My First Week in Seminary

A quick note to begin--I'm doing very well. I really like being here, and the first week+ has been a great adventure, the Lord is oh-so-good, and I'm settling in nicely!

This first week has gone by quickly and been a really interesting one. As with any move, or change in life, a person must adapt. Adapting is challenging, no doubt, but I find it rather entertaining and fun. There have been a lot of things very familiar to me--going to class and Mass, praying, eating, sleeping, etc. But there have also been many things that have been new to me: some expected, some not. I've been calling this week 'Ryan's Week of Firsts,' and I'd like to share some of those first-time experiences with you now:

1. Starting on Monday the 6th, I could be called an official resident of St. Paul, Minnesota. I've never lived this far north.
2. It goes without saying, but I must say it anyway, in order to be exceedingly redundant: I've never lived in a seminary before. Sure, I've visited a few places for a few days, but this is rather different, wouldn't ya say?
3. First time reading a book for a philosophy class. Or 2, as we did last week. Now we are on to St. Augustine's "Confessions" in my Christian Theological Tradition class. We finish with it next week, as my class (Pre-Theology I) finishes up this January-Term class. It is an excellent read so far, and I highly recommend it.
4. Hitting my head on a ceiling that is 9 feet high (dang lofted beds…)
5. Being 30 minutes late for Mass and still being there on time…Mass got delayed about 40 minutes because interestingly, a pipe burst in the seminary about 10 minutes before Mass started last Wednesday, and the fire department came. It was a bit of a mess, but no one was hurt and very little was damaged because most of the water went down the staircase--probably the best place, because the stairs are made of concrete, too. Whew ;-)
6. I've gone to bed before 11 pm…3 times. This is world-record pace.
7. When I moved up here last Monday, it was literally the coldest day of my life. It hit -20 degrees at one point, and I think the wind chill was somewhere around -50. OUCH! So clearly, that was a first.
8. This past weekend, I remember thinking for the first time ever, "Wow 20 degrees is a heat wave!" And on Sunday when it hit 40, YES, FORTY, "Dang, it's hot."
9. I went to a local Catholic bookstore last week to pick up a book for class, and two things happened that made me chuckle: a) getting asked as I was checking out if I was a seminarian, a question I never been asked before, so after looking around to make sure the lady was talking to me, I said, "Why yes…yes, I am." b) She gave me a discount. AWESOME haha.

That's all the first things that I can think of/are remotely worth noting at this point, but I'm sure there will be more soon. Maybe they'll be blog-worthy, maybe not. Please feel free to comment, email me, call or text me, or send me snail mail (those require something called stamps…I'm not sure what they are either, but I'll google it and get back to you). My mailing address is as follows:

2260 Summit Ave.

St. Paul, MN 55105-1094

I like care packages with chocolate chip cookies.

KIDDING! haha. Much peace, love, and prayers,

Ryan/Ryno/Ry-Bread/Ry-kitty/Ry-baby/Welchy/Bud/Little Bro/Skinny Little Twit/I have too many nicknames

PS--I'm attaching a couple of photos. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

The first two are panoramas of my room. Not a lot of space (it's about 8 feet wide at its widest, 5 at its narrowest and 15 feet long), but it's great. Except for that dang bed being too close to the ceiling….also, you might be thinking, "Gee Ryan, that looks an awful lot like Capri Sun in your window." And you'd be right, you astute observer, you! Who needs a mini fridge?!

Also--they really know how to clear snow here in MN. Check out this Bobcat on campus: