I thought I would catch you all up on what’s been happening
in my life over the past 2 weeks. For those of you that don’t know, I am
spending this semester in Wellington, New Zealand through a study abroad
program called The Education Abroad Network (TEAN). I flew out of LAX on
Saturday, June 23rd and first stopped in Fiji for 4 nights. Then I flew to
Auckland, NZ for another 4 nights. Finally, I made it to my new home,
Wellington, on Tuesday evening and have been here for a couple nights now. I’m
currently staying in a hotel until I can move into my flat on Sunday. Words
cannot describe how excited I am to not be living out my suitcase. Anyway,
here’s a brief description of my time in both Fiji and Auckland, and first
impressions of Wellington. It has been quite the adventure so far…
BULA! Pre-Semester vacation in Fiji
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| The sunset on our first night on Naviti island. |
Let me just say, one of the main reasons I chose to study
through this program was because of this Fiji trip. I had read wonderful things
about it, and because the cost was included in my program fees, I just couldn’t
say no. And I was definitely not disappointed. We arrived pretty early on
Monday, June 25th and were greeted by one of our TEAN coordinators,
Kate. She is Australian and was really cool. We dropped all our luggage at the
hotel we stayed at on our last night (and there was A LOT between the 21 of us)
and then jumped on a large ferry on our way to the island we stayed at. (Fiji
is made up of over 300 islands and just over 100 are inhabited). Our resort was
on Naviti which was about a 3 hour boat ride in which we passed by several
other islands and resorts. It was incredible. Once we arrived to Naviti, we
were greeted by the staff playing/singing a welcome song for us (“Bula” means
hello/welcome in Fijian... but we seemed to use it in many other contexts. I probably said that word 400 times over the
4 days there). We all slept in bunk beds that were nice and close to each other
in this large bunk house. If we weren’t all going to bond in that situation, I
don’t know when we would have.
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| The beach view from the local village. |
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| The school house at the local village. |
I have never seen water as blue and as clear as the water in
Fiji. It was also like bath water and swimming felt amazing. There was a large
raft we could swim out and relax in the sun. I spent a lot of time laying on
the beach or snorkeling. I’d never been snorkeling before, but it was so much fun.
The coral was amazing in our little bay and I got to see lots of awesome fish.
We also went a boat ride to a different island one day to snorkel with manta
rays. I only saw it twice because it was very hard to swim and keep up with the
darn thing, but it was crazy! I was right above one at one point. Another day
we took a hike over the ridge and visited the local village on the island
(everyone that works at the resort is from the local village). The view from
the top was breathtaking, but the hike wasn’t easy. Especially on the way back
when the sun was getting hotter. In the village, we visited the school and
walked around a little. The women of the village set up their handmade crafts
for us to purchase. All the jewelry was very beautiful. The whole experience
was very humbling. Everyone was so nice and welcoming.
We also played sand volleyball, Fijian games (spear throwing
and tug-o-war), and entertained ourselves at night. Everyone from my program
was very nice and we all seemed to get along well, which was great. There were
several times when I was sitting on the beach, looking out of the breathtaking
view, and I would think “Is this real life? Am I really here right now?” I feel
so very fortunate to have gotten the chance to experience something like this.
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| Snorkling in the bay of our island. |
Our last night was spent at a resort on the mainland. We had
a delicious dinner together and then all pretty much passed out. Not having
sand everywhere and a hot shower were the best parts of this night. Bright and
early we got up and on our plane to Auckland. Finally, after months and months
of waiting, I was on my way to NZ!
Welcome to New Zealand! TEAN Orientation in Auckland
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| Sky Tower in Auckland |
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| At the top of Mt. Eden. |
We arrived in Auckland and right away went to check into our
hotel. It was a really nice place. The first day we took a walking tour of Auckland
and then had dinner at a tapas bar. It was delicious, but I never seem to get
full just off tapas. Oh well. The following day we met our guide for the day,
Mellissa and prepared ourselves for a day full of Maori history. She is
decedent of one of the tribes and had a lot of insight into the history of NZ.
She took us to Mt. Eden which was a volcano and now serves as a park/look out
over the city. We also visited a Maori museum and learned even more about Maori
culture. It really was fascinating, but I was so exhausted from traveling and
lack of sleep. However, we had our first NZ fish and chips experience for lunch
and it was delicious. Each meal was wrapped up in several layers of newspaper
like a present. Haha. And we sat on the steps of the museum and ate the food
out of our laps. Very casual, I liked it.
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| Maori mask. |
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| Going over the 7m waterfall. |
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| Our raft flipping over. |
The following day was my favorite of the trip. Sunday
morning we set out for Rotorua for the day/night. Rotorua is about a 3 hour
drive from Auckland and we drove past many sheep farms along the way. We
actually stopped in a town now called “Hobbiton” that is the starting point for
LOTR trips to the “Shire.” I need to get back there sometime in the next few
months! First on the agenda was white water rafting. I’ve done this before in
Costa Rica, but I was still anxious. We got all suited up and got into the
water with our rafts. We were then told that the 7 meter water fall (about 21
feet) we were about to go over is the highest commercially rafted waterfall in
the world. THE WORLD! Ahhh. It was so exciting. We went over a smaller
waterfall first and that went fine, but the second didn’t go so well. We were
the only raft to flip. It all happened so fast. One second I see us going over
the edge of the fall and the next I realize I am under the water. I was able to
find the surface and grab onto the raft, but it was intense. There was a split
second of panic, but once I found the surface I knew I’d be fine. Everyone else
was fine too. The whole river was a lot of fun and I’m kind of glad we flipped.
It was an adventure.
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| Zorbing in Rotorua. |
Then we went Zorbing; which is when you climb inside this
large plastic hamster ball filled with some water and roll down a hill. I rode
down in the Zorb with another girl and we bounced around the whole time.
Besides the fact that we had to stand in the frigidly cold air, in wet bathing
suits, for 30 minutes before it was our turn, it was a blast! We finished the
night relaxing in some geothermal hot springs in Rotorua which was the perfect
ending to a cold day (even though it smelt like rotten eggs). We stayed at a
backpacker’s hostel that night and then made the drive back to Auckland in the
morning.
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| Crazy vine tree. |
Our last night in Auckland was spent having a super fancy
dinner out with our program leaders. After, we all toasted to wonderful orientation
and the new friends we made. The next day we were all splitting up and going to
our home universities so we all hung out at the hotel that night and enjoyed
everyone’s company for the last night. The next morning we all got ready to
leave Auckland (some stayed and moved into their university housing in Auckland)
and it was very bittersweet. But I am sure I will see them all again sometime soon
as we all plan to travel a lot this semester.
First impressions of Wellington
After an 1.5 hour flight delay we finally arrived in my new
home, Wellington, on Tuesday afternoon. When I stepped off the plane, it
already felt like home. We are staying in hotel until we can move in to our
flats on Sunday. I’ve done some exploring of the city and have walked to campus.
I even found the flat where I’ll be living and am very excited to move in. We
went out a couple nights ago and the bar we went to was packed. A rugby game
was on and everyone in the bar was glued to. It was really exciting. I just
wish I knew what the rules were… I need to figure those out soon because Kiwis
are seriously passionate about their rugby. Life here doesn’t seem too
different from back home, but I am sure I will notice more as time goes on. However,
on our first night here there was an earthquake… the first one I’ve ever
experienced so that was quite exciting. Haha. It wasn’t big, but our hotel
shook for about 15 seconds. I’m glad we got that out of the way the first
night, so now I feel a little more prepared for the next one. Maybe…
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| Botanic Gardens in Wellington. |
I am missing you all and am a little bummed I wasn’t home
for the 4th of July, but am so happy to finally be in Wellington. I
will try to keep this blog up throughout the semester so you all have an idea
of what I’m up to. You can message me on Facebook or email me also (fros0084@umn.edu).
From now on, my entries won’t be this long… promise. J
Last week my friend Isabella and I spent a few hours at
Zealandia which is a huuuuge bird sanctuary that’s pretty close to where I live.
It is inside this forest with different trails, bridges, and a dam to walk
across. There are spots where you can see native birds to NZ which was actually
really cool (even though I’m not a huge fan of birds). NZ has a lot of native birds and a lot are flightless (the Kiwi is their national bird which is also flightless and adorable). Fun fact: The only native mammal to NZ is a bat. Therefore, the ancient birds that once lived here had no predators they needed to fly away from and therefore, through evolution, lost their ability to fly. Fascinating! It was a beautiful day
too! You have to take advantage of the days it doesn’t rain because when it
does rain, you just want to stay in bed all day. Brrrr.
