Loading...
Start a new Travel Blog! Blogabond Home Maps People Photos My Stuff

I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!

a travel blog by Kiwi-Travels



Show Oldest First
Show Newest First

Bungy MADNESS!

Dunedin, New Zealand

Crazy weekend. I'll make this as quick as possible. I feel like I say that in every post - but I am a busy girl.
A weekend of Queenstown, Glenorchy, and Lake Wanaka/Hawea. Friday night was Queenstown. Exciting night life - slept in a hostel because they next day we had a busy day planned - BUNGY JUMPING! Nevis Bungy - the third highest jump in the world reaching a height of 134m, 440 ft, a free fall of 8.5 seconds. Go big or go home, aye? Saturday morning I was a nervous wreck. I didn't want to jump, I did not want any part of it. I woke up with pulse all over the place - I was anxious beyond belief. I have a terrible fear of heights, and a terrible fear of lack control in situations, so bungy jumping wasn't the easiest thing in the world. Plus, all I could picture was myself falling for 8 seconds hoping that the rope tied around my ankles would save my life. Driving up to the actual bungy location was terrifying. On the car ride there they played all these songs about jumping, diving, and dying - it was great, just wonderful that they did that. Then as the bus drove higher and higher up the mountain everyone became crazy as we came closer and closer to our dive. We got all harnessed up and gazed upon our challenge: a metal hut suspended in between two mountains by wire. It wasn't even a bridge. We had to have a gondola take us over the hut - that alone made my legs shake. So inside this hut was a crew of men who held my life in their hands - literally, some techno music, and a group of twenty scared individuals thinking about the dive they were about to take. Each person jumped one by one and each time it was unbelievable. I just could not get it through my head that that was about to happen to me. Then I heard "Sarah - you're up." And my heart started pounding and my pulse went insane and my palms started to sweat. I had neon yellow cuffs velcro-ed around my ankles, then I was placed in a chair as I got all hooked up and was explained what it was I needed to do. The directions were simple: When he counted to three, I was to jump, then on my second or third bounce I was to pull a cord to right myself up so I was sitting like I was in a swing. "Got it," I squeaked - I barely had a voice. I waddled over the ledge, did not allow myself to look down, then listened as he began counting to three. All of a sudden I was overcome by a powerful calm as he counted. I accepted that this was happening, and that I probably would never do it again, so I should just jump and embrace it. "3....2....1!" And at "1" I swan dove over the edge without even thinking about it. At first your stomach leaps into your throat and my split second thought was "WHY DID I DO THIS?!" But then I started falling and the air rushed past my face and I could see the rocks and water down below coming closer and closer but I knew I was safe. I just free fell - it was so liberating. Then I bounced back up and before I fell down again, I experienced a moment of zero gravity - I felt like I was flying! A third bounce and I flew down again and pulled the cord to right myself up. At first I was scared, I looked down and got nervous. Then I thought "Wait - I just BUNGY JUMPED and fell for 8 seconds. No worries. I let go and let myself lean back, enjoying the mountain view.

FOOD TIME! More later.

permalink written by  Kiwi-Travels on April 13, 2008 from Dunedin, New Zealand
from the travel blog: I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!
Send a Compliment

More of the weekend

Dunedin, New Zealand

To finish my post from yesterday...bungy jumping was incredible, but the rest of the weekend was just as amazing. Saturday afternoon we spent eating waffles drenched in ice cream, still glowing from our morning jump. That is when Glenorchy was brought up. The previous weekend my friend Jessie and I were traveling together and we came across this small cafe. Inside it had a GORGEOUS watercolor painting of mountains and it was titled "Road to Glenorchy." We asked our waitress where this gorgeous mountainous "Glenorchy" was and she replied it was a short distance north of Queenstown. Jessie was traveling with me on this trip as well and we told our friends about this beautiful park hidden in the mountains. They were all excited to go. We gathered our things and drove along a lake as the sun was setting over the mountains. Amazing sunset - one of the best I have seen since I have been here. Bright pinks and oranges exploding over jagged peaks covered in snow. Magical. Oh readers! New Zealand is so magical!
We arrived in Glenorchy, pitched our tents next to a river, started a bonfire, and danced as the stars started to appear. We had a great dinner of pasta and tuna mixed together. One by one people retreated inside the tents, but Jessie and I stayed up all night talking. She is one of my new favorite people - born and raised in Michigan! And she loves ice cream as much as you do mom - it must be a Michigan thing! We watched a lonely bright star rise up over the montains and talked about the past, the present, and the future. Finally, when the star was directly above us, we fell asleep.
The next morning we woe up bright and early, had some breakfast, and started off on our hike for the day. We climbed a mountain with an amazing view at the top - straight up Lord of the Rings. I know it sounds silly to say that, but this view we had at the top was EXACTLY what Frodo and Sam were looking out on at the end of the first movie....except we were IN it. Ah!!
Sunday night we decided we were not ready to go back to Dunedin. None of us had class the next day, so we decided to keep heading north up to Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. Traveled down a winding road through the mountains, again right at sunset.
Pitched our tents on Lake Hawae - ahhh the most beautiful lake I have ever seen in my life! A view like in Te Anau expect this place is more hidden and not touristy at all, so we had a gorgeous lake all to ourselves. We had a nice dinner of beans, cheese, and rice with some tuna and pita sandwiches on the side and layed on our backs in the sand watching the stars. What will I do when I return to Boston and can no longer see the stars? It will not be healthy for my soul. That night must have been a meteor shower because I saw five shooting stars, and the people I was sitting with saw more.
Woke up monday morning unable to leave. I really could not leave. I could have stayed on on that one rock on that lake for another few days, weeks even. But we had school to get back to. Driving home we stopped at our favorite ice cream shop in Lawrence. Mom, you would LOVE this place. They give you HUGE portions of ice cream - just as big as Deer Cap, no lie, and it is only $1.80! We are all addicted. Hokey Pokey ice cream - so amazing. It is vanilla ice cream with caramel swirls.
Arriving back home, I was sad to leave such an amazing weekend...but in two more days I leave for Tasmania and the GReat Barrier Reef! Eee!!
The weather here is getting chilly, which is both good and bad, we shall see how many more weekend camping adventures we have. I don't plan on stopping, hopefully my travel pals aren't either.
And yes, Molly, a few of my friends were talking about making a picture CD at the end of our semester, so we will have a New Zealand slideshow when I return - whenever that is. I am pushing my ticket back, I don't want to go home!
Much love, everyone. Kia ora.

permalink written by  Kiwi-Travels on April 14, 2008 from Dunedin, New Zealand
from the travel blog: I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!
Send a Compliment

Mid-Semester Break

Cairns, Australia

Hello everyone!
I just returned home from my mid-semester break. It was by far the most exciting/adventurous vacation of my life, although at the moment I have not slept in over 24 hours and am feeling a wee bit loopy. Vacation was amazing though. We spent four nights in Tasmania and six nights in Cairns at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
Tasmania was my favorite part of the trip. We arrived in Hobart on Friday afternoon and took a shuttle into town. We were meeting up with Billy, a student we met on couch surfers, which is a website where you can crash on people's couches as you are traveling to save money and such. Friday night he took us to an outdoor music festival in downtown Hobart with great music and people of all ages dancing. Afterwards, we went to his friend's house who was having a party. They are all part of the rock climbing club at the university in Hobart so we got to meet a good mixture of adventurous and welcoming people.
Saturday morning we went to the town market where there was good, clothing, music, and dancing. We stayed for a good hour or so - wondering around with our huge backpacks on our backs. I really felt like a traveler. After the festival we rented a car and drove up the coast a few hours to Wineglass Bay. Apparently is was rated as one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world, which is true as it is a gorgeous white-sanded beach that you have to embark upon a two-hour hike to get to. It is nestled in the mountains and the water is the color of a clear swimming pool. Gorgeous.
We cut our hike short as we decided to venture up the coast more. Our rock climbing pals told us about a great place on the coast we needed to see, so we decided to go there. We hiked and climbed for a good four hours until we got to the top of a cliff that overlooked the ocean. We were hours away from any sort of civilization - just the way we like it, although it was not an official campground so we had to set up our tents on the edge of a cliff on top of roots and rocks. It was not the most comfortable night sleep, but it was exciting! I saw a tasmanian devil that night which was even more exciting - they are cute little creatures that look like skunks at first glance mixed with a badger. We woke up to a beautiful sunrise with bright oranges and pinks shooting across the sky. We sat on the edge of the cliff eating our tuna sandwiches watching the sun rise up over the ocean. It was one of the most peaceful experiences of my life. We drove back to Hobart that afternoon because we had only rented it for two days, but spent the remainder of the day climbing with the rock climbing club and eating a delicious bin-diving meal with them. That's right, bin-diving. They refuse to pay for food, so they jump into dumpsters and find still-packaged, okay-to-eat food, and survive on what they find. They actually find a variety of good food.
It's hard for me to tell this story. Along with being overly tired and barely functioning at the moment, it was just such an amazing experience being in Tasmania and I feel like crying when I replay all the memories in my head. My friends had a similar feeling. Leaving Hobart, boarding the plane, we all commented on how we felt like crying, as though we were leaving something sacred. I cannot explain why. It was just so special. The people we met, waking up on the side of a cliff to a sunrise being painted only for us - it was spectacular. I also met one of the most amazing people I have ever met in my entire life. Leaving him was very difficult for some reason, although we had only known each other for a grand total of maybe a day and a half. I felt like I had known him a lot longer. I felt as though we had met before. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been somewhere or met someone that is unlike anything or anyone you have ever experienced before and having to leave breaks your heart? You only want to indulge deeper, stay longer, experience more, linger for a few more moments. You beg for time to stand still just so you can hold the moment close for a little bit longer. But you can't. You have to accept that time is ticking, and as much as it kills you, you must let the moment go, accept it and love it for what it was, but understand that it is time to let go. I never wanted to let go of Tasmania. Yet, at the same time, that is what made it so incredible - the fact that I had to let it go. If I could have somehow stayed longer, the novelty would most likely have worn off. The sacredness would most likely have died down a few notches, maybe entirely so. One of the most precious and exciting aspects of being alive is experiencing those moment of beauty, that are short of time, yet bring your heart and soul to depths that forever change you, forever mold you - and when you least expect it. When you are not ready; when you are not looking. It holds a certain magic, as you can only get a brief taste, yet that one lick is so powerful, so inspiring, you want to devour the whole thing. Yet, it is best to be taken in small amounts. It is best to remain unsatisfied so that you only become that more passionate and driven to find that fulfillment again.
Is this making sense? Do you understand what I mean? If you do, be thankful, for you are truly alive. If these words are foreign and alien to you, take my advice, and go deeper, break out of your comfort zone. It is painful to find something so wonderful and then have to say goodbye, but the magic of it makes it worth it.
I said goodbye to Tasmania with a sad, yet thrilled heart.
I can only be thankful that I was given a taste.
Anyway!
Next came the Great Barrie Reef. Equally as adventurous, yet with a completely different vibe. It was all tourist fun, no cliffs with magical sunrises. I need to get some school work done, so a brief summary of what it was like: scuba diving deep under water in my own little world, swimming next to sharks, jumping out of a plane 14,000 feet in the sky and falling to the Earth for a 60 second free fall, inspired to get my parachuting license when I graduate, must jump out of more planes - amazing adrenaline rush, way better than bungy jumping, snorkeling, kayaking on the reef, crocodile tour with crazy old tour guide, rainforest hiking, gelato overdose every night. New friendships. New stories.
Most on that later. Must sleep. Must do school work. Must reflect.


permalink written by  Kiwi-Travels on April 30, 2008 from Cairns, Australia
from the travel blog: I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!
Send a Compliment

Autumn Love

Dunedin, New Zealand

First, I feel so loved whenever I post because I know there are many people who are reading my blog back at home. I love being able to share my experiences with everyone! Thank you all for reading!

Today is a BEAUTIFUL autumn day in Dunedin, New Zealand. It seems as though it is always a gorgeous day whenever I have heaps of work to get done. I'm working on my paper for Theories of Social Power, and do not mind being indoors as much because I love what I am writing about. I am writing all about the hyperreal - this postmodern theory that because we dependend on technology, media, advertising, television, etc. as much as we do, our reality is becoming one made up of simulated images that are filling the void of where the authentic real used to be. I am arguing that we are born free, yet become subjects because of this perpetual influence of advertising and the media. We have assumed socially constructed gender roles based upon what we see on television and advertising and it is becoming this hyperreal reality.
It's quite interesting - I had my presentation on the topic yesterday and my class was really into it. Now I just need to write the paper. I am taking it bit by bit - it is a heavy topic and sometimes it is hard to wrap my head around theory, but I know I will do my best and it will be great once it is finished.
It's making it difficult to sleep, though. Last night I was awake until the early hours of the morning because I got so into what I was reading. I was reading Baudrillard - the postmodern theorist who developed this idea of the "hyperreal." I started reading essays of his about 9/11 and how the collapse of the Twin Towers is a huge climatic point in our hyperreal reality. I'll post a link to the article later if I think of it so you can all read it if you are interested.
Anyway!
This past weekend was fun and amazing as always. I didn't think I was going anywhere - as I just got back from Aussie adventures, but then it started HAILING friday morning!! -- and my mates and I packed up our packs to go exploring. We thought it was going to be a short trip, but no, of course not, we drove across country (keep in mind that only takes about 4-5 hours) and visited the two glaciers - Fox and Franz Joseph. Gorgeous. We stayed at Lake Hawea on friday night (my favorite favorite FAVORITE place in New Zealand...it's about 3.5 hours away from Dunedin) and camped out on the lake again. Saturday we drove to the glaciers, did a half day hike, then set up camp on another lake near the glaciers.
Woke up sunday morning to FROST! Yay! Saturday night was chilly so we all bundled in our sleeping bags, stuck our heads outside our tent and stared at the Milky Way and an endless night of stars.
Made a few wishes.
Hope they come true.
But yes - Frost! I am so excited for the cold weather!
And Dunedin is COLD! We do not have any heat in my flat - hardly anyone in Dunedin does, and the other night it dropped to about 20 degrees F. I was in my sleeping bag with long underwear, PJ pants, a poly-pro top, Tshirt, sweatshirt and my winter hat as I was sleeping inside my house. It's so crazy! Kiwis are so crazy! We just chill around the house in our winter coats and hats like it is no big deal.
I love it. I think it is fantastic - I feel so adventurous! Or like I am a character from a Jack London story or something...my other two American flatmates do not like it so much. They complain a lot, especially Amy. She is always complaining. But seriously, we are in New Zealand to experience Kiwi culture...not to bring American culture to New Zealand. But it is not in my control - it is her mindset.
So yes! Cold weather! Leaves falling! Beautiful colors! My campus is so beautiful - there is a river that runs through it and all the colorful leaves are all around the banks of the river and when I walk home from class I am just so happy and always smiling!
Today driving home from the pool downtown, I just could not stop smiling as I drove through the rolling green hills and saw all the foliage!
I am so happy for all of you back home that it is getting warmer - springtime always brings about a special sort of happiness and confidence.
Ok. Paper writing time! I have my philosophy group this afternoon and we are going to go for a walk in the Botanical Gardens!
I also have been going to Amnesty International meetings...the International Socialists were too crazy, and now that kayak club is done (so much sadness!) I need more clubs to be a part of so I thought Amnsety sounded great...which it has been. Last week we watched this movie called Control Room...all of you need to watch it NOW. Its about Al Jeezhera (I have no idea if I spelt that correctly) which if you don't know this Arab show that is banned in the US and it is the perspective of the Iraq War from a Middle Eastern perspective...very interesting.
This week is International Rape Awareness week. Please keep that in your thoughts this week. Say a prayer for all the people in this world who have suffered the trauma of physical and sexual abuse. Tomorrow's amnesty meeting should be interesting as we are finishing up a big project we have been working on for this week.
Okay work time!
Love!

permalink written by  Kiwi-Travels on May 5, 2008 from Dunedin, New Zealand
from the travel blog: I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!
Send a Compliment

Baudrillard

Dunedin, New Zealand

Hi everyone,

So I was not able to find an online text of Baudrillard's essay on the Twin Towers that I mentioned in my last post.
But, if you would like to attempt to find it, the title is: "Requiem for the Twin Towers" by Jean Baudrillard. I only spent a few minutes looking, so it may be worth it to try and find it. If anyone does find it online, let me know so I can post the URL.

permalink written by  Kiwi-Travels on May 7, 2008 from Dunedin, New Zealand
from the travel blog: I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!
Send a Compliment

Paper Writing Galore

Dunedin, New Zealand

Paper-writing overload.
My life for the past two weeks has been turning one paper in after the other. One more to go! Friday I am DONE...with paper writing. Classes end on the 30th of May and Finals end on the 18th of June. I still have a while to go, more work to be done...
My paper for Theories of Social Power came out really well done...if anyone wants to read it, let me know and I can forward it.

This past weekend was insanely fun and gorgeous. Dan, Ethan, Jill, Jessie, and myself hiked up the mountain next to Mt. Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand). My friend Ethan is a geology major at the Univeristy of Otago and he explained all the science stuff behind everything we were seeing as we hiked up the mountain. It was a veyr difficult hike. It was stright up for a few hours with some minor rock climbing and hiking through three feet of snow with our 20 pound pack on our backs. We started early Saturday morning. We camped out on the base of the mountain Friday night so we could get an early start.
Climbing up the mountain, for the first two - three hours everyone was groaning a bit and I think we were all thinking "Are we really doing this?" But then we made it high enough that we hiked out of the fog, so we were on the edge of this cliff on the mountain overlooking a blanket of fog hovering in the mountains. We couldn't see the village below because there was such a thick layer of fog. Gorgeous. Beautiful. I will post pictures as soon as possible.
Hiking up further it just got better and better. We made it to the ridge around 12:30, and it was much easier from there. It was through a few feet of snow, but it wasn't straight up hill so it wasn't too bad. Arriving at the hut, we through our packs down and explored. Our view from the hut...let me tell you about this view. We were in the middle of a huge mountain range...a beautiful straight on shot of Mt. Cook from our window, and glaciers EVERYWHERE. There were also avalanches every few hours. We woke up Sunday morning to one outside our window, actually. It was such an exciting feeling....so be in the mountains, hoping they will protect you for the night, yet knowing that at any minute a large avalanche could sweep you away.
The mountains protected us. We had an amazing sunset while eating our dinner, and spent the remainder of the night playing card games and such. I learned Yuker - does anyone know how to play that? Apparently it is a Michigan thing (mom!). My friend Jessie is from Michigan, and she is the one who taught us how to play.
As for other little things going on around Dunedin...
Thursday night was karaoke night with some Kiwi neighbors of mine. Tonight is Backstage - the open mic downtown every tuesday. This weekend is a kayaking trip around the Doubtful Sound with my orientation group! Next thursday I am hosting a Halloween party at my house because with autumn here I feel as though Halloween should be approaching, but it is not, so I decided to change that! Now it is.
AND! I AM SO AMPED BECAUSE IN TWO MORE WEEKS ITS THE BANFF FILM FESTIVAL!!!! I bought my ticket today! It is the Canadian Banff Film Festival and we all sit in a theatre till like 5 in the morning watching crazy footage of insane sporting like kayaking, sky diving, base jumping, rock climbing, skiing, etc. I AM SO EXCITED!! And. What is even more crazy - the picture on the tickers are from Tasmania. The Totem Poll rock cliffs we went to with our Tasmanian rock climbing friends.
It made me very nostalgic. Jill and I smiled when we saw the picture, but both got very sad.
I do not know why Tasmania affected me so deeply...I just don't know.

I really feel like New Zealand is my home. Dunedin, New Zealand is my home. It is strange to think about. When I first arrived I thought: "This could definitely be my home one day, but it isn't home yet." But now, it is. I have my friends, I know the town very well, I know campus and am really getting involved with Amnsety International - the Human Rights club on campus.
It is a really incredible feeling. I feel my growth this semester is unlike anything else I have ever experience in my life. I am a new person, and changing more and more each day being here. For those of you who don't know, I won't be coming home until the end of August. I do not remember if I posted that in my last blog....I am staying in New Zealand until July 23rd, then I am gonig to Fiji until August 1st, from Aug 1-9 I will be in San Francisco/Palm Springs/Berkeley, then the West Coast trip with my family, then finally back to Boston.
I will be homeless in New Zealand for a month. My plan....or "plan" rather....WWOOF, couch surf, camp around, go to Tacaca (crazy hippie village up north!)...we'll see what happens.
More paper-writing! Kia ora, all.

permalink written by  Kiwi-Travels on May 12, 2008 from Dunedin, New Zealand
from the travel blog: I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!
Send a Compliment

More Pictures

Dunedin, New Zealand

I posted some more pictures.
Most of the new ones are from this past weekend hiking Mt. Cook, but there is one new from a past kayaking trip with all of us getting our gear ready, and there is a new one with ocean and cliffs - that's Tasmania. Enjoy!

permalink written by  Kiwi-Travels on May 15, 2008 from Dunedin, New Zealand
from the travel blog: I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!
Send a Compliment

Doubtful Sound

Te Anau, New Zealand

So I just realized I could type in other cities besides "Dunedin" so you would all be able to see exactly where I was in the country when I tell me stories.
Too bad I just realized that.

This past weekend was my orientation group to Doubtful Sound. It was so wonderful to see everyone again and catch up on all of our stories and adventures. We spent Friday night at a backpackers hostel in Te Anau. I went there a few weeks ago when I did my glow-worm caving and Milford Sound trip. It was Lauren's birthday (my friend from Portland, Oregon), so we spend Friday night at midnight celebrating until the early hours of the morning.
We woke up early Saturday morning to a wonderful breakfast provided by Butler (Butler trips always provide amazing food), hoped onto a bus and headed over to Lake Manapouri where we would get a boat to take us to the Doubtful Sound. The ferry ride over was beauiful. We were sailing on Lake Manapouri while surrounded my huge mountains with snow-capped peaks - a completely different view than what I had last time I visited. Last time it was not snow season yet and the mountains weren't as beautiful.
Saturday consisted of a gorgeous boat trip around Milford Sound, along with kayaking the Sound, and jumping off the boat to go swimming! Saturday we ate the most delicious meal - salmon, beef, lamb, pasta salad, sweet potatoes, roasted stuffed peppers, chocolate cake, cheesecake, fruit salad...yeah the list goes on. Realized: I really despise smoked foods. It ruined the salmon for me, which was disappointing considering I have not eaten salmon in months.
Saturday night was more celebration of Lauren's existence in the world.
Sunday we went to a farm to do activities like cow milking and sheep shearing.
It was actually a very bizarre experience.
We watched sheep dogs herd the sheep by listening to simple signals from his owner. We were given the chance to separate the sheep, which was one of the most difficult tasks I have ever experienced. Sheep are not too bright, and it is difficult to make them do what you want them to do. Alas, it was a fun experience.
Then came the sheep shearing. I was all ready to go, very excited about it - until they did a demonstration. They held this sheep down in front of us - it was all twisted, and his head was squished between the man's legs, and then he took out this motor-blade and started shearing. The sheep was kicking and looked very uncomfortable. When he was done, he pushed the sheep down a shoot and brought out another one. Now it was our turn. After watching two people try it, I decided I really did not want to do it anymore. I know that it needs to happen, that it doesnt actually hurt the sheep, but I could not do it.
One of the sheep was bleeding everywhere because one of the kids messed up, and the other one just looked so sad....plus it was such a tourist event. If I were WWOOFing and they were like, "Sarah - it is your job to shear the sheep." I would do it. I would it as gently as possible and get it over with. But this just seemed wrong. It was about twenty or so Americans standing around a stage taking turns shearing sheep. I don't know. I really just did not enjoy it. I had to leave. I couldn't handle it.
Afterwards the farmers took us to a field with 2,000 sheep in it. That is not an exaggeration. We ran through the field of sheep for about twenty minutes. Again, it just felt so bizarre. I had run. I will admit - it was liberating almost, running through 2,000 sheep in a little town in New Zealand, but it just felt so touristy.
It was by far the most touristy thing I have done yet, this whole weekend.
Fun and beautiful, but definitely not the best weekend I have had. I did not like so much going around with a group, I prefer to do things on my own agenda.
Enjoy the day, everyone!


permalink written by  Kiwi-Travels on May 19, 2008 from Te Anau, New Zealand
from the travel blog: I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!
Send a Compliment

Saying Goodbye

Dunedin, New Zealand

Well this is it.
The week I never thought would come has come. The week of goodbyes. The week of reflection, of tears, memories, craziness, last-minute "I love you's" and "wish I could have known you better's," and everything and anything in between.
I never thought it would come.
It's like I have been in this amazing, playful world where everything and everyone is on the same plane of living and everyone has this beautiful energy and passion to travel, explore, listen, adventure, inspire...it's so real.
I ended up on this island in the middle of the South Pacific in a town that no one has heard of, in a country that people can barely point out on a map...and I just don't want to leave. I am trying so hard not to start crying while I write this. I am in the library ("Studying" for my last final which is tomorrow), and it would be quite embarrassing if I just start bawling, also distracting...
No one from home is going to understand my study abroad experience.
Of course not. I dont' expect them to...and to be honest, I really don't want them to.
This is my own. This is personal. The closest thing you may get to understanding how absolutely amazing this experience has been will be the dreaming glazed look I get in my eyes when New Zealand is mentioned.
I have founded a new confidence and energy here in New Zealand. I will take it home with me and on to new adventures that await me where the confidence will grow and multiply and change and all sorts of wonderous amazements.
I am meant to travel. I need to explore. This natural rush and high from living because I am constantly throwing myself into the unknown. Last night some friends and I were sitting on my porch out back crying and laughing and sharing memories and little things from New Zealand that we will miss so much like plugging in a converter to do anything, the small selection of cereal at our tiny-sized grocery stories, all the thousands and thousands of sheep, the fire-juggling, the rolling green hills wherever you go, the kind and silly Kiwi accent, Jango! This crazy pirate man we met on the peninsula, Modak's pot of peppermint tea.....is this real? Am I leaving this place? Am I actually going back to Boston?
My problem right now is this: I do now want to go home because I do not feel as though that is what I should be doing with my life right now.
I do not have a home anymore. Everywhere is my home, everywhere I end up and I am done with Boston. I will push through my senior year and then I am done. I love Boston, I do, I love the city and my friends and classes and the Charles River and what not.
But I need to explore elsewhere. It needs to keep coming.

I need to study. And this is making me too sad. I'm sorry I have not been writing over the past month...finals and goodbyes have been my main priority.
I leave Dunedin in two days. From there I will WWOOF, couch surf, and just see what sort of opportunities come my way...
I have no energy to write right now. I've had this awful pit in my stomach that has been grinding itself into my gut for the past week. And it is only getting stronger.
It is so hard to say goodbye to some place you may never see again.
It is so hard to say goodbye to people you may never see again.


permalink written by  Kiwi-Travels on June 16, 2008 from Dunedin, New Zealand
from the travel blog: I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!
Send a Compliment
Viewing 11 - 19 of 19 Entries
first | previous | next | last

View as Map View as Satellite Imagery View as Map with Satellite Imagery Show/Hide Info Labels Zoom Out Zoom In Zoom Out Zoom In
find city:
trip feed
 author feed
 trip kml
 author kml

   

Blogabond v2.40.58.80 © 2024 Expat Software Consulting Services about : press : rss : privacy