In Summary...
Wow, I seriously cannot believe I am flying home right now!! It feels like I just moved all of my stuff into the Aukland apartments, yet at the same time, I also feel that actually was eons ago. After everything we have been through, I cannot believe these people that I call my abroad family will no longer be just a few doors down ( or one really loud scream away) after few short 30 hours of transportation (lucky us). This entire experience was eye opening!
Before this trip, I had started to get the "travel bug" back in Maryland. I felt like I had seen all that Maryland had to offer, whether it be the Eastern shore, the mountains closer to where I live, or the farmlands in between, I was ready to go. Now that I actually have gone, not only do I feel the itch to explore many other places (maybe Australia or Europe next?), but also explore Maryland more in depth. Sometimes I would be walking on a street in a certain downtown New Zealand city and think to myself hey, this looks just like a street in Annapolis or wow this is a more extravagant view of Deep Creek Lake. Then I would remember that I'm actually all the way across the world and this is not Maryland.
Kiwis have a lot of slang, and were very open to us asking about it. There are so many sayings I am bringing back with me so beware!!!!
Chur chur - basically cool cool or yeah we are straight
Cheers- literally anything and everything in conversation
Dodgey - sketchy, as in, stay away from those streets they are a bid dodgey
Rubbish - trash (I just think that is a much nicer word)
Uni - college ("I go to uni in the states)
Sweet As - how awesome
Choice - idk really but basically we yelled it at our enemies during touch rugby
This trip has taught me so many lessons about myself, and who I would like to be a person.
One, I'm a rosé kind of gal. It's perfectly sweet and not dry like the other wines I tasted (sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, other various wines I cannot remember).
Two, if I'm coerced into drinking a beer, a nice pilsner will suffice (thank you Speights for opening my eyes to beer I can maybe drink).
Three, there is not one right way guide a nation and its people. Though both the United States and New Zealand are developed countries, their way of running the nation is quite different. New Zealand is less capitalistically driven, and therefore competition between people is less severe. In my personal opinion, there is less of a desire to climb to the top of to make the most money and more a search for pleasures within happiness.
Four, there is never a time when eating ice cream is not acceptable, whether it be at 2 am after a fun night of festivities, immediately after eating a different dessert, even a different flavor of ice cream. Lucky for me this happened at least three times on this trip. I feel like this may have been equally a tour of New Zealand gelato as it was about the country's sport culture.
Five, when Kiwis say it is a simple, five-minute walk, they really mean about 45 minutes. This occurred several times even in multiple cities. This leads me to assume they must be extremely fast walkers/runners even though they walk normal whenever I see them.
And finally, the best times are the unplanned times. Though the times scheduled on our itinerary were extremely memorable and valuable, finding our own little nooks and crannies was so rewarding. My traveling buddy Abby and I found so many cute shops just by the amount of walking we did. Spontaneous trips to go "urban hiking" or look for the only cake shop in Dunedin open at 7 pm made me feel less like a tourist just visiting the city and more similar to a true Kiwi. These are the experiences I will forever hold dear. ~ prepare for the cliché statement ~ It's not about the destination, but more the journey.
Thanks mom and dad for such an amazing opportunity! I couldn't have done it without you.