I went to a Spanish Catholic Mass today in La Iglesia Magistral with my roommate. We thought the service started at 11:30, when in reality, it started at 11, so we arrived almost 35 minutes late. Mass in such a huge church was interesting, but more interesting is seeing mass in Spanish. Even though we only caught the last twenty minutes, I noticed some similarities and differences between this and the Catholic Mass of my childhood. There was a lot of standing, the Our Father was said (in Spanish!), and we shook hands with our neighbors and wished them peace (La Paz). The differences included people talking in the church a lot, no choir, no hymnals, and the priest led us all in what seemed to be a children's song about Jesus, including hand motions.
Jesus... está en tí, está en mí, está en todos mis hermanos...
Also, even though there is this giant, three story practically, beautiful organ, no one was playing it at any point. I was kind of disappointed with that. I'd like to go back at the correct time and sit through the whole thing someday because it was a really interesting experience. The Spaniards are supposed to be serious about Catholicism, even though the majority don't feel that it is necessary to attend church every week or pray before dinner or anything.
The door to the church. This is only the top 1/3 of it. It's a huge door.
Yesterday was an okay day. I didn't really do much. I meant to do a lot of homework, but didn't really get around to it. I talked with my parents a bit on Skype and it was really nice. Last night, I went out with a couple of people. We went to what seemed to be a Mexican restaurant (in Spain) and I had a glass of wine. I hate that all there is to do here really is spend money. Every day I throw money somewhere or another. It's only really a euro here and a euro there, but it adds up and I try to never spend unnecessary money if I can help it. But the night was fun. We hung out in a small plaza near the church with what appeared to be 15 and 16 year olds getting very drunk, empty bottles strewn everywhere, until they began throwing fireworks, which was really more annoying than anything. But I had a lot of fun with the people I was with. All the group members are really nice and as far as I know, no one has been fighting or anything.
Today, I guess I'm a little depressed. I'm mostly sick of the food. It's not bad food, but it's not flavorful, it's not enjoyable to eat. Typically, I'm not gagging on it, but being forced to stuff yourself with food that isn't wonderfully delicious gets old pretty fast. I miss home food. And I miss Tom. I can't remember the last time our schedules corresponded so that we could talk for any length of time. The time difference is hard.
Well, I should probably work on my homework, although I might just take a nap. It's raining here and that always makes me sleepy.
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