Au Revoir a Bruxelles

I don't know if people are still reading this blog of mine, but I thought I'd post one more item before I depart from Brussels. It's hard to believe, but my time here is almost up--I leave for Minneapolis Wednesday morning! In many ways, time seems to have flown, but I also feel like I've had the opportunity to really get to know Brussels and feel integrated to a certain extent, which is an amazing feeling. When I think back to when I first got here (in mid-August!) it really does feel like quite a long time ago.

This blog has focused mostly on my traveling outside of Brussels, largely because I wanted to keep a diary for myself to remember all of the trips I went on. But there have also been so many things that happened to me on a daily basis here that I will never forget. It would be overwhelming and time-consuming for me to write entries on all of those events, but I cherish that I have more stories than I can possibly tell about my time here. Don't hesitate to ask me about them!

This experience overall, as cheesy as it sounds, has changed my life for the better. I can't lie: when I got on the airplane to come here I was quite nervous. I was traveling internationally by myself for the first time, leaving everything I knew in Minneapolis, and going to a country that doesn't speak English to participate in a study-abroad program in which I knew NOBODY. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. But I could not have imagined how amazing of an experience it would turn out to be. Living abroad anywhere, and doing so independently, is an extremely empowering opportunity that has made me more confident in so many ways. Things that used to be somewhat terrifying to me--trying to figure out where I was going, navigating public transportation, ordering food in French--have become so normal and a part of my daily routine to the point that I don't even think about it anymore. I have also met so many amazing people I don't even know where to begin. The American students in my program are awesome: I would consider every single one of them to be my friend, and they're so diverse and outgoing that they made our group dynamic really cool. I've also had the opportunity to meet international students from all over the world, not just Belgium. There are kids at my school from every continent, and when you consider that there are only 300 students, it's pretty easy to get to know just about everyone.

I was also able to live these last four months with an amazing host family. On top of the fact that I (rather ironically, since it is Belgium) got to practice my Spanish on a daily basis, they are extremely generous people who took me in, acted like I was a part of their family and greatly enhanced not only the cultural aspect of my time here but also made things a lot more comfortable for me in general. I could not have envisioned a better host family situation and now truly consider them my relatives.

Thank you guys for reading my blog and showing an interest in what I've been up to! I can't wait to catch up with everyone, hear what I've missed in the states, and share stories about my time here. I hope this blog has been a helpful way of seeing what I've been up to. With the pressures of school and all the things I have had to do around Brussels, I haven't had too much time to load up pictures onto the Shutterfly site, but I hope that over winter break I will have the chance to completely load them all in case any of you are interested in seeing photos from my last couple trips.

Au revoir!