Last week, we went on an excursion to Toledo. Thankfully, high school football trips made me an expert at sleeping on a bus, and the 7 hour car-ride to college has made me an expert at long car rides. With these two powers combined, the trip was pretty painless. Before arriving in Toledo, we stopped at Consuegra in La Mancha to see the Don Quijote windmills. In other words, we drove up to the top of a hill so the girls could take photos of each other looking over the Spanish countryside. But it was still pretty cool. After our quick stop there, it was a short trip to Toledo. As we pulled in front of the city, I learned something incredibly cool: the entire city is surrounded by a wall. This was a legit medieval city, with walls and gates and watchtowers. Having always loved stories with knights and swords and castles, this was pretty awesome for me. One of my favorite stories of that nature is The Lord of the Rings. The day before we left I learned that the swords and the One Ring itself were made in Toledo for the movie trilogy. So for those of you keep count at home:
1. I've been to a location where Star Wars was filmed.
and
2. I went to the town that made the one ring and all the swords used in the Lord of the Rings.
Conclusion: Spain is another circle of nerd-heaven. After checking into our hotel, I immediately went out shopping to see all the LotR stuff I could find in this wonderful city. The first thing I bought was an Anduril letter-opener that has "Toledo" written on it. The second thing I bought was a replica of the ring on a chain. Both things made in Toledo. After winding up and down the narrow and steep, cobble-stone streets of Toledo, we went to the Iglesia de Santo Tome to see a huge painting by El Greco, "El Entierro del Senor de Orgaz". It was much cooler to see this wall-sized painting in person than just as a projection on the whiteboard at school. After going there we went to a monastery, which was also pretty cool. After that we had more free time, so I went to more shops and walked around. The group of people I was with ended up going to the edge of the city right at sunset. Seeing the sunset over the medieval walls of the city was something spectacular that I'll probably never see anything like again. We then continued shopping, and I bought a little "puñal" (too long to be a dagger but too short to be a sword) hand-made in Toledo with certification from the town hall of Toledo. Afterwards, I went back to my hotel to eat a sandwich I had saved for dinner, and then went out with a big group of friends for pizza. I didn't get pizza since I just ate, so I just downed 1.5L of water. I was a bit dehydrated from all the walking and climbing hills.
The next day we went to the cathedral, which was awesome. We got to see another El Grego painting, "El Expolio". Same as before, much cooler in person. After, we got more free time in which I bought some gifts for the family and my traditional magnet for my collection.
What did I learn in Toledo?
Not much about art or culture. Instead I learned something about myself....again. I feel like that's all I ever learn here. Too bad I don't have tests on that instead of grammar. But I learned that whatever I'm passionate about, I can't be afraid to show it. I love LotR. I was so happy when I found a good-looking ring replica for just 10 euros, but I was really hesitant to wear it. In middle and high school when I would do something like that, I just got picked on or made fun of. And yet, many people told me that since I had it, I had to wear it. I thought about it. and I put it on. And I felt great because it was me. I'm glad that the friends I've made here know I love "nerdy" things and just love me even that much more for it, and encourage me to embrace it. I'm not going to let other people's negative opinions affect how I act, or how I define myself, ever again. If someone treats me poorly cause I'm doing something "stupid", "nerdy", or "uncool", well that's just too bad. Their opinion doesn't matter to me, because the people who love me, those who really matter, won't care. This is just from the model that God has set. He doesn't see anything as "nerdy" or "dorky", or "cool" or "uncool", and he loves me whether I like LotR and Star Wars, or whatever might be something "cool". That's just one aspect of unconditional love, the love that we as Christians are called to exhibit. So if you know someone that wants to go to comicon, ask them who they're dressing up as. If you know someone who loves SW, ask them who shot first. How about we just let everyone embrace whatever "nerdy" passions they might have? cause odds are you have one too, and you wouldn't want someone making you feel stupid for having it.
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Pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152332915017578.1073741833.647277577&type=1&l=e688fc0292
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