Liberty LEADS retreat and the Senior Mass

I just came back from the last Liberty LEADS retreat ever. We were up at Clearpool in Carmel, NY. It was interesting. Of course, Emmaus trumps any retreat ever. But this one was cool. It was definitely better than previous I-Lead retreats because people took things seriously. I def. wished that I had taken advantage of everything that I-Lead have to offer. Honestly, so much went on that I'm not in the mood to write all down. But I'll just start and hopefully finish at a later time.

On this retreat, I had intended to write more post-its to put on the lockers at school. During the bus ride there, Meh-run saw me with them and asked me if I was the one who put them on the lockers. I said no. Then she goes,

"What idiot would do that?"

Jen - "Do what?"

Meh-run - "Some person put post-its on the locker saying 'God loves you Jesus will save you...'"

That kind of hurt. Like, ow! I was called an idiot x) This what I wrote on two post-its after she said that:

lmbo! Wow God. I was just called an idiot. So now I know how Meh-run feels about the post-its. She doesn't know it's me, of course I denied it. But we'll see where this goes. Of course not everyone would be receptive to this. I have to understand that from now. And I CANNOT let it discourage me. Lord, please send help. 4/23/10

The next day it was brought up and she said the person was an idiot again. She wasn't saying it maliciously but it was still hurtful. I told her I thought it was cute and she said it was, but it was mad random. So that kind of settled me. Like, it seems as though the reason why she said this person (hah hah, me) was an idiot was because the action was random. But I'm wondering if it goes deeper than that. Hmmm...

So, the first activity Friday night was of course, Libations. That's the one where everybody says a word of thanks to someone who has helped them and pours water into the plant (this time we had a ladle). It was pretty intense. People had stories, deep stories. They made me want to stick everybody on an Emmaus retreat xD. Luis's, Jeffrey's, Brian's, and Emmanuel's stories were very touching. Mariano's dedication to Brandon Medina was touching too. Libations has never been run like that before.

So, at the end of the night, I gave Luis a big hug and told him how much I appreciate the fact that he is alive. The next day, I told Brian that I am happy he's alive too. Very happy.

Friday night after the Libations exercise, Mariano and I did origami. We made a seal. Well, he really made it; after step 3 or so I could not match the paper to the picture xD. We named him Klutz, after the company who made the book. Klutz - Gender: Male. Birthday: April 23, 2010 around 10:50 pm. lol. He let me keep him too it was cool. Daytona and Igor helped out too. It was cool.

So that was Friday. I mean, the only other thing I can say is that we were all tight because dinner was Tostitos with salsa. But Friday was cool.

I'll talk about Saturday and Sunday at a later date.

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On a different note, Friday was also the Senior Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was a very good mass! Archbishop Timothy Dolan gave a great homily about our identity in Christ. Gave me some material to use for my post-its xD. But it was great. And it was cool seeing my classmates from other high schools. Mariano gave a speech of gratitude to the Archbishop. He was so good! Nataly and Marc-Anthony were participants in the mass too. I saw Shani, Crystal, Reginna, Luis, Gustavo, and Preston after the mass. And when I say "saw" I mean talked to. I saw others there.

It was a great mass. And Seniors got their senior privileges back for their behavior during the mass. Nobody sang any of the songs though. In my section anyway. That was bummer.

Yeah, all I must say.

~Janell

College!

I came back from a four-day college tour last night, and I'm really excited to go to college! The colleges we looked at were Princeton, Temple, Bryn Mawr (an all girls school), University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Villa Nova, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, American University, Dickinson, and Lafayette. Geez, that was a lot. Three colleges per day and then two on the last day. I'm grateful for the experience though. I went with I-LEAD and made memories with Crystal and Adeola, even Michael, Nataly, Jennifer, lol, Timothy (Brown Sugar!). It was fun. The only downside I'd say there was was the rain on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tours in the rain were not fun -_-. Anyway, I got a lot from this tour. I realized what my preferences are and what I'm looking for in a college. I really want to go to UPenn. Oh my gosh, it was so exciting. I want to go to a school in the city, or very near to the city, but I don't want to go to one that is the city itself. Like Temple, or NYU where you don't get the feeling of a campus. It's just buildings everywhere. I'm not writing off NYU yet though, I'm taking a class there this summer and I'll see how I like it. But UPenn was amazing. They had a billion different things you could do in terms of clubs and activities and there's a place for everyone. They said that a student even decided to create Students Without A Cause, which was a group of students who had no cause and went around protesting other people's clubs XD. It died out, but I think it's so cool that that was even allowed to be established. I mean, the thing I love about UPenn is that they don't limit you, in terms of what you want to major in or what clubs you want to create. They give you so much freedom. Another great thing is that it's not a party school, but I know I'll have total fun. And best of all, it's an IVY League school! It's known as a social IVY because they have so much fun. But it's balanced. Temple was a party school, like, I know if I go there, I'll get no work done. There's so much to do there, and that's good, except I feel like there'd be no one stop me from having too much fun. To encourage me to get my work done. At UPenn, because it's an IVY League school, everyone's focus is academics and everyone is striving to reach their goal. The fun comes second. Another great thing, I can graduate debt-free. They will meet 100% of my need. Argh! I want to go! XD And the awesomest thing is that I have a fighting chance. If I keep my head on straight, I could be so in there! I can't wait. I can't freakin' wait. God, please can I go to this school? Please? Anyway, if I'm not lazy later on, I'll talk a little more about the other schools we visited. Ta ta!