Kia ora!
I can’t believe this is the last time I will be posting from New Zealand! I have loved my time here so much, even with life’s typical ups and downs, and am so excited to be back home with my family friends. I guess just good vibes all around. I got pretty involved in the German department down here and will miss all of the friends I’ve made and the stunning landscapes too. I would love to come back and explore everywhere I didn’t make it to sometime in the future.
So lets catch up:
After classes were over, I was fortunate enough to be able to fly back up to the north island to see Hobbiton and hike a bit of the Tongariro Crossing in National Park. Yes, National Park is the name of the city. Hobbiton was so pretty and I learned some really cool facts, like the sun actually sets behind Bilbo’s house, so they filmed a sunrise and used it backward for the movie. It was also fun seeing all of the detail put in to the yards and gardens of all the Hobbit holes. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is said to be one of the best one-day hikes in New Zealand and I don’t have much stamina, so I only did part of it, but the parts I did see and hike were amazing. You can also see Mt. Doom there, from the Lord of the Rings series and I believe part of Mordor. For those familiar with the track, I went up to the Devil’s Staircase. It was quite a trek.
Once I got back, it was time to buckle down and study for my exams. Luckily my first one was two take-home essays for my theatre course, so I turned those in and prepared for my German Cinema exam. I think it went well. After that, I studied for the Māori Society class which had most people from the TEAN program in it and a fair amount of Rollins students too. I am now two days away from my last exam: German 231!
After I take my last exam (and register for courses at 2am!) on Thursday, I have a day to make sure I’m all packed before heading to Wanaka for #thatwanakatree and then Queenstown Airport to get to Auckland to get to Dallas to get back home to Orlando. The crazy thing? I arrive in Orlando only 30 minutes after I leave Auckland.
OH, and since I did have a few days between exams, I took the time to visit the Dunedin Chinese Garden, Baldwin Street (the steepest street in the world) and Larnach Castle, New Zealand’s only castle!
Some things that I will miss about living in New Zealand:
– The birds chirping 24/7
– The $1 bread
– Being right across the street from the Dunedin Botanical Gardens
– Being able to walk anywhere I need to go and extending my “that’s too far to walk” to 45 minutes.
– My kiwihost Hannah– she was amazing
– Fruit bursts (a candy, laffy taffy but better)
– Hot chocolate. It’s just so good here!
– I’m sure there’s a bunch more, but these are the mains 😊
I hope you have a good day, and I’ll post again once I’m back in the states! (Not looking forward to the 16 hr. plane ride though). Enjoy the pics!
