Friendship
During our orientation meeting for this trip Bruce warned us that we
would be pushed to our limits, brought back, and repeat. When he said this
I could have never predicted what that meant and how that would have
played out over this last month. This program has done exactly that, but in
the best way imaginable. While there have been extremely challenging
moments physically, emotionally, and mentally, the time we spent being
brought back down and reconnecting was more than anything I could have
ever asked for or dreamed of. After our first long week in Ubud we spent
three days in Pemuteran snorkeling and slowing down and enjoying the
ocean. After that we had our week long social innovation sprint with the
Undiksha students, and our break in between was the most notable
reflection time for me.
We spent three nights at East Bali Immersion unplugged from
technology and the outside world, and plugged into each other. During
these few days with no WiFi or much work to be done were some of the
most amazing of my life. One night around the fire, after a long day of
volleyball, frisbee, and a lot of laughter, Bruce asked us to describe our
experience in one word. As we went around the fire, some words to describe
our time were immersed, unplugged, amazing, and connected. Mine was
friendship. Not only did we get to put away our technology and really invest
our time with the FSU students, we also got to form amazing friendships
and memories that we will never forget, with the Undiksha students. The
moments that I know I will never forget started with everyone sitting
around the fire at the dome playing the ukulele and guitars and singing
along together, and ending the nights laying head to head in the grass with
our eyes glued to the sky. We stared at the sky for hours looking for
constellations and counting shooting stars. These moments will never be
able to be repeated or recreated and I am so thankful that I got to
experience them with these people in that place.
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