This weekend was full of mountain shreddin' and city explorin' - the best of both worlds. Saturday with Real Australian Adventures (a tour group for students in Melbourne) I headed out to Mt Buller with 20 other Swinburne students and three super rad staff members from Real. We left bright and early at 5am and headed to the mountains (HECK TO THE YA). The early morning wake up was well worth it to see a phenomenal sunrise out the bus window that broke through the fog to reveal a backdrop of breathtaking mountains on the surrounding countryside. Once at the slopes, we got to rent some super sick ski gear before spending the day shreddin' some Australian pow. It felt so insanely good to snap on some skis and hit the slopes and had me reiminsing to when I was a kid and would spend every weekend in the winter with my family up in Banff on the slopes. It is where my love for the mountains and the outdoors really started and it hit me this weekend how important those memories are to who I have become and the things I really treasure. It was the perfect day, with some bad ass views and people. On Sunday we started it off right with some amazing brunch by campus and then spent the day wandering around Fitzroy, a neighborhood of Melbourne. Fitzroy is for sure my favorite place in Melbourne that I have wandered around this far. It is overflowing with vintage clothing shops, niche boutiques, gardens, cafes, and so many other eccentric shops and peoples.
Alrighty, now here is the sappy part of this post, proceed with caution: Being over a month in I figured it was time to do some reflecting. Before I left for Australia I made a list of what I wanted to accomplish personally while here. All stemming around the idea of finding myself (bum bum bum), no small task, that shits gonna take a lifetime. I truly believed that throwing myself into a situation where I knew no-one in a new country would be a quick way to do that. However, I have discovered that I don't need to find myself, I have been here all along, DUH. I just haven't had the confidence to completely own that. In every day life it is so easy to compare yourself to others successes and failures and mentally tear yourself down for not living a certain way or being happy 24/7. Yet that is not realistic or healthy, you need to live your life for you and do what makes you happy. I don't think I needed to come to Australia to have this break-through, but being around so many people here that live fearless lives in insanely inspiring. They live unapologetically doing what they love and following their dreams and passions. For me, while I may still not know 100% who I am or what I want to do for the next 150 years (yes, I'm going to live for a very long time), I have realized that being myself and living my life starts with doing just that, being myself and living my life. I know I am happiest when I am exploring new cities, climbing mountains, going on road trips, meeting new people, photographing amazing landscapes, laughing my butt off, being with my family, and so many other things. If I focus on these passions and doing what I love I know I will look back at my life when I'm 170 and have no regrets. So with that I resort to: Find what I love, let go, follow my dreams, and go for it, unapologetically. I've only got one life to live, so why not live it?
Here's some pics from this weekend (less sappy musing continued after):
5 epic wipe-outs, 1 rad sunrise, 2 crappy rental skis, 360 views of mountains, 1 amazing donut, 2 sunburnt cheeks, 1 order of addicting pancakes, and 5 vintage clothing shops later I am starting to finally feel like a local in Melbourne. I am getting a hang of public transit and can help direct people that stop me in the middle of the street (YIPEE). This weekend was a good one full of adventuring and life reflecting - for those of you that made it through that reflection, thanks for tagging along, here's a cyber high-five.
Cheers - keleniak
p.s. Before this experience I promised myself I would do one new/possibly scary thing a week: This week that was skiing on some Australian pow - while I may have chucked some solid pizza turns out there it felt good to ski again. The only thing that would have made it better would have been having my fam out on the slopes with me.