A Sunny Weekend in Sevilla

No travels for me this weekend! It has been a beautiful weekend here in Sevilla. The weather has been bright and sunny ever since i stepped foot out of the classroom on Friday. Nothing like a 65 degrees and sunny in the beginning of February!
Thusday Night I went with my friends Copeland and Amanda to a Haiti benefit concert here in Sevilla. We trecked a few miles and eventually found where we were headed! The next (difficult) step was to find somewhere to get something to eat. After about thirty minutes of walking down little streets we eventually found a little pizza shop to stop in and grab a bite to eat....reminds me of our adventures in Paris! After eating, we made our way back to the place the concert was being held. It was really neat to see a concert in spanish! I would say the exact same as watching a band in english except for the language barrier. I am definitely glad we had this experience and that we did a little something to benefit Haiti.
Friday was a great day! I have had the itch to go shopping for a few days now and Friday was my chance. I returned home from class for lunch and then headed into the center on my bike to shop, shop, shop. It was beautiful outside, a great day for some outdoor shopping. I began shopping at siesta and it was kind of nice because there were not a ton of people around. Eventually the streets began to fill and you could tell it was a friday afternoon! For some reason i noticed that there were alot of people walking around with map in hand. I am guessing that people tend to come to Sevilla for weekend trips due to its warmer climate. After a few hours of shopping, i made my way back home. I love walking through the streets in the center in the evening. All the buildings are so beautifully lit, especially the Cathedral! There are so many families out in the streets and people eating in the little cafes. Around this time of day is when the street performers tend to come out also. I dont mind them too much, especially those that play nice music. It is nice to hear as you are walking around. Friday night I was headed out to eat with Copeland and Amanda again. We really don't eat out all that often but decided it would be okay every once in a while because we want to explore the different menus. This way when we have guests come into town we know the good places to eat at! After dinner, we met up with some friends and sat by the river for a glass of wine. It was sooo pretty! We found a spot where not to many people were and hung out for a while before eventually heading in for the night.
Apparently I did not get my shopping fix on Friday because I went out shopping again today...
This time my friend Kaleigh joined me and we ventured into a different part of the center to shop. Once again, it was a beautiful day to be outside. On these kinds of days I enjoy people watching and wandering through town.

On a different note...
As i stated previously my roommate Caroline and I have finally received our SEVici bikes. What an adventure it has been!! I don't even rememner the last time that I rode a bike and forgot how much of a workout it is. I probably look like a fool doing my best to keep up with Caroline and others as we make our way down the street.
Here are some lessons that we have learned with our SEVici bikes:

1. GREAT means of transportation, riding a bike is definitely faster than walking!
We learned this Wednesday when we woke up at 9:15am for our 9:30am class, good thing we had our bikes and made it to class by 9:35!

2. Riding a bike is a different means of exercise than walking, it is likely that the day following the first day that you rode a bike in a long time your butt may be a little sore. I forgot how uncomfortable those seats are....

3. Always make sure that you lock your bike into the rack properly and the rack registers receiving your bike.....or you may end up getting home (2 miles away) and realizing that your bike is not checked in at a bike rack and make your roommate walk with you all the way back to that rack to nudge your bike into place. THEN you can proceed to go home, this process will probably take around an hour.

4. When checking out a bike at a rack be sure of the following: there is air in the tires, the bike has a chain, there are two handles on the bike. If you forgot to do either of the following you will likely get some looks. Maybe it was just our luck that Caroline and I BOTH got bikes without chains and tried to ride them-which does not work, meanwhile two nice looking spanish men looked on and giggled...

5. Once again, make sure your bike has a chain! This is generally something that you want to check BEFORE checking out your bike, OR you will find yourself checking out 3 bikes in a row that don't have chains....By this point you may give up and proceed to walk

6. When approaching a sand pit, don't slow down OR you will find yourself falling over into a construction fence right on the side of a major avenue AND all your school books will more than likely fall out of your basket....At this point your roommate has every right to laugh at you.

7. Make sure that you can reach the pedals on your bike (aka adjust the seat) OR you will find yourself falling off your bike in a major avenue in front of the University of Sevilla and all it's students. By this point you may forget that none of the people you ran into understand "I'm sorry, I'm Sorry!"

8. Avoid riding your bike near people that are talking on their cellphone while riding a bike. They will run into you and act like it is your fault.

9. Riding a bike makes you look more like a local! wohoo! (minus all of the above)

10. People here actually respect the bike lane and move over when you ring your bell.

Caroline and I have had some adventures with our bikes!! We are getting better everyday, one of these days we will be able to ride with no hands down a cobblestone street....