Happy New Year to you all! We hope your first several weeks of 2017 have been filled with the best of fresh starts and new beginnings for each of you. Thank you for taking the time to check-in with how we are doing in Europe.
At this moment John and I are spending our Saturday afternoon sitting in our small Barcelona flat typing away - he on his application for coaching at Ultimate Peace this summer and me on this post. We are burning candles - a new habit we have gotten into after learning about the Danish concept of "Hygge" - the warming of the soul. We are happy. We are well. We are rested. All blessings we especially appreciate as we anticipate another season of activity with classes at IESE starting on Monday.
The turn of the year for us was filled with a mix of relaxation and adventure. We counted ourselves very lucky to enjoy time in multiple different countries with different special people. During the term we took a mini-excursions to Ireland for school (Here is an article I wrote about that trip) and Amsterdam for Thanksgiving with friends Judd and Bethany Lindvall. We also had a visit from close friends Mike Holm and his fiance Katie! We then celebrated the end of term by travelling to Portugal, where we spent 5 days hiking and 5 days reconnecting with a long-time family friend (and my childhood o'pare!) Anna. The hike was idyllic and exactly the breath of fresh air we needed after many months of high-intensity transition in a bustling city.
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| John's sister Erika is traversing the world in search of her vocation in light of being banned from her 3+ year home in Turkey. We have loved having her swing through Spain as she continues her quest. |
Christmas for us was spent back in Barcelona - where we were delighted to have John's sister Erika join us. Our time together included audio books and puzzles and Pez lovingly sent to us from the Schmit family. We would be lying if we said we did not experience some strong bouts of homesickness during this time, but were also grateful for the time of less activity and sleeping in. We were also invited over by a Minnesota/Barcelona couple we have connected with here Amy and Abe (and their newborn Nil!) who generously on Christmas Night gave us a home away from home to celebrate the holiday with.
We then rounded off the New Year with an adventure with good friends Lydia and Ray in Berlin and Prague. We enjoyed a mix of historical sites, cozy coffee shops and great conversations over games of Wizard. Lydia is also in a two years master program at Princeton so the four of us were able to commiserate about the many joys and struggles that come with our current way of life. There are few blessings richer than having good friends to laugh and go through life with. The four of us defiantly enjoyed our New Years eve in a Berlin Christmas Market, risking our lives to many stray fireworks being shot off at close range in the streets. We also loved the quaint atmosphere and rich history of Prague - the city was nothing short of enchanting.
John and I are still not over the accessibility and affordability of Europe. John has also become quite the competent traveler, effectively doubling his country count to 14 over the last couple of months. We count ourselves lucky to have the resources to immerse ourselves in this part of the world while we have the chance. We also have found that as much as we enjoy seeing these new places, what really makes our travels special is the chance to connect with people.
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| My MBA Team whom I meet with every morning to prepare for class. We are all from different countries. We got together this specific evening to learn how to make Sushi from our Japanese colleague. |
My time in Barcelona prior to our holiday break was filled with sun-up to sun-down studying and school responsibilities. I kind of stumbled my way across the finish line of finals - landing myself immobile and on antibiotics a couple days before finals. Luckily I was able to rally to complete the tests, however, I learned the hard lesson of just how hard I can push lack of sleep and too much stress. I am learning a tremendous amount in school and am appreciating the reading-intensive case-study method of learning (which plays to my strengths). I am still riding my blue bicycle Blubelita to school most days which doubles as my workout and includes a hill.
We are celebrating John this week obtaining his first paying gig as nothing less than a part-time youth Ultimate Frisbee coach. John is still searching for full-time carpentry work here. He has made some valuable connections with studios and shared work-spaces. We are confident in the next couple months he will be able to take up some projects. He also continues to rapidly improve his Spanish and has taken a couple of courses here on the side.
Together we slowly but surely have managed to plug ourselves into community here. We have made a small handful of "couple" and other friends - connections we especially cherish after being separated from our abundant community of people we love back in Minnesota. We have found a church we love called the International Church of Barcelona that has a rich and thriving faith community. We are starting a two-week prayer-fast with the community there tomorrow. We also have started playing Ultimate together again seriously on the team "Bravas". The team includes a diverse mix of Spanish and International players who all love the game as much as we do. Practices are led in Spanish - with 50% of practices taking place on local beaches.
Our goals for the new year (documented carefully as part of the Brust Family New Year's Resolution Tradition) include staying healthy, improving our Spanish and go sailing on the Mediterranean. We also look forward to connecting with more people here and from home. We have enjoyed and hope we will get some more Barcelona visitors (there are none on the calendar!) - so please consider reserving your room at La Casa Schmit sometime soon :).
Cheers and love to all of you. May 2017 be your best year yet, and be filled with your own flavors of adventure and fulfillment. Thank you for staying in touch and if you happen to be thinking of us at random over the next weeks or months please reach out and say hello. We are still only a text away!
JK
Additional Photos!
The Netherlands
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| Judd and Bethany (Judd worked at Camp Nathanael with John) contemplating art in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. |
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| THE dessert of the Netherlands fresh off the waffle press - STROOPWAFELS !! |
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| The River Rhine |
Portugal
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| John and I spent a afternoon in Lisboa at the Aquarium. |
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| Me and Ana 20 years ago when she was in Minnesota! She had 6 full photo albums to share with us that included many fun pictures of my family! |
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| Myself and John with Ana and her daughter Katerina! They showed us ALL around Lisbon and surrounding areas - an amazing trip! |
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| The path we hiked was a winding assembly of sandy fisherman's trails. Along the hike we regularly found fisherman casting their long poles over the cliff's edge. We hiked by day and slept in little coastal towns by night. This gem of a hike was one of the top hiking experiences I have ever completed; we would highly recommend it to international outdoor enthusiasts! |
Germany (Berlin)
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| The Lutheran Church in Berlin - the "Berlinerdom" |
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| Mulled wine, Bratwurst and fireworks - what more could you want on a New Years Eve? It is tradition also to do a "Waltz" after midnight hits - so Lydia/Ray and John/I found ourselves dancing at 12:10 a.m. to welcome in 2017. |
Czech Republic (Prague)
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| The Astronomical Clock of Prague |
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| View of the city at dusk from the top of the Palace. We enjoyed a fresh dusting of snow, which was the first snow John and I got to enjoy this year (you might think we are crazy but we MISS our four seasons!) |
Other Spain Photos
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| John and Mike Holm navigating our day-hike up to Montserrat - a famous Barcelona hike up to a monastery. |
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| Lydia, Ray and us enjoying a classic "Catalonian" meal before attending a Flamenco dance performance. |
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John relaxing in our living room on Christmas. John following Schmit tradition, attempted and succeeded in making us delicious Egg's Benedict on Christmas morning. |
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| inside the Sagrada Familia - which we saw the inside of for the first time last week in January |
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| The street we live on in the Gothic quarter of Barcelona |
