Today was yet another day filled to the brim with activities for the Young Mercy Leaders. We began the day by learning a short, easy dance that accompanied our morning readings and prayers. Though the room was a bit small for such a large crowd, it was filled with movement, energy, and eagerness to continue our journey.
Throughout the day, we had several workshops we attended in our small groups. In my group, I attended informative workshops on human trafficking, caring for the earth, Mercy Volunteer Corps, and mindfulness. From there, we had lunch and a break to recuperate before our afternoon and evening activities.
Following our break was our keynote speaker, Sister Mary Kay. She touched on the attributes of Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, integrating student perspectives.
We enjoyed a casual evening as we had a pizza party for dinner and dined with all our new friends. The last activity planned for the night was “Mercy-Factor,” a takeoff of the television show X-Factor. With that, we had a panel of four judges who were almost as comical as some of the performers. As for singers, we had a mix of soloists and group performances. Some truly showed off their talents while others showed their great senses of humor. We had a group of several of our own Carlow students perform in the contest and even managed to come in third place!
As our day at Mercy International came to an end, we headed back to our hostel and stayed up a bit longer to play cards, enjoy some tea or coffee, and just to spend time with each other.
