Household Olympics and FOP

So yesterday was the household olympics. Before I went to mass and the household olympics, I took a picture of the steel cross and the new friary.




Mass was at 9:30am in the fieldhouse, followed by brunch. The household olympics was later that afternoon. It was in the intramural fields. I didn't compete with any team. But I did take lots of pictures. Here are some pictures.











So as you can see, there were lots of events. The household olympics lasted for over two hours. It seemed that everyone enjoyed it. Following the olympics, it was time for Lord's day. This time I went to Stella Mariae's Lord's Day in "Tommy" Moore (I feel funny calling St Thomas Moore Tommy). I really liked it, and the girls were really nice. I may go to some more of their commitments.

Later that night was the first Festival of Praise, or FOP. I loved the music. But there was one thing that I had never seen before. During the FOP, a few people would appear to black out. There was one girl not too far from me that had collapsed, and was out for over a half hour. I learned later that she was "slain in the spirit" (I hope I have the right words for it). I had never seen anything like that before. Now mind you, I'm not really charismatic. I did like the music though, and I had almost no voice left by the time it was over. Overall I did like the FOP. Afterall, when you sing, you pray twice.

Oh, my parents are coming down to Steubenville this week to bring down my winter clothes and other stuff I couldn't fit in my car when I moved down to Steubenville. They're supposed to arrive tomorrow. It'll be good to see them. Hopefully they'll stay a couple days.

End of the first week

Well, the first week just wrapped up. So far things are going good. There's a lot of reading. But that's OK. I've been spending a lot of time in the library, getting my reading done. Oh, and I had signed up for a holy hour shift in the Port, but I have to change it because I'm still in class when it starts. I'll fix it tomorrow.

Today was the Household life mass. it was held in the feildhouse. I could see all of the banners for the different households. I noticed some new students (clearly not freshmen) have already intented households as they wore shirts with the word intent on it. It seems the majority of the households have their own tshirts and sweatshirts. Although I noticed that members of the Little Flowers would wear a white sweater. Tomorrow is the household olympics. That should be fun to watch.

Later on, there was a mini retreat in Christ the King Chapel. It was given by Fr Dominic. I found out the Fr Dominic is the same age as me, 35. But the retreat was really good and very informative.

Classes started

Well, classes started yesterday. My first class was an 8am class, Intro to Catechetics (Sollom). Following that was Philosophy of the Human Person (Healey). Later in the day, I had Principles of Biblical studies (Bergsma). All of the professors are really good. Although I really like Bergsma (thanks Claire...I told Bergsma that you recommended me take his class). Today I had Foundations of Catholicism (Donahue) and Intermediate French (Zori). Surprisingly enough, I remembered more French than I thought I would. The professor introduced herself in French, and I understood most of it. She's really nice too. If I find that I need help, I can always go to the language lab. Plus I got a French / English dictionary. So hopefully this will be a good semester. Just keep me in your prayers, especially I'm technically old enough to be my classmates' mother (I was a sophomore at Mother Seton when the freshmen were born).

This Saturday is the first Festival of Praise (FOP for short). I want to go to at least one. And on Friday they have the Household life mass in the Feildhouse. I know I want to join a household. I just don't know which one. I was thinking of checking out Stella Mariae. They have a devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, and I have a similar devotion. They're located in Thomas Moore Hall, I forget what room though. So we'll see what happens.

Job fair, convocation, and ministry fair

As you can see from the title, the job fair, convocation, and ministry fair was today. The job fair was early in the morning around 9am. I filled out a lot of applications. And I was able to get a job with the physical plant department. It's an office job, and if I remember correctly...it pays $7.50 an hour. They're supposed to call me back about the job. That'll make my parents happy.

Later on that day was the convocation. It was in the Finnegan Feildhouse. During the convocation, we learned that this year marks the 50th anniversary of Fr Mike's profession with the TOR's. Everyone cheered when we heard this. Fr. Mike is so friendly...and he's from New York. But then again, all of the friars are really friendly.

Finally, the ministry fair. I signed up to audition for the music ministry. That will be tomorrow. I don't expect to be a cantor. But I would like to sing in a group. I've always preferred singing in a group rather than singing alone. That's just me. Oh, and I might do one of the missionary trips during spring break. There's one that's going to the Bronx. So it's almost like going home...though not quite. There's a meeting for that next Wednesday.

So I have an 8am class tomorrow. I have three classes tomorrow, all in Egan (reminds me of Mrs Egan, my gym teacher at Mother Seton). I got a locker for the year so I can keep some of my books there rather than lugging all of my books from one class to another. Plus I'd have a place to hang up my coat, once winter arrives.

Well, I'm in Steubenville...and it's orientation time!

As you can see from the title, I made it to Steubenville. I left NJ early last Sunday. It took me about 8 hours to get there. Once I got to Steubenville, I spent the night in the Holiday Inn. Why, you may ask? Because once I arrived at the apartment, I found out that the landlord didn't live there. The landlord owns a tanning and hair salon, which is located on the first floor. My apartment is on the second floor. The place was closed on Sundays, so I'd have to come back the next day to get my keys and move in. So I spent the night at the Holiday Inn on University Blvd (it's right next to Padua Hall). The following day, I went back to the "house" (which this building technically is), and got my keys to move in. The move in was pretty smooth. The apartment is pretty much a converted attic. It has a kitchen/dining area, a living room space, bathroom, and a wide open space in the back. I've made one part of this space into a bedroom (I have a raised aerobed right now), and I'm planning on making the other part of this space into a study area. There's a door where there used to be a window (I supposed that's what it was when this was a single family house), with wooden steps leading up to the "front door". The "back door", as I call it, leads downstairs to the first floor (the tanning salon). And there's a parking lot in the back. So the apartment is about five minutes from campus, roughly about 1.5 miles away. It's not perfect, but it's home...at least for the next year.

So this week was orientation. Orientation began on Thursday. I got to set up my Franciscan email. And I got to eat my first meal in Antonian Hall. I found out that different places on campus have nicknames. Antonian Hall is called the Caf. St Thomas Moore Hall is called Tommy. And the JC Williams Center is called the JC. I already knew that the Porticula Chapel was called the Port. One interesting thing that happened on the first night is that it began to pour down rain during the grand opening in the Finnegan Fieldhouse. At one point, the power went out...almost on cue. You could hear the rain pour down on the roof, and the loud clashes of thunder. Perhaps heaven was making some noise for the new students (like me), and the rain was tears of joy. All of this happened while Fr Terry was addressing us. Only at Franciscan would something like this happen. Anyway, the students were put in different groups during the weekend. The commuters were in one group, and there were groups for those living in the dorms and Assisi Heights (which was the apartments next to campus that housed low income people). The group I was placed into was the graduate/ non traditional group, or GNT for short. This is the group for grad students and non traditional undergrads (those people who are 23 and older). I'll tell you, the GNT's were so friendly. And I made a lot of new friends. During the weekend, mass was celebrated in the feildhouse. For some reason, their incense smells better than the incense used at St Joseph's church in Carteret (don't tell Monsignor Endebrock). Oh, and I also went to a Lord's Day. The household I visited was Warriors of the Word, which was in Marian. It was really nice. I want to check some of the households out, because I'd like to join a household...I just don't know which one. I'll have to pray on it. Well, I have pretty much have seen the entire campus by now. The only map I'll need by now is the map of the parking lots. Oh, the friars got a new friary. There is a new friary right next the the steel cross. I heard that the old friary was falling apart, and that the friars were using duct tape to fix some things. So what are they going to do with the old friary, you may ask? Well, it will be torn down and made into another parking lot. At least I got to see the old friary before it's torn down. There was a dumpster next to the old friary that was filled with garbage. The new friary is really nice, and the bells ring on the hour and half hour.

So classes start on Tuesday. Let the fun begin! :-)

Tomorrow, off to Steubenville

As you can tell from the title, I leave for Steubenville tomorrow. I've been getting the car packed. I have just a few more things to pack away. I'm hoping to leave tomorrow morning. I figured if I leave early, I can get to Steubenville before nightfall. So I'm off to Steubenville come tomorrow morning. Just pray that I get to Steubenville safely.

Oh, by the way, I ordered my books earlier this week. I forgot how expensive books were. I was just surprised that my french books were so expensive. The textbook is probably hard cover. It's a good thing I'm not taking any sciences. They're really expensive, and go out of date quickly.

Well, see you in Steubenville! :-)

Almost time to move to Steubenville!

As you can tell from the title, it's getting close to that time where I move from central NJ to Steubenville, OH. I sent the deposit and first month's rent already. And I let the landlord know that I would move in around August 15. The only thing I have to get for the apartment is a bed. I've been looking all over the internet trying to find a twin sized bed that I liked that didn't cost an arm and a leg. Through my searching, I've realized that I have expensive tastes. Of course my mother has known that for years. But I think I've narrowed the choices down. It's just a matter of figuring out whether I should order the bed before I leave for Ohio, or after I get there. I'll figure something out. So stay tuned.

Oh, and I now have an advisor. I got Professor Bolster as my advisor. And I am officially a Theology/Catechetics double major. Yay.