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Fourth Year Retreat 2010 – Ennismore Retreat Centre
Congregated in the GPR at ten to nine on the first day of spring, St. Brigids Day, our year group were very keen to get on the bus for our 4th Retreat so far at Sacred Heart. Year Head Mrs Gilbert and Principal Ms Brosnan gave us a warm send off reminding us to have a great day together, which we did. After just over an hour journey on the bus to St Dominics Retreat Centre in Ennismore we all stretched out our legs and were greeted to a lovely hot cup of tea and plate of biscuits…just what we needed. The staff were very generous offering us all top ups and more biscuits, a really nice way to start off the retreat. The group was then divided up, one half went with the Director of the Centre, Martina and the other half including myself went with Nuala and Ann. These 2 members of staff were very warm and welcoming towards us making the group feel comfortable and right at home. We started off making a list of what expect to learn from the day including, relaxation, prayer and respect. Then we continued by introducing the person next to us and saying a few things about there personality and ambitions. It was lovely to hear about other girls in the year, we all learnt something new about everyone. We then wrote our name on a slip of paper and put it in a box then chose a different person in the group from the box to be our “Anam Cara” for the day, “Soulfriend”. We had to make an effort to be friendly and nice to that person for the rest of the day, trying not to make it obvious that you chose their name. Nuala then separated us once more and one half of us followed Ann and the others stayed sitting with Nuala. With Nuala, we discussed the subject of self- awareness and choices, this was my favourite part of the day, the part I found most enjoyable and relatable. Nuala spoke about how having as positive attitude and being able to say no was so important, to have the confidence and self-belief to say no when you want to and when you feel something is wrong. I found myself constantly nodding as she spoke, relating to what she was saying. Nuala also asked us one by one to share the qualities of a person close to us. One that springs to mind with me was a student saying about her best friend “I just love her, you can tell her anything and she is always there when you need her”. I thought it was so nice for every one to openly share there feelings about there friends, it brought everyone a little bit closer.Our time with Nuala was then complete and we swapped places with the other half of the group and were now with Ann until Lunchtime. Our time with Ann was time given to express ourselves in a more visual way rather than vocal. We were each given a sheet of blank paper and lots of paint and crayons between us, we were told to express ourselves on the page using the paints provided. The page was then passed to the left and all the way around the group until you got your own back. We drew about each member of the group on their sheet as they were passed around, this was very enjoyable and really nice idea. When we each got back our sheets it was hilarious reading back and guessing what person said which. The smell of fresh rolls filled then room, Lunch was calling our name. We bombared our way into the Lunch room where we each we given a bread roll and a generous bowl of delicious vegetable soup, one word…amazing. We were so thankful for it as no one felt like eating there own lunch after seeing what the centre had prepared for us, it was so generous. More tea was then served…life couldn’t have gotten any better.
No talking..just eating. When we were stuffed to the brim with the homemade soup we took a stroll to see the remarkable mural on the back wall of the Centres Main Building. The mural was so colourful and full of detail, everybody was in awe of it. We returned then to Nora and Ann, our group were reunited once more. We participated in a meditation for fifteen minutes which made everyone very relaxed and it was nice to have some time to reflect on the day and ourselves also. For the last fifteen minutes of the day we each lit a nightlight for our “Anam Chara” revealing to everyone who our “soulfriend” was, this was such a lovely way to end the retreat, everyone was very positive and thankful leaving Ennismore hoping to return there again soon. I would recommend this Centre to students of all ages, everyone said they would to return again for another visit. __________________________________
2010-02-09
