Convent Life

Thank you all for your responses.  I'll start with Mrs. MC's question first, a typical day.

That is kind of an ironic question because since we've been here no day has really been typical. One of the things the Sisters have told us is important about being Salesian is the ability to adapt because we have to a lot.  However we do have a schedule with what a day is supposed to be like.

5:40 a. m.:  We start our day in the big chapel with meditation.  My meditation usually includes trying not to fall back asleep, especially since they sit the aspirants in the front two pews.

6:10 a.m.: Mass, followed by morning prayers.

6:45 ish a.m.: Depending on the week I head back to the house for breakfast and then unloading the dishwashers and putting away the breakfast stuff, or I go down to the high school and help supervise the girls and sell them breakfast until school starts.

From the time morning chores are done until 9 is time to study or get other things done that we are working on.

9 - 10 a.m.: Class.  This changes daily.  Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, one of the Sisters teaches us a class at this time.  On Tuesdays we use the time to study and do Italian online.

10:30 a.m.: Most weeks this is the time we head to the high school to help get lunch ready for the girls.  Then we help through lunch, giving them their lunches, selling snacks, and wiping down tables.

If it's my week to help at the high school we usually get back from that around 12 and then we raid the walk in fridge for leftovers and have our own lunch. If it isn't my week to help with high school lunch then I go down to the Provincial House where all the older Sisters live.  Two of us go down each day and eat lunch with them and then help with chores. Chore time at the Provincial House gets interesting because there are a bunch of elderly women who are all set in their ways trying to tell you 50 different ways to dry and put away dishes and mop the kitchen floor.

The afternoons are either study time again or we have class depending on the day, until 4.

4 p.m. starts our free time.  I generally use this time to take a decently long rosary walk with some of my companions and/or any Sisters who are around, or I go for a half hour run around the soccer field. On days when the girls have home volleyball, soccer, or tennis, we try to go to the games during free time to be moral support.

5:30 p.m. Spiritual reading and evening prayer in the big chapel again with the whole community.

6 p.m. Supper and chore time.  This is one of my favorite parts of the day because the whole community comes together and sometimes it's the only time some of the Sisters are around because their ministries keep them busy all the rest of the time.

7 - 8 p.m. Recreation time.  Recreation consists of anything from board games to a three on three basketball game, not cards though.  No one here really knows how to play cards and it makes me sad.

8 - 9:30 p.m. More free time, but it is generally quiet time.  I use this time to chat with friends on Facebook and send e-mails.

9:30 p.m. We have to be in our rooms by this time.  I usually try to get there before then.

10:00 p.m. Lights out.

Repeat.  The weekends are only slightly different because instead of class time we have chore time and more free time on Sunday afternoons.  So that pretty much sums up what a typical day is like.  It sounds pretty monotaneous, but since we rarely actually completely go by the schedule, life stays pretty interesting.