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A close-up glance of Pope Benedict XVI capped off three exciting weeks of winter in Australia for 18 area youths from St. Patrick’s Catholic Parish in Onalaska.

Participating in World Youth Day, a celebration of worship for 400,000 youth in the Catholic faith, the pope gave three masses in Sydney, Australia. The Onalaska group, led by Cathy Steinhoff, youth director for St. Pat’s, left for Australia July 7 and returned two weeks later.

When she heard Pope Benedict XVI speak, Tanya Schimek said she felt his message more strongly than when she heard the same message from the other priests who spoke at the ceremonies. “He talked about how the Holy Spirit was in our daily life and helps us through our day. It felt much more intense.”

“It was so exciting to see the Pope,” Sarah Christianson said. “We stayed for the final (of three) Mass given by the Pope. There was high security.”

The group was about as far away as it could be from the infield of the racetrack where the pope appeared. But luck shined upon them: they were on the edge of the track itself. That’s where the Popemobile made its entrance, making a lap around the track. “We were six feet from the Popemobile,” Christianson said. “We were so close!”

Sarah’s twin sister Anne was equally awed. “My favorite part of the pilgrimage was being able to be so close to the pope. It was a once in a lifetime experience that left me with an indescribable feeling of holiness,” Anne said.

John Schimek said a lot he heard from the priests surprised him. “They talked about global warming and taking care of the earth. That was kind of interesting,” he said.

Neil Hickey had difficulty hearing the pope. “I couldn’t understand him, he had such a deep accent,” Hickey said. “But it was a lot of fun seeing all the different cultures that were gathered there.”

Casey Kulinski was impressed by how different cultures express the Catholic traditions. “In our tradition, we’re used to kneeling, standing or sitting while reciting prayers,” she said. “Other countries they dance and sing. It was so much fun to see everyone excited about their faith. Everyone is different, but we’re all the same.”

“It was such a life-changing event. There were so many different countries, 170,” Sarah Christianson added. “We learned the church is much bigger than one country or one culture.”

“But everyone was there for one purpose, to pray and worship.” Tanya Schimek chimed in.

Her brother John Schimek was so excited about being there, he and Casey and others walked 18 miles to go from the Olympic Village where they stayed with thousands of others camped out on the floor of the huge dome to the race track where the pope appeared

“We were told we could take the public transportation or we could walk with the pilgrimage,” Schimek said. “Some of us decided to walk the pilgrimage. Boy, were we tired.”

Maybe John reaped what he sowed for playing a trick on his friend Ben Steinhoff. John convinced one of Ben’s host family members that Ben really liked Vegemite and she should lay it on his bread real thick. Vegemite, as well as lamb, is one of one of the staples of the Australian diet — it is the equivalent of peanut butter in this country. The Australians spread it on everything like peanut butter. However, it’s not quite as good as peanut butter. It’s thick and brown like syrup but grainy like sand and very salty. Even now, Ben can’t think of it without wanting to vomit. “It was awful,” he said.

Nevertheless, Ben, Neil and Garrett had such a good time they are planning to go back on their spring break. The seniors loved the culture and want to visit during a warmer season.

It was winter in Australia and the youths had to bundle up more than they expected. It snowed north of where they stayed. “When the sun went down, it got really cold,” Ben said.

All of the students wish they could have spent more time with their host families in Dubbo, where they stayed the first week. “The people are so much nicer than Americans,” Ben said. John and Tanya described a man who stopped to talk to them when they appeared lost. “He not only told us where the public transportation was, he walked the four blocks with us,” Tanya said.

While staying with host families, the Onalaska youth performed community service work, cleaning yards, lawn mowing and other chores. They also saw first hand some of the hallmarks of the Australian culture such as the Aborigines, playing with boomerangs and seeing lots and lots of kangaroo and sheep.

“Here we see herds of cows. There it’s herds of sheep. Millions of them,” Ben said. Ben and John did some sheep shearing themselves.

It was hunting season for kangaroo in Australia, too. “There was kangaroo roadkill,” youth director Cathy Steinhoff said. “We even saw one kangaroo chasing a bus at the airport.”

But none of the people were as aggressive as the kangaroo. “When we stayed in Dubbo, there was a real sense of community,” Anne Christianson said. “They also emphasized the importance of helping others through the lessons on the Aborigines, the native people of Australia.

“This pilgrimage truly brought joy to everyone,” Anne continued. “One person in Sydney even told us that Sydney was happy and alive during the Olympics but then it became kind of sad. He told us that World Youth Day brought the joy back to Sydney.”

The next World Youth Day will be held in three years in Madrid, Spain and all the students wanted to go again, as mentors or guides since they will all have graduated from high school by then.