Well, the time has come. I have only three more weeks before my flight out of New Zealand, and I can’t believe it.
It has been a wild ride. It feels like yesterday when I stepped out of that airport and into the glorious Queenstown weather, and at the same time, these past three months have been full of the most action-packed, adventurous, and fulfilling times of my life. From seeing wildlife that I had never fathomed to get the chance to see in the wild (penguins, alpine parrots, and sooo many sheep, just to name a few), meeting incredible people from all over the world, and stepping foot into what can only be described as landscapes straight out of a painting or film, my semester here has been a beautiful experience.
Now, I can go on and say the same cliché lines that you might see everywhere, such as “study abroad will change your life” or “you won’t ever want to go back home,” and while this may be true for some, I cannot say that this journey has been so straightforward. Don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to travel and explore this stunning country, but I don’t see myself coming back as somebody unrecognizable from who I was before I left.
I don’t view this as a negative thing, however. In fact, I think that driving down these twists and turns along the road is what makes our lives special. Anywhere you go, there will be challenges. There will be meals that you do not enjoy (yucky marmite on toast), songs that hurt your ears (Dunedin drum and bass music blaring through the early sem nights), or moments when you miss that sense of comfort and reliability that you may have left behind. Trying new things and stepping out of your comfort zone can rapidly give you a better understanding of yourself, who you are, and what is important to you. The lows will only make the highs that much more special.
Just last night, one of my flatmates (shoutout Coco) asked me an interesting question: “When was the first moment that you arrived here in New Zealand and knew everything would turn out all right?” Curiously, although I filled out my WorldStrides program application on the last day of the extended deadline, thinking back, I did not have much fear about whether I would enjoy this moment.
Something about this country filled me with a sense of calm and peace before I even took a step in Aotearoa. This blind faith of mine was immediately reassured when, stepping out into Queenstown, I was tasked with finding my way to our accommodation for orientation on my own due to my arriving outside of orientation pickup hours. Immediately, I found a friend who was in the same situation as me (shoutout Sonia), and we took on our first NZ public transit experience together.
Right away, the sense of community and camaraderie here was apparent. Another member of our WorldStrides group (shoutout Nathan) was a little late for our final orientation dinner, so rather than walking from our hotel to the restaurant downtown, he hitched a ride, and as he walked into the restaurant, he excitedly told us the intricate life story of the Kiwi he had just met. There are probably hundreds of stories like this one that I could tell about cool people and activities that I have come across during my brief time here, and for that, I am extremely appreciative.
So, the question then becomes: What did I take away from my semester here, and was it worth it? If it wasn't a completely altered sense of self or physical upgrade (maybe to your guys’ surprise, I didn’t hit the gym 9-5 while here, unfortunately), what else could it be?
Although it is hard to put into one tangible idea, the best answer I would give to this is that this semester has reinforced for me how small we all are as individuals. Over the course of my time in New Zealand, I was given the chance to form meaningful connections with people that I had no idea existed, yet who had been living full, complex lives on the other side of the world long before I arrived. In contrast, but just as special, I was able to feel truly lost in nature, completely isolated, while looking up at the Milky Way in all its glory and gaining a deeper understanding of the scale of the universe.
I think that is what makes this place so unique. That connection between land and people, the rugged and glorious nature, is intertwined with special, caring community members. It will be a notion that I take home and never forget.