...Jiggety Jig

Home again, home again, jiggety jig! I arrived in STL at 7:10 on an earlier flight - COOL! Oh, it was hot enough mind you, but cool that it was early. I left my place in Leuven a little before 7:00am local time and made it to the station in good time. I was a little concerned about the luggage - two on wheels and one stacked - but I made it just fine. I go to the airport without a hitch and got checked in and proceeded to nap at the gate. I was trying to get to the mind set of STL time - where it would have been mid-night. All was uneventful. The planes were not full, so I was able to spread out - to Dublin and between Dublin and Chicago - which was VERY nice. I was supposed to have a 4 hour lay over in Chicago (having been bumped from the flight I booked). But in the end, I was able to catch that earlier flight, and was into STL at 7:10pm. Mom and Dad met me at the airport, and brought me to Carondelet where I've been ever since. I had tied together several bundles and I was a little concerned about how they would weather the trip, but they came through just fine. Whew!

I have a TODO list that seems to be working against me. I check off one thing, and several more seem to appear. At that point, I figure it is time for another nap. I am more or less up to date with the legal stuff (ministry, clients, etc). I have a few more Leuven things to resolve. And then just a lot of little stuff.

I will stay here at Carondelet for a few weeks. I'm working on living / working arrangements, knowing that my outside work will be somewhat limited in the near term. I'm also greeting lots of folks and catching up, etc. It's good to be back and especially to have a little time to adjust and ease into my next major task, which will be working on my thesis for Canon Law. I'm writing on Transfer to Another Religious Community. I am collecting data with an online survey. That has been going REALLY WELL. I have about 5% of the population of transfers who have already responded online. That is AWESOME and will provide really good information for my thesis.

It's good to be back, and so far I haven't had time to miss Leuven, but then it does seem strange that folks here insist on speaking english....

Peace,
Amy

Back from Wales

Retreat in Wales - Lovely! Made my way over on the train, then by taxi for the last few miles from the station. The setting is incredibly beautiful and it was just a wonderful week. I managed one day to stroll over to Pantasaph - Thompson's old stomping grounds. No plaques, but several people I talked to had heard of him. All in all a great week. I took off at about 9am Monday, and had a 5 hour lay over in London - I managed to make it to Thompson's grave site. (are you seeing a pattern here) Then when on a quest for fish and chips. Unfortunately that event got rained out, I made my way back to the station feeling a bit like a fish myself - pouring rain!!! Made good connections in Brussels and made it back to Leuven for my last week here. Great great week. Now I'm busy with all the details of settling things for next year, tying up loose ends and packing. I'll be somewhere over the Atlantic in a week this time.
Amy

Make Way for the Queens Guard

Did London - lots of cool stuff from the movies - Disney should take note. We managed to happen on Buckingham Palace when some marching bands were out, and then on the Horse Guard when they were changing the guard - lots of ceremony, stomping and flashing of sabers. All very British.
Anne Rutter, one of the British CSJs showed me around and kept saying that so much had changed from her student days - some 30 or 40 years ago. I'm with the sisters here in Morden - they are lovely. Wimbleton is on - you would think it was the world series or something the way they go on about it.
Oh, I think I committed a little cultural blunder when I was trying to point out where I saw a sign for the underground we were looking for: it's there, I said, by that pile of rocks. Oh, you mean the old wall, said she. Oops....
Anyway, great weather, lots of folks, lots of history. I'm also finding all the sites from my buddy Francis Thompson. Things aren't quite as I pictured. More of London today, then on to Wales tomorrow.
Peace,
Amy

Getting Very Close....

It won't be much longer now. The photo at the left is a little tike who came in to disturb our choir practice.... We were thoroughly distracted as you see.
I have a canon law exam and theology thesis defense this week, and a paper to turn in on Friday. I take off Saturday for retreat. I'll spend the weekend with a CSJ friend in London, before taking the train to Rhyl (pronounced "rail") in North Wales. In my absense, I should get the final results from my programs this year - I should get the Masters in Theology. I'm hoping there will be a computer somewhere in Wales where I can log in and check on that.
Then I return to finalize things here. Back in Leuven whatever time I have available I will get over to the library and make sure I have enough to read for the next year. Awesome library. I will definitely miss it. I have a list of people to see, and things that need to be done before I take off on July 14.
So far the first weekend back in the US I have scheduled for a Girls Weekend with family. I will have CSJ assembly at the end of the month. I may try to crash a meeting in New Orleans to publicize my survey for my thesis. But that still remains to be seen. That would be around mid-August.
I have to be back in Leuven from around Feb 20 - March 10, 2010. There will be some workshops and hopefully thesis defense.
Peace,
Amy

Villers-la-Ville

I took advantage of the two days of sunshine - the first in a long time - to take a short one hour trip to Villers-la-Ville, touted as some of the best ruins of a monastery around.
I has seen the site from the train when coming back from the airport a few weeks ago, and decided it would be one of my next trips. I have a big book of places to visit in Belgium - and I usually have several places that I have plans to visit. Once I visit them, then I flip through the book and find other places. Belgium is only about 1/3 the size of Missouri, and I'm located pretty centrally. So you figure I cant be more than a few hours from anywhere. This photo that I found online shows how close the tracks come to the site of the ruins. It was good to get out for the walk and the day was simply gorgeous!!!
Well, we passed the site on the train, and kept going and going, and finally stopped at the 'station' in town. Just a few lights and booths along side the tracks. I had to retrace all that way (about 4km) to get to the abbey. It was pretty cool. A real fixer-upper, but you can see how the layout was, and the grounds are nice. There were a few tour groups there. I kept running into this German group. There was another group that had a boom box with chant-type music. They would settle in a place and put on the music. Then there were families, etc. I have some pics of the inside - I'll be home soon enough, and will be happy to share photos of the whole experience.
Otherwise all is well. My cold is mild, but tenacious; it is still with me. I have three exams this week, plus a dentist, a lunch meeting, and whatever else comes up. I've started 'clearing out' but not yet packing. I'll probably save the bulk of that for when I come back from retreat - I'll have a week. I do have a list though, and I've settled that I'll probably try to take all the clothes and books I can manage on the plane, then pick up the rest when I come back next spring to finish up.
See you soon!
Amy

Studying .... and fighting a cold....

This is my diagram for my exam tomorrow - I came down with some bug, so I wake up study a little, get tired and go back to bed. This should make for an interesting exam season.
Peace,
Amy
Running results (exit polls)
- Medieval Mysticism LC - Great
- History of Spirituality - Low pass (I blame the above mentioned cold)
- Law of Persons - June 15 - Great
- Eastern Canon Law - June 17 - Good
- Latin Codex - June 18 - Good
- Sacramental Law - June 23 - Exam Canons 834-1054
- Thesis Defense - June 24

A Day in the Life....

I'm coming to the end of my time in Leuven, and I've managed to learn how to manage exam time finally. So I guess that means it's time to move on. In the past exam time has been hard because I'm pretty much on my own, and I don't have the chance to get out and interact. This time I've fixed myself a schedule. I get out to the library in the morning, a little after it opens at 8:30am. I study there till about 1:00pm, which is more or less when I need some lunch, and my computer battery is worn down. The nice thing about this is I usually meet someone over there that I know, and most of us are a little starved for human contact, so we end up chatting a little. How's it going... papers... exams... success!!!! (that's the local way of saying good luck, all the best, etc.)
My latest project is to develop a little online survey to help gather information for my thesis in canon law for next year. You can check it out if you like: click here.
So today I was at the library and a Chinese student came by and asked if I could go over the english on a paper he was handing in. I did that - then he took me to lunch - mmmm..... So over lunch we caught up on his plans and my plans. Some of you will remember John from Beijing. He is here doing theology, still discerning about priesthood. He told me stories about his family back in China, and some of the difficulties with religion and the government.
After this, it was cold, so I decided not to go on my after lunch bike ride, and just to head home. I studied a little more. Then decided to head out for a cup of coffee at Pangaea, the international coffee shop - a usually daily affair, though I usually have it at lunch. There I met Casper - a Brother of St. Joseph from Benin. We decided a long time ago that we're all in the St. Joe clan, so we're family. He is always delightful, and we chatted for a while. Then I was off for my bike ride; I was dressed warmer at this point.
Now I'm back at my place. It being spring, all the construction has started. They are renovating two buildings right next to mine. As part of this project, they parked a dumpster right outside my window. Those who have been here can testify that I actually reach out my window and touch the dumpster. Another casualty of the construction is my bike parking place. I have my bike parked inside now - quite normal in Belgium actually.
Do pray for me over the next few weeks. I'll have exams and thesis defense. I'm not worried about any of them at this point. But it is always good to have a few extra prayers. Most of this is scheduled - see post below. I still don't know when I defend my thesis - which is only a problem because I they might schedule when I have something else, and I'll have to negotiate times, etc, etc. Other than that, I'm starting to wind down and make lists and go through things I think I won't need any more. And make more lists.... Okay, I better get back to the books. I have to figure out a Medieval dispute between Gerson and Ruusbroec. Oh, last time I posted my notes and some folks seemed to enjoy that. If you want to know what my classes are this time, they are Online . The ones marked Theo 2b or CL2b are the ones I'm taking this semester (2b = second year, second semester).
Peace,
Amy

P.S. The baby is Justina, daughter of Yuriy and Mariana.