Preparation Update

Hi there! Happy August! We are officially 13 days away from my flight to Ontario and 25 days away from my flight to Europe! The countdown is on!

I have a lot to do in preparation and I've gotten a lot of things ready already! So here's a brief update on things I've done :

1. Submitted a visa application that was approved on Monday, July 10th!!! This process took a while, there were a lot of forms, links, medical and criminal checks, signatures, etc. to do but that's all done and approved now and I get a cool sticker in my passport to prove it!

PS. This visa process lets me say some cool things now, like:

• I haven't been found of committing any crimes and I haven't left my fingerprints anywhere I shouldn't have (yay!)

• My dad is legally obligated to pay for my deportation (if so required). Thanks, Dad!

• A school in Belgium wants me enough to put it in writing and that's a nice feeling:)

2. Got a studio apartment in Ghent, Belgium! This apartment is about a 3-minute walk away from campus (I'm glad that it is a walking distance and not a biking distance), and that's even closer than the student residence is to campus! I am super excited about having my own space in a beautiful apartment after 3 years of living in a house with 5 people! Here are 2 photos of the place from the listing, I'm sure I'll do a full tour when I arrive!

3. Booked my flights to Europe, but thinking about it, I have yet to book a ticket home... So maybe my dad's joke about this being a one-way ticket and never seeing me again isn't so much of a joke..... (unless I get deported! Then he is legally obligated to see me again! Thanks, Dad!)

4. Met my class and my faculty over Zoom a couple of times! They all seem pretty cool! It's an international program with students from just about every continent so scheduling a meeting with that many time zones was interesting but we made it work! There are only 26 of us in the program and there's even another Canadian with me!

5. Bought a camera to photographically capture all my travels! I got a Sony a6000 for a good deal and I am excited for all the photos I'll be able to take in Europe. For now, here's a cool photo I took of a bee in the Public Gardens in Halifax.

As for now, I am packing up everything from my house in Halifax to store in Corey & Sarah's basement! Wish me luck!