St. Patty's day with the Pope

As you may have guessed from my picture I tweeted earlier today, I went to my first Papal Audience today. I’ve been to two Angelus’ in the past two weeks, but this was my first Audience for the trip. Through our intern program, we were able to get some pretty incredible seats. We sat in a reserved section on the side of the stage, two rows back from the barricade. We didn’t even have to go through security like all the others sitting in the reserved section of the Audience, but were taken past the Swiss guards around the back to our seats. You can’t help but feel privileged doing something like that, and in fact we are pretty privileged in the fact that we even get to do things like this.

The pope came out in true fashion, and drove around in his pope-mobile through the crowd in the square. This is the first audience of the year that was held outside in the square so it was a pretty cool experience. They then drove the pope up to the stage and let him out, where he commenced telling his message. In his message in English to the English speaking countries, he gave special recognition to the Irish and St. Patrick’s day:

Speaking of St. Patty’s day, we celebrated in true Irish fashion (I suppose) by going to an Irish pub here in Rome (Scholars) for dinner. The atmosphere was lively, there was an Irish band playing music all night, and the food was great. I had the full Irish Breakfast, for dinner, which included eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, and beans. I must say, it’s one of the biggest/best breakfasts I’ve had since being in Rome, even if it was for dinner. ( I tried to order Irish Stew first, but they didn’t have any tonight)

While we sat and ate, I heard the band play lots of Irish songs that I recognized. Instantly reminisced about home, because their the songs I hear playing throughout our house on St. Patrick’s day, coming from the 6 CD changer in the Family Room playing on Shuffle(It’s one of the only times we ever use the 6 CD changer, and sometimes we go a whole year leaving the Irish music in there, so when the next St. Patty’s day comes along, we don’t even have to switch the CD’s). That’s exactly what it felt like in Scholars tonight, and I couldn’t help but sing along and take in the music and atmosphere.

Both events today were very memorable experiences that, as this program comes to a close (how many times am I going to say that?!) I will always cherish and remember. My first audience with the pope, where he blessed my rosary beads (not personally, he blesses all items at the end) and my St. Patrick’s day in Italy.

(Pictures to come, tomorrow most likely)