Barthelona

This little trip to Spain almost didn’t happen. At first we planned to leave Wednesday night of March 21st because Mark and I didn’t have class on Thursday. Then Mark remembered he had play practice Wednesday night, so we pushed back our time of departure to Thursday morning. Then I got called in to go to the kindergarten in town and we had to push back our time of departure again. So our plan was leave Thursday afternoon, get into Budapest Thursday night, stay at a hostel, get a cab to the airport super early and fly into Barcelona Friday morning. So we’d have Friday and Saturday and fly out early Sunday morning back into Budapest. Our other problem was that we had waited super long to buy our plane tickets, and they had definitely gone up in price. Also, the next weekend began our 10 day break, and I was leading a mission trip the first part. I didn’t know if I should be going on a trip so close to mission. But we threw caution to the wind, pulled out our passports and bought our plane tickets, packed our bags and headed to Budapest… Just me and Mark.

And let me tell you, it was one of the best trips of the semester. But I get ahead of myself.

The trip to Budapest went by flawlessly. We hopped from train to train and slept a little and worked on homework a little and talked a little. It’s so easy to travel with just one other person… We made it to Budapest and took the metro to the stop where our hostel was. From there we really had no idea where to go. We stopped in a little bakery and asked for directions. After a little bit of searching we found it. It was one of those that you go through the big door/gate thing into a courtyard of sorts and then up a bunch of windy stairs and finally you reach the door to the hostel.

It was a super cheap hostel. And we slept in a room with like 10 other people or something. The majority of the people there were American, which was funny. The man at the front desk was Italian though. We were able to call for a taxi to come get us at like 4:30 am the next morning and there was a computer so we looked up directions to our hostel and emailed Marta to get directions into the city from the airport. We went to bed around 11 or so and woke up at 3:45 am. Not much sleep at all… We stealthily tried to make it out of the room without waking anyone. We stumbled down half of the windy stairs in the dark before realizing we had a flashlight on our phones. And finally made it out to the taxi.

We made it to the airport but the wrong terminal. There were only two though… So we trudged to the other one. Having no idea what to do with our tickets or anything, we go to security. He scans it and we proceed through the line. I was stopped and patted down like I’ve never been patted down before. Pretty sure it was my consecration chain… I started giggling when she did the two fingers around my pant line because it tickled so bad. She’s probably like, “Dumb ticklish American…” But anyway, we made it through and got to our terminal. Thinking we were way ahead of schedule we chilled. Finally I looked at the ticket again feeling a sense of unease at the fact that this had all been too easy, and realized it said we needed a stamp of some sort. Grabbing our bags and making our way back to the main desk we discussed how ridiculous airports were and how much we hate them.

After minutes of not knowing what to do we hopped into a service line and got the stamp we needed. Heading back to through security it had tripled in size and we were worried now. We were escorted to a different line and luckily made it through without the tickling this time. We made it to our gate with time to spare and were even able to get seats next to each other on the plane. You see, ryanair is a great airline because it’s super cheap. But it’s crazy about baggage size and it doesn’t give you an assigned seat, so it’s first come, first serve.

Almost as soon as we got into our seats we passed out. Four hours in a hostel bed had not prepared us for our already stressful day of traveling. We finally landed in Barcelona and we were so excited. Looking back we had only finished like 5% of our traveling for the day. We landed around 9 am.

Jumping off the plane and removing some layers, as it was already significantly warmer than Budapest, we made our way to the train Marta had told us to take into the city. Her directions were flawless and we made our way to the train easily. We bought a 10 trip pass and hopped on. There was a team of I’m guessing soccer players and they were singing, or chanting, or yelling, but it was really cool. We made our way to one of the back cars though. And soon after we sat down a man came back and played his violin for us. “A Whole New World.” Fitting, as we had just made our way to another country. We easily made it to our stop and hopped on the metro per Marta’s instructions.

When we finally reached our last stop was where our problems started. Having not eaten all day and sleeping fitfully for probs a total of 5 and 1/2 hours we meandered down the street… turns out, the wrong way. It was all down hill too, which meant that we had to turn around and trek back uphill to get back to square one. The bank in which we stopped basically looked as us like we were crazy and told us we were completely on the wrong side of town. Determined to walk there we set off again, this time in the right direction.

Barcelona graced us with the most difficult hills and steps we’d climbed since Assisi. All with a huge bag. So we kept walking and looking at street signs and getting more lost by the minute, but still determined to keep walking. A construction worker obviously seeing that we were struggling came over and I used my very little Spanish to see if he could help us. Good thing I new my directions… Eventually, we made it to our hostel. It was about 11:30 am and we still hadn’t eaten… We were slowly fading.

We put our bags into storage as we couldn’t check in until later and freshened up a little. We got a map and looked up some places we thought we might want to go. Marta met us at our hostel around noon. It was so good to see her. As soon as we found her I felt at ease. I knew everything would be taken care of from now on. She would be in control of our day and be able to talk to everyone and communicate for us. This was going to be a great trip, even if I was half dead at the time.

Marta, sensing our half dead-ness, asked us what we wanted for lunch. Seeing as it was a Friday in lent we had to go with the no meat option. I had a calamari bocadillo and it was soooo good. (Could have been because of my ravenous state, or it might have just been that good.) We also had some super yummy champagne which I can’t remember what it’s called right now… But it was a good lunch and after, Mark and I were finally ready to see some stuff.

Our hostel was seriously on a hill though, so we trudged back down our big hill to get to take the metro to get into the heart of Barcelona. We walked around all day. We saw the cathedral, the house Gaudi built to look like a dragon, the oldest house on the street, the city center, what remains of the Roman walls, statues, Sagrada Familia, cute little stores. It was a busy day. But it was a fun day. Towards the end of the day we made our way back to our hostel before going out for dinner and drinks. In Spain, dinner is typically around like 8 pm and drinks are after.

We went out for tapas that night for dinner. Unfortunately since it was still Friday it was all meatless, but still super tasty. And after we went to one of Marta’s friend’s bars. I got some made up drink called the drunk monkey or something Mark got some fruity drink, as per usual. It was probably around 10 pm. Not super late. But Mark and I were sitting at the bar, sipping our drinks and mumbling to each other because we were so exhausted. By then we had been up for like 18 hours, and had been walking all day. Needless to say, we were falling asleep. Like legit. We sat down with Marta and her friends and I was talking to Marta and her friends were talking and Mark was in the middle. I look over in the middle of our conversation and Mark is out. Asleep, gone. And I knew it was time to make our way back to our hostel.

The problem with that idea was, on top of being super duper sleepy, we were also intoxicated. These were the strongest drinks I’ve ever had. And so we were stumbling around, longing to lay down on the sidewalk to sleep… Finally, eventually, somehow we made it back to our hostel. The next day was going to be packed with sight seeing as it was our only full day in the city. We were going to go up to a church at the top of this mountain and then to see some of the houses Gaudi created. So we slept just a little and were up and at it again.

Believing the hostel offered free breakfast we walked to the kitchen and started grabbing food, the lady comes up to us and asks us for 2 euro. Completely stunned we dropped everything and walked out of the hostel. Hah. We made our way to a bakery and bought ourselves some yummy pastries for breakfast and ate them on the metro on the way to meet Marta.

Our goal was Tibidabo. There’s a church up there, but right next to it is a crazy amusement park. And after finding out we had to buy tickets to the park in order to get to the church we said screw that and decided on finding our own way up. We took a bunch of different buses trying to make our way to the top. When we finally decided it was impossible to make it up there we hopped off the bus and walked around a bit. Having no idea where we were, we meandered down some road and then another. We came across a soccer field and a soccer tournament was going on. And I mean, when in Spain right?

So we took out our packed lunches and our huge 2 liter of coke and sat down to watch some soccer. It was awesome. No, I didn’t see an amazing team play, I didn’t see any intense plays, but I can say that I watched a soccer game in Spain. An authentic soccer game. It was great. One of the best memories I have, why? Because it was so random and sporadic. We finished our lunches, cheered for both teams and made our way back down this hill by bus.

We were off to see Marta’s favorite park, or one of them at least. Park Guell. At the entrance of the park there are two houses, affectionately called the “Hansel” and “Gretel” houses. At least, that’s what we called them. And then Gaudi’s house was also situated towards the back of the park. Before going to the park we stopped to buy some strawberries to enjoy, they were super cheap and looked delicious. We went into the park, took dozens of pictures and then sat at the benches overlooking the two houses and the city in the background. I had brought a big bar of milka, so we ate the strawberries and milka together. We pretended they were chocolate covered. It was super good nonetheless. After our snack, we continued on, enjoying the park and the flowers and each others company. Super chill.

At long last the Mediterranean was calling our name and we listened to its plea for company. We made our way to the beach where we were warned of the naked man. We sat down in the sand. There were tons of people walking around trying to get us to buy water, beer, massages, anything. It was obnoxious, and then we spotted the naked man. Haha. It was a good time though. The weather was not too hot and not too cold. It was just right.

After our time at the beach we made our way back into the city so we could catch mass at the cathedral. After mass we went out to find the courtyard filled with people. All dancing. I don’t remember what the dance was called, but it was super easy and anyone could join if they wanted to. They had a live band playing and everything. It was awesome to see all those people coming together to dance and hang out. It wasn’t as if they all knew each other either, strangers, family and friends all dancing. My kind of party.

We walked on past some super adorable street vendors and made our way to a place for dinner. Marta ate with her host family and Mark and I ate at this kebab place. We both had kebab bocadillos. So a mix of what we love with what was local. Hah. It was great. We just hung out and talked about the weekend so far and lots of other things. Marta met up with us after she was done and we went to find a place to have some drinks.

We finally settled on this bar called Zombie or something like that. I ordered what I knew, an amaretto sour and I wasn’t disappointed. It was super yummy. Some time in the middle of enjoying drinks, the bar tender brought us some shots. Having no idea what they were, we of course smelled them and then throwing caution to the wind, downed them pretty fast. They were delicious! I’m still convinced there was no alcohol in them… But they were super yummy. And as the night dragged on I became more and more aware of the fact that we needed to get up early for our flight tomorrow.

We said goodbye to Marta and took one final picture with our amazing host for the weekend and made our way back to the hostel. We got lost, no surprise and it took us FOREVER to get back. It was only 11 pm on a Saturday in Barcelona and already all of the Americans were alseep… We were shocked. When we were “too loud” for them they rolled over and yelled at us. The next morning was daylight savings time, we were losing an hour. Checking and double checking our watches and clocks we thought we were all ready.

We weren’t… We woke up an hour late and in a mad scramble to check out of the hostel we probably woke up every guest. We didn’t care. We checked out and ran out of the building. I was pissed, and then I fell. Looking back I can’t help but burst into laughter. But at the time I was so pissed. Mark did the right thing by not laughing at the time. We realized we had already missed the train that would take us to the airport. In a mad scramble of not knowing what to do we decided on a taxi. I’m glad we did. We saw parts of Barcelona we hadn’t gotten a chance to see in the beautiful first rays of light.

We made it to the airport and through security with ease. Making sure that our tickets were stamped correctly this time. We sat ready to board with our bags packed to the brim with clothes and souvenirs. We watched the sun rise through the high windows and talked about how we would be traveling through three countries in one day. World travelers.

Our flight to Budapest went over without a hitch. But now it was all about trying to get from the airport to the train station. After finally figuring out the bus and then figuring out the metro we finally made it to the train station. We bought our tickets and went to a near by store to buy some food for the ride home. By the time we made it back to the station our train was already waiting for us. We hopped on and I changed into some comfortable traveling clothes and we dug into the food we had just bought.

The train ride back to Austria was about the same as the train ride to Budapest. We slept and did homework. Read and talked about the weekend. I was again thankful to only have one travel companion. We made it back to the Kartause safely and were super happy to see our friends and talk about our weekend adventure. That Sunday we had been in three different countries, we had seen the sun rise in one and set in another, we had taken every mode of transportation except for a boat and bicycle. It was a day for the books. And I was exhausted.

As I stated before, this was one of my favorite trips. Laid back and yet exciting. I loved Spain. There is so much we didn’t get to see or do which makes me ache to go back some day. The week after this trip was full of mission planning. Making sure everything was in order for our big mission trip. My best friend was flying in on Thursday and I could not have been more excited to see her.

My next blog is going to be another super long one as it will cover all 10 days of my trip. 5 in Romania and 5 in Paris. 

 

My Prague Blog

After 10 days of traveling you hardly want to do anything. Seriously. Recovery days are by far the best thing God ever created for Franciscan students. At the same time you are always wanting to travel. Make the most of your time while you are in Europe. So this weekend I went to Prague. But I only went for a day with the school. And it was such a great little trip.

We woke up at 4:30 in the morning on Saturday March 17^th. It was a hard thing to do after going to bed late because of a movie date with Katie and Jen. We slept for about 3 ½ maybe 4 hours before having to get up. We left at 5 AM and got to Prague around 10 in the morning. It was difficult to sleep on the bus. It was suuuper cold and uncomfortable. We stopped at Mc.Donalds for a while at some point too.

We were given a map and a time and place to meet to leave and let go into the city of Prague. Our first item we wanted to see was the clock. There is this special astronomical clock in Prague. Prague Orloj is also how it’s called. It was first installed in 1410, making it the third astronomical clock in the world, and the oldest one still working.  It has three main parts; the astronomical dial, a clockwork hourly show with moving sculptures, and a calendar dial representing the months. It took us a while, but we finally wandered into the city square. It was St. Patrick’s day and the Irish pubs were already crawling with excited tourists. Bands played in the square and children danced to the music while teenagers layed around and smoked. It was pretty relaxed. We stood around listening to the music and taking in the sun. We took pictures of the clock and the massive dogs we saw along the way. We got huge bags of candy and set off to find the Charles Bridge. It was the most important connection between the Prague Castle to the Old Town.

It was a pretty cool bridge. Tons of sculptures lining the walkway and a lot of little vendors mixed with music groups entertaining and tempting us to buy little trinkets. On the other side of the bridge we knew we had to see the infant of Prague. But first thing was first, lunch.

We found a little café and Mark and I bought huge burgers with french fries. I ate it all. I was so hungry. We sat in the café watching customers come and go and talking to each other about what else we wanted to do before our time was up. Eventually we meandered out into the street in search of the church.

It was pretty easy to find and was really beautiful both on the outside and inside. As you walk in, you might expect the infant to be front and center, but that’s not the case. The precious infant is on the side. Just a little thing, adorned in beautiful clothes and shielded by a glass case. One arm raised in blessing. If you don’t know anything about the infant of Prague, here’s a bit of history:

“The Infant Jesus of Prague originally came from Spain. The legend tells that the Infant Jesus appeared miraculously to a certain monk, who modelled the statue based on the appearance of the apparition. According to another legend the statue belonged to St. Teresa of Avila, the founder of the Discalced Carmelites, who was aflame with a great love for the Child Jesus. She is said to have given the statue to a friend of hers, whose daughter was setting out to travel to Prague.

When the Duchess Maria Manrique de Lara came to Bohemia to marry a Bohemian nobleman in 1556, she received the statue from her mother as a wedding gift. When her daughter Polyxena of Lobkowicz was widowed, she gave the precious statue to the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites attached to the church of Our Lady of Victory in 1628.

The Carmelites placed the statue in the novitiate chapel, so that the young monks could learn from the virtues of the Child Jesus. At that time the Thirty Years’ War was raging through Europe and even the Infant Jesus was not spared when the Saxon army occupied Prague in 1631. It was only after his return to Prague in 1637 that Father Cyril of the Mother of God, originally from Luxemburg, discovered the statue, abandoned in a corner. To his sorrow, however, he found that the Infant Jesus had had both hands broken off. At this moment it seemed to him that the Infant Jesus was saying to him:

Have mercy on me and I will have mercy on you.
Give me hands and I will give you peace.
The more you honour me, the more I will bless you.

Eventually Father Cyril had new hands made for the Infant Jesus. The gold coin invested in this was returned many times over, as the Child Jesus began to bless the monastery, the local people, and the whole of Prague. Miraculous healings were attributed to him, as was the protection of Prague when it was laid siege to by the Swedes in 1639. In 1651 the statue was carried as a pilgrim round all the churches in Prague and in 1655 it was solemnly crowned by the Bishop of Prague. This event is still remembered today on the anniversary feast-day, falling on the first Sunday in May.”

After we saw the beautiful infant of Prague we decided to go to the Lennon wall. Which turned out to be this huge graffitied wall. And I, of course, was in love. Graffiti is probably one of my favorite things ever. I don’t know why, but I find it absolutely beautiful. There were so many messages about love and peace, so many quotes and sketches. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. We wandered along and found a bridge full of locks. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite things about Europe and traveling. Stumbling upon a bridge covered in locks. I probably look ridiculous taking so many pictures, but hey, I like it.

We walked back toward the bridges and found a little spot under a tree to hang out before we headed back over to the busy side of town. We talked and made fun of each other and told stories and played stupid games. And finally it was time to head back over. Once back on the busy side of town we walked around the block a few times, saw some big monuments lit by flood lights and took some night pictures.

We said goodbye to Mark as he was staying the night, but we were going back with the school. We walked to a little shop, slightly embarrassed by the fact that we hadn’t drank at all on St. Patrick’s day… But we couldn’t find what we were looking for and figured we were too poor anyway. Heading back to the bus we climbed on and talked to our peers about what we did. We all basically did the same things. I was a little bummed that we didn’t get to go to an Irish pub, but they were jam packed. It was impossible.

On the drive back we stopped again at Mc. Donalds and then headed back to the Kartause. We got back around one in the morning. We had almost been awake for a full 24 hours. I stayed up until 3:30 just so I could say I was up for 24 hours. The next day was Sunday and it was such a chill day. Just hanging out and relaxing. And waiting for others to come back from their weekends. It was a chill weekend. And it was really cool to get another country in. Even if it was only for one day.

The next weekend was the weekend before 10 day and so many people decided to stay back. Mark and I went to Spain to visit my friend studying there. It was just the two of us traveling and it was such a great trip. Super chill. I’m excited to blog about that one.

But for now, I hope you enjoyed my little tiny day trip to Prague. I know I did.

 

Here’s To Us

“My theory is about moments, moments of impact. My theory is that these moments of impact, these flashes of high intensity that completely turn our lives upside down actually end up defining who we are. The thing is each one of us is the sum total of every moment that we’ve ever experienced with all the people we’ve ever known. And it’s these moments that become our history. Like our own personal greatest hits of memories that we play and replay in our minds over and over again”

Know that I completely apologize. I had the lofty goal of keeping a blog for all of my countries. And I was doing so gosh darn well, and then suddenly time ran away. Countries were coming and going and I was busy with classes and homework and friends and enjoying the Kartause. So I do indeed apologize that I never wrote about Prague, Spain, Romania/France or Bosnia. But! Fear not. Over the next month I do plan on reflecting on these trips and writing about them. I need to document them anyway. In a way this is better, now you will be able to go back with me. You will be able to read about my fondest memories of my last visits and enjoy my challenges, my fun times and the end of my journey abroad.

Why do I write? Sometimes I question myself on that. But then I realize that I write for myself. I love to read my writing. Maybe that’s narcissistic of me, but I love my writing. When I write I try to write with precision. I try to articulate as best I can with words what I feel, what I want and what I experience. Words are such a great thing. I am good with them. I know that. I’m good at fitting words together to make them beautiful, touching, or ugly, angry. Words give all of us power. It’s up to us how we use our words. In this blog I hope that I have taken you all on a journey. I hope that I have allowed you to live my dream with me. I hope that I have made you feel things through my writing. I write for myself, but I also write for you.

At the top of this blog is one of my favorite quotes. It’s from The Vow. I watched it on the plane back from Europe and of course fell in love with the words that make up this quote. “Moments of Impact.” That is so true. Our life is made up of moments. Moments happen and we respond to them. That’s what makes life. Moments and reactions. My whole semester was moments. Moments on trains, in churches, along bodies of water, near friends. What makes those moments memorable is the way I responded to them. Life is about response.

As my semester went from months into weeks into mere days and then simply hours I reflected on my semester and longed to capture the right words to explain my semester abroad. I wrote little bits here and there, on my laptop, in a journal, during class. None of those pieces can be put together to make sense. Those pieces are all words felt from different parts of the heart. I can take bits from each one, but I can’t piece them together. I’ll write a little bit of what I wrote:

“Moments, courage and love are the three words that sum up my entire semester abroad. Gaming, Austria has blessed me with life changing moments. Moments with new people, moments with new places and moments with new challenges. Every moment has been a chance to grow in faith. Every moment has been taken with a leap of faith. Accompanied by courage. “20 seconds of insane courage. That’s all it takes. 20 seconds of embarrassing courage. And I promise something great will come of it.” My semester can be measured by these 20 seconds of courage. These 20 seconds of courage that ended up making 110 days. 1/3 of 2012 for me has been spent in foreign countries. Out of my comfort zone and far from family. These 110 days have been blessed with many beautiful and amazing people. Every word, every prayer, every meal with these people has been something worth remembering. An adventure of a lifetime takes courage of the century.”–That was written on the plane from London to Washington D.C.

“Life changing seems like an understatement. Life giving. That’s what my semester abroad was. Life was given to me rather than changed. Not only life for myself, but others’ lives were given to me. In these four months I became part of some 130+ lives. 130+ lives were also given to me. I got to experience life in a way so many people don’t. I got to experience life with life. That sounds ridiculous and confusing, but everyone’s life was connected in Austria. We all had each others back. All for One and One for All. We are.” –That was written the day after I got back to the U.S.

There’s more. I wrote more. I wrote letters to people that I will never give them. I wrote goodbyes to inanimate objects; such as the broken tiles that click and clack under the red rug as you walk along the hallway to the Kolbe classroom… And so on.

I like to think that this isn’t the end but the beginning. I met so many beautiful people, did so many adventurous things and  went to so many amazing countries. There is going to be a reunion in 2016 and how awesome would it be to go back to the Kartause!? I really think I’m going to start saving now and make it back there. It’s hard to say goodbye. It always is.

Driving away from the Kartause half asleep and super sad at 3 in the morning is one of the moments that I will always remember. At the time it felt like we were all just going on another school trip. That we would be back soon. That it was only a weekend away from the Kartause. It wasn’t until I fell asleep and woke up at the airport when I realized this was a real goodbye. Every country I went to I had to say goodbye. Those goodbyes were not as hard as the Kartause goodbye. It’s leaving a third of your life behind.

It’s saying goodbye to the rooms where you learned about the transformation of love, the hundred years war, the ten commandments, modern art, how the stars work, what it means to be married, how to read the bible, what divine mercy is… etc. It’s saying goodbye to the bed you slept in, the room you cried in, the roommate you shared your worries with, the closet you kept your clothes, the window you stuck your head out of to see the mountains surrounding you. More than that, it’s saying goodbye to Gaming. To the bar where the guy creeped you out every night, to the creek that took your breath away, literally, to the waterfall with the best water ever, to the signs that say “No Gaming”, to the Kebap shop where the owner definitely doesn’t know Spanish, to the store that sells alcohol and chocolate one aisle apart, to the bank where the ATM was frequented almost every week, and to the bus stop that was always the first stop in a weekend adventure.

I didn’t cry until the semester DVD, after that I didn’t cry until we flew out of London. Becca, Emily and I all sat in the row and held hands listening to “Coming Home” and “Here’s to Us” and bawling our eyes out. I’m sure we looked crazy. I’m sure people stared, and I didn’t care. I sobbed. Literally. The kind where you can’t catch your breath. The ugly cry. That was me. I think I cried out of exhaustion mixed with sorrow. It was leaving four months behind. It was saying goodbye to one of the most important semesters of my life. It was leaving people that changed my life for the better. It was leaving everyone that made the semester what it was. That was difficult to deal with.

Going back to campus at Franciscan was such a great transition from Austria to America. Many of my peers that were in Austria with me came back to campus. So seeing familiar faces comforted me so much. Giving understanding nods around campus to people that understood how I was feeling being so far away from the Kartause. It was also good to see the girls that I left that would be in Austria next semester. Seeing the girls that I took under my wing first semester, and realizing how much they’ve grown in wisdom and love was such a beautiful gift. Giving them advice and talking a little about my adventures made me feel important and it also helps that I know exactly where they will be next semester. I know what they will be feeling and where they will be going. I’ll miss those babes, but what a blessing to be able to see them before they left.

Being home is a blessing. I’m back with my littles. They are the most precious things ever. I am so thankful for them in my life. Tonight my brother gets confirmed and I am his sponsor. I couldn’t be more excited to stand next to him as he chooses for himself the Catholic faith for the rest of his life. Everyone has grown since I’ve been gone. It’s so great to be back with them and to see how they’ve grown in love and courage and knowledge. They are all so beautiful and I’m so happy to be back with them. This summer is going to be fast. It’s going to be difficult. It’s going to be different. It’s going to be a summer of growth and development for myself. I hope that within it things sort themselves out. That’s vague, but some understand that statement… I know this summer will be interesting. Unexpected and saturated with the love of my family and the joys of self discovery.

Thank God for a beautiful semester abroad. Thank God for all of the opportunities I had. Thank God for my friends and classmates. And Thank God for my family. Times are changing, yet again. Bring on the next third of 2012, the summer.

I Told You- Assisi and Cinque Terre

Thursday March 8^th we left Rome for Assisi. The home of our beloved St. Francis. And upon arriving it was easy to see why he praised God for the beauty of nature. Assisi is beautiful. I don’t know if I’ve been anywhere so peaceful. It was such a big difference from Rome. Assisi was like a good detox trip from everything we took in while we were in Rome.

Before we made it up the huge hill to our hotels we got to see the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. It was a beautiful basilica. And right in the middle of this basilica was the Portiuncula built by St. Francis himself. On campus at Franciscan University we have a replica of the Port that is usually filled with students before the Blessed Sacrament. We got to pray in the original Port and in front of the place where St. Francis died. We got to see the doves that surround his statue both day and night and a small museum with some information about his life.

Then we made our way up the hill to the town of Assisi. We broke up and found our hotels and had lunch. After lunch we explored the town a little bit and Katie, Jenna and I ended up going to the top of this huge hill that over looked all of Assisi and the landscape below. It was beautiful and super windy. We finally made our way back down in time for mass at another cathedral in the town. After mass we had some time to walk around and explore a little more of the town. We went to the other hotel and watched the sun set with some other friends. Then we made it back for dinner at our hotel. After dinner we had an Adoration hour in a different church. (We encountered many churches on this trip.)

On Friday we woke up for breakfast and made our way to mass at Santa Chiara. This was a really cool church. Santa Chiara is St. Claire in Italian. St. Claire left her family and everything behind and went to St. Francis saying that she wanted to give her whole life to serving God. St. Francis cut her beautiful long, blonde curls and gave her a robe to wear. Not long after that her sister followed in her footsteps. Their family was furious as they were planning on marrying off both girls, but once they cut their hair, no man would want them.

St. Claire was a babe. And I didn’t even realize it. It was awesome to have mass in a church that honored her. In that same church there is the cross that talked to St. Francis. Jesus on the cross looked down at Francis and told him to “rebuild my church”. Taking it literally, he took apart the church in Assisi and rebuilt it. Only later on did he realize that Jesus was asking him to rebuild the community. The Catholic community in Assisi. Also in the basement of the church is the tomb of St. Claire and her sister. So we got to pray there and see some of the things that belonged to her. Including the blonde curls St. Francis cut.

After mass the sisters gave us a tour of Assisi. They explained the life of St. Claire and also took us to San Damiano. This was where St. Claire spent her days. It was so peaceful and quiet here. We got to go through the convent and pray at the place where St. Claire passed away. A single cross marks the spot in the room where her soul departed from her body. Flowers surround San Damiano and there is an awesome view of the city below. Also on our tour we got to frolic through olive trees. It was so freeing. And it really made sense why St. Francis was so much of a nature lover.

After our tour we had lunch in the hotel and then set off for the pilgrimage walk to the hermitage of St. Francis. This was an intense walk. Done mostly in silence. We took the trail through the woods rather than walking on the road. And it was rough. Straight up pretty much. But it was good at the same time. It was time to reflect, pray and meditate on the life of St. Francis and our own lives. The hermitage was on top of a mountain. Literally. We climbed a mountain to get there and the view was unbelievable. It was awesome to think that we hiked all the way up this mountain. After exploring the hermitage in silence we took vans back down to our hotels. Some walked down, I wasn’t that adventurous. I was exhausted.

I got back before Katie and Jenna and ended up chilling in our room for a while. Finally Katie and Jen came back and we talked about our hike. Then we made it down for dinner in the dining room. After the delicious dinner Katie, Jen and I went to find the Basilica of St. Francis because we were planning on leaving the next morning for Cinque Terre and wouldn’t be able to see it with the rest of our peers. Unfortunately it was already locked when we got there, but we got to see the awesome night sky line of the town below. After finding and playing with a cat and hearing a dog get his paw run over by a van, we made our way back to the church to attend the FOP (Festival of Praise). It was great to give praise for the beautiful day we thank Him for a wonderful trip to Rome and Assisi.

The next day Katie, Jenna and I left for Cinque Terre. We woke up super early and made our way to the bus station that would take us down to the train station. We hopped on the train and made it to Cinque Terre around noon. To occupy ourselves on the train ride we would play spot the American. It was fun, I wonder if people do the same thing with us… When we finally arrived we were starving. After finally figuring out the best way to get from town to town we went to go find food. Cinque Terre is Italian for five countries, but it’s 12 miles of five super cute, quaint villages lining the Mediterranean Sea.

So we walked around and eventually found a kebab stand. They’re kind of addicting… This was the craziest kebab I’ve ever had. They put french fries in there, dude. And ketchup and mayo and it was delicious. We sat out by the fountain in the middle of the town and scarfed down lunch. Before arriving we were planning on sleeping on the beach. But we discovered that the trains did not run early enough in the morning to get us back to the main station before our first train left. So we had to abandon our plan and look for a place to stay. We went to about three different hotels before we finally found a reasonably priced room for only 20 euro a piece. And it was right across the street from the train station. Super handy.

We got settled in our room and made our way out to the first village, Riomaggiore. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the water was so blue. We took the lovers trail (Via dell’Amore) along the water to get to the second village, Manarola. These were the only two that you could walk to and from. Once we got to Manarola we chilled out for a while. We each had our introvert time by the water and took a bunch of pictures of the beautiful houses and buildings by the water.

It was getting later and later and we needed to find a church for mass. We left the second village and took a train to the third, Corniglia. This village was pretty tiny and we had to hike up a huge hill to get to it. The view was beautiful and the sun felt so nice, but we knew we wouldn’t be able to find a church here. So we walked back down and caught the next train to head back to La Spezia. We thought we had a better chance of finding a mass there.

We tried to ask people, but it was to no avail and we began to get worried and stressed. We looked at the big map in the middle of the center and set off trying to find the cathedral. But the street names were hard to follow and we ended up just wandering. Upset and lost in the town. We came upon a church and decided to go in. Amazingly enough they were having mass and we made it for the end. We were all so happy. I cried. Hah. It had been an exhausting day. But being in that church at mass was so comforting. Unfortunately we didn’t get there in time to be able to receive communion but we were able to participate none the less.

After mass I was walking around the church and a man came up to us and started talking to us. We told him we were indeed Catholic and going to school at Franciscan University but studying in Austria. We told him about how we had just gone to Rome and Assisi and we were leaving to go back to school tomorrow. He was the sweetest man ever. He introduced us to the priest who spoke little English, but I could tell he was really interested in what we had to say. He also introduced us to his fiancé. Super adorable. We congratulated them and I felt like crying again. I’m such a girl…

We talked about some of our other trips and a little about his life and what he was doing. We told him we were planning on going to Medj and he was very excited about this and started talking about the 10 secrets that the Blessed Mother gives to the visionaries. It was hard because he told us that he hadn’t studied English in like 30 years. Even after 30 years he was still able to communicate with us very well. He showed us to his favorite pizza place and gave us hugs and kisses and wished us well. We were so blessed to meet them.

We went back to our hotel and got ready to go out to the last village. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to make it to the fourth, Vernazza. We made it to the last village, Monterosso al Mare, and went to walk down along the water. It was such a beautiful night. It would not have been difficult to sleep outside overnight, but we had to be back for our train that left at 5 am the next morning. We did decide that we were going to do something a little crazy and go skinny dipping. I mean, how can you pass up skinny dipping in the Mediterranean Sea?

We climbed down to a bunch of rock that were hidden by the shadows of some building. Nobody would be able to see us. It was a clear night and we found a flat platform where we could lay out and look at the stars for a while. I even saw a shooting star and made a wish. There were so many stars. And then, we stripped down and jumped in. It was freezing! Not as cold as jumping in the creek, but still quite chilly. It was a quick in and out, but at least we can say that we did it. We dried off and dressed quickly and had to run to catch the train back to our hotel. So. Much. Fun.

The next morning we woke up early and packed up. Our train left at 5 AM so we went down around 4:45. I mean, the train station was right across the street. I didn’t think we needed to be that early. Here is where we encountered a huge problem. There was not 24 hour reception, but they had told us that if we pressed this button, they would wake up and unlock the door for us. So we pressed the button. Nothing. We pulled with all our might on the door thinking we were just not strong enough. We pressed this button over and over and over. And soon it was 4:52. I was sure we were going to miss it. I was so upset. Miracle of miracles he woke up at 4:58 and opened the door. We booked it across the street, looked quick to find the right platform and ran with all our might to catch our train. We got there just in time. We literally fell into the train and it took off. Overflowing with relief we laid in the hallway of the train for a good while in utter amazement that we had just caught this train. After we had caught our breath and laughed about the craziness that just took place, we found an empty compartment and slept for a good three hours.

The rest of our trip back went without any more hiccups. We witnessed some people taping for what we thought to be a commercial so of course we did voice overs and bought kebabs for dinner. And after being on one of our trains for about 5 hours we had a dance party in our compartment. We were the only ones on our last train back to Gaming and we opened the windows and stuck our heads out the window and felt the fresh air we had been craving after traveling for 12 hours that day. We made it back to the Kartause exhausted with a little color on our cheeks.

I told you I’d make it to Cinque Terre. It was the one place I knew I wanted to go. And I made it. Yes, it was a quick trip. Nothing was planned, but that’s the best part. We wondered and we loved it. Every trip with Jenna and Katie are always so great. We work well together and always have a good time and good stories after too. I wanna make it back to Cinque Terre. It’s a beautiful place for a honey moon. I’d love to be able to spend more time there. We’ll see what happens.

Ahh. Assisi and Cinque Terre are finally done. My Prague blog will be up soon. I’ve already started working on it. Spain might take a while, but I’m hoping to have it done this weekend.

Italy was beautiful. I knew I’d love Italy. I’ve always wanted to go and I’m so blessed to have been able to spend 10 beautiful days there.

Roma- Papa and Gelato

I’m finally catching up on my blogs. I know it’s taking me forever… I’m kinda disappointed in myself.  I have this blog, Assisi and Cinque Terre, Prague, Spain, 10 day and Medj to write about. Oy. So here we go. One blog at a time. I give to you Rome-in 5 days.

We arrived in Rome Saturday March 3^rd in the evening and got our key to our rooms and went straight to bed. We woke up Sunday March 4^th and had breakfast in our hotel. Then we ventured out to St. Peters. Our hotel was outside of Rome so we had to take the metro to get there. Once we got to the Basilica we decided to climb the cupola. Which is above St. Peters and is like a lookout to see all of Rome. So we climbed I don’t know how many stairs, went through slanted hallways that we couldn’t even stand up straight in and finally, out of breath and sweaty made it to the top. And the view was amazing. You could see all of St. Peters square, the papal apartment and gardens of the Vatican museum. It probably would have been worth it to pay the extra 2 euro to take the elevator, but climbing is so much more exciting.

Eventually we climbed back down and met up with everyone in the Basilica for mass. It was in Latin, so it was actually easier to follow than the typical German mass we sometimes have to go to. It’s really awesome to be able to say that we had mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. After mass we stood in St. Peter’s square for the angelus with the Pope. It was so good to see Bene again. I make it sound like we go way back… But the last time I saw him was when he came to the United States my Junior year of high school and I skipped my Junior prom to go see him with Amanda. We called it pope-a-palooza. Good times. After praying with Bene we ventured out to find lunch. And what’s better to eat for lunch in Italy than pizza? Let me tell you, nothing. So we found a pizza place (not too hard…) and chowed down on some delish Italian pizza.

Quite content after stuffing our faces, we wandered back to St. Peters for a guided tour of the Basilica. The security line to get in was forever long, so we were late to our tour, so we got a shortened version, which was okay. It was just really cool to have all of the different aspects of St. Peters explained to us in detail with the history behind the amazing paintings and statues.

After our super informational tour of the Basilica we decided that we couldn’t take in any more of Rome for the day. We were exhausted. Traveling really wears you out. So we decided to go back to the hotel early and take a nap before dinner. One of the best things about our trip to Rome was the fact that we had a bathtub in our bathroom. So every night before dinner I took a bath. And it was amazing. It may sound weird, but you really take being able to take a bath at home for granted. Hah. So after our nap and bath we had dinner in the hotel. It was really nice having the hotel provide us with our breakfast and dinner. It definitely was not without some weird dishes, but for the most part it was pretty good. Pasta was my favorite.

Side note: Usually when I use the words “we” or “our” I’m talking about me and Jenna and Katie. But a lot of the times other people are included too. I’m not just referring to myself as many people. Hah. That’d be strange… just to clarify.

Monday March 5^th we woke up and had breakfast in the hotel. Then we headed to St. Cosmas and Damian church near the Colosseum. It was actually really cool to get to go to this church because we had studied the art in the church in our Art Appreciation class. The church was really beautiful and it holds mass everyday for different groups of people. After mass we broke up into groups for the tour of Ancient Rome. All tours were optional, but I decided to go on them because otherwise I would be seeing things and not knowing at all what any of them were. The bummer of it was that most of my friends had the early Scavi tour which means they had to be in a special tour group. I had the last Scavi tour so I could pick my group. I was in a group with my Art Appreciation professor (also the professor that I planned our Romania mission with). So it was a really good tour because she really knew her stuff but I was pretty much all alone.

After our tour I was planning on going to lunch with one other girl, we instead joined up with another group and went to have pizza. We went to this place where they cut the pizza with big, huge scissors. After lunch I left that group and found Katie, Jenna, Becca, and Emily and we all went out for gelato. I swear we had gelato from the same place every single day. It was super cheap and sooo good.

Somehow we ended up enjoying our gelato in this tiny park that smelled like pee. That was not so appetizing. So after our pee park adventure I headed back to St. Peters for the Scavi tour. And essentially what that tour covers is underneath St. Peters. You get to see where the first church was built and where St. Peter is buried.  It was really interesting and our tour guide really knew her stuff. That’s what really makes a tour great is the intelligence and character of the tour guide.

Once we finished that tour I met back up with Becca, Emily, Jenna, Katie, Mark and Tim and we went to the religious gift shop near the Basilica. It was suuuuuper cheap and had a lot of really cool stuff. So we went a little crazy in there, like any Catholic student from Franciscan would and then headed back to the hotel for dinner.

Side note: Usually the spring semester in Austria is known for being more laid back, more chill, we don’t party as much and generally have a passive attitude. I lived up to this name by not going out at night while we were in Rome. Hah. I don’t regret it either. But every night after dinner people would be like, “Hey, you going back out tonight?” And my response was always, “I’m really tired, I think I’m just going to go to bed.” Our residence director, Tony, makes fun of us for it, but I like my sleep yo. And it made it easier to enjoy things during the day with a full night of sleep the night before.

Tuesday March 6^th started like any other; breakfast in the hotel and heading out to Rome. We had yet another tour. It was the “Overview of Rome” tour. This was essentially a tour of a bunch of churches in Rome. But we did get to see the Pantheon which is where Jenna had tiramisu for the first time. We had quite a few people fall out of our tour group and by the end Mark, Tim, Jenna, Katie and I got left behind at some church. We had to return our headphones and stuff but had no idea where our group went. We ended up calling one of the leaders of our group and meeting him to turn in our headphones. After we turned everything in we, (no surprise here) found a pizza place for lunch. Then we went to see the Trevi Fountain.

After tossing our coins in the fountain and making our wishes the boys and girls broke up and Katie, Jenna and I went shopping for a bit and then we went to the Vatican Museum. It was pretty cheap to get in and well worth it. There is so much there. A big group of students paid a good amount for a guided tour, but I had had enough tours for a while. We walked around noticing art that we had studied in Art Appreciation and making fun of obscure sculptures and paintings. The highlight had to be seeing the Sistine Chapel. It is absolutely amazing. And so crazy to think that someone could paint all of that. We also had a run in with a security guard that spoke to us in Spanish and Katie got excited when she understood him even though he was scolding us for sitting on something… Hey, we were just excited to understand something. After wandering around the museum for a bit we decided to head back to the hotel for dinner. I’m pretty sure this is the night we celebrated a bunch of birthdays and had amazing cake for desert. Mmm.

Wednesday March 7^th is a day I will always remember. It’s the day we had our Papal audience. So Katie, Jen and I decide we are going to get there super early and get rockin’ seats. Wake up time- 4:45 AM. Hop on the metro at 5:30 AM, at St. Peters by 6 AM, just in time to see the sun rise. We didn’t know where we were supposed to be waiting, so we crossed back and forth between the two main entrances of the Basilica. We also ran into another group from America, and basically we knew we were competing for the best seats. Even the people from Minnesota said it was about to get “Black Friday in Wal-Mart up in here.” And they’re supposed to have the Minnesota-nice! Man…

So we waited, periodically running across to check the other side. More and more of our classmates started showing up and we all waiting together until 9 AM when the gates finally opened. It was a mad dash to the front and we didn’t even get as close as we were hoping… But it was fine. We waited for another two hours until Bene finally came out, fashionably late. What a stud. We pushed our way to the very front and got some awesome pictures of the pope-mobile and Bene himself.

So the thing about a Papal audience is that they announce all of the groups that are present. And you can cheer, sing a song, chant, whatever. So when they announced Franciscan University and the Language and Chatechetical Institute we went crazy. It was probably about a full 3 minutes of just screaming, cheering, chanting “we love Benedict” and we kept going… They actually had to cut us off we were cheering so much. Mission accomplished.

When Bene was reading his message in English he thanked us for being there and he especially thanked Franciscan University in which we exploaded into another round of cheering. This scored us a side glance and little chuckle from Papa himself.  Dude, we made the pope laugh! How many other people can say that? Not many, that’s for sure. So awesome.

After our audience with the Pope we had pizza for lunch. No surprise. I’m pretty sure we had pizza for lunch every day in Rome… And I didn’t even mind it. It was delish. Then we headed to the Colosseum. We walked around the inside, took loads of pictures and talked in British accents. It was a ton of fun. Once we had finished that escapade, Katie, Jen and I left for mass at St. John Lateran. The cool thing about this church is that it’s basically Papa Bene’s home parish. This is where he would say mass if he wasn’t always at the Vatican. It was a really beautiful church and awesome to give the glory to God for such an amazing day.

After mass we decided to do the devotional ascent of the holy stairs. These are the stairs that Christ climbed to meet Pilate. They had been moved to Rome and put in a special building. You have to go up on your knees and I think there are about 25 steps. We were given packets of prayers to pray on each step. It was really powerful.

The last thing we did in Rome was get gelato at our favorite place. Under the Bridge. It was a celebratory gelato. A happy end to a great trip to Rome. And for dinner that night, we had pasta. And for dessert, tiramisu. It was a good last day. The next morning we got up, packed, ate breakfast and left for Assisi.

So I wrote this in a word document first and it ended up being four full pages and a little on the fifth, I apologize for the length. But I had to make sure I got everything in there. Rome seems so long ago now. I’ve done so much since then. But I will never forget that trip. Rome is crazy. It’s busy and kind of chaotic. I was really happy to get to Assisi where things were calm and quiet. Assisi is so peaceful. That’s the next blog; Assisi and Cinque Terre.

So there it is. Rome. I’ll make it back one day. I mean, it’s Rome. I have to go back with my family. With my children. It’s something a Catholic should experience. Should fall in love with Mama Church and enjoy the delicious gelato that Italy has to offer.

ITALY (pt 1) The City of Water and The Tower that Leans

Let me first start off by saying… I have so much to write, bear with me, these blogs will be long, but hopefully worth the length. This blog will be only about Venice and Pisa, Rome will have its own blog and Assisi and Cinque Terre will be placed together. So enjoy—Italy Pt. 1 (Venice and Pisa)

We set off for the beautiful city of Venice on Thursday March 1st… Along with more than half the school… I feel like we were all on the same overnight train, just with different stops in the morning. We (me, Mark, Jenna, Katie, Johnna and Teresa) got a sleeper car to sleep through the night. Our hotel was just outside of Venice (much cheaper). And when we got off the train, dazed and confused we stumbled around the city a little until we found our hotel. We were a little too early to check in, so we changed and cleaned up and went out to see what we could see before check-in.

We found a clothing store where everything was three euro, and of course, since the majority of the group was girls, we went inside and did some damage. By the time we were done, I had a high and Mark had a headache and it was time to check into our hotel.

We showered and some of us changed again. Then we set out to explore the beautiful city of Venice. Bahh. I died. Getting off the metro, we walked outside to see the welcoming water, the big bridge, the beautiful buildings, the gorgeous gondolas, and the soothing sun. I was in heaven. It was perfect. We set off, no real destination, no real schedule, and that was the best part.

We wandered down little side streets and passed shops of this and that along the way. We came across two men asking us to ride their gondola. We asked how much and they said, “Usually for a group of 6, 80 euro, but for you only 10 euro per person.” Haha. They really wanted us to ride with them. So we hopped on and prepared ourselves for a gondola ride in Venice Italy. Pause, is this really my life? Oh yeah, it is.

 

I loved the gondola ride. We took so many pictures hoping to capture our black and white striped friend with the oar steering us through the water roads. It was so peaceful and we just floated along seeing the entire city of Venice. When our joy ride had come to an end, we thanked our friend and he helped us out of our gondola. As we left he said, “Thank you, thank you, I love you.”

We walked along the water following our noses to the fresh pizza we all were longing for. We finally found a little pizza and gelato place and ordered our first Italian pizza. A large cheese pizza (it was a Friday). When we got our pizza we walked down to the water way and we all enjoyed our first taste of Italian pizza. And let me tell you, it was divine. Sitting in the warm afternoon sun, we ate and talked and laughed and took more pictures. It was just so pleasant and peaceful.

After our pizza we gladly walked back to our pizza shop and all got gelato. I mean, you have to have gelato in Italy (and trust me, we did). It was so good. We walked around eating gelato, enjoying each other’s company and the sun. Venice was so lovely because we didn’t feel like we needed to do anything, but be there and enjoy the company of our friends and the beautiful sun God had blessed us with that day.

We continued to walk. Stopping in little shops along the way, looking for souvenirs, buying scarves for ourselves (us girls were a little obsessed), and admiring some crazy masks. Eventually we crossed the bridge that led us back to the train station. We walked around on that side, enamored by the large church and cute little booths along the water. Eventually we made our way to a restaurant.

Johnna and I looked at the menu from the outside and the owner came up and asked us how many we had. Of course we were like, “Um, six, but we’re just looking right now.” He of course didn’t want us to leave so he told us we wouldn’t have to pay a cover charge and would get a free glass of wine. It was an offer hard to refuse, so we didn’t and we all went in for our first sit down dinner in Italy. And what did we have? Pasta of course! Spaghetti, and it was so good. Our first day in Italy and we had already had pizza, gelato and pasta. I think we did well.

We went back to our hotel and prepared for bed. The next day was Saturday and we were going to be meeting up with the school in Rome. As I was brushing my teeth I thought about what we could do on our way to Rome. We were using a Eurail day (and those babies are precious) and I didn’t want to just use it to get to Rome. I remembered that I had wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa and decided to present the idea to the others.

They all agreed that it would be an awesome thing to see and Theresa and I decided to get up early Saturday and try to figure out the train schedule to get there and then to Rome. Surprisingly, the information desk at the train station was extremely helpful and we were able to get a schedule that would give us a few hours in Pisa before heading to Rome.

We packed everything up, checked out and hopped on a train to Pisa. It took about four hours to get there, but I was blessed with excellent train buddies. On our first train, Katie and I ended up in a compartment with an adorable Asian toddler and her mom. It was such a blessing as I was missing my family a lot that day. I enjoyed watching her climb all over the seats and her mother. Hah. She was just so cute.

Our second train was my favorite train ride of this semester so far. It was a crowded train, so we couldn’t all sit together. I walked down the aisle and noticed an open seat. I asked the woman sitting across from it if it was open (well, by asked I mean I pointed at the seat because she didn’t understand me). And she nodded her head yes and the little boy sitting next to the seat groaned. He didn’t want to move his backpack. He was the cutest little boy I have ever met.

He was looking at a comic book and drawing and cutting out little pieces of it to play with. He had a little teddy bear sitting on the window sill which he looked at lovingly every so often. After he had cut up and wrote all over the comic book he brought out a drawing book and began to show me some of his art. He was a good little artist. He turned the page and pointed to a big man with a beard and said “Santa Clause.” I laughed.

He started drawing a picture of his teddy. And whenever we went through a tunnel, he grabbed teddy and pretended to fall asleep. He hid his face behind his teddy so that his grandmother couldn’t see and made funny faces at me. I felt like he was my brother. And I was already attached to him. He made his teddy blow kisses to his grandmother, she blew them back. Then he turned teddy and teddy started blowing kisses to me. I blew them back and teddy and I went at this for quite some time. Teddy fainted after I blew back so many kisses. I’m pretty sure his heart was just so full of love.

Our train came to a stop and the grandmother tried to talk to me, but of course I didn’t understand Italian. She again tried to talk to me and managed to tell me that the little boy was going to see his parents. And he looked at me and pointed to himself and said “Russian”. He was a little Russian boy. Maybe adopted from Russia, maybe not. I didn’t get the full story.

We exited the train and said goodbye to each other. His grandmother continued to smile and the little boy continued to wave. He walked around to the stairs to go see his mother. He stopped, looked at me and blew me kiss after kiss after kiss. We went back and forth about four times and we both had huge smiles on our faces. I saw a woman come up to greet him on the stairs and assumed it was his mother. He pointed at me and his mother looked and waved. I waved back and the little boy blew me one more kiss and was gone.

My heart was so full. I wanted to cry. It was such a beautiful encounter with such a precious life. I was reminded of my siblings and could not stop smiling. I was so blessed. It was just so perfect because of my homesick feelings I had that day.

Leaving the train station, our stomachs growled angrily as it was 1 in the afternoon and we hadn’t eaten yet… We found a little place right outside of the train station and ordered pasta and pizza and chilled out for a while. After lunch we made our way to the leaning tower.

I loved Pisa; long streets lined with shops, people on bikes ringing bells to make sure you know to move, and tables in the middle of the street under umbrellas for the restaurants. We walked and walked. Luckily the leaning tower was easy to find. And finally we stepped out of the street and into the majesty that is the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

 

It’s always so funny when I see something in Europe. I mean. I see pictures all the time, but rarely do you imagine being able to go to these places and see these amazing things. Like, who woulda thought I would be seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Not me. And yet, here I was, posing in front of this leaning work of art. I feel like I should know more about these things that I am seeing. I should look up some history about the leaning tower… If only I had some time…

We spent maybe 3 hours in Pisa. And it was such a good little side trip. The people were kind, the tourists were many, and the pasta was good. Soon enough, it was time to hop on another train and head to Rome.

It was bound to happen sometime… We didn’t get reservations for this one train (didn’t know we needed to) and had to buy our reservation on the train. It was 18 euro, in the train station it would have been 10. But you learn. At the beginning of the semester when we got fined on our way to Germany I said it was a “next time” learning experience. And I continue to have them, even half way into the semester. You’re always learning about trains and how to ride them without getting fined… And yet, I am still so in love with trains. I wish we had trains in the U.S. to get around from state to state. It’s just so handy.

We rode about 3 hours and finally arrived safely in Roma. We jumped on the metro and headed to our hotel, just outside of Rome. We finally arrived, got our room key, and went straight to bed. It had been a long day and the next 4 days would be busy, busy, busy as we would be exploring the large city of Rome.

Venice and Pisa was a good little trip before Rome. It was relaxing and exciting at the same time. Rome would prove exhausting and would test our patience, our feet, and our ability to not spend all our money. It was filled with gelato and many, many pictures. My Roma blog will be up soon; hopefully today if I can manage it. Assisi and Cinque Terre will follow closely behind.

“We are far from home but we’re so happy.” [A collection of thoughts]

This post is not about a trip. So if you only read my blog for my adventure updates, no need to read this one. This is just a post of thoughts before I leave for Italy for 10 days. This is where I’m going to dump my mind out so that it is empty and open for our pilgrimage.

Hokay, here we go.

This week was midterm week. And let me tell you, midterm week is like finals week-meets-SAT prep-meets-praxis exams-meets-no sleep-meets-stress-meets-unnecessary arguments. Yup, that’s midterm week. It includes looking at your notes, having no idea what they mean and getting on Facebook. It includes despairing calls from down the hall saying, “I’M GONNA FAIL!” It includes skype dates that somehow turn back to, “Ugh, I really need to study but don’t want to.” It includes not eating well and forgetting to brush your teeth. It includes forgetting what a straightener is and putting your hair up every morning. It includes losing all sense of style and wearing whatever is closest to you in the morning. It includes forgetting that you look like a moron with glasses but not caring enough to put in contacts. May I present midterm week everyone.

But really, besides the crazy amount of stress, this week was not bad. I was really stressing about where I was going to go before Rome and Assisi. I wanted to go to Florence or Cinque Terre. Turns out I’m going to Venice and Padua. I will make it to Cinque Terre. Mark my words. And although I was bummed about Florence, I’m so happy I’m not doing that. I’m going to Venice and Padua with 5 others and I’m excited. I’m traveling with 2 people I haven’t traveled with yet, so that’s awesome. It’s so beneficial to travel with all different people while you are here. It’s not healthy staying with the same people. You learn and get to see such different things with different people. Dude, I’m totes pumped. God has it under control. It’s something I have to remember, when it doesn’t work out that I get to do what I wanted, it’s because God has a plan. Remember our first attempt at Switzerland? Bahahah. I do…

Midterm week also brought the discovery and new love for 2 bands/artists. The first is Ben Rector. A good friend introduced me and I’m totes hooked. Love his voice. It’s so different and I just want him to sing to me for the rest of my life. The other is one that another super good friend introduced me to. Of Monsters and Men. Dudeeee. LOVE. It’s exactly what I love in music. Batman knows me so well. Little Talks. It has a double meaning for us kinda, doesn’t it Batman? Did you notice? You should have, since you’re an “I”… But anyway, if you ever have good music you wanna share, please share away! I love listening to new stuff and falling in love with something different.

Midterm week brings about more opportunities to love. People tend to be a little more needy during this week, and I love it. Does that make sense? Probably not. But needy people give me a chance to give and a chance to love in a deeper way. And I’m definitely a lover. So this week was so good for the love in my heart. Being there for people when they need it and doing things for people. Giving. When I’m stressed it’s so good for me to love, to give. To remind myself that I am not the center of the universe and that many other people are experiencing more difficulty, more stress, more discomfort than I am. And God allows for those opportunities in my life.

I’m working on humility this semester and especially this Lent. Everyone needs more humility. You can never be too humble. Even Blessed Mother Teresa prayed for humility and I know no other person more humble than she. I don’t know if I’ve ever really realized it before this Lent, but I am full of pride… And that’s not good. I’m hoping God gives me new ways to grow in humility this semester. He’s already given me a few, but He knows I could use more. So bring it on, baby.

Tomorrow we leave for Italy and I won’t be back until March 12. And man, I’m going to have a TON to write. So I might break it up into sections. Probably one for Venice/Padua one for Rome and one for Assisi. I have class and a Romania meeting that Monday the 12th. So I kinda just dive into the week head first. This trip though will be awesome. Where before this week I was worried about it, with all of my midterms out of my face I can see clearly now the beauty that this trip will bring to my life. Sure, I’m exhausted, but I’m in Europe. I’m going to Italy. I have always ALWAYS wanted to go to Italy. And this is my chance. This is my time. And I am so ready to embrace this experience.

Unlike a lot of women, I am not attached to my hair. I am able to cut it off and not feel anxiety or separation from my hair. So, I’m cutting it off! I’m so excited. I’m pretty sure it’s happening tonight and I could not be happier. Get this mop of hair off my head! It’ll be short like I had it last time. But it’ll look better. I’m excited. A new haircut and a trip to Italy. Is this really my life? I’m excited to rock the short hair again. Really excited. You don’t know how much I’ve been pulling at my hair, putting it up and yelling at it. It’s time for you to go. I’ll catch ya later. Bring on the easy to manage hair!  

Alright, I’m gonna go catch mass and give praise to God for my midterms being over. So I’ll leave you with this awesome prayer that one of my friends sent to me the other day:

Litany of Transfiguration

When I am tempted to look only at my faults…Let me see only Jesus.

When troubled by the specter of doubt and defeat…Let me see only Jesus.

When I can’t see beyond the frustrations of the moment…Let me see only Jesus.

When the horizon seems distant and dark…Let me see only Jesus.

When I can’t see the point of pursuing what’s good…Let me see only Jesus.

When complaining and cynicism invade my peace….Let me see only Jesus.

When I can’t face my problems…Let me see only Jesus.

When the world looks bleak…Let me see only Jesus.

When others measure and judge me…Let me see only Jesus.

When beset by depression…Let me see only Jesus.

When friendship is far from me…Let me see only Jesus.

When overshadowed by sorrow…Let me see only Jesus.

When I fail to use my freedom…Let me see only Jesus.

When it’s hard to forgive…Let me see only Jesus.

When things don’t make sense…Let me see only Jesus.

When I think I can’t change…Let me see only Jesus.

When confronted by suffering…Let me see only Jesus.

When stress gets me down…Let me see only Jesus.

When it’s hard to go on…Let me see only Jesus.

When blinded by sin…Let me see only Jesus.

When the hardness of life overwhelms me…Let me see only Jesus.

When hope begins to fade…Let me see only Jesus.

Our Father…

Closing Prayer: Loving Father, thank you for allowing me to witness the vision of your Son transfigured on Mount Tabor. May I become what I behold so that my life will radiate the glory and grace that remain your priceless gifts to me in Jesus. Amen.

 

“Hoping against hope, he believed…” Romans 4:18

I waited a whole week to write. Ughhh. But. Here it is. My blog on Poland.

We loaded the busses about 7:45 pm on Thursday February 16. I sat with a girl I didn’t know and ended up making a new friend.  Immediately I felt like I was on the way to the March for Life… overnight charter bus baby.  I’m positive I slept about 5 minutes at a time before some part of my body went numb. Legs, butt, arm.  “Pilgrimage.” I reminded myself every time I woke up.  We stopped twice I believe. Once in the Czech Republic where there were “everlasting roses” that captivated us and ice-cream that tempted us… Finally. FINALLY. It was 4 in the morning. They woke us up and told us a little about Our Lady of Czestochowa.  We parked next to a hotel where we would be eating breakfast after the unveiling of Our Lady. So we finally got off the bus and walked sleepy eyed and sick (with that feeling of not sleeping all night) to the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa.

I’ll give you all a brief history of Our Lady.  According to tradition, the icon of Jasna Gora was painted by Luke the Evangelist on a tabletop built by Jesus himself.  Like, woah. Dude. That’s enough for me to get a little, okay, extremely excited.  For about 500 years it remained in Constantinople.  Then it was given as a gift and stayed in Belz for about 600 more years.  It finally arrived in Poland in 1382 with a Polish army.  It had been struck with an arrow.  In 1430 Hussites attacked the monastery in which Our Lady was chilling.  They slashed the virgin’s face with a sword and left it desecrated in a puddle of blood and mud.  It is said that when the monks pulled the icon from the mud, a miraculous fountain appeared, which they used to clean the painting.  But both the arrow and the sword gashes remain visible on Our Lady today.  The miracle for which the Black Madonna is most famous for occurred in 1655, when Swedish troops were about to invade Czestochowa.  Polish soldiers prayed fervently before the icon for deliverance and the enemy retreated.  In 1656, King John Casimir declared Our Lady of Czestochowa “Queen of Poland”.  During Nazi occupation, Hitler prohibited pilgrimages to Jasna gora, but many still secretly went to go see the beautiful Black Madonna.  In 1945, after Poland was liberated, half a million pilgrims journeyed to Czestochowa to express their gratitude.  During the Cold War, Jasna Gora was a center of anti-Communist resistance.  Pope John Paul II prayed before our Mama in 1979, 1983, 1991 and 1997.

So that’s just a little about the Black Madonna. Now, it was about a 15 minute walk up to the shrine.  And when we got there we pushed in trying to get to the very front. Right in front of our Mama. There is a little chapel surrounding her, but you can see through the bars that constitute as the chapel walls.  What was really cool, which another friend pointed out to me, was the fact that so often Mary waits for us to pray through her to Jesus. She waits to intercede for us. Here, at her shrine, we waited for her. She was like, “Okay kids, I’m always up here waiting for you, so now, you’ll just have to sit there and wait for me.” And then she is unveiled, with loud trumpets and beating drums. Goosebump worthy right there.   The veil slowly lifts from the bottom up and everyone in the building has their eyes on Mama. Everyone is waiting to see her beauty. Everyone is waiting to see the beautiful icon Luke painted on a table that Our Lord and Savior built. Like. Just stop reading right now and think about that. Intense. It’s awesome. It doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran, Nondenominational, or not even Christian, everyone can appreciate something beautiful. And let me tell you, Our Black Momma is a babe.

So after we had that amazing encounter with Our Lady, we walked back to the hotel where we were greeted with an amazing buffet style breakfast. Coffee (a must), scrambled eggs, all kinds of breads, meat, jams, and dude, coco-puffs. I never thought I’d see them again! We feasted and drank enough coffee to have our pupils shrink and to talk like mice would talk if they could. Fast. And squeaky.  We then headed back to the Shrine.

We got to walk around a little, and what’s awesome about the shrine is that people leave necklaces, bracelets, rosaries, pins, beads of all kinds for Our Mother.  And they are hung up all around the Icon.  There are also crutches, walkers, and other devices to aid those who can’t walk, hanging up on the wall too. Our Mama heals, and people leave being able to walk, leaving their crutches behind.  How awesome!

One opportunity we got was to kneel around the Icon.  You start on the left side on your knees and walk (on your knees) to behind the Icon. It’s like a little hallway.  And when you are directly behind the Icon you put your head against the wall tell Mama your intentions.  After you kiss the wall, you continue kneel-walking around the Icon.  It was amazing. And I took all of the personal intentions I had received from friends and family to Our Momma. It was such a powerful experience. And it was then that I fell in love with Our Mother all over again.

Momma Mary has helped me so much in my life already.  She’s been there and she’s listened to me and she’s taken my prayers to Our Lord.  She is the Mother of God.  She is always there for us to be our Mother too. All we need to do is pray to her. She’s beautiful, you know.  And without her, I’m not sure where I would be right now.  She is everything beauty, purity, life and truth should be and look like. She’s my Momma.

We also got to have mass in the chapel that the Icon is held. Which is awesome.  There is like mass after mass right after mass.  And so as soon as the first mass was over, we all pushed in to get a good seat in front of Mary.  I got to sit in like the second row and was immediately overcome with appreciation and gratitude for my faith, for my life, for this opportunity.  Located to the right of the Icon is a gold rose which Pope John Paul II gave as a gift to Our Lady.  To the left is the sash that he was wearing when he was shot in St. Peter’s square as part of an assassination attempt.  You can still see the blood spots of Blessed John Paul II. What a beast.

Mass was beautiful. I was tired, sore, emotional, but happy. And Mary just really loved on me during mass. Father gave a homily about the first time he came to the Shrine and it was about how there were several disabled children, physically and mentally, singing to Our Lady and how they had the purest voices that just reached the center of your heart. Immediately I started bawling. I mean come on, any story like that is going to make me cry, couple it with exhaustion and you better be prepared for the water works.  It was also cool because the intentions that we had written the night before on the bus were all located on the alter during mass. Like, wa-bam! Straight to Jesus through Mary.

After mass we had some time to walk around and see the museum and adoration chapel and gift shop, then we loaded the busses and began our journey to Auschwitz.  What a change of emotion.

Growing up you hear about the Holocaust, you learn about the Holocaust, you do mandatory reports on the Holocaust, but none of that even remotely prepares you for what you experience walking into a concentration camp.  Auschwitz is probably the most well known of them.  Did you know that the Nazi’s bought out like 42 acres of land surrounding the concentration camps so that nobody knew what was going on? The killing of so many was kept away from the world. 

Many Poles, Jews, Gypsies and other various nationalities were all held in the concentration camp.  It was a work camp and many were expected to just die of horrible conditions there.  We walked under the sign that so many had walked under before us, “Work Makes You Free”. 

We walked into the old barracks which have been transformed into museums.  We saw heartbreaking pictures and horrifying facts.  Our tour guide gives so many of these tours, yet she was still filled with so much emotion.  It’s something that has obviously really touched her.  What got me was when we went into the barrack of personal possessions and things that had been taken away from those entering the camp.  It was astonishing, horrifying and disturbing to see all of the pairs of shoes, all of the cups, plates and bowls and luggage with names still on them.

But the thing that gave me goosebumps, the thing that brought tears to my eyes, was the container of hair that lined a whole wall of a barrack. Hair. Something so personal, so common, so annoying at times.  Yet, it was something taken away, unfairly.  Many women are strongly attached to their hair.  They can’t stand for it to be cut even more than 2 inches. Can you imagine a woman standing there, outside, naked, humiliated having her head shaved? A little girl, who seconds ago had been holding a doll her grandmother had given her for her 5^th birthday which the Nazi’s had taken away and smashed before her eyes, was now standing in the cold, crying, as men with calloused hands and dirty nails roughly cut off all of her brown curls. Imagine it. And imagine looking into a case full of hair from 140,000 people and knowing that every single strand of that was once attached to the head of a living, breathing, loving, sad, heartbroken human being. It get’s ya. Let me tell you.

The other thing that really impacted me was the case filled with artificial legs and crutches.  Polish war vets from World War I were the ones that accounted for this large collection.  But man, that stuff is powerful. They took artificial lets of human beings. Can you even image such brutality?

We walked solemnly through the museums.  I was numb most of the time. It was hard to imagine that people had once slept where I was not walking. People had once prayed for deliverance where I was standing. People had once cried where I was crying.  It’s deep.

We saw a replica of the wall where many of the executions took place by guns. There is a little memorial and flowers left from visitors of the camp.  We saw the square where they had roll call every morning. Rain or snow, sleet or hail.  Our tour guide told us that the longest roll call they ever had was 21 hours during the first week of the camp because they couldn’t find everyone. Can you imagine standing in the freezing cold, hungry, tired, with hardly any clothes on waiting to be called, waiting for all of the names to be called, men in coats roaming the lines, yelling, cursing, hitting?  The first person to die at Auschwitz was a man during this roll call. He died of exhaustion. Just pure exhaustion sent him overboard. How many thousands followed after him…

We also got to see the cell where St. Kolbe spent 2 weeks in starvation and did not die.  St. Kolbe gave up his life so that another may live.  And the man he died for even made it out of the camp. He lived to see the liberation of Poland. He lived to have a family. He lived to tell the story of how a man laid down his life for him.  Expecting him to die in two weeks, they put Fr. Kolbe in a starvation chamber. Within those two weeks he saw nine other prisoners pass. He did not, and on August 14, 1941, a soldier injected him with carbolic acid and Father Maximilian Kolbe became a martyr of charity. “There is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend.”

Towards the end of the tour we made our way to the gas chamber that is still standing today.  What a powerful reminder that building is.  You walk into a small room where they were told to strip down for their “showers” and you follow it around into a big open room. All that is sitting in there now is a memorial for those that were killed in the very location you are standing from a toxic chemical. You just have to stand there in silence and hear the fear around you that is still there. Hear the dreams of those that have passed. The longings for those that were murdered. You walk into the next room and all you see are the ovens used to cremate those that were just killed in the previous room. It’s really heartbreaking. It’s really terrifying looking around and realizing that at one point a child was standing where you are about to be killed. Can you even imagine? Even as I sit here, I can’t.  And then you leave. You exit the gas chamber and crematorium. You get to leave. To walk out into the cold. To breathe in fresh air. To hug your friends. You, unlike so many others, get to leave. It just seems so unfair…

I had that moment again when we got to leave Auschwitz. We got to leave the camp. We got to safely walk out without worrying about losing our life or getting caught. It’s really powerful when you stop and think that just like that, I am able to leave a place where so many have died. Where so many have been killed for no reason.   We left Auschwitz, and went to Birkenau.

Compared to Birkenau, Auschwitz looks a ton better. In Birkenau they lived in huts. The walls were full of holes, the bunk beds weren’t beds at all, more like horse stables, but stacked up so that 3 people could sleep in one “stable”.  I can’t describe the feeling of walking along the train tracks that entered the camp.  It was an intense moment when our tour guide said, “Where you are standing right now is where this man in the picture was told he would be dying.” Like, how can you even fathom that feeling? That fear? You honestly can’t. We walked along the camp, noticing the remnants of the four large gas chambers that were destroyed right before the liberation so as to destroy any evidence of what went on at the camp.  We finally made it to the end of the train tracks and the end of the camp.  What a moment to look back at the tracks where dozens of train cars came in with people just waiting to die. What a moment to think that as they reached the ends of these tracks they had fear in their heart and sorrow in their eyes.  So many people, innocently killed. Genocide, Holocaust, terror.

And some of you that read this won’t agree with me on this, but how is abortion different? We are killing those that we don’t want. We are taking them into buildings where they do not know where they are. We are inserting instruments into what is supposed to be the safest place for a child, the mother’s womb. We are killing them quickly, but not painlessly. We are not giving them a chance. We are not seeing the value they have on this Earth. We are killing our own. And how secret is this holocaust going on in the United States.

After Birkenau we headed to our hotel in Krakow. We had free time after dinner but I was too exhausted emotionally and physically. I went right to bed after dinner.

The next day we got a tour of Krakow from the cutest little Polish woman. She was adorable and quite fast… We got a quick tour and were set free to wonder Krakow.  What was on the agenda? SHOPPING! Bahhh. Everything is so cheap in Poland so we found a hat shop and a scarf shop, and lots of other little presents were bought along the way. We met back up with everyone in the early afternoon and headed to the Shrine of Divine Mercy.

Sister Faustina Kowalska joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy at the age of 20. Can you imagine becoming a nun at the age of 20? That’s like me, right now, entering a convent. Uhhh. She became famous for her mystic visions of the Merciful Christ which she described in the Little Diary she kept.  She died at age 33 of tuberculosis. When Jesus came to her He told her to share the mercy of Jesus. To share the merciful love of the father. He also told her to paint this picture. It is of Jesus with a ray of white symbolizing water, baptism and reconciliation and a ray of red symbolizing blood, communion, and nourishment for the soul. It is signed at the bottom saying, “Jesus I trust in you.” And this is where the Catholic faith get’s the divine mercy chaplet. It’s a powerful chaplet. “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

We had mass, had time for adoration, had the opportunity to kiss the relic of St. Faustina, had a talk from the cutest nun, had time to go to the gift shop and wander around the shrine. We got to see the sunset. 🙂 That was so beautiful. After everything, we hoped back on the bus and headed back to Krakow where we had the evening to ourselves.

We tried to find pierogi, but the place we wanted to go to was out of them… so I had this strawberry pancake thing. It was really good. Not pierogi good, but still good. That night some went out, I stayed back in the hotel taking some time for myself and just relaxing. It was sooo good.

The next morning we had mass and some more time to explore Krakow. Mark, Jenna and I were bound and determined to have pierogi. After some hard core searching, we found this place tucked back into this like secret alley. We went in and had pierogi with meat and pierogi with strawberries. Both were absolutely delicious and I just wanted to keep eating! Bahh. I love pierogi…

We met up with everyone else and headed to Wadovice, where John Paul II was born and raised. It was really awesome to see the house where JP2 was born, where he spent his toddler years and middle school years. We got to see the church where he worshiped Our Lord and the font where he was baptized. It was awesome. We got to kiss a relic of Padre Pio and have Papa cake! Which is absolutely divine. Sooooo good. I wanted to get like five more pieces.   After touring the museum we walked back to the busses and just like that, we were off to Gaming.

On the way back we ate at this restaurant that served us in the upstairs room. It was really good and the chocolate cheesecake was to die for. It was nice to just sit and relax with friends.  After dinner we had about a 7 hour bus ride back to the Kartause. Let me tell you, I was so ready to hop off that bus when we pulled into the parking lot. It was so nice to be in my bed by 3 am on Monday. The rest of Monday was spent relaxing and catching up on sleep. I am totes a fan of these recovery days.

Poland was exhausting. It was emotional. It was life changing. Poland is a country so full of history. Of terrible events, and yet, it is a country so beautiful and so full of hope. So many smiles and so much pride. You take things for granted. Everyone does. It’s good to be reminded that you are living, you have life within you. You are called to love. It was a reminder to me that I am made for something great. That I am blessed beyond belief and that prayer goes a long way. Our Lady of Czestochowa—Pray for us! St. Maximilian Kolbe—Pray for us! St. Faustina—Pray for us! Blessed John Paul II—Pray for us!

Randoms for the week:

1.) I AM SO STRESSED ABOUT MIDTERMS.  This week is all midterms and I’m freaking out. I have 150 questions to memorize for Western Civ, a crap ton to learn for Christian Moral Principals and many time periods to claim to memory… Sigh.

2.) Rome and Assisi is this week. 10 days in Italy. Is this really my life? I can’t believe that I’m actually here and traveling as much as I am. And I also can’t believe that I’m about to complain about traveling… yeah, I’m exhausted. I wish we had more of a break between Poland and Rome/Assisi. But alas, we don’t and I need to do laundry before we go see Papa Bene.

3.) I don’t really have a third. Although I am happy that Amaretto is only 5 euro at Spar.

4.) Ohhh. I remember. An Austrian man bought me a drink last night. Haha. Awesome right? He was totally harmless and completely drunk. But he had beautiful eyes… (a 4 year old son, and 13 years to my 20.) But, it was fun nonetheless. He really wanted us to go dancing with him. Hah.

Tomorrow holds another full day of studying. But I’m doing it. I’m living the European dream. I’m doing what many will not be able to, and for that I am thankful. I am blessed.

And a special thanks to my grandparents for making this awesome pilgrimage possible 🙂 You rock!

 

Above The Clouds

Let me paint you a picture. Imagine it’s a Thursday.  You happen to not have class on Thursday, but do have a meeting with a professor at 11 am. You wake up at 10 and prepare for your meeting.  Your meeting goes smashingly well and you are done by 11:20.  Imaging you are so happy with how this meeting went that you can’t stop smiling.  You come back to your room where your roommate and friend are hanging out. Imagine there is a knock on your door. Your roommate opens it and it’s her boyfriend and his roommate.  Imagine you hear them say, “Hey. Let’s go to Switzerland this weekend.  We’ll leave at 6 tonight.” And you can stop imagining ’cause ladies and gentlemen, this story/picture I just painted for you was my Thursday morning last week.

Up until 11:30 am Thursday I had been planning on staying behind in Gaming for the weekend. You know, catching up on homework, doing laundry, actually sleeping… Man, Thursday was stressful.  I had table time, skyped with Batman and wore a hat… it was rough.  I had just cancelled my debit card and had a very limited amount of cash on me.  I wanted to go. So badly.  Finally, after cleaning my room and talking to my mom, I decided to go. By then it was 3:30 pm and our bus left at 6.  After a bit of frantic packing and a trip to Spar, we were off to Switzerland. This trip literally came together in something like 6, maybe 8 hours.

We rode our first overnight train and I secretely imagined I was on my way to Hogwarts.  There were no open compartments so we split up into two that were already occupied by strangers. Becca, Emily and I were in a compartment with a wino (she seriously just pulls out a bottle of wine at like 1 in the morning and starts swigging away) and a woman that could not sit still to save her life… Tim, Mark, Katie and Jenna only had one compartment buddy. The nice thing about these compartments was that the chairs slid down to make like a bed, so sleeping actually came fairly easily.  Although Ms. Ants-In-Her-Pants had to leave the compartment about 3 times every hour.

Aaaaaand cue our arrival to Interlaken. (Inter-lock-en). After a brief detour around the town (we got lost), we finally found our hostel.  Heidi’s Hostel. Heidi was the cutest old woman.  She had never been to Austria, and in her day she owned a fruit stand which is where she actually met her husband. Gosh, I love love stories.

Heidi’s Hostel wasn’t really at all what we expected… It smelled like a humane society and was cluttered with trinkets.  However, we were happy to have a place to stay.  We had a room for 5 and a room for 2. Our room for 5 even had our own kitchen.  We settled in and Becca and Mark decided to go paragliding.  The rest of us showered, napped and ate. (And it was luxiourous.)

When they got back we went out around the town and found where we were going to go to mass. We shopped for souviners, I got to swing on a playground ( 🙂 ), we took numberous pictures of the amazing mountains surrounding us, frolicked in a snow covered field and shopped for food.  That night we all made dinner together (goulash) and sat and talked.  Eventually we all meandered to bed.

With a voice like a father, we were prompted out of bed by Mark.  We layered up, looked like marshmallows, packed our lunches and waddled to the train station.  We took a train to the top of a small mountain. Landing around 8:30 am in Grindelwald.  Which obviously made me think of Harry Potter. Duh. The town even looked like it should be in Harry Potter.  It was a skiier and snowboarder’s heaven.  

We went into a shop to rent our equipment.  The guy asked where we were staying.  When we said “Heidi’s Hostel” he got a broad smile on his face, tipped his head back, laughed a little and said, “Ahhh, Heidi’s Hostel.”  He informed us that he had worked for the paragliding company that worked with the hostel.  Turns out, they give half off rentals for those that are brave enough to stay at Heidi’s.  So animal smell and all, it was worth it for half price skiis.

Tromping through the town, sweating from every pore of our bodies for 15 minutes finally led us to the building where we bought our day pass.  I rode my first gondola, (did you know it’s not just a boat? Bahaha.) and was taken aback by the beauty outside.  The gondola took about 10-15 minutes to take us up the mountain and when we got to the top we were above the clouds.

Seriously, go look at my pictures on Facebook.  We were above the clouds.  The sun was shining and everything was crystal clear.  The wind blew a lite dusting of snow and it looked like glitter in the air. It was really spectacular.  We stood there in awe, snapping pictures and strapping into our skiis.

We took the ski lift up to the beginners hill. And let me tell you my face was freezing. Like. I couldn’t open my eyes. So. Cold. When we reached the top of this mountain we again went crazy over the beauty.  Pause. Okay, I should tell you here. This was Mark’s first time skiing and only my second. Okay, play.  “This is basically what you do, Mark.” And suddenly he was flying down the mountain. Trying to stop, he sits down which only makes him go faster.  Finally he leans to the side and stops himself.  I followed (doing the same thing) shortly behind.

Katie stayed back and was my teacher for the day.  After almost flying off a cliff a billion times, using a million vulger and explicative words, catching air whild tumbling down a hill and ripping the crotch of my snow pants, I made it to the bottom.  Took me about an hour and a half.  But dang, I did it.  I skiied in the Swiss Alps, and that’s something I love being able to say.  Check off skiing in the most beautiful place on Earth, Switzerland. CHECK!

We all stopped and had lunch and decided to split up.  Mark, Becc and I decided to go back and return our equipment and walk around the town a little.  We found a cafe and had Swiss hot chocolate. Mhmm.  I know you’re jealous.  We ended up back at the hostel, starving and already sore.  We ate a little and got ready for mass as we waited for the others. 

Mass that night was in Portuguese and there were a total of 15 people present.  The priest spoke very little English, but we could tell he really wanted to talk to us.  Mass was really great and after we found a little store that was open to buy some chocolate and last minute food items.  When we got back to the hostel we had round two of goulash, packed up, and went to sleep.

Sunday morning, snow is falling.  Okay, I know those aren’t the lyrics, but that’s what our Sunday gave to us.  We rode about 8 different trains.  The longest one being 6 hours.  I read, slept and listened to music.  The scenery was beautiful and I got to see the sunset.  There has to be a God if the sun setting can cause people to stop what they are doing and admire it.  “Too many sunsets I haven’t seen.”  I’m working on it.

Side note: There is something so much more romantic about a couple saying goodbye at a train station than an airport. Bah. I just love it so much.

We traveled all day and finally made it to the Kartause at 10 pm.  Sore and exhausted we went to bed.  End of trip to Switzerland.  I am still amazed that 6-8 hours of planning made such an amazing and unforgettable trip.  It was worth it being super stressed all day Thursday and just taking the risk and hopping on that bus. It was a great and beautiful trip. God delivered.

Random thoughts for the week:

1. Last night I hung up my Romania Mission flyers and am continuing to ask for prayers for me and my mission team, as well as those we will be serving.  This mission will push me in ways I’ve never been pushed before. It’s such a new experience for me, leading a mission trip. And I am so excited to be a leader.

2.  Ballet on Monday went extremely well.  I think they really want to do something for the talent show which makes me very excited.  They are really into it and are always eager to learn new steps.  It makes me happy because I can go over to their house and just dance. Just dance. I haven’t been able to just enjoy ballet in forever. And this is such a great experience. I love it!

3.  Yesterday I went to the Austrian school again. Briana and I had made Valentines cupcakes Monday night with our RD Allison in her apartment. (Which was such an awesome time.) So we went in, decked out in our pink outfits and delicious chocolate cupcakes.  We talked about Valentines Day and what it means to Americans and what we usually do for Valentines Day.  Then we played Catch Phrase to help them with their English. Next time we go in we are showing them pictures of our homes and families and activities that we do.  I’m excited. I love going in and seeing them.  I think they think we’re crazy though… We probably speak too fast.

4.  This weekend is our Poland pilgrimage and I can’t wait to write my blog on it.  It’s going to be life changing. And freezing… Temps are supposed to be super super cold. We’ll really get an idea of what the Jewish people went through at the concentration camps during the winter months. It’s going to be so intense. But also very fruitful. Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!

And with that, I’m outta here. Thanks for reading! Love you guys.

Hallmark Villages- Inspiried by Hallstatt

Sometimes I get discouraged. Becaues I know that the amount of words, or the kind of words, or any words can compare to the beauty of the things I have seen/will see while I am here. Here I am trying to tell you all about the beauty of Hallstatt, and all I can think to say is, “you just had to be there.”

Hallstatt (make sure your s makes the “sch” sound. So Hall-sch-tatt) is a tiny town right next to a lake. With windy alleys and small stair cases that lead you all around town. It is right on the lake and is surrounded by mountains. Now here I can tell you that yes, here in Gaming I am surrounded by mountains, but this is different. It is like we were in the valley looking up and all we could see were mountains. Everywhere. It was so. Just. Amazing. I’m struggling for words… This weekend, Hallstatt, was not what we had planned, but God delivered.

I invite you to take a trip back with me. Let’s go back to Thursday night. The night we were planning on leaving for Switzerland. Our bags were packed. We were bundled up and I was anxiously scrunching and unscrunching our itinery for our night of traveling. We left the Kartause with well wishes from a few of the girls staying behind for the weekend. We begin walking toward our bus stop and decide to say a quick prayer. I believe it went something like, “Dear Lord, please allow us to get to our destination safely, to not miss any trains or busses and to have a great time. Your will be done. Amen.” And then, BAM! we miss our first bus. We don’t even make it out of Gaming. I mean, I asked for it, I did say Your will be done. We laughed. What else could we do? We walked down the middle of the empty street in Gaming and laughed about our misfortune. “Oh well” we said, probably about 10 times. We decide to stop at the local bar and get a drink. Heck, what else were we going to do? The creepy bar tender gave us our drinks, Hot Love was what they were called, which caused a bunch of eye brow raising and awkward smiling from the man that knew we were students at Franciscan.

We then made our walk of shame back to the Kartause. Pausing momentarily to think about hitch hiking. And then praying we wouldn’t run into the girls that had wished us well before we left on our trip. We got in without having any run ins with anyone and decided to reasses our situation. We could leave the next morning. But that would only give us one full day in Switzerland. And that’s almost not worth it. So we decided on Hallstatt. Jocelyn had told us that it was a beautiful place to go that was close by. Perfect. It was in the country, but it still required us to figure stuff out for ourselves.

We decided we would leave on Saturday and return on Sunday. We knew mostly everything would be closed, as it was the weekend in Austria, but we didn’t care. We needed an adventure and obviously Switzerland was not in God’s plan for us.

Sleeping in on Friday was the best thing. I woke up, called our hostel in Switzerland making sure they had my email and then booked our apartment in Hallstatt. A few hours later I get a call from a man that starts speaking in rapid German and suddently I hear “Allison Stutz” I ask him if he speaks English and typical of most Germans he responded with “a little”. He then proceeded to ask me (very loudly), “I see that you would like to come to my house tomorrow. Yes? This is okay?” Long story short, it was the best phone call I’ve ever received, and I could not wait to meet this man in person.

Friday consisted of sleeping in, mass, lunch (if you want good food, stay back for a weekend…), and then a hike to find the waterfall. Our map? A napkin drawn by one of our RD’s. Of course. It was so much fun. The hiking was intense. My calves were screaming and my heart was pumping out of my throat, but it was beautiful. We slid down the baby waterfall and thought it was the only one until we found the motherload. And dang, that waterfall was huge. And frozen. So we climbed up to where the water was running and drank the most lovely, delicious water I’ve ever had in my entire life. Yes, it was that good. More Franciscan students showed up and we decided to make our way back to the Kartause. Where we finalized our plans for Hallstatt and then made a trip to Spar to get stuff to make dinner Saturday night.

Good morning Saturday. A new day, a new adventure, a new plan. We left from the Kartause bus stop this time and started our new adventure with a prayer of gratitude and trust in His ultimate will for us. We bought our train ticket that went all the way to our final destination and sat back. Everything went smoothly and we were waiting at a station for our train. It had to be Divine Inspiration that told me to go check the board for our train because otherwise we would have not known what was going on, but our train had changed platforms and we luckily made it on the right one.

Redeeming moment? Moment for ultimate fist pump and celebratory “YES”? On a train. Headed to another train station. Why so redeeming? The conductor came by to check our tickets. I had that bad experience when it came to tickets on trains so I was a little nervous. The moment his little clicker thing marked my ticket I couldn’t contain my smile. After he left, the fist pump and celebratory “YES” were announced. So redeeming. It was then that I was like, “I got this. I can travel in Europe. I can get around. I know what I’m doing!” And man, did that feel good.

I’m a firm believer that many things make up an adventure. It’s not only where you’re going. Or even how you get there. What makes an adventure is the misadventures along the way. Or the people you meet that subconsciously change your life forever. This weekend adventure had both of those.

We met a woman on one of our trains in a little compartment. We were searching for a place to sit and we found her. I asked her if she spoke English to which she smiled coyly and said, “Yes.” I laughed because we had been speaking in English saying that we hoped we were on the right train, and she could understand us the whole time. She had learned English when she was 10 and also spoke German. She was reading a book in Arabic (although she claimed to not really know what it was saying, but had been trying to teach herself for 4 years.), she also could read French. I felt so inadequate. It was then that I decided that my children will all know a second language. She was the sweetest. She helped us make sure we were on the right train and that we would make our connecting train just fine.

We may have gotten a little excited about being in the right place that we got off at the wrong bus stop. I can neither confirm nor deny this though… But yes, it was the wrong stop… So we walked around Hallstatt and were, for some reason, content with just not knowing what we were going to do. We walked into a little shop and I started talking with the owner, but she didn’t know the bus or ferry schedule and we started getting a little more worried. We walked around her store and two minutes later she called me over. She didn’t speak the best English, but she said, “Wait. A half hour. Then she can come with me, and I will drive she to Obertraun.” I couldn’t help but smile. I was so happy. This lady was going to take three girls over to the other side of the lake to where we needed to stay. Hitch hiking in Europe can be crossed off the butcket list. The best thing is she didn’t just take us directly to our apartment, she walked us to the front door and explained what had happened with us and wished us well before leaving. An angel, I tell you.

I was so excited to meet this man. This man that I had talked to one the phone. He saw us and said to me, “You booked online for four persons, but you have only three persons. Is it good if I put you in room with three beds?” (And if you’d like to hear what he accent sounded like be sure to ask me to say this sentence out loud, because I have it down.) We got a room that was cheaper than what we were expecting and had our own little kitchen and bathroom. It was lovely. Such a cute little apartment. And he was absolutely adorable. We unpacked and made our dinner of spaghetti and rolls and peach wine. Mmm. It was soooo good after a long days travel. We hung out and talked and just got to spend some quality time with one another. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the day.

Enter Sunday. We left our little apartment (not without having our breakfast of toast, oranges and apples) and said goodbye to the sweetest man on the face of the earth. He has been living in that house since he was three, and before that his father and grandfather and great grandfather. Amazing. He was great. So dang cute. We headed out to the bus station and waited to be taken to the other side of the lake.

We walk around a bit in the Hallstatt market area but as I mentioned earlier, it was Sunday, and in Austria everything is closed on Sunday. We found our way to the church, up some narrow stairs and through a little cemetary. In the time when we got to the church and when we left the holy water had frozen. It was that cold inside and outside of the church. However, mass was beautiful. I couldn’t understand a word of it, and the three server boys were the most misbehaved boys of the face of the earth, but I loved it. The organ player loved his job and even made me cry at the end of mass just with the beauty and intensity that he played that amazing instrument. I have never heard it so joyful or youthful in my life. More power to you man.

After mass we found the Charnal House and got to peek inside and see all of the beautifully decorated skulls of the dead. Because Hallstatt is so tiny and doesn’t have very much land it often will put the skulls and bones into one of these houses. Very interesting.

We walked until the end of Hallstatt and back again until we found a little pizzeria. We ordered some lunch and ended up staying there for a good three hours. Again, just talking and getting to spend time with each other. Getting to know each other a little more. It was excellent. When we managed to probably upset the owner we left and continued to walk around Hallstatt until our ferry left at 4:15.

We caught our ferry and took a beautiful boat ride right across the lake. Surrounded by God’s glory. It was breath taking. We got off at the train station and eagerly awaited our train. When it finally arrived we hopped in the first section we saw which happened to be full of teenage boys. All laughing at us, I’m sure of it. But we were happy to just be warm and sitting for a good two and a half hours. Traveling back went rather smoothly. Only once did we have to run to the train. But it was all good. And then we ran into another group of Franciscan kids and started swapping weekend stories.

And that, my dear friends, was Hallstatt. So beautiful, so peaceful, so perfect. God has a plan. He will always lead us to where we need to go.

Random things before I go:

1) Tonight was my first ballet class. Absolutely adorable! I love all the little girls. This is going to be such a fun thing to do. Although it really made me miss the Froemsdorf’s back in Steubenville. I hate to think that Monica Rose is going to be almost one when I see her again. Amazing how quickly time goes by.

2) I paid for our Poland pilgrimage today. And I am totally pumped. Like for reals. Although, I really need to reevaluate my financial situation… Money just makes me nervous. I don’t like it one bit. But I am definitely looking forward to Poland! Which is where my Great Grandmother came from 🙂

3) I am so tired I can’t even stand it. So with that. I am off to bed. Tomorrow I have six hours of history and then a paper to write, not to mention a mandatory lecture to attend… Lame, I know. Good luck to my little Nobody’s back on campus tomorrow as they have their first intramural basketball game 🙂

Tonight I am thankful for peanut butter, true friends, and my little stuffed Batman. God is good.