Milka, Peach wine, and the Austrian Hills...can't get any better than this...or can it?

I have been in Austria for a whole week now and in some ways I feel like I have been here for ever and in other ways I feel like I just got here a second ago.  Although I was really sad to leave Ireland I am very glad I made the  decision to get on the plane. When we landed in Austria, it was so warm that I was ready to go back to Ireland to the cooler weather. Well, let me tell you it has cool off a lot in one week.  It has been a very busy week with classes starting up in full force and traveling around the area.  The second day we were here we went to the huge monestary in Melk and we also went to durstein where there is a castle that King Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned.  Then this past weekend we traveled to Vienna for a day and it was amazing.  The city is so clean and beautiful.  I know I will be going back at least one more time before I leave Austria!  While we were in Vienna we had Mass in this beautiful church and then had a walking tour of parts of Vienna.  Then we had lunch which was the famous wiener schnitzel and it was quite tasty.  Then after lunch and after changing my mind like a hundred times, I decided to go to the national treasury and boy am I glad I went.  I ended up in a group with one of my household sisters, Rose, and some other student as well as Fr. Brad, two of the sisters and a professor.  The national treasury is a collection of some of the Hofburg Family's treasures. The Hofburg's were the imperial family of the Austrian Empire as well as many other empires for centuries and therefore have an amazing collection of treasures, which include many holy relics due to the fact that they ruled over the Holy Roman Empire for some time.  Some of these relics included Veronica's shroud, the nail that was in Christ's right hand, and multiple pieces of the cross.  From here I have a busy schedule but I know that by giving my time to the Lord it will only be return a hundred fold.  I started my job today working for some of the sisters, and I am also involved in some different ministries including sacristans and FOP team.  Along with this SOL as a whole has been getting up and going to morning prayer and also saying evening prayer.  I have a holy hour on wednesday and I just know more great things are going to come from this semester.  Next weekend we head off to Salzburg and Munich, in a few weeks I will be going to the Passion Play and at the end of october I am going to Medj.  It has been such a blessed trip thus far and I can't wait to see how it all will play out.  Please pray for me and I will do the same for you.  Below are some pictures of the past week.  Please enjoy them! 

The Church in Melk

The Castle where King Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned (The view from the top was amazing)

A picture of Gaming (yeah this is the town I live in)

The Vienna Opera House

The nail that was in Christ's right hand

This is where I live

Family, Friends, and Ice cream could only equal IRELAND

 I left JFK on Monday August 9th, 2010 for the journey of a lifetime.  My first stop was Ireland, where I would have the oppurtunity to visit with both family and friends.  As I walked off the plane into dublin airport, I could not believe that the trip I had been planing for so long was finally happening.  I cruised my way through the airport, got my bags, headed for the luggage lockers, and walked out to find the bus I would be sitting on for a few more hours until I reached my destination.  I was very relieved to get off the bus in Derry and find my cousin and uncle waiting to take me to Donegal.  I spent the next four days or so up there visiting with my mom's side of the family and seeing some sites. I had the chance to go to a famine village and learn about how my ancestors were able to survive the years of the potato famine as well as finding out a bit of how my mom grew up.  I was also taken to two different friaries in Donegal both of which were absolutely beautiful and so very peaceful.  Another day I went to the mamore gap, the clonmany waterfall, and Malin Head.  But my favorite part about my time in Donegal was just visiting with family.  It was great to meet all of my cousins' children and to finally get a real chance to meet them all.  On top of it all I just loved looking out the windows at the beauty that is Donegal and the smell of turf fires in the air definitely adds to the setting. The few days I was there flew bye and before I knew it I was in Trim, County Meath, visiting my dad's sister and her family.  Again, I got to play with kids but this time there was only two that had to compete for my attention instead of actually I don't even know how many...  I was having a great time visiting but on the second full day I was there my uncle had an accident a work and ended up in the hospital with a fractured vertbrea.  While my family felt bad that they couldn't take me around site seeing I was very thankful that I could be there during this difficult time to help watch the little ones, so that they could figure out what was going on.  My stay in Trim quickly came to an end as we picked up my friends, Maddie and Marc, from the airport.  We stayed at my aunt and uncle's house one more night before we took off traveling, our first stop was to tour Trim castle.  Then that afternoon, with our backpacks strapped to our back we took off on a bus for Galway.  The first night there we walked around, ate at a pub and randomly ran into some Franciscan students on the road.  They invited us out for the night to meet up with other students and so we joined them that night.  The next day we took a tour bus out to the burren and the Cliffs of Moher and while this was my second  time visiting these places it was cool to see my friends enjoy their new surroundings.  It seemed as though we had just gotten to Galway when it was time to get on the bus again and head to Knock.  Again, I had been here before, but it doesn't matter how many times you go it is still an amazing experience.  Knock was so peacefully and we lucked out with a beautiful day, which also happened to be the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Knock.  We were able to go to Mass and say a rosary and get some lunch and Holy Water all before we climbed back onto yet another bus.  This trip was another long one as we approached our last destination in Ireland, Dublin.  On this bus trip I was able to have a glimpse of my father's home town, Roscommon.  This was really neat because I had not had the oppurtunity to get there on my trip and it was an unexpected surprise! When we arrive in Dublin, we meet up with my cousin and her boyfriend that evening and again on sunday after a long morning of trying to find a Catholic Church in Dublin, which we did end up finding and the church was gorgeous.  On sunday we went to the book of Kells and also went to a pub were we ate lunch and then watch the semi-final of the all- Ireland gaelic football match in which Cork beat Dublin.  Then we took a ride to the airport to pick up our bags so we would have them for our early morning flight the next day to Austria.  Looking back I still can't believe how fast those two weeks went.  I had such a great time and I want to say THANK YOU yet again to everyone especially my family that made the trip so memorable and enjoyable for me!  I can't wait to go back again hopefully sometime soon! I will hopefully be posting about my time thus far in Austria sometime soon.  I hope you enjoyed my quick glimpse into my two weeks in Ireland and enjoy the slide shows I have put together of Ireland.   Let me know what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OmebewerPA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP3XrSckANM