Girls' Night Out

Remember the Alamo? I didn't. I learned about the San Antonio fortress/mission in elementary school, but neither me or my fellow missionaries could recall many details about the events that had taken place there. As we were getting a little cabin fever from being inside the gated MAC Center, we decided it was time to get some history by taking a trip to the city. The nine of us girls piled into a big, white unmarked van, driven by our small, blond assistant program director and we strolled into the streets of Texas---after flying through the HOV lane, circling for parking and cramming the van into a tiny space.

Here's the Alamo:




It's located right in the midst of downtown and not out in the desert as I anticipated. The story goes that in 1835, about 200 Texans fought here against 6,000 Mexicans during the Texas Revolution. Davey Crockett was one of the Texas soldiers. Texas lost brutally, but there heroism was not forgotten and "Remember the Alamo" became a battle cry that eventually helped Texas to win the war.

We were hungry after all that education, so we went to eat at an Italian restaurant on the Riverwalk. Here I am with Meghan (our director), Jessica, Mary, Clare, and Nicole.



The last trio of girls of are from Ireland. Mary and Clare will be staying in San Antonio while Nicole is off to Guatemala. I know Iam in for a culture shock when I go to Mexico, but imagine the surprise that Mary must have felt, when she, a women from Ireland in her mid-20s', was denied a drink. Her driver's license is paper and the restaurant wouldn't accept it. Still it was great food, with portions big enough to feed the Texas army.

Here we are on the stairs of the Riverwalk, along with a photo the river. I'm in front with the Irish girls behind me. Then there's Jessica (who'll be my roomie in Mexico) and then Courtney who's going to Peru. Next there's Jackie who is also on her way to Mexico followed by Jane and Julie who will be in a Peru.



After a big night out, we returned to MACC and took a dip in the seminarian's pool. As the seminarians are mostly on retreat, we were spared the potential awkwardness of a run-in with them. The bats that had been skimming the water the other night were nowhere in sight, so it was a relaxing end to the day.

My Future Plans...

As a freshman at George Washington U., I woke up early in the morning to work on Capitol Hill and sat in while national policy was being debated. A year after graduation, I found myself staying up until early in the morning while staff members at the bar where at I worked discussed whether it's best to use gin or vodka in martinis. (Vodka won, with a twist.)

I've always struggled to figure out what to do career wise. This uncertainty has given me an eclectic resume (congressional intern, cocktail waitress, reporter, interactive analyst) and allowed me to write colorful cover letters for job applications. Invariably, I have found myself at interviews trying to smile and come up with clever answers, all the while looking around a cramped office thinking "Do I really want to sit here day after day?"

I've had dreams of avoiding these trappings by becoming a famous actress or big shot politician. However, the people I truly admire are those who are out there quietly serving the needy and God, people we rarely here about. The altruistic part of me had sometimes contemplated a similar path, but I brushed the desire aside thinking it would be to hard to leave the people and material comforts in my life behind. At the same time, I've had a desire to be like the people who drop everything to travel the world and immerse themselves in new cultures. I've never been brave enough (or perhaps I'm too American) to do this.

However, during my last round of job interviews I felt a calling that has put me on a path whereby I'll have a chance to live like those I look up to. For the next two years, I'll be living in Mexico City, Mexico as a lay missionary with the Incarnate Word Missionaries, a group sponsored by Catholic nuns. Right now, I am at a three-week orientation attending classes covering a range of topics including the history of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word, cross- cultural issues, missiology and Catholic social teaching. I am in staying at the Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) along with eight other women who will be going to various parts of the world. I feel blessed by this opportunity and will keep you all updated on my journey. Upon sharing my plans with others, there have been lost of questions, so I'll take this time to answer the most common one regarding my future plans; though I am in awe of and have an incredible amount of respect for those who have taken religious vows, I do not intend on becoming a nun.