Making Friends

Well it was quite a busy weekend, but great for relationship building!

Friday I got to meet with four Italian students who came to Athens, GA for a ten day cultural exchange I helped in hosting shortly before I came to Rome.  It was great to see those girls again, some familiar faces in a new place.  After our official meeting two of the girls, Manuela and Sara took me to one of their favorite shopping streets. It's neat, Manuela and I already had some sporadic spiritual conversations over the weekend, so I'm hoping those questions continue.

Manuela insisted on treating me to a common treat here in the summer, basically the equivalent of a slushie.  It was the first time I've seen ice since leaving the states, a commodity you don't think to appreciate until you're without (much like with a dishwasher, dryer, car, and other things I'm getting used to not having).

Slushie guy shaving off chunks of ice for our drinks.
He seemed to enjoy giving suggestions on flavor combinations for the American's first granita.

We got to spend a good part of Sunday together as well, going to lunch at McDonalds by the Spanish steps (quite a hot spot here) and the gardens at Villa Borghese.  It was funny because Sunday was actually Sara's first time at Villa Borghese and I had been several times before when studying abroad, so in that small area I knew more directions than a local.  For those that know me and my (supposedly lacking) abilities with directions, that's pretty rare.

The overlook in Villa Borghese where you can see the entire city,
with Manuela in the center and Sara on the right.

Friday evening I met a friend of Taylor's and Cristina's (two girls on the team) from the UK, Pippa.  The rest of the weekend I was with those girls and a few others from Italy.  It was so great getting to have time just to hang out with the three girls and start forming real friendships.  Taylor and Cristina because they are the only believers here close to my age and going to be my core accountability and encouragement here.  While quite different in beliefs than me, Pippa is so sweet and really funny, so I enjoyed just getting to know her and beginning a friendship I believe will carry through this year.  We're already making plans to go visit her in London in November, and I'm so excited to have these girls in my life within a week of moving!

Cristina, Taylor, me, and Pippa

Yesterday afternoon Cristina, Pippa, and I went out for a picnic to enjoy the first feel of autumn.  Riding down to the park together was pretty amusing, because we realized while we all spoke English, we each had strong accents- Australian, British, and "the cute southern twang."  We're all about cultural diversity, it looks like there will be random nations represented in our group as visitors come and go throughout the year!