Plitivice Lakes and Passing Out..literally

Let's start from last night shall we? We went looking for a pizza place at an outdoor cafe and had some good cheese pizza and local drinks There was a group of 9 of us- the 2 guys and some really awesome girls. We laughed and talked and just hung out forever. My new friends were kept laughing by my lovely accent and just my comments about the trip. It was fun and then we walked back to the hotel around 1045- and Elizabeth and I (thats a pic of us) stayed up til 245 working on hw and talking. I think I found my "purpose" last night. My roomie and I talked about church- she isnt involved and doesnt seem to really know about saving grace. Pray for her- and me that I can plant some seeds and be the example I should be. My verse that I read yesterday morning was "I want to know Christ..."- I do and through this trip have been more aware of his grace and creations- pray that she can learn about that too :)

So bed and up this am to go on the HIKE. The Keens passed the test!! No blisters!! Yay!! That $100 was worth it deddy!!! I need to set the stage for this hike: we rode a AWESOME hot pink charter bus with suede and leather brown :) and tan seats. I got AMAZINGLY sick and about 15 mins into the trip I had to go to my teacher at the front and ask for motion sickness meds. The faculty just looked and me and said "we are about to get off the interstate- how are you this sick on a straight road?!" I took the pill and about 30 mins later we made a pit stop and I thought I was about to leave a great impression on my roomie. I got to the bathroom, hung over the toilet (which smelled like a wet dog), and nothing. So I got back on the bus, tried to sleep it off and not look out the window, and was fine when we reached our 2 hr away destination. We heard a good lecture about this AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL NATIONAL PARK called Plitvice Lakes- (plitvisey). The water is THE CLEANEST AND PUREST on the planet. The algae remove all the toxins from the lake, but while they do that it forms these tratervines- this is an actual living rock- because the algae removes the carbonates and solidifies the rocks- these solidified rocks form natural dams in the water. The place is breathtaking (that will come into play later). We HIKED this mountain/lake for 4 hours. It was never hot and it ws really spectacular. God sure knew what he was doing when He made this place- I was just awestruck. Waterfalls and beautiful perfectly clear greenblue water. Wow is all I can say God!!!

So on the way to see one of the tallest waterfalls- we saw this: Someone being carried out on a gurny with a MASSIVE head trauma. Keep in mind I had JUST asked our tour guide what do they do if there is an emergency at the park!!! Wow- the person's head was SUPPER bandaged...and I wont post the bloody pic, but apparently he/she slipped and hit their head. We had to WALK through the blood to get over to the next waterfall!! Public heath concern!!! So we walked around this place forever- up and down rickety beech wood paths and up and down stairs!!!

But it was all worth it- these pictures are just a glimpse as to what I saw- and it was amazing!! We walked FOREVVVERRRR - took a ferry (ecofriendly :) ) across the lake- hikes some more- took a short ferry again- then seriously had to climb a mountain to get to dinner. We FINALLY made it to dinner- veggie soup, cabage vinegar salad, and turkey strognaoff-knockoff with rice- so good!!

Here comes the good stuff. At dinner me and 4 other girls- Stephanie- Kelsey- Jessica- and Brittany were all talking about life and work and all that good stuff- we were talking about this other girl Emily on the trip who passes out when she sees blood- and how she reacted today-(she did fine)- then I asked Brittany what was her blood type bc she had on a Red cross shirt- she said she didnt know- for some reason I felt compelled to ask them about if they had had any surgeries- Britt said she had spinal surgery- then we got into what its like to give blood- needles- how it feels- passing out and all that jazz. I started talkin about my acl surgery and its was making Steph really queasy- so we tried to change the subject and Britt said she had to go to the bathrm- the rest of us were in deep "passing out" conversation, and Jessica quietly goes- uh yall! YALL!! something's wrong!! Well bless if BRITTANY didnt pass out right there at the table!! Since I caused this catastrophe with my story- I went into super nurse mode (thanks Student Health for my great lessons about passing out- I did everything right :) ) I got up- looked at her- her eyes were open but no blinks and NO color in her skin- I lifted her to the floor and put her feet up on my stomach and called out "DR COTTON- WE HAVE A PASSER-OUTER!" We got her a cool cloth and I continued to hold her feet up til she came back. Intense- none the less since we were just talking about it!!n She was fine- im not sure if the altitude- dehydration- or my lovely story about my knee caused the inncidemt, but she was in good hands. We are really tired- and still have a TON of hw to do- tomorrow is alllllll a public health day- super pumped! VISITING THE CROATIAN HOSPITAL!! I am having a lot of fun learning and sighseeing- I hope you are enjoying pieces of my trip!! Now on 2 the books- so I can really pass out 2nite!!