at the end of the beginning

...deep in thought at Corinth...

It's 1:24am. My body still hasn't grown accustomed to the time in Australia, and I have no idea how on earth I'm gonna get up at 6:30am for my 9am class. Eww... uni!

I've just finished uploading all my WYD pics. My laptop got reformatted just before I left for Europe, so I'm in the midst of reinstalling MS Office and Hello, so I can share with you some of my strange visual moments. Atm my desktop pic is a group shot at the very top of the island of Tinos, where we had mass at a small but very pretty Sacred Heart Chapel... The sky is blue in the background, and everyone looks like they just jumped into the shot at the last moment - which they did.

Today I woke up at 1pm. I didn't even have to try sleeping in - it just happened. I'd woken up at 6:30am with a start... almost like I'd awoken from a nightmare. I realised I was in Australia, that it was still Winter and that there was no way I was getting up without having to, so I crawled back under my blanket and allowed my alarm clock to sound out "Vindicated" by Dashboard until 1pm. That's about... 3 hours worth of snooze time... Hahaha...

The boys were right - I did end up finishing my WYD journal. Each page is packed with descriptions of what I experienced, what I felt, what I saw, names of the amazing people I met... and so on and so on. I was scared to admit how much I missed my fellow travellers, but Edz called today and asusured me that missing everyone wasn't lame at all. There was something disconcerting about waking up in my own room to such a quiet place. Being in my own bed and looking out my own window was weird... and it might sound strange, but my heart actually aches when I reminisce over everything that just happened. Even now, as I listen to 104.1FM, they're playing the tunes we were all singing on Bus 2. *sigh*

My heart is aching for the Summer sky, the clatter of cutlery on plates, the laughter of young people, the accent in the voices of Fr Dennis and Jose-Miguel, the sound of Vincent's voice calling us to hurry up, the feeling of not having to think about uni readings, tax returns, mobile phone bills and cleaning the bathroom.

I really believe the bonds we built, the places we saw, the hours of experience, and the jokes that were shared are all etched into the fabric that holds together my life. Can you tell? I'm having sentimental withdrawal symptoms!

The faces of fellow pilgrims keep flashing in my memory... especially those who shared the music, jam sessions and laughter in the back few rows of our pilgrim bus. And even the girls who were in our classroom at the Eric Gutenberg Business College... all people I miss so much already.

I have an enormous pile of clothes to fold.. Last night was my attempt to organise my life (a failed attempt, mind you)... and it was a strange feeling. Somewhat surreal to be honest.

I guess the next adventure is just beginning - trying to put into practice all that was learnt from the World Youth Day Experience... which will be hard, because there was so much that was packed into one single day that I don't even know where to begin.

But here's a small snapshot of life as it unfolded from Athens to London. =)

...waiting to board our 24hour flight to Singapore/Bahrain/Athens on GULF AIR...


Athens is known for the Olympics... so here it is!!


modelling the ancient ruins near the plaka @ the ancient AGORA


paddling at the shore of the Aegean Sea - the same place St Paul departed Corinth for Ephesus...


my favouritist place ever - the House of Mary just north of Ephesus...


ancient latrines... just like in the history books!

Poland - change of weather and change of atmosphere... is this the most space-ship-like church you've ever seen or what?!


Shrine of saint & martyr Maximillion Colbey @ Auschwitz...


outside the house of the late JPII


on the streets of Brno - stopover & mass at the first city in Czech Republic


Prague at night.... WOW


just a fraction of the crowds at Cologne Cathedral...


Marenfeld... the REAL WYD


My Ashton Kutcher ice-cream salesman (check out his Tshirt)


Paris by day...


...Ancient Rome...


art at the Vatican...


...And finally - my mates Paul & Stephen at Buckingham Palace...

And that's not even half of it... you'll hear more about it later. But for now... enjoy the snaps.

Missing... Alessandro Palace in Rome/the nice bus-driver in London/cute guy who played Galileo in "We Will Rock You"/all the priests who joined us at pilgrimage/Bus 2 travellers/the busking session on the boat to Tinos/all the jam sessions at the back of the bus/worshipping with everyone on the deck of MS Perla/taking stupid photos in the middle of the night at Marenfeld/playing cards in room 202 at Acropol Hotel/EJs riddles/Nereus and his swabs of Listerine/Edwin's shoulder and MP3 player/the German "backerie" that gave us shelter in the rain/Mass everyday/having people to wake up with and go to sleep next to/waking up to a new view and new country every few days/Summer/ancient ruins/the Pope =)/everyone in Vincent's group/our Baby Alpha group/squatting at toilets (not!! I do NOT miss that)/discovering love/discovering faith/discovering God/discovering prayer/carefree adventure... *sniff*