A Public Blessing from the Pope

by Mary Fuentes

I went to England through CAPPA, an exchange program. I registered at UB and then registered at SUNY Oswego, so I could keep my status at UB. I had to go through Oswego because UB doesn't have a semester program. It just has a yearlong program. SUNY Oswego had a program where for three months you live in London.

In London, I only had classes three days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So I had four-day weekends. I would go to classes with my friends, and then we'd figure out where we wanted to go for the weekend.

I managed to hook up with some really nice girls who wanted to travel and wanted to do it cheaply. We ended up working a lot of things out and getting to go to a lot of places.

I never in my life thought I would get to see the Pope. It was an accident, but I did! I didn't know he was going to be in Rome at the time I was there. A public blessing from the Pope, you know, that was pretty good. I also never thought I would stand on top of a mountain in Scotland with it snowing.