I'M MOVING TO BELGIUM!!!!!!

See that picture? In September of this year, I will be living there! I've been accepted to the masters' program for International Migration at the University of Kent's Brussels campus! What? YES!!! 

The University of Kent is in England, southeast of London in the city of Canterbury. We've all read the tales. However, Kent has several satellite campuses. And their masters programs for International Development and International Migration are in Brussels. I found out on my birthday (Jan. 24) that I was accepted (less than a week after submitting my application). And just yesterday I accepted their offer to make it official. 

International Migration deals with refugees and the causes and issues of forced migration, primarily. The program is a year long and once completed, I can work with organizations that provide aid to refugees. Organizations like UNHCR, the UN's High Commissioner on Refugees, or the Women's Refugee Commission or other organizations dedicated to the work. I hope to help improve the lives of women forced to leave their homes due to war or famine or other such causes. 

Last fall, I took a class at Peabody College at Vanderbilt University called "International Organizations and Economic Development". It was basically about global poverty and the issues and organizations involved. I wrote my major paper on women refugees and the challenges they face. Before I turned it in, I felt strongly that I wanted to dedicate my second career to this amazing and challenging work. That's when a friend in that class told me to check out Kent and I found they had an entire degree dedicated to the subject. 

The next hurdle of course is funding. I will probably have to do loans, but I'm searching under every rock for scholarships to help offset the loans. It will be a year of being a student full time so no income other than what I can secure. And yeah, that's very scary. But I really believe that if I do the work and write the best essays ever, the money will show up. 

I cannot tell you how excited I am to do all this!!   It's been on my bucket list to live in Europe for at least a year and now it's happening!! The school does not have on-campus housing in Brussels, so I will be living in the city, full immersion.They speak Flemish, German, and French in Belgium so I will learn at least one of those languages. Paris is two hours away by train, as is London. From pictures and everything I've heard, Brussels is a beautiful international city (it's the EU capital) full of waffles, chocolate, beer and friendly people. I've been working toward this for the past year and a half and it still doesn't seem real. The next seven months will take forever and yet fly by at the same time.  Let's look at more pictures of Brussels!! All pics stolen from Pinterest. You can follow my Brussels board here: Brussels

Waffles:

Gallerie du Roi:

Coffee: 

Grand Palace: