Courtney Hug, Freshman

I recently went on the Focus National Conference in Orlando Florida over Winter Break. I didn’t know what to expect from the conference since I had never been on one before, but I knew a bunch of people who were going on it, so I decided that it might be a good time for me to hang out with some friends. And what better place could there possibly be to hang out with friends than warm Florida in the dead of winter (although it just so happened that Florida was cold the week that we were there ?)? We got on the bus and headed down to Florida! Even though I knew from the very beginning of the trip that it would be exciting, the most amazing thing was when we got to the hotel. Not only was it an AMAZING hotel, but when we walked in, we had to wait in a 2 hour long line that must have snaked throughout almost half of the hotel. That’s how many people were there. I couldn’t believe how many college students actually cared about their faith that much to go on this trip. And then, after waiting in that ridiculously long line and checking out the hotel, we had mass. That was even more amazing. Our Newman Center happened to get seats near the middle of the room, which meant we were surrounded by thousands of other Catholics. When the music started and everyone began to sing, I got chills up and down my spine. It was a sight to see and a sound to hear. We began with mass every day, which started my days out in a great way. After mass, we had the opportunity to listen to people talk about different issues and experiences. Many of the talks that I attended were extremely inspiring and made me think about my life. I tried to apply what the speakers were saying to my own life. So not only did we get a great hotel, we also got great speakers, great masses, great adorations, a great New Year’s Eve, and the start of great new relationships with both friends and God.