Author: jwright@rollins.edu

So far, I have been back home in America for approximately 10 days. It hasn’t been as hard of a transition as I thought it would be, but maybe it hasn’t quite hit me yet. It is certainly strange to come back into a country where I can easily understand others’ accents and I don’t…

The past few weeks have been really hard. It’s exam time here and a lot of my Kiwi friends have gone home to study, thus meaning we have had to say our goodbyes already. I never realized I could grow so close to the friends I have made here in such a short period of…

About two weeks ago I went to an Improv Show at the Fortune Theatre downtown in the Octagon with my study abroad group. Before the show we had delicious desserts at Nova (probably the best tiramisu I’ve ever had!), then we headed over to the theatre. I’ve been to comedy shows at SAK comedy club…

This past weekend I traveled to Mount Cook where I hiked the Hooker Valley Track and visited Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo. It was one of the best weekends of my life. I have never been so in love with New Zealand as I am now. When I woke up on Saturday, I woke up…

About a month ago I tried out for the women’s intermural basketball team and ended up making the varsity women’s basketball team here! This has by far turned out to be the most positive, fun, and phenomenal experience I could have ever wished for while studying abroad in New Zealand! Joining the Otago University (OU)…

I just recently returned from Thailand where I spent my “fall” break in Chiang Mai, Krabi, Phi Phi, and Phuket. The past week and a half that I spent in Thailand were some of the best days of my life! Prior to this trip, I had never before been to Asia and it was quite…

A few weekends ago, a friend and I drove to the west coast of the Southern Island of New Zealand where we camped in Te Anau, and then traveled to Millford Sound the next day. We had horrible rainy weather the entire time, but it made for some of the most beautiful sights I have…

So far, things are going great! Last week I found out I made the University of Otago Women’s “B” basketball team, and I am so excited to play basketball competitively, in New Zealand! I also recently traveled to Christchurch where I hiked “Taylor’s Mistake” trail. It was an absolutely amazing experience and I kept having…

These past few days have been hard. The village I visited in Fiji, Soso; which I blogged about in my previous post, was completely destroyed in Cyclone Winston. When I heard about the destruction of the village I had come to love, I was speechless. I saw many of these people, literally days before they…

On my way to New Zealand, I made a detour and stopped in Fiji along with multiple other students who would be studying abroad in New Zealand this semester. Fiji is by far one of the most beautiful countries I have ever been to! We stayed on the remote island of Naviti which is a…