Our First Week @ SPES

Outside Tyburn Convent

Our first week at SPES was a relatively relaxing one.  As mentioned in the previous post we walked to St Patrick's on the Monday and spent the afternoon with Fr Alex, learning more about SPES and what was in store for us.  After a quiet morning at St Mary's on Tuesday we paid a visit to Tyburn Convent for a talk about the Tyburn Martyrs and a tour of all the relics. For some of us this was all new and we are looking forward to learning much more about the Martyrs during this next year.  It is hard to believe that the site of Tyburn Tree, where the majority of our Martyrs were killed during the Reformation, is just sitting there on a traffic island in the middle of the busy traffic of Marble Arch and so many people don't realise.  We are sure many also don't realise that the Tyburn Nuns are right beside it and have perpetual adoration going on in their Chapel.  We were very impressed with Tyburn and feel very blessed to have been able to visit and see the many relics.


Fr Richard Aladics joined us on Tuesday evening in preparation for our introductory retreat beginning on Wednesday morning.  Fr Richard has been great and really has given us plenty to think and pray about as we begin our year.  As many of us our new to London and to give us an opportunity to get to know each other a little he took us on a boat trip on the Thames. (Wouldn't it be nice if all our retreats included a boat trip or afternoon out).  Our retreat finished on Friday afternoon.  Fr Alex and Ambrose joined us for dinner on Friday night.  We have been spoiling Ambrose and he is very much enjoying having 5 girls to fuss over him.

Busy being artistic

Saturday was a fun and relaxing day as we joined in with the Open House Art Class, which will now be happening on the first Saturday of every month.  One of our homeless guests taught us all how to make some very beautiful paintings - he is amazing at it (and he was also so patient with some of us who are not natural artists).  On Sunday we were all at St Patrick's for the 11am Mass and then tea and coffee after Mass with a chance to meet some of our parishioners.  We already enjoy the Sunday tea and coffee time.


Now that we have survived our first week of SPES it is time to prepare for our first week of lectures!  This coming week the topic we will be looking at is Prayer, in particular the prayer life that we will be living together here at St Patrick's.

And we're off…

This morning has went very well, I don't think any of have ever been so awake and ready to go at 5.50am before!! We made it perfectly on time for the bus and train and thankfully no queues when we arrived at the check-in desk.

After a quick picnic breakfast at the airport and a hot drink we headed off to Gate 10. Presently writing this as we wait to take off but won't have it posted until I find some WiFi in Rome.

TBC…

So we have taken off… and as usual there are 101 announcements so now is the time to turn the music on and chill til we land.

TBC…

Plane journey good, albeit a little turbulent. We quickly made it through passport control and thankfully our only non-EU citizen didn't take too long either. Bag pick up was a little more interesting- Fr Alex's bag was the first one out but it got stuck, not that Fr Alex noticed since he was chatting away. After quick a bit of trying from Ben and another passenger it didn't look good - til of course Fr Alex wandered over, gave it one pull and free it came, typical!

Now we are just settling into our rooms before we have Mass at 3pm. Once we have Mass we will grab some lunch and have a walk around.

A community weekend of fun...or not?

After our last week of lectures a weekend of fun was planned before we all headed off for our Christmas break. We all enjoyed our last week of lectures, a whole week dedicated to the Gospel of St John and given by Fr Thomas from the Community of St Jean. But we were all very much looking forward to our weekend of fun and treats.

It all started off well. We got up early Saturday morning, packed our picnic, wrapped ourselves up warmly and headed off Mass at Brompton Oratory. After Mass we went in the direction of the Natural History Museum. But we weren't looking to visit the actual museum, instead we were ready for some ice-skating!! For some it was their first time, for others they wished it was there last, lol. Surprisingly some who were not so keen took to it quite quickly and for first timers they were doing well. Others, well one in particular, hung tightly to the sides of the ice-rink before quickly exiting half way through the session. Oh well, I do believe they still had some fun. Amazingly not one of us fell! Well not physically; this is the point in the weekend where one by one the students began to drop!

Firstly Ola left us after ice-skating to go home to bed feeling and, sorry to say it, looking sick. The rest of us had our picnic and then went for a look around Science Museum. There were some nice and interesting displays there. In the evening we went back to St Patrick's to play on the Wii. This is where student number 2 dropped. Terry began to not feel so great. After some Adoration and street evangelisation we all headed off home.

Saturday had been Fr Alex's birthday but since we had not seen him we celebrated his birthday on the Sunday. It was a nice day and we were joined by a few others;except our two sick students. Although now that number was increasing Alfonso didn't feel so good and had to have some sleep. That left just Ben standing - but not for long! By the end of the day Ben was also not so good. In the evening we went to see The Hobbit. Ben and Alfonso were just about fit to go. Laurie, Ciara and the two Australian seminarians joined them. The film was good, although a little dragged out at the beginning.

Since now all the students were sick the plans for Monday were cancelled and instead Laurie took those who were well enough down to the National Gallery to look at some art work associated with The Birth of Jesus.

After this it was pack up and get ready for our Christmas break, and hopefully recover from all the sickness!!