It Was A Joke!

So if you follow my blog often, you know that I've been in Belgium for almost a year now and since a few months ago, I was counting on July 10th, today, being the end of my journey. Meaning, the day I go home.

Well, it wasn't.

Basically what happened was that I got to the airport with Ben and a whole bunch of my friends, both Belgian and exchange students, and was in line to check in and everything was going fine. A woman came and checked my passport and I was ready to check my bags. But then another woman from the airline was going to each person in line, asking if they would be willing to travel tomorrow instead of today. They would arrange everything and I would even get a $900 voucher for my next flight. At first I was very hesitant because I wasn't sure what my parents would say and it's emotionally difficult when you think you're leaving and place, and then you stay. But in the end, I decided to be an adult and make the decision for myself and stay the extra day. $900 is a lot of money. And it would cover a ticket from Europe to the States...

The thing was that it wasn't official quite yet. They had to make sure that everyone showed up and they would actually need my seat. Which meant that I had to go through security and everything as if I was taking the original flight. So I did. And I said goodbye to everyone as if I would never see them again (not true, I'm coming back next summer). I cried all the way through customs and security. But the border patrol man was very nice to me, asked me to tell him what I could. I said nothing more than I was an exchange student this year in Belgium and he let me right through. No questions asked.

I got to the gate just at last call when the woman told me that they did in fact need my seat and I wouldn't be leaving until tomorrow. She then gave me my $900 voucher and I picked up my bags and came back to my little town of Hannut. I'm staying in my second family's house tonight and tomorrow Karine will come to get me and Ben to take us to the airport. So, all in all, everything is fine, I'm $900 richer than I was before, and I got to spend an extra wonderful, unexpected day in Belgium. Yay :)