A Glorious Swiss Excursion!

A blog post by Patricia Huelseman, Fall 2010

Isn’t it funny how things always work out? I always forget until it finally turns out great, and then I feel stupid for worrying in the first place. I think Pollyanna knew what she was talking about when she looked for the best in every situation.

This past weekend, I went to Interlaken, Switzerland with a small group of friends. When we arrived, after quite the long train ride, the city was cold and wet. Unlike the historic cities of Vienna or Salzburg, Interlaken was designed supremely for tourists—or so it seemed. Clouds loomed so thick that we couldn’t see the mountaintops and I even began doubt that the mountains were all that grand. As far as I could tell, they were no greater than the mountains surrounding Gaming. Not to discount the mountains of Gaming, they are absolutely fantastic, but they are not what I imagined the Swiss Alps to be like. Very disappointing!

To be honest, I went to bed on Saturday night a little distressed—this was not going to be the weekend I had anticipated.

Thankfully, I was terribly wrong. The next day began with mass at a local church. A bit of the culture was really felt when we realized that the mass was all in German. Isn’t that neat that we belong to the universal church? No matter where you attend mass and no matter what language they speak there, you are going to the same mass as anywhere else. All over Europe, we Franciscan students attended the same mass as our loved ones at home.

After mass, a plan was established and we set out for a hike in the mountain valley. We took a small train up and around the mountainside to a cozy village nestled in the mountainside. The rain was steadily falling but with less intensity as it had before and the cold chill that had settled into our skin was relinquishing. We began walking along a narrow road with mountains surrounding us. As we walked along, the weather let up. The rain stopped and the clouds parted.

Oh, it was so beautiful; I had no idea of the mountains that surrounded us! We weren’t in Gaming anymore, that’s for sure. Ice capped mountaintops sloped away from us, full of majesty. At places, a forest of pine trees stood proudly at the edge of the snow line. The white sprinkling atop the trees reminded me of Christmas. Really, everything reminded me of Christmas. There were small cabins peeking out of every hillside. So very Swiss, pastures and fields climbed up the hillside. Waterfalls could be seen shooting out from here or there. For almost the entire walk, we followed a bubbling river which beckoned us to drink from it. It was very tasty. The entire experience was simply magical.

After walking for a few hours, we stopped in a small village. A gondola took us up the mountain to just below the snow line. A village was situated on the side of the mountain and we went about exploring. It was…eerie. There were a lot of cabins and hotels and stores but there weren’t any people. Oh well. We didn’t care. We walked about, looking around. Almost immediately, we noticed how very cold it was, almost too cold. It didn’t take us long to realize that we needed to stop for some coffee/ hot chocolate. And what a perfect plan: We sat sipping our drinks looking out at the snow-capped mountains, marveling at how blessed we are.

Later, still walking around the town, it actually began to snow. It was perfect. Imagine, standing in the Swiss Alps, catching snow on your tongue. We found a snow covered hillside and slid down the slope. Sledding in the Alps! Well sort of.

When it was time to go back down, we shuffled into the gondola, content with our mountain adventure. It was well past dark and the conductor turned the out the lights so that we could easily see the Alps at night. Little yellow lights, from little mountain cottages, spotted the hills. The river glistened in the moonlight and the snow shone bright.

Back to the village, we took a cozy, old fashioned, train. It led us through the mountainside, back to Interlaken. I felt like a passenger on the Polar Express. The entire experience was simply fantastic. Even though I say this after every place I have traveled to, Switzerland has been my favorite place in Europe. I think the single most descriptive word for the entire experience is glorious. Switzerland is glorious.

Morning Sunrise in Gaming

Krakow's Dragon Tale

A post by Patricia Huelseman, Fall 2010

So far, we have traveled a lot. We have seen many things. It has been great, and I think I am beginning to get a feel for the local culture. I simply love things that are not universal, things that are unique to a particular region. In a world as ancient as Europe, there are countless traditions that belong exclusively to a city or country. It is so fun to find out about the history of a city and learn of its own traditions. Unfortunately, as time passes and the story is retold and retold, it has a way of mixing and mingling with other stories. In the end, there might be some sort of fabrication of the truth, but tradition has a way of spicing things up. This can make it hard to get to the facts and ignore the folklore. The story I am about to tell you is entirely factual. There is scientific evidence backing the information I am about to give you. Carbon dating has confirmed what I am about to say.

The history of Krakow Poland is a unique one. Cities like Salzburg were named for their industry (in the case of Salzburg, for its great supply of salt). Others, like Constantinople, were named for their founder. Krakow, however, was named for its conqueror.

A very long time ago, there was a happy village nestled on the banks of the River Vistula. The people lived in peace and harmony and enjoyed life greatly. Poland was a happy land, and they were a happy people. This, however, couldn’t last forever, deep within a riverside cave, lived a very unhappy dragon.

NOTE: I know, dragon??? Well it’s true. A real fire breathing dragon lived in a cave on the river. Remember? Carbon dating and other forensic evidence is available to back this story.

Okay, so the fire breathing dragon. He was very unhappy with the villagers for disturbing his quiet with their constant merriment. In an effort to drive the townspeople away, he demanded that every week a new offering would be made to him. At first, he was happy with a lamb or two but soon he became greedy and demanded more and more.

Eventually, he required that a virgin be brought to him every week that he might devour her. This went on and the people of the town eventually became accustomed to such suffering. It became a tragic way of life. When the dragon noticed the beauty of the king’s daughter, he would not be satisfied until he could have her. But the king could not bear to lose his beautiful daughter to the repulsive dragon. Highly distressed, the king offered a great prize, the princess’ hand in marriage, to whoever would kill the dragon and free the town of their enslavement to him.

Knight after knight attempted to kill the dragon but to no avail. No man who entered the cave ever came back. Time was running out and the town was losing hope. But in classic David and Goliath style, a hero emerged from the most unlikely of places. A young shoemaker named Krakus decided to try his best at killing the dragon. No-body had faith in him. And who could blame them? He was short and skinny and a shoemaker for goodness sakes. Countless knights and soldiers had fought valiantly but had not succeeded. Why would the poor shoemaker be able to do what they had not?

This shoemaker, however, was smart. He took some sheep skin and stuffed it so that it would appear alive. He filled the skin with sulfur and placed it before the mouth of the cave. When the hungry dragon noticed the sheep, he emerged and ate the skin in one swift bite.

Soon, the dragon became thirsty. Really thirsty. He rushed to the river and began to drink. But the water wasn’t curing his thirst. He drank and drank and the river got lower and lower. Eventually, the dragon began to swell, but he continued drinking. Suddenly, the dragon took one last drink and his body could hold the water no longer. He burst into hundreds of pieces, dragon skin covering the water and shore.

The dragon had been defeated! Krakus gathered a few pieces of the skin and went immediately to his shop. Later that day, he presented a very elegant pair of dragon-skin shoes to the princess—she immediately accepted his hand in marriage. The townspeople rejoiced in their liberation and gladly followed their new leader Krakus.

A stronghold was built on Wawel Hill. Because of the great prosperity and merry nature of the town, people from all around Poland were attracted to the area. It grew and grew until it finally became a city which was named in honor of its finest citizen and hero. Today, the citizens of Krakow still remember their liberator. A statue of the evil dragon was built and can be seen near the river, below the castle walls. This is to remind the people of the terror in which their town had once lived.

The town’s people sell dragon toys and trinkets, they have statues and reminders. It truly is a wonderful piece of Krakow culture. I’m sure you are not convinced by now that the above story is true. Whether true or not, this story really is a part of Krakow; it really does shape the city and make it what it is. Stories like these are really the best. It is so fun to learn what the local traditions are and how they began. This one just happened to begin with a scaly monster living in the depths of a riverside cave.

Pope Benedict Calls Catholic Students to Sanctity

In a recent Vatican News Brief regarding Pope Benedict XVI's visit to England, there is a very moving speech where he urges Catholic students to sanctity:

"It is not often that a Pope", said Benedict XVI, "has the opportunity to speak to the students of all the Catholic schools of England, Wales and Scotland at the same time. And since I have the chance now, there is something I very much want to say to you. I hope that among those of you listening to me today there are some of the future saints of the twenty-first century".

"Perhaps some of you have never thought about this before. ... Let me explain what I mean. ... When I invite you to become saints, I am asking you not to be content with second best. I am asking you not to pursue one limited goal and ignore all the others. ... Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places. The key to it is very simple - true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only He can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.

"Not only does God love us with a depth and an intensity that we can scarcely begin to comprehend, but He invites us to respond to that love", the Pope added. "And once you enter into friendship with God, everything in your life begins to change. ... You are attracted to the practice of virtue. You begin to see greed and selfishness and all the other sins for what they really are, destructive and dangerous tendencies that cause deep suffering and do great damage. ... You begin to feel compassion for people in difficulties and you are eager to do something to help them. ... And once these things begin to matter to you, you are well on the way to becoming saints".

The Holy Father went on: "In your Catholic schools, there is always a bigger picture over and above the individual subjects you study, the different skills you learn. All the work you do is placed in the context of growing in friendship with God, and all that flows from that friendship. ... Never allow yourselves to become narrow. The world needs good scientists, but a scientific outlook becomes dangerously narrow if it ignores the religious or ethical dimension of life, just as religion becomes narrow if it rejects the legitimate contribution of science to our understanding of the world. We need good historians and philosophers and economists, but if the account they give of human life within their particular field is too narrowly focused, they can lead us seriously astray".

Rafting Adventures

Blog writer, Jonathan Smith recounts his adventure white-water rafting this past weekend:

I had never been so excited to be out of a car as when we first arrived in Johnsbach, Austria for a whitewater rafting trip. As soon as the car stopped, we all scrambled out. We passed over rocky terrain and Austrian countryside and it made us anxious to get out and hike. The rafting guides wouldn’t be ready for us for about two hours so we were free to explore the area: some of us pet cows and walked along the paths around the city; others came back with itching, burning legs from stinging nettles; others with ticks, and someone even got hit in the head with a boulder! But, it was all a great way to prepare for the impending rafting adventure.

Suit up! One by one we jumped into the wet suits, helmets and life jackets. One cool thing about them was that they had this magical power to turn you into any action hero you imagined: We started play fighting in the streets, even though all the townspeople were staring at us. Nevertheless, we felt invincible. Now I’d never been rafting, and I was feeling particularly adventurous that day, so when I found out that the guides would be coming with us, I was a little disappointed. I was hoping to go crazy and flip the rafts and be wild about it, without anyone telling me to stop. But my disappointment was short-lived.

After giving us basic instructions on how not to die, our guides got us in the rafts and let the current sweep us downriver. Over the rushing of the water our guide yelled for us to start paddling. He led us through some intense rapids which soaked us instantly, and when I looked to see the guys around me, they were all grinning from ear to ear. It didn’t take us long to realize that our guide was the coolest. He had the raft flipped over within the first ten minutes of the trip and he even ran us up onto a rock just for fun.

After that, our guide was no longer just a boat guide to us--He was our captain. He led us in some kind of battle cry and we all smacked our paddles together in the center of the raft. Quickly he had us turned around and facing the other boat, to ram them. Chaos ensued as our captain was merciless toward the other boats. I believe at one point we had stolen four or five paddles, and we were jumping into other boats to throw people into the river. The other teams caught on too. Tony Ertel (the resident director) tackled his own guide into the river and left a boatful of girls to fend for themselves. It was hilarious. Even Father Brad got mixed up in the confusion. At one point I looked over at him and he was just holding onto the raft in the freezing water calmly claiming to be “a pacifist”.

Pacifist perhaps, but we did have one close call that day: One of our fellow students got caught in the rapids and hit a few rocks while dodging the bigger ones. Thankfully, in the end he was alright.

After all the excitement we had some time to just look up into the mountains and swim around as the current pulled us downriver. To the south there were tall, gray cliffs that had been cut away at by the river. The setting of the evening sun cast shadows in front of the cliffs so that they looked closer, but maybe further away. It was a strange contrast to see, but it was so beautiful, I imagine a blind person could have sensed it. It struck a feeling of reverence over our group.

To top the day off perfectly, we stopped at a little pizzeria and ordered about 15 pizzas and some beer. We talked and laughed about the trip over our supper. However, amidst all the laughter and fun, I believe it is important to remember to be thankful for the wild opportunities, beauty, and culture of this amazing country.

Gott segnen Österreich,

Jonathan Smith

Austria Pictures & Our Lady Maria Throne Explained

One of the new concepts for students and visitors to the Kartause is that this religious complex is dedicated to "Our Lady Maria Throne." Interesting, but what exactly does it mean?

Art Professor Jenny Healy explains the meaning and symbolism in one of her latest articles forTimeless Pearls Writing Syndicate. The article, Throne of Grace can be found here.

For all our guest visitors, Timeless Pearls is an online-based syndicate providing Catholic editorial columns and freelance services. Furthermore, Timeless Pearls Syndicate unearths wisdom in the events of family, vocation, and professional life. These glimmers of truth serve as signposts in the search for the pearl of great price–Eternal Life–spoken of in Matthew 13:45-46. To receive weekly articles, you can signup on the right hand side of the website.

In other Austria news, below are some pictures of our school trip to the Wachau valley or nearby wine region where the students climbed up to a castle that once held Richard the Lionheart.

Time in Europe / Vienna Pictures

Time is a funny thing. It seems to just get away from you when all you want to do is cling to it. Time is escaping from me here in this land of wonder and awe. I have already been here for more than two weeks. I just can’t believe this. Yet, when I think about my time here in Austria, and all that has already happened, I can’t believe that it has only been two weeks.

Already, we have done so very much. From touring the glorious Melk Abbey, to seeing the sights of Vienna, exploring the wilderness on pilgrimage to Mariazell and experiencing the beauty of Salzburg and Munich. Each experience holds a special value. Each place is extraordinary in its own beautiful and unique way.

Vienna was the first major city we visited—and what a city to visit! Ordinarily, I don’t like cities whatsoever; Pittsburgh makes me cringe, (and that’s not only due to the Steelers) and I’m ready to just scream by the time I leave Cincinnati. But Vienna was different. The atmosphere had a certain charm. Nobody was in a hurry to get anywhere. People were just enjoying themselves, content with life and where they were.

Horse drawn carriages filled the streets, the clickety-clang of the horses hooves’ matched perfectly with the music floating from instruments as musicians performed on the streets. Quaint little coffee shops were found on nearly every corner. Cobble stone walk-ways led from square to square. Beautiful Hapsburg palaces and ornate cathedrals faced one-another as an example of the unity between Church and State.

Possibly the best part of my visit was touring the National Treasury Museum. The museum displayed fairy-tale-like garments; crowns and staffs and robes and gowns. A crib, decadently adorned, offered a lavish bed for a sleepy Hapsburg prince. Jewelry and treasure chests revealed the riches and luxury that the royal family experienced daily. The museum was full of grandeur, wealth, and fantasy. It was straight out of a Disney movie.

But all of this didn’t even compare to the final display of the museum. Because Austria was Catholic, along with other riches and treasures, the Hapsburgs collected innumerable relics throughout history. Pieces of the actual cross and first class relics of many saints could be seen.

One piece stood apart from all the rest. The actual veil of Veronica hung right before my eyes. The very climax of my entire experience in Vienna, maybe even in Europe, was at this moment. It was made of brown material; stains darkened it where Jesus’ face (His actual face!) imprinted in it. It wasn’t as clear as a photograph, but features were certainly distinguishable. Very easily, you could see His eyes, His nose and His mouth. One eye was swollen, a tear drop fell from the other. He had a long, narrow face. Even as a write this, I can’t believe that I saw that. In the Eucharist, He is physically present. I know this. But there is just something different about looking at a stained piece of cloth and knowing that the face of God is what stained it. And knowing that it was His blood—blood shed for me, for you—that stained it. It was so powerful. As I recall it in my memory, it is still powerful.

I think that it is for moments like these that God has us here in Europe. We have been given an incredible opportunity to be here. The time we have here is unique. God has a special plan for all of us; I think we need to remember that. When I started writing this, I wasn’t going to make it a sermon or something. I’ve actually tried writing a different conclusion a couple of times but the truth is, in the end, this is still all I can think of. God is here, waiting to reveal Himself. In the most unlikely of places (like a treasury museum), He will surprise you. He will lift you out of time. And then you will not lose time anymore. It doesn’t even matter anymore. Rather than cling to time, I think we should cling to experiences, to moments in our lives—to our Austrian experience.

--Patricia Huelseman, Fall 2010

Pictures of our beloved Gaming

Our semester photographer this semester is Alex Stanley so we are happy to have her on board! While the pictures make it look like summer, the weather is now more like fall! One student was so surprised by the change in the weather that she called her father and said, "actually, I do need that winter coat..." Gaming sometimes does that to people -- bring them back to the basics.