Off to Rome again!

Christ the Lord is Risen! Alleluia!!

Well, Easter around the Kartause was fantabulous. (Emily and I went to Vienna on Sunday for Mass at St. Stephan's; I also hiked Book Mountain and went to the waterfall.) However, you're going to have to pardon me yet again from not posting. Easter Monday I was running down a hill behind the Kartause in my dirndle, fell, and broke my finger. And I'm in a cast. Fortunately, it was only my left pinkie finger, so I can still take my exams, but typing with one hand takes a bit of time.

So, this week consists of:
JPII's Beatification on Sunday
X-rays on Monday after we return from Rome
Exams Teusday and Wednesday
Packing when not studying or praying
Flying home on Friday!

Hopefully I'll find some time to take my time typing posts and to post pictures and/or a transcriber to help me type more quickly.

[Update as of May 5: The xrays look good and everything is improving, but I will be in this cast for 4-6 weeks.]

One day (or, rather, a couple hours) in a new country-- Slovakia

Unfortunately, I'm a little behind with my other posts-- Lourdes will get updated as soon as I can (finals will be starting in less than a week) and I will get a post up about Mariazell as well. Hopefully while I'm at home I will be able to post pictures from these wonderful adventures.

April 21, 2011

Julie and I are staying in Gaming for Easter break, but we decided to take a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia on Thursday since there wasn’t much going on here then. And I have now been to all the countries of my ancestry!

Me at the train station in Bratislava.

We left at 4:30 am with Claire, Jeff, Katie, and Regina who were flying out of Bratislava to Ireland (however, we didn’t know that we would be on different trains once we got to Vienna because we were going to different train stations). The only problem we encountered on the way there was that we got off at the wrong “Wien” stop. But there was a train going to the same place five minutes later and we had a 20 minute layover, so it wasn’t a problem. But we didn’t have as much time to buy our supplement ticket for our Eurrail (Slovakia doesn’t take Eurrail), so we just bought the full-price ticket, which wasn’t too expensive anyway.

We found a Tube station sign in Bratislava!

Once we arrived in Bratislava, we didn’t know which bus to take to get to the city centre, so we bought our ticket back to Austria, which turns out was only 26 cents since we only had to get to the Austrian border to use our Eurrail. Then we were looking at bus schedules and finally figured out how to get there after asking the lady at the desk who spoke English. (We don’t know any Slovak—at least when we went to Prague, I at least knew how to say ‘No’ and learned how to say ‘English’ in Czech.)

The Castle in the background. 

Unfortunately, once we figured out the right bus, we got on it, but going the wrong direction. But it was easy enough—just hop off and cross the street, and get on the bus going the other way. We were really, really surprised at the small amount of people that we saw—this is the capital of Bratislava, so we were expecting it to be pretty large. But, it was really tiny.

When we reached our destination, we found a Capuchin Church and they were singing Praise and Worship in side, but we weren’t able to go inside. Down the street a little bit was another Catholic Church, but again, we couldn’t go in. However, we were able to peek through the windows on the doors.

Julie and me outside a church wherein they were
singing praise and worship in English.
Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out
how to get in.

Then we walked up to the Bratislava Castle which had a tremendous view of the city (the only disadvantage of visiting castles is that they are all on top of hills, and you have to walk up the hills). In front of it was a statue of St. George.

Me and the statue of  I think it's St. George. There's
probably a legend about it, too. I think he might have
turned his head at a crucial moment.

Then we went to the Cathedral. As we arrived, we saw tons of priests, nuns, and a bishop exiting the church. We talked to one of the Missionaries of Charity who was stationed in Bratislava and she said that it was the Chrism Mass. It was a gorgeous Gothic style church, and had beautiful side altars.

Priests exiting the Cathedral. Notice the
castle in the background!

The tall building with scaffolding I believe is the cathedral.

St. Michael's gate

After that, we did some shopping and saw St. Michael’s gate. Then we went back to our bus stop and to the train station. We ate lunch outside and then boarded the train for Wien. Our one train was a bit late, so we ran to the next platform, and made it. And we also met up with Hannah, and later several other FUS students who had also done day trips.

At the Grotto with Bernadette: Lourdes

(NOTE: My battery is really low right now, so I'll post as much as I can before it runs out and then update the post later.)

April 1-10

On Thursday afternoon after my Theology of the Church class, we left Gaming for Paris via bus, train, and overnight train. Friday morning, we arrived safe and sound in Paris. We were there only for the day, so we saw the major sights: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Louvre (Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo as well as French Romantic Movement pieces), ate crepes and bread, went to the Miraculous Medal Shrine for Mass and saw Sts. Louise de Merillac and Catherine Laboure, saw St. Vincent de Paul up close in a really nice little church ; and we stayed the night with the sisters at the Sacre Coeur Basilica which was absolutely gorgeous!!

The next morning we went to Lourdes and arrived there in the afternoon.

Quick note before departure

Praised be Jesus Christ!

I did get back from Medjugorje and it was a glorious trip! But, in 3 hours or so, I will be leaving for our second 10 day trip. We're going to Lourdes, and on the way there, we will be stopping in Paris, while on the way back we will stop in Nevers. However, things are pretty crazy here as usual, with classes and all that, so unfortunately, it will be a little while before I have posts for these two trips. Thanks for your patience!

Rome/Assisi/Venice/Padua quick-update

Praised be Jesus Christ!

This will be just a brief overview of the places we went. If you want to ask more about a certain place, feel free to and I will reply in the comments. Otherwise, I hope to do a more detailed update, if not while I'm here in Gaming, when I get back at the end of the semester.

March 5-14

Friday: We left Friday and traveled through the night to get to Rome on Saturday.

Saturday: After we checked into our hotel, Julie, Claire, Hayley, Mary Kate, Alexis, and myself headed to Netunno where St. Maria Goretti is. We also got gelati and took pictures by the Mediterranean.

Sunday: My first time in the Vatican (which I believe is my 7th European country). We went up to the cupula, which is the very top of the dome in St. Peter's Basilica. That would be a workout of 551 stairs up and 551 stairs down. We went down to the papal crypts and prayed in front of JPII's grave. After a Latin Mass in the Basilica, we went outside to have the Angelus with the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. We had a tour of the Basilica with the seminarians, and then went to Tre Fontana where St. Paul was martyred. Oh, and I got to use my French twice when we tried to find it!! (This trip has a neat story...)

Monday: We had a tour of Early Christian Rome which started at the Colosseum. Afterwards, we had our Scavi tour and saw the bones of St. Peter.We went to Mass at St. Paul Outside the Walls, but were late because we went to Soprani's for souvenirs. We also had a holy hour that night.

Tuesday: Today we had our 4 hour tour which included Trevi Fountain, St. Andrew's Church, St. Ignatius of Lloyola's Church, the Parthenon, etc. Then Katie, Hannah, Julie, Claire, and I went to the Vatican Museum after getting gelati. (Another interesting story...) Then I played flute for Mass at St. John Lateran's, which has the Table of the Last Supper, and two Popes, and the heads of Sts. Peter and Paul, as well as the Baptistry where many early Christians and martyrs were baptized. We ended the night with a holy hour.

(Ash) Wednesday: Julie and I went to Mass on our own at St. Peter's Basilica, and it was in Italian. (Story...) Oh, and they put the ashes on top of your head, not on your forehead. Then we had a papal audience. (really cool!) Then, Mike, Jeff, Katie, Julie, Emily, and I went to Opus Dei headquarters and got to venerate the tomb of St. Josemaria Escriva. At 3pm, we climbed the Santa Scala, which Christ climbed when He went to meet with Pilate. Then we went to Santa Croce, Mary Major, and the Purgatory Musem.

Thursday: We went to Assisi-- which is so beautiful!! (And we got to say an international Rosary on the bus, and I got to lead the French decade.) We went to Our Lady of Angels, which has the original Portiuncula, and the Transitus Chapel. We had Mass at St. Rufino, and saw the baptismal font where Sts. Francis and Clare were baptized. (And it has a beautiful statue of Our lady in tears).

Friday: We went to Santa Chiara (San Damiano cross, St. Clare's body and relics). After lunch we went to San Damiano. Then we went to the hermitage and prayed in the cave where St. Francis did and had  a St. Clare group meeting. We also had a FOP that night.

Saturday: Mass at San Francesco (we were not able to see the tomb of St. Francis because it was being rennovated) a walking tour of the town. That afternoon, Marianne, Jeff, Katie, Emily, and I departed for Venice.

Sunday: We went to Mass at the gorgeous San Marco, but it's a bit touristy, so we couldn't stay long. We also went on a gondola ride and had gelati.

Monday: We woke up really early and headed to Padua, where we were able to go to Mass at St. Anthony's and touch his tomb and see his tongue, voice box, and jaw (he is known for his preaching). We also went to St. Matthew's church just down the street, and saw his tomb, as well as a "tomb" with relics of St. Matthias. We were only in Padua for a couple hours, but I loved it.

Like I said, feel free to ask questions about the stories and I'll get to them more quickly!

Very brief update (again)

Praised be Jesus Christ!

I greatly apologize for the delay in posting about the Rome/Assisi pilgrimage. After Assisi, Marianne, Regina, Emily, Jeff, and I went to Venice and Padua before making it back. And when we got back, we had tons of homework and I still had a midterm to take. I will post a very quick update, but that will have to suffice for now, since I'm leaving in about 3 hours for a pilgrimage to Medjegorje.

Poland Day 3: Krakow, Nowa Huta, and Wadowice

February 20, 2011

Before we went to Mass at the Cathedral (which was in Latin and Polish), we went to the field right outside the hotel where John Paul II met the 3 million or so people when he came back to visit Krakow as Pope. After Mass, some of us had the opportunity to go to Nowa Huta, which was to be the ideal communist city without God. The steel workers there did not want a city without God and built a steel cross which they fought to defend. Today, there is a replica of the cross (as well as a chapel) and we did praise and worship at the cross, which was super neat just to realize God’s greatness and strength—more mighty than the communists. We also visited a Church which looked like the ark, but I don’t remember the significance.

           

Finally, we went to Wadowice, the birthplace of JPII and visited the museum, the Church where he was baptized, etc. and heard the call to the priesthood. We also got Pope cake which was delicious, but I wouldn’t have minded splitting it with someone.

Then we came back to Gaming, arriving at 2 am. So far, this trip has been my favorite. Not only because I’m Polish, so I was really excited to be in the land where my people came from, but just the whole nature of the trip. I don’t think anything can top it.