Two fantastic, expected, but nonetheless life-changing things happened yesterday.

Okay, okay, okay. I’m exaggerating. Seeing Harry Potter 7 part 2 at midnight really didn’t change my life. BUT it was fantastic, and expected, because, ya know, I bought my ticket over a month ago.

Truth be told, I’m a Potterhead poser. I didn’t read the books until a couple years ago. It’s not like I didn’t try. I read the first book in elementary school, but I found it dull and stopped halfway through. I told this to my obsessed high school friends, to which they said, “Well YEAH the first one sucks, but you just have to get through it!”

If the first one really sucks then why did you keep reading it???

Well, I still haven’t completed the first one. I did, however, read numbers two through seven in a year. And I’m so glad I did. The last two movies, viewed at midnight, were amazing experiences and I’ve loved shamelessly hopping on the bandwagon.

I intend to do that next year in Brussels — shamelessly hop on EVERY bandwagon to experience all the strange, surrealist, non-nationalistic things they’re into. Cartoons? Yeah, I’ll get into Tintin in no time. And I can hardly wait for the vibrant spectacle that is Carnival.

In more appropriately life changing news, my visa arrived in the mail yesterday. People are always complaining about inefficiency in Belgium (well… yeah…) but they sure were quick with my visa! It’s officially official now. I’m going!