St Peter's

Friday was a spectacular first day for our illustrious choir tour in Italy.

We woke up bright and early with a 6:30am call to our rooms. Weary, but motivated by anticipation, we rolled out of bed and readied ourselves for the day.

Once our tummies were full with delicious breakfast, we were off to the Vatican city. We were provided with handy electronic guides that have earpieces to serve as communication devices for all the locations for the rest of the trip.  I felt burdened by this device at first, but once at the Vatican museum, I was very happy for it.

At the Vatican museum we were met by Daniella. Daniella was our personal tour guide for the Vatican museum. What a pleasure it was to have her as a tour guide. One of her first lines immidiately endeared us to her: "All the other tour guides don't mess with me...or I kill them!" She was a hoot!

She led us about the Vatican museum with a little snake on a pole called Pampino (sp?). It means 'little Joe' in Italian. It was the only one of its kind in the Vatican museum. We never lost sight of her.

Daniella's insight was invaluable. I learned so much from her throughout the tour. It was my second time at the Vatican museum, but, due to Daniella's knowledge, I felt like I was seeing it for the first time!

Of course, the highlight of the tour was the Sistine chapel. Such beautiful extravagance and intense intricacy of Michelangelo's ceiling and all the other art pieces designed by other famous artists. It was a joy to just stand and reveal in the awe-inspiring sight. The Sistine chapel is definitely a sight everyone needs to see in their lifetime. It is breath-taking.

After our tour, we had a lunch break to wander the streets before gathering for our performance. We quickly changed in the bus and headed over to St. Peter's. We toured St. Peter's earlier, but it was just as fantastic to walk in again, knowing we would be singing there! We walked toward the front in our tuxes and dresses, bipassed the guards that held people back from the mass area, and moved toward our seats. We sat in the actual choir area in the front of the Basilica. To actually be sitting in the choir area was incredibly surreal. So much history all around us, so many choirs before us, and here we were, North Central College students, sitting in the choir area for an actual mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Incredible.

The mass was one of my favorite life-experiences. It was an hour long mass spoken in Latin, with our choir singing five songs at different points. Most of all, they loved us. We were only supposed to sing 4 songs, but they liked us so much that they had us sing another. It was delightful. To hear our voices resonating through the largest Church in all of Catholic Christendom was incredibly moving for me, especially as a person of faith. I wouldn't give up this experience for the world.

The rest of the night was wonderful: hanging out with friends, eating a wonderful dinner and wandering about Rome. But nothing compares to the wonders and majesty of St Peter's Basilica and the fact that we were able to sing within its walls.

This trip is turning out to be just as exciting as I had originally thought. I can't wait to see what happens next!