TYW Academy, Croatia

I passed!! There were a few points when I questioned if I would make it through or not since they have really high expectations but in the end, all the girls on my boat passed along with all our skippers. I arrived in Trogir Thursday and enjoyed some alone time in my hotel room, then Friday finished up my meal plans, provisoning list, repacked, and enjoyed a stroll around the village. Trogir is a small marina town about 30 mins from Split, but is actually closer to the airport which is convinient since this is where we will always be leaving from on charter weeks. Friday afternoon another host student named Kate joined me since we agreed to split accomidation and were meeting up with some other students from dinner. Nine of us met up for dinner at a local restaurant and got to know each other a bit before starting Saturday morning. Saturday was day 1 where we got split into groups, did introductions, provisioning, basic safety trainings, then the 3 hosts all cooked dinner together. The way it worked was each host was assigned 6 meals throughout the week and we took turns alternating breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner/dessert. For the main meals, we only had 2 hours and were docked if we went over (which we all did almost every meal) but realistically you will have more time on charters because you are allowed to prep things the night before or start earlier. Buying (and sharing) groceries for 9 people for a week was quite difficult along with learning how to cook in the galley, but in the end I feel like I learned a lot and have already improved. In between cooking we would have lectures, learn basic deck training from the boys, and in the evenings something fun like group dinner, drinks out, a scavenger hut, etc… These were great since we got to interact with all the crews from the other 3 boats. Our crew really got along and helped each other so much throughout the week. We had peothe ple from the Netherlands, US, Australia, France, Scotland, Slovenia, Kenya, and Germany. We had the two lead instructors which meant they were a bit tougher on us all week but were great teachers. I got to sail, tie knots, and help with docking. I did have to power through sea sickness a few times which I thought might blow my shot but thankfully not, just have to find some better medication and stay on top of it. Once all our exams were done 10 of us rented an air bnb in Split Friday night and went out to celebrate with the others.

I also had a phone interview mid week and by Thursday had it confirmed that I got the volunteer position at the Hostel in London! It’s free accommodation and 1 meal a day in exchange for around 30 hours of work per week doing reception, hosting pup crawls, cleaning, etc… We will see how it works out, I plan to be there until June 9th when Brenna comes to visit unless TYW scedules me before then. They start the season on May 20th and we will get assignments sometime this week. London is definitely a change to my original plan but I am excited, everyone says there is so much to do and it will be cool living in a hostel constantly making new friends.