Spring 1999: The Apprentices in Austria

We had initiated Rolando just in time to completely abandon him as we took off to spend the spring semester studying on the Austrian Campus. (”Studying” would soon turn out to be a euphemism for eating too much Milka, drinking legally—a first for two of us—endangering our lives on a regular basis throughout Europe, and discovering the hard way just how real “Austria Magic” is.) At the precise moment it seemed the household was finally settling down, circumstances (Providence) conspired to send the three of us, together as always, right into the heart of Europe, leaving behind a household which consisted solely of The Apprentice (singular) of St. Joseph. Though we didn’t make contact with Rolando once during the entire semester, we found out later that, as far as household-related activity was concerned, there was no Apprentice household in Steubenville for the Spring ‘99 semester. This was pretty understandable, considering the fact that he was all alone and had only barely been initiated in time to be left to handle things by himself.