finally photos!!!!!!

here are FINALLY some pictures.....some of these i took, and some are my friends. i still can't really get access to my all of my own photos, so i just took some off of my friends online rome photobucket thing....there are many more i would like to eventually post, but some is better than none!

at the airport (me, rebekah(my roomie), and zeke (my housemate))

todi
the spanish steps

me and my girlfriends at todi

our seven hour layover...

the colosseum at night

the victor emmanuel statue or as we call this building, "the wedding cake"

one of the vatican fountains at night

the vatican at night

the vatican at night

vatican

our school enterence....i know its exciting....

todi
todi
todi
todi



roman ruins

roman ruins


conor in our kitchen!



this is a statue of marcus arrillius (i dont know how to spell his name)

this is my apartment from the outside...we are the second floor

bible study

oh man, i am so excited. we just had our second bible study. last week it was just me, sarah, and danielle. i put up a flyer about it at the end of the day last monday, but no one really had come last week other than us. and this week we didn't really expect anyone else to come, but there was 3 other people there! so we had a total of 6 people. we were all suprised that people actually came. i guess we shouldn't have been suprised, but it was unexpected. how cool. they are all christians, and seem to be as excited for the fellowship as we are. they also are going to come to our church here next weekend. i had prayed for people to come last week, but no one really did. and then this week i just didn't even think about praying for new people. but God still answered my prayer. what a cool reminder of God's faithfulness.


last night i went to the film festival and it was really fun. it was more of an udnerground thing, it was a really small theater and not a lot of people, but the films were pretty entertaining, and it was fun just to hang out with friends. then i slept over at the termini house last night and this morning sarah and i drank tea and made breakfast. and i finished my print today! it was a pretty good day.

exhausted

i spent 6 hours staight in the printmaking studio today. it was stressful and hard. my print isn't going the way i wanted it too. i am about half way done with it and it is due on tuesday. im sure i will get it done, and hopefully it wont be a total disaster.

yesterday started out very badly but then ended well. i went to an on-cite for my printmaking class to treve fountain which was beautiful, and it was really cool to see the prints and everything. but then........*dun dun dunnnnn* it started to rain. it wasn't falling too heavily so me and 3 of my friends decided to try and find something to eat since it was lunch time. we kept walking all around in circles in the rain thinking that we would find something affordable but everything was either really expensive or closed or something (because we were in a more touristy area). so by the time we found somewhere we were totally soaked. we dried off a little bit while we ate, and then we thought that the rain would have passed, but it hadn't. so we had the task of walking home in the rain. it started to rain more and more and more...we had to walk about an hour in it, and i didnt have an umbrella with me, and i was just wearing a sweatshirt and light jacket so i was completely drenched 100%, well maybe like 94%. it was rediculous. it felt like i went swimming in my clothes. and it was cold out so it was not a fun experience by any means. when i got a little closer to my apartment i decided to take a tram because i was so miserable. you have to cross over this intersection to get to the tram, and it is a busy area so it is usually really crowed, but no one was crossing there. then i realized no one was crossing there because there was a HUGE puddle (more like a pool) of water around the intersection. there was about 7 inches of water. i was so wet and my shoes were already completely wet so i decided to just walk though it. i was kind of embarassed because i knew people were probably watching me and im sure i looked rediculous, but i did not care....eventually i made it home. i canceled the plans i had for that night because all i wanted to do was stay in bed under to covers. so thats what i did and it was wonderful. i read, and wrote, and crocheted. walking through the cold wet rain was probably my most miserable moment since being here, but at least it ended well.

hopefully tomorrow will be a much better day. i am going to church, and then in the evening i am going to a film festival.

i hope everyone at home is enjoying the snow for me!!

<3

doilies!!

another week of classes are completed. time is really flying by already.

today during sculpture class sarah and i went and bought some materials. it was a fun excursion. i got some buttons, yarn, and lace. i am going to be working on making a series doilies i am really excited. i am going to make all different kinds. corcheting, knitting, sewing, collaging...who knows. and then i think i will install them somewhere, or maybe just put them in typical areas then photograph them. ill figure that part out when i get to it. they are going to be based on my time here in rome. i have to take my desire to do fiber work and adjust it for the sculptural context. hopefully it will work out alright.

yesterday my art history class went to trestevere. we went to three different churches and looked at different works of art. it was pretty cool. my favorite thing was in this one church there was a huuuuuge mosaic in all different colors...it was sooo beautiful. someday, maybe i will get pictures up. i wish i remembered the name of the church, or the artist, or what it was called.....

tomorrow my printmaking class is going to the treve fountian. that should be pretty neat as well.

Ciao.

His mercies are new every morning

Lamentations 3:22-24

Through the Lords mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"

almost every single morning that thought runs through my mind "my mercies are new every morning, my mercies are new every morning..." it has been so good to dwell on that thought. God provides enough grace and mercy for whatever each day holds. Don't allow yourself to get distracted by the negative things that happened yesterday, but instead focus on the mercy that God has and is and will provide you with. His mercies are new today!

last night we had a very small bible study here. i put up a flyer late in the day so i don't think many people know about it. there was only three of us, but it was still a good time of fellowship. we are going to let it be a very laidback sort of thing. we just want to have open discussion about Gods word and what he is doing in our lives. hopefully there will be other christians on the campus that will be able to come.

tomorrow night is my night to cook! i am going to make whole wheat pasta with a ricotta cheese sauce and zucchini...and of course with bread. hopefully it will be good.

i heard that it snowed back at home. that makes me a little homesick. :-/

this morning i went to church with danielle. it was so good. it is called Calvary Chapel and it is an international christian church. it is small, about 20 people. and they have their service in english and italian. there is something incredible about worship in different languages. it reminds you of how big God is. he is universal. we sang songs first in english and then in italian. for the message, the pastor would say a sentence or two in english and then there was another man up front who would then translate what he said into italitan. the message was about Exodus 20, and focused on the fifth commandment-honor your father and mother. it was a good service and it felt so good to be with a body of believers again. i am so thankful for this church that i will be able to attend while im here.

well, i know i keep saying i will post pictures but i keep running in to many problems. i will keep trying though. it is quite a frusterating situation.


mom- thanks so much for your daily emails and for all of your support
aunt diane, aunt connie, aunt debbie, and grandma w.-thanks so much for reading my blog and letting me know what is going on with my my family! i miss you all...
dar- i love your long comments. i think about you everyday when i look at the pictures of us on my wall. :)
mrs. baker- thank you for your email and the advice with my pictures! im still working on that...
and thanks to all my friends from crossway who have been encouraging me. thanks for being sensitive to my fear of being forgotten....haha...you are wonderful.

i am overwhelmed by how God has been blessing me through notes and verses from people back at home. thanks for all of your prayers. i feel them all the way across the ocean.

defeating the first week of school

today i had my first sculpture class. i really like it. me and sarah will be splitting a small studio space. i am excited about that. i am also excited that there is a sewing machine in the sculpture bay. its time for me to start deciding what kind of work i want to make this semester. today the scupture professor made coffee for us and then he took us to some places in rome where we can buy various materials. they dont have stores like wal-mart or home depot here. all of the store are small and locally owned. it can be annoying when you don't know where to go for something specific but there is something fascinating about it-its more authentic.

after sculpture sarah and i went to the bakery again and then to a sandwhich place near school.

then i had italian class and then printmaking class.

and now i am tired. but the good news is that it is the weekend! we don't have school on fridays (only my university, not all of rome) so my weekend starts now.

rainy day

today is a rainy day. i just got back from my first on-cite art history class. we went to the capital museum. it was pretty cool. we looked at lots of roman ruins and ancient sculptures.

dont worry, soon i will post pictures. i will post so many pictures you won't even know what to do.

last night me, rebekah, emily, and conor discovered an amazing bakery. it is open all night and you can smell it from a block away. you walk down to it and it is just cases full of crazy pastries. and it is so cheap. yay

first day of school

today is the first day of classes. all i have is italian. but it will be really good to start learning the language.

yesterday was really fun. all of the temple rome people went on a trip to todi. we rode in a bus for about 2 hours and then stopped in the little town of todi. it didnt feel like a real place. it seemed like it was from a fairy tale. it is actually where they film some movies like romeo and juliette. eventually i will post some pictures of it. it was so beauitful. there was lots of stands set up for selling all kinds of things.

then we left todi and drove for about 30 mins to this huge restuarant that was like on top of a mountian. it was incredible. it was like a midevil castle or something. they served us a 13 course lunch/dinner that took about 4 hours. it is supposively a traditional wedding cerimony meal. it was amazing. some of the things they served us were anipasta, pizza, pasta with boars head sauce, creamed asparagus rice, salad, potatoes, veal, teramissou (sp?), biscotti and coffee, fruit, and of course wine. there was lots of other stuff too. it was soo good and it was really fun to sit with friends and visit over good food for so long.

i have lived with people who do not believe the same things as me before, but i have always had home as an escape from that. i am realizing how hard it is to not really have an escape from it. i have some christian friends here, but i am not with them all that much. it seems like i have this huge barrier between me and my four roommates. i want god to use me in their lives and i want to be a light to them. last night was hard for me. i get weary of their conversations which have zero interest to me. actually, negative interest to me. i had a good time of reading and praying and i feel much better today. i wish it didn't take such desperate situations for me to desire time with god so much.

if you think of it i could use prayer in the following areas:
*consistancy in devotions
*stability, and not allowing myself to compromise to the actions of those around me
*that the joy of the lord will be evident in my life and that his love will be a light to those around me
*that me and some of my christian friends would be able to start some sort of bible study here
*that my first week of classes will go well

thank you so much for reading my blog. it has been so encouraging to me to receive your comments and emails! thank you!!!!!

nutella and hazelnut....

i should be able to start writing pretty regularly on here now that i have access to the school computer lab. today has been amazing so far. we woke up, got the tram to school and then went walking around the city. my friend danielle, who was here all of last semester took us to the spanish steps, the pantheon (breathtaking), and the borgese gardens, where there was a veiw of most of rome. it was so cool. we also stopped for gelato and i officially have a new favorite- nutella and hazelnut.

last night i had an adventure. it wasn't fun though. my plan was to go back to the apartment and then later go over to my friends house near termini. i was by myself and ended up getting really lost. we havent gotten our cell phones yet and many people don't speak english. two long tram rides, one bus ride, 20 minutes of walking, 5 "conversations", and about 2 and half hours later, i arrived at my friends house. im hoping that eventually i will learn how to navigate myself better here.

i have a mailing address at the school. it is probably more secure than my apartment address. please feel free to send a letter or whatever. if you want to send me a package or something it should be small or not valuable, otherwise i will get charged a lot of money to recieve it. please be careful about it. they said that they can charge up to 100 euro if they think it is valuable.

Cori Bitterman
Temple University Rome
Lungotevere Arnaldo da Brescia, 15
00196 Rome, Italy

today was the first day of orientation. it will continue for the rest of this week and classes will start on monday. the school is nice. its very small, but i like it. i will hopefully be taking : italian, northern renaissance art history, printmaking, and advanced sculpture. the overwhelming feeling of this amazing city is starting to fade a little and i am feeling more comfortable.

me and my roommate rebekah want to go to the local bar (cafe) everyday and get a cappachino (90 cents) so that we will become regulars and make friends with the old couple that run it. they are so cute.

i am still having trouble getting my pictures up, but hopefully i will be able to post some soon. pictures are so much more exciting.

it has been nice to be in a place that doesn't feel comfortable and be forced to rely on God for that. there are times during the day when i just need to just go in room read my bible and pray. and there is so much comfort in that. a few people encouraged me to read the book of romans while here. so i have been doing that in my devotions.

i wasn't able to go to church last week because we already had other plans, and this week we have a "field trip" to Todi. But the next sunday i will start going to a church that a few of friends have been going to. i dont know anything about it really, but i will write more about it after actually get there.

so on sunday all of the new students are going on this trip to Todi. it sounds like it will be really fun. we drive for a few hours and then hike up part of a mountian?? and then when we get to the top they give us a 13 course dinner. yeeeeahahhhh.

the past week ive had free time which i use to play dutch blitz (thanks for the cards mom!!), and drink wine and read. its been really relaxing and really fun.

everyday we go to the market and get the food we will need for dinner that night. everything is so much fresher here. im learing how to cook!!

we ride the bus or metro almost everyday and do lots of walking. people tend to stare at us americans. we kinda stand out.

man, i could write forever about all the things that have been happening but this is already really long. i probably wouldn't have read all this if i was you.

in roma

i am officially in roma. i have pictures to post but i dont have the facilities to do so yet. i am having a marvelous time so far. the trip over here wasnt too extremely amazing, but the plane rides were good. i cant wait to post pictures of our apartment. it is so cool. we are all going out for gelato now, i will write more later. sorry i dont know where the apostrophe is on this keyboard. thanks for all your encouragment!!

goodbye lancaster...

in less than 12 hours i will be on my way. i am flying with 6 friends from the philly airport, and will have one layover in frankfurt, germany. fortunatly, i happen to love plane rides. i love the little snacks they give you.

it was fun hanging out with friends and family this week and saying my goodbyes. i feel more prepared to leave. however, i will really miss everyone. especially this girl...(my cousin gabbie)

<3