Cinque Terre Spring 2010, enough said.

Last weekend traveling, and we were going to do it right. 3 guys [myself, karl, jw], camping gear, and possibly the most beautiful place on the planet. Oh it couldn't get any better.

After having some difficulties traveling [while still slightly groggy from not really sleeping on our night train, we missed our stop], we finally arrived in the train station in La Spezia, not knowing what to expect. We then took a train to Monterosso, in the way passing the other 4 cities of Cinque Terre, being equally amazed at each one. When we finally arrived at the fifth town, Monterosso, we looked out at beautiful beaches looking out to the bluest water any of us could ever imagine. After spending a few hours relaxing on the beach and playing some frisbee, we decided to find our spot to camp. After seeing the thousands of people around and signs on the beach that said no camping, well we decided to find a cheap place to say. After a hotel which cost way too much told us of a couple of possibly cheaper ones, we were approached by a woman who spoke no english. She called her friend, who called her husband, and between the english they knew we talked them down to 50 euro a night for the three of us, and we asked to see the room. They then showed us an apartment. Living room/kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and bedroom. All to us, for 50 euro a night. No name taken, nothing. Just our own apartment. Yeah, we were in. We gave her the cash, she left, and we settled in for the weekend. Seeing our kitchen, we decided it was only right to cook dinner, and we went out and got a bottle of wine, some pasta and some sauce. That is called living the dream; home cooked Italian food, our own apartment, and then a night of wandering the town. Included in this was some time spend climbing a massive rock on the beach and sitting and watching the water, and some serious time spent working on our rock-skipping abilities. Needless to say, it was a good first day.

On Saturday, we woke up and set our for our 9 km walk [I am convinced it's about twice that] from Monterosso to Rio Maggiore. The walk took us about 5 hours [we didn't hurry, just enjoyed it], and was worth every second of struggle and pain which has lasted about 3 days in our calves. The highlights of the walk include the gorgeous views, awesome people we met along the way, and most of all JW's cliff jump. After looking for a place to jump all day, we finally found one he could use. We used the rope we brought, lowered him down to a good spot, and he prepared to jump from about 3 1/2 stories up into the bluest and most gorgeous water ever. At this point, a large crowd had gathered to watch [many of whom yelling at karl and I to get him back up, but it was in italian so we didn't 'understand']. When he decided it was time, he then plunged into the sea, doing a perfect cannonball, leading to applause from the people, and he swam to the shore where we met him excitedly. Yeah, it was rather fantastic. We then finished the walk, boarded a train, and headed back to our apartment [it's still funny to me to say that]. We changed, picked up some supplies for dinner, went back to the beach, and hung out for a while. We then showered, and Karl then began to prepare the massive amount of pasta we had bout while Dubs and I proceeded out to the town looking for random people to invite over to eat [we had an apartment, why not]. After not meeting anyone, we went back, enjoyed a delicious meal of penne pasta, italian tomato sauce, oregano, Parmesan cheese, and some meat, and of course a decent amount of wine. After that, we enjoyed the city one more time at night, including some time spent out our window on the roof of the neighbors place just hanging out with some Peroni and having a blast. And that ended day 2 in Cinque Terre.

Day 3 in Cinque Terre began with a cleanup of our apartment, washing of dishes, and heading to the beach to chill for a while before mass. We watched the waves, which were huge because the weather had changed from beautiful and warm to windy and stormy. We went to a kind of weird mass in the parish church in Monterosso, got some pizza, and went back by the beach to eat. We then climbed some rocks and debated exploring a cave, but it wasn't the day for that sort of exploration [i'm still not convinced, but the rocks were already rather tough to navigate]. After a tragic death to my camera [thank God it had lasted until the traveling of the semester was over], we changed and headed to the beach to just chill all day, since the sun was out. After trying to go in the water but turning around because it was too cold, losing a frisbee in the Mediterranean, and spending some time laying out, it was time to head back. A long and tiring journey back, where sleeping on the train was more or less impossible, could not ruin what was definitely one of the most enjoyable trips imaginable.

Lessons from the last trip of the semester: Cinque Terre is absolutely gorgeous; views like none other, and a place unrivaled anywhere else. Gelato is delicious anywhere in Italy. Having an apartment with a shower and kitchen > sleeping on the beach. Italian pasta, even when bought in a small store, is delicious. Sometimes you have to be a little crazy to get the best views. And that's about it.

Cinque Terre. Five cities. 3 days. No better way to end the traveling of Europe.

Livin' the dream

Ten days. All of Europe. Oh the places we could see. And so, it was going to be Barcelona, Madrid [to work with the Missionaries of Charity], and Lourdes for easter. Err, scratch that...Lourdes first, then Madrid, then Barcelona. Err...scratch that. Nothing is going to work. What will we do. Okay we have a solution. Wait no it failed. Here's another one. Nope too expensive. Oh gosh freak out mode. Okay calm down, it's all okay.

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.

Parlez vous anglais?

I apologize for the delay, but things have been CRAZY around here lately. This blog is about a trip to Paris which I took from March 19th-March 22nd. The weekend before this was a 2-day weekend, and I took a quick trip back to Salzburg. We weren't there all that long, and well there isn't all that much to write about. I may get to a blog eventually, but for now I feel that this will be much more exciting for your reading pleasures. And so, well, here we go.

This weekend we had a 4 day weekend, and so on Thursday night some friends and I boarded a train and headed to Paris. It was myself, and two of my friends, Katrina and Joemy. We planned the trip slightly last minute, and as such didn't have hostels booked or anything like that, but we figured we would roll with it.

When we arrived in Paris, we purchased weekend metro tickets (best choice ever), and then tried to figure out the metro system. After a kind old man helped us, we were able to find our way to Sacre Coeur, an absolutely gorgeous basilica up on top of a hill in Paris. We worked our way through all of the people trying to get us to sign things or buy thing, and entered into one of the most gorgeous places in the world. Above the altar we saw a monstrance with the largest host that I have ever seen, and we knelt down to pray. Shortly after, we saw that mass was beginning, and so we had mass there. Before leaving, we went to talk to the sisters, because you are able to stay out Sacre Coeur for five euro a night. They were closed, however, so we decided to go see the city and then return. We stopped and got our first (of many) crepe, and enjoyed it thoroughly. We then took the metro over to Notre Dame. Although it was very crowded and touristy, it was also an absolutely gorgeous church. After that, we took our first of four trips to the Eiffel Tower. At first, it was ridiculously disappointing, because well we came out the wrong stop and most of the tower was hidden behind buildings. Afterwards, however, we came out from behind buildings and saw the beauty of the tower. After being tourists and gawking for a while, we returned to Sacre Coeur to find a room. This, then, was when things became slightly more exciting. We went into Sacre Coeur and found sister, who spoke a very slight bit of english. After telling her we wanted to stay, she told us they were very crowded, and it would be better if we came back another night. Before calling to find out for sure, she confirmed with us [even though we had not even hinted at being college kids or anything of that sort] that we were franciscan students; apparently we gave off that vibe or something. She told us they were full that night, and so we agreed to stay Saturday night and go find a hostel that night. We signed the papers, and wandered out to try and find one of the hostels. When we finally found one, it looked nice, so we went in. The guy behind the counter was a black man who looked cool, but he immediately told us (in French) when we asked that he spoke very little english. After freaking out about how we didn't have reservations and he was very full [all in french] for a while, he proceeded to talk to us in perfect english, and inform us that he was from Washington DC and was just messing with us. He then told us that all they had was a two person room in the hotel (not hostel, it was nicer), and that i'd have to sleep on the floor. I then agreed, and he gave us the room for cheaper than he was even supposed to, simply because he wanted to "hook up his peeps." We filled out the info, which he then disposed of, telling us that there should be "no trace." We didn't mind, agreed not to tell anyone, and went up to our room.

After checking out our room, we jumped on the metro, deciding that we wanted to head out to get some food and to see the Eiffel Tower at night. We went straight to the Eiffel Tower, where we stood outside in some rain, watching the Eiffel tower light up in flashing colors for a while at the turn of the hour. After that, we saw some other Franciscan kids, who we talked to for a while. Then, we went back towards our hostel, and got some food (we got baguettes with bree cheese-what could be better?). After that, we saw the Haegen Daaz which he had spotted almost immediately, and of course had to go and pay way too much for ice cream because it was there. We then stopped for a drink, but like everything in Paris, it was overpriced (4 euro for a tiny beer!), and so we had one and returned to the hostel for the night.

On Saturday, we woke up early to spend the day traveling around the city and seeing everything that we could. We began by going to the Miraculous Medal Shrine, where Mary appeared and gave the Miraculous Medal to Saint Catherine. This was a beautiful shrine, and we spent some time there simply praying and then, of course, visiting the gift shop. After that, we jumped back on the metro [did I tell you those were a good purchase?] and headed to the Bastille. Although slightly disappointing because, well, all they have is a monument to where the Bastille once was, being the history nerd that I am it excited me very much. We walked around there and up and down the river for a while before heading to Notre Dame for mass. We went to a phenomenal mass there, and then I went to a confession with a priest who may or may not have understood a word that I said [he was fantastic]. After Notre Dame, we wandered the city before heading to the Hotel de Invalides, a super old national hotel with cannons in the front gardens. The place was gorgeous, and so we wandered around the front of there, and then down and across the river. We then saw some awesome museums and buildings there, and ended by getting on a metro and heading to the Arc D'Triumph. The arc was awesome, but, you can only look at a giant arch for so long, so eventually we began to walk away. We headed down a super busy shopping district before stopping at a delicious Parisian sandwich shop for some dinner-ish. After that, we headed to the Luxembourg Palace and the gardens there. We loved it a ton there, and thoroughly enjoyed hanging out by the fountain and seeing the beautiful gardens and the largest children's park in the history of the world. After hanging out by the fountain for a while, we went for Eiffel Tower round 3, because of course we needed a new view. This time was actually rather worth it, as apparently the first two times we had decided to go for the crappy view instead of the fantastic one. After gawking [and, of course, heinous amounts of picture taking], we jumped on the metro, figuring we'd get some food and call it a night back at Sacre Coeur. So, we headed back in that direction, and eventually stopped for some hot dogs [yeah, you read that right, i ate a hot dog in Paris], as well as french fries [the girls put mayo on them, frankly i find that disgusting]. After the food, we of course returned for round 2 at Haegen Daaz [I am sure i'm spelling that wrong, but what can ya do]. Of course, at this point it started raining...the two of them pulled out raincoats and umbrellas, and poorly prepared me got to trek up to where we were staying in the pouring rain. We arrived at the sister's house in back of Sacre Coeur, signed up for a holy hour from 6 am to 7 am, paid our 5 euro, and proceeded to bed.

Waking up before the sun, we met in the Basilica and prepared for our holy hour. By holy hour, of course, i mean we got to spend an hour as 3 of the only 10 or so people in one of the largest and most beautiful basilicas in Europe [no big]. After that, we went to the earliest mass, a 7 am small little mass on the back altar of Sacre Coeur. After mass, we gathered our things, and began to make the trek over to the Louvre. We got there early enough, and headed in for a long day of art viewing. We spent the next 7ish hours in the Louvre, and I'm pretty sure we didn't even skim the surface. We did get to see the Venus de Milo, which is rather impressive, as well as the Mona Lisa, which frankly isn't. Lisa [we're on a first name basis] is pretty small, and she is placed on a gigantic wall all by herself. After you push through a massive crowd, you can get about 20 feet away, and see the small picture [and of course take tons of pictures]. You then turn around and see a massive and beautiful image of the Wedding at Cana, and well it simply seems to hurt the appeal of the Mona Lisa. Nevertheless, it was pretty awesome to get to see one of the most famous pieces of art in history.

After all of the hours at the Louvre, we decided we were ready, and we headed back to the Arc D'Triumph and to our favorite sandwich shop for some food. While eating, we decided to spend our last few hours in Paris doing something new...the Eiffel Tower. We returned to the Eiffel Tower, where we laid in the grass over by the fountains, met a guy from San Francisco, and tried to race him and his son to see who could walk the farthest on the balance beam [okay it was a railing, same thing]. After relaxing there, we grabbed some snacks [more french fries, ANOTHER hot dog, you know healthy food] and began to head to the train station. We then found our train and boarded, only to find out that there was an argument in our compartment from two guys who had booked the same seat on the train somehow. This was quickly resolved by the conductor who pointed out that, the loud and outspoken one of the two [he never shut up the whole train ride, and it was an all-night train] had booked a train for the next day, but they simply let him stay. So we sat uncomfortably with four large men and two girls in a six person compartment, didn't sleep at all, and enjoyed our return journey from Paris back to Austria.

Overall impression of Paris...different than I expected. I didn't have too much of a desire to go to Paris at first, but there some things I truly wanted to see. I got to see what I wanted to [for the most part, more than once], and got to experience a very interesting, crowded, and lively city. Final impressions, however, include some very important notes: someone asks if you speak english-say no in a different language, it's much more effective; watch out for the mustard, it's spicy; mayo in France is apparently different, but still not good; when going to a city where it's supposed to rain the whole weekend, come prepared. The End. Ten day report coming up soon!

Home sweet home

Italy. Wow. The last 10 (11) days have been probably the best time of my entire life. We finished midterms Thursday morning, and at that point we prepared to get on a train and head out to Italy. Everyone went to different places before hand, for me, Milan. And so, in as condensed a version as I can, here are the overall highlights of the trip (I will do a quick day-by-day afterwards): Milan shopping district, St. Ambrose, Duomo, amazing train rides, Trevi fountain, gelato, Spanish steps, Rome at night, St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's, the Cupola, Pope Benedict, Italian pizza, the Colisseum, Ancient Roman ruins, the Pantheon, the metro, gelato (lots of it), everything said above done at night, Assisi, Francis' hermitage, the castle, sweet small towns, Italian wine, and all of the hilarious times in between. Simple enough huh? Well, here it goes.

Thursday/Friday: We board a train late Thursday night, which we have a reservation for (unlike many others) and head to Zurich. About 100 Franciscan students are standing/sitting on the floor until we get to Salzburg, when all but our crew of 3 exit the train. We then continue all night to Zurich, Switzerland. Here, we walk around the city and have a short breakfast, get back on the train and head to Milan. This train ride=most beautiful two hours of my life. Sun shining over the mountains, the snow-capped peaks of which are showing over the clouds, the sun is reflecting off of the lakes in front of the mountains, just unbelievable. After arriving in Milan, we find out hotel, check in, and head out. We see the city, the beautiful Duomo, and find the Church of St. Ambrose. We see pretty much everything Milan has to offer that we could get to in a day, and then finish the night with some gelato.

Saturday: Wake up ready to head to Rome. The first stop, however, was the open-air market outside of our hotel. After that, we head to the train station, get our reservations, and board a train for Rome. After arriving in Rome, we get our first experience with the Metro. We successfully take it to the right stop, but then leave the metro station walking in the wrong direction. We finally figure it out,and get to our hotel after way too long of a journey. We head to mass with the school at the Sacra Coure down the street. We then have our first Italian meal at the restaurant. Wine on the table, a first course of pasta, a second course of meat, and then a dessert-let's just say I was ready to eat like that all week. Then we head out from the hotel, board the metro, and head to the Trevi fountain. Lit up at night with gelato, it is absolutely beautiful. After finishing our gelato (this one was for you mom, just like I promised), we headed back to the hotel and went to bed. A very good start to the time in Rome, but it was all about to get that much better.

Sunday: We had mass at 10:30 scheduled, so we chose to get up early and get to St. Peter's Square. As I walked through Bernini's columns, all I could do was smile and proclaim "welcome home." And there we were, at our home, at the home of our faith, and at what is quite possibly the most magnificent place on earth. After gawking at the square for a while, we decided to go up to the cupola. We payed the entrance fee, and began to climb the 551 stairs (there was an elevator for part of it, but that cost more, so we obviously walked). The first thing you see, halfway up, is the inside of St. Peter's from inside the dome. Saying it takes your breath away doesn't do it justice, but it was definitely quite phenomenal. We then continued all the way up, until we finally reached the very peak and stepped outside to a view of everything that Rome has to offer. After taking pictures and jut staring for miles at the beauty of this city, we were in complete and total awe as we made our way back down. After walking into St. Peter's, we marveled at its beauty for a while before making our way to the front for mass. Mass was in Latin, and was had with about 100 cardinals and bishops-it was fantastic. Immediately after mass we headed out into the square for the angelus with Pope Benedict. Although he only spoke English for a short period of time, we were glued to every single word he spoke (go look up what he said, it was pretty amazing). After the angelus, we then decided it was lunch time. We went back to the Trevi, and found a small pizza place down the street. After eating brick-oven pizza with some Chianti, we were pretty satisfied. We then grabbed some gelato (you will begin to notice a theme for the week) and headed to the first of the tours. Where did this tour begin you may ask? Oh, you know, just outside the Colosseum (which, interestingly enough, was a site for protesters the whole week-we wanted a showdown with the cops, but it never came). From the Colosseum, we saw things just as St. Peter in Chains Church (that has the actual chains used for him), Mary Major (one of the major basilicas of Rome), a Church that has over 2300 martyrs from the catacombs, and St. Clement's, where you can see the excavated remains of a church from the year 97 AD. After that, we returned to the Colosseum for a while, and then went back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner, we went to our first of four holy hours at the Church down the street, and then we set out on the town...for some more gelato. And that was day #2 in Rome. Oh what a day.

Monday: The tour that was offered by the school on Monday was long, extensive, and would have been very crazy-so I obviously did not attend. Instead, we hit the highlights on our own. First, we went to the Capuchin Bone Church (underneath the church there is a sort of exhibit made completely of the bones of old Capuchin friars)-it was very powerful. At the end, there is a quote which says "We were once where you are; you will one day be where we are." Needless to say, that hit hard. After that, we went to Our Lady of Victory, where there is a beautiful statue of St. Joseph, and an AMAZING statue of St. Theresa in spiritual ecstasy. After that, we found our way to the Spanish Steps, where we did that tourist thing and sat for a while. We then made our way to St. Peter's and had lunch near the Square. Later that day, we went on the Scavi Tour. This tour took us into the excavations beneath St. Peter's, where excavators from the Vatican found ancient Pagan burial chambers, as well as the bones of St. Peter. It was one of the definite highlights of the trip-I absolutely loved it. We then went back for dinner at the hotel, and afterwards I went with a couple of friends to the North American College. This is a place, near the Vatican, where many American students live while studying in Rome, most of whom are seminarians. We went there to meet up with those seminarians and do Praise and Worship with them, which was amazing. Afterwards, I met up with people in St. Peter's Square, where we played frisbee for a while. After that, we headed to the Spanish steps to see them lit up at night, which was amazing. Finally, we almost got kicked out of a metro station (it was late, the man was angry, and we were goofing around-it turned out okay though) before getting back to the hotel to end day number 3, another phenomenal day.

Tuesday-Today began with a trip to Saints Cosmas and Damian Church, a church which used to be the courthouse for the old Roman Forum, and is now the mother Church of the Franciscan Friars. After that, we toured the ruins of the Ancient Roman Forum, which was a history major's heaven. We left that tour and then proceeded to enter into the Colosseum, which was simply breathtaking. The beauty of the place, mixed with the history that you could simply feel from being there made it something truly special. After the Colosseum, we returned to St. Peter's Square, simply because everything we did needed to begin from there. We had lunch near the square, and then a couple of us went into the Vatican Museum. After enjoying the Papal Gardens, the exhibits at the museum, and the beauty of the place, we went to the real reason for our going-the Sistine Chapel. All I can really say is wow. The beauty of the chapel is un-paralleled in my opinion. We simply stood in the middle of that room and stared, because it was the most marvelous sight I could imagine. After we finally peeled ourselves away from there, I visited St. Ignatius of Loyola (after stopping for gelato of course), my confirmation saint, at the Jesuit Church in Rome. I then visited St. Paul's outside the walls, another beautiful basilica in Rome (one of the 4 major basilicas). I then returned on the metro for dinner and enjoyed another delicious (although sometimes slightly small-portioned) dinner. After dinner, the night consisted of gelato and a trip back to St. Peter's Square to enjoy its beauty at night once again. Once again, a long and marvelous day came to a close.

Wednesday-Tuesday night was a fairly early night of sleep because Wednesday, and a papal audience, meant an early wakeup. We got to the audience and stood in some pretty hard rain for about 45 minutes waiting to get in, and once the doors opened we ran. Getting to our seats by 8:30, we sat as far up as we could and waited patiently for the entrance of our Holy Father. He entered, and the audience happened (mainly in Italian, but he spoke about 6 languages). When they announced that Franciscan University was there, well, we were loud, and made sure that he knew we were pretty happy to see him. After the audience, we hung out in the area around St. Peter's Square, doing some shopping and some eating (I bought a nice Italian tie, and, just like every other day, got some pizza for lunch). After lunch, we headed in the direction of the Sacred Steps and St. John Lateran. The Sacred Steps were brought to Rome by St. Helen, the mother of Constantine, and are the steps Jesus climbed a few times to meet Pilate. These steps are now covered by wood, but you can still see and touch parts of them, and you climb them on your knees. After this powerful and moving experience, we went across the street and had mass at St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the Pope and the home of our Church. This Church contains things like the first baptismal font that all Catholics would have used after the time of Constantine, the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, and a table that is believed to be the table that the Last Supper was celebrated on. After this, we went down the street to Santa Croce, where there are multiple actual relics from parts of Christ's passion. This took us right to dinner, and after dinner we did a tour of Rome-literally (but only partially on accident). We began at the Spanish Steps (we did all of it to see everything at night, lit up, one last time). We then walked to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon (the largest unreinforced dome in all the world), through the Piazza Novona to get the best gelato in town (a highly debated topic, but it was delicious), and to St. Peter's Square. After spending a few minutes there, 4 of us jumped on the metro for the Colosseum, which is gorgeous at night. Since the metro was closed, a series of walking, getting fresh delicious donuts, making slightly wrong turns, and continuing to walk for an hour got us, well, not very far. So we took a bus. Little did we know, we went the wrong direction. Upon realizing this, we got off, and with the help of a kind Italian man found the bus we needed to be on, and finally at approximately 2:30 we wound up back at our hotel. It was the perfect way to end our time in Rome.

Thursday-Early in the morning we awoke, boarded the bus, and began our voyage to Assisi. A couple hours of sleeping later, and we were at the sight of the original Porziuncula (a replica of which, called the Portiuncula, is on campus back in Steubenville). We looked around there for a while, and then took a bus up the hill into the heart of Assisi. After checking into the hotel, we set out to see the town before we had mass at St. Rufino's. After wandering the beautiful, quaint streets, and then going to mass, I proceeded to feel pretty sick and fall asleep for a while. After a few hours of sleeping, which required me missing dinner and a Festival of Praise meeting, I woke up and went to play Mafia until the wee hours of the morning, ending the first day in Assisi. It was a good day-we didn't do much, which would be a theme of Assisi, other than relax and enjoy the town.

Friday-This day began with mass at Santa Chiara (Saint Clare's), and then there was a walking tour. I did my own walking tour however, which simply means that I wandered and found cool things. We visited a few places, including the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, which was very powerful. After visiting his tomb (and the gift shop), I went back to Saint Clare's tomb and the chapel with the original San Damiano cross. After lunch, I went with a friend to the train station to go one town over to visit her household patron, Blessed Angela of Foligno. Finding a bus to the train station was much more difficult than Rome (they're just not quite as efficient in this little town), but eventually we found our way to Foligno. It was a beautiful church, and a really great time of silence in front of Blessed Angela, while looking at a picture of John Paul II kneeling in the same spot only a few years ago. After visiting her, we returned to Assisi for the Festival of Praise, which was simply amazing. We had the festival in the Church that the friars live in now, and it was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. After the festival, I returned to the hotel to play some uno (there isn't all that much to do in Assisi at night, we had to entertain ourselves) before bed. Once again, a relaxing but amazing day.

Saturday/Sunday-After sleeping in (until the cleaning ladies just started cleaning right around me), I woke up and went back to the tomb of Saint Francis. I stayed for a while, and attended mass in Italian there. I then went back to lunch, and after lunch we set up for the hermitage walk. The hermitage of Saint Francis is at the top of a very large hill, and was about a 1 hour walk, straight uphill, and we were going pretty quick. We spent a large amount of time just enjoying it-it was a beautiful sunny day, and we could see for miles. It made a lot of sense from up there why Saint Francis would have put his hermitage where he did, it was a simply breathtaking place. After the time there, we made the trek back down the hill, got the last gelato, and went to a Vigil Mass. Then there was dinner, and after dinner went up to the castle. We climbed the walls of the castle and sat there just looking out on a clear, starry evening-literally the perfect way to end this 10-day. After this, we returned for some more mafia and shenanigans around the hotel (pouring water out the window, stealing mattresses-the usual) before packing and preparing for a 6 am departure. We woke up bright and early on Sunday morning, loaded the bus, and made the long trek all the way back to our home in the Kartause in Gaming. And here I am, not even able to put into words all that has happened in the last week.

And so, if you didn't realize, it was a long and busy week. We did a lot, and didn't do much in the way of stopping. And yet, even though we are all exhausted and dreading being back in class, it was worth every second. I loved the big city feel of Rome, and the relaxation that was Assisi. I loved every minute of it, and can't wait to get back to Italy.

I know you probably want more (I'm funny right), but I think that is all I have. Obviously, more than that happened. There were jokes, random funny tour guides on the street (and i quote "Come on guys, I have no career or anything, this is it, help me out"), and some pretty crazy sights. All of those stories, however, will be reserved for another time. In one word, the only way that I can truly describe Rome and Assisi is...Wow. Good bye, and in the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, Pax et Bonum, Pace e Bene, Peace and Blessings.

Oh Poland (the mother land)

Boarding a bus Thursday night, we were excited. A nice night of sleep on a bus, followed by a trip to Poland. The excitement quickly died when our 9 hour ride of sleep turned into a 9 hour ride of trying and failing to sleep because the roads in the Czech Republic feel like you're on an old, bad roller coaster. Nonetheless, we arrived in Czestachowa, and the weekend began.

We first went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestachowa. This was an image that is supposed to have been painted by St. Luke on a table made by Jesus for Mary. It was moved to Poland hundreds of years ago, and while Poland was continually destroyed and conquered, it was never hurt. Mass was awesome there, and seeing the image of our lady was powerful, as were the modern stations of the cross they had there. Overall, it was awesome. We then boarded the busses and headed to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Auschwitz is an experience I will find difficult to express in words. It is quite possibly the worst place I have ever been in my entire life, but an experience that I feel I am better for having. Walking in and seeing the sign which says "Arbeit Macht Frei" was one of the eeriest things I have ever done. After seeing pictures of the sign, I thought I was ready for it. Being there, however, and walking through the gate that all of the prisoners would have walked thru, was very difficult and bone-chilling. Walking thru Auschwitz was difficult, as we walked thru the barracks which have since been turned into a museum. One exhibit, for example, was an entire room long and deep, and completely filled with human hair which was cut off of the women and would have been used to make textiles. We also walked thru a gas chamber which set off a whole different slew of emotions. After Auschwitz I, the main camp, we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the second and larger camp. In 1944, Birkenau had over 100,000 people there. It was also where the train tracks came in and all of the people would have gotten off of the train. Overall, the day at Auschwitz was painful and very difficult, but one that I am glad to have experienced.

After Auschwitz we went to Krakow, where our hotel was. On Saturday, we began with a walking tour of Krakow, seeing the cathedral as well as many of the places John Paul II lived and studied while he was in Krakow. The tour was very cool, and we saw a lot of the city. After the tour, we had some free time, after which we took the bus to the Divine Mercy Shrine. Here, Saint Sister Faustina lived when she was given the Divine Mercy image from Christ. This was an amazing shrine, and a great place to spend the day.

We returned to downtown Krakow, where we went to a hole-in-the-wall little restaurant and each got a plate of traditional pirogies. They were, well, AMAZING. After that, we went to the mall because everyone needed pea coats (fail this time, they all got them later though). After the mall, we went and got gelato (yes, it was Poland and not Italy, but whatever it was awesome) and then found some pub in a basement and sat and hung out.

Sunday we went to mass at the cathedral in Poland. It was in Latin/Polish, so that was a little difficult, but hey it was mass so it was great. After that, we wandered to the main square, from which we returned to the mall. Here, almost 100 Franciscan students could be found wandering intently looking for pea coats, pipes, shoes, and anything cheap that they could find. I must say, we were successful, as everyone got what they wanted (for me: a pipe, some new pants, and a new messenger bag to travel with) and got it for very very cheap. After this, more gelato (like i said, it was delicious, and might i mention cheap...2 zilote (no idea how to spell them, they're polish currency) for one scoop in a waffle cone, and 2 more for every other scoop, which equals like 75 cents American). After the gelato, we got on the busses and headed for Wadowice, the hometown of John Paul II.

Wadowice was glorious, although most things were closed. The day consisted of a gift shop, peeking through the locked gate into JPII's hometown, and seeing his church from when he grew up, including kissing the baptismal font he was baptized in and kissed when returning later in life. After that, we ate pope cake and some pretty darn good European pizza, and after that we boarded the bus and headed back to Gaming.

Overall, one word to describe Poland?: Powerful. And there ya have it. Midterms after a 2 day weekend next week, and then Rome and Assisi for 10-day!

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=196939&id=570370259&l=283958456e