Day One--LAX waiting for Midnight

Here we are sitting in the Chili's at the LAX airport waiting until our Qantas plane departs at midnight. We arrived without any missing passports or forgotten baggage and still have enough energy to be excited for the last LONG leg of our journey to Sydney. The day began with a very moving Mass celebrated with Father John Edwards in the Jesuit chapel surrounded by our families. Praying and singing together, Father Edwards challenged us to open our hearts to the mission Pope Benedict has asked of the Catholic youth of the world. As the future leaders of the Church, every Jesuit pilgrim was inspired to find personal meaning for the trip.
After an easy trip to DFW, we successfully checked-in and said our farewells to parents and family. With turbulence rocking some of us to sleep, the plane trip to Denver was bumpy but we arrived safely. Quickly Topher Boehm's instincts took over and guided us to the nearest Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlor where we sidled up to the counter to pore over the menu. After filling our stomachs with ice cream in various forms (milkshakes, waffle cones, etc), we settled down at our gate to play cards or read (O'Brien scholars...). The next leg of the journey was again on Frontier on a half empty plane and a less bumpier ride over the Rockies to Los Angeles. Now, here we are in the airport and 'Dwight' from the TV show "The Office" just walked by our gate. Our Qantas flight leaves at midnight and after we finish this dinner, we can expect food comas to wash over our anxious bodies at 48B as we wait out the next 90 minutes. Mr. Hough reports that dinner will be served 2 hours into the flight and one can only wonder who will actually be awake for that meal. Today was a great start to the trip and was only accomplished with the support of all our families and the Jesuit community. We can't believe that after all our fundraising efforts during the past year that WYD 2008 is almost upon us! We will post more after we land in Sydney--Good night!