(no subject)
Ok, im back! Well, ive actually been back for a few days now but havent had too much free time.
First off, i want to say how good it is to be back in the US, but how much i miss WYD and the amazing high you get from being there. I seriously dont think ive heard ONE person (out of the 1.2 million people who were there) say they didnt have a good time in germany. Sure there were complaints-- like hjaving to wait for a bus for 7 HOURS!-- but overall a truly incredible and unforgettable experience for all who were there. It sucks, because unless you wer part of it, it is really ahrd to convey the feelings you get from being there. I can honestly say, the times in my life when ive felt the happiest have been at WYD, both in Germany and Toronto. Its a truly amazing sight... Hundreds of Thousands of young people from ALL OVER THE WORLD gathered together for the same purpose. There is NOTHING that even comes close to this. If you werent able to go to this one, or the one in totonto, im telling you now--- the next WYD will be in Sydney, Australlia in 2008!!! Even if you arent religious, or maybe even catholic, or not sure what you are-- save up your money and join the party that will be in sydney! I met a bunch of german guys at the vigil the last night... they were none of the balove, but were just there bc, as they said "the rest of the world is here, why wouldnt we come?"
Ok, time for a quick recap!
After a long train ride and a day and night in London, we made it to Koln. There we were met by people waving flags, singing, dancing, shouting, drinking, and just having a good time. The train stastions were crazy, but jeff and steve helped us get to where we needed to be.
some of the crowds, outside the cathedral in Koln.
Then we went to the host parish, where our host families picked us up. THEY ROCKED! My family spoke english pretty well, altho i mostly talked to the mom in spanish, as she is a spanish teacher at a university! :)
Weds: Woke up early and went to morning prayer. Had breakfast with the host families all week long-- boy to they love their Nutella! Its the incredibly delicious chocolate spread they put on their bread. We brought some home too... but shh... we didnt tell customs.. ;)
We had to take trains, busses, trams, and our feet to get to our catechesis site... there were a few bumps along the way but we made it there!
trying to figure out where we are and where we are going while on the MERCEDEZ bus... yes, everything there wa that or BMW, except for the amazing lil smart cars! see example below....
Ok, anyways, so we had catechias everyday except the day we went on the pilgrimlage to Koln... We heard the archbishop of Sydney speak as well as some others...My fav were the songs! "like Arnold.... SWARTZENAGER!!!!!!!!!" "I like papayas!" "Si Senor.." ahh, so many good times! Also, the guy who plays the guitar using his feet bc he was born without any arms.. wow! talk about a motivational speaker! AND! i totally got to sit right next to him after he was done bc we got there late so were sitting on the altar! ahh, such a great guy! and he got to meet JPii multiple times!
This is a view of the church our catechisas was at from the altar where we were sitting... imagine the biggest church here, filled wall to wall with kids.. from everywhere. So inspiring!
ok, well after that, we went to this nearby racetrack looking place where we were served lunch and given a bagged dinner. Chaos./ lol, but we did meet some sweet people! In the pic below the guy with the rag on his head is from Austria... the most random person i hve ever met in my entire life! Also, talked a lot to this girl from outside of london.. they really do say posh! Also, they think of america as having guns everywhere, it was so rediculous. example. "i thought you got like a free gun when you opened a bank account!" no joke, that was actually what they believed. ahh, we straightened her out... oh, and FYI, they dont hate Americans, only george bush. .."but then again, we hate blair too" hahaha
Oh yes, and this poor chap tried playing "futboll" with the italians while we waited for lunch. I guess tey dont think of americans as ballers, bc they REFUSED to pass colin the ball.... they thought he couldnt play since he was american. haha, it was rather amusing tho to watch him run around....
yep... ok, well i can see this is going to take forever adn a day and i need to go pick up the brothers from school here in a minute so here are a few more highlights, will finish later!
Ok, well me, alex, conor, and colin were walking around and we had missed dinner so we didnt knwo what we were going ot eat right? Then these two girls come out of nowhere and give us chocolate cakes! And we are talking some AMAZINGLY yummy GERMAN cakes. Like nothing ive ever had before... this was one of them.
they became our new best friends.
haha, ok well anyways, later we went to a concert in dusseldorf-- talk about an international mosh pit!! ahh, so fun! There was def some sweet music that week! Altho i must say, the ppl they picked to represent the US, not so good.... esp when compared to the Europeans...
Oh yes, and so on the way back one night, we had split off from the rest of our group-- they wanted to stay longer at some international dancing thing-- well, on or way this guy runs past conor and bumps into him... two seconds later the police come around the corner, and the other corner and cut him off. So we were trapped with buildings on eoither side of us, and police at both ends, with this guy who they are trying to catch. He ducks under a car and they end up ahving to egt a dog to come find him... kinda scary/cool at the same time. So then alex, being the genious he is, snaps a pic of the dude getting arrested so our group would believe us.... haha yea...
and thats all for now! More to come later this weekend.... chow!
First off, i want to say how good it is to be back in the US, but how much i miss WYD and the amazing high you get from being there. I seriously dont think ive heard ONE person (out of the 1.2 million people who were there) say they didnt have a good time in germany. Sure there were complaints-- like hjaving to wait for a bus for 7 HOURS!-- but overall a truly incredible and unforgettable experience for all who were there. It sucks, because unless you wer part of it, it is really ahrd to convey the feelings you get from being there. I can honestly say, the times in my life when ive felt the happiest have been at WYD, both in Germany and Toronto. Its a truly amazing sight... Hundreds of Thousands of young people from ALL OVER THE WORLD gathered together for the same purpose. There is NOTHING that even comes close to this. If you werent able to go to this one, or the one in totonto, im telling you now--- the next WYD will be in Sydney, Australlia in 2008!!! Even if you arent religious, or maybe even catholic, or not sure what you are-- save up your money and join the party that will be in sydney! I met a bunch of german guys at the vigil the last night... they were none of the balove, but were just there bc, as they said "the rest of the world is here, why wouldnt we come?"
Ok, time for a quick recap!
After a long train ride and a day and night in London, we made it to Koln. There we were met by people waving flags, singing, dancing, shouting, drinking, and just having a good time. The train stastions were crazy, but jeff and steve helped us get to where we needed to be.
some of the crowds, outside the cathedral in Koln.
Then we went to the host parish, where our host families picked us up. THEY ROCKED! My family spoke english pretty well, altho i mostly talked to the mom in spanish, as she is a spanish teacher at a university! :)
Weds: Woke up early and went to morning prayer. Had breakfast with the host families all week long-- boy to they love their Nutella! Its the incredibly delicious chocolate spread they put on their bread. We brought some home too... but shh... we didnt tell customs.. ;)
We had to take trains, busses, trams, and our feet to get to our catechesis site... there were a few bumps along the way but we made it there!
trying to figure out where we are and where we are going while on the MERCEDEZ bus... yes, everything there wa that or BMW, except for the amazing lil smart cars! see example below....
Ok, anyways, so we had catechias everyday except the day we went on the pilgrimlage to Koln... We heard the archbishop of Sydney speak as well as some others...My fav were the songs! "like Arnold.... SWARTZENAGER!!!!!!!!!" "I like papayas!" "Si Senor.." ahh, so many good times! Also, the guy who plays the guitar using his feet bc he was born without any arms.. wow! talk about a motivational speaker! AND! i totally got to sit right next to him after he was done bc we got there late so were sitting on the altar! ahh, such a great guy! and he got to meet JPii multiple times!
This is a view of the church our catechisas was at from the altar where we were sitting... imagine the biggest church here, filled wall to wall with kids.. from everywhere. So inspiring!
ok, well after that, we went to this nearby racetrack looking place where we were served lunch and given a bagged dinner. Chaos./ lol, but we did meet some sweet people! In the pic below the guy with the rag on his head is from Austria... the most random person i hve ever met in my entire life! Also, talked a lot to this girl from outside of london.. they really do say posh! Also, they think of america as having guns everywhere, it was so rediculous. example. "i thought you got like a free gun when you opened a bank account!" no joke, that was actually what they believed. ahh, we straightened her out... oh, and FYI, they dont hate Americans, only george bush. .."but then again, we hate blair too" hahaha
Oh yes, and this poor chap tried playing "futboll" with the italians while we waited for lunch. I guess tey dont think of americans as ballers, bc they REFUSED to pass colin the ball.... they thought he couldnt play since he was american. haha, it was rather amusing tho to watch him run around....
yep... ok, well i can see this is going to take forever adn a day and i need to go pick up the brothers from school here in a minute so here are a few more highlights, will finish later!
Ok, well me, alex, conor, and colin were walking around and we had missed dinner so we didnt knwo what we were going ot eat right? Then these two girls come out of nowhere and give us chocolate cakes! And we are talking some AMAZINGLY yummy GERMAN cakes. Like nothing ive ever had before... this was one of them.
they became our new best friends.
haha, ok well anyways, later we went to a concert in dusseldorf-- talk about an international mosh pit!! ahh, so fun! There was def some sweet music that week! Altho i must say, the ppl they picked to represent the US, not so good.... esp when compared to the Europeans...
Oh yes, and so on the way back one night, we had split off from the rest of our group-- they wanted to stay longer at some international dancing thing-- well, on or way this guy runs past conor and bumps into him... two seconds later the police come around the corner, and the other corner and cut him off. So we were trapped with buildings on eoither side of us, and police at both ends, with this guy who they are trying to catch. He ducks under a car and they end up ahving to egt a dog to come find him... kinda scary/cool at the same time. So then alex, being the genious he is, snaps a pic of the dude getting arrested so our group would believe us.... haha yea...
and thats all for now! More to come later this weekend.... chow!