Embassy Sweet

We, the seven new men of the house (soon to be joined by a dozen more, who haven't been studying Italian here) were invited to dinner at the U.S. Ambassador's yesterday. Joining us were the ordinands of the Gianiculum, U.S. seminarians who are preparing to be ordained to the diaconate at St. Peter's at the beginning of October, as well as the faculty of the Gianiculum. Half a dozen armed guards allowed us in at the gate, where we were then greeted by Ambassador Francis Rooney and his wife, Kathleen. The dinner was billed as an informal barbecue, which meant that only about a dozen uniformed personnel brought us champagne on silver trays and offered us grilled mini-lamb chops with the hot dogs and grilled steak, served on requisite blue plates accompanied by red plastic silverware and white napkins embossed with the U.S. Seal.

We had taken the taxi over, but walked back through the Trastevere district to return to our residence, about a 45 minute journey concluding by the Vittorio Emmanuele monument.