not reviewed my notes.  I hurried to find the room so I could practice and run through my presentation, but was disappointed to find it filled with an ongoing session.  It would end in 30 minutes, so I decided to grab a cup of coffee for the presentation and then come back to review in the presentation room.

Again, my foresight (or maybe just common sense) failed me.  I should have known that a conference with over 10,000 participants trying to get coffee from one Starbucks would be a nightmare.  I stood in line for 20 minutes, then realized that I hadn’t even gone halfway through the line and I was still dragging my bags around.  Frustrated, tired, and hungry – I decided to step outside and walk down to the street to the Einstein Bagel Bros. shop for a cup of coffee instead.  I walked up and down the street to no avail – I know from the map that it should have been right there, but could not find it.  Looking at the time, I gave up and headed back to the meeting room.  Only 10 minutes remained until our session began and my notes remained in the same spot that I had packed them the night before.  I had very successfully wasted many hours without practicing my presentation and I began to realize that it was too late.  

I look so smug, but trust me, I'm just falling asleep.

When the time came to present, I went to the front of the room, loaded my presentation, and opened up with a couple witty jokes.  The crowd laughed light-heartedly which helped ease my tension.  Once the slides came on the full screen, I saw Dr. Evans (my thesis advisor) enter the room and I began to talk.  By the grace of God, the words and information that had been sealed away in my head re-opened and poured out like valuables neatly preserved in a lockbox.  I tried to keep the audience engaged full-time, but some of them were as tired as I was.  By the end of the talk, I noticed I had ended at the time limit and now awaited the QA session – sometimes the easiest part and sometimes the hardest.  Despite my initial concern that I appeared unorganized and scatterbrained, I received very positive feedback and met with some important figures after the talk.  They were impressed and curious as to the future of my work – but those were answers even I did not know.  I was even presented with an opportunity to pursue a PhD at UMass in Boston in Public Policy – though it would have been a 7 year program.  In the end, I earned 2^nd place in the competition, which came with a small monetary prize!  I had a resurgence of thanks in my heart for all the opportunities I’ve been given these recent years, for the people who have helped enable them, and to God for his guidance and answering my prayers.

Following the conference, I was picked up by a very close friend, Kane, who is following his dreams to become a pilot and studying at Embry-Riddle University.  We traveled to Prescott where I was able to witness the tranquility and vastness of the southwest.  From the starry nights to the cloudless days, I felt at peace with the world and the direction of my life.  Though I always wonder where I will end up in the subsequent phases in life, I still strive to feel that comfort and joy in the present moment.  Sometimes, on the road you forget to take time and see what’s around you – but being in Prescott allowed me to do just that.  It feels comforting to know that you have friends who keep that open door policy, no matter the circumstance.

From Prescott, I made one final stop before returning home from out west: San Francisco.  Two other good friends of mine, Michael and Paul, live in the bay area and I had been longing to see them.  It’s interesting how one can visit a friend who they have not seen in quite a while and pick up conversation as if no time had passed.  In the grand scheme of life, not much time had passed, but being away from family and friends can make it feel so.  However, being away from those comforts and loved ones makes the heart grow fonder and stronger.  We had a memorable night at Paul’s house with a home-cooked meal from Golbi, Paul’s girlfriend, and drank home-made wine that Michael made.  We stoked the fire and enjoyed each other’s company until late into the night – and I realized it’s those nights I’ll remember forever, the ones where we are truly alive in the moment.