My last week at home was lovely, as I got to spend time with my entire family, including my parents, my brother and sister (and favorite new lil niece!) grandmas, aunts, etc!
I said my goodbyes to friends, and between only a few misty eyes, packed my bags and watched as my final hours in America dwindled away.
Monday 10.26 – I spent the day running last minute errands with my mom, and then went to the Pittsburgh airport with her and my dad, meeting my brother in Washington, PA along the way for a final family dinner. They dropped me at the airport and I waited for my first flight to Frankfurt. No movies, no wine on this flight unfortunately, but landed in Germany and got through passport control mostly smoothly, barring a small hiccup with a blocked terminal route on the way to my connecting flight to Barcelona.
Tuesday 10.27 – I did sleep for a few hours on my second flight, eventually landing in Barcelona around 3pm on Tuesday and then taking the metro to my Airbnb near Placa Espana. The airbnb was strange but fine, smaller and less private than I had originally expected, but ultimately doable for two nights. I slept on and off, went out to grab some snacks (and of course, consumed an entire liter of Catalan-made Cacaolat chocolate milk).
Wednesday 10.28 – Jet lag got me good and I slept most of this day, but did manage to eventually awaken and meet my old roommate Eric for coffee (and some pan amb tomaquet with jamon iberico) before spending a few hours meandering through the streets of Barcelona as we did during my semester here in the fall of 2017. after we departed, I returned to the airbnb and got a decent nights sleep before check out the next morning at 11.
Thursday 10.29 – Upon awakening and showering, I packed up all my things and lugged my baggage (metaphorical and literal!) back to the Barcelona airport to meet new roommates TJ and Mackenzie at Terminal 1, where we would take the Andbus up to Andorra. I found TJ first and we got acquainted over coffee, with Mackenzie arriving shortly after. We took the 2:00 PM bus, a small, clean shuttle with leather seats, air conditioning, and by some blessing — complimentary wifi. The three-hour ride went more quickly and smoothly than I had expected as I stared out the windows in awe of the mountains, valleys, rivers and towns we skirted through. Finally, we arrived in our new country and city: Andorra la Vella, Andorra.
The property manager of our apartment, Mingo, (SO kindly) picked us and our baggage up from the bus station and took us first to our Realtor, Xamari’s office, where we reviewed our lease and paid our first months fees and security deposit. As she spoke swift Catalan, I deferred to TJ to make conversation in Castillian, and Mackenzie in French, but was relieved that I could at least mostly keep up and understand the implications of everything I was signing.
Giant snail friend on Avinguda Carlemany, Andorra’s pedestrian-only shopping street.
After the paperwork was taken care of, we went to our beautiful new home, a 3.5 bedroom apartment with a terrance facing perhaps the largest mountain I have ever seen in person. Terra Vella is clean and modern, fully furnished with eclectic furniture and decorations. We randomized named for first pic of bedrooms, then began to unpack. After a lovely first dinner together, we headed home and I settled in to my new bed, relieved to have a comfortable space of my own after several exhausting days of travel.
Overall I feel incredibly lucky to have had safe and smooth travels over the past few days, and to be paired with two other members of a cohort who are kind, smart, and interesting. I can’t wait to see whats to come in the next few weeks, with the addition of the other two scholars and our program director.
Catalan words of the weekend:
Bon dia / Molt be / Moltes Gracias
Appalachia to Andorra 