New Zealand: Finding myself in a land full of Kiwi's Past Review

My quest to New Zealand began long before I packed my bulky suitcases, said farewells to family and friends, and boarded the plane in Los Angeles to leave the country. Thinking back to this time last year, I remember applying to the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. It was six months until I departed but I felt the beginnings of nervousness and exciting butterflies in my stomach. Before I graduated from high school I made up my mind that I would study abroad somewhere during my time at my university. I was fortunate that I had traveled out of the country several times with my family to Mexico, Europe, Canada, and Costa Rica, which fostered my interest in different cultures and places throughout the world. I began looking at study abroad options at the end of the first semester of my freshman year. New Zealand was already on my mind as an option. It was important to me to go somewhere that would not just be culturally beneficial but also allow personal growth. So, I made the choice to travel to a country where I would not know anyone who lived there or was traveling there at the same time, and chose a city where no one from my university had studied. Making the choice to travel independently was worrisome as my departure date neared and the reality of my choice became clear. Many of my friends were studying abroad in Europe and Australia with friends, but reminding myself what I wanted out of my experience calmed my nerves. Once I arrived in New Zealand I engaged myself in activites to fufill my goals of studying abroad. I joined university tramping, kayaking and wine tasting clubs, took a Maori studies course and, when others in my program hung out with the “American bubble,” in the apartments where we lived I worked on making friends with “Kiwis.” By engaging myself in the culture of the place I was studying, I was learning a lot about myself without even realizing it. Because I worked to make friends with locals, I made life long friends with several native New Zealanders, and have fond memories of road trips, tramps, and “kiwi”- style parties. The experience is endless and something I would never trade.