Well, my WiFi finally let me load my website, and I think I’ve been putting off this post for long enough. I’ve had time to get over the disappointment of leaving to appreciate the experience I had. Before I go more into that, I should probably talk about my last week's adventures!
When I knew I was leaving, my friends decided to do some last minute traveling. We went surfing for the final time, and I got the closest to getting up as I ever did! A little more practice, and I could go pro! Not really, though, I’m not that great. More practice is definitely in my future. We also went to gift shops like normal tourists. I really wanted to find more unique local gifts, but unfortunately, I was on a time crunch. I found some great gifts, so let me know if you ever want gift ideas! Basically, we spend most of the week checking out sights in Christchurch and seeing new beaches like New Brighton.
Once the weekend came, they decided that I should pick some place we would travel to. There was one place on the south island that I knew I had to see before I left. It was Wharariki Beach on the far North side of the island. It was a seven and a half hour drive across the island. Saturday was rainy, so we took off at 6 A.M. on Sunday morning. It was a beautiful drive. We drove straight through the mountains. Around noon, we decided to take a pit stop at Kaiteriteri Beach. The sand was orange and had fools gold in it, which was pretty cool. Eventually, we made it to Wharariki, but had to walk through cow pastures to get to the beach. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to escape the farm life! The walk was worth it though. It was one of the coolest places I saw while in New Zealand. We saw baby seals and everything! Some chill people were also at the beach. It’s funny how we always ran into people who were engineers while in NZ.
Even while we knew everything was starting to happen with the virus in New Zealand, we didn’t expect to be one of the only ones at the camp. It made us wonder what was happening while we didn’t have service. The next morning, we got up and headed out. I mean, we had a seven and a half hour drive back to Christchurch. I had a flight on Wednesday. We didn’t get very far before the car went poof. It started smoking, and we thought it was going to blow up. We didn’t know what to do. Emily and I started walking toward the town nearby to find a garage. Before we got there, a couple stopped by. The gentleman’s name was Bruce, and he had already talked to Julia. He basically took over from there. We found the garage, but the owner said they couldn’t help us. Bruce then offered to tow us to the next town with a garage. That ended up being 40 kilometres in Takaka.
Once we got to the garage in Takaka, I had to figure out how to get back to Christchurch. Emily and Julia decided to wait for a few days with the car. I hopped on a bus to Nelson to rent a car. I got there to find out New Zealand was going into lock down in 48 hours, and I wasn’t old enough to rent a car. There was a couple, Hannah and Shawn, who also needed to get to Christchurch but couldn’t rent a car. All the car rental agencies had been shut down. I ended up having one of the last rental cars in New Zealand. The couple and I made a deal that I would give them the rental if they took me back to Christchurch with them.
In a world wind, I found out that Julia and Emily needed to get back also. But they were still in Takaka, two hours away from Nelson. They decided to hitch hike towards Nelson, and we would meet them halfway with the car. Eventually, we all made it safely back to Christchurch.
On Wednesday, I got on my flight back to the states. The airports were pretty empty, so it was easy to get through security. I was supposed to fly from Houston to Colorado to Omaha, but I missed the connection flight. I spend hours trying to find a flight closer to home than Houston. Finally, I got a flight to Minneapolis, but I was at 7 A.M. the next morning. I wasn’t keen on staying overnight in an empty airport. It went faster than I thought, though. I talked to friends and got some reading done. Eventually, I made it to Minneapolis where my dad picked me up and drove me to Okoboji where I've been self-isolating with my friend Stacey, who just got back from London.
I’ve been doing fine since, even though I’m missing New Zealand. I miss the weather and the people I’ve met along the way. I really appreciate that I was able to spend two months there, though. I didn’t get to see everything that I wanted to, but what I did see was beautiful. I can’t wait to go back to see more someday. I also really appreciate the opportunities that Iowa State offers. Even though I didn’t get my full study abroad experience, the fact that the opportunity exists makes me thankful. I had a great experience and want to help other people in making their study abroad dreams come true.