This semester i've been given more than i could ever dream or hope for! I am so sad to leave my austrian home and family! I feel like I just got off the bus from the airport, dazed and confused. Has it really been four months?
I love how everything is different here - it makes life such an adventure.
I love even how whenever I go on facebook in the library or the lab - its in a different language, especially on account of the language and catecatical institute students.
I love the kebab stand - walking down and eating outside. "What's the first thing you're going to do when you get home?" "Get kebabs" ... ohhhh. "I've lived for 80 years to eat crap like this?? just give me a kebab"
I love all the families here - so beautiful and such an example of love and how relationships can be so strong
I love how we live on an island - but instead of water surrounding us, its mountains. You spin around and see greatness.
I think I will be writing about this for a while longer, just thinking things through as they become clearer. anyways, i really like these quotes
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” Henry Miller
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” Martin Buber
Well Good Night!
Tomorrow I will be in the US of A. I love you all!

Yesterday I finished my exams - such a relief.
Then we had an Austrian ball, where we all wore dirndles and
liederhosen, learned some Austrian dances and then danced the night
away. They brought in the Austrian slap dancers. which is so amazing.
It's impossible to go to an austrian dance and not just laugh the entire time.

Today is our last day here - we leave at 3 am for Vienna.
I'm incredibly sad that it's over and we're leaving. Not that this was
all there is to my life, but it was just such a good experience. I just love
being around the Kartause and being with the people here.
I was thinking about all the places that i've visited before coming and
i think one reason why I loved them so much was because of the people
i was with and well, partially, just how i felt. Not that life here in Austria
is bliss (it's life - come on. no place is like that) but just the feeling
that this is life and i'm going to live it. i so want to take the feeling home with
me, to live a passionate life.

where the two rivers meet. like two hearts. cute.
the burren, north of doolin, somewhere in Ireland.
The end is drawing near.
I try not to think about it - but how am I not to think about something so sad?
I loved traveling so much - I went to Paris twice! And even snuck in a trip to Florence (that miraculously worked out). But really, I just not ready to move. I'm not ready to leave beautiful Gaming. I love living here at the Katause with everyone. I'm not ready to stop getting to know people and to not see mountains all around me. So, that's my problem. On Saturday, I hiked for 7 1/2 hours. We stopped once, to jump in the river that was made from frozen snow. My body was so confused when it hit the water. whyyyy are you doing this to mee?? apparently our screams echoed to people who had passed us 20 min before we jumped. we were loud.
so ... i say YES to the volcano. keep it coming baby. ha. what a last ditch wish though.
I love you!!

This weekend is a 4 day one. The weekend after that is a regular 2 day and we're having a Haiti fundraiser (we're opening up the kartause to everyone in gaming and having a festival kind of thing). Because of the fundraiser ... I don't think I will be traveling anywhere really (except for maybe a day trip). So what I am saying is, I think this is my last traveling weekend. I can't believe it. I am not going to become all sentimental while I am still here, though. haha. So, tonight I am off to Florence. I am so sad that Florence only gets 1 little day, but I am determined to make it work. Then Friday night I am going to meet people in Paris. Why Paris again? Because I liked it a lot and I wanted to travel with people on my last trip. No actually I loved Paris.
So yea, I hope you all have a fun weekend and have beautiful weather to enjoy! Love you!

oh. I just wanted to say. I picked out my dirndl today. My dress for the Austrian ball. I like it, too.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!
As always, I don't know what happened to lent.
It started and then suddenly it was over.
Last Saturday I left with Meg and Michelle for Ireland!
We went to Dublin, the Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough,
Galway, Doolin and Knock. In Dublin we spent some time with
the missionaries of charity. They have the cutest little house and they were
so dedicated to serving the people who come for meals. During the whole trip I had sopping wet feet that were frozen. It rained every day except one and it snowed when we were in the wicklow mountains. ehhh. It was so beautiful every where.
Doolin was such a sleepy little town ... it was so perfect. It was right on the water so we walked along the edge of the cliffs to the actual cliffs of moher. Ahh it was so fantastic. I have never felt wind like that before. I noticed a lot of people in town with really rosy cheeks ... wind burn. yah. Walking along the edge of the cliffs was kind of scary, it was a really long way down. Plus the path we were told to go on was not like anything you could see unless you were looking for it.
I loved, among other things, listening to a little boy sing the Galway girl song in a pub, all the music we heard, driving on the wrong side of the road and playing with this little irish girl. My favorite was when she said, "This is just rubbish!".
Well ... my goal is to put some pictures up today. Maybe I'll just ignore the order of things and put up some ireland pictures.
We leave in 3 weeks. I am so sad. Ok, but I'm not going to think about it any more :)

It smells like spring!

Ah! I bet you love the smell of spring. Freshness, cool breezes, flowers ... In Gaming the smell brings me back to my childhood. Every year, at this time of year, I would go to springtime on the farm at lake farm park. This, my friends, is exactly what Gaming smells like. Apparently, some where around here are farms. I think I saw one, once when I was walking.
No, but in all honesty, even though the snow made it look like Narnia here, it sure is nice getting to go outside for once without stiffening like the tin man and getting frozen boogers.
Lesson I've learned: If you think you might like traveling to a certain place and you've dreamed of going there all your life, go, even if people are debby downers about it and offer many disparaging comments on the city - you will probably love it. Paris was (AH! i can now say was) my number 2 on my go to list. Paris. Paris. Paris. And it was fantastic. There is a reason why it is such a great city. Not because it has the Eiffel Tower or Napoleon's body. The people there were so passionate about their city, so in love with it that it made me love it too. Plus, I really saw how it is a city full of art. Not just in the museums but everywhere throughout the city. It was so wonderful seeing my mom and Mrs.K. I hope I wasn't too annoying and wasn't to much of a map hogger. It was like a dream getting to be with my family in another country. I also really just like that little old lady I met at Notre Dame. But the French language really scares me...

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I hope you are all celebrating it and appreciating Ireland and St. Patrick :)
We're celebrating it here ... but not like how we celebrated it when I was younger - with the east side irish mass, dancing at my aunt's school, freezing in the parade and all the dance shows before.
Last night Meg and I stayed up late baking Irish Soda bread and making Irish Potatoes ... which is candy like, not real potatoes.
This past weekend I went to Venice Italy! Michelle and I took the over night train and got to the main island at 8:30 am. Going over the bridge to the island/lagoon was so amazing, i just kept looking right left right left - I'M SURROUNDED BY WATER!
This was the color of the water. Ice ice. And I don't know how to get rid of this underline ... so it's staying. I loved Venice partially because of how there aren't any cars - it just makes it that much sweeter, picturesque. The canals were just perfect and some of the gondoliers were wearing stripped shirts. Ah! I loved it all. Some people told me it smelled horrible and was dirty, but I mean it smelled fishy sometimes (esp. since our hostel was by a fish market) but I mean, we were surrounded by water. Ok, well I don't know how to handle technical things like blogs and this is funny looking, yea. Off to class.

My Roman Holiday

Ok, so more on Rome.
I am not princess. I did not take a sleeping pill before going out and then fall asleep on a genteelman and upon waking, go on a vespa ride. But I did go to the Spanish steps (ahh... the water from the water fountain tasted so good).
Actually, all throughout Rome there were water fountains. Soo Good! So, after this picture was taken, we went to go back to our hotel. But the metro was closed. That happened twice to me. Both times I was determined to walk back to the hotel ... however, not everyone was so enthusiastic with that idea, though (think of walking west of St. Peter's).
We went to a lot of churches and sadly I have trouble keeping them all straight in my mind. But I really liked seeing Caravaggio's paintings where they were intended to be seen -- not in a museum -- and same with Bernini's St. Teresa of Avila ... and Michelangelo's Moses.
It was really fun - Meg and I went on the Metro for the first time and on our foreheads was tatooed FOREIGNER! TOURIST! and this nice old man told us to go to the Etruscan museum - because it really surprised him. So much so that he went 5 times. :) he was funny...
Marta and I went to Nutunno for an afternoon. We went to the church where St. Maria Goretti is ... and to the ocean. We met these two elderly women on the train (who thought we were English) and then this really sweet old couple. It is so good to meet people, especially when all that are common are facial expressions and gestures.

So today I double booked my flight to Ireland. After spending 4 hours finding the right flight, too.
Then I lost the confirmation number for my train tonight.
I'm leaving for Venice in 3 min and everything has worked out, though! The train station finally found my confirmation number (they mispelled my last name) and then ryan air cancelled my flight, just like that! Ah! I just wanted to share that, since it was a major part of my day. :D
I'm so happy to go to Venice and get away, though!
Bye!!

On an Evening in Roma!!

So, every night in Rome I would go to St. Peter's Square. I didn't even know I could like a place this much. The whole city is obviously full of life, but St. Peter's was my life. I had never been there before, of course, but it felt so particular to me. On Sunday morning we went to St. Peter's. I went to the top - to the cupola. It was kind of funny being on the top of St. Peter's, since I hadn't been inside it, yet.
It was so exciting ... being on top of the world. haha. There I could see the funny flat trees and the gardens behind the Vatican walls. It looked like the perfect place to take a walk ... and run into the pope.
After mass the Pope came out of his lil window and said the Angelus. He was the cutest dot I had ever seen. I was so happy to see him, well I mostly just heard him, though.
The days in Italy were so full, but they also went by soo quickly. My feet have never hurt as much as they did in Rome either. I would wake up in the morning and take a step on what felt like knives. But I actually miss that ache now. I wish my feet were sore from walking on the cobblestones. We went to all the churches (ok. definitely not all of them...) through so many piazzas, walk through so many streets. o yum. dulce.
well, more later... !!

So, I just noticed the major lack of pictures in this blog. ew. It looks pretty stale. This is where i live! yay!

In an hour and a half we will be on our way to Naples, Rome and Assisi :)
I am so excited for an adventure and the great thing is that it doesn't even really matter if we catch our trains or not ... we're just going to have fun, where ever we end up!
Plus, I'm just so excited to walk the streets of rome and italy in general!
even with exams, it has been such a good week. And yesterday, I got a little stuffed animal in the mail, a pink hedgehog. It made my day, and then I looked at it later and was stunned by its cuteness. It has been soo warm -- I got to walk around Gaming yesterday a lot, mountains are so beautiful! It's so good to get fresh air! Go outside now!!
ok, I love you all!

This week in Gaming is mid terms. We're all tired from late nights and long exams. (well, actually right now i'm not tired but...) If there's any place to take mid terms, its here in Gaming :)
Plus, my roommates want to kill each other, well, not each other exactly...
At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. On Thursday we're going to Naples, Saturday we're going to Rome and Thursday Assisi. I don't even understand. If I was at home, I'd be planning every part of the trip, figuring out all the best places to go. But ... not so much here. I have planned a lot of things in Rome, but the school also plans a lot of it. Naples however is a different story, I don't even know if we're going to find a place to stay. I have an art mid term tomorrow and christian marriage on thursday (joy.). I also went to the infamous kabab stand last night. Some people love love love it, it was just fun to go on a walk and get out ... away from the mensa.
ok, well i would love to hear where you think i should go while in italy. I miss all of you!

We went skiing, it was so beautiful. The sun was shining and you could see really far. I fell a lot ;) but it was so fun, even though some runs were basically sheets of ice. There was one narrow trail with little bumps all along it and it was lined with tall pine trees. That was my favorite. They also didn't give me poles at the rental place, and since I didn't learn with poles I didn't think to ask for them, so that was exciting too :) I love these snow covered mountains so much. However, now that I have gone skiing, it can be spring now.

So I really wanted to post about Poland today. What an amazing country.
But it's almost midnight and I have not finished my thoughts, at all. So, I miss you all and will hopefully post on it soon - mid-terms are really important here and they start on Friday for me. But I will find time to write.

Poland was so amazing. I don't think I would've ever really thought to go to Poland, were it not for being in Austria or even really the fact that the school planned the trip.
We drove through the night and arrived in the morning in Czestochowa. Our Lady of Czestochowa is especially dear to Illuminata Pace, so it was really great to see the image. It was the first of many examples of the great faith the people of Poland have.
This web site gives a good background about her : http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/olczest.html
One way they venerate her is by going behind the wall on which she hangs and kneeling there, kind of like a wailing wall of sorts. There was a museum also which has St. Theresa's First communion veil. Some prisoners in the concentration camps would save pieces of their bread and make rosaries out of them - they were saved in this chapel.
Then we went to Auschwitz - Birkenau. I think I should write about this at some other time, if that time presents itself. There are so many thoughts and emotions that came from being in such a place. It is shocking how we can so easily choose the wrong thing, which can then turn into something that we had never even imagined, but have then taken it on and accepted it fully.
It made me think about freedom and how it is so easily abused and misunderstood. We do have such a responsibility to our brothers and sisters, to all of them.
Who am i to walk on the ground where martyrs died? i am no one to. just being there - without any words from the tour guide - the presence there spoke more than words can express.
in every action we determine ourselves - the prisoners and the guards.
I kept thinking how heinous the crimes were against life - so unimaginable. yet, one can judge me on this, the guards were people too, who were not corrupt soulless shades of people from birth but became that way through various decisions and choices. It made me think of how Frankl said that we might be good now, but we’re not guaranteed to be good forever. In fact he told a story about a horrible doctor from Vienna who did many experiments and cruelties on people. After the war, he went to prison and Frankl learned from an acquaintance how the doctor had completely changed, for the good, how he gave other’s hope in prison and encouraged others.
We went into buildings that prisoners built themselves. There were rooms with objects.
Shoes.
Combs.
Suitcases.
Many of the suitcases had birthdays on them. So many children who only saw the world for a short time and only from inside the concentration camp.
There are parts of this that I can’t explain at all, or do not want to because it’s almost as if writing it here makes it ... less of a gravity than it is.
In the basement of one of the barracks was the cell were St. Maximillian Kolbe spent his last weeks. On the door of another cell was carved the Immaculate Heart and Christ’s face. How was Christ there, in the concentration camps? mercy. mercy.
Actually i think that is all i want to say, here, now, about this, even though a lot more was seen and happened. One of the professors said that if you squeeze a handful of polish soil, out will come the blood of martyrs.
Appropriately, we went to the shrine of divine mercy the next day.
I was not particularly looking forward to it, but once I was there, I was so at peace.
There was a wonderfully sweet chapel with the Merciful Jesus image, but the church there looked ... like a spaceship. also, i thought that the churches in europe were not heated because they were all so old, but no, even this church was freezing.
I just loved being in Krakow, especially because I felt so much closer to John Paul II. Praying in the back of a Franciscan church, in the same spot where he used to pray was probably my favorite. Everyone stressed so much how he completely changed Poland. I saw where he lived, where he was bishop, where he would wave out of windows. Our tour guide said how at the last time he came to Krakow, they were ‘packed like sardines in the park’ to see him ;)
In the square, every hour a trumpeter comes out and plays a tune - but stops halfway (because a trumpeter was warning the city of invaders, but was shot by an arrow halfway through). All the trumpeters are firefighters, all the firefighters are trumpeters. I love little random things like this that are in different cities.
We went ice skating one night - it was outside and there was about 2 inches of snow on the rink. The ice skates were weird too, like roller blades but with blades on the bottom - ok so maybe that’s what hockey skates are ...
On Sunday we went to Wadowice, where John Paul II was born. The apartment where he grew up is normally open every day of the year. Except for the day we went apparently. Still, what a nice courtyard haha. Right next door was the towns church, where John Paul II would say, “where it all started”. So cute, right? Anyway, Poland was so beautiful and I loved it.

This week in Gaming has flown by. Not having class every day really makes the days in class a lot more high strung and packed. Mid terms are coming up, so I have had a lot of work for my philosophy classes. However, so much of what we have been talking about in philosophy (especially about the human person) is so fitting in regard to the trip that I'm taking to Poland.
I love how it all connects and is so relevant to my life.
It's a 10 hour bus ride ... but we're going through the night, so it shouldn't be that bad. I'm trying to learn a couple polish phrases off of youtube. Granted youtube is probably not the best place to learn phrases, but it's really hard! It's not like German or Italian!
It's kind of funny that here we just have a normal amount of snow, while in Steubenville it's like the biggest snow storm of the century and in Elgin they had an earthquake. Ok, not really funny... :)

To my environmentally concerned friends and family

So, I haven't said much in general, yet, but I feel like I should say more about Gaming, since I spend most of my time there (or is it here?).
Tomorrow is trash day. Now for most of my life I was used to separating the newspapers and bottles and recycling them. Austria, however, takes it to a whole new level. Everything is sorted into 8 catagories. Yes, 8. That's a lot of different trash cans. Ok. I'm just saying, I think recycling is great, but...8 different ways of sorting trash? yikes.
However, since I am in a different country and a different culture, I should embrace it and not think that they should change, just because in America, we do things differently. So yay! for the sorting system.
Alright, sorry for the random post ;)

2/9/2010 - Addendum:
In all seriousness we can learn a lot from Austrians :)

Yesterday, Saturday, I went on an amazing hike in the mountains to this waterfall! Most of it was frozen over, but some water was still streaming down. We stood at the base of the waterfall - where there would have been tons of water. It had just snowed the night before, again, so the trees are so nicely covered. The hike up the mountain was really hard, but so invigorating. Some people climbed the sides of the waterfall, too. There was a part in the iced waterfall where we looked into and could see all the way up and really far down (until it was too dark to see). Hopefully, I'll get to see the waterfall again, when it is not frozen.
Friday, I took the train to Salzburg to see Uncle Jeff and Aunt Debe. It was so good to see family - I was so happy it worked out. All the connections were easy and even though our meeting spot didn't exist, we still found each other. We walked around the old city, through all the squares and into all the churches. It was really great to go again, without a huge group (like the school last time we went). We went below the Salzburg Cathedral (which I hadn't before) - it was really cool under there, quiet and peaceful. It also had a work of art down there that I thought was pretty random (see picture). Little peoople or insects and their shadows made by a tea candle. Uncle Jeff did basically all of the tour guiding and we had a lot of fun trying to figure out where things are and what things were. Also, I got to ride the train a lot, which is so relaxing :).
Today, I have a lot of homework to do, but doing homework here is pretty exciting, since I'm in Gaming. The snow is melting again, a little, but I don't believe it's for good. It keeps melting and then snowing all the next day. We have a lot of avalanches here - from the roofs of the Kartause. There's a rumbling noise and then a shower of snow or ice. It is quite startling at times. Well, have a wonderful Sunday!

"Love is as strong as Death"

"Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary."

We started reading Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning this week for philosophy of the human person. I am in awe by it and think it is such a powerful book. Frankl understands freedom so well;

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
How many times to I choose to bind myself to my poor attitudes and blame it on the people around me or the stress of the moment? All the time. He has so much to say about the human person and how irreplaceable each person is. Ok, so what I am saying is I think you should read this.
Tonight we went back to being stereotypical Franciscan girls; we had a talk on marriage and dating, but the professors/professors wives gave it to us and they are all so full of life and great to listen to.
Well, Happy Feast of St. Blaise! -i don't know why but i really like having my throat blessed ;)

Groundhog's Day!

I am missing my first American Holiday.
I've been away from home for holidays before, but always where I could still celebrate it, at least to a certain extent.
So, I wish you a happy Groundhog's day! O Punxsutawney Phil and Buckeye Chuck, emblem of American oddness, i miss you!

Snow is falling quickly this morning and there are icicles hanging outside of my window. Pretty soon I'll have Christian Marriage and Foundations of Ethics and then freedom! (or rather study time!)

Budapest this past weekend was so great. This might sound silly - or just not make sense - but it made me want to go to Russia, where it is even snowier and more Eastern.
Even though the snow made our feet wet and my face cold, I'm glad it was so snowy and not just grey and cloudy. Going to the Turkish baths in the snow was so fun. I mean it was just like being in a big hot tub, warm water etc., but it was so much better. Plus, the architecture was great to look at (see picture).
A lot of the churches has mosaics on the outside and gems on the steeple and roofs. There was a statue of St. Elizabeth of Hungary at the church we went to (yay). Plus, my first experience of staying in a hostel could not have been better. Ok, More later!

3 Weeks in, 3 Months Left

All around - this makes me a little sad.
The first 3 weeks have flown by and 3 months sounds even shorter for some reason.
I've been wanting to start a blog for about 2 weeks... so yay! here it is.
It is so great being back in Gaming after such a busy weekend. However there is so much to do here, with classes, friends and the beautiful world we live in, just begging to be explored.
Ok. My goal for right now was to start this blog; mission accomplished.
Now back to Beowulf.