J-term movie

See the J-term movie here:

http://www.olsonmatthew.com/jmovie.html

Surprise

There will be a surprise video to watch with your friends and family uploaded soon!!! :) Enjoy!

Class Favorites!

Our class went around the room and shared our favorite things that we ate, saw, did, and even our favorite quotes...

Professor Ruth Caldwell: "Priest's Hats," "I used to like chips," Assisi, prayer/chants in Taize

Pastor Mike Blair: Assisi, silence at Taize, meal together at Cafe Caramel

Rachel A: Musee D'Orsay and going up the Eiffel Tower :)

Megan Arneson: The Eiffel Tower at night with Sarah! :)

Alison Douglas: Lunch in Assisi, O'rsay museum, and the Eiffel Tower

Alyson Gangstee: The Vatican Museum-so much history in one place! Cool!

Johanna Norby: Vatican Museum, Louvre Museum, and getting to know everyone

Karsten Snitker: St. Francis, Halo! Roman Architecture, passion for the arts, the bread, and ice skating in Paris

Pete: Exploring Assisi

Mike Switzer: climbing Mountain Subasio with Karsten and Drew

William Liu: Dinner in Roma & Lyon in general

Liz Hansen: The bread with olive spread & Italy and France in general

Liz Faas: Roma! Dinner at Antica Taverna

Kayla Opperman: As far as food goes...I loved our dinner in Paris-foundant au chocolat was fantastic! Going to the Arc d Triomphe and Eiffel tower at night!!

Callie Van De Walker: The Sistine Chapel ceiling painted by Michelangelo, Trevi Fountain, eating Crepes in Lyon, exploring Assisi, seeing the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night

Barbara E: Watching the Obama inauguration in Franc with our class as well as people from all over th world

Jake Zubow: Pantheon in Rome and tomb of Rafael. Fried Zuchini blossoms.

Kathrine Miller: Going to se th Chateau di Vinciennes or castle of the Kings with Karsten, trying escargot, and the Eiffel tower

Sara Lockhart: Seeing th Coliseum and Roman Ruins, also going to the top of the Eiffel tower

Sarah W: Blood oranges, exploring Versailles, going to the top of the Eiffel tower at night with Megs! "Halo--Let Nino show you!" :)

Kaitlyn Hanson: Group dinner in Rome, exploring Assisi, prayer in Taize, D'Orsay, "I like chips-yay processed food!"

Sky Macklay: Ice skating in Paris, blood oranges and artichokes, and community living in Taize

Laura: View of Eiffel tower at night

Maren Penning: Standing on top of L'Arc de Triomph at night and having an amazing viw of the Eiffel tower and the reeeeest of Paris

Jill Nerka: Trying new foods, like cod, blood oranges, and escargot.

Drew Lee: The hike up to the top of Mt. Subasio with Mike and Karsten. A wonderful day!

Lyon, France

Lyon, France Airport

Second Largest City in France:

Unfortunately we couldn't stay in Italy forever and we had to leave. On the bright side, we left Italy to go to beautiful France :) Our first stop in France was the city of Lyon. Although we only spent 2 nights and 1 full day there, the city had quite an impact on us. The city was beautiful and full of things for us to see and do. We wished that we could have spent more time there.

Street Entertainment


Pretty View

Saint Johns Cathedral: This cathedral was very different from any of the cathedrals we had seen in Italy. Unlike the many "frescoes" we saw in Italy, the churches here focused on using sunlight to illuminate 13th century stained-glass windows to tell Biblical stories. This cathedral is a great example of Gothic architecture and holds a large 14th century astronomical clock.

Inside the Cathedral

Lunch: We had the afternoon free for lunch before we went to the museum. The meals varied from sweet and savory crepes to Lyon-inspired lunch including poached egg salad, steak, wine, stuffed meat intestines. Everything was delicious but very different from the food we had in Italy. Italy is the only country France looks up to for food.

Museum of French Resistance: This museum commemorates the French resistance to Nazi occupation, in which Lyon played a major role. The exhibit holds documents from the beginning of the resistance to the deportation. There was an audio system in English so we could understand the exhibit and moved through the museum at our own pace.

Taizé, France: A Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth

Preparation for Taizé: Coming to Taizé most of us were pretty apprehensive because we were heard life in Taizé was VERY simple. For example, we bought a lot of food before coming because we heard the only food we would be getting was donated. We were also told to shower up because we were unsure about the facilities and we were told to bundle up and bring our own sheets & towels.

Taizé Community: “Coming to Taizé is an opportunity to seek communion with God through common prayer, singing, personal reflection and sharing. Everyone is here to discover or rediscover a meaning for their life and to find a new vitality. Being in Taizé is also a preparation for taking on responsibilities back at home with a view to being bearers of peace and trust. As you arrive at Taizé, you are welcomed by a community of brothers who have made a lifelong commitment to follow Christ in common life and celibacy, in simplicity of life.”

Daily Schedule:
Sunday through Friday
7:00 a.m. ~ Wake up call (To shower or not to shower?)
8:15 a.m. ~ Morning Prayer (Chants, Silence, Bible Verse, Communion, and Prayer)

The Church of Reconciliation

One of many Stained-Glass Windows

9:15 a.m. ~ Breakfast (Bread, butter, and jam)
10:00 a.m. ~ Chores (Cleaning bathrooms, scrubbing walls, sweeping, washing windows, and changing sheets, etc.)

Chores!

12:20 p.m. ~ Midday Prayer (Chants, Silence, Bible Verse, Prayer)
1:00 p.m. ~ Lunch (Biggest meal of the day)
2:00 p.m. ~ Song Practice (Not mandatory, but highly recommended…)
2:45 p.m. ~ Bible Study (Lead by Brother Lorenzo…Whistle Whistle! We met as a group for an hour, then broke up into small groups with people all around the world to discuss Bible passages)
5:15 p.m. ~ Snack (Coffee, Hot Chocolate, or Tea)
5:45 p.m. ~ Workshops (Our class discussions were held at these times or after chores if we had time. On the 20th we watched the inauguration of Obama and another day we spoke to Brother John, a California native, to talk about a day in the life of a monk)
7:00 p.m. ~ Supper (Let’s just say one night we were served ONE chicken nugget, a scoop of mashed potatoes, a slice of bread, and hot water…)

A typical meal at Taizé

8:30 p.m. ~ Evening Prayer then silence (A good time for relaxing, journaling, and meditating)

Special Event: It was a big week at Taizé because it was Madame Caldwell's "29th" birthday! Pastor Mike had to secretly coax her from Wednesday nights worship service to attend her surprise birthday party! We gathered in a spare room and had two different cakes and a new scarf waiting for her. We ended the party with music and song from anyone willing to share their talents!

Madame Caldwell & Pastor Mike

Appreciation for Change: By the end of the week, there was a new understanding of life in Taizé. We came to appreciate and respect the Taizé community as well as the people who volunteer and travel from all over the world to stay there. Brother John reminded us during our meeting of how long we thought the silence was during our first prayer on Sunday (approximately 8-10 minutes). By the end of the week the time for silence seemed shorter. Brother John said, “The amount of time spent in silence hasn’t changed, it is you that has changed.” Taking the time to be in silence and living simply has had a really positive effect on all of us that we want to take with us forever.

Exploring Assisi

Hike to Castle: Our class took a hike up the mountain to enjoy the picturesque view of Assisi from the castle "Rocca Maggiore." The castle has now been turned into a beautiful museum.

The Play: The class acted out a play entitled the "Ritual of Fracis' Stripping." There were two narrators (Rachel & Kayla), Pietro (Liz H.), Pica (Drew), Magistrate Bruno (Callie), Francisco (Pete), Bishop Guido (Sky), and the chorus (rest of the class) acted out the a scene from Francisco's life. The play reenacts the time in Francis' life where he tells his family that he wants to turn his life over to God and to prove it he strips his clothes off in front of the town.

Lunch at Da Angelo: Senora Caldwell recommended that we eat at Da Angelo, which was great advice. Our group enjoyed eating at Da Angelo for three hours (12-3pm!!!). Although we were there for so long, the time seemed to pass so quickly. The following includes the menu:

Antipasto misto caldo e freddo ("Pope hat" shaped pasta filled w/nuts)
Cappelli del prete alle Noci Stringozzi Assisani (a spaghetti-like dish)
Agnello Salsiccia e Braciola alla griglia (bread with different speads including olives and assorted meats)
Insalata Mista
Patate "Sotto le Cenere" (Oven baked Potatos)
Dolce della Casa (House special: cake)
Acqua Vino Locale (Local wine...Delish!!)
Caffe e digestive (Grapa)

Assisi Experience: We all thoroughly enjoying our experience in Assisi. We loved visiting the many sacred places, the hikes up and down the mountainside, and exploring the various shops, pizzerias, and internet cafe's.
Class has now begun and we are discussing the book, "Reluctant Saint-The Life of Francis of Assisi" every night before dinner. Class usually ran for 2 hours where students presented key concepts and questions from the book followed by class discussion.

Sacred Places

Basilica di Santa Chiara: This is famous for the cross of San Damiano and holds the remains of Clare in the crypt.

Cattedrale di San Rufino: It is considered to be one of the most important Romanesque religious buildings in Umbria and continues the history of the Fransican movement. This cathedral holds the font where Clare and Francis were baptized.

Basilica di San Francesco: This is the church that many of us attended Mass at on Sunday.  St. Francis' tomb is located beneath this basilica.  It was built in his honor and contains many frescos telling a story of Francis giving away his possessions to God. 

Modern Nativity

Traditional Nativity 

Basilica di San Francesco

San Chiara (Saint Clare) and San Francesco (Saint Francis)

San Damiano: We visited San Damiano where Saint Clare established a community of sisters. The number of her sisters exceeds 20,000 worldwide. After visiting and learning about the radical paths of Clare and Francis the site prompts questions about our paths.
It is a place of pilgrimage for sisters of the Order for Poor Clares because she lived there for 42 years. By the time of her death Pope Alexander IV approved the rule for the Order for Poor Clares. It is also a place where Francis received the vision to rebuild the church.

San Damiano

Statue of Saint Clare

Meet your Bloggers & Photographer :)

Liz: I am a senior and communication major at Luther. I like eating all the pizza and pasta I can get here in Italy and am looking forward to the wonders of France.

Callie: I am also a senior at Luther, however, I am better than Liz because I am a business management major. I love walking up and down the mountain side in Assisi and can't wait to get my picture taken in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Callie & Liz captured in the moment

William: I am a junior and also a communication major. I met the group in Rome after a semester abroad in Norway fulfilling my Norwegian minor. I enjoy taking pictures and cooking. View my blog at bigwillystar.blogspot.com for more pictures of our trip thus far.

World Famous Photographer, Traveler, and Chef Extraordinaire, William

Travel to Assisi

Some group members pictured at Greccio

Greccio: This is the town where Saint Francis enlivened the tradition of the Christmas crèche or living nativity. This is a rich tradition in Greccio as the church there includes an extensive collection of nativity scenes from a wide variety of cultures, mediums, and contexts. In Francis’ day, it was common for a Nativity mass to be hosted in the home of nobility as an affair for the wealthy and powerful. Francis renewed the understanding of incarnation and envisioned a Christmas mass at Greccio where rich and poor celebrated Christ’s birth together. Below are pictures of just a few of the many beautiful nativity sets and the church itself.

Pasta Nativity and War Nativity Scene

Assisi: After a long trip (especially for Liz---she was puking over the microphone on the bus)we finally made it to Assisi, also known as the "City of Peace." Some quick facts about Assisi are:

1) It's in the Umbria region

2) The birthplace of Saint Francis

3) The birthplace of Saint Clara (whom we will learn more about later)

Sunset at Assisi

Sunny Day in Rome

Last Day to Explore Roma: We were thankful that our last day in Rome was sunny! Senora Caldwell and Pastor Mike let us enjoy our morning in Rome by allowing us to visit the sites we wanted to check out. Some of us went to the Trevi Fountain where we made either a wish for love or a wish to come back to Rome! The Pantheon and Piazza Navona were also visited.

Trevi Fountain
The Pantheon

Piazza Navona

The Basilica of St. Clemente: This Basilica was dedicated to Pope Clement I and was unique because of it's many levels. The upper level of the church was richly decorated and built in the early 12th century. The most striking point is at the front of the room which is pictured below. The church holds this beautiful fresco that tells the story of Christ, which also made it easier for people who couldn't read and write to understand the story. The fresco is full of symbols representing different aspects of Christ's message. 

From the upper church are stairs that lead to the lower levels of the church. Although much of the church has been excavated, there is still much to be found. The next layer down is the 4th century church which contains frescos from the 6th, 8th, and 9th centuries that have faded significantly. 

Joseph: Below is a picture of Senora Caldwell's friend. He is a Catholic priest and is an expert on Islam and religious dialogues. He was our guide through the Basilica and we later enjoyed his lecture/question and answer session before dinner.  

St. Clemente

Joseph

Group Photos by William Liu

JTerm '09 Participants in front of St. Peter's Square

Our Group in front of the Coliseum!

Meet Nino

Here is the official website address for our tour guide, Nino. It needs to be viewed to even begin to understand Nino.

www.ninoknows.com

Watch the video!

When in Rome!

Thursday Morning: Pastor Mike and Senora Caldwell gave us an opportunity to explore Rome in the morning after breakfast. Many students took the time to find internet cafés, pizzerias, shops, and the beautiful Trevi Fountain.

Rome is love spelled backward (Roma~Amor): Yet another amazing day in Rome learning about the history and the beauty of this ancient city. Nino guided our tour (woo-hoo!) in the Vatican. As usual he was very thorough and provided us with a lot of information about everything from the marbled floor to the painted ceiling (chiaroscuro). The Vatican originated in 1503 by Pope Julius II. Nino took us through the gallery of tapestries, a room full of 16th century maps of the regions of Italy, classical sculptures, Rafael's rooms full of his work, and last but not least the Sistine Chapel.

The official site to the Vatican is the following website if you wish to view more. http://www.vatican.va/

The Deliverance of St. Peter fresco: This painting was one of the more memorable pieces to the class. Many of us felt connected with the story because of our previous experience in St. Paul's prison yesterday. The painting was recently cleaned and one could see the effects of chiaroscuro (contrast of light and dark).

Sistine Chapel: While we were still visiting the map room Nino took us by a souvenir stand and pointed out a two-toed foot angel in a scene from the creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel. He asked us to solve this mystery. Here is a site to learn more about this theory.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A681680

The following are the eight scenes painted by Michelangelo:
1. Separation of Light from Dark
2. Separation of Land and Sea
3. Creation of Adam
4. Creation of Eve (Nino pointed out that this was the center of the ceiling).
5. Original Sin and Banishment from the Garden of Eden
6. Sacrifice of Noah
7. The Flood
8. The Drunkenness of Noah.

His final painting before he died was entitled, "The Final Judgment." The center of the piece was God with Mary on his right side and people were either ascending into heaven or descending into hell. As a side note, Nino told us how one of the cardinals was telling Michelangelo that there were too many naked people in his painting and that they should be clothed, and Michelangelo got mad and painted this cardinal's face as one of the people in hell.

Basilica of St. Peter: People were amazed by the fact that this church is twice as big as St. Patrick's in New York and holds as many people as the Coliseum (50,000 people). While Mass was in progress our class quietly explored the church. Some of the marble from the Coliseum was used in the floor design. We saw the Pope!...John Paul II who is dead :) Within the church St. Peter was buried under the bronze altar, a statue of Mary holding Jesus created out of one piece of marble, and many statues of Saints.

"Do It Anyway"

Poem credited to Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

Traveller's Prayer

Traveller's Prayer
By John Renbourn

Praise to the moon, bright queen of the skies,
Jewel of the black night, the light of our eyes,
Brighter than starlight, whiter than snow,
Look down on us in the darkness below.

If well you should find us then well let us stay,
Be it seven times better when you make your way,
Be it seven times better when we greet the dawn,
So light up our way and keep us from all harm.

Give strength to the weary, give alms to the poor,
To the tainted and needy five senses restore,
Give song to our voices, give sight to our eyes,
To see the sun bow as the new moon shall rise.

Cast your eyes downwards to our dwelling place,
Three times for favour and three times for grace,
Over the dark clouds your face for to see,
To banish misfortune and keep Trinity.

In the name of our Lady, bright maiden of grace,
In the name of the King of the City of Peace,
In the name of our Saviour, who hung on the tree,
All praise to the moon, for eternity.

John Renbourn wrote the words to Traveller's Prayer after researching the ancient songs of the Carmina Gadelica . This is based loosely on a prayer called The New Moon. There are several prayers with the moon as the main subject that are in this collection of ancient works collected by Alexander Carmichael. These lyrics are posted here to introduce people to John's Music and for those like myself who like to sing around the house the music that moves us the most. To reproduce this or perform this in concert you must contact John Renbourne. To listen to this performed with John's voice and his tune is just wonderful. I advise all to buy his CDs. For the Traveller's Prayer see Ship of Fools. -http://www.ramshornstudio.com/traveller_s_prayer.htm

Hello! Let Nino Tell You!

Our 10 favorite things:

Luggage arrived: Hooray! Our flight was delayed for four hours in Chicago, which made our stay at O'Hare Airport five hours long. Luckily, our group is large (26 members) so they held our next flight for a half hour in Washington DC for us to board. Because we had to run to the plane, we were worried that our luggage wouldn't make it. Our flight to Rome was 8.5 hours for a grand total of 13.5 hours of travel (not including travel time to our hotel in Chicago). We made it and thankfully, so did our luggage!!!

Lunch, Italian style: We found a delicious local Italian café called Lavorgna Marino down the hill from our hotel, which featured classic Italian dishes. We chose between linguine, chicken, meatballs, numerous kinds of pasta, and pizza. All we could say by the end of the meal was, "Delish!" and "Num, num."

Rain, rain, go away: To make a long day even longer, it rained and rained! Our tour guide, which we will talk about momentarily did an excellent job of explaining every monument or site we saw, however, everyone was struggling with jet lag, the rain, and mud. Several people were glad they packed umbrellas, as for the rest of us...

Nino: Nobody can think of our tour guide, Nino, without thinking of him saying, "hAllo! Come, Nino will tell you!" Boy, did he tell us! Nino was one of the most knowledgeable and proud Italians who shared the history of Rome. The Coliseum, the Roman Forum, the "belly-button" of Rome, and Saint Paul's prison were all explained in great detail by Nino. He is an older gentleman who talks in the third person and who loves his country dearly. Our experience with Rome would not have been the same without Nino as our guide. During the tour to get our attention Nino would say, "hAllo!" but out of our tiredness we were thinking more along the lines of "Goodbye, Nino!" We love you Nino and we'll see you soon (He's giving us a tour of the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica later today [Thursday, we think]).

Coliseum: WOW! Where do you begin to explain this marvel of engineering? Nino took us back in time 2000 years. We became spectators. We learned how 50,000 spectators, rich and poor, all came free of charge to watch three major events. The first event was one gladiator fighting another gladiator, the second event was a gladiator versus an animal (bear, tiger, lion, etc), and the final event of the day was a free for all where all of the gladiators who survived fight the remaining animals. Because the event was free the Coliseum would make money by having spectators buy wine, food, restroom use, and make bets on who wins or loses. Although the Coliseum looks broken down today and what we saw yesterday was mostly bricks and cement, 2000 years ago the Coliseum was covered in white marble. The Coliseum was used for 400 years, then during the Middle Ages it used as housing, and later scavenged for its marble. Some interesting facts about the construction of the Coliseum is that it had a canopy over it, it had the most advanced bathroom utilities, they invented cement, and they burned the bricks in a certain way that made it last over 2000 years.

Roman Forum: It is located between the Palatine Hill and Capitoline Hill in Rome. It is the central area, also know as the "belly-button" of Rome and where the phrase "All roads lead to Rome" comes from. Located in the forum are the oldest, most important, and influential buildings/ruins. Located within the Forum are many different arches, basilicas, and temples. One of the more memorable and important temples is the "Temple of Caeser." This is the point of Caeser's cremation.
To see and learn more about these structures go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum

The Bellybutton of Rome: The Latin phrase "Umbilicus Urbis Mundus" refers to where the economic and political events took place, which is located at the center of Rome.

Saint Paul's prison (Carcere): When entering the church, even as a large group, where St. Paul was imprisoned there was an immediate feeling of solitude. We were all awestruck in the cell where St. Paul was chained and confined. This is where he wrote some of his letters. For those who have never been there, there are three levels to the church. We walked down the chiseled stairs into the tiny non-lit room, and the only thing in there was a stone post where St. Paul was chained and a spring well. A plaque in the cell testifies to a miraculous spring of water used by Paul to baptize the guards. There is an altar placed there in remembrance of St. Paul and St. Peter.

First supper: After a short nap we all gathered in the dining hall in our hotel, Casa Tra Noi, to eat supper. Spaghetti was brought and we ate like that was all we were getting to eat. Little did we know that after three more courses our meal would be complete. The waitresses brought us salad and cheese, then peas and pork, and finally fruit for dessert.

Casa Tra Noi (among us): The hotel we are staying at is beautiful and sits on top of a hill. When you enter the main lobby area there are Christmas decorations and a small bar and lots of sitting area for people to congregate in. In the center of the hotel is a beautiful patio area. The hotel itself is quiet because it is run by nuns. The best part is that we have warm rooms, hot water, and a running toilet.

View of Chicago

Day of Departure

Today has tested everyone's patience. It seemed like any other day, waking up to a delicious breakfast of coffee, muffins, oatmeal, toast and jam, or sausage and egg muffins. We took the shuttle from the Marriott hotel and arrived at the O'Hare airport in Chicago, IL, promptly at 8:45 am only to find out that our flight was canceled due to freezing rain in Washington DC. We did our best to stay busy by playing cards, singing to guitar and harmonica playing (by Karsten and Pastor Mike), reading, or simply walking back and forth on the automatic walkways(or as Madame would call it in French, "tapis roulant"). It was clear looking around that our hurried tempo of life had been put on hold and everyone was getting very antsy.
I hear patience is a virtue, and it seems by looking around that this virtue is hard to come by. Our flight takes off for DC at 1 pm and the next time we talk, we will be in Rome.
Ciao!