Journey to Phil, Part 5

(Parts 1-4 can be found on the last four Tuesday posts)

Here we were, on our trip to Assisi and Rome, dating only officially for the past 3 weeks, but already feeling like He was The One. One thing that is true about traveling together, is that the relationship does blossom very quickly when you are together all.the.time in vacation-type spots. We had even seen each other multiple times with crazy bed head and morning breath upon waking in the overnight trains. Don't get the wrong idea, we were always surrounded by plenty of friends :)

We arrived in Assisi, and had lunch with the whole school (about 100 students) in a big restaurant. In Italy, the wine flows like water, and that's what is offered to drink. It was a hot day, and we all were thirsty, and didn't realize how much wine we had consumed before we stood up to leave. Whew, you live, you learn! I guess the wine provided the courage Phil needed to (finally!) kiss me in the streets of Assisi. I could have died a happy death right there. I was the first girl Phil had ever kissed (or dated) and I knew I wanted to be the last :)

On the second night in Assisi, Phil got up the nerve to kiss me again, and then we had a lovely talk where he let me know that since kissing was all we could do until we were married, we should take it slow.  Swoon, is there anything more attractive than a holy and chaste man?  I think not.  I was so happy to finally be dating someone like him.

We travelled on to Rome, where we got to be in the Wednesday Audience of Pope John Paul II on Ash Wednesday.  It was Phil's first time seeing the Pope, and honestly no matter how many times you see him, it's just as exciting!

After that big school-wide trip, we went back to Austria to study and continued to travel on the weekends.  Phil and I (with many other students) were able to visit Poland, France, Belgium, Ireland, other cities in Austria, Germany, and Italy again.  When we did go back to Italy, we were able to go to the Easter Vigil in the Vatican and met up with my parents and sister who had come over to see us and travel around Europe.  My mom and dad loved Phil and could see how serious we were.  Phil himself confirmed it by saying "I love you" when we were in Ireland.  Of course, I had fallen in love with him way before that, but was eagerly anticipating his proclamation of love for me :)

Our semester in Austria was over way too fast, and soon it was time to pack up for our trip home.  We hatched a plan that I would fly into Boston (since I already had my round-trip ticket) and then the next day, hop a flight down to Maryland to meet his family.  When I arrived at the airport, Phil gave me a huge hug, and then his dad gave me an even bigger one.  I was in like Flynn!  After visiting with his family, we drove to Franciscan University's campus in Ohio so that I could drive home with my little sister to Massachusetts (a thirteen hour car ride). We got the chance to hang out with some friends on campus before it was time to part ways.  I was so sad the day that he went home to Maryland for the summer, and I headed back to Massachusetts. 

Would our love stand the test of time and distance?......