Belgique!

So... looks like I am going abroad next semester! I've known that I wanted to study abroad for basically my whole life and I became interested in Clemson's Belgium program during freshman year orientation. The fact that it is now definite that I am going to Belgium is a bit ridiculous and extremely exciting! I will be studying in Louvain-la-Neuve at Université Catholique de Louvain. I will arrive in Belgium January 8 and my first class begins January 11. From January 11 until January 21 I will be taking an intense French “crash course”. Then from February 1 until June 30 I will be taking all French classes as well as an international marketing class. When classes end, I hope to stay abroad for the remainder of the summer to travel around Europe and to perhaps go to Lebanon to visit my family.

I have already turned in my application and paid for the trip. I have also turned in the required identification pictures as well as a copy of my passport. The next step is to attend my first meeting this Monday, October 18. During this meeting we are scheduled to discuss some of the traveling technicalities. I am going to turn 21 while I am abroad which means the FBI has to do a background check on me before leaving the US and I also have to apply for a visa, both of these topics will be discussed during the meeting.

I am really excited to be immersed in another culture and to hopefully fully learn French. I am honestly not at all nervous because I know a few of the people going on the trip with me as well as a number of people who live in Belgium. I am also comfortable with change and other cultures. Honestly, one of my only concerns is how I am going to transfer my wardrobe internationally…

Here is a map of where I will be in Belgium from the university’s website:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.uclouvain.be/cps/ucl/doc/adcp/images/planBelgique.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.uclouvain.be/en-acces.html&usg=__fixmSIAwSiTRCKp24mWZo9L3jwE=&h=568&w=750&sz=129&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=COYm7q4Zh-8G_M:&tbnh=140&tbnw=185&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlouvain%2Bla%2Bneuve%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1440%26bih%3D739%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=337&ei=FXq4TMKRFoa0lQeRkrzNDA&oei=FXq4TMKRFoa0lQeRkrzNDA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:15,s:0&tx=103&ty=92