A couple of months ago, while we were still having to deal with
school, a friend/classmate/church buddy of mine, Matteo, invited me to a
retreat organized by his uncle and attended in part by his youth group
from Perugia. It was to be a mountain retreat with hiking trips and
prayer services, and that was about all I knew but it promised to be
fun. That being said, it took me a while to actually organize things
with my parents, and it was a couple of days before the deadline that I
messaged Matteo to find out what to do with the form. "Don't worry," he
said, "leave it to me. I'm sending you the packing list and I'll put
you in touch with a friend of mine who can answer any questions you
have, given that she's a girl." And that was that.
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| It was a bit hectic and we didn't end up getting a picture together on the retreat, but here's one of when we were in Naples. |
So I
packed up. And, yes, I was a bit nervous, given that I only knew one
person. But with the somewhat necessary pushing of my family and
friends, I did get down to the meeting point and on the bus. The
welcome was immediate. Although Matteo had not yet arrived, I met one
of the chaperones. "Ah, you're the classmate... I'm so glad you're
here!" While I was waiting on the bus his dad came on just to wish
me a great trip. And as soon as all of his friends got there, Matteo
made a general presentation.
Our tour bus stopped in Perugia, where it met up with another one. And after 9 hours of driving (and singing) we arrived at our hotel in Cervinia, an adorable town in the Italian Alps, where two more tour buses from Florence were waiting. In all we were 330 teens, 15 to 19 years old, representing Todi (seven of us), Terni, Perugia, Collevalenza, Florence, and a number of other towns. I have to say that it took me a while to get used to some of the other accents and dialects, particularly the Florentine, which substitutes the hard "c" sound with an "h" and the soft "g" with a "zh"... but by the end of the week I was speaking like a native Florentine (well, maybe not
quite, but at least I understood them).
By the end of the day I had met at least 50 people, every single one of whom remembered my name the next day. I was stuck with saying "um, you..." but they didn't seem to mind too badly. I think my favorite introduction was when one of the chaperones whom I had not yet met turned around, saw me, and promptly introduced me-- by name-- to the young man he had been speaking with. Then he added, "oh, by the way, I'm Maurizio, Matteo's uncle... nice to meet you!"
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| Notice the views from the sports complex of our hotel... |
After having used four entire paragraphs just talking about the time spent to arrive at the hotel, I think that a blow-by-blow account of the following week would take as long as James in the shower when he's singing. So rather than telling you each day individually, I'll just give you an idea of what it was like. We had games-- typical camp games, that exaggerated variety that leaves everyone in hysterics-- comic and religious songs, motivational speakers, various sports (and cards) tournaments... but my favorite was the hiking.
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| The acting that accompanied the comic songs were so entertaining that this song became a recurring theme. |
Remember, we were in the Alps. Hiking in the Alps. In silence, so as not to miss the beauty of it all. That's about all I can tell you, and I'll attach some photos, but no words or images can capture the dizzying sense of wonder upon being surrounded with this astounding creation-- there's definitely a reason they decided to bring us up there for a religious retreat. Oh, and did I mention that we had Mass up there?! During the meditation, they encouraged us to look up rather than down, and rightly so.
Apart from the glorious views, the hiking was fun as a sport in and of itself. It was warm (and very sunny) but not unbearably so, and every time it got a to be a little too much we would douse ourselves in snow. We took three trips, of three to six hours each, one of which involved a ski lift. My personal favorite was a portion of that one, when we reached a
gorgeous lake. Our guide told us we had the option of either resting there for a several-hour lunch or continuing with him on a beautiful but very difficult hike around the lake, about 17 kilometers in two-and-a-half hours, lunch included. He stressed that he only wanted those physically competent to come with him, and though I have to admit that I wasn't
100% positive I was "physically competent" I really, really wanted to go, and so I did. I didn't regret it for an instant. Yes, with all of the steep grades and crossings over snow and streams it was a bit challenging, but
sooooo much fun! And, yes, the views were to die for.
So... long story short, I had an absolutely AMAZING time... I met a bunch of Matteo's close friends, which was fun, and made some friends of my own. I discovered another passion of mine-- hiking-- which, hopefully, I'll be able to do some more of (actually, I already have plans to go with Scouts). I got home and wouldn't shut up for at least an hour.
And it didn't stop there. Yesterday Matteo messaged me, asking if I wanted to go to Perugia with him to see the others. Of course I did, and we spent a fun afternoon all together, singing and generally hanging out. Today I got an invitation from one of our group who's organizing a dinner at his house in August, and we're already talking about going to Florence to visit our new friends there. When they said this was a life-changing event, they really weren't kidding.
I myself didn't take any pictures, as I find it distracts me from really enjoying the experience, but I'm lifting a small sample from my friends' Facebook pages to give you an idea. I hope you enjoy half as much as I did!
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| All of us "seniors" (actually 5th year students) |
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| Apparently Pope John Paul II prayed here. |
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| Every morning we heard the clanging of the cow bells as they made their way up to the mountain pastures. |
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| We actually saw some people going up on skis, as well a mountain bikers and other hikers like us. |
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| Even our lunch was accompanied by singing, which I later found out was heard from the other side of the lake. |
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| Here's the lake we hiked around. |
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| At the very end, we passed in front of the dyke. |
Sorry if it's a photo overload, but it was incredibly hard to narrow down the pictures even to this few!
Eleanor
After having used four entire paragraphs just talking about the time spent to arrive at the hotel, I think that a blow-by-blow account of the following week would take as long as James in the shower when he's singing. So rather than telling you each day individually, I'll just give you an idea of what it was like. We had games-- typical camp games, that exaggerated variety that leaves everyone in hysterics-- comic and religious songs, motivational speakers, various sports (and cards) tournaments... but my favorite was the hiking. 
