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After a few months in exile, this blog is finally fully updated to here and now. If you haven't recently, please scroll down through the most recent posts, and click "older posts" at the bottom right of the page to see if you've missed any. Since I have less than two months left, I will stay more on top of things from now on. Thanks for reading, feel free to leave comments, and be well!

Return to Rome

Greetings to the few of you who still check this blog out... I have been terribly delinquent about posting lately (I blame it on London's unseasonably cold weather, making my fingers too stiff to type) and therefore have a huge backlog of great posts to get to. I'll be putting those up this week.

In the meantime, my husband and I have made a safe return to Rome for the final three months of the fellowship. We've resettled in a new part of town in a significantly smaller apartment, but we're doing quite well - especially since the weather has been gorgeous! Tomorrow I'll register for another semester of classes at the Angelicum, and we'll hit the ground running from there.

I hope all is well for you, and that you'll continue to enjoy reading along with some of my experiences and thoughts throughout this incredible year.

We Are Safe

If you have heard about the bombs found around London today, know that my husband and I are fine - most importantly, so is everyone else. If you haven't heard this news yet, there's a CNN article here, or a BBC article here. At any rate, at 2 am this morning London time, a nail and gas bomb was disarmed outside a nightclub in London. Later today, the area around Buckingham Palace and Oxford Street, both very popular spots for tourists and locals, was shut down due to a second suspicious vehicle. No one was hurt and no one has claimed responsibility.

In these frightening times, we ask for your prayers for the people of London as they try to stay safe and sane. Please also keep in your prayers those across the world who live in constant threat of terror, danger, attack and suffering. In spite of all the evil we confront daily, we have a good God on whom we can always trust.

The Current Plan of Attack

Right. After conceeding our battle with the Italian government for the time being, this is our new approximate timeline for our year abroad:

January 18-April 15: Rome
April 15-October 1: London
October 1-December 31: Rome

These dates aren't exact, since it depends on things like when and where we find places to live, if we decide to spend a month or two in Geneva, how my plan of study gets implimented, and if we get distracted along the way. I'll be sure to keep the dates updated so you'll know exactly where we are and if you can come visit!

There are some cool things about these dates, for example:

• Easter in Rome! I can't wait to stand in the crowd and hear the Papal Mass on Easter Sunday.
• Pentecost in Cantebury... or really, anywhere. I am excited to celebrate this church holiday in a great big Anglican cathedral.
• Midsummer at Stonehenge. Okay, this is sort of a joke, but England is a good place to see if the holiday still holds any of its previous pagan roots.
• All-Saints Day back in Rome. I'll be sure to find out which church has the coolest celebration.

And of course, there's just the fact that I'll get to live and study in two very different cities. Now I get to spend some time in the crossroads of the new and old church. I'm sure it'll provide for some interesting adventures... not to mention culture shock!

Chris and I leave in just over a week, and we're getting excited! And nervous, of course. We just need to pack up our entire house in the meantime.

A New Plan

Well, there have been quite a few changes these days... Due to a huge debacle at the Italian Consulate which is so frustrating that it's not even worth going into, we were not able to get visas to stay in Italy for an entire year. Instead, we'll be spending three months at the beginning and end of the year with six months in London for the duration. It's a very different year than I had planned, but hey! Sometimes things don't exactly turn out as you'd like. And who knows what adventures are in store with this new plan? It'll be hard work, but it'll be worth it.

Little Things

Getting ready to spend a legal year in Rome involves all sorts of little things that you might not expect. Sure, you should learn some Italian, get a visa, find a place to live - all stuff you'd expect for living in a foreign country. But each country has its quirks, and when you're headed to a country as full of legalities as Italy, there's bound to be a few catches.

The first interesting piece of red tape is the permesso di soggiorno (PdiS), literally meaning "sojourner's permit" but referred to in English as the permit to stay. This little piece of paper work effectively registers you as a resident in a particular area of Italy. While your visa allows you to enter the country and stay legally, the PdiS alerts the government to your actual presence in a particular place. The application process appears to vary by different accounts, but basically it sounds like we need our passports with appropriate visas inside, a few passport photos, proof of address, a small fee, and the correctly filled-out form. Add to this that it has to be done within eight days of arriving, at the correct building, and all in Italian, and you have a bit of a nerve-wracking situation. But considering we could be asked at any time to prove our legality in Rome by producing a PdiS, we should probably have ours ready.

Next is the codice fiscale. In the States, everyone has a social security number which identifies them as an individual and is necessary for all sorts of legal documents. Italy has the same thing, except it has an even bigger role. A codice fiscale is necessary for all sorts of purchases, everything from cell phones to car rentals, helps you get on the national health insurance, and basically makes you a functioning member of society. Fortunately it's not hard to get - in fact, the combination of letters and numbers that makes up a codice fiscale is based on a reliable combination of name, date of birth, place of birth and so on making anyone's codice fiscale far from secret. In fact, my husband and I already have one, thanks to our consulate's website. However, if we hadn't heard about it ahead of time, we never would've known we needed one.

Then, once we arrive, we need to register with our local US consulate in Rome. This is mostly for our safety as US citizens - should something happen to affect the status of Americans abroad, they would be able to contact us immediately.

So we just add all these things to our list to keep preparing for our year abroad. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that there's so much paperwork to live overseas, but it's still a little overwhelming!

The Process

While the journey to Rome really started this past spring, when I was awarded the Fellowship, the real preparations only really just began this fall. At that point, my application to the Angelicum was complete and my new husband and I could really start cracking down on making our next year a reality.

First, we had to find a place to live. Not only would it ensure safety and security once we arrive, but a signed rental contract is essential for a completed visa application. (You have to prove to the Italian government that you won't be a drain on the system, after all.) Searching for a furnished apartment in a good area was simplified by Craig's List, which gave us invaluable apartment-hunting resources. After a few false starts, we found ourselves a little place near Termini, which is the main transportation hub of the city. It's cozy, it's bright, and it's a great location.

Next, we had to get a flight. Surprisingly, this is also a requirement for a visa, since you have to prove that you can afford to get yourself in - and out - of Italy. Just last night, we secured our tickets, so 18 January means the beginning of the adventure!

Now, we need our visa. This is the big deal. Without this document, we have no legal right to stay in Italy longer than 90 days - tough, when I have a year of school! Since I'm a student, I have a different set of documents to supply than Chris does. Visa applications are notoriously ridden with bureaucracy and backwardness, so we have a lot of work to do. If only the FBI would come through with Chris's background check, we'd be almost there - no joke!

But there are other procedures as well. We need to pack up our home, set up our friends in our house, provide for my two kitties (which we will leave behind in my friends' able care), and say goodbyes to family and friends for the year. It's a time of great change and excitement, but also some anxiety! As the Romans say: in boca al lupo! It's the equivalent of 'break a leg', but literally means 'in the mouth of the wolf'. Guess that's where you'd most need luck!