Ciao from Roma!!!

Buongiorno mi amici!

I am here in Roma and am missing home a lot, but it has been a whirlwind so far.

Yesterday, we went to this church called San Lorenzo in Lucina, which is right accross from the baptist church that we will be going to (side note: I think it's funny that our baptist church is next door to Louis Vuitton...) Anyway, I guess up until the fifth century or so, when Romans wanted to build buildings, they would cut away old buildings and build on top of the foundations of old buildings so that they wouldn' have to build completely new foundations. Well, this church was apparently built on top of the foundations of the old building because excavators have found this church underneath that has been around since around 120 AD! We got to see it, and the coolest part was a baptistry that was built in around 320 or so. It was built right after Constantine converted to Christianity, so after Christianity became a state religion people were getting baptized right and left. They built these baptistries to accomadate the hordes of people that were becoming "Christians." It was kind of cool because it showed me the origins of the church as an institution, which most Italian students seem to reject. I also thought there was a beautiful irony in the idea that they tore down this sparse old church that housed some of the first Christians ever to build a church that was ornate with paintings, statues, mosaics, and stained glass. It's like they tore down the pure Christianity that Paul preached to make way for the church of the state that was so prevalent in the Roman Empire and in Europe.

I met a girl named Alessia today at La Sapienza, a university here in Roma. A few of the other project folks and I were just talking with her about spirituality and life's purpose. She told us about how when she was younger, she had taken lessons with a "suore" or a nun who was very strict and had a lot of rules. She hated that which is why she doesn't consider herself to be a part of the church today. But she loves thinking about spirituality and she said she thinks our purpose in life is just to love. She said we had showed her love, and she thinks that love and helping people comes from inside of each of us. I'm really looking forward to meeting her again and talking about where love truly comes from, which is from our wonderful, beautiful creator!

I miss everyone back home! Else, I'm so glad that you are gonna get serious about your music! I listended to all of the recordings of you that I have on my iPod the other day because it reminded me of home and of you! I don't care about the recording quality... it just makes me feel like I'm in your family room listening to you, and I love it!

I will hopefully upload pictures soon, but I'm hoping to find a cheaper cafe to do that in!

Love everyone! See you soon! Hanner, have a great time in Monterrey, and I'll be praying for you! Heather, I want to read all about what's going on in your life, no matter how mundane it might feel to you, because seriously, just reading words from people at home is going to mean the world! To anyone else who may be reading this, please send me email with anything you might feel like you'd want to tell me! I will eat up any words from friends that I can get!

Love love love!
Ciao Ciao Ciao

Kate