The Countdown Begins

Flight DL80, ATL to BRU leaves at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, May 18, 2012-- only a few days from today. The most interesting thing about that piece of information is, well, that Angeli will be on that flight. Yes, The Angeli Patel, will be going to Brussels, Belgium to study the European Union. Unlike most other study abroad programs, this particular program is set less in a classroom and more in actual site visits-- so its like field trips everyday! She gets to live with a family for three weeks and learn the Belgian/European culture, and to top it off, she will get to do a one month internship (Where? It's a surprise)! Just thinking about all of this made her want to fast forward!

But lets be honest, the countdown had begun since the day she was notified that she was accepted into this program. Recently, the excitement had intensified which resulted in an overly necessary shopping splurge leaving her more broke than Taylor Swift's heart. The interesting thing about this program was that 80% of the time, she would be required to wear business professional attire and the other 20% would be either business casual or casual. Now do keep in mind that in Belgium, its supposed to be weird to be wearing shorts (I bet it's freezing over there) so this limited Angeli to her winter wardrobe. And the fashionista that she is, it did not help that while each American will be shopping in the main aisles of a department store, Angeli would be in the clearance area looking for the remainders or misfits of winter-wear. But she surely was not complaining.

So, all of her shopping was done, all loans taken out, all payments made, all goodbyes said, Delta App downloaded,  and Angeli was prepared. She was so prepared that she even bought the Captain America comics on Marvel.com to read on her flight to Brussels. Even more, she had the Dia Frampton and One Direction album downloaded onto her iPhone, because she knew that the world may turn on her someday but her iPhone would stay loyal to her forever. The only thing that was standing in the way was the pre-trip assigment and packing her millions-of-important things into two, puny, average-sized bags.

Will she be able to pass these obstacles standing in the way of her and Europe? Will she be successful in packing light? Will she lose her baggage on her flight there? Will she be able to live without her iPhone or will she practically die, on-spot, without service? Will her clothes be appropriate for Belgian culture?

Stay tuned!