YE Festival 2013: I love to live for this stuff

In 2007 when I was asked to attend the Prague festival I was not in a position to go. After being involved in our movement for years and having been to international experiences that helped shape who I was, I had turned my back on the YMCA in favour of a hedonistic passage into my 20's, I was doing my own thing and that was that.

In the weeks after that festival, friends who returned were beaming from their week in the Czech Republic, seeing friends old and new and experiencing something that perhaps they couldn't fully put into words. I knew I had missed out.

Some years later things had become hectic for me in London, I was working in a job going nowhere with no real qualifications to draw on so I decided to leave London and come back to Newcastle. On my second day "home" I paid a visit to my old YMCA and spoke to my youth worker about volunteering and getting back into youth work. A few meetings that flew over my head and a chance conversation later, I landed a job in YMCA England and have been involved in the movement ever since and now work for Y Care International as well as being part of ILP and GLYN.

When the time and opportunity came to attend the 2013 Prague festival, I signed up. I was sure that I wouldn't miss out this time.  So after looking though the photos and reliving the experience that happened just a few weeks ago, I've realised I live for this stuff. I love to live for this stuff. I’m not going to give you a day by day account but more of the feeling I took from the festival.

A typical day might consist of seeing an old friend who has been nothing but a status update or an uploaded photo for the past five years and finally hugging them and catching up. On my way to lunch I’d maybe see a young group of Colombians facing off on a basketball court against a group from the US. If I got thirsty, I’d throw some shapes and get a refreshing mocktail from the Calypso bar. If I needed a pick me up I’d head over to the café and get a quick espresso and find myself chatting to the wonderful and industrious team. And on any given day I’d side step countless faces recognising me as "the Y's best talent guy", I mean not everyone said hello but sometimes seeing a celebrity in the flesh can phase people...they're only human ;)

In seriousness this festival has embodies the YMCA, sure we are in a bubble, sure it's sunny and it's a great time but something nuanced is threading through all of this. Some collective spirit, being on the same page, being supportive of each other, that all comes from an innate human nature and doesn't stop or start in the festival.

I understand now why those friends in 2007 couldn't put into words what they had experienced in Prague, because I can't quite either. But everyone feels something. Perhaps the reason we have a shared and mutual sense of our lives being altered is that through this experience, we see the world in a different way and so in turn we see ourselves in a different way. We don’t have to describe it. Just know that new possibilities await, possibilities that transcend culture or language. Keep the momentum going. I'll be looking out for that young Robbie who doesn't think it's for them and telling them that they missed out. 

Particular thanks to

The teenage Russian rock band on the Forest Stage
Cedric dancing like a mad man in cross bar
Tom and Ian smashing countless Big Macs
Vladi directing me and Y’s Best Talent
Ken making me us like a giant
Ben wearing that bandanna and just being himself
Romulo dressing up as a Village Person who doesn't really exist (seriously.. where is the sailor in the YMCA video?!)
The thunderstorm
You