A last blog

I am sitting on the plane, about two hours into the second leg of our trip home, and I can’t believe that our month in New Zealand has already come to an end. The first day at Rangtitoto seems like it was only a few days ago. On the other hand, it feels like we’ve been in New Zealand for forever. We look right and then left before we cross the roads, we order flat whites, and we covet the convenient two-dollar coin. In the last thirty-odd days, we’ve become in tune with the way New Zealand works, and we don’t want to leave it. Unfortunately, time is up, and we have to go back to snow, cold weather, flat land, muggy air and a real schedule of classes.

Despite having to return, iIknow that we will always remember the amazing time we’ve had in New Zealand – reunion parties are already in the works, so how can we possibly forget? There was the sleepover of the century at the marae stay near Rotorua, with card games, not-scary and scary ghost stories. There was the Tongariro Crossing, seventeen kilometers!!, and the photoshow the last night in Hamilton. My fondest memory of New Zealand, the one that I will remember even after the place names fuzz over, consists of one night and three people. The first night during our four day weekend, Justin, Lauren, and I wandered off onto a beach around midnight or one o’clock. With only a little flashlight, we finally stumbled onto sand, and through much coaxing from Justin, we all laid down on the sand and looked at the stars. There was a lot of cloud cover, but somehow the stars still shone through. That night, I saw the most stars I’ve ever seen in my life. Lauren and I practically had to drag him off the sand, or he would have actually slept there. On our way back to the hostel, since it was a long walk back, we stopped several times. Somehow, we started singing Row Your Boat, and ended up singing countless rounds of Row Your Boat and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The hysterical laughing, stumbling, incoherent logic has made if one of the best times of my life.

That night at Abel Tasman stamped out an anxiety I had had about the trip. I was afraid I wouldnt have the trip of a lifetime that I would recall fondly because, probably like many people on the trip, I was nervous about being in a new place with so many people I didn’t know beforehand. Now, I’ve come away knowing almost 30 new people, and good friends.

I can definitely wait to get home,
Cat