Playing Tag with God and the Kartause Children

A blog post by Chelsea Graham, Fall 2011

This past weekend we had a school trip to Salzburg.  It was absolutely incredible, and I certainly fell in love with the city! I enjoyed it lot more than Vienna, even though Vienna is great too. I did what all the tourists from the United States would do and went to as many of the Sound of Music sights I could, but I also went to churches, markets, etc. We finished the trip with a stop in the  ondsee and went to St.Michael’s Basilica (wedding church from the Sound of Music), which quite possibly is my favorite church we have visited thus far.

    Early this week, I was playing tag with the “Kartause Children,” who are the kids of the staff/faculty of the Austrian campus, and every time I would “tag” them, they told me that where they are is “safety” and that I’m still “it.” No matter where they were, they could never be “it.” Afterwards it struck me, how often do we play “tag” with God? How often do we ask him to change our lives, or come into our lives but then say, “Oh not this part” or “now’s not a good time” or something like that? The Lord doesn’t give up on us, but how long are we going to make him run after us? As students, or people in the work force, or stay-at-home parents, we all lead busy lives, but if the Lord of all of creation can make time for us, and wants so badly to spend time with us, how can we not give him fifteen minutes a day and a holy hour once or twice a week?

Isaiah 43:4 says, “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.” He is so willing to do anything to make us happy, to let us feel his love, but yet, sometimes we just don’t let him in. Or we compartmentalize or box him into our limited understanding of reality. We let him into one aspect of our life, but put our guard up in other parts? We let him in on Sundays during mass, but the rest of the week we put him on the back shelf. Why is that when we’re with our family, God is part of our life, but at work no one even knows that we’re Christians?

This semester in Austria has already been incredible, and I love it, but truthfully I haven’t made the most of if. I’ve gone through the motions of daily mass, praying decades of the rosary throughout the day, but what’s the point if I’m not really going to let the Lord really into my life? What’s the point of all of this if I don’t have a personal relationship with him? If I’m going to thrive this semester it is not  only by traveling to as many places as possible, but by letting God “tag me” so I can chase after him and grow in Him.

I’m looking forward to playing by the new rules! 

The Hills Are Alive…

A blog post by Leanna Praetzel, Fall 2011

The time I laughed the most during a movie?  Thursday, September 15^th, 2011, 8:00pm.  The movie itself?  Sound of Music.  It seems silly for that movie to be a knee-slapper, but hey, when you’re in a roomful of Salzburg-bound buddies, the overall mood is anything but dim.

A gift from the beloved Easter Bunny years ago, the Sound of Music VHS at my house has been greatly cherished.  So, to have the fountains, statues, gardens, and more from the movie sitting before my very eyes was stupendous!  On Saturday we went on a tour through the quaint city, seeing many of these landmarks along with fun little shops and gorgeous churches.

During free time, I journeyed with my friends to a hilltop abbey where scenes from Sound of Music were filmed.  However, we didn’t appreciate the abbey simply for its fame.  We also were able to enjoy a spectacular view along with the beautiful voices of nuns singing in the choir loft of the chapel.  Leaving was an adventure in itself; I walked through a doorway expecting the abbey gift shop only to find myself in a cute little cloistered nun’s kitchen.  “Nein, nein!” she said with a smile as she affectionately shooed five ignorant Americans out her door.

In the evening some of us attended a concert in a building at “Mirabell Gardens” (think “Do Re Mi”!) where a group of musicians played masterpieces composed by none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a Salzburg native.  Music-lovers of many backgrounds attended; we sat next to a lovely lady from Russia.  The diversity of the people there helped me to see music as an entire language of its own—I might not understand the words of the German sitting in front of me and vice versa, but we both can, without any difficulty, comprehend the extraordinary harmonies singing from a talented Austrian man’s violin.

Sunday morning found me posing next to the Sound of Music gazebo and eating a rose-flavored dessert (petal and all!) at an old café.  After leaving Salzburg, the buses hauled us all to a pretty little town called “Mondsee”.  There, I was fortunate enough to attend Mass at the Basilica in which the Sound of Music wedding took place, swim in the lake where some breath-taking scenery was shot, and pick “souvenir” grass to stash in my backpack for my silly friends back home.  (Love you guys!)

Overall the weekend was a hit.  So much so, that on our way to visit some castles in Germany next weekend, my friends and I are actually going to stop in Salzburg again!  (We hope to see a miraculous statue of the infant Jesus, and attend a “Mozart Mass”.)  But I shouldn’t get ahead of myself… before that, it’s Poland or bust!

Creek Jumping 101

A blog post by Leanna Praetzel, Fall 2011

The crazy college kids who attend Franciscan University Gaming Campus have deemed it tradition to jump into “the creek”. There is, located across the street from the Kartause, what many have found to be a perfect spot for jumping; the creek pours into a hole that is around seven feet deep, and then continues onward. Students jump from tree stumps, rocks, and even thorn bushes. Many plunge in fully clothed. However, no matter the time or circumstance, countless agree that any time is good creek-jumpin’ time.

I’ve done it. I—Leanna Marie Praetzel, age: 20, favorite color: teal—have jumped in the creek. And yes, my beloved friends, I live to tell the tale. I jumped in “cold turkey” the first time (from the top), and a cold turkey I was indeed! Immediately after I came up, I could not respond to my friends asking if I was okay because of the pure, bitter shock. But, never fear, Mother dear! After a few seconds of air-gulping, I was just fine. (Although, I am convinced that a little old Austrian man makes a daily trek to the jumping spot and shovels in bucketfuls of ice while no one is looking, chuckling to himself all the while. It’s that cold!)

The second time I went in the creek was actually to soak my foot from an injury (not jumping-related, might I add). Little did I know my phone would go “gently down the stream”… although it was more like “swiftly”, and it wasn’t a dream.  That was fun.

I went with a bunch of friends one fine evening my third time around, a few of which had not yet made the initial jump. I teased them as they stopped and considered carefully for quite some time before they, too, took the leap. But then I began to wonder and, as always, question myself… Did I put any thought whatsoever into my first jump into the creek? Or was I jumping in because everyone else was? And what was that saying my dad used to tell me? I think it had to do with friends and a cliff…

Then, as I walked my chilled self toward the dark outline of the Kartause, my hair dripping along the faintly lit sidewalk, the analogy hit me. Have I been partaking in my faith based upon my own thoughts and decisions? Or have I been mindlessly playing “monkey-see, monkey-do”? I understand that comparing a feeble creek jump to the monumental decision of participating in Catholicism is a bit rough… but it really got me thinking. Of course it took me but a few moments to reassure myself that I was indeed deeply in love with the Catholic faith, and living it by my own choice. But I have since then been making sure that I am whole-heartedly partaking in all I do, whether I am praying, singing, or just plain living.

I have also decided that I really do love jumping in the creek; there is something strange about it that is both thrilling and relaxing. It’s hard to explain. But if you come out to the Kartause someday, and decide to take the plunge, you’ll know what I’m talking about.  Just be sure to watch out for slugs!

Well that’s it for now. Stay tuned for some Salzburg stories! Until next time… Tschus!

On Friends & Friendship

A blog post by Joe White, Fall 2011

Hello again, my dear readers. I write you today on a cool Austrian Monday again from the bed of my room. One of my roommates, Mike Gotta, just took all of our towels for a cycle in the wash. What a nice guy! My roommates here were either acquaintances or less of mine when we decided to room together. After three weeks of rooming together here in Gaming I would certainly classify all of them as good friends. There is something about being here in a smaller group that promotes friendship and community in a very special way. My friends and I have found that we actually want to know everyone here and let go of preconceived notions. Perhaps that makes us seem like terrible people, but I think that it is a reality for a lot of us; it is easy to become complacent when we solidify a group of friends—especially if getting that point of friendship was a weird, uncomfortable process, as it was for college freshman Joe White. Perceptions of another person can enforce that complacency. But here in Gaming, all of that seems to disappear. I have four months with these people so why not get to know them all?

          

  This takes form in different ways. As far as I have seen these past three weeks, no one “clique” claims one table.[1] No one avoids sitting with someone they do not know. Many of us look at it as an opportunity to grow in relationship with the Austria group. Different circles of friends intersect and new ties grow. And it is not merely the tables in the Mensa[2] that contribute to conversation—the food also connects us: word is spread in the long post-Mass food line on whether or not the hot food is worth eating and mutual feelings are expressed about the highs and lows of Mensa food.[3]

Friends at the 20th Anniversary Celebration

           

Yesterday a group of us went to a nearby lake. It was absolutely picturesque: a beautiful clear body of water sitting in the valley of two hills. The group I went with was a group I never would have imagined myself hanging out with and yet there we were all together, all having fun, all experiencing the same beauty. Some of us swam across the lake—and some of us (read: me) made it halfway there and decided it was way too cold and we were way too out of shape to make it the rest of the way. The water was absolutely freezing but quite refreshing when jumping off the high dive. Some brought homework readings, some soaked in the sun, some conversed with one of the families who had come down for the day,[4] and a great time was had by all. We missed the 16:50 bus that would have brought us to Gaming so instead we split off into groups and hitchhiked back—further proving my fact that the community here is awesome. Perhaps that is the biggest contributor to the deep community here: we are all different persons but are all experiencing the same, out-of-the-American-ordinary beauty—be it a lake, hill, or hopping into a stranger’s car.

            

Wherever you are at right now, look at the people around you and think of ways to grow closer to them, especially those you do not know and/or do not want to know. You will not regret it.

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[1] And I put Clique in quotations because everyone seems to make a real effort to avoid them

[2] The name of the dining hall here

[3] Let it be known to all prospective students: The food here really is not all bad. Don’t believe the hype.

[4] My goodness were they an awesome family: four children of about 13 years old, 10, 8, and 2 to my estimations. We could tell the siblings all loved each other a lot as they splashed about in the lake and kicked the football around. The mother and father seemed very happy. How could they not be with four beautiful, loving children and a lovely day at the lake? Also they were wearing dirndls and legitimate lederhosen.

A Pre-Semester Retreat in Ireland

Before the start of the Fall 2011 semester, several students met in Ireland for a two day retreat with Anne, a lay apostle, leader of the Direction for Our Times, Apostolate.

The first day was centered on spiritual activities such as talks, adoration, Mass, and confessions.  The second day included a field trip to climb Croagh Patrick Mt. and Knock shrine.  All the students I spoke with described the retreat as "such as blessed trip."   At present, we are looking at ways to continue this retreat option for future semesters.

Below are some pictures of the crew on retreat: