BRILLIANT! :)

Ello loves, just posting one of my last blogs after a wonderful Thanksgiving and trip to jolly ol' London, England!!!!

So, for Thanksgiving, we all wore durdels (the girls, i forget what the guys are called) and they are a traditonal Austrian garb! I got ready (I put make up on and did my hair all up cutesey!! crazy, huh?) so anyways, I served dinner, so I didn't get to experience the dinner like everyone else, but I still really enjoyed it! :) We served the salad, and then the turkey, all lit up with sparklers came out, and we all sang the Star Spangled Banner and it was great. I ate after everyone was served and such.. after the dinner we had a Thanksgiving Ball!! The first 2 hours was full of Austrian Dancing!! It was sooooo fun! I thought it would suck, but it was actually pretty legit! :) An Austrian couple taught us some moves and dances and we all did it together, it was real cute and fun! After that there was a legit regular college kid dance.. which was super fun, too. I planned on only staying for an hour or so.. but got carried away with how much fun i was having.. and stayed the entire time, which may or may not have been a dumb decision, since I had to get up at 3:45AM to leave for the train!

So I slept about 2 hours before walking to the train station.. we trained to Salzburg and then we had an hour to get from the train station to when our flight was TAKING OFF.. we missed the bus transportation from the train station to the airport and we all figured we wouldn't be making it.. but then, just as we started to despair, sat an 8 passenger van (I traveled in a group of 4.. but there was another FUS group of 4, too) It was so awesome and only cost 2 euro each!! God is SO good. We just made it in time for the flight and were on our way to LONDON!!!!

We got there and got some food before heading into the city (we stayed in Stansted, about an hour away due to price and such) We got dropped off on Baker Street!! Where Sherlock Holmes is from!! It was real neat! Especially since I used to place this game called Baker Street (like CSI type thing) when I was little, oh reminiscing! We bought tickets to HARRY POTTER 7 and then we grabbed some English afternoon tea! We decided just to hang around there for a bit since our movie was soon.. and we found out that Abbey Road was just a few miles away so we hopped on a bus and saw it! We saw one of the Beatles old places, their studios, and of course walked like everyone else in the world on it!! (And like I said there were 4 of us.. so it was real cool) After that we bussed back (on a cute red double decker!!) and saw the movie. It was SOOOO good! It made me want to get back into reading the books.. and I'm determined to read 5, 6, and 7 before the 2nd part of the 7th movie comes out! :D We were so exhausted that after the movie we got a bus back and went right to bedddd.
The next day we got up, grabbed some English breakfast and headed to the city! We drove over the Tower Bridge (often mistaken for the London Bridge, but is not actually!) but it ISSSSSS the one the Spice Girls jumped over in Spice World.. yeah, I have my priorities! We got dropped off near Buckingham Palace but it was soooooo cold that we had to stop in like every other store just to walk there because we were in so much pain! We got there (It looked a lot like DC..) we saw the palace, and the changing of the guard, and then moved on.. walking through the Queen's garden's and such before hitting up the next touristy area! We played with the numerous amounts of animals all over the park and saw this beautiful and quaintly little cottage in the park.. sooooo cute! we kept on walking and saw Big Ben and took pictures in red phone booths!! so English!!! We saw the house of Parliament and then we got really cold so we hung out in a coffee shop for a bit! We also saw the London Eye! :) So after hanging out in a coffee shop for a bit, we started shopping and just never stopped! We went to Pickadelity Square, which is this huge shopping street and adorable little quaint square thing.. and then we moved onto Oxford Street.. which is like the Big Apple to a tee. I've never been there but it looks exactly like pictures I've seen. We saw their mini Hollywood where English actors have their hands in concrete, and we saw where the premiere of HP took place (where Daniel Radcliffe was just a week before!) They had Broadway places (Mama Mia, Lion King, Wicked, Oliver, etc.) it was just super cool! Because it was such a big shopping day they had the streets blocked off to cars, just full of people walking EVERYWHEREEEE! It was really neat. The final place we saw was this 5 story 250 yr. old toy store called Hamley's. It was just the coolest thing ever. We had so much fun and just hung out there for a real long time!! They had offical props from big movies, HP, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, etc.. SUPER COOOOOOL! :D

After that we got some dinner and just hung out before heading back to Stansted--waking up at 4AM to catch our 6:30AM flight.. got back to the Kartause by 3PM, welcomed by heaping piles of snow, and the Advent Market here in the Kartause. It's like a Christmas festival thing that goes on during the first week of Advent. It's super cool and beautiful!: ) They have so many cute homemade things and i just can't wait to come home for Christmas!!! I had one final today, early, on the last day of classes.. the rest are Thursday, Friday, and Monday.. please say a prayer for me!! I'll be home in 9 days!! SINGLE DIGITS!!!! AHHHH. so exciting.

Cya sooon!!
Erin

PS-HAPPY ADOPTION DAY RILEY BERNADETTE BRENNAN A COUPLE DAYS LATE! I WAS IN LONDON BUT I THOUGHT ABOUT YOU THE WHOLE TIME. I AM SO LUCKY TO BE YOUR BIG SISTER!!!! <3

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! :)

happy thanksgiving, everyone!!
Here in Austria we celebrate by.. having school!!!! so fun! But seriously.. we have a Thanksgiving Dinner (where supposedly there is a sparkling turkey and we sing the star spangled banner!!) and a dance tonight, too.. During all of which we wear a durndle, a traditonal Austrian/German garb! I'll post pictures from tonight on a later date.

Yesterday was one of the best days I've had all semester, a lot of things were cleared up and I feel so much more at peace about this semester in it's entireitiy. Sometimes you just get blessed to talk to people who really understnad your feelings. The Lord is working crazily right now, not only in me but so many others. It's the most intense part of the Marian Consecration this week and it's just beautiful.

I leave for London tomorrow! :D

Cya later, eat some good stuff for me today!! (because I doubt Austrian Thanksgiving food is half of my uncle Jerry's)

oh America, i miss you..

ello blogger readers!

today is mondayyy and i have mucho work to do before my trip to London this weekend--including preparing for final exams, buying gaming sovenirs, starting to pack.. ish, praying a lot for the consecration to Mary, going to the Thanksgiving ball etc.. but what i didn't plan on doing after my weekend to Amsterdam was 2 Austrian doctor's visits today.. say what?? i'll explaaaain!

On Thursday I started having pains in the female area.. I at first attributed them to my menstrual cycle and sort of ignored it until the pain took over my whole body and I broke down into tears on numerous occasions.. Friday I realized it was probably a UTI of somesort.. I went to Amsterdam with Hannah which was really fun--nothing special or anything but it was fun! The city was super beautiful and it was nice out all day. We were only there for about 6 hours.. we travled about triple the amount of time hahaha but it was still nice! When we first got there, we went right to Anne Frank's house--where she hid during the war--it was really authentic looking still and just really neat to see. I saw where her and her family lived, climbed the same steps (which were SUPER narrow), and touched the bookcase that covered up their location.. I also saw her legit diary in a plastic case thing..

after Anne Frank, we just explored, ate dinner on the water, walked around a market for awhile (where I bought real nice gloves and H bought a hat) and then trammed over to the Heineken Factory.. but since we toured the Guinness Factory in Dublin, Ireland.. we decided it wasn't worth the money! So we took some pictures outside of it and headed to two different bars-one just to try some Heineken--which I surprisingly didn't mind! And then to this really adorable Irish pub! where I got some more Cider like in Ireland-yum yum! and we got delicious food, too! :) All was good until the trains.. the one we got on broke down numerous times and we had to stop and restart and such a bunch of times.. but then we thought the hassle was over.. NOPE! we got to Pochlarn, a little village outside of our village, which is only a 35 min train ride away.. but the train from Pochlarn to Gaming shut down for the weekend and no one at school decided to tell us.. so we called a bunch of people, tried to hitch hike to no avail, and then had to call a taxi to take us home.. which was super expensive! however, my grandma gave me emergency American money that i have not used all semester.. but i whipped it out and paid for the taxi ride with it.. so thanks Grandma, you saved us!! ( : 

      After that adventure we came home and worked on homework and studied and went to 8pm mass.. so wait, what about what i said in the beginning?? So i was in pain for a lot of the trip, but I really wanted to go somehwere this weekend, so we still went obviously.. but when I came back Sunday-my pee was a bit orange, and I got super duper nauseated and sicky in the belly.. and then.. the worst occurred.. I got really really bad back pain.. a main ingredient of kidney stones/infections.. so I decided it was time to see the doctor.. I had an appt today at the doctor in town, an adorable little woman who spoke excellent English.. however everyone stared at me.. who told me that my urine sample had too much water in it (bc i've been drinking it like nothing this weekend to help) and she wanted me to have an ultra sound down in the city closest to Gaming, about 20 mins away.. I went back to campus and found a Resident Director who drove Hannah and I to Schiebbs (the city) where after an hour wait I got ultra-sounded.. and whattya know, they came back with.. NOTHINGGGGGG. of course.. I don't think i've ever been to the doctor and left with a diagnosis.. ever.. they weren't very nice to me and didn't speak English that well.. and I just want America real bad.. but I wouldn't really receive a diagnosis there either.. but like I've said all semester.. suffering servant! 

         So just keep me in your prayers if you could this week, trying to juggle all the stresses and such of the week/weekend and w/ this back pain and other female pain..thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving early!! :)

miss you guys. 

Erin.

here's my life for the past # of days..

HELLLLLO PEOLE! How is everyone doing? I’m doing really well. I’ve been in a rocky state of mind/mood for awhile now but today I am great! J I’m sorry this didn’t come up earlier, but it’s a long guy and they turn the internet off on Tuesday’s here! So, if anyone is on facebook, you have probably seen some of my pictures and such and you know that before I went on the 10 day pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi, Hannah and I took a best friend trip to Interlaken, Switzerland (only 6 hours out of the way!) which is like the capital of the world for extreme sports! Here we participated in PARAGLIDINGGGGGG! It was amazing. The view, the rush, the peacefulness! It was TOTALLY worth every penny. (Hannah now doesn’t get a Christmas gift.. oh well!)

Anyways, besides paragliding over and around the Alps, Hannah and I just basically enjoyed ourselves in Switzerland. My suitcase broke as we were just climbing the steps from the train station in Interlaken.. so buying a new suitcase was not really in my budget.. but it’s okay! Now I have one of those fancy hard cased suitcases! And it’s lime green, just for you Mary Kantoski! Thank you for helping me find it!!

So we just walked around and hung out until I surprised her with the paragliding adventure.. our pilots spoke real good English and they were so fun to be around. It wasn’t even that scary, really! It was so peaceful, just sitting there in the little mesh seat type thing, soaring through the alps! To get better air at one point in time, my pilot took me in circles real fast, that was like the coolest part, besides landing which was also really cool! I got to steer the parachute thingy for a couple minutes, too! SO EPIC. It took about 20 mins total. After recovering from our adreline rush, we went to Gimmelwald, a very small little town which is legit nestled in the alps.. but since it wasn’t like open season.. all there was to do there was to swing on swings.. we did that for like 10 mins and then went back down to Interlaken for the best meal we’ve had so far: MEXICAAAAN. I swear, I am learning to eat so many different foods over here! I apparently like refried beans now? Yeah.. I don’t understand myself either, but I do! I got this chicken stuff w/ Mexican rice and refried beans and I literally cleared my plate. Yum yum yum! And then we got these crepes w/ alcohol on them and our waiter lit them on fiiiire! We went to bed and got up in the morning to train down to Rome to meet up w/ the school!

Nov 6^th: We got to Rome around 4 PM , met up w/ the TOR’s in the metro and got to the hotel .. we were both exhausted so we just crashed until dinner and then after dinner.. we crashed some more.

Nov 7^th: This is where Rome really started for us! Hahaha (: We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed over to the Vatican before high (Latin) mass at 10:30. I waited in line for a real long time to get into the tomb of the Popes, where I got to pray in front of a bunch of the Pope’s tombs, including JPII! :D I then waited in line for confession in the Basilica of St. Peter’s for 45 mins.. and like right before I got up there the priest said he was done taking people.. bumma! But then we had mass at 10:30, where there were at least 50 priests, deacons, bishops, and I believe a cardinal or two! Very epic.  Hannah and I metroed back to the hotel after this to eat the food we brought for lunch. (we like to save money, yupp) there was a tour of St. Peter’s that afternoon which was neat to hear all about the frescos and such in more depth, seeing the incorrupt body of Pope John 23^rd, and the Pieta! Which is beautiful by the way.. I just love Mary. We had dinner, which was the best of the meals throughout the 5 days or so we were there, and then we had a Holy Hour at the convent close by—dedicated to the Sacred Heart, yup!!—where I received the most amazing confession from my main man, Fr. Ron. I just adore the little turtle of a priest. He’s like a grandfather, friend, and priest all in one.. jolly really.

Nov 8^th: Today the rain started.. and it just never ended for the rest of our time in Rome.. we had a tour focused on Ancient Rome/Early Christianity.. so we obviously started at the Colosseum! I just love our faith, you know? Like.. we have been persecuted so much.. and still are.. and people are still so steadfast in their faith. AMAAZING! We also saw the Arch of Constantine-he was super-the Roman Forum, and a bunch of churches that included: one holding St. Peter’s chains that held him in prison (there were 2) and they miraculously fused together when they were being investigated! We saw Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the 4 Basicalla’s in Rome, this one containing what is believed to be what Christ was born in! very cool. We also saw the crucifix that St. Bridget received words from, and part of the column that Jesus was whipped on.. moving. We also prayed in front of about a million martyrs throughout the day, no exaggeration. Right before our break for lunch we went to a church that has 3 levels.. the bottom is like a living facility used a real long time ago w/ a stream running through it, the 2^nd level is a pagan church/temple, and the 3^rd(top) is a Catholic church! It was quite cool. Just so you know.. I wasn’t as moved in Rome as I was in Assisi, so this will be just a fly by for the most part! We had lunch and stuff and then we had free time, which to be honest.. I completely forget what I did for this time.. I apologize. We were to have mass at St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.. I went to the church, which was beautiful-I got to pray in front of St. Paul’s tomb!! This is the 2^nd of the basicalla’s.. and I

decided instead of going to mass, I’d go outside of the city of Rome, by myself, to visit the site of St. Paul’s martyrdom because I really love St. Paul.. Not the best decision I’ve ever made. The way there was fine.. but when I finally got to the site, it was really dark out and I couldn’t really see what I was praying in front of (because it’s outside.. without lights?) and there were a lot of men that weren’t so friendly around.. I never held onto a rosary so tight in my life on the walk back to the metro, that’s for sure! I got back safely and ate dinner but then didn’t feel so hot from the dinner.. so I went right to bed.

Nov. 9^th: We started off the day w/ another tour.. more enjoyable/interesting to me than thefirst! It was pouring rain again but it was fun ( : Just some highlights for me, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and a bunch of churches that I don’t remember the names of.. but I remember the important things!! One had an image of Our Lady that saved the Romans in battle once (her eyes blinded the other side!) also in this one church was the marble sculpture of St. Teresa of Avila in Ecstasy. Talk about amazing?! The sculpture was based off of her writings in her diary I believe.. it was her being stabbed repeatedly by an angel for the salvation of souls.. as she’s in pain, she too is in ecstasy. She loves the Lordso much and she loves the suffering inflicted upon her. I just could apply this to my life so much.. my sickness that some believe to be spiritual just came right to mind and my depression/rocky past.. I just wanted to stay there and contemplate it for hours.. she was so happy and in love with Jesus!!! After that we went to this church that was decorated with Capuchin Friars legitimate bones. It was super creepy but kind of cool at the same time. There were 5 different chapels all decorated w/ around 500 friar’s bones, a couple were dressed up in habits! It was to tell the city of Rome, an expensive and fancy place at the time that no matter what you obtain on earth, everyone will end up like this. Very cool. The other church I fell in love with contained the Virgin of Childbirth.. if you know my family and I at all you’ll understand why I loved this so much. My mom had 13 miscarriages and I was blessed enough to be born completely natural of my two loving parents (in between 8 and 5). My mom obviously could not have any more children and  we were blessed to receive the gift of my sister, Riley, who was born (a miracle in itself) into a not so loving home.. and after a 3 ½ year custody battle, she’s ours! :D I just loved the Virgin and I prayed especially in thanksgiving for my own life and my sister’s.. and my mom because she’s an incredible woman to go through such things and still be so strong in her faith. There was also a statue of St. Anne, Mary, and the child Jesus.. also making me want to cry because of my family. This reminded me ofmygrandma, my mother, and myself (No, I’m not like Christ.. I just am in comparative genealogy!!) It just made me so thankful for the gift of my family, the faith passed on from my gram to my mom to me, just as St. Anne did to the Mother of God.  My grandma never gave up on my mom, who never gave up in having children, who when she received me, never gave up on me.. cool, huh? Yeah, I know.. I’m blessed. :D That afternoon was my Scavi Tour (it was not included in the price of the trip.. but I thought it was def. worth it) anyways, it’s an underground tour of St. Peter’s where excavations have taken place for the past 40 years or so on finding St. Peter’s tomb/body. It was really neat, we went real far underground and we had an awesome tour guide from America who was just a gem! After 45 mins or so and seeing lots of Pagan tombs that they uncovered, we saw his tomb! It was epic. I got to go  somewhere a lot of people do not get to see! After that I found some random Frannies and we found a bus to mass at Cosmos and Damian, which was really fun.  Dinner, holy hour, sleepy time. Next!

 Nov. 10^th: We woke up and left nice and early to go to the Papal Audience! We sat there for a good 3 hours.. waiting.. and waiting.. and waiting.. but then Pope Benedict came out and he spoke in like 8 different languages and it was AWESOME! :) Then I went shopping for some Vatican-y gifts and such.. we then had some free time and I yet again forget what I was doing but I do remember it was raining! At 2:45 we climbed the steps of Santa Scala, which are the steps that Jesus climbed to meet Pilate. It was really intense and beautiful. After that we had mass at St. John Lateran’s Basilica where a piece of the Last Supper table is! Very cool, very cool. After mass we had a tour of Santa Croce that contains relics of Christ, which was very awesome—there was a piece of the cross of Christ, a thorn of His crown of thorn, His name plate above the cross, a nail from the cross, and St. Thomas’ finger that touched the side of Christ. Dinner. Packed for leaving for the next day. Bed! : )

The next day(Nov. 11^th) we boarded the buses and were off to Assisi!! :D We got to Our Lady of the Angels, the city sort of underneath the hill of Assisi.. this is where the Portiuncula is! It was BEAUTIFUL. There was so much to see and so little time (which is why I went back later).. there was the Port, of course! And then the site of St. Francis’ death called the Transitus Chapel.. there is a statue of St. Francis that’s been there since the construction of the church and magically there are 2 doves that live in a basket attached to St. Francis’ arms-real doves! Just hanging out and living there.. so beautiful, such an example of his spirituality. There was a rose garden where Francis was tempted by the devil to roll in the thorns and when he did angels came down and miraculously made the roses never bear thorns anymore (still seen today!) After our 45 mins there, we went on a bus up to Assisi,it seriously looks like you went back in time.. it’s all made of stone, just so beautiful!!!! We  checked into our gorgeousssss hotel, where Hannah broke a door stopper, so funny. We explored a bit, and then went to mass at San Rufino. We went back to the hotel for dinny din, explored some more, had a holy hour, and went to bed.

Nov 12^th: We went to mass at Santa Chiara, St. Clare’s Basilica! This is where the San Daminao cross that spoke to Francis is located. Anyways..  I just fell in love with St. Clare. She was so intense and dedicated to Our Lord and Francis.. and just like left her family for Jesus, giving up all she had.. amazing. Anyways, after mass, we went down and saw a bunch of her and St. Francis’ relics (habits, books, etc) and then we saw her body and I got to pray in front of her all by myself for a bit.. it was so intense.  We had a tour of Assisi led by our TOR sisters!!!  This included a trip to San Damino church where St. Clare had her convent, there was a beautiful and intense crucifix, and she died there, too..so great.Woohoo! We had lunch and then we had a pilgrimage walk to Francis’ hermitage.. very physically demanding, but awesome. There was this gorgeous and peaceful statue of St. Francis just looking up into the sky. We had dinner and a FOP at like the smallest church.. ever but it was really good and probs one of my favorite FOP’s ever. (I’ll attach the emotions/spiritual stuff after the facts and figures!)

Nov. 13^th: We got up and went to the Basilica of St. Francis, where his body is located and numerous famous paintings! We had mass right in front of his tomb.. sooooo sick! And then we had a tour of  the church and surrounding areas of Francis’ life. After lunch me and some others walked down on a pilgrimage path back to the Port to pray and have some more time (: We then had mass at the tiny church where the FOP was.. we packed our bags, Jen and I drank some wine and enjoyed some Italian cartoons before heading to bed, and we awoke around 4:30AM to have breakfast and head back to the Kartause!

  

So as I’ve talked about this before, but it’s been made much more apparent in Assisi. I’ve only felt truly peaceful twice this semester.. once in Poland, where I had my first ‘attack’ or felt my sickness and the other time in Assisi in the Port.. that day/night/whole time there I was just awful. I not only skipped lunch once because of my physical illness but the spiritual and emotional torment I experienced was more than I thought I could handle. I thankfully was alone so I could work it out myself and I just asked Mary’s protection over me and she took care of it. Assisi was incredible and it taught me so much about myself. The whole 10 days really affirmed my spirituality of suffering. And instead of being upset about it anymore, I just embrace it w/ a smile. So many saints were stricken with things a million times worse, and I am no where close to being as holy as saints.. but I’m striving.. and that’s enough for the devil to dislike me. The day after I got back to the Kartause, we had off school.. I slept in and then went to mass about an hour early.. where the Lord honestly just took my heart and held it and put the biggest smile on my face ever. It’s difficult to wrap my mind around the difficulties of this semester. Everyone back on main campus rants and raves about Austria.. don’t get me wrong.. I’ve been so blessed and I’ve felt the Lord in so many different, beautiful, and holy places..but I’m ready to go home. I didn’t learn about myself through joy and happiness.. I learned more about myself through pure suffering.. some of it I inflicted upon myself through dumb mistakes and such.. but it’s mostly been a test of some sort from the Big Man upstairs.. and as hard as that is for me to understand, I’ve come to accept it and be happy about it.

Hannah and I are going to Amsterdam today just for the 2 day weekend.. we won’t even be sleeping there! Just in trains haha  (: We’ll see Anne Frank’s house and such and do NOTHING illegal, just so you know.. and then the weekend after that I’m surprisingly going to London, England with a group of girls I haven’t traveled with this semester.. so I’m pretty pumped about that!! ( : We’re going to see the Harry Potter premiere, too! Even though my obsession with Harry died about 7 years ago.. it’s still pretty awesome.

I love and miss all of you. Thank you for your continued prayers. I’ll see you in 20 days!!! :P

Erin


              

short and sweet.

hello readers.
i'm back from my 10 day break with the school..
Hannah and I did a best friend day trip to Switzerland to go PARAGLIDING over the Alps. it was awesome and intense. I went to Rome and Assisi for the other 8 or 9 days with the school. I saw the Pope! It was real cool. Don't worry this will be longer later today hopefully, but I must finish my last paragraph of my Theology of Christ paper first and finish my laundry!
The Lord has really called me to suffering these past 10 days, and learning how to follow His will and not mine is like thee hardest thing ever.. and this except from 'Home' by Michael Buble will just tie together allmy feelings, okay? Have a great day!

"Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home

May be surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know
Another airplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky, I know
But I wanna go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
wanna come home"
Please pray for a special intention on my heart.
I'll write later! I promise!
Pax,
Erin.

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, PRAY FOR US!

 Greetings from Gaming!

                This past weekend was a four day break and I was blessed enough to be chosen byOur Lady to go to Medjugorje!! (Our tour guide said that all that visit Medj are specifically invited by Mary!! HOW COOL!) It was a 12 hour bus ride.. half of which was on these ridiculous back roads, where I (who NEVER gets motion sickness) had to close my eyes quite a few times. The girl behind us puked into a bag, which didn’t make the trip too pleasant either.. Anyways, we got there around 7am and drove in to the sunset! It was splendid. Medj is located in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but it’s such a visited pilgrimage place that almost everyone speaks English. We got there and settled into our hotels and then enjoyed breakfast! (BTW-I Cannot wait for American breakfast. Europe thinks that bread, honey, corn flakes, and hot water-for tea and instant coffee-is breakfast.. they are really misled. Mom, I promise never to complain about our meals ever again) After that we went to mass at 10am at St. James Church, the parish in Meddjugorje, where Mary has appeared but not on a regular basis there. To be honest, it was one of the ugliest churches I’ve ever seen.. it was so bland and boring and white-walled. After that we got a tour/talk from a nice Bosnian woman and we broke for lunch. What happened after lunch for the first day will be better said by me re-writing my journal entry.. yes, I’ll let you into my prayer journal.. shoot, what am I doing? Hahaha

“Well, Mary.. here I am. I’ve been here in Medj for almost 24 hours now.. as the nice tour ladysaid, you invited me here.. so why? I started going up Apparition Hill today [readers, this is the hill on the west side of Medj where Our Lady first appeared and appeared most often to the children] with shoes on [a lot of climbers go barefoot for intentions] and halfway up, on the 2^nd of 5^th joyful mystery, I just felt you telling me that you didn’t create me to be mediocre. You didn’t create me to be complacent, you didn’t create me to be content, you didn’t create me to be comfortable. I was created to suffer for you and your Son. Only suffering will bring about happiness, not only for myself but more so others. I prayed on top of Apparition Hill for a bit and then made my way down, the most painful thing I did all weekend. Each rock that jabbed into my foot reminded me of your Sorrowful heart and your Son’s passion.  I went to confession that evening after dinner, which was with a German priest who spoke only a bit of English.. which was interesting.. and then I went by myself to the Resurrection Statue. [This is a bronze statue of Jesus given to Medj in1998, in 2001 it started to leak a watery substance from it’s right knee.. a few years later it was proven to be human tears.] Although it was a different knee than the one I injured, it was in the same exact spot that my knee dislocated to. THIS ROCKED MY LIFEEE, JESUS! You, Lord, are pouring tears because of all of the hatred, violence, lack of respect for life and the Eucharist.. and even though you already died for us on the cross, you continually suffer for us still! And through this beautiful miracle here at Medj, you showed me that the suffering I endure or have endured do help you.. little old Erin Brennan can help the magnificent Savior of the world.  Even though I was not as close to You then in 10^th grade as I am now (and how much further I still have to go, Lord!). I was helping you bear your cross with my suffering. I shed tears through my knee as you still do today. Another thing I felt in my prayer in front of You, and throughout my journey in Europe in general, is that how much more responsibility I have now. I’ve turned away from my sinful past and now I know the truth, I know what is right and wrong and it’s time to live it. I know what will bring my salvation and what will doom me to hell.. and I continue to fall back into my sin. Even though I’m here where Your Mother appeared, I’m still sinning! How can you love such a sinner? How can you want my hand in marriage still, Jesus? I am not worthy to receive you.”

On Saturday, the school was climbing Mt. Krizevac or Cross Mountain at 5:30AM.. Medj hashad a large cross on top of a mountain, before the apparitions, which was to be bombed numerous times throughout WWI and WWII, but no mission was ever successful. It is said that Mary prays here every morning.. However, Hannah and I do not really like traveling with the large group from school, it’s juts sort of burdensome and you can’t pray as long as you want and such.. so we decided to go at 3:30AM.. smart, right? Hahaha. It was intense but it was beautiful. We prayed the stations on the way up, which was an awesome incentive to keep going, giving us breaks every 100 yards or so.. It was a legit mountain. And my best friend here, Hannah Mountaha Nelson, was a true Theotokos member (that’s her household)and climbed it barefoot. I, however, do not have that stamina nor self-discipline. Apparition Hill was more than enough for me! Getting up at 3:30AM was a big enough sacrifice for me.. sorry, Mary! We got to the top under the 2 hours it’s supposed to take, prayed morning prayer together, did a little individual prayer.. but it was FREEEEZING, so we went back down to watch the sunset..sunset..  1/3 of the way down we stopped on a rock and watched the sunset and ate our delicious breakfast of bread and cheese! We passed the FUSer’s at the 6^th station and continued down. 

              We got back to our hotel, showered, and went off to mass at 10AM.. We grabbed lunch andthen went to the Pilgrim Castle that Patrick and Nancy (Canadians) own. They are like the most famous North Americans in Medj.. massive conversion story that we got to hear.. in his castle! :) It was really awesome and really called us to better understand the messages of Our Lady of Medjugorje. Mary said, “Pray the rosary every day and I promise miracles!” DO IT GUYS! You can take 15 mins out of your day everyday, my grandma does it every morning at mass and I used to think she was ridiculous before my conversion but now I see the power of the rosary.. seriously, you wanna see your life changed? Pray the rosary. They gave us ice cream and then we walked to Communita Cenacolo, which is a men’s home for rehabilitation of drugs/alcohol.. there are 4 houses in America, too.. they are all over the place, but the one in Medj is special because they are involved with the activities there. We heard 2 of the guy’s testiomines that were from America and it was really beautiful to hear their conversion stories and how they were pulled out of sin and destruction by the grace of God. Saturday was just a day full of testimonies!  They get to carry the handicapped and such up Apparition Hill, isn’t that awesome?! At the end of the day we ate dinner, took a nap, prayed together, watched an episode of NCIS I brought with me in my computer, and went to bed by 8PM. ( WE WERE EXHAUSTED!)

                Sunday came and we listened to two more testimonies at breakfast before Sunday mass, which rocked my life! The priest was a Candian who had such love of Jesus and Mary! His homily was one of the best homilies I’ve ever heard. He gave a mini witness during it, which included how his grandmother was raped by a native Indian at a young age and kept the child against her parents wishes, but they rasied it as their child (so the mother was like the sister) and on her death bed she told him that she was his mother) This man, the priest’s father, wanted to be a priest but when he went to apply, the bishop told him that he would never be allowed because he is part ‘savage’. Upset, he joined the army, and while in France, visited Lourdes, and promised if Mary saved him from death in the war, he’d bear her a priest. 8 children later, there was no priest in the family yet. They got pregnant for the 9^th time, but it was a problem pregnancy. The doctors advised an abortion numerous times and they of course refused.. the mother overheard the doctors saying they would abort the child and make it seem like an accident while she was under.. so she didn’t take any drugs.. it was a C-section!! She didn’t take drugs so she obviously passed out but this priest was born and he is now an incredibly gifted man of God! (: VERYYYY COOOOOL. God is great!! After mass we grabbed lunch and were back on a bus to Gaming, we were planning in stopping in Split, Croatia on the way home for dinner.. which we did.. but instead of the normal 3 hour stop, it was 6 because one of the girl’s fell and split her head open a bit so she had to go to the Croatian hospital and get some stitches and we waited for her. So we were already behind 3 hours.. and then about 3 hours into the trip, the bus (not the one I was on, the other one) broke down for another 3-4 hours in the middle of the night.. so we got home at 10AM instead of 4AM.. fabulous, right?

So here I am getting ready for class! I have a 10 page paper on Christ due right after our 10 day break.. please say a prayer that I’m inspired to finish it before I leave.. which is tomorrow.. hahah Hannah and I are going to Switzerland before our school 10 day trip to Rome and Assisi. We’ll only be there for like 24 hours, but it’s tots worth it. It’s a surprise for Hannah, but we’ll be participating in our first extreme sport.. in the ALPS! Ahhhh. You’ll all be in my prayers for my pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi. I can’t wait to be back in Pennsylvania! Only like 4 or so more weeks!!

Love and miss you,

Erin

home sweet kartause..

i'm back from Medj! it was AMAAAZING and beautiful and Our Lady is indescribable. I'm super busy today w/ catching up with homework and such.. so i'll blog blog later but i just wanted to say hello and i'm home!

Love you guys!! :)
miss you altoona.