The departure lounge in Monrovia’s international airport is a place transformed. Just months ago it was a hot concrete box with a lone TV blaring Nigerian soaps. Now it is a modern and blissfully air conditioned lounge offering, wonder of wonders, free hi-speed internet access.

If only I was in a position to enjoy it. After weeks of Liberian food (think pureed kale in thick palm oil over rice, with massive amounts of chili pepper) I enjoyed a club sandwich from one of the swankier hotels in town and… gastro-intestinal disaster ensues. What a lovely fate just before a long plane ride to Brussels. Fortunately I keep my old pal Cipro close by for just such occasions. I’m just glad it’s not malaria–my initial suspicion.

Unfortunately, in a few hours I will land in Brussels for a 24 hour whirlwind tour: give a paper, sit on a dissertation defense committee, dinner out with faculty, and back on the flight to JFK.

Funny how these plans always seem like a good idea four months in advance when you buy the tickets.

Little Cipro, this is your moment. Do not fail me now.

Of greater concern is the e-mail I just received from the head of the defense committee: “Don’t worry, it’s not necessary that you wear your toga.”

My what?

Surely he must mean gown: the formal robes one dusts out for graduations. Picture a Dumbledore costume, minus the beard. Mine hasn’t seen the outside of a plastic bag in more than two years, and most certainly did not enter my Liberia luggage.

Sadly, the only thing I have that’s not covered in red dust and grass stains is a pair of kahkis and a reasonably presentable blue shirt. Most economists dress like flood victims (it’s a badge of honor) and so I thought I could get away with field clothes in Brussels.

No such luck, it seems: “Normally people dress quite formally,” he writes, “but you should not worry too much–the Prime Minister probably is not attending. A jacket and tie will be fine.”

Crud.

The Brussels airport website tells me that the shops open at 6am–about 45 minutes after my arrival.

Either that, or my hotel bed sheet could make a very nice toga…