We're just over two weeks into our program and the relationships I've made and experiences I've had, makes it feel like we're more like months into the journey.
The last few days have consisted of many dips in the sea, too many pivos (beers), actual work productivity, hella carbs, a couple hangovers, so much smiling and no more blog posts. (So here it goes!) I thought I'd quickly recap the experiences we've had, while getting honest on what's been good, what's been bad and what's been simply beautiful.
Island Hopping
Our first weekend, we decided to experience Split "right" and rent boats to go island hopping for the day. The day began at 7am and consisted of all of the above - good, bad and beautiful. It started off good!.... With a 7am walk of 50 Yugens (that's our program name) to the port where we were meeting the boats. It quickly transitioned to just bad when miscommunication resulted in not enough spots of the boats to accommodate our group size. With barely a second thought, 10 Yugens opted out of the boat day so that the rest of the group could enjoy it. It hadn't even been a week and the selflessness, kindness and authenticity of Yugen was defined.
There was good throughout the day (great, actually) as we bonded with our skippers, explored the Blue Cave, popped champagne, swam in hidden bays, and partied on Hvar. There was bad when a bee sting turned into a trip to the emergency room, someone twisted an ankle and a good portion of the group became either intoxicated, tired or both. But the day ended beautifully as we drove back to Split just as the sun was setting to our left, and the moon rising to our right. I think this day perfectly depicts what this year will be. Where there is good, there may soon be bad, yet the bad will always humble our beautiful.
Yugenistas
Kelly (pictured above) began a private message thread with the women in our group (we refer to ourselves as the Yugenistas). We wanted to ask questions, share anecdotes from female travel and begin supporting one another in a deeper intimacy than communicating with 60 people all at once. Kelly kicked the program off right by hosting a girls night centered around the first full moon of our program. It was spiritual, it was moving, it was deep, it was vulnerable. There were tears, laughs, reflections and questions. The women on my program are some of the most powerful, ambitious, scarred and respectful women I have met. I'm only just beginning to learn about each one of them, but I can already tell there are more layers than we will be able to explore in just a year.
Krka Falls
I took my first day off work to explore the Krka Waterfalls with a group of friends. This national park was filled with so much beauty and holy cow, SO MANY TOURISTS. I guess I can't expect much else with August being the peak month of tourism in Croatia, but sometimes it can detract from the power of what you are trying to see. Which is what happened this trip. Although completely fulfilled in getting to see this "bucket list item" I would like to go back another time to enjoy it more.
Track 4
Remote Year sends us on a different "track" each month, pertaining to our interests. This month, I chose the "adventure track" and was so thrilled I did. We got to experience so much that I would not have been able to do as an average tourist. Saturday was a bike ride around Marjan hill, complete with a museum tour, shots of Croatian brandy and cliff jumping. Although cliff jumping sounds the most dangerous, we actually had a bike incident that led to the largest wound - don't worry, Matt is fine and laughing about it now! (Follow RY_Yugen on Instagram to see the footage that was perfectly captured from his fall).
Shout out to Oliver Polden for capturing this exciting moment of mine... And allowing me to hold onto his arm, sweaty palm and all, for a solid 10 minutes until I worked up the courage to jump. The men in the water below were my support system through this moment. There was never pressure, there was never judgement, there was just sincere support and positive energy that led me to take this leap.
I thought Saturday was a great experience, until Sunday came along. Each day just keeps getting better than the last. We woke up early and drove to the Cetina River where 15 of us rafted down the river rapids. This was the first time we had gotten out of the city and away from the tourists since coming to Split - which felt incredibly refreshing. However, the highlight of the day was lunch with a local couples at their sweet mountain home. We watched them cook us Soparnik, a traditional Croatian dish, and then feasted on Peka (traditional chicken and potato entree), homemade zucchini bread, fresh salad from their garden, and best of all - the wine that they ferment in their shed out back. I can't describe how special this day was, eating and drinking with people that are quickly becoming my closest friends.
The drive back to Split had the most gorgeous views I have seen yet (which is hard to compete with the Krka waterfalls, but it did), but also the most tragic views of the damage that occurred from the forest fires just weeks before we arrived. Gorgeous greenery, mountains, lakes and streams, mixed with now-charred trees and terraced agriculture plots covered in black ash (if you can even try to imagine it).
The Point Is...
This new life is beyond surreal, in the best way. But it's still life - there's still good, bad and beautiful in every experience, every day and every week. It's been 100 degrees in Split since we arrived, a heat wave that even warranted naming (Lucifer), yet somehow, I have managed to catch a cold. (Sorry, but how is that possible?) It's how you choose to view each event that can make or break an experience, a relationship, something learned or something wasted.