Friday July 15th was a major turning point in this trip. As I sat in the front seat of an eight-passenger van with fellow student Pauline Talens to my left and then immediately to her left, Claudio Pantaleo, an ordained Franciscan monk from Urbino, I wondered what the day would hold.

After driving for well over an hour, we approached a sign that read Assisi, Perugia, and camping, I knew we were close.Over the radio Pauline and I suddenly heard a song with the lyrics: “I’m going to the promise land.” We looked at each other and smiled. Claudio told us that today would be a day all of us would never forget, and he was right.  When we stepped out of the van and looked across the beautiful view I felt alive.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized what an important and holy place I was in. I felt so fortunate to be able to experience and explore the city with someone who knew it so well and who was very excited to show us around. After Claudio showed us around town and inside several churches, including the amazing Basilica di San Francesco, where St. Francis is buried, he took us to a small church, St. Stephan’s.

Wearily we all climbed down the steps as he opened the door for us. As I stepped inside I felt a cooling burst of fresh air. Many of us sat in the pews to “have a relax moment,” as Claudio would call it while he prepared a short mass for us.  As he came out to give us the mass he said “come closer” to the group of us. He began talking about not worrying and made a reference to Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry.” I closed my eyes and began humming the tune in my head. Once again my troubles melted away. As the mass continued, he told us in his sermon not to worry and not be so serious about things in life.

Spiritual places bring something alive in me. As a Roman Catholic, churches and sacred places such as the city of Assisi give me a calmness that is impossible to put into words ; it must be felt. It is that certain grounded feeling, that can be perfectly explained by something that Claudio said during mass, keep your ”Feet on the ground, heart in the sky.” There were so many amazing beautiful moments that as I close my eyes and recall the day in its entirety I feel completely at peace.