The Strife is Over . . .

Exams, my friends, are pretty much done! Yay! And I don't think I failed anything. I know. I KNOW. I never, ever thought that my one goal at the beginning of an exam period would be to not-fail. Not like I've ever been Miss 4.0, but I've usually gone into Finals knowing that I'll come out with A's and B's. But that was America.

When you're learning material in another language, and when you haven't looked much at the material for three months, you fight for what you can get. So with that being said, I think I did pretty dang well for my first semester. Got two A's, a decent grade on my freaky-hard oral exam, and I have a good feeling about the rest. We'll see in the next couple weeks when the grades start rolling in!

So: many, many thanks for the kind souls who said prayers for me, sent text messages and random Bible quotes that had nothing to do with the Bible, put up with spastic phone calls, and all other sorts of goodness. The distractions saved my sanity.

The agenda for this week is pretty exciting. Tomorrow kicks off Lent, which means tomorrow I start kicking myself regularly for forgetting about my Lenten penances.

This year, I'm doing it with a bang (the penance, not the kicking): I'm going to go to Mass at the Roman Station Churches* every night, class allowing.

*What are the Station Churches? Back in the day the Pope used to travel to a different church in Rome every day during Lent to celebrate Mass with the faithful. It was a way for the Pope, as the Bishop of Rome, to reach out to all of his "parishes" during this time of penitence. The Pope no longer says Mass every night, but the tradition of church-hopping continues, aided by Cardinals and Bishops and a slew of the faithful who gather. Apparently there are special prayers to go along with the practice, too. The North American College (affectionately known at the "Knack" here) has a pretty nifty website with info on the churches, starting with tomorrow's, my favorite ancient Roman Church of Santa Sabina:

Roman Station Churches: Santa Sabina

They've got some cool picture and trivia on the site, if you'd like to virtually follow along. Infuse some Catholic culture into your life.

Friday morning I break my Lenten addition and go to Spain and Fatima, Portugal for 5 days! I get back on the 12th and start the second semester that afternoon. Busy times! I'll be praying for y'all while I travel.

So what are y'all doing for Lent?