Friday, October 30, 2009
The coolest person you'll ever meet
Some of you may have never met my sister. If you haven’t, then you are missing out. She happens to be, in her own words, “the coolest person you’ll ever meet.”

After this last video, I’m somewhat inclined to agree with her. ;)

This is Steph with her friends at Gannon doing the Thriller dance in the middle of a commons area. She’s in the back row in the black and white shirt and jeans.

I so want to learn this from her!



If you didn’t think that was random enough, watch the following video, which was produced by my sister’s friend and stars my sister as Santa Claus:



I have a feeling that my brother Andy and I would’ve had a very quiet childhood if it weren’t for her. So pretty much she rocks. :)
posted by Kristin @ 9:01 AM   2 comments
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Silly Cell Phone!
This week, my phone decided that it was going to act like a dog. Quite a tricky dog.

First, on Sunday, it decided that it didn’t want to be put on a leash. No matter how hard I tried to hook it up to the charger, even if the charger was completely in the phone, it wouldn’t charge. It refused to be tied down.

Ok, I thought, Have it your way. I decided instead to turn off the power instead to save the battery.

I didn't realize at that point that my phone taught itself a trick. But it did. Any time I would try to turn it off, it would turn itself back on again. It turns out that it was just playing dead, and it would jump back up whenever I wasn’t looking.

Last night, however, it got a little worn out (2 bars, but I thought it should be charged), so I tried to put it on the power cord. And finally, it turned off. I tried to turn it back on again, to no avail.

This time, it wasn’t playing dead.

So…now, since I haven’t even had the chance to buy a new phone, and I don’t see any opportunity in my schedule to do so until at least Saturday, I get at least 4 or 5 days of free detachment from material objects. And it’s probably going to be somewhat difficult, but I probably need it too. Last year, even when I forgot my phone in my apartment for a day, I felt really anxious that someone was going to call me within the 6 hours I went without it.

Until I get the new phone, I think a computer will be my main source of communication, so I’m going to be emailing a lot more than I usually do. I’ll also have to make plans in advance, and actually stick to them, at the time and the place originally specified. How old fashioned! :-P
posted by Kristin @ 9:20 AM   1 comments
Monday, October 26, 2009
Random Musings...
Since I’ve spent so much time of my internship (which has not been as work-intensive as I would have liked) reading blogs, I’m starting to wish I could write my own now and not wait till I’m in Rome.

SO…instead of making a second blog, I think I’m going to start using this one a little early. After all, it does begin in the city of the Three Rivers. :) I’ll write about Rome when I get there.


Anyway, I’m going to see Godspell at Grove City next week! Michelle’s twin is the musical director, so we’re going up there. For me, it’ll be somewhat of a trip down memory lane. :)

I’m realizing how much I love having music in my life. I did marching band, CYO musicals, and choir in high school, but I haven’t done anything particularly musical since I did St. Paul Cathedral Choir with Heather and Maria in freshman year. I began to realize how much I missed it when I decided to learn the alto part in Matt Maher’s “Christ is Risen” because I was bored singing the melodies and I wanted something more challenging. That, and when I went to see my marching band’s Senior Night on Friday, I could barely sit still because of my excitement hearing the music. I’d love to go back to choir, but there are 2 problems with that. Well, 3 problems with that…or make that 4.

1. I’ve put a temporary moratorium on my activity quota, meaning I can’t join any more clubs right now. This is for my sanity’s sake, as well as for the sake of people around me. Since high school, I’ve had the habit of doing as many activities as the day allows, and up until, oh, a week ago, I’ve continued recklessly in this habit. But last week, I realized I may have finally reached my breaking point, as I finally realized how stressed I’ve been lately. While I’m convinced doing something I enjoy would help this stress, another time commitment decidedly would not. So, alas, I must wait!
2. I like the 11 AM Mass at the Oratory. A lot. It’s got pretty much all the “smells and bells” you can have in an English Mass. Joining choir again would force me to give this up so I could sing at noon Mass.
3. I’m going abroad in the spring. So to join choir now would be almost pointless since I’d be leaving in a few months.
4. Due to lack of practice, my voice is now terribly out of tune and my range is horribly diminished. Not like it was ever spectacular, but I could at least keep it in tune most of the time. Now, ughhh…I know I’m out of tune and my range is shot. I can only reach about a D or E at this point when I could reach to at least the A above the staff before. :( It will take a lot of practice to get it back up.

BUT…on another note, I talked to a girl named Holly yesterday. She went to Rome last spring, so she gave me the low-down on Bernardi. It sounds fantastic so far, and I’m looking forward to it!

AND on another, yet even more exciting note, I just found out that Caitlin and Adam got engaged!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!!! :-D
posted by Kristin @ 2:30 PM   2 comments
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Rome preparation update
Two fun news bits regarding Rome:

1) I’ve got my information for how to get an Italian visa!!! :) My plan is to get it sometime next month (you have to apply about 90 days before, but no earlier), so then I can have that out of the way! :)
2) I just made my first Rome facebook friend!!! Her name’s Emily, and it turns out that she knows Adam! It never ceases to amaze me how small the world is, or even more specifically, how small the Catholic world can be. I’m starting to buy into the 6 degrees of separation theory. :) But either way, I’m so excited to have met (well, “met”) someone!! I’m going to pray for her now…and my other yet-to-be-met Rome-mates!

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posted by Kristin @ 11:03 AM   0 comments
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Pitt's trip to Rome...
...is apparently a go!!!!! :-D

Though, it'll be students organizing it, not the priests. But still, it makes me happy!!! :-D

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posted by Kristin @ 9:08 AM   0 comments
Friday, October 16, 2009
More paperwork! :)
I got papers for housing, classes, and roommate assignment today! :)

And it occurred to me…I should be praying not only for my future Bernardians (for whom I have already begun to pray, that we may all grow in love for Christ and for each other while we’re there :-D)…I should be praying for my specific roommate(s) especially. After all, I will be spending 4 months with people I don’t know right now. I might as well entrust them to the One who already knows them and knows them best out of anybody. :)

Especially since I don’t know anyone in the program, and it seems like everyone else will know at least one person (I think the only other people besides those from St. Thomas go to Notre Dame), I’m sort of nervous, yet very excited, to meet my fellow Bernardi residents!

Oh, and I think I’ve decided not to go to St. Paul. The money would be much better used elsewhere later in the year, so I’m saving the money and not flying. And as Maria said, I’ll know them soon enough in Rome. Speaking of Maria, she said she’s staying by the Pantheon next semester, and she’s going to visit me at Bernardi! I’m so excited! :)

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posted by Kristin @ 4:03 PM   0 comments
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Breakfast, baseball, bars, and Barbara :)
I just had my first hot breakfast in about three weeks, and it was sooooo good! I bought a ham, egg, and cheese bagel from the cafeteria at work because I was somewhat in a rush this morning as I was leaving my house. Somehow, even though I managed to pick up Mini-Muffins for after Mass, the fact that I was rushing (and therefore stressed) somehow entitles me to a bagel in my mind. :-P

Though, I just realized, the fact that I’ve been eating a small breakfast on-the-go will probably help me for next semester. As I discovered last time I was in Rome, Italians eat a small breakfast of some sort of bread or muffins and juice or milk. We found that out after our first day there, when Sr. Claudia (one of the nuns at the convent where we stayed) noticed we were devouring our bread and let us know what Italian breakfasts are like. Since a nice, hot breakfast is pretty much my favorite meal (it doesn’t matter what it is-- eggs and bacon, pancakes, waffles, French toast, what have you…I love it), I’m going to need to adjust to Italian culture. So even though I haven’t made my own scrambled eggs in weeks, I guess it’s for the best in the long run. :)



…and following up on the last post—didn’t watch the Twins last night, but sad that they lost.

…and did you know that there’s a Steelers bar in Rome??? Barbara and I are DEFINITELY going there sometime!!!

Oh yeah, I should “introduce” you to Barbara! :) Barbara is my neighbor 2 blocks down from home who goes to Duquesne University. I found out this summer that she’s going to Rome next spring too through her school! Praise the Lord! The fact that she was going to Rome too, planned completely separately from my trip, was also proof to me that God was providing for me to go. At the point she told me she was going, I was terrified of being alone in my faith while in Rome (of course, we’re never truly alone, but I’ve come to deeply appreciate faith in the context of community--I know that God gives us each other so that we may remain faithful to Him and grow in love for one another), and the fact that she was going assured me that I’d have at least one Catholic friend there and encouraged me to finish my applications. Thank God for His Providence! Now, I get to share some of Rome with her too! :)

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posted by Kristin @ 9:06 AM   0 comments
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
TWINS WIN!!! :-D
THE TWINS WON LAST NIGHT!!!! :-D

I went to the Newman Center yesterday, and the Tigers vs. Twins game, the tiebreaker for the AL Central Division title, happened to be on the TV. I decided to embrace the city of my future Alma Mater of sorts and root for the Twins. I've never really followed the AL, and since there will likely be very little contact with my favorite NL team (which I hope will finish its losing streak soon lol), there'd be no problem with the Twins becoming my favorite AL team. :)

WHAT A GAME for any fan, new or old!!! You can't watch a game like that and not get into it. Everyone there was on the edge of his or her seat, especially once the game hit extra innings, even though none of them really cared which team won. (Well, besides me. :-D) I'm just glad the game ended before my 10 PM Holy Hour. In the 9th inning, I was joking that I might have to leave the game for Holy Hour. By the 12th, I realized that I probably shouldn't have joked. :-P Luckily, the game finished with the TWINS victorious, closing out their last season at the Metrodome triumphantly!



...Oh yeah, this does NOT mean I am rooting for the Vikings too. PITTSBURGH STEELERS ALL THE WAY!!!!!

Just figured I should clarify that. :)

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posted by Kristin @ 11:36 AM   0 comments
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
For future reference...
Maria's awesome webpage!

http://laystudentsinrome.googlepages.com/

I posted this on here for my future reference--in case I should need to use anything in her resources.

I'm so thankful that she's going to be in Rome finishing her thesis while I'm there. :)

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posted by Kristin @ 12:56 PM   0 comments
Monday, October 5, 2009
Should I stay or should I go?
I'm DYING to meet my fellow Bernardi residents for next semester!!!

But...

The plane ticket to St. Paul, Minnesota for Rome orientation will be $282 round trip. That's a lot of money, considering I could probably use that to go to London, Florence to visit Jen, or Paris to visit Caitlin and Adam about four months from now. WOW....from a mere thought in my junior year of high school to a reality. In four months. WOW.

I still feel like I want to go to St. Paul though. I'd love to see the Cathedral too, especially now that it's a National Shrine to St. Paul.

So you just got to let me knowwww...should I stay or should I goooo? :)

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posted by Kristin @ 2:43 PM   0 comments
Thursday, October 1, 2009
EXCITED!!!
SUCH EXCITING NEWS!!!

I just found out that the Newman Center group may be going to Rome for Spring Break!!!! AHHH SO EXCITED!!!

Michelle and Joanna mentioned the possibility to Fr. Mike on Monday or Tuesday. They went during my senior year of high school, and they hoped to go every two or three years, but they haven’t done one since I’ve been going to Pitt. He’s totally ready and willing to do it this year, but he’s just not sure what the interest is. From what I hear, a lot of people would really like to go, and Michelle and Joanna are ready to jump on board right now. I really, really, REALLY hope more people sign onto the trip!! It’ll be one month into my stay, so it’ll be right around the time when I’m settling in, and probably right around the time when I’ll start missing Pittsburgh, so it’d be great to have a little bit of Pittsburgh come to me. :)

It’s seriously going to burst my bubble if this doesn’t happen…I mean, I’ll still have an awesome time in Rome regardless, but it’d be SO nice to share a little bit of the Rome experience with them too!

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posted by Kristin @ 8:24 AM   0 comments
About Me


Name: Kristin
Home: Pittsburgh, PA, United States
About Me: Seeking my true Fatherland as I travel this spiritual journey with Our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope, with the help of God, to follow in the example of the saints and strive for holiness.
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