Campus retreats. You have heard about them, but never gone on one. Maybe because you don't know anyone that would go with you, or maybe you don't know enough about them to take the plunge and give it a shot.

Notre Dame provides numerous opportunities to go on a retreat: Freshman Retreat, Sophomore Road Trip, Notre Dame Encounter (NDE), and Senior Retreat. Most who sacrifice a weekend come out of the retreat with numerous new friends as well as being spiritually renewed.

Sophomore, Christina Dehan of Badin Hall says some of "the best memories I've had at Notre Dame are from retreats. They've been huge blessings in my life and I can't imagine my experience at Notre Dame without them."

Dehan went on Freshman Retreat, Sophomore Road Trip, as well as lead the past three Freshman Retreats this year.

The first year of college presents the challenges and opportunities of transition: leaving the familiarity of families, schools, and communities to enter a world of new possibilities and choices. Often at the center of these transitions is a person's faith.

Freshman retreat addresses these questions: How can we sustain the faith we have come to embrace growing up? How might it be enriched? Who are the people around us asking the same questions? The Notre Dame Freshman Retreat is designed for all students, Catholic, and non-Catholic, to share this journey of faith with their peers and benefit from the experience and wisdom of upperclassmen who have made this transition.

Freshman retreat is a great way to get away and meet other freshman to realize that one is not alone at Notre Dame with both freshman and upperclassmen.

On freshman retreat, there is a lot of talking about what the experience at Notre Dame has been like thus far and how God can be seen across campus. Upperclassmen give talks, act out skits, and interact with freshman in small group discussions, providing a time for freshman to be open and honest. The Mass at the end of the retreat solidifies the weekend and the experience.

Freshman Julia Fitzpatrick of Welsh Family Hall says "it was a great break from work and a great time for relaxation, reflection, meeting new people. It is a great time to reflect on faith and reflect on how life will be like at Notre Dame– what your faith life will be like at Notre Dame."

Through presentations and discussions, prayer and song, as well as some fun activities, the twenty-six hour Notre Dame Freshman Retreat offers students a chance to address some important issues while making new friends. For two days and one night, the retreat draws first-year men and women together to reflect upon what they have brought to Notre Dame and their hopes for their lives at Notre Dame and beyond. This retreat is structured around three pillars: community, faith, and hopes.

The retreat provides students with the opportunity to meet men and women from other dorms who are adjusting to life at Notre Dame. It encourages them to listen and speak with other students about what Notre Dame has been like so far.

The retreat encourages students to express and explore the importance of their faith. It also provides information about various opportunities within Campus Ministry where one might seek additional sustenance for personal and communal Christian enrichment.

Students will be invited to reflect on their hopes for their time at Notre Dame. The retreat will provide participants with a context to explore some of the ways in which their faith in God will enrich their time at Notre Dame as well as how it will contribute to the lives of others on, and beyond, campus.

But there is so much more beyond the two days spent on freshman retreat. Katie Hammond, freshman from Welsh Family Hall says it was an "awesome experience that allows you to know there is a lot more faith on campus. It is not just something for the weekend. The leaders provide ways to keep in touch with people because there is an activity at least once a week. One of the best things about freshman retreat occurs after the retreat: going to the Grotto and praying on Sunday nights."

Don't be fooled. Not only is the weekend spiritual, but there is significant time provided to socialize and play games. Mafia is a popular game played on most freshman retreats. Meeting new people in this type of atmosphere is one of a kind. Everyone is there for the same reason. Dehan said, "Freshman retreat was the first time people ever experience how they thought the Notre Dame community would be."

Sophomore Road Trip proves to be a much different type of retreat.

Junior Joshua Stagni of Morrissey Manor said, "It was an awesome, incredibly spiritual experience. You go in not knowing what to expect."

The three days provide sophomores the opportunity to meet different people, as well as share and learn with others about the Notre Dame experience.

Christina Dehan commented that Sophomore Road Trip "solidified relationships made freshman year and provided a time to address problems one encounter as a sophomore."

There are many scavenger hunts and the retreat is more outdoorsy. It involves fun activities with symbolic meaning. Being so secretive, Dehan compared the experience of getting on a bus, not knowing the destination, while putting faith in campus ministry to provide everything needed with the spiritual action of trusting in God and not worrying about where life is taking you. You put your life in God's hands and learn not to be in control.

The Notre Dame Encounter retreat rumors to be an upperclassmen retreat, however, this is a fallacy. While the retreat tends to be heavily laden with juniors and seniors, a fair amount of sophomores and freshman utilize the opportunity to go. Through presentations and discussions, songs and prayer, as well as some fun activities,

NDE is a three-day retreat experience that allows students to explore more deeply the meaning of their relationship with God and their commitment to living the Christian life. NDE's are held at the Fatima Retreat Center, which is located at the west end of campus and is large enough to house as many as 56 students. A team of 10 students and seven faculty or staff members assist on the NDE weekends.

Matthew Bleecher, a senior from Siegfried Hall, says NDE is "a deeply, personally challenging retreat. The most important part of it is that if you go there with an open mind and an open heart about your faith, then you can challenge yourself to look at how you see yourself, others, and God."

Most who come off this retreat attest to the fact that it does make one think about themselves very much and where his or her life is headed. It is a learning experience and "Notre Dame spiritual experience personified," said Stagni.

With a whole-hearted endorsement, Bleecher says, "if you're a person who can challenge themselves to want to learn more about themselves and God, this retreat is for you. But everyone should do an NDE retreat before they graduate."

The retreats are set up well. They utilize the same basic format each time, but in reality, every retreat is unique, even on an individual basis. Most who go on a retreat come back singing its praises as well as encouraging other around them to attend the next one.

Many students feel so blessed to be at a place where so many retreats are offered. Perhaps it was one of the reasons many of them decided to attend Notre Dame.

Dehan says to "take advantage of the many retreats offered so frequently. There is a retreat almost every weekend in the spring. It is a wonderful way to step back and look at your life and what God has been doing in it. It is a great way to thank Him for it."

Further information about these retreats and others as well as retreat applications can be found at http://www.nd.edu/~ministry/retreats.html.

• The inside scoop on campus retreats