Poland was a very emotional weekend!
We went to -- are you ready -- Czestochowa first. Here there is a picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa through which many miracles have happened. It is very dark, almost black, is supposed to have been painted by St. Luke on the table top that was in Jesus' home. We had Mass there and then left for Auschwitz.
Beforehand, saw a museum with drawings by a survivor of the camp. He couldn't talk about being a prisoner in Auschwitz, so eventually he used art as an outlet. It was the most emotionally intense museum I have ever been in.
As we were on our way to the museum, I noticed how odd it was that all these houses in Poland looked very new and were just rebuilt on this ground that had been bombed and attacked so many times. I was just trying to wrap my mind around the reality of Poland's history as we drove through it. As I pondered this while looking at a small neighborhood, a concentration camp suddenly appeared on the right-hand side of the bus. Everyone immediately fell silent because we all knew what it was, and for a good solid minute we drove by rows and rows of barracks and barbed wire fence. Then I REALLY couldn't figure out how these houses were literally across the street from the camp, where thousands upon thousands of their ancestors were exterminated. We got to the museum, had lunch, and then finally left for the actual Auschwitz camp. It was so eerie when we got there, and the whole place had been made into a museum. We entered the front gate of the camp, with a sign overhead that read "Arbeitet macht frei," meaning, roughly, "Work makes you free." Creepy, huh? We saw rooms full of shoes, hairbrushes, suitcases, hair...anything and everything that was left of these people from decades ago. We saw the cell where St. Maximilian Kolbe was starved and died, the wall where they shot prisoners (which is still stained), and the crematoria and gas chambers. We walked through them and looked into the ovens. Overall, it was just a very difficult experience.
The next day we visited John Paul II's hometown of Wadowice. We saw his house, his home parish, and ate "Pope cakes." Then we left for the Divine Mercy Shrine!
I got to play and sing at Mass in the Divine Mercy Shrine, which was an awesome experience. We had prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm in the chapel and then listened to a talk given by one of the sisters from the Shrine. She spoke about the history and meaning of Jesus and his Divine Mercy. If you want a great prayer tool, PRAY THE DIVINE MERCY CHAPLET. It is amazing, and Jesus said that whoever prays this faithfully, nothing will be denied him if he asks. Sounds like a pretty sweet promise to me...
As I was practicing for Mass outside of the shrine, I hear "Hey Emma." I turn around to find one of my friends from HOME, sitting on the steps behind me! We started freaking out, along with everyone else who was completely perplexed by the situation. Everyone kept asking, "Wait, you know each other??" It was by far the most random event ever. What are the chances of finding someone you know in the Divine Mercy Shrine in Poland?! Apparently she is studying in Florence, Italy. She was even at Auschwitz the night we were, but we probably didn't see each other because it was too dark haha. Crazy. We always find each other in the most random places. The last time we ran into each other was this summer in Tuscon, Arizona!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Month in a Nutshell
So we have a bit of catching up to do...
Midterms were CRAZY. The weekend before I went to Wiesbaden, Germany, to visit our friend Judy who works on the U.S. Army base. It was gorgeous and she showed me all the important things, like where they have the champagne-fest every year! Good news - she found Cholula hot sauce in the commissary so now I have hot sauce!
Right after midterms, we had our 10-day break. I went to Spain and Italy, and it was amazing. My friend Chris and I took trains to Paris, which involved overnight traveling, and as expected, everything related to the French was awful. They were supposed to have this awesome, high-speed train, but getting a reservation was absolutely impossible over the internet, by phone, or at the train station. How then do you get a reservation? We have no clue. We ended up having to buy an actual 63 euro ticket in order to make our flight out of Paris to Madrid that night. Oh well, I don't plan on going back...
Once we got to Madrid, I was so relieved to know the language! I'm tired of German, and French was awful. So we found a hotel that night and then took a train to Sevilla the next morning. It was absolutely beautiful, but raining. It is one of my favorite cities that we've been to! We stayed for two days and then tried to go to Granada for a day, but the bus that morning just didn't show up...we stood in the rain at 6am and watched what seemed to be some type of undercover drug deal or other such crime happen across the street...we're not really sure, but two vans with painted over windows showed up at the exact same as two people on a motorcycle for a total of 30 seconds, and then everyone left at once...oh well. We missed our train to Granada because of the bus, so we waited another hour or so and finally got to the train station. We got on the next train back to Madrid and explored the city a bit. The next day, our friends Grace and Tierney met up with us and we went out and relaxed in a huge, over-sized park/garden. After two days, we left for Barcelona, but that was by far the sketchiest city we had been in. Chris almost got pick-pocketed and a man literally barked at Grace...that was interesting. We were very glad to leave Barcelona...
Our last stop was Cinque Terre, Italy. Oh it was amazing and gorgeous!! The weather was perfect in the 70's, and the beaches were so beautiful. Our "hostel" that we thought we booked turned out to be our own mini apartment with two rooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen! Chris cooked us girls dinner that night and the next day we went to the beach, ate gelato, went to Mass, and then ate out for Grace's 20th birthday. It was a glorious 10-day break, but we got back to school at 7:15am on Monday morning, with classes starting at 8:40am....
I didn't sleep except on the train, so immediately after getting into school from the train station, I took a shower which just so happened to be ICE COLD. I was so incredibly disappointed, considering I had just walked 45 min from the train station in 30 degree weather and couldn't sleep...it turns out no one had hot water, so that made it a little better :). Only 5 hours later, my parents and Pete and Teri arrived on a bus outside the window of my German class, and thus began Parent's Week!! It was so much fun and I loved seeing them and spending time with them. Classes were crazy during this time and we got lectured by every single teacher about how we're the worst class that any of them can remember (remember we had just taken midterms). The good news is that I got A's on all of mine, but I didn't know that until after the parents left. I think the teachers spared most of us the punishment we might have received by not revealing our grades until the parentals were gone...
On the weekend, we met the parents in Salzburg and Vienna. It was great staying in a hotel and having meals paid for by either the university or my parents :D. As the students were leaving on the bus, waving goodbye to the parents, I realized I left my winter coat in my parents' hotel room! My dad had to run back to the hotel (yes, run) and run it back to the bus. Let's just say that our German bus drivers and the students weren't exactly excited over having to wait another 5 minutes haha. Probably because one week with the parents was enough and we were sooo close to leaving....haha just kidding! When my parents left and I returned to school, classes were crazy again and I had a test, two quizzes, and a skit. It felt like I hadn't had a rest since 10-day! Well, that's because I didn't...
And then that next weekend, we went to Poland!
Midterms were CRAZY. The weekend before I went to Wiesbaden, Germany, to visit our friend Judy who works on the U.S. Army base. It was gorgeous and she showed me all the important things, like where they have the champagne-fest every year! Good news - she found Cholula hot sauce in the commissary so now I have hot sauce!
Right after midterms, we had our 10-day break. I went to Spain and Italy, and it was amazing. My friend Chris and I took trains to Paris, which involved overnight traveling, and as expected, everything related to the French was awful. They were supposed to have this awesome, high-speed train, but getting a reservation was absolutely impossible over the internet, by phone, or at the train station. How then do you get a reservation? We have no clue. We ended up having to buy an actual 63 euro ticket in order to make our flight out of Paris to Madrid that night. Oh well, I don't plan on going back...
Once we got to Madrid, I was so relieved to know the language! I'm tired of German, and French was awful. So we found a hotel that night and then took a train to Sevilla the next morning. It was absolutely beautiful, but raining. It is one of my favorite cities that we've been to! We stayed for two days and then tried to go to Granada for a day, but the bus that morning just didn't show up...we stood in the rain at 6am and watched what seemed to be some type of undercover drug deal or other such crime happen across the street...we're not really sure, but two vans with painted over windows showed up at the exact same as two people on a motorcycle for a total of 30 seconds, and then everyone left at once...oh well. We missed our train to Granada because of the bus, so we waited another hour or so and finally got to the train station. We got on the next train back to Madrid and explored the city a bit. The next day, our friends Grace and Tierney met up with us and we went out and relaxed in a huge, over-sized park/garden. After two days, we left for Barcelona, but that was by far the sketchiest city we had been in. Chris almost got pick-pocketed and a man literally barked at Grace...that was interesting. We were very glad to leave Barcelona...
Our last stop was Cinque Terre, Italy. Oh it was amazing and gorgeous!! The weather was perfect in the 70's, and the beaches were so beautiful. Our "hostel" that we thought we booked turned out to be our own mini apartment with two rooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen! Chris cooked us girls dinner that night and the next day we went to the beach, ate gelato, went to Mass, and then ate out for Grace's 20th birthday. It was a glorious 10-day break, but we got back to school at 7:15am on Monday morning, with classes starting at 8:40am....
I didn't sleep except on the train, so immediately after getting into school from the train station, I took a shower which just so happened to be ICE COLD. I was so incredibly disappointed, considering I had just walked 45 min from the train station in 30 degree weather and couldn't sleep...it turns out no one had hot water, so that made it a little better :). Only 5 hours later, my parents and Pete and Teri arrived on a bus outside the window of my German class, and thus began Parent's Week!! It was so much fun and I loved seeing them and spending time with them. Classes were crazy during this time and we got lectured by every single teacher about how we're the worst class that any of them can remember (remember we had just taken midterms). The good news is that I got A's on all of mine, but I didn't know that until after the parents left. I think the teachers spared most of us the punishment we might have received by not revealing our grades until the parentals were gone...
On the weekend, we met the parents in Salzburg and Vienna. It was great staying in a hotel and having meals paid for by either the university or my parents :D. As the students were leaving on the bus, waving goodbye to the parents, I realized I left my winter coat in my parents' hotel room! My dad had to run back to the hotel (yes, run) and run it back to the bus. Let's just say that our German bus drivers and the students weren't exactly excited over having to wait another 5 minutes haha. Probably because one week with the parents was enough and we were sooo close to leaving....haha just kidding! When my parents left and I returned to school, classes were crazy again and I had a test, two quizzes, and a skit. It felt like I hadn't had a rest since 10-day! Well, that's because I didn't...
And then that next weekend, we went to Poland!
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