EUROTRIP TIME

Good evening!  This will be my last Internet blog post for twelve days.  I will chronicle the next twelve days in writing, hopefully, but no computer for a while.  Must learn constraint, and will not schlep a heavy laptop around Europe.

YES I AM GOING ON SPRING BREAK THROUGH EUROPE TOMORROW!!!  Our destinations are: Madrid, Milan, Florence, Rome, Bari, Patras, and Athens!

We will spend 2 days in Madrid, 1 day in Milan, my birthday in Florence, Easter Sunday in Rome, and coast the rest of the way across the Aegean Sea.

I am so excited for this, but also so anxious.  I guess I get anxious before any big change in my life.  This is a huge change, in fact; we are foreign students in London to being with, and we have to plan this enormous trip around so many people and differing schedules and itineraries.  Plus, we've had massive headaches with booking plane tickets, hotels, hostels, all with credit and debit cards online.  We are only allowed one carry on and must live out of it for twelve days.  Urgh.  I've mostly packed already, just the last few things in the dryer right now.  Speaking of which...gotta go collect laundry in 10 minutes or so....

My dream vacation would see me at a cafe somewhere with the sun high in the sky, me sipping a cappuccino (I've given up coffee for all of London, but...London is not Europe!) and writing in my journal or sketching in my sketchbook.  I could even go without seeing all the museums.  We're sacrificing Santa Maria della Grazie (The Last Supper) in Milan, the Uffizi and the Accademia in Florence, and probably we will miss a lot in Rome due to the hectic Holy Week.  But I'm willing to absorb Europe in other ways, like living la dolce vita rather than la vida loca (don't know how to speak Greek just yet).  I mean, when else can I spend Easter in the biggest Roman Catholic site in the world, spend my birthday in one of my favorite cities in the world, see the Acropolis ruins that I've longed to see since I was in 6th grade...!!!

Hopefully when I come back and recover from jetlag and heartache, I will transcribe my doodles in my journal and sketchbook for you guys.  But for now, ciao ciao, Europe awaits.