TRAVEL TIMES part II

Before writing about Poland I decided to write on some shorter trips I've taken this semester. These include Medjugore, Bosnia; Paris, France; and Tuscany, Italy. ENJOY!

Medjugore…

Although I was battling an aggressive cold I packed my bags and headed to Medjugore. We took the buses this time since it was a school, although student run, trip – that was a blessing since I was feeling under the weather.

I’m not quite sure I knew what to expect but I had heard many mixed and opposing opinions about the Marian apparitions at Medjugore. My sister and best friend had been before and a local prolife doctor who they coincidentally both work for had his conversion there. Regardless of the skeptics I knew it would be a holy place but looking for it was definitely the wrong mentality to have.

When we arrived we heard one of the visionaries speak. She shared the beautiful words of our Lady. The message she gave us that morning was the October message (there is one given every month). After that we went to the place we were staying – The Castle. This was the mission house of Nancy and Patrick who built/are building this gigantic castle in the middle of Medjugore, Bosnia for people on pilgrimage to stay. The place was like home. Nancy and Patrick opened their home and arms to us with the most welcoming and saintly love I think I have ever experienced. They run the castle with volunteers and rely completely on the Lord to provide – asking for no donation to stay. They fed us and loved us abundantly and also shared their incredible and powerful testimonies with us. (They both experienced a complete 180 conversion through Medjugore.) One day I got my first hug from Nancy and legitimately almost cried because of how loving she is. Her relationship with the Blessed Mother is so tangible in the way she loves like her.

We prayed and hiked and walked A LOT. It was wonderful and very powerful. We hiked apparition hill as well as cross hill while praying the rosary or the stations. We went to multilingual Masses at the main church and also attended adoration there. Some of us also waited the longest we ever had for an English-speaking priest to hear our confessions. Many of us carried specific intentions with us on this trip and offered great sacrifices on the behalf of those intentions. We also were able to hear testimony from this men’s house of men who are recovering from addictions of any sort. Hearing people’s testimonies truly helped me to see that Medjugore was indeed a holy place.

The time came for us to head back to the snow covered Kartause. The trip ended up being a long one due to the snow but we were blessed to have one of my teachers, Professor Cassidy, on our bus and he gave us powerful talks, prayed with us, and had us put on a talent show! the bus ride ended up being a blessed and extremely fun time. I also was blessed to give my testimony to my dear friend Katy as well as hear hers. It was such a great bus ride to top off my weekend. 

Although the church has not approved the apparitions and no, I did not see Mary, hear Mary, or experience any overwhelming experience which I almost expected to but there is so much grace poured on people who are in desperate need of the Mother of Jesus to lead them to her son in Medjugore. Regardless what the formal legitimacy is for Medj, it is a holy and pray-full place.

Paris…

This journey starts out slightly humorous. Halloween evening my friends and I headed off to Paris, France for our four-day weekend. Well…They headed off. I, being the A.D.D. airhead that I am, completely missed the bus to the train station, which is literally 15 minutes away from our campus. Thanks be to God for Scott, our kind R.D. here at the Kartause, who drove me to the train station to meet my panicked friends. I was so happy I made it to the train because throughout the entire semester I had been traveling to places I never planned or cared to travel to…except Medj.

However, the craziness didn’t stop there. We ended up getting on the wrong train and realizing ten minutes later that the one train we saw speed off was the train we were suppose to be on. From then on we had a night of train switches and no reservations. It was a long and hectic night but fun nonetheless.

We finally arrived in Paris the next morning and I was ecstatic! I was completely filled with joy that my lack of sleep ceased to affect me in any way. I kept repeating “Oh my gosh I am in Paris!” before I even got out of the train station.

Then Mary, Katy, Maggie, and myself headed to our “hotel.” We decided to get a hotel in Paris because heck! It was Paris! However when we arrived we realized we had stayed in much nicer hostels. Our room was a joke. It was smaller than my dorm room here and had one double bed rather than the two twin beds we thought it’d have. Not only was the room and bed tiny, the toilet was in a closet (I do not exaggerate) in the hallway of the hotel. The sink was tiny and in the room next to our…shower? The shower was a plastic box resembling a white and transparent porta-jon, except less spacious. It was all very “cozy” for sure. But on a positive note the water pressure was great!

In Paris I thought I lost my camera so I only snapped about four shots the while four day. (It ended up being in my suitcase the whole time…silly Megan.)

The girls and I ended up exploring the streets and café’s and grabbing some dinner before Mass as Sacre Coeur Cathedral. We ended up thinking it was a wise and cheap idea to get Chinese food…in Paris. So we stepped into a Chinese restaurant we found on the street and ordered what we thought would be a six or so euro meal. It ended up being the most disgusting meal I think I have ever consumed – equivalent to dog food, if I may. And what’s more is it ended up costing about fifteen euro each. We were angry, unsatisfied, yet no longer hungry girls as we left that restaurant. After wondering around a little more we went to a beautiful French Mass at Sacre Coeur where St. Therese of Lesioux’s relics were for that weekend only. After Mass we met up with some people for a actually good and cheap pizza dinner.

The ladies and I called it a night after grabbing some ice cream for dessert and met up with our friends again at the Louve museum. Although we waiting for over two hours in line…outside….in the rain…it was completely worth it. Yes, I saw the original Mona Lisa! After the Museum we went to the Shakespeare and Company bookstore! That honestly was one of the coolest places I’d ever been. As an English Major, I was in seventh Heaven and I bought some family members and myself a little something. It was incredible to see such a famous and old book store where wonderful writers had spent time writing some of their most incredible masterpieces and to see some first edition prints. After the literary adventure the girls and I ran off to secretly get Maggie’s haircut. She said farewell to her lengthy locks for a hip bob – IN PARIS. She looks adorable and has a fun story to go with it. After dolling ourselves up and stopping by the infamous Eiffel Tower we met up with the friends for a night on the town. We ended up playing a few games at a friend of some of my friend’s apartment who studies in Paris, and then went to a bar to dance away the night. It was one of the most fun nights I have ever had. We were celebrities that night – American girls. The French men LOVED us and were fairly respectful of us as well. It was a total blast and we ended up staying out until about three in the morning!!

The next day we did some site seeing such as Notre Dame were we ran into Ryan Seacrest and Julianne Hough! Notre Dame by the way is one of the absolutely most beautiful churches I have ever stepped foot in. It was incredible and my friends got worried for a little because I stayed in the church for so long. After Notre Dame we walked around a little more and then headed back to the hotel because it was time to say Adieu to the city of romance (And apparently my cell phone because I haven’t seen it since…). The traveling on the way home went well until Katy and I almost missed a train in Munich because of a desperate desire for Starbucks. Oops! (The things you miss while in Europe, give us a break!)

All in all Paris ended up being one of my most favorite places I have traveled to yet!

The Chianti Region of Tuscany…

Ever since I saw the ads for the movie Under the Tuscan Sun (That’s right – I’ve never actually seen the movie…) I’ve wanted to go to the back wine country of Tuscany, Italy.

Before our ten-day pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi, we had a free couple of days to travel before we were to be in Rome. As my friends were planning their trips to Chinque Terra, Venice, and wherever else they had in mind, I decided it was about time I stopped going places everyone else wanted to go and make my own plan. So I turned down the invitations and was determined to go to Tuscany.

I ended up planning the trip with my friend Jason (he really did all the work, lets be honest) and going with him and five other girls. We met a bunch of random Australian folk as well as a couple crazy young American men who were traveling for the sake of traveling for a couple months. Our traveling went really well and after our night train we made it to Florence, Italy in the morning. Now because I wanted to go to “back wine country in the middle of nowhere Tuscany” Jason and I decided on this old villa apartment in the Chianti region of Tuscany just outside of Florence. We had one problem though…how to get to the backcountry without a car. Thank God for Jason because he emailed the owners, these two extremely hospitable Italian brothers, and they picked us up a couple bus stops outside of Florence. Our bus stop were we waited for the brothers to pick us up was right in front of a grocery store so we were able to buy ourselves some lunch and dinner as well as breakfast for the next morning – costing each of us about six euro total!

The brothers picked us up and we packed ourselves and our ten days worth of luggage into their tiny Italian cars and drove to their beautiful renovated monastery dating back to the 1500s over looking their olive tree fields and vineyards. The place was huge, homey, and absolutely beautiful. Not to mention there were ten adorable cats who roamed the property. (I loved them a lot!) The brothers gave us a complimentary bottle of their wine, made from the grapes in their vineyard, for our dinner and offered to drive us anywhere we needed – free of charge.

When we got showered and moved into our apartment Jason doctored up the pasta and chicken we bought and we all sat down to a late lunch. Jason’s cooking was delicious; he showed off his Italian roots for sure, and the wine the brothers gave us was incredible.

After lunch a couple of the girls took naps while the rest of us ventured out to explore the property. Again we simply absorbed the breath taking beauty of the countryside accompanied by laughter and fellowship. When we got back the nap sounded nice and we all hunkered down for a little snooze and didn’t wake up until close to nine at night.

We decided to stay in and having been pretty much full from our delicious lunch we snacked on what extra food we had and played games all night.

The next day we headed off to Rome for our pilgrimage with the rest of our classmates.  The short trip ended up being exactly what I wanted and completely relaxing and enjoyable. 

More posts on my journeys to come! Look out for Poland, Romania, and Rome/Assisi!

Food for thought: 

"Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16