That, above, was my week before ten day. I was leading a mission trip to Madrid for the middle part of holy week, and well it all became crazy. In the end, on Thursday night [everyone was leaving either friday or saturday], we figured out that we could get a van from the school [with the RD driving the whole way] to go to Lourdes, train to Madrid, and then, well, why not just fly to Ireland. And so, we bought the tickets, printed out our boarding passes and train reservations, and at 5 am Saturday 8 of us piled into a 7 seater vehicle headed for Lourdes, France. And so there it was, we would drive to Lourdes, spend a day there, and then continue on elsewhere. Sounds simple right? HAH. Welp, here we go.
Did I mention that there were 8 of us in a seven seater van? Let me break that down for you. A driver and one other person up front, three girls in the middle [it was meant for 3], and the 3 guys in the back who decided to be nice and sacrifice so everyone else could be comfortable. So, three big guys are in a two seater, i'm sitting on seat belt buckles, legs up against the seat in front of me, and squished between two guys. Sleep? Yea right. Comfort? That's a joke. Fun? Depends on how you define it. We laughed a lot, but that's about all I've got for ya. The plan originally was to arrive at approximately 10:30 pm saturday evening. After hitting traffic, we realized that wouldn't happen. Then, after stopping at a gas station at about 10, we realized that, since we stopped to eat around 8, we had been going in the wrong direction. The complete and total wrong direction. We wanted to go South and a little West-we went straight North. So, after the women in the gas station who spoke no english whatsoever helped us figure out that little piece of information, we decided to get in the car and try to get back on track. After dealing with France's ultra-confusing highways, we got back on track at about 1 am, with about 3 hours of driving left. Since Jess, the RD, had been driving all day and we would not let her drive anymore, we pulled into a truck stop to sleep. Daniel and JW had sleeping bags, so they parked it under a picnic table, and the other 6 of us made ourselves cozy [not] in the van. After about 5 hours of interrupted, bad, and simply non-existent sleep, we got ourselves changed and got back on the road headed to Lourdes. After stopping for gas when we were almost completely empty and learning that French gas stations [or this one at least] won't accept anything but a European credit card [convenient, huh?], we finally figured out that Jess had one and so after an hour of asking random people for credit cards while she was inside shopping we gassed up and headed out [can't you tell this was a lovely drive?]. And so, at approximately 11 am, we arrived in the wonderful Disney World that is Lourdes.
At this point, the Lourdes portion of the trip was fantastic. We spent the day praying in the grotto, drinking the holy water, going in the baths, going to confession, going to mass, and simply living up what is Lourdes. After a decent kebap and a quick trip to the Irish pub, we headed back to the cathedral for the procession. The procession was beautiful, although slightly frustrating when they sang the Salve Regina in about 9 languages [I was proud, however, of my ability to participate in the Our Father and Haily Mary in about 5 different languages]. After the procession, we returned to our humble abode (for two of the guys-the van; for the other 2 of us, the floor of the girls hostel) and crashed for the night. In the morning, the crew heading back to Gaming to catch a flight to Ireland got in the car, and the other five of us enjoyed Lourdes for a few hours before boarding a train. After a long day of travel, the five of us met up with our five mission team counterparts in Madrid.
After checking into our hostel and hanging out for a while, we planned the next day and went to bed. Tuesday was when we would begin our work with the Missionaries of Charity, and so we split up the groups. The work needed consisted of help in the AIDS hospice as well as a home for the elderly in the morning, and help at a soup kitchen in the afternoon. We decided that those who had arrived in Madrid early would work the morning shift, and the second group to arrive would do the afternoon. Long story short, however, I ended up working both shifts on Tuesday, and then only the mornings after that because they needed help. Working with the Missionaries was one of the most intense and powerful things I have ever done. Myself and the other guy in our group [yes, it was 8-2, that's a typical ratio for our semester], Dan, would go every morning and work with the men in the AIDS hospice. These were men who were very terminally ill, and required help with everyday things like showering and getting dressed, as well as many of them needed diapers changed and to be cleaned in the morning. Although I was slightly intimidated by this work at first, I fell in love with the guys there and with the passion that the Missionaries and all of their volunteers had for helping, it was simply extraordinary. Needless to say, it was a powerful experience.
Other than our time spent working with the Missionarios de la Caridad, we spent our time in Madrid seeing the city. We saw things like the Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, the Parque del retiro, and everything else that we could. We went to Holy Thursday mass in the cathedral with the cardinal, and were able to do the stations with the Missionaries of Charity on Good Friday. We went to the Via Crucis, the huge way of the cross procession on Wednesday, which was dedicated to World Youth Day which will be in Madrid in the Summer of 2011. The coolest part, however, was probably the huge processions that we saw. On Wednesday night and every night after during Holy Week, the city of Madrid does a huge procession with tons of people, music, candles, and floats dedicated to Our Lord and Our Lady. It was amazing to be a part of that on Wednesday and Thursday, being just one of thousands flocking to Madrid to celebrate la Semana Santa. The downside to being in Madrid that week? I stayed in three hostels in four nights, and our group in total stayed in five different hostels. It was quite a week though, and a great place to be.
On Friday, after working with the Missionaries and then seeing things like the Estadio de Santiago Bernabau, where Real Madrid plays, and the bullfighting arena, we headed to the airport to take a flight to Dublin. At this time, the group I was with was simply myself, Dan [the other guy from my mission team], his girlfriend Nadia who had met us there, and my friend Clare. The four of us flew to Dublin, and then took a train to Cork, to go to the University College of Cork where Dan had a friend studying. She took us in, gave us a place to stay, and gave us a feast after midnight [it was Good Friday, so we were pretty hungry]. Saturday morning, Clare and I then took a train back to Dublin [gotta love the train system in Ireland], and then a standing room only train to Castlebar to meet up with a family friend of hers [best part of that train? Voice on the loudspeaker tells us to have a comfortable journey, and a little girl standing near me in a great Irish accent goes "comfortable journey, that's a joke!"]. We then got to Castlebar and saw Deborah, Clare's friend. She took us in, fed us, gave us a shower and place to stay, and even let five of our friends stay there that night. It was amazing. We went to the Easter Vigil in Knock, where Our Lady appeared with St. Joseph and St. John, which was slightly different than back home [and by slightly I mean completely, but still awesome]. The highlight of the Easter Vigil? In the priest's homily he talked about easter eggs and a bunch of random unimportant things, but then he brought it all home, in something close to this; "When we look at the cracked easter egg we are reminded of the empty tomb. The empty tomb that doesn't point to Christ Risen in the past. Today, we are not celebrating Christ risen 2,000 years ago, but rather we celebrate Christ Risen here, Christ Risen now." He was awesome. And it was in English, so that was awesome. After the vigil we headed back to Castlebar, and had some Guinness in town to celebrate. On Sunday, we feasted for Breakfast and dinner [it was seriously fantastic to have real food again], and spent the day hanging out and walking around the beautiful town. After another night in Castlebar, we headed out at about 3 am, got on a plane, and then spent literally the entire day traveling, getting back into Gaming at about 3 am with a series of travel that went like this "car, plane, bus, train, train, train, taxi." It was ridiculous, but so worth it for ten day.
Overall reactions from Ten Day: French train systems suck. Tolls in Europe suck. Sitting on seatbelt buckles sucks. Doing all of it to get to Lourdes is totally worth it. Madrid is amazing. Speaking in Spanish is really fun, although intimidating when the other person doesn't know any English. Helping people who can't help themselves is ridiculously rewarding. Supermarkets in Madrid have wicked cheap beer. And bread. Being in the front row for Holy Thursday mass is fantastic. Except when you're on the side and can't see. RyanAir sucks, for more reasons than can be stated here. Ireland is quite a country. Guinness is simply delicious. And last but certainly not least: Christ is Risen. Here. Now.
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