I woke up the morning of departure feeling ready to go. My brain instantly started going through my mental checklist of all the last minute things to gather before I left for the airport. Glasses. Computer. Charger. Makeup. Check. I made some eggs because it's the food of champions. At least I think so. And then I sat waiting for Ansley and Mom to be ready to take me to the airport. I tried to analyze what I was feeling but it's hard to describe. Ready to be there but also not wanting to leave. Ready to be on the other side of the airport craziness but also slightly resisting the decision to get in the car and go. Calm but anxious. Again, that internal battle. It's good to have both though because it levels out in the end. On the way to the airport, I called Benjamin. One last normal FaceTime conversation about what we had been up to the day before. He wasn't the only friend I heard from though. Multiple of my dear sweet friends sent me messages wishing me luck and sending me their love and prayers. I definitely felt the love! Special shoutout to all of those who did think of me this morning or yesterday before I left! I may be biased, but I have the best friends a girl could ask for! We arrived to the airport and parked so Ansley and Mom could come in and see me off (how sweet are they?) After struggling with understanding very clear images on how to scan my passport, (??) I checked my bag and we took off to wait in a Starbucks. Next stop was security so cue the goodbyes. Short and sweet. See ya in 3 months fam:) Luckily, security was a breeze since I went through pre-check security so shoes stayed on and bags stayed in tact. Walked through and boom. Done. Most stress free security I've ever encountered. I only waited for boarding about 30 minutes and then it was time for flight #1! Pretty smooth flight. Good pretzels. No crazy seat mates. I'd say it was successful.

I landed in Atlanta and I got off at terminal A. Figured out my next plane leaves from terminal E. Yikes...that's a long walk. Thankfully they have handy little trains that take you across the airport so of course I jumped on one. Finally got to my gate, grabbed some food and ready to relax and wait for the rest of the group. Well...I got a phone call saying the rest of the group would be delayed, and we would have to travel across the Atlantic on our own! I met up with 7 other girls going on the trip, and we boarded the plane and found out we were going to wait for some other planes due to weather. Next thing we knew, the rest of the group boarded the plane. So then the group was all traveling together again! Yay! We ended up leaving 2.5 hours later than originally scheduled, but I'm glad we waited.

So here we go! I'm NERVOUS. It feels very weird that I will be landing in a country I've never been to before! I think I'm going to miss America a little, but I'm ready to see what the Europe hype is about!;)

30 minutes before we landed in Brussels, I didn't feel great after an 8 hour flight. They served us dinner almost immediately. I had a nice array of chicken and broccoli, cheese, 3 grapes, yes, 3, and some salad. It wasn't bad for the terrible "airplane food." I then tried to get some sleep. Well let me tell you, that's no easy feat. I never realized how picky I am when it comes to my sleeping position. I've realized I need my feet up, and head laying horizontal of some sort, and need something to lean against. Well I could not really do any of that since I was in the middle section and an aisle seat. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep despite my best efforts. I think I did get some sleep here and there though. I also got to experience using a bathroom while bumpily flying very high in the sky. That was neat. I learned to avoid that seat though. Turbulence does not help people's aim. Finally, at about 2 in the morning U.S. Time and 8 in the morning their time, we ate some breakfast. Noosa yogurt (which is one of my faves so that was comforting) a peach muffin and some cheese. It was decent for airplane food. When we started to descend, we flew over London, and it suddenly hit me that I was in Europe. Crazy!

(Below is my dinner on the plane)