By Nora_Wolcott
I began planning my time abroad, really planning in a realistic way, at the end of my Spring 2017 semester. By the end of September I had narrowed down my search to a specific program. These past six months I've spent my time planning every detail of my abroad experience, and after all that time I am finally one night away from my departure date. And somehow, I am suddenly just realizing how many gaps are left in my plans.
For starters, I completely forgot to take the date line into account when planning flights, putting my arrival date only a few days before the start of classes. I registered for an international health insurance plan without checking to see if it was approved by my University, leaving me to switch to a new plan just days before the start of the semester. I hadn't looked into the kind of electronic converters I needed, or what kind of entertainment material would be necessary for the grueling plane ride; for these problems I can thank Amazon Prime for saving me a very frantic airport shopping trip. I put all my belongings and suitcases in a storage unit without fully calculating how much my two small remaining suitcases would hold (thank god for expandable zippers). Also, amid all my extravagant travel plans, my research into bungee jumping and camping trips to the mountains, I neglected to focus on one thing: my schoolwork. In the midst of all this planning, somewhere along the way my actual course load at the University of Auckland was pushed aside, leaving me to scramble to print syllabi and organize schedules at the last minute.
This whole ordeal has, at the very least, been quite a learning experience. My practical learnings range from how to open a bank account in another country, to how to calculate voltage conversion, to how to contact a foreign embassy. However, it is the rather impractical that I enjoy the most: the fact that New Zealanders call flip flops "jandals" (which I first thought was some kind of denim sandal), and the correct way to say goodbye in Maori, "Nga mihi", pronounced (Nah-mihee).
Overall, I'm not disappointed in my planning skills, just a little surprised to discover what I missed. I'm sure that my future posts will cover my other shortcomings, what I should've packed, misconceptions about Kiwi culture, all the reliable cliches of being a college student traveling alone for the first time. It's an emotional time in DC, saying goodbye to a place where I've truly cultivated a home, a network of beloved friends that have gotten me through three tumultuous years. The prospect of 10am Facetime calls with my friends as they go to bed seems bleak, especially after being joined at the hip with those I'm closest to for so long. It doesn't help that my emotionally unavailable streak doesn't make me the best at saying goodbyes. But then I realize that these are not goodbyes, just see-you-laters, and this won't be just some four months away from my support system, but four months spent in a lush new culture full of new arms to fall into. Ultimately, this final stretch has challenged some of my best laid plans, but in the end a little spontaneity never hurt anybody.