Settling In

Well, here I am at the head of my second week of classes. The first week was intense, but, none the worse for wear, I'm here to hit things hard again this week. I'm already behind in the reading, but "behind" here at Mundelein is a very relative term. It is generally understood, and accepted I might add, that it is impossible to keep up with all of the reading assignments. So long as you can keep up with a general understanding of what's going on, are able to give the central themes and arguments an author makes... you're meeting the expectations. Repeatedly, our professors have been telling us, "Don't panic, there's never a reason to panic." Of course, hearing that too often does tend to make me wonder, "Hmm... is there something I could be panicking about?" Oh well. Suffice it to say, I am enjoying my classes, I'm enjoying the reading, and I'm disappointed, not anxious, that I can't engage it more deeply because I do find it so interesting.

As for the rest of life here, the past weekend we had the Cam retreat for 3-Boulevard. Here at Mundelein, the wings of the residences hall are named based on their orientation to the layout of the larger campus. My building faces East, and is shaped like the letter "E." I live on what would be the 'back' of the "E," this is called the "Boulevard" wing. The top 'rung' of the "E" is the "North" wing, the middle the "Center" wing, and the bottom the "South" wing. Then, there are three floors to the building, and each group of guys who live on the same floor of a wing make up a "Cam." So, since I live on the third floor of the Boulevard wing, my Cam is 3-Blvd. I know, I know, exceptionally creative and inventive in their naming here at Mundelein.... Basically, the Cam serves as the basic unit of community life here at the seminary. On Mondays, we pray Evening Prayer together and sit together in the refectory (cafeteria). On Wednesdays, we get together for prayer, someone takes the responsibility for giving a reflection on the coming Sunday's gospel reading, and then we take about an hour or so for some social activity. So now that I've told you everything you ever wanted to know about Cam life but were afraid to ask--well, not really, but saying that makes me laugh--we kicked off the year with an overnight retreat at the Cenacle Retreat House in Warrenville, IL.

I did take a picture of the place the day we left. I did transfer the photo from my camera to my computer. I cannot, however, for the life of me, figure out where the folder went that I saved it to. Alas, if you want to see some pictures, you'll have to go to their website, http://www.cenacle.org/homenew.aspx.

It was a very nice facility, much larger on the inside than what meets the eye. The food was quite good, and the meeting spaces pretty comfortable. We had a nice time there and, I think, we new seminarians began bonding a little with our 'senior' confreres.

When I can, I'll post some pictures of the guys on my Cam and, cross your fingers that I can figure out how to do it, some videos of our activities. For now, since I feel bad that otherwise you wouldn't have anything pretty to look at, check out this video of the Main Chapel here at Mundelein. (There's no sound to it, so, no, there is no problem with your speakers or media player.)

Until next time, God Bless!
~J