I can say with confidence that Amanda Tyree has done something in Europe that none of my friends have ever done.... no, I didn't get arrested! :) I got in a car accident!!!! :(

On Sunday morning, Amber, Laura, Ugur, and I got up at 5:00am to get an early (very early) start to our Slovenia day trip. Amber and Laura were running a little late, because we stayed up pretty late watching the Kentucky vs. Florida game.... but we still had plenty of time to make our cave tour, so we weren't worried. Ugur picked us up in his car at 5:30, and off we went. I was VERY excited! I was riding shotgun, and Amber and Laura were holding it down in the back seat. We packed some Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch, had some driving music, and were ready to get out of Vienna for the day and do some exploring. I had been planning this trip for several weeks and was quite looking forward to it...... but nature had other plans.

After being on the road for about an hour, it started to rain a bit. I don't really like driving in the rain, but it's never been too much of a problem. Within about 5 minutes, the rain became heavy, and then in about another 5 minutes, it turned to VERY heavy snowfall. The ground around us was completely covered in snow just a few more miles down the road. This was insane! We all looked at eachother, and Ugur slowed down a bit. One of the lanes on this major highway had already been cleared, so we started driving in that. We came up behind another snow plow truck that was shooting snow everywhere. I guess Ugur didn't feel comfortable driving right behind this truck, so he decided to switch lanes and pass on the right side.

We successfully passed this truck, and then all of the sudden, hit this huge patch of snow/ice that was in the middle of the lane. Ugur's little car started fishtailing and swerving! I got very very nervous, and was about to tell him to slow down a LOT more, when his car started spinning out of control. I don't think that he'd ever drivin in snow like this before, because he didn't know what to do. He just held on, and the car was sent spinning completely around several times. Then, the wheel suddenly locked up, and (unfortunately from previous experience) I knew what was coming. I was buckled up, but grabbed onto the door and leaned back, bracing myself as best I could. After another spin, we slammed on the left-hand side of the front of the car.... into a very solid concrete wall that seperated us from the on-coming traffic.

I turned around immediately to see if the girls were okay. Laura looked really scared, but she said she wasn't hurt at all. Only my neck and shoulders were pretty sore, but Amber's face was bleeding, though. She had hit her face on the back of Ugur's seat, and then hit the window. She said she was alright, so we got her a napkin, and tried to figure out what to do next. Another car that was passing us at the time had pulled over to make sure that everything was okay, and the man helped Ugur call the police.

The heater in the car was, of course, broken, so the three Kentuckians sat in the freezing car, surrounded by snow, for at least an hour until the police arrived. Looking back, I can imagine that the scene looked a little odd..... One Austrian guy and three American girls heading out of the country at 7:00am in a snowstorm.... but they didn't ask questions. The cops then called a towing service, which took another 2 hours to arrive, because the first truck that showed up was the wrong one. They led us to an exit and we sat there for a long time waiting on the other truck. After I get in a scary accident, I naturally get hungry... I'm not sure why. So, Amber, Laura, and I ate our KFC meal while we waited for the tow truck. Ugur just looked at the front of his broken Italian Stallion (he drove a red Alfa Rameo... nice.).

FINALLY, after we emptied the bucket of family chicken, and after I had to hike into the woods to go to the bathroom (thanks for making me a tom-boy, dad! It came in handy), the huge yellow tow truck showed up. There was only one seat in the front of the truck, so the towing man just drove the car up onto the back of the truck.... with the three girls in it! I don't think this is legal in the states, but I didn't really know how to ask the man questions, since he only spoke German. He started talking to me about an "auto," so I assumed he was the right man for the job.

The three Kentuckians had an interesting ride on the back of a tow truck. It took about 20 minutes to get to the towing station, where we got a new car to drive CAREFULLY back home. We arrived at Haus Erasmus at about noon, and I immediately collapsed on my bed for the next 6 hours.... I was exhausted, and we had only been about 70 miles. This was NOT the day trip that I had planned, that's for sure.

This was definately a European First for me...... let's hope that it is NOT a repeat adventure..... I don't think I'll be riding in a car anytime soon... planes and trains for this girl.