Sunday Funday

Today's a new day and I have completed a full week in this beautiful country. This morning  was different for me as I'm used to waking up for Sunday School and going to church with my family; it almost made me become homesick but I didn't let that feeling stay long. At 8:45am PLC and I took a bus ride to Cortona where we were able to experience the beautiful cathedral overlooking the city, an ancient fortress, and many other shops. My favorite part of the experience was getting to see the beautiful church full with depictions of Christ's death and miracles being performed. The Corinthian style columns were meticulously and strategically placed. The ceilings were breathtaking. I could imagine being distracted by the artwork while the preacher is giving the homily. While sitting on one of the pews, I just began thinking how I couldn't fathom how much time was spent painting and concentrating on such an important job; I'm curious as to how long it took to for the artist or artist to complete their work. I left the Cathedral appreciative of the artwork and thankful for the downhill walk, because the trip from the city to the top was quite the workout (It totally reinforced my expectation for calves of steel by the time I leave). After leaving the church I explored  many shops and had lunch. I wish I had more time to explore Cortona. After returning to Arrezzo from the day run, I went to mass with my roommate Sarah. Although I am not Catholic, I felt as though it would be important in supporting her decision to go alone and would also expose me to a new point of view on faith and order of service. This experience was not intended to change my Christian denomination but an opportunity to see more art and culture. Initially the service was hard to follow as I just followed Sarah's lead and she was confused as well. We arrived and there was some sort of service going on, in Italian. We had no idea what was being said but it is our willing hearts and open mind that the holly spirit honors for even having the mindset to attend a service. Come to find out we went to the wrong church expecting service to start at 5:30 but this specific services started at 6.  It was a funny memory we had made together and a learning opportunity for me.  Once mass concluded, we had group dinner and my day was completed....right after I bought some arachide flavored gelato (snickers peanut butter flavored). I'm looking forward to this last full week of activism and art.