app history thing woo butts

Today in Florida History: August 28, 1565.

Pedro Menéndez de Avilésm, the great to-be Spanish Conquistador, first laid his iron boot onto the land of Florida. It had been a long journey, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and into that brave New World, where infinite opportunity for great fame or great failure waited. As the crew piled onto the shore there was a buzzing anxiety in the air. How different would this unseen land be from Spain? Were people really living there? And more importantly, how big was the bounty of gold just beyond the horizon?

At least, it went something like that. I was in elementary school, and every month we got a thin, newspaper-esque booklet that told us a tidbit about Florida's history. It was simple, being as it was at the grade school level, but it still managed to captivate my young mind. I can still recall being the only one in my class who would read the papers over and over, taking them home to soak it in even further.

So when the opportunity came up for our class to visit Saint Augustine, it was a no-brainer. From what I can remember, it was fascinating. We visited tons of historical landmarks, like the old Spanish fort, the Colonial Quarter, and the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse. The history of that place is undiluted. Around every corner, there is something, somewhere, to remind you that at this very moment, you are treading on the same soil as those powerful conquistadors, literally ages ago.

Well, at the time, being a seven year old, it didn't mean much to me. I was more concerned with taking pictures of every bare breasted statue in the Lightner Museum. The memories of the latter I kept in a ziploc bag, but the thoughts of the place’s history stuck with me, coming to me when I least expected them. At an elementary school spelling bee, my word was ‘coquina’. When I had to take a history test, I remembered the things I saw in the Colonial Quarter. When.... actually, I don't remember the knowledge I got from the old schoolhouse coming up, but it was still really cool.

I've grown a lot, since I was in the fourth grade, and learned a lot. I'll risk allergies, dust, and the unknown mysterious depths of the stacks to find a great book, to get my hands on something I find interesting. All it took was one trip, to change everything. Like the voyagers of the past, I came to a new world, and experienced history that will follow me for the rest of my life.