11) Personal Choice
After my finals were completed and our last field trip came
to the end, I had one last week to travel around Europe. My friends and I couldn’t think of a better
place to spend our last week than on the beach.
Fortunately for us the Croatian beaches were everything that we thought
that they would be.
Out flight landed in Split and my first day in Croatia I
spent lounging by the beach. The beaches
in Croatia were unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
The water was as blue as the pictures on screensaver. The beaches were a little rocky, but the
views made it worth it. I also got to
see palm trees so I was a happy girl.
After a day in Split, my friends and I took a boat to Hvar,
an Island about an hour away known for its beautiful beaches. There are a few Islands very close to Hvar
that have the best beaches, so Louie, Emily, and I decided to rent a boat. None of us had ever navigated a boat, so we were
a little nervous, but it was our last week in Europe so we had to try. Fortunately, the “boat” was incredibly small
and Louie took the liberty of driving.
That day we went to three different coves and got quite a lot of
sun. Unfortunately, that sun turned me
in a tomato, but it was still worth it.
Our last day we spent river rafting. We had the opportunity to raft down the
longest river in Croatia. It was a bit
more shallow and rocky than anticipated, but we still had a great time. Rafting down the river was a great change of
scenery. We got to see the terrain by
the lake which was almost as pretty as the Ocean.
I don’t think that there was any destination that would have
prepared me to leave Europe. Studying
abroad has been the best experience of my life.
I learned more in the last three months than I ever could have
imagined. I met people from all over the
world and learned something from every one of them. I met people that grew up speaking a
different language than me and people that practiced a different religion. Studying abroad showed me I could learn so
much from just a simple conversation with someone who had always seen life from
a different perspective than I do. I am
incredibly sad to be leaving Europe, but I am excited to take all of the
knowledge I obtained back to the United States.
