It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but St. Marienthal Convent has been a source of inspiration for many students attending the seminar. This year is no exception; however, it is the first time they have shared their diaries with us. Enjoy the reads!
THE NUN WITH THE DOG
If you have ever seen a nun walking in St. Marienthal with a dog, you might have wondered why there is a dog in a monastery. Today, you are going to discover the truth about the only dog that survived. Survived what?
A long time ago, dogs were the rulers of St. Marienthal Monastery, living peacefully and collaborating with one another. There was a perfectly functioning hierarchy, at the top of which the strongest and wisest dog reigned. He was also the oldest, and all the dogs knew he would die soon. The leader had three sons: Mark, Ricky, and Franky. Mark was the youngest, and therefore, not capable of maintaining order among the dogs. Ricky and Franky were twins, but they were complete opposites: Ricky was gentle, polite, and strong, while Franky was an imposter—grumpy and annoying. Ricky was meant to be the successor to their father, but Franky was envious and craved power for himself.
When their father died, Franky spread lies, claiming that he had always helped their father while Ricky had done nothing, which supposedly led to their father’s death. These falsehoods turned the other dogs against Ricky, allowing Franky to seize leadership.
Nothing was as it had been before. The dogs were unhappy, and Ricky was furious about it. He wanted to duel with Franky to reveal the truth to everyone, but in the meantime, an attack by the nuns struck. The nuns had wanted this monastery for a long time, insisting that it was a holy place unfit for dogs. They prepared a large and well-trained army, twice as strong as that of the dogs, and attacked from the woods. The battle was fierce, and Franky couldn’t handle the pressure. So, he fled.
Ricky remained, using all his strength to protect the other dogs. He led the front line of the battle, assisted the wounded, and fought valiantly. However, the nuns were better organized and superior in every way, and the dogs fell one by one. In the end, Ricky was the only survivor. He was captured and imprisoned in the holy church, the symbol of the nuns’ power. Now, he is seeking revenge, and perhaps one day, the dogs will return to Marienthal.
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The ghost of Marienthal
At Daytime everything is peaceful in Marienthal. Everybody is happy and gets along. But when the night comes, everything changes. In the chimney room you can feel a strange presence. They say it has to be the mysterious Marienthal ghost. Nobody can prove its existence, but it has to be the only explanation for the wicked things that are going on. For example the beers keeps vanishing, even though everyone claims to pay for every drink. The ghost also likes to spread misinformation about the times of the program, so people keep showing up late. On Monday the Germans were the first victims of the ghost, they arrived late for their national evening even though they were sure it would start at 8 p.m, instead of 7:30 p.m. The next day Oliver discovered that 60 Euros were missing in the cash box. Who would do such a cruel thing as not paying for our precious liquor? It has to be the ghost. Naturally it is the enemy of us Marienthal students now, so we have one mission,before the teachers punish us for these weird things that are going on: to catch the ghost! Some brave detectives start the investigation by interviewing some students. One person tells them that they saw a ghost looking man walking through hallways at night. The next night the detectives decide to hide near the chimney room to find out the truth about it. When they were nearly asleep they suddenly hear slow foot steps approaching. They prepare the phone cameras to prove the identity of the ghost and when he comes around the corner, they are frightened for a second, only to realize it’s only a teacher who drank too much wine. After that disappointing discovery, they start from the bottom again. This time they suspect that it could be a real person and maybe we are all the ghost in some way. The detectives find out that Riccardo has a problem with paying the exact prizes because he doesn’t have any coins with him and instead only high bank notes. Later on some students admitted that I could be possible that they were too drunk to pay the right price. But what about the Germans?
Maybe they were too stupid to remember the schedule, but they blame it on the teacher, that apparently told them the wrong time. In the end the detectives make sure that everyone makes up for their mistakes, but still swear that they feel the weird presence of the ghost in the halls of St. Marienthal. Maybe next years Marienthal students will solve the mystery completely.
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Dear Diary,
Day 1 (11.11.2024
This is my first day in St. Marienthal. I was very excited but also scared at the beginning, but now I know that I will have a great time here.
I am sharing a room with Anna from the Czech Republic and Aurora from Spain. Anna is in the photography workshop, and Aurora is in the band. Both are very nice, and I believe we will become very good friends.
In the morning, we played games to get to know each other better. It was really fun, and I had the opportunity to talk with so many amazing people. The Italians were complaining about the lunch here a lot, and to be honest, they are right. The pasta was overcooked, and the sauce was very watery.
In the afternoon, we went on the convent tour. It was very cold outside, so we were all freezing. Then we went to our workshops. Unfortunately, neither Anna nor Aurora is in the creative writing workshop with me. But I really enjoyed the day, and I love this place so much!
P.S. Aurora isn’t feeling well; she’s coughing a lot. I hope she will be okay soon.
Agata
Day 3 (13.11.2024)
Dear Diary,
Today I woke up thinking I was crazy!
I sat on my bed, looked out the window, and then I saw it…
A TON OF SNOW! It has been really cold here since day one, but now the cold is justified because it gave us magical, shiny snow. We made snowmen and had a snowball fight. It was so much fun!
In the workshop, we collaborated with the reporters. We were writing a fictional journal from Marienthal. The brainstorming was exciting and really creative. It’s amazing that we can work on something together even though we are from different countries and our workshops cover a variety of topics.
Thankfully, Aurora is feeling better, so she could enjoy the snow with us. I think she’s finally healthy.
My roommate Anna, from the photography workshop, said that they are preparing a special surprise now that it snowed. I’m really excited for their surprise and also for tomorrow’s trip to Görlitz.
That’s all for now!
❤️ Agata
Day 6 (16.11.2024)
Dear Diary,
Today is my last full day in Marienthal. Right now, I don’t want to think about it too much to avoid getting sad, but I did wake up with it on my mind. I also couldn’t sleep much last night because Anna has gotten sick and wouldn’t stop coughing the whole time. So, all in all, it wasn’t the best start! Although the rest of the day made up for it by far. We could all see the projects from these past weeks, and I couldn’t help but be amazed by everyone’s work. I have to admit, I was nervous about people seeing what I wrote, but you know what? In the end, it didn’t matter because of the carefree and supportive atmosphere.
If I had to choose, I wouldn’t be able to pick a favorite presentation! I do want to mention the beautifully detailed band and the sketching work from the photography workshop. Guess what? Now I know why Anna had that extravagant coat. They actually went out at night to take pictures of the moon and the snow on day three! It was definitely worth it because the details leave me speechless… especially since I don’t fully understand everything I see in them—human-shaped shadows between the trees, I think. Anna has tried to convince me they didn’t see anything strange that night, but she changes the subject quickly, and I don’t trust the look on her face…
That’s almost all for today, because we still have the farewell night before we rest. 🙂
Agata
P.S. (Haunted or not) I’m happy I came here, although I won’t go outside tonight just in case.
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Four days ago, we arrived at this mysterious place. From the outside, it looked like a gothic structure. What awaited us inside was… unbelievable, in the worst way possible.
Day 1: The First Lunch
From the moment we saw the buffet, it was clear something was off. It was served on a small rectangular table, illuminated by a single light in a very large, dark, and eerie room.
What we saw on that table left us perplexed… a heap of overcooked pasta—if you could even call it that.
It was clear that the chef hadn’t realized the huge mistake he’d made, especially for us Italians.
The expressions on the faces of the other guests made it obvious that we weren’t the only ones sensing something was wrong.
Since then, we’ve been determined to discover what the kitchen and its chef were hiding from us.
Day 2: The Mystery of the Missing Water
We survived the first day; we are getting used to it.
Now, the problem was the water… there wasn’t any mineral bottled water.
The water we were served was only partially sparkling.
We didn’t know how it was made or where it came from.
It seems like a challenge to survive without a safe source of water. The only thing we could do was fill our old water bottles with tap water—the most drinkable option available here.
Day 3: The Mystery of the Damned Nun
When we were looking at our rice, which looked more like a science experiment, an old guest who visits Marienthal every single year told us a story that cast a sinister light on Marienthal’s kitchen.
According to the legend, many months ago, there was a monastery where Sister Cristina lived.
She was known for her talent in the kitchen and her kindness of heart.
Guests would come from far away to taste her dishes and find comfort in her words. But one day, she made a terrible mistake.
She mistakenly prepared an important dish for a very distinguished guest who was visiting the monastery during his holidays.
As a result of her mistake, the nun was damned by the spirit of the Marienthal monastery and imprisoned in its kitchen, forced to only cook terrible dishes, so that she could pass her curse onto the guests.
I don’t know how we are still here, but it’s not looking good for us. We will find the damned nun and free the kitchen, so that no one else will be hurt or harmed in the future. Wish us luck.
(This letter was found many months later by some other guests, who are now planning to save the monastery.)
