It's been a little over a month in our new situation! It's been challenging but great! I've been posting every day on my Instagram, which I'll compile into a book after the two years. A lot is left out, but it's been a nice way to remember the little things.
I guess I should start with the flight to Barcelona. We were so excited for Emre to wake up so we could tell him that today was the day! We have been preparing him for months, telling him that we were going on an airplane and that we were going to live in Barcelona where everyone speaks Spanish. We were so excited, we even wanted to record it! So Alastair started to wake him up while I recorded, but he just wouldn't wake up. He kept on tossing and turning, Alastair picked him up, but he just ended up falling back asleep. I envisioned it to be more exciting, like Christmas morning, but it was anticlimactic! Once he woke up, he was more excited, I just wasn't able to record it.
I should also mention the night before. We had our last taco Tuesday with our friends. We went to Maiz in Ypsilanti, my favorite restaurant. But before that, we had to run last minute errands, but we didn't have a car. So one of our friends, Tejas, was such a big help! We literally couldn't have done it without him! We were a bit late to the dinner, but we had our friends take our order. So when we arrived, our food was out and ready to eat! I ordered the fish tacos with flour tortillas, that's the way to go! I'm so thankful for the friends we made in Ann Arbor, they're some of the best people I've ever been acquainted with! Hopefully, they'll visit us in Spain!
Back to the trip out.
The plane ride was pretty good. A lot better than I had anticipated! Because we're super frugal, we broke up our flight with two layovers. Our first layover was in Boston, which was kind of a blessing in disguise. We had 6 hours to check out Boston. We let Emre play at a park by the harbor, to let his wiggles out. We also ate a cannoli and a lobster roll. The cannoli was amazing, I can't believe I've never had one! And the lobster roll was ok, I was expecting more! Like some kind of sauce drizzled on top. It was literally lobster in a roll. The blessing in disguise was the fact that we were in Boston. I needed to see the other life I could have potentially lived. I mean, Alastair didn't get into Harvard, but I firmly believe it's because we needed to be in Barcelona and for him to attend IESE. But for me, it was like, this could have been my life. And it was a confirmation that Boston was not for us. And I'm so glad! I mean, great city, but it's not Barcelona!
The first two flights were great. Emre slept the majority of the first flight and he slept after his dinner on the second flight, the longest one. He was so good! I didn't need to do much either. He kind of just snuggled up next to me and then fell asleep. The last layover and the third flight was the hardest! Alastair and I were so tired and we physically had a hard time staying up and taking care of Emre. It was miserable and exhausting! We had jet lag for a few days, Emre had it bad! He just didn't know what was going on, his first experience. I think the first night in Barcelona, Alastair took him out and roamed the streets a bit.
Our apartment is great, by the way. It's in a fairly quiet neighborhood, we have our own big private patio, and the city center is a short metro ride away. And the station is fairly close to us! Our situation is great and we're really happy! And, Emre has his own room and he's doing pretty well with sleeping on a big bed. And, our blackout blinds are ridiculously amazing! You'll wake up thinking it's in the middle of the night, but it's actually 10 in the morning. It's wonderful! And it's all furnished, so that was nice to not worry about purchasing home goods.
I guess I should mention all the highlights, so I'll list it! It's in no particular order, just from what pops up from memory!
1. Alastair starting school- It's super challenging, time-consuming, but he loves it! He loves to learn and business is life! He has to study about 3 cases a day and each takes about 2 hours. He usually goes to sleep around 1-2 and he wakes up around 7. The school's ethos is, you show your faith through works, so we'll work you real hard! It's a Catholic school, by the way. They had mass the first week, really interesting. In regards to school, he loves it and it's stressful, but he's happy! I just have to get used to the dress code, business casual. A far cry from the Google tech dress wear. Wrinkley t-shirts and Adidas track pants are a definite no. But he sure looks good in a suit! I like it!
2. Aunt Holl- We're all so happy to be a short flight away from Hollie! She came to visit us a little over a week ago. We walked so much! Every day, we were averaging 10 miles. The first day was 13 miles, and we stopped at the beach for a couple of hours! We did all the touristy things and saw a lot of Gaudi's work and even got to see inside La Sagrada Familia. It was absolutely beautiful! The stained glass was the most impressive. My friend had two extra tickets and we didn't have to stand in the long line because she brought her son and stroller. We went straight in. We'll visit Hollie in London in November, I'm so excited!
3. Uncle Cone- A day after Hollie left, Connor arrived! He's staying with us for a month. It's always nice to have an extra hand when we're out and about with Emre. He's quite the handful. We haven't done much, mainly due to his intense schoolwork. But we've managed to go to the city center and the beach. We went to Badalona one Saturday and hung out at the beach.
We've done a lot of touristy things for the past month and there' still more that needs to be explored! I love it here. I'm slowly figuring out my routine and trying to take care of the family while Alastair focuses in school. Even though it's been hard, which was expected, it's a great place to be! I love being in a city where architecture is actually something to look at and your neighborhood is catered to your everyday needs. I love learning small bits of history and seeing the work of Gaudi and Picasso. There have been many times where I'll be walking and just stumble upon something of significance. It's such a great city! Really hot and humid this past month, but it's now in the low 70's, which is really nice!
All in all, we're happy to be in Barcelona!
