Stadium Tour: Some Photos

Last week we were privileged enough to have been taken on a tour of the football stadium followed by lunch in the press box! (as you can see, Miranda took the only opportunity in her life to stand in the showers of the football team's locker room)

Mike ventured out of his "comfort zone" and was one of the few student's who got to ask the Athletic Director a question during his Q&A session after lunch. Mike's was the last question, so he just snuck in there!

Mike: "Will there be any opportunities for us, as MBA students, to involve ourselves in athletics here at Notre Dame?" (oh, that's a good one!)

AD: "Absolutely! There are lots of opportunities and if you have any ideas for us I'd be happy to hear them. We love it when our business students involve themselves in athletics, especially if they're not interested in compensation."

Stadium Tour!

South Bend, Indiana.

If you are reading this, you're probably a really important person in our lives and we hope this blog will help us to stay connected. We are feeling more and more at home as we spend time in South Bend. The people at Notre Dame are welcoming and genuine and the campus looks gorgeous in the summer. Our house is quickly shaping up as Miranda works her magic on it, and I am getting orientated, motivated, and terrified all at the same time. It's going to be a lot of work! We will start updating this blog again with photos, videos and stories of our life in the states. For insights into what I am learning, which you probably don't care about, you can check out my MBA blog at www.thembajourney.com

Finally!

We made it on another trip! We did end up in Mexico for Jen and Shawns wedding last April, but this was our first excursion alone since our world journey... and it was a short one!

Our trip to Indiana was a whole lot of fun! We drove a good 7.5 hours on Friday night and ended up sleeping in Kalamazoo! I was excited just for the name of the town. We had dinner at Big Boy Burgers just over the border and were treated to a classic US fast food dinner. The next morning we took off for Chicago and spent the day walking all over the city. We had a some delicious deep dish pizza from Lou Manalti’s and took half of our small order back for dinner too! The architecture in Chicago is breathtaking, from the Sears Tower looming over the skyline to the highly entertaining cloud gate (otherwise known as the bean). We took a 2 km hike out to Oprahs fortress, I mean, studio. We quickly learned that outside the city core, Chicago is not that inviting until you reach the suburbs. The transit system had above ground, steel train tracks running on top of city streets. They were not welcoming at all, we should stop complaining so much about the TTC! We capped off our visit with a Blues show at Blue Chicago, where Charlie Love put on an entertaining set.

On the Sunday, we head to South Bend to check out the town around Notre Dame. It took us all of 10 minutes to realize that the town is severely lacking in character and that the school is the only reason to go! But what a reason, the campus is gorgeous. It was an awesome experience to sit in on a Notre dame Class, tour the campus with a current student and interview for their MBA program. Studying at such a legendary place would be an epic chapter in my life.

After a dinner at Olive garden and another at Cracker barrel on the Monday, we made the long drive home, arriving at 1 AM. It was great to be back on the road with my wife, I have missed that!

Number 28

Our trip is finally coming to a close... sad but excitng times, for now we get to come home and see everyone again! We fly home in a week, on Septemebr 11th and hopefully we can see anyone who takes the time to read this soon after that.

For our last country, the 28th in the past year and a half, we visited Slovenia. Our good friend Matt hails from this beautiful and under-rated land. Off of most travel itineraries, the small country offers so much! We have enjoyed the vibrant life of Ljubljana (the main city) and the more relaxed life at Lake Bled. The lake is just gorgeous, complete with a mountainous backdrop, crystal clear water and a picturesque church situated on a tiny island in the middle. Rope swings and overhanging trees to jump from were everywhere!


We believe this will be the final post of our world adventures! We´ll see you all very soon!

A River Runs Through It...or two or three...

We were told by many people that Venice is a city in Europe not to be missed. It is unlike any place you will ever see. The crumbling brick and peeling paint is something most locals find to be a drawback about the city, but as a visitor these things give it so much character. The maze of canals running through the city are so unique and create such beautiful photographs! (Jill, we couldn't help but think what an amazing place this would be for you to visit. You and your camera would LOVE this city!)
We ate pizza, pizza, and more pizza. You can buy what they call "draught wine" at the restaurants for a few Euros per litre!
This is a city in which to almost completely ditch the map, head out into the labyrinth of streets and just get lost. And get lost we did. Many times. Per hour.

The Austrian Alps

We had seen most of Austria and so decided that we should take a glimpse at the mountains. Our plan was to go to Innsbruck for 3 days before heading south to Venice. On arriving, we decided to try out the free hiking program they offered there. They gave us boots, drove us into the most beautiful valley and guided us on a 5 hour hike... all free! We fell in love with the Alpine scenery and could not pass up the free hikes... so we stayed 16 days! We went on 10 guided hikes (enough to get a gold medal in the prgoram!) before we felt confident enough to take on a mountain. On our last day, we climbed to die Hafelekar Spitze. It took 5 hours to climb and another 4 to decend, although we stopped for beer, strudel and espresso!