Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Big Sky Expeditions 2006



"Big Sky Expeditions" is the name of the Chi Alpha group that has been doing this trip to Central Europe for the past 4 years. This years' team - mine! - went first to Krakow, Poland and then to two different towns in Slovakia: Banovce and Banska Bystrica. Here are a few pictures from the trip. To see more Slovakia pictures, you can go to my flickr.com photostream. Eventually I'll have all my Poland pictures there, too. Enjoy.







Our first morning in Krakow, we found out that the city was greatly anticipating the arrival of Pope Benedictus XVI the following weekend. These posters, the first outward signs of Krakow's preparation, were found all around the city and reflected the hope that this new pope will "walk in the footsteps" of their beloved John Paul II.












Here is the picture I mentioned in my first post from Krakow.






We spent most of our time in Krakow working with University students. Our first Saturday in Europe we did the tourist thing with some of the Polish students as our guides. I took this picture of my group - three Poles and four Americans - in the Ryneck in front of the Medieval Linen Building.












the Pope, the Polcja, and a lot of cameras









After leaving the hustle and bustle of Krokow, we settled in lovely little Banovce, Slovakia. Our three days there were packed with activity, including minstry among the local Roma kids.














My friend la falda with "her kids". She's spending her whole summer there. So cool.

We finished our trip with five days in Banska Bystrica, a small city in central Slovakia. The team picture above was taken there in the city square, which I was told is the most beautiful in Slovakia. Our time there was spent doing some outreach and some work projects. The latter included cleaning out some rooms that a local church is renting. After removing a dumpster-load of trash that was under years - decades? - of dust, the team painted the room that will eventually be the new sanctuary.

Pre-cleanup

Courtney and Carsten

My last picture in Slovakia. We left Banksa Bystrica, Slovakia at 3:00 in the morning on June 5 to catch a flight out of Vienna at 8:00.
3 AM


Back in the States the next day, I finished up my last roll of film with some shots of Montana on the eight hour ride home from Bozeman.
Curve in the Road

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