Croatia! Weekend Trip #3

Croatia you have captured my heart! Booking this trip wasn't easy we looked into everything. Flying was way to expensive, a hotel, hostel, and even an airbnb were all expensive once we got near the location we wanted to go to. Then we came across SmartTrip which is a company that hires graduates straight out of college. They live abroad for a semester to a year and give local study abroad students their promo codes and when they get used to book a trip the student gets 30% off the trip. So we found a trip to Croatia on their site and we couldn't resist! Thursday night we hopped on the bus at 9 pm then arrive in Croatia the following morning around 9:30.

Friday was a free day! Our group of friends headed to the Diocolician palace for a visit. In all honesty I was pretty excited to see it since it was something I learned about in my Architecture History course last year, but it was kinda a disappointment! The place was huge and had a few pieces of sculptures inside but we had no idea what we were looking at. The small signs did not explain anything that we were looking at, so for the most part I feel like I was looking at stone bathtubs. Once we made it to the top there was a lot more to see. Once we left there we headed over to the beach which was pretty cloudy for awhile but then the sun came out and it was beautiful, and after a few hours we headed over to happy hour, then headed back to the hostel. When we were half way back to the hostel I realized I forgot the painting I bought at the palace! I rushed into the hostel in a panic and called the restaurant and they told me they would keep it safe. So for dinner my roommates and I headed back down towards the water so I could grab my painting and who would say no to dinner by the sea. At dinner Anna and I ordered a Cider that was DELICIOUS. And considering that the following day was our booze cruise we went to the grocery store to buy some snacks and drinks! We found our cider and was running through the store cause it was huge and we got there 10 minutes before closing.

We left for our booze cruise left at 9:15 on Saturday. We got on the boat around 11 and we didn't get back till 6. We stopped at an island for lunch, then cruised on over to the blue lagoon where we jumped off the top of the boat and swam! The water was cold, but jumping off the top of the boat didnt give you anytime to be cold! This was my favorite part of the weekend. Our trip had about 75 girls on it! We had a boat full of college girls popping champagne off the side of the boat and dancing and singing in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. When it came time to jumping off the side of the boat everyone helped each other climb over the edge cause after that first jump it was slippery climbing over the railing! It was neat seeing a bunch of girls who have just met all come together to have a great day! So anyway the water was so salty it made it easier to sit in the water and float, but after my first time jumping off the side i learned my lesson, I felt like i had salt in my brain, so every jump after that i made sure i held my nose! Floating in the water it hit me how amazing this experience is going to be. That night we went to a group dinner where I ordered a fillet and packed a leftover drink in my bag so i didn't have so by another one! Croatias currency is the Kuna. I paid 158 kuna for only my meal, which translates to 25€. That was something to get use to all weekend. When I first exchanged a 50€ bill, I got back 350 Kuna! Currency is still so confusing to me but I cracked up when we were paying 1,667 Kuna for our group of 8 to have dinner!

Sunday we woke up EARLY at 6 to grab breakfast and be back on the bus by 7, so we could start the bus ride back to Florence, but we made a stop at KRKA national park! This park is full of waterfalls and it's breathtaking! We swam in the falls and explored the park for about 2 hours until we had to be back on our bus to head home.

Overall it was an amazing weekend and it made me sooo excited for weekends to come!