Day #22

Today was so exhausting!

I woke up at 3 am to take a shower before heading to the airport. 

At 4 am, we were out of our wonderful accommodation and between you and I a part of me died that day :(!

I was so sleepy that I eventually slept on our 2 hour bus ride to the airport. 

As soon as we arrived to the Melbourne Airport, we were go go go go! We got everything and waited for about an hour. During that time, I talked to my big sis Ana and my mom dukes. Oh man I can't wait to see them in a few weeks. 

After the hour passed, we boarded to Tasmania which was only about an hour. But guess what?! The plane stood there for 45 minutes and I have no clue why! But during that time, I fell asleep and when I woke up I looked over at Shelby and said, "did we arrive?" And her face was priceless. She just looked at me and said "we haven't even left!"

Finally after almost two hours we depart. 

During the whole plane ride I saw The Big Bang Theory and I was laughing so hard I think poor Aubry couldn't sleep and I'm sure everyone on the plane heard me hahah ops!

The flight was not that bad or long because after like an hour a half we arrived.

As soon as we arrived, we walked straight to the rental place. Since Angie, the Petersen's and I are old enough to drive without a fee we were all in charge of a car. I had a HUGE van (8 seater). I can't believe I was able to drive that huge car without any problem. I'm like a pro now! 

After getting our car we went to eat. We went to this little cafe and needless to say we were robbed! Emma and I decided to share a salad and we ordered two soups for...wait for it... $24!!! Can you believe that?! 

After that, we left to a local beach. It was so pretty look at the pics...

As I was walking around the beach, I notice a few of the girls on an old abandoned boat! 

These girls are crazy!!! I'm surprised it didn't tip over hahaha.

I also did this on the sand...

As you can see I miss Britt so much! Can't believe he will be home in less than two months!!!!

Then we were ready to find our place. 

As we arrive to our new hostel we realize that a) parking sucks b) our bathrooms are coed and c) it's FREEZING in our rooms. 

Luckily, that night we didn't have to worry about dinner because the Tasmania Stake YSA group offered to make a feast for us. 

This is us, with the Tasmanian YSA group getting ready to eat. 

The food was delicious! 

After our dinner, we had one speaker from the ward speak to us on how it is to live in Tasmania and then Emma a girl in our group spoke about our study abroad. 

It was super nice to see them be so welcoming to us (strangers). 

Once dinner was over, we all thought we were done with food but nope they had this awesome dessert.

                                                                  It’s called Pavlova

It's a Russian dessert which was made up of whisked egg yolk and a hard sugar shell topped with some fruit on top. It sounds a bit weird but it was way delicious.

We also played some games with them and even had a special performance (original Australian tunes) from one of the boys in the ward. 

After almost two hours , we were ready to go when all of a sudden we are all informed we are having a performance by someone in OUR group. 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but Aubry is attending the U to become a professional pianist. So I was super excited to see her sitting at the piano and ready to perform. 

She started by giving us a little background of the song she was performing. It's called "Cristo Bellizo." She actually wrote it when her father was diagnosed with cancer over four years went through. It was a pleasure to hear her play for sure. 

After being fed and spiritually uplifted we headed back to our place and prepared for bed. 

So 2 things I learned today...

1) Music:  More often than not we hear music with out any meaning. Songs like "baby baby baby" by Justin Bieber corrupts the true identity of music. I have come to appreciate artists who put their feelings on the song. I once saw this movie and the guy was a singer and when his date asked him about the song (it was a heartbreak song) he said "I left it all on the track". When I listened to Aubry play I felt like I was there. The piano performance did not have any words but it didn’t need it. For a moment I was there. I felt her pain but I also felt her joy. It was an experience that I will forever carry with me.

2) Choices: While I was eating dinner, this boy (he was a member) came up to me and spoke to me about what he was doing with his life. He was so proud of his decision to pursue heavy lift weighting as a future career. He even got up and showed me some of his moves. The whole time I could tell his excitement and it made me think about agency. This boy used to be a rugby player but stopped because he was not very good but when he found heavy lifting he says he felt right about it. Sometimes in life we may think life is black and white but the that is wrong. We have MANY options that will ultimately make us happy beyond measure. We just need to be courageous enough to go out of our comfort zone and seek other options. 

Today was great and I am glad I am meeting so many new people and learning so much. I would never trade this experience. 

Until tomorrow,

Your Traveling Soul