05 | 02 | 18

C R O A T I A 

Hej Ljepotes! Hey Beauties! 

This past weekend was my Croatian trip with Cara! It was so positive and fun and exactly what I'd hoped for since it was technically my last good trip before going home!! Going into it, I was low key kind of dreadful because i'd been back from my two week long spring break for only 5 days and I was exhausted!!! But I knew traveling with Cara, we'd make lifetime memories and I was right!! 

I got to Europe on March 1st and didn't meet my UNK group until the 11th…But by the time we were finally meeting up with them in Czech, I was more than ready to be around familiar Americans again. I met Cara that first day in the airport and we hit it off instantly!! I loved how she was so selfless with her conversation, always asking people more and more questions about themselves and genuinely being interested in what they were saying, never once speaking about herself, even though she has so much to offer!! We ended up sitting on the 3 hour bus ride together our entire way to Olomouc and it was the start of an awesome friendship! The next day was my birthday and I'd only known the girl for 12 hours at that point, yet she went out of her way to text me right at midnight and wish me happy birthday! She was the first and only one of my friends to do so and I hardly knew her! Just putting into prospective how caring and wonderful she is, everyone should have Cara in their life!! 

Anyway, 

CROATIA! We left Friday after class and grabbed our duffels, stopped for lunch in Olomouc, before heading to the train station to get to Prague. When we got to the station we learned that our train was 45 minutes delayed and we kept wondering why we didn't have assigned seats. We went out to the platform to wait out our delay and met the nicest girl!!! Cara and I are both really outgoing when it comes to meeting new people we share the same passion for learning about someone even if it was just a short period of time! We talked to this girl named Adel who was from Czech, about why her culture never smiles and is always angry. She agreed with everything we talked about and she told us she loves Americans because we are so happy and vibrant. After the train finally pulled up, we said our goodbyes to Adel and boarded our train. Where we frantically looked for a seat, since we didn't have an assigned one, and we quickly realized the train was seriously over booked. Forcing Cara and I, along with 7 other people, to stand in the connector part where the bathroom was. I was so annoyed. We finally moved our way into the car to stand in the aisle part of the train. For 2 1/2 hours we did this. Even though it was extremely uncomfortable we made the most out of it, as Cara does with every situation. We laughed about it, and we ended up meeting another girl, Petra, from Olomouc who was sitting next to where we were standing. She was entertained by us and we talked with her about her interests and culture the whole ride to Prague. By the end of the ride she'd followed me and Cara on instagram and has since messaged us to hang out! 

We got to the airport around 7:30/8 and our flight wasn't until 9:30. Knowing Cara and I together, it wouldn't surpirse you when I tell you we decided to take it easy, grab Starbucks  and dinner, check in through customs, then get lost and go back through prague customs and completely exit the airport, forcing us to go through security all over again, just barely making our flight. We had security laughing at us, since they'd just seen us, we were sweating and running, but we made it. LOL. The flight was short and when we got off we had to take an Uber to the bus station! We boarded our bus in Zagreb and took off for Split! It was midnight at that point and we wouldn't arrive until 5:45 a.m. It was a long ride. 

When we finally got to Split we were dead. We couldn't get our phones to work but we finally got service and called an Uber. We called our Host, Denis, and he was there waiting for us even though it was so late, bless his heart! Our airbnb was SO CUTE and affordable. It was perfect! We crashed that morning until around noon got up to get ready and go eat lunch. Our Uber there, took was wayyy out in the middle of nowhere and just dropped us off! What the heck!? So we had to call another. Ugh. We had a hard time getting there and also wasted money, but when we finally arrived I was so happy we ate where we did! It was the cutest restaurant over looking the water and the harbor! Cara and I both had fresh Caesar salads and they were absolutely delish. After lunch we headed to the "beach" (giant cement slab coast line) We didnt want to lay on the hard ground so we rented loungers and settled in. The water was beautiful and we sat and drank smoothies all day, listened to music, and got our sun! Around 5:30 we headed back to our Airbnb to get ready for dinner! Dinner was so amazing, our Airbnb was very close to the main square so we made our way down the windy, flower lined, roads to eat. We ate at a bistro right by the water and had the best chicken ever. We sat and talked about life for a long time! We laughed about situations and people we couldn't change, we told each other how appreciative we were that we met, and we made plans for the summer to hang out back in America! Sometimes I think God put me in Europe just to make new, wonderful friends, because i've made some great ones! 

On Sunday we woke up early and headed out to grab a scone and get to our boat tour! We took a catamaran about an hour 1/2 out where we listened to music and laughed on our way while appreciating the breath taking views!! We stopped to see dolphins jumping and swimming everywhere right next to our boat! It was so magical! We then went to these amazing caves where the sunlight came through small holes in the top reflecting off the water and making it look so extremely blue like it was glowing!! It was soooo cool! It was like we were on a real life Disney ride! After going in and out of multiple caves all day long we stopped at our first Island, one of many, where we explored the small simple ways of living and ate fruit! We met our new friend Adam who was on our tour and let me tell you…this guy knows more about designers than I ever thought about. He was so worried about his Gucci sandals flying off the boat that it turned into the biggest joke all day! He was very flamboyant and out there but definitely our entertainment for the day! We learned he was studying realestate in London and was doing a weekend trip just like us! At our final island stop we ate a fabulous pasta lunch and realized we were extremely sunburnt from laying out on the deck of the boat all day. OUCH! Still killing me! 

After 11 hours on the water I was more than ready to be back in Split. We planned on getting ready and going out for one last dinner because we had to leave at midnight that night but we were SO exhausted from the sun and the sea that we ended up falling asleep for two hours! The thing was, we were actually supposed to check out of our Airbnb early that morning but Denis our host was nice enough to let us stay until late that night, when he came to check us out of the place, he was so sweet!! He offered for us to stay another night for free and he told us his son was our age and wanted to study in America but they couldn't afford it! Cara, being Cara, told Denis she would check into afforable programs UNK had to offer for his son and maybe we could help!! 

All in all, Split was such a short trip but it was jam packed with so many laughs and amazing memories! Though the country itself is beautiful, it was the people we met and the vibes we received and gave that made this trip so wonderful! Just goes to show life really is all about mindset! 

Much love,

Abigayle 

"Happy are the people whose God is the Lord" Psalm 144:15. The Bible guides us to happiness through God's Word!