Well, it's been a long process, but I finally have my visa and am leaving for Belgium on Wednesday, September 14th! I've been tied up with paperwork for almost a month now, sending things back and forth to the school and the Belgian consulate in New York. Today, the FedEx guy looked at me and said "Again?"

I'm so excited to leave. For the past few weeks I've felt like my life has been on hold - or to use my word of the summer, I've been in limbo. Not that having time to relax is a bad thing... it's just that I can only take so much. I miss having a purpose to my daily life - not that trying to watch all the seasons of Friends on DVD isn't a noble pursuit....

I found out I'll be working with the 1st grade classes, which should be a good place for me to learn alot about the younger age groups. The youngest grade I've had experience with is 4th, so I'll admit that this is a little scary, but I'm sure I'll appreciate the challenge.

Obviously, I'm going to miss all the people at home a lot.... I'm used to going away for school, but I can't just drive home for the weekend any more! Right now, however, the excitement is overriding any nervousness I have about being so far away from the familiar. The biggest challenge at the moment is trying to fit a year's worth of stuff into two suitcases.....

Now if only I can survive waiting 5 more days.........