Celebrating Easter in one of the most Catholic countries in the world was an interesting experience. Much of it was familiar due to my Catholic upbringing but some traditions were new.
To start, on Good Friday every business was closed except one emergency pharmacy that one of my roommates parents found (they were visiting for the week). Everything being closed caused a problem when I realized due to traveling recently I had almost no food!
On Saturday a few of the local businesses were open for very limited hours. I believe everything closed by 4 p.m. The grocery store and the Saturday market was filled with tourists and mothers everywhere trying to prepare for the large family Easter meal they were about to cook the next day.
Easter Sunday had my roommates and I, and Angela's parents walking to the Cathedral for mass. It was a shorter service than I expected after experiencing how long mass can run on holy days at my local parish. It was beautiful ceremony and after we grabbed breakfast from a local cafe.
Changing out of my Easter clothes I finished the day off alone because my roommates left for Rome, Florence, Barcelona, Milan, Venice and Sevilla. They have been gone for about 10 days and I don't expect them home for about another 5. I was surprisingly productive though and wrote about 800 words on my final paper for my Literature and Culture: (Post) Modernism class.
A week before Easter I was talking to some of the home students (someone who truly attends the university/Irish student) about Easter. When I mentioned that I had been looking for an egg coloring kit or dye for eggs they asked me if I had fallen on my head recently. Apparently, colorings and hard boiling your eggs for Easter is just an American thing. Instead, when the Irish talk of getting an Easter egg they get an eight inch tall chocolate egg!
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