Looking back ... ReNew Orleans.

Lately, I have been very nostalgic for my trip to New Orleans. This trip last June could not have come at a more perfect time. I was looking for change. Looking for something new. Looking to make a difference.

I went on the trip not knowing a single person. We had one meeting before finals, but when I got there, I did not recognize a single face. I knew that this would be a great opportunity to meet new people, to experience something new, and to learn a little something about myself.

Little did I know that I would completely solidify my calling to help people and make one of my best friends in the process.

The 10 day trip was filled with a combination of hard work, leisure, and lots of people.

We ate crawfish with alumni.

We had a crawfish boil on the street in the French quarter.

We saw too much devastation.We visited the Lower 9th ward.
We worked to rebuild elderly housing units.

We raked, mowed, bagged, and cut.

We toured rebuilding neighborhoods.

We lived in a closed down school used by Catholic Charities to house volunteers.

We repainted Ms. Bertha's house.
She gave us crawfish, crosswords, and so many memories.

We learned what it means to truly make a difference.

These pictures are only a few of the hundreds that were taken during our ten day journey.

We rafted down a river in Louisiana, visited Bourbon Street, ate too many beignets, drank too much cafe au lait, toured the Super Dome, went to mass, talked on the school roof until 4 am, went cajun dancing, met so many amazing people, heard life-changing stories, and learned what it means to be a part of the human family.

Of all the things I have ever done, I think this trip would rank at the top. It is close to being at Notre Dame. I fell in love with the city and fell in love with the cause.

Looking back, this trip taught me more about myself than I ever expected to learn in ten days.

It was more than I ever could have hoped for.

never pass up a chance...

The first night I spent on campus as a freshman, our Frosh-O councilors taught us my first and favorite lesson about life under the dome:

Never pass up a chance to go to the grotto with a friend ... even it's 4 am or it's freezing cold, always take the opportunity. You will learn some of the greatest things about people on trips to the grotto.

Well, over the past three years I have never forgotten this lesson. No matter the circumstances, whenever a friend has asked me to go to the grotto, I have always gone. No matter what. In return, I have had friends drop everything to go with me to the grotto. I have some fantastic memories at the grotto. I have had some amazing nights there ... tonight was one of those nights.

I was snug in bed at 11:45 (which NEVER happens), when my friend Brianna sent out a text:

"Would anyone be interested in making a trip to the grotto conmigo?"

Well, this may not seem very significant, but to get this message from Brianna was a very big deal. In the three years I have been at Notre Dame, she has never asked us to go to the grotto. So of course, I offered to go. Even though I was snug in bed, already in my pajamas with my teeth brushed, I knew I needed to make the trip ... so I climbed out of bed, put on some shoes and threw on a jacket ... and off we went to the grotto.

Claire met us downstairs, then we stopped by CoMo to pick up Justine and made the five minute walk to the grotto.

We lit our candles.

Touched the rock from Lourdes.

Said our prayers.

One by one, we sat down on a bench. Justine, me, Brianna, Claire. We sat there, silent, but oh so happy to be there together. In all honesty, I have made many trips to the grotto, but something about this one was different. The four of us sat there quietly, knowing that nothing needed to be said. We have all have a stressful week and with the end of the semester quickly approaching, it is only getting more hectic from here. But for those few peaceful minutes, it was just four best friends being there for each other, simply by being.

It is nights like tonight when I realize that I am home. I realize that it is possible to have two homes, to make new friends, and if you are lucky, like me, to create a whole new family.

I am so thankful for my ND family. They make life here ever so sweet.

I am so glad I never forgot the lesson from that first night.

#52 is my hero.

This past Saturday was the first round games of the NCAA Women's basketball tournament. This year, Notre Dame was chosen as a host site, which meant that we got to see the ND vs. Minnesota game at the Joyce Center AND we got to watch my oh so fabulous roommate ERICA WILLIAMSON in action:

(no, this picture is not from saturday's game, and no, i did not take it ... but hey, it's all i could find when i googled "erica williamson")

As you can tell, the arena was pretty packed for Saturday's basketball action.

Despite being down by nearly 20 early in the first half, the Irish were able to bring the score to within 3 points in the second half. Unfortunately, we were not able to pull it out and lost in the first round.

The good news is that the ND women's team will return ALL of its players next year and will be adding the number one recruit in the country, Skylar Diggins (a South Bend native) .... here's looking to next season.

Congrats on a great season #52 .... I'm proud to call you my best friend.

You truly are an inspiration!

take me out to the ball game...

Today was a therapeutic day.

I spent the afternoon at the ball park, soaking up the sun, and watching the Irish take on the Seton Hall Pirates. The only thing that was missing was the peanuts!

Even though the Pirates won, it was great to spend an afternoon relaxing in the sun. I forgot how much I love baseball and it was so nice to be a part of the fabulous atmosphere.

The starting catcher for the Irish is one of my friends from French class.

Despite the outcome of the game, it was oh so lovely to spend an afternoon at the ball game!

Can't wait for the next game!

knowledge is power.

Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to go to a presentation by a man from Sierra Leon named Ishmael Beah, the author of "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier." Sierra Leon is located in West Africa and experienced a terrible civil war beginning in the mid-1990's. Ishmael was a child soldier for two years when he was 11 and 12. He spent an hour talking about his story ....

Ishmael lost his family during the war ... his mother, father, and two brothers were all killed within a two year period. He spent 45 minutes telling us about his life - pre-war, during the war, and post-war. He was a captivating speaker. I was absolutely mesmorized. He talked about violence. About death. About war. He talked about the evils that surround war, but most importantly he talked about why he wrote his book. He talked about why we need to speak out on important issues and why we need to stand up for what we believe in.

"When you destroy the facts of a story, you destroy its purpose. You need to have a purpose for telling a story. My purpose was to tell that [atrocities of war] were happening to human beings with same human tendencies as everyone else. We are all capable of losing our humanity."

He said that you can't ever give up hope and you have to give a human face to the experience of war. "Sierra Leone was never a hopeless country," Beah said. "Nothing can be done if you write something off as hopeless. Issues can be easily put off without human context - if you don't humanize an issue, people don't pay attention to it."

He also said you have to hold people accountable for their actions. Unless people are held accountable, they think that it is okay to do terrible things.

"I will never forget what happened, but you learn to live with it. You can find good things out of horror, and you can appreciate what it is just to wake up and be alive," Beah said.

I am so glad I decided to go to his presentation ... It is amazing to me how easily I get caught up in my "problems" and stress, without even considering how lucky I am to just be able to wake up in peace everyday.

After the presentation, my friends and I had to opportunity to meet Ishmael. My friend Claire asked him what we could to make a difference. He said that we had to humanize the situation, but it seems so hard to do that from so far away. We wanted to know what we could do to make a difference...

His answer was simple:

LEARN ... He told us to learn about the issues. To educate ourselves and to educate others. When I heard this, I realized how important education really is. It has the ability to humanize a terrible situation, to get people involved, and to truly make a difference.

When I hear about people like Ishamel it reenforces my desire to become a teacher. There is so much to learn about, so much to teach, and so much of a difference to be made. No doubt, it is not always easy, but it seems that it begins with the desire to get involved and the compassion to help others. I believe that if you truly want to make a difference, there is always a way to make it happen. I hope that one day I can make half the difference as those who have helped me in my journey. I hope that I can take a stand for the things I believe in. I hope to teach others how important education and knowledge really is ...

Like Ishmael told us as we were leaving ... Knowledge is Power.

p.j.'s special day.

This past week was Spring Break, so of course I headed home for some rest and relaxation (haha, sort of). Anyway, in high school I couldn't wait to get out of good old P-top, but now that I have been gone and experienced so many new things, I always LOVE coming back any chance I get.

The week was busy, but one of the highlights of my week was having P.J. take me to his kindergarten class as his SHOW AND TELL. He asked me to bring in his pole vault pole (an old broken pole that dad fixed up for him) and some mini hurdles. He also asked me to wear my ND jacket and brought a picture of me hurdling from high school. My little buddy was so cute!

When I got to class, he told the other kids in his class all about pole vaulting, demonstrated how to run over the hurdles, and told them about me going to school at Notre Dame. P.J. was SO excited! It was such a great experience.

After he introduced me, the kids had the opportunity to ask me questions. They asked all sorts of questions, but one kid's question was particularly hilarious ... he asked:

"WHAT ARE YOU MADE OUT OF?"

Hahaha, Dad said I should have told him TITANIUM ... too bad I'm not that quick.

Despite my lack of wittiness, I had a great experience hanging out with P.J. and his classmates.

He is such a funny kid and I love hanging out with him when I am home!

Thanks for taking me as your show and tell, P.J. It was indeed a very special day!

boost of confidence.

The good news is that next week is Spring Break! Unfortunately, that also means that this week is midterms week. As of this afternoon, I have written a paper in French, turned in a philosophy paper, written a 9 page midterm on the Civil War, and taken a French exam ... almost done. 4 down, 2 to go - social problems project and a midterm on the Vietnam War. Needless to say, this week has been pretty crazy. I am running very low on sleep. I am living off of coffee. BUT the weather is beautiful and I recieved this much needed boost today...

Dear RikkiLynn:

I just wanted to touch base to let you know I sent your recommendation out. I put a little note on it saying that, although the option did not exist, I thought you were in the top 1% of all students I've ever taught! Good luck! Keep me posted!

All the Best and Be Blessed,
Erin

I am in the process of applying for an internship with the ACE program (Alliance for Catholic Education) for next year. The application asked for four letters of recommendation - two from professors, one from a peer, and one from a rector. The email I recieved today is from a professor I had last year for a class on Manliness, Gender, and Race in the Antebellum South. This class was by far the BEST class I have taken at Notre Dame. I learned so much! Anyways, this email provided a much needed boost during this seemingly endless week! 4 down, 2 to go.

lovely tuesday.

I still vividly remember coming to campus for Spring Visitation during my senior year. It was such a surreal experience. I had always dreamed of going to Notre Dame and I was one step closer to making that happen. I remember stepping off the bus, looking at the golden dome, and instantly knowing that I had found my new home.
I remember walking into main building to register and seeing Rudy playing on a big screen. I remember walking onto South Quad with my host and her saying to me "It is such a great day! God must have known you guys were coming." The quad was covered with students playing frisbee, cornhole, football, doing anything and everything to enjoy the beautiful day. Little did I know how rare these beautiful days would be during the horrible South Bend winters.

Anyways, the point of this story is that today was one of these RARE beautiful days. When I came to campus on that April afternoon I didn't understand why everyone was so excited. Well, as each winter comes and starts to fade, I am beginning to appreciate these days more and more.

Today was a beautiful day. Sunny, (semi) warm, and not too windy. Despite my lack of sleep in the midst of midterms, today was a lovely Tuesday.

fighting irish.

Last night I went to the Bengal Bouts Championships at the JACC ... I think the story of Bengal Bouts gives a whole new meaning to the term "Fighting Irish."

Then:

Organized boxing was started in 1920 by football coach Knute Rockne, but the event did not become known as Bengal Bouts in 1931 when it took on the purpose of raising funds for the Holy Cross Missions in Bangladesh. Coach Dominic "Nappy" Napolitano served as coach and director of Bengal Bouts for nearly 50 years and his words became the motto for the bouts:

"Strong bodies fight, that weak bodies may be nourished"

The Congregation of Holy Cross began its missions to East Bengal, India in 1853 under the invitation of Pope Pius IX. Beginning in 1931, the money raised has supported these missions to India. They have established and supported medical facilities, as well as elementary and secondary schools. These missions also include extensive outreach programs that assist the poor throughout the country. This includes everything from literacy training to medical care to occupational instruction. Needless to say, the money raised from Bengal Bouts is truly making a difference.

Now:

After attending the championships last night, I was very intrigued as to where the money they earned actually went. During my search, I crossed paths with the blog of a fellow domer. He was a Bengal Bouts competetor who is currently in Bangladesh, trying to learn more about where the money they raised goes. I read this post and was absolutely fascinated at the amount of good that a boxing tournament is doing:

"Today, on campus at Notre Dame, is the start of the 78th annual Bengal Bouts tournament. Even though I’m thousands of miles away from the ring, I’m as close to the action as you can get.


The Bengal Bouts are a series of charity boxing matches where the proceeds from those matches come right here to Bangladesh. Ever since I’ve landed in Bangladesh, nine months ago, I’ve been trying to find out where that money goes. It’s been a long journey - literally and figuratively, I feel like I’ve gone through hell and high water to get to this point. Floods, riots, curfews, Cyclone, Sidr, food poisoning, hospitalization of a family member, dealing with corrupt officials, dealing with a water crisis - jeez, it feels like the list never ends. Each time some new problem came up, my Bengal Bouts journey took a back seat.


I guess it’s just sheer luck that, when I was finally able to embark upon my journey to see where some of the Bengal Bouts money is being spent, it happened to coincide with the beginning of this school year’s tournament. My trip to Jalchatra (where I got to meet the tribal people known as The Garo) is but one of seven locations in this country that receive funding from the Bengal Bouts. It really seems like Bengal Bouts money goes to every corner of this country. I’d love to track it all and show what happens at each of the seven locations. Unfortunately, my outside-of-Dhaka travel resources are fairly limited (especially since I carry around all this camera and computer equipment wherever I go). For now, it’s my hope the few days I spent in Jalchatra can help shed a light for my friends back home about the good they are doing in this country.


It’s a good feeling to know that, while I am here trying to fight poverty on the ground, there are 185 of my fellow Irishmen back at Notre Dame fighting alongside with me. Fortunately, for me, my way doesn’t involve that many bruises."

Again, I am truly amazed at the people I am surrounded by. They take part in this tournament for something bigger than themselves. This inspires me to do more, to make a difference, and to remember what it means to be part of the Fighting Irish community.