An aspiring journalist from Notre Dame managed to find the story of a lifetime while studying abroad.  Renee Roden, who writes for the university's Scholastic magazine, found herself right in the middle of history in St. Peter's Square.

Thousands crammed in shoulder to shoulder, umbrellas to the sky and flags flying from all around the globe. All the way towards the front of this massive crowd you would find a homemade flag proudly hanging from a group of Notre Dame Students.

"To be there with pilgrims from all over the world my friend made a conclave like a champion sign. Yesterday was absolutely incredible to be in that square," said Roden.

Roden recalled the history she witnessed and now gets to document it for the university's student magazine.

"When we finally saw the white smoke there was this pause I was sort of frozen and then the square exploded with joy and we were hugging each other and tearing up," said Roden.

They stayed for hours as the Catholic crowd took in their first moments with the new pope.

"There is a lot of joy, ok now we have this pope his name is Francesco and ok now we have to get know him," said Roden.

The story will be an easy one to tell. The moment those umbrellas came down, cell phones went up, and history unfolded in front of her very eyes.

"It has been raining in Rome for the past week and as that white smoke came out it stopped raining so it’s like there is this new beginning maybe in a way the church has been re-baptized, reborn," said Roden.

She will be there until Sunday, when the pope delivers his next sermon in mass. Her article will come out in the next issue of the Scholastic.