ALASTAIR + LALEINIA

We landed in Brussels around the afternoon and decided to drive straight to Amsterdam. It was a great decision to go as soon as possible, unfortunately, we decided to go during heavy traffic. It added about an hour more than anticipated, but it didn't matter. On the way, we stopped in some random town in Belgium to grab some food for the drive. Salami, a massive loaf of bread, cheese, and other treats to satisfy our bellies. We listened to whatever was on the radio: Dutch rap and other European techno music. Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we parked in a parking garage and went straight to roaming the streets. A bit chilly and wet from the rain, we ventured out to enjoy the city! Let me tell you, everything is more magical when it's Christmas time! I knew I would like Amsterdam but I fell even more in love with all the twinkling lights. Everything about this city, I loved! Just the right amount of whimsical with European flair. Even the cute buildings had a bit of til...

I've been so excited about this trip! It's been three years since we've been back, and that trip was only for a day. Alastair had a consulting trek and Emre and I got to tag along. Hollie and Connor are living there, so they were my tour guides the whole time! London is a potential place to end up after grad school, so we'll see if he gets an internship over the summer.  The first leg of the flight, Emre was so tired because we skipped his nap, so we were all able to take a nap. He was so tired that he asked Alastair if he could nap on his lap. He never asks to nap, so it was really cute! We hit a rough patch when we were standing in line during border control; he was just crying and crying, making it miserable for everyone! We made it to our "dwelling" around 11 at night. I don't know what to call it cause it was cheap, looked like a hostel, didn't see the owner for the first three days, and there was no hot water. We didn't shower the w...

As much as we are loving Barcelona, and as much as I am enjoying school, the time has come to get away for the weekend! I feel like I've been studying non-stop since I got here, and so the time has come for me and the family to get away from it all and get into the mountains and to enjoy the foliage. Luckily, we are really close to Andorra, a tiny country high up in the Pyrenees mountains. A lot of my classmates from Spain seem to have visited Andorra, but mostly for skiing in the winter. We wanted to get out there to hike as a family and stay in one of the 30 refugis. Basically, mountain huts that are free for people to use out in the middle of nowhere. I got the car while Lain got Emre ready and packed our things. I left it to her to make sure we had an awesome playlist, she did not disappoint! We left before noon and enjoyed the drive. It's been a few months since we've been in a car, so it took some time to get familiar. Emre enjoyed driving through the t...

So far so good here in Barcelona! First off it is hard to believe that it is finally here after so many years of waiting and debating. One month in, I'm so glad that we decided to leave our comforts, paycheck, home, etc to come to Spain. School has been fun, I've got a great team and the courses and workload are challenging. The campus is great and I'm really enjoying my classes and professors. All is well with school. One thing to note is that the evening right before I started school, Emre bit my lip! He bit it hard, hard enough to draw blood and make it look like I had a cold sore for the first day of classes. Thanks Emre. Ah well, I decided to laugh it off, but it sucked! Outside of school, here are some of my Barcelona highlights so far: Bunkers del Carmen One of the first place we went when we arrived in Barcelona. I won't go into the history of the place but safe to say the views of the city are great. We took a bus almost all the way to the t...