After weeks of complaining from friends and family, I have decided to write another post.
Well, I finally found out exactly where I will be living next semester. As if the title doesn't give it away... yeah, you read that right... FOUR, count that, 4 blocks away from Santa Maria del Fiore (aka the Duomo)!! I was ecstatic when I opened up the map I was sent via email the other day. Here is a map of my school, apartment, and Duomo in Florence. I can't believe I'm going to be living down the street from this infamous Renaissance building, and right next to Piazza della Signoria where Michelangelo's David once stood. I mean, I get to walk across Ponte Vecchio everyday to get to class! What a walk that will be. It has two double bedrooms, a kitchenette, a washer (notice no dryer), a living area with a TV and yes, the quintessential aspect of living in Italy, a terrace. And all this within a 10 minute walk to my school!
Another thing I've had to deal with this past week is obtaining my visa. After filling out form after form, driving in DC traffic on Monday to the Italian Embassy, waiting outside in the freezing cold, and sitting in a waiting room, I was denied. Apparently I didn't have the right form and I needed two affidavits signed by my parents, meaning they would have to mail them to me... in the mail... not email. Snail mail. So, I made a pit stop to the National Shrine and decided to get some prayer time and Christmas shopping done. I walked into the crypt church and lo and behold, there was Jesus. Adoration was going on and I got super excited! I walked in, genuflected on both knees as is customary, and knelt down on the hard marble floor. No sooner did I kneel, did the organ start playing Tantum Ergo. I had arrived just in time for Benediction. It was beautiful to hear it played on the organ in such a beautiful setting. Usually at my chapel, we sing it with the only music coming from our mouths.
It was a great way to refocus on the coming of Christ in a few short weeks. It also was the perfect preparation for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Basilica, the Shrine to the Immaculate Conception, was the perfect place to ask our Mother to help prepare ourselves for the coming of the child Jesus. Even though the feast is celebrating the conception of Mary in her mother, Anne, we can take from this event the joy and celebration of new life and hope that is to come at Christmas time.
In just about a month, I'll be in Florence. Just four blocks away, will be the same Jesus in the tabernacle as the one in the monstrance here, 4,000 miles away in Washington, DC. How lucky are we that Christ is everywhere!
