There and Rome Again: A UD Romer's Tale, by the Wandering Sapphire.
Now.
Where to begin?
Ah, yes!
"Concerning 10 Day"
UD students have been living and studying on the Rome campus for many hundreds (okay dozens) of days, though they are not quite so content to ignore the wonders of Europe at their doorstep. That is why 10 Day exists. 10 Day consists of travel and freedom for UD Rome students. They are given 10 days to travel with their friends to whatever cities and countries they please. The following is a partial account of the happenings of the Wandering Sapphire:
Day 1 - Thursday, 18th
Thursday evening. I can't afford 10 Day. I almost don't even want to do it. My nerves have been on edge all day, worrying about the costs of 10 day. But I'm doing it anyway, only because UD Rome campus shuts down and forces you to travel. My company consists of myself and two other girls (I'll leave them unnamed for the time being). We're using Eurail Passes, so we will be traveling by train. This evening turned into a mess since we didn't realize that we had to reserve our Eurail passes so far in advance. Bad planning on our part. We're fairly flexible with planning locations and trips, so it's not going to hurt too much if we miss something. Proposed itinerary (in order):
1) Lourdes
-visit Grotto/church
2) Germany (we'll find stuff to do near the Kaiserslautern area where my friends live)
3) Paris
- Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame
4) Chartres
-Chartres Cathedral
5) Perugia
-Chocolate Festival
6) Rome/Vatical City
-Papal Mass
Not a bad itinerary, huh? Let's see how things turn out. In the first place, two of us had wanted to visit Barcelona and the other wanted to visit Prague, but before 10 day even started, we knew it wouldn't work out with our 5-day Eurail pass, which meant we could only use 5 days of traveling however spaced out we wanted. One of the girls and I reserved and bought our tickets for the night train to get from Rome to Genoa, Italy. The third girl in our group missed the reservation and found she would have to wait until the following morning to catch the first train to Genoa. We took the night train so as not to waste our tickets, but not before promising to wait up for our friend in Genoa. It was a very interesting experience sleeping on a train overnight, sharing a tight space with three other women who all spoke different languages. We ended up communicating with each other in a mixture of English, Italian, Spanish and a bit of French. We managed pretty well if you ask me. The night was not as restful though as I frequently woke up out of fear of missing our stop in Genoa. We eventually made it the following morning, both tired.
The REAL Day 1 - Friday 19th
This is the official first day of 10 Day for UD students. We just left a little early. We two girls sat groggily in the station, taking turns dozing and waiting for our friend to show up on the first train from Rome, which was scheduled to arrive roughly at 11:15am. Sure enough, it arrived on time and we met up, ate a light lunch (or at least I did), then continued on our train rides to get to Lourdes. I won't bore you with the details of the all-day train rides. It was pretty tiring, stressful, and occasionally nightmarish when we were making sure we arrived on the right platform, had the correct train number, etc. I was so exhausted by evening time that I ended up skipping dinner. I may have eaten an apple I had stockpiled from the cafeteria back on campus the day before, but I can't remember. By the end of the day, we reserved a night train to take us from Nice, France to Toulouse where we would connect to the train to Lourdes.
Day 2 - Saturday 20th
The night train worked out perfectly as we arrived to a wet and rainy Lourdes at around 7am, with enough time to eat a light breakfast and reserve/purchase our tickets to get from Lourdes to Paris for the following day. We were originally planning on leaving Lourdes on Sunday morning so that we would arrive in the afternoon in Paris, but those tickets were 99 euros! Not happening! We'd already used up two of our five days worth of travel, so things were getting tight. Somehow, miraculously, we were able to get a train for about 18 euros per person. This train would leave Sunday afternoon around 5:30pm or so and would arrive in Paris about 45 minutes after midnight. This meant that we would have to rough the night out in the Paris train station before getting to our place at the monastery guest house we were trying to reserve (more on that later). It wasn't the most ideal plan, but it was better than spending nearly 100 euros. We moved on to looking for our reserved hostel which we found quite easily. Lourdes is fairly small, but has that big city feel in certain areas, although it isn't altogether overwhelming. After quickly settling into our rooms, we decided that it was time we had a break from traveling and stress and go check out the grotto. It was closed. Gated off. Locked. The river was swollen and rushing with murky water, flooding the grotto and so no one could go visit that day. It was incredibly unfortunate, but we prayed that we would be able to see it the following day. I bought a 50 cent "Mary bottle" (maybe 6-8 ounces worth) to collect some of the spring water to show a bit of trust that we would see it the next day. To alleviate some of that pain of not seeing the grotto that day, we did get to see St. Bernadette's house as well as attend the anticipatory Mass (in French, of course!) at her parish, which was a grand church. By the end of the day, specifically after Mass, I realized that this was becoming a spiritual journey, not merely a 10 day sightseeing adventure. After having seen a large statue of Our Lady of Lourdes just outside our hostel window, I went to bed saying the Chaplet and the Rosary, feeling a bit better about not having seen the grotto that day and recognizing God's providence in having out train leave later the next day so that we might be able to see the grotto the next morning.
Day 3 - Sunday 21st
I'm staying hopeful, even thought it's raining outside. Skip breakfast. On to the grotto. And...well, the river was still flooded, but not as badly as it was yesterday. The gates were still closed. However, people were going along the gate all the way up to the church, which was high enough away from the river. We followed the people and found that the side gate was open, allowing pilgrims to visit the church and such. We looked through the gate overlooking the river and saw how the river had flooded the grotto. A great deal of it was still a few feet deep in water, so there was no way we would be able to see it, at least not more than the last four or five rows of benches. "All I ask now, Lord, is to take home some of the water from the spring as my family requested." Just then I see people going by with some of those liter jugs and "Mary bottles" filled with spring water. How...? I inquired about the water to a passing Spaniard woman, who directed me to long line of people who were waiting to access the fountain just across the street from the church. Apparently there is a pipe system that directs some of the spring water up from its source and delivers it to the street level for the public. Perfect! We had plenty of time, so I waited in line a good half hour before I finally collected my bottle of water. A very memorable moment involved some Spanish women who were carrying their liter jugs for collecting the water and were waiting in line behind me. They asked me if the small "Mary bottle" was all I was going to collect the water in, to which I replied, yes, but I added that that was I was happy to receive even just that little bit. I was rather touched when they admired me for deeply valuing such a small amount of the spring water. After collecting the water, we went shopping for our lunch and dinner meal at the grocery store (which we'd done exactly the same the day before). All of our meals in Lourdes consisted of French bread, salami slices, and saved apples from the UD campus. It was super cheap, but when that's all you've got, you'll take it.
We then waited at the train station for a couple of hours, and noticed that we had somehow ended up in first class (it showed up on our boarding passes). It was a really nice upgrade. Unfortunately, our train only moved a a few dozen meters before stopping and having everyone get off since it could not go anywhere due to something being in the tracks. Good grief! Everything that could go wrong kept going wrong for us. We later figured out that the water from the river had become so bad it had flooded the tracks up ahead. So we could no longer take the train from Lourdes to Bordaux to Paris. We would have to go in the opposite direction, back to Toulouse and take a night train to Paris. This was definitely a blessing because we still had first class on the train to Toulouse and we received a night train to Paris without having to pay anything extra. They even gave us two collation boxes of snacks and food for having switched trains on us and having left so late. This provided us with enough food for breakfast the next morning and an abundance of water. This night train was also tight, but a little easer to sleep on since our stop in Paris was the end of the course, so we wouldn't have to worry about missing our stop. Still, sleeping on a train is not very restful or deep. Sleeping in Lourdes was definitely more restful.
Day 4 - Monday 22nd
Perfect timing! We arrived in Paris around 7am with enough time to organize some 12 euro train tickets (praise God!) using our Eurail passes to get from Paris to Kaiserslautern, Germany for Wednesday. Next thing was to find the monastery guest house for staying the next two nights in Paris. We found it soon enough, but unfortunately, the nuns who took care of the reservations (which were all done by email, which we'd done) would not be there until 8:30pm, and it was only 2pm. This meant we would have to drag our luggage around Paris all day, which we unfortunately had to do. It wasn't too bad for me since I had brought only a backpack, but after so many minutes, the backpack starts to become heavy and puts a strain on my back. Darn, I knew I should have packed only 4 outfits instead of 6, even if they were layered. With so much stress, worry and adrenaline, I grow tired. That was me for the rest of the afternoon, worrying that we might not get our room in the monastery guest house since we had not received a reply to our email in regards to staying there for 2 nights. I discovered on this trip, however, that whenever I'm anxious or nervous like that and I say the Rosary, my nerves cool off quite a bit if not completely. I must have said all twenty decades of the Rosary by the end of each day since Lourdes, if that helps to describe how anxious I was.
We saw the Eiffel Tower, though it wasn't so enjoyable due to fatigue. We tried locating a McDonald's since we knew they had WiFi as we needed to get a translation in French down to explain our situation to the nuns. We knew there was one near the monastery, but we couldn't find it. God kept sending us one angel after another, often in the form of an older Frenchman or woman who would either point us in the right direction or even walk us to our destination. He did it this time and so many other times, always right when we needed help. Once we ate dinner there at McDonald's (yes, it tastes exactly like the American McDonald's burgers) and got our translations down, we headed back to the monastery. Stairs...so many stairs. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the luggage we'd had to carry. An angel or two helped us carry some of the luggage part of the way up the steps. Anyway, once we had reached the guest house right on time, we met with one of the nuns, who practically interviewed us before giving us the room, asking questions about where we were from, what we were doing in Paris, what we were studying, what we wanted to do in life, and of course, if we loved Jesus. "With all my heart!!" Or at least, that was my reaction after such a difficult four days with finally a really REALLY good thing coming. The nuns told us that they usually only allow people to stay for just one night, but because we'd asked and because they had room, there were going to allow us both nights for 9 euros the first night, including breakfast, and 7 euros for the second night (no need for new bed sheets), also including breakfast. They explained to us that they had breakfast as 7:30am, Monastic Office at 8am, and a 10pm Mass every night with adoration following, and we were welcome to adoration for an hour...two hours...four hours..."however long you like," said the nun. YES!!! I can barely describe how happy I was.
The guest house was used as a kind of retreat house of sorts, with the dining room downstairs, the rooms on the second floor and on the third floor was a passageway which connected the guest house to the church, which was most grand. It was beautifully decorated with candles everywhere along the sides, a massive sanctuary, a huge echoing dome and fantastic acoustics. They had a 10pm Mass, which we attended despite our tiredness, as we felt we owed God a special thanks for getting us through so many difficulties and hardships during the first four days of our trip. After that Mass, they kick people out unless you have the red slip that was provided to you when you signed in to stay at the guest house. It is a most amazing feeling when just you and a handful of other people are in a huge church, sitting in silence with the Eucharist exposed for adoration all night long. It was particularly nice when they turned out all the lights in the church except for the ones illuminating the golden monstrance, altar, and podium and a gentle light illuminating the first few rows of seats. It was incredibly tempting to stay up for several hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, but I was tired and we had a long day ahead of us, so I kept it down to a Rosary of thanksgiving and some prayers of adoration. Needless to say, I went to bed extremely happy, feeling much more at peace. But I still have a long way to go on my faith journey. I can hardly wait for the Monastic Office in the morning...and breakfast. Only one of my meals on this trip so far had been satisfyingly filling. The rest always left me hungry and anxious for the next meal. But I guess 10 day is all about survival. Let's see how we fare in our real day of exploring Paris tomorrow!
To be continued...
[photos to come soon]
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