There and Back Again

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." -Ralph Waldo Emerson  

Oops!  I didn't forget about this blog, but I have just been swamped with law school craziness this year.  Seriously, it's been hard to remember to breathe, let alone eat and sleep too!

Now that I'm back from Europe (and back to this blog), I want to share a few pictures from my trip, which was incredible.

My brother Mark and me in front of the church 
where John Paul II was baptized.  Wadowice, Poland.

Market square at dusk.  Krakow, Poland.

Auschwitz II.  Oswiecim, Poland.

Paige, Katie, Mollie and me.  Lourdes, France.

Kira and me at the Love & Life Center.  Yeah, Vandy!
World Youth Day.  Madrid, Spain.

Breakin' it down with Angelle at the L'Angelus dance party at the Love &
Life Center.  World Youth Day.  Madrid, Spain.

Frannie and me at the Viva la Vida conference at El Círculo de Bellas
Artes.  Yeah, Vandy times two!  World Youth Day.  Madrid, Spain.

Mark and me onstage in front of 1.5 million people.
World Youth Day.  Madrid, Spain.

Stevo and me backstage with the (empty) pope-mobile.
World Youth Day.  Madrid, Spain.

I hope you get to visit or revisit these amazing places someday.  Especially Poland.  It's a beautiful country filled with faithful, loving people.  Such history, culture and courage.


"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."  -Saint Augustine 

Across the Ocean

"The youth of today are not as superficial as some think. They want to know what life is really all about.”  -Pope Benedict XVI

I'm off to Europe for 2 weeks!  Poland first.  France second.  Spain third.

It promises to be an incredible journey.

I am excited to see my Polish "motherland."  I am half Polish by descent and grew up eating Polish food, hearing Polish phrases, getting Polish trinkets from my grandparents and being called "Katarzyna" by my grandmother.

Southern France is beautiful, or so everyone tells me.  I look forward to relishing the French countryside, and visiting Lourdes.

Going to Madrid will almost feel like going home.  I did live in the city for over three months and in that time became very comfortable and familiar with it.  It will, however, be a little bit different since nearly one million young people and the Pope will be there as well.  I say to my peers -- We're the hope.  We're the future.  But we're also the present.  So let's make it great.

"I have a sweet tooth for song and music. This is my Polish sin. "  -John Paul II