Day 1, Sat 23/6 The journey down, was a very pleasant one, with only the exception of the traffic in the centre of Paris – although the traffic was moving (slowly) most of the time, the drivers would not give gaps for you to pull into, rather if you saw a gap, you had to jump into it... that's French drivers for you.
We arrived at Taizé at about 5pm (local time), making the journey about 12 hours in total, including stops. There was a brief introduction we were given, followed by buying a meal card for just Saturday evening / Sunday morning (since they expect most people to arrive & leave on a Sunday).
Once that was sorted we had half an hour to pitch our tents before dinner at 7pm... which we managed, just.
After this, the evening became a little muddled, since we were new, with the talk given in the evening being pretty difficult to follow, being broken up every few seconds to allow the other translations to be read etc.
A very beautiful service of light followed this, with candles being lit towards the end.
All in all, a tiring and sunny day.
Day 2, Sun 24/6
Had a very pleasant shower this morning, being nice and warm with good pressure, although mighty cold when you step out!
The welcome / introduction and signing up to bible study groups / work groups was an entirely confusing task, although once done, it was out of the way.
Made the first friends of the week today – Luke & Tanya from Aberdeen pitched their tents next to ours (since it looked like a good spot, not knowing we spoke English also) and so we introduced ourselves etc. Kate and Steph (?) came over also from nearby having heard an English conversation.
Overnight – joy of joys, torrential rain and strong winds which lead to myself not getting much sleep :(
Day 3, Mon 25/6
Had the fun of discovering only two out of the six showers in the block closest to the tent had working locks, although the other shower block (a stones throw away) had plenty of showers and the water stayed warm again, despite other people we've met complaining of their showers going stone cold at the end!
Had the first work group this morning – oh what fun cleaning toilets is... and having to sing a song about it before starting also :S
There was also the first bible study meeting in the afternoon. Despite the talk with the whole group being not overly interesting, when split up into smaller groups, I found the group I was in pretty good, with all members wanting to participate in the questions given etc.
Day 4, Tues 26/6
Another night of thunderstorms and high winds, lead to more lack of sleep, meaning that the day was not enjoyed as much as it could've been.
Day 5, Wed 27/6
With much better sleep, today was a lot more enjoyable.
Took some group shots of our smaller bible study group, since it was Tony's last day and after that I met up with some of the Keele university group that were there also. Although they seem a little mad, they also are a good laugh – must try and spend some more time with them to get to know them.
After afternoon tea, I went down to the 'source' with Tanya, whilst it wasn't raining! It is very beautiful down there, which kinda needs an afternoon to sit around and enjoy it (well, in the sunshine ideally) rather than an hour.
Day 6, Thurs 28/6
Spent most of the afternoon with the Keele uni lot to try and get to know them a little better. Also had some very interesting discussion with the smaller bible study group. I can't believe there's only one day left...
Day 7, Fri 29/6
A very pleasant and enjoyable day – went to Cluney for lunch and to look around the remains of the abbey, with the Brighton university chaplaincy lot, on a beautiful sunny day (at last!). The smaller bible study group meeting was quite similar to the day before, basically carrying the same topics on, rather than doing what the day's worksheet said...
Day 8, Sat 30/6
Going home day :( Got packed before going to morning prayers / breakfast, with the exception of the tent, which was still damp from the dew. Said my goodbyes to the new friends and gathered some email addresses to hopefully stay in touch.
Got the tent down fairly quickly after breakfast and headed over to the cars.
The journey back was much the same in France, with the exception of Doris, Fr. Colin's GPS getting stuck when he took a wrong turn. So we followed John (Cleese, on my tomtom) after that, which took a slightly different route, cutting off a corner somewhere when getting onto the A16. Got to the ferry with plenty of time and despite being told of about a 10 minute delay, left France pretty much on time.
Now back in England, we were greeted by fog and rain, making a rather hairy journey back, with a detour due to a nasty accident on the M20 although getting home around 11:30, making the journey about 13 hours.
Overall a very much enjoyed week, despite the bad weather for the first half of the week and many new friends made and hopefully kept, with the possibility of seeing them again this time next year.