At "Home" in Leuven
Yesterday, after 6 days of travel, I arrived in Leuven, Belgium, my home for the next three and a half months. Actually, that includes the time I spent in New York. It was fun to be in New York, with members of my classmate's family when the Giants won the Super Bowl. General rejoicing throughout the city. Unfortunately, I missed the ticker tape parade on Tuesday since my flight left Monday evening. It would have been fun to see.
I had a wonderful time visiting with my classmates. Saturday we went to Connecticut to see Fr. Kevin Royal. Spent some time in the Norwalk area driving around to see the sites, taking in a movie and dinner. If I learn how to put pictures on this blog I will post one of us with Fr. Tom Pettei, my classmate from New York.
Monday night I got on the plane, had a pretty smooth ride to Brussels in a less than full plane. No one in the seat next to me, and the guy in the center section had all four seats to himself. Actually, a fairly comfortable ride.
Arriving in Brussels we had long lines going through passport control - took almost an hour. Then on to pick up my luggage. It was going merrily around the carousel when I got there. I grabbed it, chnaged some money and headed for the train. The biggest challenge was the amount of luggage I had. A big suitcase, a small suitcase, a computer attache and a messenger bag (the last a gift from a parishioner). It was hard to manuever but I made it onto the train and into the city. Found a taxi for the very short ride to the hotel which was down a street the taxi could not enter due to work on the paving stones which were all pulled up. I had to walk a short distance but the bags were not easy to move on the cobblestones. And it was muddy - lots of rain in the last couple of weeks. Finally made it into the hotel which actually had a room available for me when I arrived. I was afraid I would have to wait until the regular three o'clock check in time. Made it up to my room, collapsed for a little while and then headed out into the city. I didn't have a plan but just wandered around. I had lunch in a little restaurant near the hotel - French Onion Soup and Chicken Provencal. But the weather and fatigue brought me back to the hotel in a short amount of time.
I went out again for dinner. After a lot of walking around to get a better lay of the land and to stimulate my appetite I ended up in an Italian restaurant and had a pizza and beer. Then back to the hotel for the night.
On Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, I had breakfast in the upper breakfast room of the hotel - on the 7th floor with a great view of the surrounding city. The City Hall has a great tower that I could see from the window. Simple, typical European breakfast - eggs, toast, yogurt, cheese and meat (which I avoided due to Ash Wednesday).
I had tickets reserved for the opera that night so I went to try to pick up the tickets during the day. No box office open. Couldn't get them until just before the show. After that disappointment I walked over to the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gulda. Only a half hour until Mass so I stayed and looked around the beautiful gothic cathedral. Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Daneels and had a small men's chorus doing Gregorian chant and the fine new organ being played. It was a lovely Mass - some in French and some in Dutch. I have a small book from my seminary days that has the Mass in several languages so it came in very handy.
After Mass I scouted out a route to the train station for the next morning that I could navigate with my luggage since the taxi stands were about halfway in between the hotel and station. Then I had "lunch" - a waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. Went back to the hotel for a siesta (one of my favorite traditions while studying in Rome!) That afternoon I took another little walk around before heading to the opera.
Spent the evening at the opera - Handel's Julius Caesar with a wonderful cast. I was in the third row so could see everything. One of the fascinating things was to watch the orchestra play. They were really into the music and the interplay between the singers and instrumentalists was great. I joked that was going to be my Ash Wednesday penance but the only penance about it was the uncomfortable seat in which I sat for four hours. But, it kept me awake so all was well.
On Thursday I packed up my bags and headed for the train station for my trip to Leuven, site of the American College where I am living. I had scoped out the train times on Wednesday so was able to arrive in a good time for one of the trains to Leuven. I bought my ticket, got on the train and enjoyed the ride through the countryside. I have always enjoyed European train travel and this was another enjoyable experience.
I arrived in Leuven, a university town of about 90,000. I took a taxi to the college where I was met, set up in my room and I began to meet the other "sabbaticals" as we are called. There are 8 of us, although one will be arriving in a couple of weeks and some are leaving before the end of May. All except one other is from Australia. Fr. Mike Mollnar is from Detroit and knows Bishop Harrington. There are six priests, a lay woman and a Dominican sister. We seem like a good group and have had an enjoyable time getting to know each other.
We were taken out to dinner on Thursday and today had an orientation about house life, classes, travel and the like. We got information about courses we can take. My biggest problem will be choosing since a couple of them meet at the same time. I'll have to make some decisions I guess. They encourage us to go to more than we think we might want to continue just to get a flavor and make our final decisions. For our group it will be very informal in terms of registration and so forth. Classes begin on Monday.
It is time for pictures so I had best close this post. I will try to update at least once per week but may do it more often if possible.
I had a wonderful time visiting with my classmates. Saturday we went to Connecticut to see Fr. Kevin Royal. Spent some time in the Norwalk area driving around to see the sites, taking in a movie and dinner. If I learn how to put pictures on this blog I will post one of us with Fr. Tom Pettei, my classmate from New York.
Monday night I got on the plane, had a pretty smooth ride to Brussels in a less than full plane. No one in the seat next to me, and the guy in the center section had all four seats to himself. Actually, a fairly comfortable ride.
Arriving in Brussels we had long lines going through passport control - took almost an hour. Then on to pick up my luggage. It was going merrily around the carousel when I got there. I grabbed it, chnaged some money and headed for the train. The biggest challenge was the amount of luggage I had. A big suitcase, a small suitcase, a computer attache and a messenger bag (the last a gift from a parishioner). It was hard to manuever but I made it onto the train and into the city. Found a taxi for the very short ride to the hotel which was down a street the taxi could not enter due to work on the paving stones which were all pulled up. I had to walk a short distance but the bags were not easy to move on the cobblestones. And it was muddy - lots of rain in the last couple of weeks. Finally made it into the hotel which actually had a room available for me when I arrived. I was afraid I would have to wait until the regular three o'clock check in time. Made it up to my room, collapsed for a little while and then headed out into the city. I didn't have a plan but just wandered around. I had lunch in a little restaurant near the hotel - French Onion Soup and Chicken Provencal. But the weather and fatigue brought me back to the hotel in a short amount of time.
I went out again for dinner. After a lot of walking around to get a better lay of the land and to stimulate my appetite I ended up in an Italian restaurant and had a pizza and beer. Then back to the hotel for the night.
On Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, I had breakfast in the upper breakfast room of the hotel - on the 7th floor with a great view of the surrounding city. The City Hall has a great tower that I could see from the window. Simple, typical European breakfast - eggs, toast, yogurt, cheese and meat (which I avoided due to Ash Wednesday).
I had tickets reserved for the opera that night so I went to try to pick up the tickets during the day. No box office open. Couldn't get them until just before the show. After that disappointment I walked over to the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gulda. Only a half hour until Mass so I stayed and looked around the beautiful gothic cathedral. Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Daneels and had a small men's chorus doing Gregorian chant and the fine new organ being played. It was a lovely Mass - some in French and some in Dutch. I have a small book from my seminary days that has the Mass in several languages so it came in very handy.
After Mass I scouted out a route to the train station for the next morning that I could navigate with my luggage since the taxi stands were about halfway in between the hotel and station. Then I had "lunch" - a waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. Went back to the hotel for a siesta (one of my favorite traditions while studying in Rome!) That afternoon I took another little walk around before heading to the opera.
Spent the evening at the opera - Handel's Julius Caesar with a wonderful cast. I was in the third row so could see everything. One of the fascinating things was to watch the orchestra play. They were really into the music and the interplay between the singers and instrumentalists was great. I joked that was going to be my Ash Wednesday penance but the only penance about it was the uncomfortable seat in which I sat for four hours. But, it kept me awake so all was well.
On Thursday I packed up my bags and headed for the train station for my trip to Leuven, site of the American College where I am living. I had scoped out the train times on Wednesday so was able to arrive in a good time for one of the trains to Leuven. I bought my ticket, got on the train and enjoyed the ride through the countryside. I have always enjoyed European train travel and this was another enjoyable experience.
I arrived in Leuven, a university town of about 90,000. I took a taxi to the college where I was met, set up in my room and I began to meet the other "sabbaticals" as we are called. There are 8 of us, although one will be arriving in a couple of weeks and some are leaving before the end of May. All except one other is from Australia. Fr. Mike Mollnar is from Detroit and knows Bishop Harrington. There are six priests, a lay woman and a Dominican sister. We seem like a good group and have had an enjoyable time getting to know each other.
We were taken out to dinner on Thursday and today had an orientation about house life, classes, travel and the like. We got information about courses we can take. My biggest problem will be choosing since a couple of them meet at the same time. I'll have to make some decisions I guess. They encourage us to go to more than we think we might want to continue just to get a flavor and make our final decisions. For our group it will be very informal in terms of registration and so forth. Classes begin on Monday.
It is time for pictures so I had best close this post. I will try to update at least once per week but may do it more often if possible.
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