September 23rd, 2015 was one of the most amazing days to be a student at The Catholic University of America. Well, in case our readers didn’t know, we were lucky enough to have the Pope visit our school. The buzz started weeks before when we got an email stating that CUA was holding a lottery for students to get tickets. Immediatly everyone registered and hoped they would be fortunate to win the “golden ticket”! Luckly many of us got tickets and were ready for this once in a lifetime opportunity.
Jax’s day started off very calm. Before she found her seats, she got lunch and did a little Shrine shopping. She was able to talk with her equally excited neighbors sitting around her, walk around the surrounding sections (where plenty of high profile people were seated), and because it was such a nice day got some tanning in. When it got close to 4:15, everyone (30,000 people) had entered our campus and anxiously awaited his arrival.
Caroline’s day was a tad different. She woke up to her room mate (and co-founder of HCCUA) who was VERY excited that it was the day the Pope was arriving at our campus! She and her room mates decided to dress up in fancy clothing and hangout before the festivities began. Once it was about 1:30 they made their way to the security check point so they could get into their section. There was enormous amount of buzz traveling not only on campus but around the streets of Brookland! There were food vendors, people handing out t-shirts, and a LOT of people. Finally she made it in and, although not as close as Jax, was ready for the Pope’s arrival.
Then it happened. We started seeing police cars drive into the main entrance of the Basilica and we knew he was coming. All of a sudden there was a certain calm that fell over the crowd of 30,000 people as he drove into our campus. Now many of you may think this is cheesy or that we are super religious, but I promise neither of those are the case. His presence brought a certain peaceful feeling that surrounded everyone’s body; nothing like we had felt before. Friends who are not religious at all were crying, all of our hands were shaking, and every person in the crowd took in as much as they could.
September 23rd, 2015 will always be a special day for every student who was able to attend the mass that day. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we would relive the experience if we could all over again.