Personal Highlights of 2012

Well, it's already 2013. (It feels so strange when I have to write down the date. I'm not used to it, yet.) It's time to look back on the last year. But actually, I don't really remember what happened. Not because I was the entire year drunk, nor because I have amnesia. There were just so many events that my head is full of them and I can't tell which happened which year. I'm spending my third year at the grammar school and this period just flew away. Time runs very fast, I'm already getting an adult person in April! But when I ask myself the question what my best experience was the previous year, I answer immediately: TAIZÉ!

Probably you're wondering now what I am talking (or writing) about. If you are, you'll get the answer soon, but if you're not, I'm glad to hear that because that means you were there or you have heard about it.

The Taizé Community is an ecumenical monastic order in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. It is composed of rather more than a hundred brothers, from Protestant and Catholic traditions, who originate from about thirty countries across the world. It was founded in 1940 by Brother Roger Schutz. The community has become one of the world's most important sites of Christian pilgrimage. Over 100,000 young people from around the world make pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work. - says Wikipedia. But when I think of my answer "TAIZÉ" I mean a 2-week-long trip across Europe. It was organised by the church last summer and it lasted from 26 July until 8 August. So, how does a pilgrimage become a trip across Europe? Ours was like this: we had been travelling for three days to Taizé by bus, then we stayed there for a week, and then came again the 3-day-long journey back to Subotica. This may sound a bit complicated and maybe you think that three days spent in a bus is boring and a terrible experience, but it wasn't like that! The best thing was that on our way in both directions we made stops at beautiful cities like Vienna, Paris or Rome. Yes, we were sitting pretty much in the bus at nights, but in the daytime we were visiting these amazing places. Now I'll try to sum up the whole trip briefly, but I don't promise it will be truly short.

In the beginning of our journey the bus was quite quiet (wow, I like how it sounds!), because we didn't really know each other and everyone had his own fellowship whom he spoke with. Our first stopping-place was Vienna. We got off the bus at Schönbrunn Palace. Even if I had been there before, I really enjoyed being there. We could choose between visiting the palace and the zoo. I chose the zoo as I had seen the palace the last time I was there. There were lots of nice animals, such as penguins, lions, giraffes, elephants, zebras, panda bears, various reptiles, insects and I could go on forever. Beside this, near the palace there were delightful gardens with sculptures, fountains, ponds and a Gloriette.

Our second destination was Paris. It was truly breathtaking. We visited all of the most important sights: the Louvre, the Notre Dame, the Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe and my favourite: the Eiffel Tower. I just can't explain how beautiful everything was.

Then came Lyon. We climbed a hill to see the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, but it was worth it, because from there we could see the whole city. Even if I don't remember the other sight's names the architecture of Lyon was brilliant. I was shocked. In a good way.

Finally, we reached Taizé. The week we spent there seemed to be very short because our days were roughly the same. We had three prayers, two small group discussions and five meals daily. In addition, I undertook the washing-up twice a day. Yes, it's work, but I'm not lying when I tell that in my opinion it was the biggest fun to do at Taizé. We did the washing-up in groups of 4-6 people. In the beginning it was a peaceful event, but after a day or two the water fights began. We got dripping wet every single day. But it was really entertaining. During the "work" I got to know many teenagers from many countries, for example from the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Germany, Australia and so on. In the evenings we went to a place called Oyak, where the people were playing the guitar (or any other instruments) and singing.  People there were very friendly and sociable. I almost cried when we had to move on.

On the way home we stopped at Monte Carlo. Well, that's what I call luxury! Everything was so modern and expensive. There were dozens of sport cars and yachts. I was hoping that I would meet one of the famous people who live there, for example Novak Djokovic, but unfortunately I had no luck with that. We took a swim in the Mediterranean Sea and visited the Hotel de Paris, the Circuit de Monaco (where the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix takes place), the Prince's Palace of Monaco and of course the Monte Carlo Casino. 

The last city we visited was Rome. I saw the most famous places like the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Castel Sant'Angelo, the Roman Forum, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the Piazza del Popolo, the Trevi Fountain and the Altare della Patria. I was enchanted by the ancient Roman buildings and felt happy when I managed to understand a title written in Latin.

When we arrived home I felt happy and sad at the same time. But this experience was truly the best thing of my life. I hope that I'll get the opportunity to visit Taizé again.
[Rita, one of my classmates also wrote about her experiences. You can read it here.
The other nice thing which happened last year was a great weekend in Budapest. About that event you can read in Natalia's blog, here.]
PS: I hope you like the pictures.:)