Europe Here I Come!!!

It seemed like it would never come, but in 4 days I leave for Europe! I've been to Spain once but that was when I was 14 and traveling with my entire extended family. Basically, because I was a teenager and in my "too cool for school" mindset I pretty much hid out the entire time trying to pretend that I didn't know any of them.

And also eating an inordinate number of eggs in the form of tortillas. This was many moons ago, before people had really heard of vegetarianism. Did I mention I don't like eggs? But faced with the very real threat of starvation, tortillas it was.

I have a super-packed but just barely manageable itinerary.

First, I fly into Brussels and meet up with friends. Spend the weekend in Brussels with side trips to Bruges and Ghent on

Monday and Tuesday. This is what I have to look forward to:

Then, I take a train through France down to Basel, Switzerland where I will stay with a friend for a few days. Day-tripping to Zurich definitely and Geneva hopefully.

Then on to Bologna, Italy where we'll hook up with another friend.

And, if time permits, on to Ravenna, Italy where I will hopefully see this:

At one time, Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire and it's emperor Justinian was an early Christian (and believed in good PR, hence all the images of him).

The only bad part of my trip is that I'm going during the winter, which is going to be a culture shock to my system, but my university is closed over Christmas so we get a nice little paid extra holiday.

I can't look a gift horse in the mouth now can I?