Media Vita: Monday

     Today was Orientation. We had a private Mass near to the tomb of St. Peter; there are lots of chapels down there around his tomb. It was cool, but distracting to hear at least two other Masses while trying to pay attention to our Mass. The chapel was also too small for the 35 of us, but that's okay.
     After Mass, we all went out for coffee and croissants (cornetti). Then on the Terminal we went for lots of talks, presentations, and for lunch. I followed Rachel's advice and got the soup. It was edible. The lemon iced tea was nasty, though. It tasted like it was watered down with Frizzante. Yuck.
     Then we walked back through the Vatican Square and took care of domestic duties in our apartments. Then came parting with 50 euro for book and packet rental. :( Very sad, but it really can't be helped.
     Scavenger hunt teams started departing at 3:00 pm. My team consisted of myself, Erin, Marilyn, Matt Marcolini, Conor Knox, and Andrew Hepler. The girls and I even dressed the same, wearing the colors of our contrada: jeans, black shirts, and red in our hair. Conor made the not-very-smart decision of wearing courdoroy pants and a waffle-knit long-sleeve tee. He regretted it. Team Baroque, as it was named on the Metro to Candia, left a few minutes after 3:40 and got back 79 minutes later. We were the first ones back and were only six minutes over the record time (73 minutes, made a few years ago). We collapsed as soon as Elizabeth Walsh (Residence Coordinator) saw that we were back. We ran a good part of the way. We ran to the bus stops, ran to the Metro, ran IN the Metro. Some of the people in the Metro were cheering us on, which was pretty funny. We discovered that the Metro can eat your tickets, and that it is always a good idea to take your time with turnstiles. Yes, I did fall, but I barely felt it. Bumping into and then passing the two teams that left before us was pretty sweet. :) Matt Marcolini's been in Rome for a while (longer than the rest of us), so we had a huge advantage.
     And now we girls are waiting for the guys to get back from the grocery store so we can have the victory celebration. :)