Yesterday, I was determined by my own annoyance and frustration to finally purchase a bike. After Svenska class, a few of us were escorted by Hubert to a used bike store where the owner specifically likes to sell to students who can then sell it back and received half the price back. I found this lovely gold(ish) bike, and decided to test it out; if you know anything about me, you may know that I have a huge fear of falling off bikes...which comes easily with being a little over 5 ft. 1. My anxiety level skyrocketed when I sat on the seat to find that my tippy tippy toes were barely touching when I leaned to one side..and I saw that terrible, undeniable bike fall/fail I would have if I purchased this particular bike. So I nixed it and asked the man if he had any other bikes that were a tad shorter, he brought me to his underground shop into a room filled with bikes where I had to pass his 4 year old German Shepherd laying on the ground. He immediately showed me a bike that looked like it belonged to a 14 year old boy in a BMX competition, when I showed a lack of interest he showed me another blue bike which seat could be lowered to fit me. After paying extra for a basket (which is incredibly crucial, and pretty much the whole point of a bike), and a lock, I had only paid about $140! To make a long story short, riding around on a bike on cobblestones is not very easy on the baby maker or tush, but I believe that I'm slowly building up a tolerance. It's been really fun to bike to and from class, and it makes visiting Kristen, Gaby and Jennifer at Vildanden not as much of a daunting task. Since everyone has now gravitated towards getting bikes, we are beginning to talk of going to the coast (about 30 minutes away) on Saturday with some cider, beer and wine and hanging out at the beach for most of the day.
And today, some of us decided that we wanted to check out some of the thrift stores in the one
town..our first stop was an underground secondhand store that was FILLED with everything imaginable. The owner seemed very fascinated by us for one reason or another, asking if we were here to study and where we were all from. But I really enjoyed exploring all the nick nacks of the store..although I generally become immediately overwhelmed by a pack rat type of mentality. At another secondhand store we visited, Jennifer and Sara found a typewriter in an old case, and I also saw a Swede skating around the store in some secondhand roller skates. I'm very much exhausted, but today was definitely a good day.
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