Yesterday was an interesting day. With a lot of help from my guardian angel, I somehow got through my laziness in time to get out of bed and go to school for Lauds and morning Mass. Fortunately, I arrived at the same time as someone who could get in past the locked gates, because the friar who was to let me in seems to have overslept and did not come. After Mass, I saw some friends/classmates who either wanted help with something, or who wanted to accompany me for breakfast. And then I lost track of time, and ended up walking in the classroom just after the professor began his lecture. During the lecture, I became frustrated with the Italian and the pace, and felt ready to explode when we continued right through our scheduled break. So, I started typing rants into my notes instead of relevant passages in St. Thomas and Aristotle regarding "delectatio," "edos," that is, pleasure. After class, it didn't help that I couldn't easily find a quiet place to study for the next hour as the school was overrun by an international symposium on child trauma treatment. So, I remained a bit uptight, and tried to relax and just pray during my holy hour which came after that hour where I had meant to study. When I came out of the chapel, a good friend offered to join me for lunch, so I decided to stay at school and eat with her and then study. But what I studied was not really what I thought I might study, but a course I had taken a couple of years ago which a current student wishes I might help him with. While working on that, though, I lost track of time and was still in the classroom when the bell rang, indicating that I was actually supposed to be at the Gregorian meeting friends for a showing of Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men). Sure enough, when I checked my phone I saw I had missed a call from the friend who had invited me to the movie. Fortunately, though, the message she left said she was running a bit behind as she had to come to the Angelicum first. Then I tried calling the other friend who was to join us, and for some reason, it didn't work. When I got to the Greg a bit late, there I found my friends had not been waiting for me so long after all, as we were all just as late as the rest of us! And I had considered giving up on the movie and going home! Well, five of us easily found seats and tried to get as much as we could from a French film with Italian subtitles. After the film, all was silent until the priest who had introduced the movie and welcomed us to the Greg for the event began his little speech regarding the background and the story which had inspired it. Then, another priest spoke a bit about missionary work in Muslim lands. Really, the whole thing was rather thought-provoking, and instead of going our separate ways, the five in our group went to dinner to discuss it over pizza before parting company. So, it really was an enjoyable evening.
Thus the start of the four-day weekend.
But, why a four-day weekend? Well, Tuesday is the feast of All Saints, which, apart from being a holy day of obligation is a national holiday in Italy. And, we're in Italy. In Italy, if a holiday falls on Tuesday or Thursday, then you take the day between that and the weekend and call it a "bridge" and take that bridge as a holiday, too. So, we don't have classes on Tuesday, but why bother going to school Monday, then. Good. More time for me to think about writing a paper. Or, to procrastinate. Plus, another hour! We get our hour back tonight that had been stolen from us last March!
Perhaps I should get to work.
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