Midterms

Unfortunately with midterms beginning this Friday and going all through next week I don't expect to write a legitimate blog post for quite some time. I do plan on blogging about my experience in Poland, in fact I plan on writing on the pilgrimage in three parts as that's the only way I feel I can do the trip any justice, however it's going to be a while. Until then, please pray that the next week and half is as successful and stress-free for me as possible.

Statistics

Below are some numbers describing my stay in Gaming so far. Some of these statistics were blatantly stolen from the University's blog. However, since I just cited my source I'm allowed to do that.

There are 181 students enrolled in the Austria program for the Fall 2009 semester.

Average GPA of students in the Austria program: 3.22

Average Age of students: 19.5

There are 70 male students and 111 female students.

Michigan is the 4th most represented state with twelve students including myself

My major is the most represented major here in Gaming with a total of 31 Nursing students; theology is second with 28.

I've been in Austria for 31 days.

It will be another 78 days (I think) until I return to the States.

I've taken 685 pictures since arriving in Austria and I deleted 146 of them.

I'm taking five classes for a total of 15 credits. My classes are: Philosophy of the Human Person, Foundation of Ethics, Christian Marriage, Introduction to Sacred Scripture, and History of Western Civilization II.

I've participated in more Masses than I can count since coming here but I've only been to Urs, the local bar, twice. I really feel those two numbers should be closer together.

I've gained four pounds since coming to Austria.

I eat on average three kiwis a day. The most kiwis I've had in one day is six.

Pilgrimage to Mariazell

Between the unending stream of reading assignments, the prospect of my pilgrimage to Poland this coming weekend and my first midterm next week I cannot possibly post about the multitude of events that have occurred over the last few days and do them even an inkling of justice. Therefore, I will write solely on the highlight of this past weekend, namely, my pilgrimage to Mariazell.

The background behind Mariazell is rich in history and legend. A summary can be found at sacred-destinations.com.

The legend:

On the evening of December 21, 1157, a Benedictine monk named Magnus was in a forest looking for a place to build a monastery. At one point, his path became blocked by a huge boulder that was too big to go over or around, so Magnus took a small wooden statue of the Virgin Mary he had in his knapsack, knelt in prayer, and asked the Virgin Mary for guidance. Soon there was a great rumble and the rock split in two, allowing him to pass through.

Some facts:

Magnus and some locals built a shrine to the small wooden statue of Mary which was rebuilt multiple times to give us the Basilica in which the statue is housed which we have today.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Mariazell is the most-visited Marian shrine in Central Europe.

Emperor Joseph II dissolved the monastery and and banned pilgrimages there during his reign.

The ban was lifted sometime after Joseph II's death and today more than 1 million people visit Mariazell every year.

Conveniently, Mariazell is only about twenty miles from Gaming.

This used to be a small chapel

So, on Friday morning at 7AM roughly fifty or more students, faculty/staff and children of faculty/staff departed by bus where we were then dropped off at the nearby nature park. From there, we would have to hike 18 miles (or 29 kilometers) to Mariazell along the Erlauf River through the foothills of the Austrian Alps.

Erlauf River/foothills of the Austrian Alps

However, with eighteen miles to traverse I couldn't stay too long in one place to enjoy the trail's beauty without being left behind and so I walked, and walked, and walked. The first half of the hike was largely uneventful. I simply walked in silence, soaking in the natural beauty I had become completely immersed in. The Erlauf river was clear and vividly blue and green, there were countless waterfalls, high-arching bridges across the river that had to be crossed single-file, wild mountain goats and so much more.

Then the foothills opened up slightly, the river deepened and we got to do this:

Shortly after we discovered a cave:

Then, we found my favorite location along the entire hike:

And if you think it's cool when Kevin jumps from ten feet how much cooler is it when he does it from thirty?

For the final three hours of the hike we left the river, traveling instead through the countryside, passing by farms until we came a small town about five kilometers outside of Mariazell.

Without the beautiful Erlauf River and surrounding mountains to distract us, every minute of that final couple miles dragged on forever. However, we eventually made it - and just in time for 4PM Mass, after which we had some time to enjoy the beauty of the basilica and pray.

Then, after a full day consisting of an eight hour hike, Mass in Mariazell's Basilica, and some free time to explore the town and church ourselves, we finally boarded a bus back to Gaming. However, not before I got a souvenir:

No Longer a Teenager

One of the perks of being in Austria: my birthday comes six hours earlier. I'm twenty years old today.

Weekend in Gaming

While most of the student body went to either Switzerland or Prague in the Czech Republic I spent my weekend back in Gaming. This is partly due to my peculiar financial situation but also because 1.) I want to explore Gaming itself and 2.) I have what can only be described as a literal mountain of homework sitting on my desk. It should also be noted that I got a job cleaning the Mensa after meals. So, on Thursday evening, after slaving away with my mop and bucket, I met my roommate Jason G. at the Keller (the Kartause restaurant) where we enjoyed a few beers and more importantly the company of his grandfather who was visiting from the States. I probably had close to a liter of the Keller's light beer which is more alcohol than I've had before in one sitting. As a result I now believe that I truly understand what Benjamin Franklin meant when he said, "God gave men alcohol because he wanted them to be happy."

Friday I had plans to hike to the waterfall outside Gaming with a half dozen students, including good friend Andrew Rall. However our hike was delayed by a thunderstorm. The rain began to let up by 4PM and we decided to brave what was left of the inclement weather. Of course after hiking the three miles to the waterfall it began to downpour once again so that upon returning to the Kartause we were all fairly drenched. Still, it was a pretty great time to be had.

Every night also consisted of movies, beers, and board games until Sunday came and I'd hardly done any homework. I wish I could say that my weekend had consisted of lots of productive and profound studying but sadly most attempts just ended in impressions of books on my face as I napped. I did get a fair amount done throughout the day on Sunday but unfortunately I have enough homework still that the school week is going to be incredibly hectic. However, on a positive note, I definitely aced my history test this morning.

What little profound studying that may or may not have actually occurred.

unproductive, not profound "studying" that definitely occurred

Adversity in Austria

I have been struck by more ill-fortune in these past few weeks in Austria than in the rest of my entire college experience put together. First, I lost my ATM card just prior to leaving for Austria and my bank would only mail it to my home address that they had on file. This means that I would have to go to Austria without access to my account until my parents could mail my card to me upon its arrival to my home. Meanwhile, in transit to Europe the airline lost my luggage and I had to spend my first several days in Europe without clothes or any other commodity. Then, immediately upon arrival I became sick. Then I got sicker, and sicker. I won't go into the details of my symptoms but suffice to say that they were pretty miserable. Now, I'm finally back to my healthy self and I have all my luggage safe and sound. Yet tragedy would strike again when on Thursday my ATM card finally arrived. But that's a good thing, you might exclaim. Well, I thought the same thing as well until I tried to actually use my card only to receive the following message, "card invalid internationally or defective." After talking with my bank I can find no reason why my card shouldn't work internationally. After enduring three weeks with nothing but some cash to hold me over, I receive a defective card. 

So, here I am: I'm stranded on the other side of the world with no money; I can't travel - I can't even buy groceries. I feel like I should be miserable, like this is the part of the story where I'm supposed the throw my hands up in the air and say, "I give up, world. You win." Yet despite having no money, and experiencing a period without clothes, toiletries, or even my health, I'm not unhappy, disappointed, or afraid. By all means I'm in a very uncomfortable situation yet, inexplicably, I possess a joy and a sense of freedom that contradicts my experience. Perhaps it's because, as I sit here within the walls of an ancient Carthusian monastery, I can't help but possess the attitude, not of a tourist, but of a pilgrim - and while by the standards of a tourist I am incredibly poor, as a pilgrim I have grown immensely in my wealth. I believe that I have grown spiritually and have come into my own as a person more in the past few weeks than in the last couple years - and I accredit this in part to those very challenges mentioned above.

Of course, I must also give credit to all those who have supported me in various ways during these past weeks, from my peers to the faculty and staff, but most importantly to my Lord who has decided to touch me in a very special way during my stay in Gaming. In respect to all the good I have received and accomplished it is of course His grace which I praise and no deed of my own. The reigns are in his hands, I'm just along for the ride.

Salzburg/Munich Part 2

At 10AM Saturday morning the buses arrived at Max-Joseph Platz in Munich, Germany. Our first stop of the day was Frauenkirche Cathedral for Mass followed by a short tour which consisted mostly of standing in Marian Platz waiting for the three surrounding clock towers to strike noon. At this point it was windy and very cold and I was sick and possibly dehydrated so you can imagine that I wasn't particularly enjoying myself. However, our tour finally ended and our free time in Munich began. I quickly joined the first group I found that was going someplace warm where I could get something to drink.

The group I found myself with consisted of Fr. Brad, Anna, Katie, Chris, and Bill Jones. The place: none other than Munich's famous beer hall, the Hofbrauhaus. The irony however is that while at this famous German beer hall I never actually had a beer. Instead I ordered a coke and water, because beer does not help much with dehydration. I did however try the beer hall's famed white sausages which I found delicious even in my unwell state.

After a couple hours spent in the beer hall Bill and Chris left us for the Olympic Stadium while the rest of us decided to search for some cafe we had heard about that serves thirty varieties of hot chocolate. Our trek first led us through the open-air markets which we wandered around in for awhile. We then found ourselves in a shoe store so Katie could buy a pair of Birkenstocks, because apparently they're far less expensive here than in the United States. The cafe eluded us a while longer as we took several wrong turns but eventually we found our way.

I ordered the strawberry-flavored hot chocolate and settled down to listen to Fr. Brad's entertaining stories for the next hour. For my family back home: Fr. Brad reminds me very much of Chuck Biewer, so you can perhaps imagine how much fun he'd be to hang out with for a day. We decided that next we'd go to the English Gardens when another group from Franciscan arrived at the cafe and one of their members, Joan, decided to join us.

We eventually met with some other people from our university including the resident director Vince, and Fr. Seraphim. We didn't stay long at the gardens because we had to be back at the busses soon but we did see the Japanese lake/island and some people surfing on the river - as well as Fr. Brad preaching to the ducks. Unfortunately, we had to grab dinner on the go to get back on time.

Japanese Lake

Fr. Brad preaching to the ducks

The next morning we went to the Salzburg Cathedral for Sunday Mass. The mass was in German so of course I couldn't understand what was being said. However, the five organs, enormous choir and orchestra kept me feeling fairly involved. Besides being in German, the mass was different than what I was used to in another way: at communion, instead of forming lines, everyone just leaves their pews to receive the Eucharist as a crowd - which I thought was much better than our silly lines.

Finally, after lunch again at the Sternbrau, we left Salzburg for our return trip to Gaming. However, we did make one stop on the way at Mondsee where we got to tour the church where the marriage scene in The Sound Of Music takes place, as well as swim in the lake. Thus ended our trip.

Church at Mondsee

Lake at Mondsee

Oh, and my health has finally returned to me.

Salzburg/Munich part 1

Even though I'm sick, on Thursday I decided to join some students/school faculty/local children for a game of soccer. Despite having taken some hard hits, falling into an almost comatose state on my bed afterward (because I was sick), and having actually never played real soccer before, this turned out to be a great decision. I had a great time playing and apparently I'm a very good defender. In the words of Kevin Gallagher I was, in fact, "a beast". This would have been the highlight of my day except that, that evening Student Life was playing The Sound Of Music - which takes place in none other than Salzburg, Austria. I had not seen that movie in probably ten years and I had forgotten how great/funny it is so that in fact was the highlight of my day.

On Friday morning I once again donned my sweater vest and ate my zimmel as I prepared to embark on my weekend trip to Salzburg and Munich. Salzburg is about three hours from Gaming and, upon arrival, we immediately made our way to Franziskanerkirche for Mass followed by lunch at Sternbrau where I got to try my first red wine. Then began a walking tour of Old Salzburg. This time, my particular group was lead, not by Fr. Seraphim, but none other than the entertaining Jess, one of the two resident directors here at Gaming - the other being the stylish Vince. A few interesting facts about Salzburg: the name itself means "salt city" in reference to the huge deposits of salt that were mined there and are responsible for the city's wealth, much of The Sound Of Music was filmed in Salzburg, and then there was something else I meant to write here but forgot.

a fountain seen in The Sound Of Music

I then had some free time so I found a few people and we wandered the city, checking out the various shops. Eventually we stopped at a cafe where they had hot chocolate so thick it was the consistency of pudding - except it was way more awesome than pudding could ever hope to be. That evening I attended a classical concert across town featuring a quintet playing Mozart which was thoroughly enjoyable.

However, the night was still young so I went to the beer hall in Salzburg, the Augustiner with Steve Eskro, my roommate Jason Gast, and many other wonderful people. However, with an empty stomach and a stomach flu, I did not do much drinking. Finally, I decided that the best way to end my first day of the most epic trip of the semester so far was to go to McDonald's and participate in the most glorious BigMac my lips have ever devoured.

see, sweater vest

this is not much drinking

A Quick Update:

I'm leaving Friday for a weekend school trip to Salzburg/Munich in Austria.

While in Salzburg I'm going to go to a classical concert.

I may try to upload more pictures from Vienna before I go . . . or maybe not. We'll see.

I'm currently experiencing the horrible combination of lots of homework and being sick.

I feel kind of like this guy - except worse