Stateside Reflections

So I've been home for over a month now, and I can safely say that I'm experiencing a bit of reverse culture shock. New Zealand was all I'd hoped it would be and more. Some things didn't turn out as I'd expected, but they were made up for by all of the wonderful surprises that you can never predict about living in a new place.

As I'd anticipated, my appetite for travel has only increased, and I'm already working out a way to travel more when I graduate. However, New Zealand has planted a desire for a specific type of travel; In many ways, immersion is required to really understand a place. Half of the things worth doing aren't on the tourist maps. Following the advice and invitations of locals will land you in situations and places that will really open your eyes. Travel should be about more than simply skimming the surface of what appears exotic, feasting your eyes on pretty sights marked in maps, then returning to your hotel room. At least, I think so.

New Zealand was a beautiful country, with an interesting culture, but it was also a lifestyle. New Zealand was home, it was international potlucks, Maori street names I struggled to pronounce, flat parties, nights with my mates at the pubs, running in the rain, getting lost on roadtrips, the strange and interesting people in hostels, the comfy beds in the phare nui where I studied Maori waiatas, Hells Pizza, Tui, and just generally sweet as.









Cheers, haere ra, and farwell for now!

Last Memories....

Kia Ora! I realized I needed to take a moment to go over the things my dad and I did when we returned to Wellington. I'm also going to recap how things have been here, ever since the end has approached. Almost all of my abroad friends are gone, and after my final tomorrow, I'll be leaving Tuesday for a stop over in the Cook Islands, and then I'll be heading home.

While my dad was still in Wellington, we of course went to the All Blacks game. They kicked Ireland's butt, as was expected. Unfortunately, it was pouring out and my dad and I weren't quite in the covered seating area (in fact, we were underneath where the speakers were hanging, so they dripped on us). My dad and I also attempting to figure out the rules of rugby, which I'm ashamed to say I'm still unclear on. All in all, it was still an enjoyable (and essential) kiwi experience.





I also took him to the Botanical Gardens and the Te Papa museum:



On my dad's last full day, we drove to Greymouth, the original location of Schoc original chocolates, and we bought a bunch of delicious chocolate (including their best seller, Lime Chili), and then we headed to Martinborough for some wine tasting. Not all of the wineries were open, but those that were had delicious wines, and we bought a few bottles. The weather was uncharacteristically beautiful, and the sun came out while we were eating a really nice lunch at the Alana Estate (I had the salmon and my dad the beef filet).


We also went to my flatmate Will's play, Spring Awakening, which was great (and dealt with pretty radical sexual issues considering it was written in Germany in 1893). I'm almost positive my dad liked it here, although you might have to ask him yourself : ) Not long after he took off, my friends started leaving, including cousin Nikki and my flatmate Jake, which made Wellington feel a lot lonelier. Goodbyes are never easy. They always feel awkward, insufficient.

My flatmates and I had a last dinner together before parting ways (Hannah cooked a roast!), and the night before Jake left we baked the best carrot cake I've ever eaten in my life. We even made the frosting from scratch. It was a nice way to top off my increased culinary experience this semester.


This week has been tough. Not many people are left, and spending time with those who are only serves to remind me how little time I've been able to dedicate to some incredible people. I've met people who I think I could learn a lot from, but a semester just isn't enough time. I guess I'm lucky in some ways, as my friend Giorgi (from the nation of Georgia!) reminded me; he's been living and studying here for a few years, and he has to make all new friends every semester and then watch them leave. At least I'm not the person always being left behind.

So other than spending time with the friends who remain, I've been studying. I have one more final tomorrow, and then the next day I'm taking off for Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. I'll be sharing a beach chalet with four of my friends, and in spite of the reluctance to leave, I'm starting to get excited about spending a few days relaxing in a tropical paradise!

Traveling The Northland With Dad

I just returned yesterday from the road trip with my dad around the North Island, and we're both enjoying relaxing in my flat for a few days.
I took off to Auckland on Saturday May 31st, and my my dad at the airport. We stayed in a hostel in Auckland our first night, and then took off for the Northland. As you can see in the map on the left, it's the uppermost portion of the North Island. It's very rural, and had a lot of lovely empty beaches.

We stopped in a fairly large city called Wangarei, where we went on two hikes before heading North. One was a hike right up a mountain, the second was a short canopy walk through a nature reserve.


The Bay of Islands was a nice bayside town with a few small islands nestled close to shore; Dad said the atmosphere reminded him of Orlando, Florida. We had some huge burgers and saw a really good cover band in the popular local bar, where my dad tried his first taste of New Zealand-brewed Monteiths Ale. In the morning we had breakfast by the water:


We continued north and stopped at several beaches along the way, including Matauri Bay, which the owner of the Peppertree Lodge in the Bay of Islands highly recommended. He warned us not to stare at the beach when driving down the hill, because lots of people were so mesmerized by their first glance of the bay that they ended up going off the edge of the cliff. It was indeed lovely, although we managed to avoid rolling off the side of the mountain on the way there.



We found a little cove where there were tons of untouched seashells, and we collected some as mementos. A few of the other beaches we stopped at were just as beautiful, such as the one that had riverstones instead of sand:


We then noticed the time and sped around the top of the northland so we could make it to the Waipoua Forest, where the oldest tree in New Zealand was growing (it was 2000 years old- up there with Jesus on the age scale!), and then drove in the dark down to Dargaville to sleep.

The next day we took off for the west coast, to the city of Taraunga, where we went kayaking to a glowworm canyon. The service was really nice; it was only me, my dad, and our kayaking guide Blair. We started the evening with some wine, cheese and fruit by the riverside, and then slipped into the water and kayaked down the river to a canyon that was covered in glowworms. It was pretty visually stunning because the canyon was open to the stars above us, so I could see the stars contrasted with the starlike quality of the glowworms on the cliffside.

The next day we headed to Rotorua, where we rode a gondola to the top of a nearby mountain, we both went luging and I flew on a "skyswing" (a huge bungy-like swing). Then my dad was brave enough to try zorbing! He said it felt like he was going through a washing machine, but it was definitely fun:





The next day we headed over to Lake Taupo. It was too cold for watersports, but we did a walk called the Craters of the Moon, that had a lot of steamy thermal activity, and saw an incredibly blue waterfall called Huka falls.


Afterwards we took a long drive to Mount Taranaki in Edgemont National Park, through a long and windy highway called the Forgotten World Highway. There were a bunch of historic stop points, including a quaint historical town, and in the traditional New Zealand fashion a TON of sheep. On the way to Mount Taranaki we came across at least 6 different rainbows...


We had a bit of a nightmare finding housing near Taranaki. After a long drive we ended up in a miserable town called Stratford where we couldn't find decent accommodation or food. Eventually, we ended up in a very lovely bed and breakfast with a nice old couple, who let us stay in large single rooms with queen-size beds for the price of a twin-bed double room. We were rested and refreshed for our hike up at Mount Taranaki, where we tramped up to Dawson Falls, and enjoyed the thick rainforest surrounding us.




Afterwards we drove around the national park along Surf Highway 45 looking for somewhere to hang ten, but the winds were horrible for waves. So we took off down the coast, and ended up in Wellington around 7pm.

Since we've been here, we've watched an All Blacks rugby game (they kicked Ireland's butt by 10 points!), and went to see my flatmate's play at a local playhouse. I also hope to take him to Te Papa museum, and then on a day trip to a fancy winery in Wairarapa, and to Schoc chocolates.

More Pictures

IFSA Butler (my abroad program) held our Farewell Dinner on Friday, at a restaurant on the water called Latitude 41. I ordered the lamb in red wine sauce, and our coordinators Kara and Cerys gave us t-shirts along with CD's with pictures. I've decided to post a couple extra pictures that didn't make it onto the blog:

Wine Tasting:

Adventure Weekend:



Me lying back in the whare nui, on the marae where my Maori Studies class is held:

A picture of the greenstone Nikki bought for me in Hokitika (I haven't taken it off since I got it):

Swimming in Napier (beautiful day):

Quad Biking:

This will be the last week of classes (I can't believe it!), then I'll be flying up to Auckland to meet my dad to travel around the North Island. I'm so excited for him to visit, not only because it will be nice to see my papa, but also because it will be fun to play host in my new home :-) It also seems I'll be stopping over in Rarotonga (the largest of the Cook Islands) before I go home. I think relaxing on a tropical beach for a few days will be just what the doctor ordered for post-finals stress relief.

What else? I've been surfing with my flatmate Jake. We packed in a van with four German guys on Saturday, and went surfing in Lyall bay even though it was cold and raining; I felt pretty hardcore. I'm getting a much better feel for the whole thing, and I think it will be fun to do it when it's warm in Santa Monica this summer.

Classes have been tough. My best class has been New Zealand lit, which is my highest level course, but is clearly my strong point as an English major. My weakest has definitely been New Zealand Government and Politics, since I was expected to know about New Zealand politics before taking the course; but I've learned a ton, and I suppose that's what is important.

People will start taking off within the next few weeks. I'd rather not think about it at the moment. All things must pass.

P.S. I baked this chocolate chip banana bread from scratch and it was amazing:

Adventure Weekend

I know I've been kind of a slacker about updating this thing... telling you I've been incredibly busy will just sound trite, so I'll spare you the excuses and try to go over what I've been up to.

Last weekend, my program took us on an "Adventure Weekend". We took a ferry down to Picton, where we went swimming with dusky dolphins:



I got a few pictures of them tagging alongside the boat, but the best views were experienced while swimming with them in the water; couldn't capture those on a camera, but they were surreal. The dolphins were incredibly playful. They would swim beneath us, in front of us, around us in circles, or they would pause for a moment before taking off in one direction, expecting us to chase them. They came within a foot of me multiple times, and I touched one (semi)accidentally as I was reaching out in excitement. I think the fascination was mutual, since the dolphins stayed around us for a considerable amount of time before deciding to leave and begin feeding.







That evening we went to Marlborough to go wine tasting at various delicious wineries. We learned that the South Island is best known for Sauvignon Blanc, although each winery had won awards for various other wines. The clouds cleared and we enjoyed a beautiful day relaxing in the vineyards. Aside from the Sauvignon Blanc, some of my favorite wines ended up being the Rieslings and the Merlots. Maybe as my wine palette develops, so will my taste for red wines... as of yet I'm still a fan of the less bitter whites.



That night, our program directors, Cerys and Kara took us out to a nice restaurant in Picton, where I ordered fish covered in chive creme sauce with jasmine rice. The next morning we went kayaking through the sounds:




Then we headed back to our hostel and changed quickly before taking off to catch our ferry back to Wellington. I got back pretty late, and have been busy making travel plans with my dad, reading, writing papers, and trying to tie everything up for the end of the semester. Another experience I enjoyed but didn't update about was my noho marae, which was similar to what I did during orientation; my Maori Studies class was welcomed onto a marae, we enjoyed dinner and slept over in the whare nui (family house), and then listened to (and even played) some Maori instruments... it was really nice, and I'm glad I got to do it a second time, this time with some knowledge about Maori tradition and culture under my belt.

Most of my friends have been booking flights home and started talking about when they're leaving... it has been difficult. I've developed some amazing relationships here, and my sense of self has developed a lot... I wonder how this will transfer when I'm out of my comfortable kiwi bubble?