The Amazing Finish

I believe I left you at the massive amount of horse meat I consumed. Terribly sorry about that. 

After that, we scrutinized an outdoor photo gallery, located a World War II bunker, charted with a Slovene couple, and I took on a ridiculous calligraphy job. After finding things that begin in Slovene with all but one letter of the alphabet, we ended in second place AGAIN at the end of day 2! Hashtag killin' the game. 

Friday, after waking before 5am, when most of you Indiana folk were probably still awake despite our 6 hour time difference, we took a train to Maribor, where we helped at a local youth center before starting the last leg of the race. 

The first task led us to the top of a hill. Disclaimer: for the rest of this post, this Indiana girl will likely refer to the hills of this city as mountains. All of the locals, literally every single individual in the whole city (besides one confused lady), sent us to a hill with a chapel at the top. Or the second day in a row, we had an early morning steep uphill hike. We finally made it to the top with another team hot on our heels. Two more teams arrived, but no race helpers were to be found for our next clue. We all simply knew there bad to be some mistake. After all, these were bit just any teams, these were the top 4 teams, the best of the best. We called to ask if we beat the helper there. We didn't. We climbed the wrong mountain. 

Some men doing landscaping kindly pointed us along a path to the next hill over, where we found the elders while another team had turned around and had to hitchhike and climb over 400 stairs to get to the same place. That in itself was a victory. 

We passed vineyards, went to a wine museum, met at a wine cellar, took communion, and in the process managed to drink no wine. 

I also have a question for y'all. It's about swans. Are they not solitary/couply creatures? I have never seen more than 2 swans together and yesterday I saw SCORES of them together paddling their elegant selves down the ever. Slovenia is a magical, magical place. 

The rest of the race involved obstacle courses, choreographed ballroom dancing on the square, public surveys, and translation and geography lessons. Early in the afternoon, we sprinted off, backpacks bouncing to the finish line at a gazebo. 

For the third day in a row, and once and for all, team VW got SECOND PLACE. Such consistency and excellence is unmatched. We are blessed, and we are fierce. 

Peace and blessings,

Jenna