The Secretary Babysits!

One of the wonderful people you will meet when you come to Gaming is our secretary, Mrs. Andrea Ritt. She lives in Gaming with her husband, three children, and infamous cat, Francis.

Andrea loves our boys and thus volunteered to watch them both for an afternoon while my wife and I went skiing. Not going to turn down a ski trip together, we readily agreed.

Below are some pics of the kids at Andrea's house and of course we had to include Francis the cat as well....

Austria: Coming and Going!

160+ students just left Gaming to all parts of the United States and the rest of the world. It is amazing to think that in only a few more weeks, another 160+ students from all over will arive and inhabit this former 14th century Carthusian monastery. Future posts will focus on the highlights of next semester, but for all those leaving and for all those coming, I thought it might be nice just to post some general pictures of Austria and Gaming.

Also, for those who have the time, I would definitely recommend reading the US State Department's info on Austria as it is concise, to the point, and very informative.

The end in sight!

With finals being finished and only one more day to go, the campus has a different feel: Some are sad, others thrilled, and still others, have mixed emotions.

Still trying to process everything that has happened these past 16 weeks, most are in a whirlwind. I would encourage all of the fall 2008 participants to begin to reflect and actually write down their experiences. A few years from now, many of the precious insights will have disappeared. Don't let them slip away!

I especially want to thank all those students who have contributed, have served the program, and have been faithful to their daily tasks as student, brother, sister, friend, and travel partner.

Also, special thanks to Cory Heimann who helped put together the semester DVD project! It turned out wonderful and many of the students have already watched it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

To end with, I encourage all just to say thank you go God for the gift of this program and for the amazing opportunity that you all have been given.

Blessed Advent and enjoy these pics of Gaming in the snow!

The Festive Season!

In the past week or so the Kartause community has celebrated Thanksgiving, the beginning of Advent, and couldn't bypass a day trip to the ski mountain of Hochkar about 45 minutes from Gaming.

While classes were held on Thanksgiving day, evening commenced with an all campus turkey dinner. Mind you, the Turkey was brought out with sparklers in it as the students sang the star spangled banner in honor of the good ol' USA!

After dinner, classic Austrian dancers and dance instructors came to teach the students group Austrian dancers. Then the evening was finished off by a student manned DJ.

Advent here in Gaming is celebrated by a large and festive Advent Market right in the main courtyard of the Kartause. Here they sell sausages, kebabs, cheeses, honey, crepes and a million other goodies and delicacies...It is a great time to all.

Finally, on Saturday, over 50 students participated in a ski trip to the Hochkar mountain resort.

Skiing / snowboarding all day was a welcome relief to studies and exam preparations. We were even blest with an incredibly beautiful day which just topped off an already near perfect day.

Today is the last day of classes, then reading day, final exams.....and back to the USA! Can't believe the end is in sight!