Notre Dame Alum!

It's official: I am now a Notre Dame Alum! It's been a whirlwind week, so allow me to recap...

A week ago Monday (July 21), I sat for my written exams. It went fairly well! The 5 topics I have been studying are Scriptural Catechesis, Christology, Patristic Exegesis: Augustine and Origen, History of Theology and Spirituality, and Prayer. I wrote about the first three. 

Following the written portion, I had about two days to prepare for the oral exam. That went pretty well, too. At 3:10 on Wednesday afternoon, they informed me that I passed my comps! I was also informed that this makes me a "Mistress" of Theology. :) What a relief! And for the first time in well over 2 years, I don't have any immediate studying to do! What will I do with myself now?! Start a new job, I suppose, and get married. :)

Jordan drove all the way to South Bend on Wednesday, so he arrived that evening to help celebrate. We had dinner at my favorite spot: Fiddler's Hearth. Also, it was an acoustic open mic night, and Ricky Watter's son (13 years old) was one of the performers! Ricky Watters was in the audience, too, by the way. I sat about 5 feet away from him. 

On Thursday, the rest of the girls in the group completed their exams, as did others in the MA program. Jordan and I spent the day touring campus one last time and boosted our wardrobes with ND garb from the ND Outlet Store. 
 

Thursday evening, the Department of Theology held a celebration Mass and dinner for all August MA grads. Pictured below is Catholic Extension Cohort #1: Mary Rebecca Anderson, Jessy Bennett, me, and Julie Labelle.

It's hard to believe that this adventure has come to a close. I have been SO blessed to have this opportunity, and I can't even begin to express my gratitude to everyone who has had a hand in it. Studying at Notre Dame was truly a girlhood-dream-come-true. Classes in the Theology Department were more formative and incredible than I could have imagined. The people I met - CE girls, CE staff and donors, fellow students, and professors - have been such a blessing. It's been a long journey, and often a challenging one, but it has been very rewarding as well. I still can't believe that I can now call Notre Dame my alma mater. The slogan definitely rings true...

Love Thee, Notre Dame.

Prepping for Comprehensive Exams

Our first week here, we were invited out to the Tom and Liz Borgers' home for our annual dinner gathering. The Borger family, along with Liz's mother Mary Naquin, are sponsoring our program. They are wonderful people, and their family's hospitality is something I want to emulate. We had a lovely dinner and a great time visiting with everyone. The president of Catholic Extension, Fr. Jack Wall, joined the gathering as well. Below are a few pictures of the first three cohorts participating in the Catholic Extension Young Adult Initiative and studying at Notre Dame (shown with some of our friends and donors at Catholic Extension):

Front row, from left to right: Jessy, Marissa, Casey, Kathy, and Fr. Jack.
Middle row: Mary Rebecca, Me, Julie, Molly
Back row: Katie, Maria, Christine

Our group pictured this time with two of our generous donors, Tom and Liz Borger.

 Featured here is our sweet donor, Mary Naquin.

Meanwhile, back at campus... The preparation continues. It's hard not to view comps as a looming, scary giant that's just far enough AND near enough in the future to make me anxious for both reasons. At any rate, the studying is coming along!

Our written exam takes place this Monday, July 21, from 8:00 a.m. to noon. For this portion, we will be given five questions and asked to write approximately 4 pages (1000 words) on three of them. No notes, no resources (other than basically a Bible and the documents of Vatican II). 

I recently found out that my oral exam will be on Wednesday, July 23, at 2:30 p.m. This portion lasts for 40 minutes. During this time, I will be answering questions posed by members of my comprehensive exam board. My board consists of Dr. Katie Cavadini, Fr. Brian Daley, and Professor Larry Cunningham. When I found this out, I was both thrilled and terrified at the same time. Let me tell you a little about each of these people to illustrate why...

Katie Cavadini is the Chair of our MA program. She's fantastic, and she's the daughter of John Cavadini, who has been one of my favorite professors in the program. He's a legend around here.

Fr. Brian Daley is a world-renowned scholar. He was awarded the Ratzinger Prize in theology a couple years ago by the Pope (which is like the Nobel Prize of theology). He basically wrote the book on two of my exam topics (no pressure there). Also, he used to (and might still) help coach the boxing team here at ND. 

Professor Larry Cunningham is another legend here at ND. He also literally wrote one of the books in my topic's bibliography. He recently wrote a book about all of the chapels here on campus.

So my board is comprised of wonderful and brilliant people. My main goal at this point is to not sound like an idiot. Back to studying so I can achieve that goal!

Summer #3

Hello all!

I am back for my third and final summer as a Notre Dame student. It's weird to think about it, but in about 8 days (God willing!), I will have completed both my written and oral examinations and be considered a Notre Dame alum!

I arrived late last night to my home for the next week and a half, Pasquerilla West Hall. How fitting, since my first summer I lived in Pasquerilla East Hall.

From now until Monday morning, the name of the game is study, study, study. And coffee, coffee, coffee.

My written exam will take place Monday from 8:00 a.m. to noon (Eastern time). My oral exam was recently scheduled for Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. (Eastern time). Please pray for me! Know that I'll be praying for you, too.

Mission San Xavier del Bac

Today we went to Mission San Xavier del Bac for Mass. What an experience! The place is magnificent:

Construction of the Mission was completed in 1797, and it's virtually the same inside as it was back then. It really made you stop and imagine for a moment what it must have been like to have been traveling through the desert and come across a place like this.

Desert Dangers

A few more stories from the Arizona desert:

I almost forgot to mention that my first day here, I had a surprise encounter with this little fella:

Okay, so you probably can't really see him, but it was a SCORPION. I think he'd made his home in one of my shoes overnight, and I was less than pleased about this roommate. I must have made an example of him, though, because I haven't seen any since!

My second brush with danger happened on our hike this afternoon. We decided to make it to the top of one of the nearby hills/mountains, so we set off on our trek. We brought with us a newfound friend, Fr. Peter Sweeney. Fr. Sweeney is a 76-year-old Irish priest, and meeting him might just have been the highlight of the entire trip. Throughout our hike, he regaled us with stories and jokes, and he set the brisk pace for us. When we made it to the top, we paused for a photo:

The view was spectacular:

 Fr. Sweeney informed us that before a saguaro cactus can grow an "arm," it must be at least 75 years old. So when you see saguaros that have many arms, they could be hundreds of years old! Fascinating!

Fascinating... and dangerous. At least, it's shorter, pokey relatives are... As we were getting ready to head back down, I had another surprise encounter - this time with a cactus. I got stuck badly enough that I couldn't get it out myself, so Fr. Sweeney came to the rescue. Don't worry - at this point, only my pride is hurt.

We're nearing our last few days in Arizona! Sounds like it's extra cold in Kansas (-5 degrees, I saw on the forecast, and that's not even factoring in the wind chill!). I may be in for a shock! But I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Desert Domers

Hello from Tucson, Arizona! The Domer adventure continues, but this time in a much different environment. (This is probably for the best, because it sounds like 0-degree temps and ample snow have been in the forecast for South Bend lately.) Here we are at the Redemptorist Renewal Center, surrounded by nothing but desert. Cacti abound - including the magnificent saguaro cacti. As challenging as this place is (by its very nature: quiet, desolate, and virtually distraction-free), it is probably the perfect environment for an intensive class. There are 14 of us studying "Jesus and the Spiritual Life." Our days have a consistent rhythm of Mass, class, meals, community prayer, exercise, reading, and some down-time. I quickly remembered from last year feeling as if I was able to get a glimpse into the monastic life - living in community. It's been great reconnecting with the rest of the Catholic Extension girls, as well as some summer ND friends. 

So we've been learning together about the necessary connection between religion and spirituality, and how the doctrine of the Church is truly a safeguard of, not a hindrance to, the spiritual life. We've done this by examining Christological developments throughout our Church's history. We started by reading about the Trinitarian controversies of the early Church, including the works of Athanasius and Gregory of Nazianzus (or G-Naz, as our professor affectionately calls him). We've also read some texts by Augustine, and we've discussed the development of the creed. These past few days, we've been learning about St. Bernard of Clairvaux, which is an extra blessing because our professor is an expert on this particular Saint. We'll conclude the course by discussing Bonaventure. It's been a lot of information to cover in a very brief period of time, but it's been an excellent course! 

When we're not reading or studying, we do have some down-time. Some of us girls have been taking advantage of this unbelievable weather and going on daily runs. We've also had the chance to take some hikes up in the Picture Rocks National Park, which is right next to the retreat center. 

It's been a great time here in Tucson, but I look forward to returning home and seeing all of you! Hope all is well, and I'll see you soon!

Another summer in the books...

15,391 pages (rough estimate, of course) later, here we are! In some ways, the time has flown by. In other ways, it feels like we've been here forever. Either way, the experience has been incredible, and I'm so thankful to be here! At the same time, I'm excited to come home! Kansas, here I come! Just 722 miles away!

While I'm at it, let me share a few more photos... Here's a beautiful view of St. Mary's Lake with the Golden Dome and the Basilica in the background (photo taken during one of my runs last weekend):

Here's a picture of the Golden Dome, which I walk by every day on the way to classes and/or the dining hall:

A shot of the Hesburgh Library (with the famous Touchdown Jesus):

Until next summer, South Bend! I was reminded of how thankful I am that our winter session class takes place in Tucson, AZ, rather than Notre Dame, IN, when I saw this sign in the parking lot:

And then... we went to Canada.

Hello again! We're in the final stretch, and it definitely feels like the last week. Eyes are drooping, backpacks are heavier, minds are overflowing... but the Spirit is propelling us forward, one way or another!

I figure I better take some time to briefly catch up on past events...

A week and a half ago, I went to Detroit with my friends Julie and Gene to take in a Tigers baseball game. We had a fantastic time! Justin Verlander almost pitched a no-hitter! Nevertheless, the Tigers came out with a win, and we enjoyed cheering them on!

After the game, we went to nearby Greek Town for a bite to eat. (We found the most authentic-looking Greek restaurant, and everyone ordered something that came in a pita.) And then... we went to Canada. Believe it or not, all that separates Detroit, Michigan, from Windsor, Canada, is a river. So we went over the bridge, and I had my first international experience!

After a slightly frightening encounter with the Canadian border patrol (they're just very vigilant, which is probably good), we made sure to put first things first... and stopped for donuts at Tim Horton's. I had some TimBits (donut holes) and an iced coffee, and it was fantastic! Gene swears that the donuts are fresher and better in Canada, and I was inclined to agree with him. 

We walked around town for a bit, taking in the Canadian air. Here's a picture overlooking the river, with the Detroit skyline in the background:

We were only in Canada for a couple of hours, but it was SO much fun! Thanks, Gene and Julie, for taking me on this adventure! I feel very blessed to have met some great friends here at Notre Dame!

The Grotto

Just wanted to introduce you all to one of my favorite places here on campus... I don't visit it nearly as much as I would like to (and probably should), but it is a beautiful, peaceful spot. It's called the Grotto:

It's patterned after the grotto where Our Lady appeared in Lourdes, France. I don't know that I've ever been there when it was completely empty - seems like there's always someone there praying. One of the gems of Notre Dame!

Blog Link

One other item to share, in case anyone is interested... Catholic Extension just posted a blog entry about our road trip adventures on the way here. Here's a link if you'd like to check it out!

http://www.catholicextension.org/blog/2013/07/08/road-trip-remember

Independence Day

Happy Belated Independence Day! I hope you were able to celebrate and enjoy a mid-summer break.  

The timing of the holiday was pretty perfect for us here at Notre Dame. We wrapped up our first module of classes July 5th. The day off on the 4th was a great opportunity to finish up papers, projects, etc. 

As always, my classes this term blew me away. Catholic Social Teaching has truly changed the way I look at the world. I realized how easy it is to look at situations objectively -- when we objectify the people involved. When we look instead at each person as a person, created in the image of God, with inherent human dignity that deserves to be protected, our view is suddenly much different. I think this really hit home to me when we were discussing the death penalty, and our professor had us read an excerpt from Sr. Helen Prejean's book about visiting prisoners on death row. I just started reading her first book, Dead Man Walking, and it’s been extremely eye-opening.

I’ll be posting more about this new module, as well as last weekend’s adventures in Chicago, soon, but I want to catch up on some of the other happenings here in South Bend. It’s been wonderful getting to know “the Girls” in the Catholic Extension program. A couple weeks ago we were able to go to Fiddler’s (one of my favorite places in the world) for some authentic live Irish music. Here’s a picture of almost all of us:

Another night, a group of us went to tour the “Four Horseman” brewery here in town. I’m not exactly sure what we were expecting, but our mental image definitely did not match up with the reality of this place. We drove up to what looked like an office building on the outside… and that trend continued on the inside. Here’s what we saw when we opened the door:

 

Despite the strange outward appearance, it ended up being a great place. We enjoyed our tour of the brewery and were able to sample some of their beers.

Now it’s definitely back to the grindstone for Module 2! Stay tuned… hopefully I will be more timely with the next posts!

Week 1

In some ways, it's almost impossible to think that a week has past since we arrived at Notre Dame. In other ways, it feels like a lifetime! According to the summer semester, we've made it through "5 weeks" of class already!

Basically, I am now in survival mode. But it's a good thing! Lots of reading, lots of writing, lots of inadvertent falling asleep while reading, and lots of caffeinated beverages.
Also, for Friday's Liturgical Prayer class, we took a "field trip" to the Hesburgh Library to visit the Rare Books Collection. When I found out that we would get to meet with the curator of the Rare Books collection, I FREAKED out. Last year, we made a similar trip in one of my classes, and that was a main highlight of the summer for me. This guy, Dr. David T. Gura, is fascinating. He's currently working on putting a medieval manuscript back together, and by the end of the presentation, I found myself moved by the cause against "breaking books." Anyway, it's just incredible to think about what life was like approximately seven centuries ago. The newest version of the iPhone might not have been the predominant status symbol, but a personalized, illuminated Breviary sure was! Unfortunately, you can't find much about this online, but here's a link to a brief webpage if anyone's interested: http://medieval.nd.edu/events/2013/06/03/17212-hour-by-hour-reconstructing-a-medieval-breton-prayerbook-2/.

Hoping you're all having a wonderful weekend!

Deja Vu? Or just the start of year two!

It's hard to believe, but a year has passed since we first stepped foot on the Notre Dame campus, and we're back again for our second summer. It's been quite an adventure so far, and I'm certainly looking forward to what lies ahead!

The night we arrived, Julie and I visited our favorite restaurant spot here in South Bend: Fiddler's Pub. Julie got the go-to favorite, Fish and Chips...

And I decided to try the Guinness Stew.

Both were as delicious as we remembered! We channeled our inner-Irish and are ready to go!

We started classes today. This module I'm taking Catholic Social Teaching and Liturgical Prayer. So far, so good! But I have definitely returned to the daily rhythm of last year: Coffee, class, eat, class, study, eat, study, sleep (maybe), repeat.

My home-away-from-home this summer is Siegfried Hall:

Miss all of you back at my Kansas home and hope you're doing well!

Almost to the Finish Line!

It seems so appropriate that the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics coincided with our last day of grad classes! Six intense weeks have drawn to a close. Just a couple more days of our Foundations of Theology class and a final, and we're homeward bound! What an experience it has been. 

This morning I was finally able to take some pictures around campus, so now I can give you a mini virtual tour! Here's South Dining Hall (often compared to the Hogwarts Dining Hall from Harry Potter):

 

Here are a few more shots of campus, including the Golden Dome and the Cathedral Basilica:

Stay tuned... More to come soon!

Chicago!

Thought I'd share a few pictures from last weekend's adventure in Chicago with Marinda. It was a great time. It was SO fun having her here! Jenna and I picked her up from Midway airport Thursday night (and spent the drive studying for our first Old Testament exam). I was in class all day Friday, so Marinda was able to explore campus a little. On Friday evening, we went out to dinner here in South Bend at a restaurant called Papa Vino's, which was delicious. Then on Saturday morning we took the commuter train from South Bend to Chicago. The two-and-a-half hour ride was perfect for getting some school work done. Below are some highlights from our exploration of the city. It was a quick trip, but SO fun.

Welcome to Chicago's Theater District!

Mass at St. Peter's Catholic Church

The space-age fountain beverage machine at Cosi's restaurant

Authentic deep-dish Chicago pizza at Giordano's

 

Chicago dog!

Portillo's - Home of the Chicago dog!

Along the Magnificent Mile with my BFF!

Taking in an improv show at I.O. theater

SUN-Day

Hello all! I'm definitely playing catch-up, as usual. I'll post a little bit about last weekend, and then I'll fill you in on this weekend's adventures in Chicago with Marinda soon!

We wrapped up our first module last Friday (July 6). It's hard to believe that we are now over halfway done! Last weekend we were able to catch our breath a little bit before the next round of classes started. On Saturday evening, Julie, Jenna and I went to a local Irish Pub for dinner. We were told they are the most authentic Irish Pub you can go to short of crossing the Atlantic, and we were not disappointed! Our fish and chips arrived wrapped in newspaper:

(We were so excited to dig in that we didn't even think about taking a picture until it was nearly devoured. Sorry!)

The best part of the evening was the live Irish music. The band was incredible! I haven't actually watched this video I took yet, but hopefully it works, and hopefully you can get a sense of what the atmosphere was like.

On Sunday, the three of us decided to go to the beach. We were going to try for a longer trip to one of the beaches along Lake Michigan, but in the end, we chose to save that for another time. Instead, we went to St. Joseph's Beach here on campus. It started out kind of cloudy, and I made the EPIC mistake of not wearing proper sunscreen. This was a major whoops that culminated in not one but two trips to Walmart to buy a vast assortment of sunburn relief supplies. So once I'm back in Kansas, please see me for all your after-sun skincare needs prior to buying them yourself.

We're off and running again! So far, so good! But busy! I'll be back with more from this weekend's adventure soon. Have a terrific week!

Happy 5th of July!

I hope you all enjoyed the 4th of July holiday! I celebrated by... writing a paper! Classes were canceled yesterday for the holiday, but most of the students in my class planned to work on our final papers. So our professor offered to throw us a "paper-writing party." She opened up the building, brought biblical resources for us to use, and provided food and drinks. It was a fun time. Maybe not overly productive, but fun!

It's hard to believe that our first module is almost over. Just a couple more days of New Testament class! The time has been going quickly, but the days have been very full. 

A couple more pictures of you to illustrate the past few days... Here's a gorgeous view of "the Dome" and the basilica from across the lake. There are a couple of lakes on campus, and I like to go running around them in the mornings. This picture doesn't exactly do it justice:

  
Last weekend, I discovered the best Chinese restaurant in Mishawaka: Taste of Asia. They have the best (and cheapest and most generously portioned) Szechwan Vegetables with rice I have ever had. I savored it while watching an episode of the Big Bang Theory, and it was the best study break ever.

Finally, I can't even believe I'm saying this, but I kind of love the Walmart here. First of all, cereal is CHEAP. And they have this interesting new Post variety (shown below). That GIANT box of cereal cost $3 and it's delicious. I hope it's a trend that will reach Kansas soon. Second, they sell Biscoff spread. My friend Julie introduced us all to this treat, which she refers to as "Joy in a Jar." Kansas friends and family, please be on the look-out for this product. If you ever see it (preferably the crunchy variety) in the peanut butter aisle at a local store, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! (Otherwise, I might need to buy it in bulk before heading back.)

 

Let's Run to Michigan... Literally.

I can add one more to my list of visited states: Michigan! Yesterday morning, my friends Julie and Nicole and I embarked on a 9-mile round-trip journey to the Michigan state line. It was a blast! We got a little lost on the way back, so it might be more like 9.5 or 10 miles... But we found campus eventually, and returned victorious!

Week 2 went by VERY quickly. I have a feeling that time is going to pass at this increasing rate for the rest of the summer, and before I know it, I'll find myself back in Manhattan! But for now, I'm trying to enjoy the (wild) ride. I am SO impressed by the professors here. They have brilliant minds and beautiful souls. They are so gifted at not only explaining the faith, but also just sharing it with us. I have definitely been learning a lot, and I'm kind of sad that my New Testament class is already coming to a close. (Well, it still requires 2 exams, a final paper, and the completion of a journal this week, so I'm not done yet!)

Hope you all have a great start to the week!  :)

Catching Up

Happy weekend! I feel like I've been spending a lot of it catching up/ keeping up with reading and studying. I also need to catch up on the blog! So here are a few of the highlights from the second half of my first week here!

On Wednesday, representatives from Catholic Extension (the organization funding our grant) came to meet with us. They wanted to get some pictures at lunchtime. We (the 6 of us in the program - we call ourselves Catholic Extension Cohort #1) met them by the library, thinking they'd just snap a few photos of the group. In actuality, it was like a real photo shoot with a professional photographer! We each took our turn doing individual shots, then some group ones as well. It was really nice meeting the reps from Extension, and very humbling, too. It really drove home how thankful I am to Extension donors who are generously supporting this endeavor, and it gave extra inspiration to work even harder. That evening, Extension took us out to the fanciest dinner I have ever experienced. We ate at at the Sorin Restaurant, which is located in the Morris Hotel here on campus. It was incredible! And the first opportunity to meet everyone in the program.

The rest of this week has primarily consisted of studying and reading, as well as figuring out my way on campus a little better. I met with one of my professors on Friday.We got to talking about relics, exorcisms, and things of that nature, and she gave me a relic of St. John the Baptist! I was really excited. 

Here are a couple more photos for you. One is if Jenna and me in front of the Hesburgh Library. (You can take a little virtual tour if you want.) In the background is the famous mural of "Touchdown Jesus." 

And here's a picture of Pasquerilla East Hall, our home-away-from-home for the next six weeks.

One week down, six more to go! Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! Miss you!