A blog post by Joe White, Fall 2011
Greetings,
all. Being an internet blog, I’m not exactly sure who this all will be read
by—maybe no one at all—but I hope this finds you well. It certainly finds me
well. Nestled in my expansive “dorm” room on the ground floor of 14th
century Carthusian monastery which itself is nestled in between something like
five enormous hills, I am certainly in an agreeable mood. Upon our arrival to
the Kartause, my reaction was similar to many others’: “Is this real life?”
Here is the place I had heard about for four years at
every Steubenville Youth Conference, seen friends’ photographs of, watched
people return from glowing, et cetera et cetera; now I beheld what they had
once beheld. As with many things related to this university, my expectations
were blown away. Most people questioned “Austria? Why Austria? You’re not even
in Vienna? Wouldn’t you rather be in some big European city?” Stepping out of
that bus for the first time and then looking out over the valley halfway up one
of the hills a week later cemented the fact: there is no place I would rather
be than here. Untouched by the hands of marketing, Gaming is an authentic slice
of European life, with their triangular roofs and multi-colored houses and bank
attendants who speak next to no English (praise the hand of Providence for my 5
years of German study).
Gothic
archways and Baroque ceilings (adorned with beautiful frescos) showcase the
artistic/man-made beauty that spreads itself across this fair city. As
mentioned before, one can walk down a neighborhood road and see a red house,
yellow house, orange house, and tan house all peacefully coexisting together.
Cobblestone paths lead the way to the city center where one can find the
grocery store, drug store, tobacco shop, and tavern. Beautiful stone bridges
ford the creek that runs through the town and stone archways serve as an
entrance to the intramural field.
This beauty hewn by man lags behind the pure natural
beauty that surrounds the town. As mentioned before, a beautiful clear creek
runs through the town.[1]
There is plenty of greenery to go around: a large, wooded field lies next to
Kartause for pick-up games of frisbee and the like along with gorgeous gardens
in the houses next to the Kartause. Natives of Gaming have their own plum and
apple trees, adding lovely, natural cover to the land. There is a waterfall
some 45 minutes away from campus as well as a popular cave about an hour away.
My favorite part, however, lies outside my window, behind me, and to my sides:
the hills. Carve out four hours in your day and you can overlook the valley
atop a gorgeous alpine foothill. I have yet to make it to the tippy top of one
the hills[2]
but having made it about 3/4ths of the way there I know it is well worth it.
Oh, I
suppose now that I’ve introduced where I am writing from you may want to know
the writer.[3] My
name is Joe White; I am a sophomore here at Franciscan and study social work. I
come from Rockford, Illinois although I tell all of the Austrians I meet “Ich
komme aus Chicago” because, well, it’s close enough. I look forward to being
able to document time here for you and I honestly hope that these posts will
benefit you in some way—especially if you are considering coming to Franciscan University
to study. I remember getting emails containing posts from students in Gaming
and that certainly having an effect on my decision. So here’s to a successful
semester, and here’s to you, the reader. Prost!
[1] Which itself is popular
attraction for students: right across from the Kartause is about a ten foot
drop into a deep part of the creek that students—myself included—jump into
(some even daily)
[2] My first venture was cut
short by a hunter busy stalking prey and a fall down a rock face.
[3] My narcissism prevails
again
No comments:
Post a Comment