A Little Trip With Big Surprises

I thought it would be a nice idea to share my school trip to Croatia with the world. So here it is, a rough description from the first to the last day.

It all started on September 13 at 8 a.m. My dad had given me a ride to our school because the bus was waiting for us in front of the edifice. When all the suitcases were loaded, the trip, and with that the excitement, started. But before I could even get excited, I got rather tired and fell asleep while listening to music.

The drive to our goal was not as uncomfortable and boring as I had expected. The hours passed quite quickly and from one second to another we had suddenly reached our first stop – Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia. There we had a pretty long respite that included a little sightseeing tour and a café at McDonald’s.

Afterwards we sat down in our bus again and the trip continued. From Ljubljana it had taken us about two hours until we reached our apartment in Rovinj.

I think it was 6 p.m. when we got there and investigated our place to stay. The owners of the house were really likeable, everything was clean, it smelled good inside, the rooms were big enough – it just made me feel happy and comfortable.

Later that evening we went out to have dinner at a really nice restaurant. Despite the long bus drive, I wasn’t that hungry so I shared my dinner, pizza, with one of my classmates. We had quite a lot of fun, the weather was nice, everything just seemed perfect and nothing reminded us of a school trip.

On the next day we got up at 7 a.m. or so and had breakfast together – me, my three roommates and the two girls who had their apartment above us. One of them was Stella, an old friend of mine who had once attended our school as well.

After breakfast we had to meet up with the rest of our group and the teachers who were with us. The first stop was the store, Konzum, which was less than ten minutes away. Some, including me, had to change their euros into Kuna, the currency in Croatia, and some had to get some food or drinks.

Afterwards we went to town where we waited for a boat to pick us up. It was fairly windy, but luckily the wind was warm and we did not freeze despite shorts and T-shirts.

The boat maneuvered us to a beautiful island whose name was Katarina. There we went snorkeling and were supposed to watch the animals living underwater. We even got fishing nets to catch for example shells or crayfishes.

We did catch some interesting animals, but snorkeling was not that interesting because there wasn’t much to see and it was sheer to windy. Therefore I spent the remaining time with sunbathing and writing on my second book.

Back in town we walked to our apartments and made dinner for ourselves. Afterwards we all met up to go to town again, to look at interesting sights and buildings. Then we had time until 10:30 p.m., so a few classmates and I were hanging out together talking about this and that and just enjoying the last few hours.

On Tuesday we went snorkeling at the mainland. On that day the weather was a lot hotter, there was actually no cloud in the sky and it was less windy. In fact, we were snorkeling every day. At the mainland the water and the cliffs were breathtaking, but it was probably just as breathtaking as dangerous. Thank goodness, I only cut my fingers and palms a little – when I tried to get out of the water after snorkeling. Afterwards we decided to go into the water again but just to have fun. The waves were quite tall and it was great fun to check how long you could stand on your feet until a wave kind of hit you against a rock or slammed you to the ground. It hurt, but hey, no pain, no gain. Blood dripped from my knees but it was definitely worth it! I just had to laugh so hard.

Anyway, back in our apartment, we all showered and made ourselves dinner again. Stella and her friend spent the evening with us, we chatted, laughed, joked around until we decided to go to bed.

Wednesday – I guess you already know what we were up to on that day. Exactly, we went snorkeling! But beforehand, something way more thrilling was to experience – if you were brave enough.

The same boat as on Monday drove us to Katarina again where we jumped off cliffs. Four meters, eight meters, twelve meters – no big deal, huh? I can tell you, jumping down a cliff that’s approximately twelve meters high is scary as hell! To “warm up” Stella and I first jumped down the four meters high cliff, then the eight meters, which was already challenging. And then we were standing there, twelve freaking meters above the sea. I was still shivering because of the adrenaline rush from eight meters high cliff, I just asked myself how the hell I was going to survive that. I do love adventures and doing crazy things like this, but just think about that: once you’ve jumped, there’s no turning back anymore. You either make it and rush into the sea or you mess it up and hit the rock because of which we had to jump farther away from the edge. It’s not like a roller coaster where you actually know that nothing can happen to you – that’s a matter of life and death.

Well, after a long time of hesitation, I dared to do it and it felt great! Guess what I did afterwards – I jumped down the eight meters cliff for a last time. It’s a good feeling when you’re fully pumped with adrenaline...

The next stop was “The Red Island” where we went snorkeling (surprise!). I guess I don’t have to get into detail, all I can say is that it was again a beautiful island with amazing landscape. Worth mentioning is that the boat trip back to the mainland was quite terrifying. It was again really windy and the swell was damn heavy. The boat almost capsized (at least it felt like it).

On our last full day we went to a bay where we did the same as we had done every other day before (hint: the word starts with “S”). But we also had to do some research on animals that lived in this area by reading books.

We didn’t stay there for a long time, the boat picked us up at 2 p.m. What we experienced on the way back was pretty funny.

First of all we got something to eat. The owner of the boat had made us some hamburgers and had prepared drinks for us too. They were delicious (better than any burger at McDonald’s, I have to confess).

But that was just the beginning. When we had finished lunch, it didn’t take much time until we were asked if we wanted to jump off the boat’s top. I didn’t feel that good, so I left that out and just watched the others. And let’s be honest, those three or four meters are nothing compared to twelve.

Only when the boat fired the engine again the situation got quite funny. The swell was even heavier on that day and the luck was on our side. Our teacher pointed at something in the sea and asked if we could see that. I put my glasses on and I was literally mind-blown and speechless. There were dolphins! Not only one, not only two – there were several ones, at least five, if not ten! I was truly amazed and then truly afraid because the boat was about to flip over AGAIN. And on that day the danger of capsizing was even higher because of the swell, which was heavier, and the dolphins, because of which the boat drove in curves and therefore almost flipped over. But well, nothing happened, we’re still alive and we did not have to make use of the life jackets.

Stella and I went to town for one last time, where we went shopping and had dinner.

As it was the last day, we had to pack our bags and clean the apartment.

On Friday we left really early, so at 6:30 a.m. because we also wanted to visit the cave of Postojna in Slovenia. This was also an interesting experience as I’ve never been to a cave before. There were less than ten degrees in there and we had to get inside by a cute little “wagon”.

To sum up, I’ve been to Croatia a few times before and it’s always an amazing experience. It is by far the most beautiful country in Europe I’ve visited and it’s definitely worth visiting another time. Now if you think that we haven’t done anything there besides snorkeling and sunbathing I must disappoint you. We also had to do some research on animals living in the sea and I was surprised how many different species live in the Mediterranean Sea. There are even some dangerous creatures that can kill you if you’re unlucky. Just remember, if you want to go to Croatia get a pair of bathing shoes – the risk of cut up feet is a lot lower then and also the risk of getting poisoned.