| Photos taken from my facebook. Not all of them are here. Sunday 13th July: Went to Youth Mass + After Part Mass. Met Tim and his twin sisters Christina and Jessica. Monday: Went to Pre-WYD Dinner. Met the PNG's first where I met Luis (sp?), Samantha, Joseph and.. can't remmeber your other names sorry! Then met up with Celine, and then we grabbed food, then sat with the people from Perth. Met Roberto, Daniel, Christine, Claire and a whole lot more Perth people. lol. Tuesday: Up until now, BEST DAY EVER. The atmosphere was amazing. Saw Kevin Rudd, Cardinal Pell, and a lot more. At first we went ahead of our usual group so Celine and I went to the city early. Met another Adrian, and then Peter. Since we were separated from our group, we joined this Vietnamese group from Melbourne, and made even more friends. Hahah. Everyone was just as enthusiastic to meet locals. It was amazing. Even on the train on the way to the city, people were chanting and singing. I never thought it would be so involving. When we got there, we walked around, got our food and met even more internationals, all were very friendly. We met Koreans, Filo's, Samoans, Fijians, French, and more people form around the world and Australia. One country I didn't mention but deserves to be separated from them.. are the Americans. Hahah. They were the best bunch. From that group, we met (let's see if I remember) - Kim(othy), Ryan, Carl, Francis, Billy, Donne, Gerardo, Lindsey, Jason, Tracy, Raven, Donna, Tracy, Criselda, Jonathan, Jeanora, Crystal, Charisse, Tim, Lauren, Giovanni, Tash, Jonathan, Nicole and Elizabeth and... I'm not sure who I missed out, I met some more of you during the week (sorry if I did miss you out, but i doubt you'll be reading) but yeah. :) They were so cool, after leaving/meeting them at the start of the event, we had to go back and find them at night. They were so fun. The music, the atmosphere, the celebrating of our faith in God, everyone there was enjoying. Special guests included Kevin Rudd, Guy Sebastian, Tap Dogs, Paulini, Damien Leith. Although Guy may have been one of the last acts, everyone was still into it (although a bit tired), but man it was awesome. I really cannot explain it in words. Wednesday: Ijhay drove me to the Catechesis at Baulkham Hills. Had teachings + Mass then we left for the city where we could roam around and visit whatever Youth Festival Events we wanted. We went to Hyde Park to get some Merchandise, I bought my brother a WYDGET bracelet, and my mum a rosary. Celine and Ijhay had a go at the green screen lip syncing thing in the Telstra Tent, haha it was so funny. I wish I had the video to share with the world, but Ijhay wouldn't like that. :D Saw a bit of the Traditional and Contemporary World Dance, then headed off to Bondi for the "Come to the Water" concert, featuring PASSION (whom we later on got a picture with, thanks to our American buddies). Got to Bondi, then met up with the Americans, the massive party at Bondi was amazing, the atmosphere, everyone just having a great time, it was definitely something to remember. We danced and I had a screaming contest with Raven, haha. I lost. We also had glowsticks, I forgot who was teaching me how to rave, but thanks! (I think it was Charisse). Met more people and danced the evening away. Come 6.30 it was time to receive our meals, but they weren't serving it at Bondi, had to go into the CBD to get it, we were so lazy then so we just bought Maccas (or in American terms, Micky-D's? haha). After that, we headed home. Thursday: Instead of going to our set Catechesis at Baulkham Hills, Celine, Jhess and I decided to go to the Church the Americans were at (at this point, we liked them more than our own group). Went there, I went to confession (which I am damn proud of now), and had Mass. Learnt some songs, then had lunch with them. Met Nicole and Elizabeth, then it was time to head into the city again. Went with Celine to go park her car at Westmead, then headed into the city for the Papal Arrival. Saw Harvest play, and watched Tim perform his solo on the sax. Haha, I was really expecting flames to emerge from his sax. As tiring as it was to get into Barangaroo (walking on an incline, mind you), it was so worth it. The lead up to his arrival was breathtaking, the celebrations were taking place and everyone was just as anxious to even get a glimpse of Pope Benedict XVI. We got a fairly good video of the Pope driving past (slowly). At other places he was driving like 100km/h, lol. But we caught him at a good spot. :) During this day, I also lost my Giordano hoodie. :( Friday: Second best day. Had Catachesis at Mt Carmel again (Wentworthville, with the Americans). Bought 2 crucifix's and a St Vincent medal to go with this chain I bought. All at the cheap price of $5. Today we were having the Stations of the Cross. Ijhay and Richard came along for it. We got right up byt the fence when we saw the cross being dragged through by the actor portraying Jesus. It was definitely a high to be up close, to experience the last moments of Jesus' life. Come nightfall, we had our dinner UTC (the American youth group). Dinner that Kim referred to as "Vomit in a box", hahah. Anyway, as a token of our appreciation of their friendship, Celine and I offered them a boomerang (for their whole youth group) and wrote a message on the back of it, they were so appreciative of it. Anyway, celebrations were underway for the concert everyone was waiting for. Recieve the Power LIVE. Matt Maher Band came on first, I'm starting to get into them now. Then it was Hillsong's turn to perform. Very emotional, and praise-worthy experience. I'm sure everybody was glad they sang "Shout to the Lord" and "One Way". "One Way", everybody was jumping up and down, it was a night to remember.
[Fridays pics are included above for Thursday] Saturday/Sunday: The Pilgrimage Walk. Celine couldn't do the walk because of her knee and because she had to prepare for her Grandma's 80th that night. So I went ahead and met up with UTC at North Sydney Station. I was worried I wouldn't catch them because Mark Anthony never answers his phone. :P But eventually he picked up and so I waited. Caught them and began the walk. Walked over the Harbour Bridge for the first time. I told them and they were so surprised that I haven't done that yet. lol. They had a great time though, as did I. Got to know Raven a bit more who insisted on me eating their croisant that they bought. I felt so bad, but she was gonna throw it on the floor! And she's just like Hanz, she walks into the person she's speaking to. Haha. Grabbed some free oranges at Darling Harbour, Raven took like 8 of them. Stopped by their hotel for a brief moment to pick up their bags, then joined the walk again. Gerardo's sleeping bag fell so I was kind enough to carry it the rest of the way. It did not have a cover so it was falling all over the place. lol. I had to also carry mine, and also struggle in the hot Australian winter day weather. I had 5 layers on, and boy was I struggling. But I pulled through eventually, when we got there. We asked 3 different volunteers how much longer was left and all their responses never made any logical sense. (In this order)
"20 minutes left!"
"30 minutes left!"
"10 minutes left!" Oh well, we eventually got there and we were so tired. Music began playing, then it was soon nightfall. Tim eventually found us as well. There was SO much congestion getting to and from the toilets that we had to climb over 3 fences just to get there. The Vigil was great. I wasn't aware the Pope was going to be leading it. The lit candles were a great addition to what was already an amazing night. After thge Vigil, a lot of the groups on our side were knocked out from the walk, whilst other sections at Randwick were still partying (ALL NIGHT). I could not get to sleep. Slept for like an hour, then woke up around 4.00am, had some hot chocolate with Jeanora and Raven. Thats what kept us wide awake. Got up to the side where everybody was wlaking by, then Jeanora, Tim, Frank (American dude we met), some girl from the St Michaels group (sorry forgot your name!) and I started a group hugs chant, and got everybody in it. It was so cool. :):) Eventually crashed after that, and got woken up around 6.30 because of Ijhay the tool (him and Celine came at that time because they couldn't sleep the night). He shook and slapped my sleeping bag with his scarf, lol. Apparently when everyone was up, we got told we kept a few of them up (namely Criselda and Tim) because of Jeanora and I tlaking. Haha SORRY GUYS! Morning prayer started at 8am, I think most people were still sleepy, so didn't pay much attnetion to that. Then Mass started at 10am. Half a million people were there at Randwick Racecourse. I wasn't struggling to stay awake, but my energy was running low and I just couldn't focus as much. I was so hungry. UTC (the Americans) left at 12pm to catch their flight to New Zealand. We said our goodbyes, it was a sad moment, but I won't ever forget them! Thanks for signing my bag and I'll be sure to see you guys whenever I'm in Cali. :) Thanks for being an awesome group. The Pope announced that the next WYD would be in Madrid, Spain in 2011. I'M SO THERE. kthxbye |
