Tuesday, November 10, 2009

AYL


This past weekend I attended the retreat for AYL. AYL stands for Academy for Young Leaders. This was the second retreat that I had attended with AYL. The retreat is always a blast and this year was certainly not a disappointment. As soon as we arrived at the Mount. St. Joseph we immediately got into groups. We have five random groups that we go to throughout the retreat and one of those groups is the group that we will be in for the rest of the year. The first group is probably the most awkward group for many reasons. One reason is that it is about 9:00 in the morning and no one is awake yet. Another reason is that not that many people know each other yet. As the retreat goes on more and more people become outgoing. A third reason is that everyone is afraid to take a large part in the first skit because they are afraid that they are going to look silly. This soon changes as the retreat progresses. Most everyone finally realizes that the sillier you look, the more fun that you will have. After the first group and the first skit the tension almost vanished. In the second group more first year members started volunteering for more things. After the second group everyone had broken out of the shell and no one was shy. The rest of the day was great except for the food. I lived on candy and brownies all weekend. The best part of the retreat is always the Olympics. However this year we had a glow party before the Olympics. A glow party is where we all dressed up in white t-shirts and signed our names one each other's shirts in highlighter. Black lights had been placed in the gym and our shirts glowed. The Olympics were also a lot of fun this year. However, it was very sad because my team lost by one point. Winning the Olympics gives you bragging rights for all year and sadly this year my group doesn´t have that. The retreat always ends with people signing a piece of paper on your back and when everyone is done you can take it off and read what everyone has written about you. I really enjoyed this years retreat and I can´t wait for the rest of the meetings. I love coffee!!!

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