In Flight: Chicago to Munich, and past the Alps

After our long layover in Chicago, we were ready and eager to go. Finally! Europe! The flight was large, so there was plenty of time to snap pictures around the cabin after we got settled. Even to catch each other in the process of boarding.

We have a Flickr! account - a few random photos show up in the sidebar to the right. To see more of our photos, click on the Flickr! badge. We'll keep uploading as we go, and sharing our best shots.

Our flight took us over Boston, up the coast towards Bangor ME and and St. John's, Newfoundland - then across the Atlantic. United Airlines now has an in-flight map in the chairback video screens. We could watch our progress across Europe, track how many miles we had flown, and read how far and how long it was until our landing.

Our route across Europe skirted the boundary of Switzerland. Night had passed and the sun was rising on the Alps. One of our students had the bright idea of capturing some photos of the mountains. Through the wonders of digital cameras and the application of Photoshop Elements, our travelogue includes aerial photography of the alps.

Next stop: Rome!
(Sr. Edith)

one step closer

We successfully made it to Chicago, and now have a looong layover to deal with. Congratulations are due to those travelers among us who successfully survived their first plane ride, problem-free! The anticipation is definitely growing, especially since we just got our final itineraries to look over as we wait. So much amazing stuff awaits us.. only 21 more hours of travel..

We're Off!

The official first leg of our pilgrimage together began with our 12:30 p.m. flight from Minneapolis to Chicago. With no set plan, we converged on our gate at the airport, and were glad to find other familiar faces.

For those of us in Duluth, the pilgrimage began quite a bit earlier - and provided the occasion for fervent prayer. A soft rain fell throughout the night and froze, smooth and slick, on all the roadways in the city. Drivers crept along, carefully keeping their distance; a few cars had already hit the ditch. The 150-mile drive to the airport took us through snow and fog. No wonder we were happy to see each other when we arrived at the gate.

After an uneventful first flight, we're stretching our limbs for the next leg: a 9-hour flight to Munich leaving around 6 p.m. With the seven hour time zone shift, it will be full daylight when we arrive. We have a few hours here in Chicago, time to explore (especially for those who have never flown before) and work out the kinks.

For the students, this is part of the holiday side of the course, but blogmasters and professors keep on working. The 20 students in the course have already written several papers, considering particular works of art which we will see in Rome. Those papers don't grade themselves, so the layover is work time as well.

Look for us again, further along the road.

Thursday as the sun sets ...

See you at the airport; don't forget your toothbrushes!

Subscribing to CSS in Rome

We heard from some soon-to-be loyal readers that they were not receiving any e-mail. The subscription process takes two steps:
* one to subscribe (typing in your e-mail address at right)
* one to verify that you intended to subscribe, by clicking on a link in a message sent after you typed your e-mail.

If you have not done the second step, you won't receive e-mail notices about new postings. (Several folks are listed in that pending status right now.)

CSS Subscribers: The Barracuda spam firewall will snap up the confirmation message. Look in your spam box (online) for a message sent by Feedblitz. You will want to whitelist Feedblitz because that is the source of the daily e-mails.

This seems complex - but it prevents pranksters from signing you up to receive blogs you would not want, and spam merchants from flooding you with commercial blogs.

The Pope Speaks to Rome's University Students

Excerpts from Pope Benedict's visit for Christmas with the students of Rome's universities:

I know that for many of you, university students of Rome, it is now a custom ... to go on a special pilgrimage to Assisi, and that many of you took part in the recent one.

Well, were not St Francis and St Clare both "conquered" by the Eucharistic Mystery? In the Eucharist they experienced the love of God, that same love which, in the Incarnation, impelled the Creator of the world to make himself little, indeed, the smallest one and the servant of all.

Dear young people, as you prepare for Holy Christmas, may you nourish the same sentiments as these great Saints, so beloved by the Italian People. Like them, fix your gaze on the Child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger (cf. Lk 2:7,12,16).

Learn from the Virgin Mary, the first person to contemplate the humanity of the Incarnate Word, the humanity of Divine Wisdom. In the Baby Jesus, with whom she had infinite and silent conversations, she recognized the human Face of God, so that the mysterious Wisdom of the Son was impressed on the Mother's mind and heart.

So it was that Mary became the "Seat of Wisdom", and with this title is venerated in particular by the Roman Academic Community.

Let the countdown begin

Hi everyone! My name is Angie Johnson and I'm very excited to report that our group will be arriving in Rome on Saturday! As a senior English and communication major at St. Scholastica, I feel that this trip to Rome will be a great learning experience and a much-needed vacation! Many of my friends are also in Father Graham's Christian Faith in Art class, and we can't stop talking about how much fun we're going to have.

This trip is going to be a great opportunity for me. Unless you count Thunder Bay, Canada, I've never been out of the country. I've always wanted to travel to Europe but never thought it was possible, so going to Rome in a few days is amazing! I can't wait to immerse myself in the history, culture and faith of Italy; all of the studying we've done up to this point cannot replace the actual experience of being there and seeing it for ourselves. All the places and people we've talked about do not seem quite real yet. My only regret will be not being able to stay longer and see more of Italy and Europe. But some day I will. I can't wait to toss a coin in the Trevi Fountain -- legend has it that anyone who tosses a coin in this fountain will one day return to Rome, the "Eternal City."

Greetings from Illume

The team at Illume wishes students traveling to Rome an enriching experience! We thank Fr. Graham and other leaders at the College of St. Scholastica for entrusting the arrangements for this journey to us. Travel to places of historical and religious importance inspires participants to personal transformation as they visit places where visionary men and women made history.

We know that you will return home as different people with new perspectives. We hope that you will begin to see yourselves as citizens of the world, leading compassionate and caring lives, preserving our common heritage for yours and future generations!

Buon viaggio!

The Illume Team.

Hello!

Happy Holidays everyone!! My name is Kelsey and I am fortunate enough to be traveling on this wonderful trip! I am a senior at CSS, and will be graduating in a year with a double major in Business Management and Organizational Behavior.

I am really looking forward to this trip!! My mom, Jan, will be traveling with us. I have already been to Europe once, spring break of my junior year of high school. We spent three days in Rome and then a week and a half seeing all of France. My mom has never been to Europe, so we are spending some extra time over there! We are flying out Christmas about 9 pm for Paris and then will meet the class in Rome. After the class is done, we will see a few more cities in Italy before we travel to Zürich, Switzerland.

I can't wait to see everything at the Vatican again!! It is all so beautiful! The symbolism is amazing and everything is done with such detail!! I look forward to experiencing new, interesting things and then sharing it with you!

Preparing for Rome: Electrical Appliances

I'm in charge of taking a laptop computer along, so that we can keep up this blog. The wonderful folks in our IT Dept assured me that this laptop was able to adapt automatically to Italy's electrical system, but I'd need adapters for the plugs.

I believe the IT Dept, truly I do. But I wanted some independent verification, too. The information at About.com made me feel quite secure about the laptop.

It also made me hope that none of us are planning to bring hair dryers, especially without a power converter. The story of the unintended candlelight dinner is sobering.

Here's the link to advice on using power appliances oversease.
(Sr Edith)