Went to mass today. It was kind of weird. Can I say that? Whatever. Anyway, considering that there are at least three churches within a five-minute stroll from my house, I chose not to repeat my Catedral confusion of last weekend and aim a little lower to go to a small, local church. I chose Capilla de San Lorenzo, which is in a plaza about two minutes from my house. First of all, it took me way too long to find the entrance because, for whatever reason, there is another Catholic church in the exact same plaza. They are so close together that they are literally touching. It is just like when gas stations pop up next to each other, competing for the most patronizers. This made for way too many big wooden doors on the plaza. When I finally found the one I was looking for, I walked into the church. At this point, it was about 7:25 and mass would be starting at 7:30. Given this, I was somewhat surprised at the amount of kids running around and people snapping pictures. Was I mistaken? Was this church no longer fit to hold mass and just there to mark history? Thankfully, this was not the case; I saw an older couple take a seat in the pews and followed their lead. I waited for the rest of the congregation to arrive. Well, it is now about twenty minutes after the mass has ended, and I am still waiting. As someone who has only attended churches with at least 100, typically more, people at a mass, I was not a fan of being a part of a congregation this small. Overall, there were about ten of us present, not including the tourists snapping pictures who would come and go as they pleased throughout the mass. Sounds distracting? Perhaps, but I was already distracted. The other thing that I was not a huge fan of was how this entire church was literally shellacked in gold and silver. Though I imagine this technique had the awe-inspiring effect it was going for back at this church's inception, it kind of just looked gaudy to me. Truthfully, I spent most of the mass captivated by a ten-foot-tall Jesus figurine who appeared to be holding a life-size aluminum spatula and a glittering snowboard. I really liked the father who said mass (as in I could understand most of what he said), but I don't think I will be returning to this one. While that may sound pessimistic of me, I am actually pretty excited about it. I've decided I'm going to try a new church every week, because what I am looking for is the feeling that I get when I am at the Villanova masses. This church was nice, it was a house of God, it had good people in it, but it just didn't do it for me. Especially because there was no singing. Next week I might try the convent around the corner, or maybe the university. Part of me hopes I don't find my favorite church too fast, because I am excited to visit different ones and compare them. Am also looking to get back into running in the next coming week. I don't have class until six, and I should really take advantage of it. Tomorrow I am going to Cordoba! It has a cathedral inside a mosque and one of only two synagogues in Spain. And hopefully good shopping.
Pictures below:

239. Orange trees EVERYWHERE, literally EVERYWHERE
287. The baths at Real Alcazar, a palace in Sevilla.
224. Climbed a tower in the Cathedral, saw this.
198. This is the Catedral. Just to give you some idea of how absolutely massive this place is. It's the third largest cathedral in the world!