The journey....

First, it's Pittsburgh or bust....

The trip to Pittsburgh on Sunday (August 18) was easy as we all are familiar with the route.  Carnegie Mellon had a good system in place for moving all the new students into their rooms and Dominic had his belongings in his dorm almost instantly (and we didn't have to carry anything!).  We spent time unpacking, exploring, going to a "tasting lunch" with many of the campus and local restaurants providing food for students to try, last minute shopping, listening to the president's address (he is a first year too), having a nice dinner, and saying goodbye.  Dominic is having a great week of freshman orientation with lots of activities and meeting others.  His roommate Michael is from Taiwan and seems very friendly.  He starts his classes on Monday, August 26.  After meeting with his advisors, he determined he already has 1.5 years of credit so is beginning an honors program, with a dual major in math and computer science.  He is taking a very heavy load since he anticipates that a few classes will have some material that he has already seen.  No failure to launch here!  This kid is crazy smart.



Loaded van; will travel





Moving into 3rd floor Stever Hall



Checking in





Stever House 3rd floor hallway

 

                                                       The lounge outside of his room.



At "the wall"; a campus institution

Who's moving in?


                                                                                                         Hey Alex:  Bubble tea!!

   Dad and son in front of the dorm.                                              Mom even got a hug goodbye.

                                                                                                               (but not on film).

   Dinner at LuLu's Noodles. 

                                                                                                 


Then it's back to BG and the next journey:  Vienna or bust.....

We spent the day on Monday, August 19, finalizing all the packing...unfortunately it was not ideal.  We ran out of room!  Packing for an entire year with growing kids is an art, not science.   In hindsight, I should have packed all the essential clothing, leaving an "extra" 20% out in case we had room.  Since I did not have time to repack everything, the newer bath towels, a few kitchen things, and other miscellaneous items were left behind.  At the time I worried about this, but as with most things, in a few days it did not matter.



Smashed into the back seat








Loading the Odyssey in BG



 Checking in at the Detroit Airport              

 

We left home at 4 pm on Monday, August 19.  We arrived at the Detroit airport in plenty of time, thinking we needed to arrive 2 hours ahead since we were flying internationally.  However, the first flight was to O'Hare so the extra time was unnecessary, but turned out to be helpful since we had 7 large boxes and 1 large suitcase to check.  We were the first in line to check in!  We also had 2 full-size carry-on's each (and an extra one for good measure).  It was far too much to carry but we wanted to put the heavy things with us so that no box would weigh over 50 lbs..  It was handled smoothly- every box was between 47 and 49.5 pounds - and we managed to negotiate security with 5 laptops, 2 I-Pads, medicines, shoes, jackets, etc. in good time.  We even got compliments from other passengers about how well we did!

 

The flight to O'Hare was quick, a little puddle-jumper where they had to gate-check a few of our carry-on's since the plane was so small.  It was good for the kids to get their wings on this short flight and they were ready for all of the things to come. 

We took a tram to the international terminal of O'Hare.  LOT Airlines (Polish Air) was very busy but fortunately we did not have to wait in line since we did not have bags to check and we just needed our boarding passes.  They did check one of our carry-on's as it was too heavy.  While this was helpful, it was our only bag with wheels, which we had used to carry a few other bags so we now needed to really carry all the other bags.  We finally made it, going through security again, and to the gate for Warsaw.  Very few of the other passengers had American passports.  We were in a lovely 787 Dreamliner plane with lots of room.

We had dinner (gf for me, vegan for Craig, regular for the kids) and settled in for movies and sleep.  Sleep was harder to come by.  We arrived in Warsaw around 10 am local time to a very modern airport - roomy with lots of glass and steel.  We went through immigration which was a  puzzle: they checked our passports and asked why we didn't have a VISA, I told them that as a visiting researcher & family, we will apply when we arrive.  Despite clearly disagreeing that we didn't need one, she stamped them and we moved on.  She asked no further questions at all.  And then, despite having no chance to leave the secure area, we had to go through security again for now a 3rd time!  We were a bit short on time so this was irritating, especially as there seemed to be no reason.  After our wait, the agent managed to find a large sewing scissors that I had accidentally packed in my carry-on with my mini-sewing kit and nonchalantly tossed it in the garbage. When I expressed my disappointment, he merely said, "you can buy another one".  That made me really mad.  Of course, Craig in his calm way congratulated the agent on being the first one to find it since we had gone through the x-ray 3 times. 

We jumped on a quick flight to Vienna, where all our cardboard boxes arrived intact (although clearly the worse for the wear) but our one regular suitcase was missing!  I went to the lost and found to file a claim.  Since I was standing a few feet from where I should (although no one was in line when I arrived), the agent made me walk all the way around again to be in the right spot, at which point there were others in line.  No more agents came to the counter with this influx of people so I had to wait for every business class passenger that arrived, another who arrived after me, and then for my turn.  Welcome to Austria where they love rules, restrictions, forms, and titles.  I completed the form so they could deliver our missing bag and we went out to our ride.  As far as I could tell, no customs; we would certainly seem to be likely candidates with all of our luggage.  Our friends were waiting with cheers and a welcome sign and had arranged for a taxi for our luggage and took us directly to our apartment, for which they had already picked up the key.  They are wonderful!

[Since they feature prominently, let me tell you about the Sauke family:  we met them at church when we both lived in Salzburg in 2004-5.  They were good friends to us there:  explaining things, showing us new places, and taking us on adventures.  At the time, Christof worked for Proctor and Gamble in the perfume division and traveled quite a bit. He's had several other positions since then which have required extensive, world-wide travel.  He now is an independent consultant to help companies manage change and move into international markets. Angela stays at home with the girls: Anne and Charlotte.  They moved to Vienna 6 years ago and have been a huge help while we have been preparing to move: giving us advice, making contacts, even looking at potential apartments.  Anne is 16 and has just returned from 6 months in Canada and Charlotte is 14.  Both attend a private school here, called St. Ursula, and are very sweet.  The whole family speaks very good English.]

Anne helping us unload our boxes from the taxi.

Anne carrying bags into our new home.

 

The girls helped us load at the airport, unload at the apartment, answered questions and unbeknownst to us, they had stocked the fridge, had towels, flowers, gifts and other necessities.  It was just amazing.  As we unpacked, they brought soup and bread from their home and we shared our first meal in our new home.  Our suitcase was delivered from the airport.  Then we collapsed into bed.

 

We had made it.