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Farewell!
6 years ago
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
The end of the semester in Austria
It is hard to believe that my semester in Austria is over. A lot has happened since I last updated. So here goes:
Revisiting Salzburg, Vienna, and Munich: I decided to go back to these cities, since I had originally gone to these cities during the winter. I wanted to see what these cities looked like when the weather was warmer. I was also trying to use up my Eurail days. First was Salzburg. I went there rather than go to Mariazell because I'm not one for hiking, and really wanted to go back to Salzburg. So I took the train to Salzburg, and was there for a few hours. I got to see the fountains and the flowers around town, especially around the university. I got to see the trellis that was used in The Sound of Music, along with the fountain featured in the movie. Next was Vienna. I went there on Holy Thursday, and got to walk around town. I also got to visit the different shops, found a really good kebap place, and found gelato that rivaled Rome. Finally was Munich. This was by far the longest trip, and was in Munich for only 3 hours. I used that time to walk around Marienplatz, and got another look at the glockenspiel. Since I went on Easter Monday, all of the shops were closed. I didn't realize that the shops were closed on this day. The only shop that was open was the one in the train station. Anyway, I'm really glad I got to go back to these cities because it gave me a chance to see what these cities look like when it is not snowy outside. Plus I got an idea of what these cities are like when the fall classes go in September. It's too bad I couldn't do that with Poland either...just didn't have the time.
Holy week at the Kartause: It is really interesting the different traditions that Austria uses for Holy Week. On Passion Sunday, we are given Pussy Willows rather than Palms. That was so interesting, and I really liked it. On Holy Thursday, the alter servers would clack wooden sticks together during the consecration rather than ring bells. On Good Friday, they would bring the corpus of Jesus into the church at the end of the service, and we would each lay daffodils onto the body as we would at a funeral. Then at the Easter Vigil, people would ring bells during the Gloria. It was so awesome to see these traditions, and really puts Holy Week into a completely different perspective.
Finals/trip to Rome for JP II's beatification: Normally during the days leading up to finals, people would stay back to study for finals. But we had the opportunity to see the beatification of JP II. So I had Christian Spirituality right before we left for Rome. Then we rode on the bus overnight to Rome. Once we got to Rome, we were able to take part in the mass. Some people stood closer to the main altar, and was able to see the beatification first hand. I stood further away, mostly so that I wouldn't get crushed by the crowd. I could still hear the mass, and it was amazing to see so many people. There were so many Polish flags waving about that day. The mass went on for over two and a half hours, which is standard for a Papal mass. After the mass, some were able to go and venerate the relics of JP II. Some of us went walking around the city, looking in the different shops. Plus I got to have gelato. Once we all got back on the bus, we drove through the night back to Gaming. We then had a recovery day before resuming finals. I then had Christian Marriage that Tuesday, and Surveys of Physical Science and Theology of the Church on Wednesday.
Book Mountain and Creek Jump: Once I finished all of my finals, I finally climbed Book Mountain. I climbed to the lookout point. The view from that point is just fabulous. It was really beautiful. Later on, we had the creek jump. This is where we raised money for Mary's Meals, and get the professors to jump in the creek. We finally got Dr Asci to agree to jump in the creek. I heard that he had refused to jump for the thirteen years he's been here. We were able to raise 3000 euro. So Dr Asci jumped, along with Prof Cassidy, Tom Wolter and Maria Siefert-Wolter, Fr Brad, Mark Kalpagian, and Tony Ertl the RD. Once they all jumped, then other people jumped in. Since I hadn't jumped in yet, I felt like now was the time to do it. So I climbed down to the creek, and jumped in. The water was freezing cold! I learned later that the water never warms up. Once I got in the water, I got out as fast as I could. It was too cold for me.
Final day and flight home: The last day that we were in Austria was a day of cleaning and packing. I was constantly busy. I had to make sure that the stuff fit in my suitcases. I had to do so much cleaning. It would seem that there was always something else that had to be cleaned in the room. Once the room was all cleaned out, I then checked out of my room. There was a bon fire, followed by midnight mass in the chapel. Once mass finished, we then boarded the busses for Vienna Airport. By the time we got to the airport, the sun was starting to come up. Our flight left Vienna around 10:30am. The flight lasted for about 10 hours. I was sad to leave Austria, and there was a part of me that was afraid that I would never get back to Europe. We got into DC around 2pm, and went through customs. After customs, we then boarded the plane for Pittsburgh. Originally I was going to stay with one of my household sisters for the week of graduation. Unfortunately that did not happen. My parents had to come down to Steubenville so that they could drive me home. I wanted to stay for graduation, but it just didn't work out. At least I got to see my household sisters before the end of the year.
It's still hard to believe that this semester is done, and that Austria is over.
Revisiting Salzburg, Vienna, and Munich: I decided to go back to these cities, since I had originally gone to these cities during the winter. I wanted to see what these cities looked like when the weather was warmer. I was also trying to use up my Eurail days. First was Salzburg. I went there rather than go to Mariazell because I'm not one for hiking, and really wanted to go back to Salzburg. So I took the train to Salzburg, and was there for a few hours. I got to see the fountains and the flowers around town, especially around the university. I got to see the trellis that was used in The Sound of Music, along with the fountain featured in the movie. Next was Vienna. I went there on Holy Thursday, and got to walk around town. I also got to visit the different shops, found a really good kebap place, and found gelato that rivaled Rome. Finally was Munich. This was by far the longest trip, and was in Munich for only 3 hours. I used that time to walk around Marienplatz, and got another look at the glockenspiel. Since I went on Easter Monday, all of the shops were closed. I didn't realize that the shops were closed on this day. The only shop that was open was the one in the train station. Anyway, I'm really glad I got to go back to these cities because it gave me a chance to see what these cities look like when it is not snowy outside. Plus I got an idea of what these cities are like when the fall classes go in September. It's too bad I couldn't do that with Poland either...just didn't have the time.
Holy week at the Kartause: It is really interesting the different traditions that Austria uses for Holy Week. On Passion Sunday, we are given Pussy Willows rather than Palms. That was so interesting, and I really liked it. On Holy Thursday, the alter servers would clack wooden sticks together during the consecration rather than ring bells. On Good Friday, they would bring the corpus of Jesus into the church at the end of the service, and we would each lay daffodils onto the body as we would at a funeral. Then at the Easter Vigil, people would ring bells during the Gloria. It was so awesome to see these traditions, and really puts Holy Week into a completely different perspective.
Finals/trip to Rome for JP II's beatification: Normally during the days leading up to finals, people would stay back to study for finals. But we had the opportunity to see the beatification of JP II. So I had Christian Spirituality right before we left for Rome. Then we rode on the bus overnight to Rome. Once we got to Rome, we were able to take part in the mass. Some people stood closer to the main altar, and was able to see the beatification first hand. I stood further away, mostly so that I wouldn't get crushed by the crowd. I could still hear the mass, and it was amazing to see so many people. There were so many Polish flags waving about that day. The mass went on for over two and a half hours, which is standard for a Papal mass. After the mass, some were able to go and venerate the relics of JP II. Some of us went walking around the city, looking in the different shops. Plus I got to have gelato. Once we all got back on the bus, we drove through the night back to Gaming. We then had a recovery day before resuming finals. I then had Christian Marriage that Tuesday, and Surveys of Physical Science and Theology of the Church on Wednesday.
Book Mountain and Creek Jump: Once I finished all of my finals, I finally climbed Book Mountain. I climbed to the lookout point. The view from that point is just fabulous. It was really beautiful. Later on, we had the creek jump. This is where we raised money for Mary's Meals, and get the professors to jump in the creek. We finally got Dr Asci to agree to jump in the creek. I heard that he had refused to jump for the thirteen years he's been here. We were able to raise 3000 euro. So Dr Asci jumped, along with Prof Cassidy, Tom Wolter and Maria Siefert-Wolter, Fr Brad, Mark Kalpagian, and Tony Ertl the RD. Once they all jumped, then other people jumped in. Since I hadn't jumped in yet, I felt like now was the time to do it. So I climbed down to the creek, and jumped in. The water was freezing cold! I learned later that the water never warms up. Once I got in the water, I got out as fast as I could. It was too cold for me.
Final day and flight home: The last day that we were in Austria was a day of cleaning and packing. I was constantly busy. I had to make sure that the stuff fit in my suitcases. I had to do so much cleaning. It would seem that there was always something else that had to be cleaned in the room. Once the room was all cleaned out, I then checked out of my room. There was a bon fire, followed by midnight mass in the chapel. Once mass finished, we then boarded the busses for Vienna Airport. By the time we got to the airport, the sun was starting to come up. Our flight left Vienna around 10:30am. The flight lasted for about 10 hours. I was sad to leave Austria, and there was a part of me that was afraid that I would never get back to Europe. We got into DC around 2pm, and went through customs. After customs, we then boarded the plane for Pittsburgh. Originally I was going to stay with one of my household sisters for the week of graduation. Unfortunately that did not happen. My parents had to come down to Steubenville so that they could drive me home. I wanted to stay for graduation, but it just didn't work out. At least I got to see my household sisters before the end of the year.
It's still hard to believe that this semester is done, and that Austria is over.
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