Felices Viajes
Last June, I spilled the beans about our move to North Carolina and Bart’s acceptance to Duke’s MBA program.
I hadn’t hinted at all about it on my blog, despite the fact we’d spent more than a year talking seriously about an MBA (and the previous six tossing around the idea more casually).
But now, we have another move coming up that I haven’t been keeping secret for months and months and months, because we didn’t know about it months ago.
In fact, things were only finalized on Friday.
A few weeks ago, Bart came out of his office and said, “I couldn’t help myself. I put in an application to do an international exchange semester in the fall.”
And then, a week or so later, Bart was notified that he had a slot if he wanted it and we had our pick of about 15 different MBA programs all over the world.
After poring over the list and weighing all the pros and cons of each place, we finally decided on. . . .
Barcelona, Spain.
We’ll be there for four months this fall, September through December, while Bart attends IESE.
Ella is begging to learn Spanish with Bart (she’s kind of obsessed with the idea of other languages), and I’m already scheming how many side-trips we can take while we’re in Europe. Ani has absolutely no clue.
(All of this also means we are trying to rent out our house not only for the summer but also the fall. So if you’re looking for a temporary home in Durham. . . . ).
Like all other commenters, I am thrilled for you and your family. What an adventure ahead of you!
This is incredible!! What an amazing opportunity!
How exciting!!! My husband and I are newlyweds and we are dreaming of buying a house, going back to school, starting a family and traveling abroad but aren't sure how and when we can make all of those things happen. It's so inspiring to see you and your little family doing it all! What a great experience it will be for all of you! I can't wait to read about your adventures in Spain!
I'm so excited for you! You have to promise to blog the heck out of those four months so that we can all live vicariously through you!
This is so awesome! Congrats to you guys! You're going to have the time of your life. Although I am sad this means your time in NC is even shorter now!
What a fantastic adventure! Congratulations!
If you ever need a "Whirlwind Weekend" for Bratislava, or possibly for Prague, I bet Nate could give you some tips.
What exciting news! We had two days in Barcelona en route to our Mediterranean cruise last May. It was a wonderful city. Catalan actually has a lot of French influence. One side trip we took was to Montseurat, about an hour from the city. Fabulous mountains. We also visited Sagrada Familia, a cathedral that was started in 1872 but only consecrated in 2012 and still very much under construction. Gaudi's work is fantastic. I wish we'd had time to see Park Guell. I have a feeling Ella will love its whimsy. Do you know yet where you will be this summer?
Oooooh!! So awesome!! My sister and bro-in-law went to the Czech Republic for an internship, and they loved so many things about it! (My niece was 2 months old when they left, and their super tight budget meant they actually ended up renting an apartment with no bathroom in it (!?!?) and sponge carpet instead of any type of sanity floor. I would definitely not recommend that type of budget….eeeww!)
xox
What an amazing opportunity! Blaine served his mission in Spain, we will be dying of jealousy over here!
Wow, thats huge! You'll love it, I'm sure!
Soooooo excited for you! I hope you can do a lot of side trips! In 2013 we spent 10 months in Munich, Germany and took a lot of side trips (short ones and long ones) all over Europe. It's definitely different doing Europe with a kid (our baby was 6 months – 15 months while we were there) but it's also very doable. Not that you want / need any advice, but I'm glad to share! And don't worry too much about learning Spanish – of course any vocab you can pick up will go a long way with the locals, but almost everyone in every major European city speaks enough English that you can get by without speaking the local language. (But then again, you probably already knew this – didn't you do study abroad in Europe before?)
How amazing that will be! Congratulations! Can't wait to follow along with your adventures on your blog!
yay!!!!!!!!! SO excited for you!
Congrats! I can't wait to read about it. 🙂
oh WOW! How exciting! That's something I really would like to do. I mean, I know we were in China for 3 months so we kind of have, but I guess I would like to try something for a little longer. What I want to know is what other places did you get to pick from? And when can I come visit!? Ha!
so so so so exciting!
Wow! So exciting. Looking forward to reading your posts from Spain.
¡Enhorabuena! Barcelona is the only city I've been to in Spain, so of course I can confidently proclaim that it's the best city in Spain (ha). I'm so excited to read about your travels!
Woo hoo!! Fabulous news! Can't wait to hear all about all your adventures!
Wow! Congrats! That sounds like quite the adventure!