Pope Benedict XVI, not quite the same ring as GP due, but all of the people here seem to be excited about him just the same.

My roomies and I watched the start of conclave on CNN (our one English channel) in our apartment on Monday. I was very cool, very formal, and very ridged. Some of those cardinals are in their 80s and looked like they just wanted to go home to rest instead of sitting on uncomfortable pews and going through the repetive process of talking attendance and swearing in. Maybe that's why they finished so fast. We all had expected it to at least take two or three days. So when we heard the bells we were totally confused.

When the new Pope was selected, and the ballots were burned so as to produce the white smoke, all of the church bells in Rome also were sounded. The bells rang out all throughout the city, in all or nearly all of the 900 or so Roman churches. I was up on my bunk bed when I heard the cacophony. "They picked a Pope!" I shouted while I jumped down and ran into the other room to see if Sam and Bri thought so too. We flipped on the news, saw the shot of San Pietro, and then scrambled around to get our shoes, jackets, and cameras. The three of us ran out the door and then followed the Vatican Wall to the already packed Piazza. People were headed into St. Peters in droves. Throngs pushed themselves into the square, jumping over gates and around pillars, completely ignoring the Cabinari's lackluster attempts in crowd control.

Once we made it in, we pushed our way through the labyrinth of people until we found a spot within sight of the Basilica's main balcony. The sky was a pale blue, with huge billowing light grey clouds peering up from the back of the dome. It was sunny, and started to rain slightly, I almost expected a rainbow, which would have been very fitting, but I didn't see one. Va Bene.

Allora, soon the Cardinals lined the balconies on either side of the main one where the head Cardinal came out, "Habemus Papam!" "We have a Pope!" he shouted. Benedict XVI emerged, said a few words and then gave his first "Urbi at Orbi" (for the city and for the world) papal blessing. And I was there! We kept pinching ourselves.

The whole ceremony couldn't have lasted more than an hour, but when you put it into context, and think how that single hour is so incredibly historically significant, it is mind blowing! Again ... amazing, I still cannot believe that I was a part of this, one of the tens of thousands gathered in the Piazza. I am still pinching myself, even now.