Church and Churros

Chocolate and churros, again.

I keep promising myself that I won't eat churros every chance I get, but the pastelerias that we pass every time we go, well, anywhere, are too good to pass up. Also, the Spanish tradition of not eating dinner until nine or ten at night leaves me starved a few hours after lunch.  I cannot think of a better indulgence to complement my daily "siesta" than this chocolate treat. In Spanish culture, it is common for most of the city shut down around 2PM so everyone can come home and take a quick nap and eat lunch with their families before continuing the work day. 

However, the fact that our homestay is one of the further ones (a 30+ minute walk to school and the city center) makes me feel a little less guilty about this irresistible part of the culture.

I have been travelling for a week now, having spent two days in Madrid, another day in Toledo, and then finally making it home to Granada. As fun as it has been, I'm so ready to get in a routine. I've taken my placement test, settled into my new home, but I can't still help but feel like I'm merely playing tourist. I'm dying to escape my American group and really live the Spanish life.

I am trying to take in every moment whether it has been through the lense of my camera or just my own two eyes. However, the best blessing I have had in this trip thus far was the day my camera died...

Toledo is the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my entire life. The entire city is protected by a fortress and is Medieval. It is called the city of three cultures because of its Catholic, Islamic, and Jewish influences. It looked like a scene from Lord of the Rings. There are mosques that are now Christian places of worship.

What we know as basic history is reality for these people. Conquests are not something to learn for a test, but what has affected everyday of their lives. 

After snapping a picture with our attractive tour guide, a few landscape shots, and a roomie pic in front of the beautiful country side, my camera decided it was done. I did what any millenial would do in my situation-attempt to use the smartphone my program provided me with, but the zoom did not work and none of my quickly snapped pictures did this city justice. Eventually, I had to accept the fact that here I was in the most beautiful place I have ever seen, without a camera.

At first, I had never been more frustrated. If I cannot Instagram this city, was I even really there? If I cannot share pictures with all my Facebook friends, what is the point? 

Then as I was walking inside the Cathedral of Toledo, the craziest thing happened. I saw the lack of a camera I stood in awe as I listening to the tour guide talk about this singular building took six hundred years to build. I stared at the details in each carving in the wall and the seats in the choir and was speechless for what was probably the first time in my life. 

I was blessed enough to not have the distractions of technology. I wasn't trying to capture the moment with my camera, but rather my mind. I was not worried about saving a memory for later, but rather living it.

The entire experience was so foreign to me...We don't have these opportunities in the U.S.; we don't have anything comparable to the architecture here in Europe. In our two hundred year old country, we do not have buildings that took centuries to build. In our convenience country, we do not build things to last. 

Maybe it was all the religious history or merely the fact that there is something so much greater than myself, but something stirred inside me whilst in that cathedral. I lost track of time and seemed to forget that buildings that are centuries old do not have central air and the chill seemed to overtake the entire building. My mind blurred out the words of the tour guide and I was overcome but the mere existence of such a thing.

My generation, with our smart phones and fast food, does not care that good things take time. We want something, anything, now even if it means that we would have to sacrifice quality. Why take the time to grocery shop and prepare for a nice, home-cooked meal when we could just run to Taco Bell?

As I try to learn the metric system (Why do we not use it in the States?!), a new city and navigate a cultural where people don't smile at strangers, I accept that I will be spending much of my time outside my comfort zone this semester. Then again, isn't that the point of deciding to leave behind everything you know and love to "find yourself" in a foreign country?

Maybe there is so much more to life than the American view of the superiority of efficiency. Maybe not. All I know is that I'm willing to find out.

Hasta luego!

Royal Palace in Madrid

Toledo countryside

Toledo, again!

Obligatory roomie pic

Note from author: Research the cathedral. Though the pictures will never do it justice, you will not be disappointed.

*The picture of the churros and the Cathedral are not my images and I claim no rights to them. They were found using Google Images.