Egli è risorto!

He is risen!

As I mentioned in my regular post from yesterday, I attended my first Easter Sunday Catholic mass yesterday. It was quite an experience, but I'm so glad I went.

Since it was raining and we were all tired from Saturday night, I ended up going to mass by myself. After my apartment bailed on me, I realized I would really regret not going to Easter mass in the Duomo (I mean, when will I ever get that chance again?), so I picked up my umbrella again and struck it out alone.

When I got to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, I had a slight panic moment when I couldn't get into the cathedral. I thought maybe I had the wrong time and had missed the last service. I tried all three front doors and all three were locked, with no explanation.

The only people in sight were tourists, so I wandered around to the back door of the Duomo and found a crowd in their Easter best flooding into the cathedral.

I had to go through "security," which was basically two guards questioning everyone who didn't look Italian on why they were there and informing us that the Duomo was closed to anyone not attending mass.

I followed an Asian couple in front of me (since we got questioned at the door together) and sat as close to the front of the sanctuary as I could (about halfway up... it was already packed and I got there about twenty minutes early).

Since I had some time before the service began, I people watched for a little bit, then just admired how mind-numbingly gorgeous the Basilica is. Of all the crazy extravagant churches I've seen in Italy, the Duomo is still one of the most impressive by far.

The organ was playing some familiar hymns as I waited and this - more than anything else this semester - made me feel very homesick. I didn't wish I was home, but it did make me miss Easter at St. Paul's.

Once the service began, it went much like other masses I've attended. It was entirely in Italian, but I was still able to get the gist of things. I could recognize the cadence of the Lord's Prayer enough to recite it in English while listening to the words were recited around me in Italian.

When the priest told the story of the Resurrection, I focused on his words while Pastor Ron's telling of the Easter story played in the back of my mind.

When we stood up for the Passing of the Peace, I shook hands with those around me, answering the congregation's "La pace sia con voi" with my own "And also with you."

All in all, it was a very interesting experience, and I'm so glad I went. There was no way I was going to miss Easter mass in Italia.

I expected this experience to be very different than what I'm used to at St. Paul's and h2o, and it was. It was great though. The only things I really missed (other than being with my families), was the music (there wasn't any at this service, except for the organ before mass) and the congregation. My Catholic roommates laughed when I came home shocked by this, but everyone ran out after the service. I thought maybe it was because there could have been a lot of tourists at this mass, but Bethany and Erika laughed that idea off when I got home. The second mass ended, everyone sprinted for the door. I'm used to the "good-bye tour" lasting at least as long as the service, but I guess that's not the case here.

I did, however, end up talking for a little bit with the couple I sat next to during the service. They had been speaking a foreign language to each other during the service, so I assumed they wouldn't be speaking to me at any point. I was pleasantly surprised though when the wife turned around and said, "So you're American, right?"

I was taken aback and laughed, but we started talking and she and her husband are from San Diego and touring Europe for vacation. I told them about study abroad and we talked a little bit while we waited in line to get out the door.

Crowd departing after mass.

By the time I got home, Bethany and Erika were just about ready to head to dinner. The plan was to meet Kevin and his family, Glenn, and the six-girl apartment for dinner at Gato. However, when we got there, we found that they had ordered without us and not saved us seats. Somewhere along the line, there was a miscommunication and they had thought we were not coming to dinner.

There was no room to sit at their table, so the three of us ended up sitting in another room. We had a good dinner anyhow (I had chicken parm and we all shared a bottle of the house wine) and headed home after.

Today, we didn't have class because of the national holiday. Instead, the three of us and Yelena visited Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens on the other side of the Arno. Bethany and I went to Pitti in the winter before the gardens were open, but this was the first time any of us saw the gardens. The gardens are eleven acres of statues, gardens, fountains, pools, paths, stairways, and more gardens. They are breathtakingly beautiful, overlooking the Duomo, but there is almost too much to see in one day. We spent the whole afternoon there, then got gelato at the Duomo.

Erika, Bethany, Yelena, and me in the Gardens.

Now I have homework to do... We're back to class tomorrow so I need to get back into the school mindset. But at least I had a great weekend and still have a few hours to hang out before I have to talk about communication again tomorrow. And really, I'll still be in Italia, so what is there to complain about?