By Nora_Wolcott
As a GW Exchange student at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, I’ve spent the past couple months watching my friends embark on their study abroad experiences. Reading the facebook posts, blog entries, and firsthand accounts of their travels has only solidified what I’ve known ever since I was a high schooler applying to college: studying abroad is sure to be one of the landmark moments of my college career. However, so far my 2018 has looked a little different than all of my peers abroad, in that I haven’t been abroad at all. Because New Zealand operates on a yearly schedule opposite to the USA’s, I am actually attending their fall semester, which doesn’t begin until nearly March. Consequently, I’ve spent the past few months staying in DC and working full time, saving up to ensure that this experience is the best it can be.
During my time in DC, spending my hours working in a genetics lab and dog walking, I’ve had a lot of time to think about how I want to spend my semester abroad. So, blog readers, I present to you my official New Zealand Bucket List:
- Visit the Auckland Sky Tower
- Go bungee jumping
- Go tramping on South Island
- Visit Christchurch
- Go ziplining
- Learn Te Reo Maori
- Get my PADI open water diving certification
- Visit Muriwai black sand beach
- See a kiwi, Hector Dolphin, and blue penguin
- Join the University of Auckland band
- Visit at least two of the following places: Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Fiji, Antarctica
So I recognize that a few of these are a bit of a stretch, but hey what else is a bucket list for? I like to think I’ve already made some progress with a few of these, for instance I know “Kia Ora” is “Hello” in Maori, and I’ve already been lucky enough to be accepted into the UofA band, and found a place to rent out my instrument (the French horn). I also found the perfect spot to go bungee jumping, at one of the highest sites in the world, the Nevis Bungee Jump in Queenstown, featuring a 134 M (or 440 ft) free-fall off a cliff. I’ve also looked into the UofA Underwater Club, which offers discounted PADI certifications, to make all my tropical diving dreams come true.
Some of my more difficult endeavors include learning the rest of the indigenous Maori language, only spoken by about 50,000 people, spotting a Kiwi, the official bird of New Zealand which is extremely endangered as well as nocturnal, and making my way up to Southeast Asia, which would be a time consuming and expensive trip. However, I am determined to knock as many items off this list as possible, and am willing to take the time to make it happen. I’ve finally reached the point where my departure date is less than a week a way, and it seems surreal to finally be embarking on this trip I’ve been planning for over a year. I hope you readers have a good time following me as I attempt to make my way through this list and this experience, and see just how realistic my Kiwi Land dreams turn out to be.