Dubrovnik

Schools in Spain go on Christmas vacation for two whole weeks, so I decided to go on a trip with my two closest friends here in Spain, Katie and Lexi. We fully packed the two weeks with trips to Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, and Madrid.

On the first day of break, we took a bus to Madrid and checked into a hotel so that we could attend a dinner that was thrown by the Fulbright Commission. We met Fulbright Scholars who were from Spain and headed to the United States in the fall, and we sat with a diplomat at dinner. We had an amazing time at the dinner and I loved meeting so many interesting and impressive people.

The next morning, we woke up at 4:30 a.m. to catch a flight from Madrid to Dubrovnik, Croatia. We had a very shaky landing, and when we were going through customs we talked to a girl named Tina from Dubrovnik who told us that Croatia is so windy that sometimes they have to land in Split and take a bus back to Dubrovnik (a four-hour trip). We were very thankful that that didn't happen to us! After she got her bag, Tina offered to give us a ride to where we were staying (about a thirty-minute drive from the airport). On the drive, she told us about all of the things to do in Dubrovnik.

After we had checked in to our AirBnB, we ate at a local restaurant and met some other tourists from Bahrain, China, and England. We were exhausted from a full day of travel on little sleep, so we headed back to the AirBnB to sleep. The next day was Christmas Eve, which was one of my favorite days of the trip. In Dubrovnik, people celebrate Christmas Eve with friends and Christmas Day with family, so there was plenty for us to do. We walked around the wall that surrounds the city, and got drinks at a local bar before heading to a club that night. Going to a club in Croatia was interesting - everyone was very dressed up, and people were smoking inside the building. Even though the music wasn't in English, we had a great time together.

On Christmas Day, almost everything was closed. We spent the day walking around by the water, then headed back and made a Christmas dinner in our AirBnB. I also got to FaceTime my family, which was great! Christmas day was very relaxed, and we all missed home a little bit, but I'm glad I had Katie and Lexi with me. We had a good time in Croatia, and overall I would say it's one of my favorite places I've ever visited in Europe!