My trip to the Coast - Dubrovnik

Hello to everyone still reading my blog, I know there are a bunch of you and I do appreciate it! Just thought I should let you know! But I forgot to mention something in my last blog that I feel I really need to write because I do not want to forget it! Last blog I ended up sleeping outside for a night, I was in an island paradise and I only lasted a few hours before giving up and going back home because it was so miserable. I have a total new respect for homeless people and aware of the hardship of sleeping outside. So when I go back to the states I am going to be less focused on my clubs and do more volunteering to help out, people shouldn't have to try and live like that. I just wanted to write that down so I don't forget!

But let me tell you about this coastal town called Dubrovnik! It is in the south of Croatia and is really a wonderful place. We drove all along the coast to get there and went through the mountains of Croatia and was able to see the country side. It was really breath taking, I was unaware of how much natural wonders Croatia had hidden. So we arrived at our hotel/apartment and it was crazy beautiful, we rented three massive rooms and it sat over the little cove and had its own pool. It looked onto the mountains and onto the actual walled city of Dubrovnik. We spent the rest of the first day just swimming and lounging in the sunlight because we wanted to see the big city tomorrow.

The next day our group split up, all the guys decided to take a boat and arrive in Dubrovnik by the water, the girls took a bus, I do not know what the ladies were thinking by saving a few bucks because it was amazing! As we were approaching the port a huge cruise ship was also coming in to anchor and it was very impressive. Furthermore there was one remarkably beautiful woman on the ferry that complemented the scene perfectly. She was so breath taking I could not but help to take a photo of her. I swear it was like she was posing, yet she had no idea. Once arriving on the docks we started walking around the city. If you watch Game of Thrones then you have seen Dubrovnik many times, it is Kings Landing! So having just watched the series I had many Deja Vu moments! The whole city is truly like stepping into the past. All the stone work is done by hand and you can see the chisel marks on the walls. Yet the cobble stone roads look as smooth as glass from all the tourism. That was one huge down side to this trip, it was not even tourist season and the amount of people already visiting was suffocation. I can only imagine walking the small winding streets in the height of tourism season. 

The boys on the Boat!

The view as we pulled into the Harbor

We met up with the ladies and started exploring the city. There were many small nooks and winding ally ways that opened up into larger and hidden areas untainted by the tourism. It was fun sniffing out these places but they were far and few between. As we explored we stopped at a city market where the girls shopped and talked to all the stands. The stand owners were handing out candied fruits and selling nic-naks. It was very quaint and had a small town feel. The one thing I will add about Europe is they are in no shortage of churches. Even in this compact city they had a church on almost every corner, each with its own special history and story. After we saw about all there was to see in the city we decided it was time to head to the beach. We spent the rest of the after noon sitting in the sun and tanning, some of us who do not have the luxury of tan skin or olive skinned burned. I was very red when leaving the beach but I knew it was only a slight burn and sure enough the following days I was looking tan and good! I forgot to mention, that one the way to the beach I bumped into a fellow Kappa Sigma from California. I was wearing my Greek letters and one of his friends saw me and called me over. They were their on vacation and were leaving the next day but it is amazing how small the world is! It was really awesome, and made me miss my brothers back home even more. It was nice to talk to someone who does understand Greek life, especially someone from my own fraternity!

Auror taking a smoke break, she would
kill me if she knew this was online :)

Candid shot of Juliette when we stopped
for frozen cocktails 

We then headed home and took a swim in the pool as we watched from afar the sun setting on the city. I can not explain the feeling of how invigorating it is to be experiencing all these experiences. All those stories of far off lands and places, it is a strange feeling when you are the one who makes a split decision to go to the beach or on some crazy adventure to some place with people you barely know. I felt like a piece of stale bread before coming here, I was always worn down and just stuck in the same place living day to day, each day only a slight variation of the day before. Now each day is like jumping from one story book to another, the landscape ever changing, the characters an ever shifting group of students all connected in their wonder as they travel around. I only have little less than two months left and although my desire to see my friends gets worse everyday, I can not help but to feel that my adventure is closing and I will soon be back to the same old grind. But enough of that! The same old grind is worth it with friends like Logan McG, Mikie, Dre, Rainy and all the other kids at school, it may not be Europe but we do make life fun!

Our last day again was spent lounging on the sea side,but at night we went to a local restaurant to try some of the local affairs. Being on the sea naturally it was sea food, so me and Micheal decided to split the sample platter. BEST IDEA EVER! It was full of some of the most tastiest seafood I have eaten since living in Hawaii. The fish were swimming not even hours before we ordered and the muscles, shrimp, and calamari was all perfect. It was a wonderful meal, one of those meals where the food was great, the wine flowed, and the only thing better was being surrounded by new friends and laughing long into the night. 

Watching the crazy weather as the air
went from super warm to darn right chilly

Now this is where I would have ended the story had the trip back not been full of crazy events. As we were driving back to Zagreb we ran into a small problems, the highway was closed. Apparently a late snow storm was only a few miles from this 80 degree (that is Fahrenheit)  weather. The highway was closed due to the wind being so strong it would push cars of the road. So what did we do, well we found out besides the highway there is only one small road through the mountains back to Zagreb. Now when I say through the mountains I do not mean big roads and guard rails the whole way. No these roads must have one time been the paths that were worn and carved into the side of the rock from the first travelers coming across them. We were often mere feet from a steep drop that if it was possible to survive an accident you would look like meat after a grinder. Now to top it all off Michael is one lead footed crazy nut job. He was on his phone the ENTIRE time while driving, not just text mind you, he checked facebook, checked the route. All the while huge semi trucks passed us in the other direction. If I had known it was going to be that nerve wracking I would have put a piece of coal between my butt cheeks because by the time it was over I would have had a diamond.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this! I know a lot of people dear to me actually read this and it means a lot that you guys care enough about me to take the time to see what I am doing! Love you guys!

P.S. I love getting comments... just saying....

This face says it all... What a crazy and fun trip!