Ronda De Capuchinos

Brace yourself...LOTS of pictures ahead!

Sevilla is divided into lots of different barrios, or neighborhoods.  My neighborhood is called Ronda De Capuchinos.  Today my roommate and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Last night, our tutor (a Spanish person that is basically paid to be friends with us while we're here) showed us that we live about 3 blocks away from the Parliament building, which we didn't even know existed. Today we figured we'd get out there and see what else we've been missing!

First up: Comfort food :) I'd be lying if I said we haven't snuck down to Domino's  after a particularly interesting Spanish meal. (just once!)

The Parliament building! It is freaking HUGE. This statue was out front.  I figured there was some sort of symbolism to it...and usually Arch would explain whatever deep meaning this has to me because he's smart like that, but he is far away so I just took a picture and moved on.

There is a fenced in park with paths and trees and such around the building, the gates were open so we went on in:

I think this one is my favorite...palm trees on the roof?? So legit.

Can you find me?

We love this little green man.  On EVERY intersection (even teeny ones) there is a light that tells you when to walk.  BUT WAIT, it gets better! The little man starts out walking, then he starts walking faster, and then he starts sprinting as fast as his little lighted up legs can go to tell you to hurry before you get smashed by a bus!! We wanted to take a video of him, but the driver of said bus wasn't very patient,  so we just took a quick picture:

La Macarena.  I honestly don't quite understand the importance of this archway/picture, but apparantly it has some sort of religious significance.  I need to put it on my list of things to Google.  Tons of people come to see it during Holy Week.  

These are the city walls.  They were built in the first century(ish...I'm not 100% sure that's correct...I may have been playing Sudoku on my phone when this was covered in my History of Spain class).  Basically they were built to keep the Moors out of Sevilla. The lower level would be full of soldiers with swords and shields, and the soldiers at the top level would have arrows and spears.  It actually ended up working and the city was only taken after the Moors put the city under siege and cut off all of its resources.  Rude.

The walls are gigantic!

Helmet store!  Mopeds are all the rage over here.

I LOVE this hotel.  So beautiful.  It's a lot more yellow in real life.

You can swipe your credit card, grab a bike, and ride it around town until you find another bike station.  They are everywhere in Sevilla!

One of the highlights of my week? Chelsea (the roommate) bought PEANUT BUTTER!!!!!!!!!!  Peanut butter is by far my favorite food, even though Arch insists that it is a condiment and cannot be my favorite food.  Whatev.  We hide it in our closet so our host mom doesn't find out we have food in our room.  We dip little chocolate ositos (teddy grahams!) into our contraband peanut butter whenever we need a snack...mmmmm delish :)

AHHH this the longest blog post on earth!!

Exciting things that have happened recently:

(Which could also be titled: Reasons I am spending WAY too much money)

1)  I booked a flight to Rome over Holy Week!  I am planning to holla at the Pope and see the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the colosseum, Trevee Fountain, and so much more!  I would also like to take a few day trips (by train) to Naples and Florence.  

2)  I signed up with a company called We Love Spain for a trip to Morocco on the weekend of February 19th!  I am most excited to ride a camel, obviously.  I am least excited to be scared of being kidnapped, which apparently happens there occasionally.  haha JUST KIDDING MOM!  The company that is taking us is going to put us up in fancy hotels and make sure we are all safe and sound.

That is all I've got for today!  Tomorrow I'm off to the Spanish city of Cordóba with the rest of my classmates so expect a new post full of pictures of lots of really old stuff.

¡hasta mañana!

Jules