I went to college for three years to be a radio DJ, then I actually became a DJ and hated it, and went back to college for another four years for an entirely different career that I love.
People ARE allowed to dream about something, and when they do it they're allowed to change their mind and realize it wasn't for them.
Another example: I grew up in a rural farming community. There were no ice rinks within 100 miles and there weren't any ponds big enough that, when they froze in the winter, you could ice skate on it.
I grew up always dreaming of ice skating, and when I actually got to do it as a teenager, I didn't like it.
Zoey's character arc is perfectly normal.
Being fickle is perfectly normal, but it is not a quality
If you give up something to follow this dream, I expect you to commit to it, all sports fiction is based on a path of sacrifice. If you don't, that's fine, but you don't look good in it.
then, I repeat, the problem is not that Zoey gives up surfing, but that for the compression of time she does it too fast and this invalidates what should have been the objective of the interlude
which then, frankly, that scene is just useless, if Zoey had been good at surfing and despite this had decided to return home would not have been better?