It's Beginning to Feel Real...

Hello.

So, the background to all of the madness -- last fall, I attended a meeting on studying abroad for a semester, picked up a book listing program options, and made up my mind to do it. I browsed through options: New Zealand, Australia, England, Italy...the possibilities were endless!

But, for whatever reason, one caught my eye. Belgium. So, I started to (waaaay too early) read up on the program, try to find out what exactly I needed to do, filled out paperwork, waited, received more paperwork to fill out, filled it out, sent it in, waited, and filled out more paperwork.

In the midst of all of the paperwork, I bought plane tickets, made payment arrangements, and did a minimal amount of research on Belgium. The city I'll be moving to (holy cow - moving to???) in just over a month is Brussels - the capital. It hosts the European Union (I can hear some people groaning as I write this, but I'm interested in learning what they're about). It's essentially an international hub, which is pretty nifty!

Now I'm coming down to departure day (D-Day, just to be ominous) and am suddenly realizing that holy guacamole, Batman - I'm going to be living in another country for most of the rest of the year! I'm having some doubts - am I doing the right thing? Is this just an incredibly selfish indulgence where I'm putting good resources to poor use? Am I abandoning everybody back home to go on a big huge vacation?

Yet at the end of the day, I have to remind myself that it probably is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that a good chunk of it is being paid for in scholarship money, and that I should consider myself blessed instead of spoiled.

Today was a big day in the study abroad saga - my passport came back to me in the mail, complete with student visa on page 13. Yeah, that's huge.



Upcoming posts are likely to be kind of boring: mostly me planning stuff out for my own benefit (where I want to visit, when, and so on).

But, overall, my general feeling is one of amazement - this is really happening, isn't it??