Bula Fiji!

 

This is going to be the least detailed blog I’ll ever write.  If it was detailed, it would be so long that no one would read it.  Here’s a brief, and hopefully entertaining, recap of my time in Fiji:

Note: It was pretty epic.

Our room the first night in Fiji. Not a lot of space for us once we got our luggage in.

July 5: Left Wellington. Flight from Wellington delayed. Flight to Fiji delayed.  Had an awesome meal on the plane to Fiji. Arrived in Fiji at 11:30 pm. Was welcomed by a group of singing Fijians. Customs was easy. Took a cab to our hotel. Was creeped out and realized why people say Fiji is “sketchy” to travel to.

Ashley and I goofing around at 1 am because we were happy to be in Fiji

Note: While traveling in Fiji, my friend Ashley and I “island hopped.”  We boarded a large boat at the port, then got on a smaller boat when we arrived in the vicinity of our island resorts.  These smaller boats took us to the island that our resorts were on.  When we departed for our next resort, the small boats took us to the large boat again.  The process repeats itself everytime we switched resorts.  And the best part?  The Fijians took care of our 3 bags/each happily the entire time!  Although I did get tired of explaining that I had been living in New Zealand for 5 months and apologizing for my excess luggage.

Our "bure" at Manta Ray Resort
Bure: Private accommodation with ocean view

July 6: Woke up after 3 hours of sleep.  Didn’t sleep well because Fiji beds don’t have blankets and the fans make you really cold at night.  Arrive at Port Denarau.  Boarded the Yasawa Flyer.  Arrived at our first resort: Manta Ray Resort around 11:30. Welcomed by more singing Fijians and a wonderful drink. Sun tanned/bathed all afternoon.  Went on a sunset boat cruise in the evening.

Sunset boat cruise

July 7: Sun tanned all day long. Ate breakfast. Ate lunch. Drank fresh coconut milk. Ate dinner. Started reading a book.

The beauty of Manta Ray Resort

July 8: Got attacked by bed bugs between the hours of 12 am and 7 am. Departed Manta Ray Resort. Was sang a departing song by some sexy Fijians. Arrived at Korovou Resort. Ate lunch. Ate dinner. Sun tanned. Finished a book.

 

The amazing staff at Manta Ray Resort

Inside our bure at Korovou Resort

July 9: Swam with manta rays.  That’s right—manta rays. Sun tanned all day.  Walked along the entire island and enjoyed the sandy beaches.

Oh hey there, manta ray! You're quite large.

July 10: Ate breakfast. Fed fish. Had a Fijian cooking lesson. Realized I like raw fish. Departed Korovou Resort. Arrived at Coral View Resort. Took a trip to a random island and took lots of awesome pictures. Sat in awe of the clear, blue water on a sandbar. Hiked up the island to watch the sunset. Met an awesome couple who lives in Norway. Ate awesome food.

At our Fijian cooking lesson

 

Sunset from the top of the island at Coral View Resort

Enjoying the island/sand bar

Ashley and I on the island we visited. Just living the dream.

July 11: Consumed my weight in pineapples. Almost died. Realized salt water doesn’t feel good in my eyes. Visited the Sawa-I-Lau Caves. Faced my fears. Went snorkeling in the Blue Lagoon. Saw a snake. Saw a clown fish.

Ash and I in Sawa-I-Lau Cave

 

Snorkeling the the Blue Lagoon

July 12: Got attacked by bed bugs again. Visited a Fijian doctor. Saw a Fijian village. Visited a Fijian school. Was devastated to see the conditions in which Fijians lived. Gained a large appreciation for my lifestyle, bed, food, home, shower, car, clothes a lot more than I ever did. Saw a cultural Fijian dance. Departed Coral View Resort. Arrived at Beachcomber Resort.

Cultural Fijian dance at Coral View Resort

July 13: Met some cool people. Tried to constantly hide my polka-dotted/bug bit body from other people. Went snorkeling. Sun tanned. Fed baby turtles. Walked around Beachcomber Island in 10 minutes. Watched the sunset. Participated in a cultural experience. Ask me about it.

 

Baby sea turtles

Some of the coral during our snorkel at Beachcomber

July 14: Sun tanned. Decreased my suitcase weight. Departed Beachcomber. Said goodbye to Ashley. Sat in an airport for 3 hours before I was able to check in. Waited some more. Flew back to the US. I got to repeat July 14^th because we flew back into time. It was pretty cool.

Beachcomber Island

Needless to say, Fiji was incredible.  I wish I could go into more detail, but this would be way too long of a blog if I did that.  I had an amazing time with an incredible friend.  Fiji forever changed me.  I am in awe of the hospitality, friendliness, and happiness levels that all Fijians possess.  I will always appreciate my home because I was blown away by the conditions in which the Fijians live.  Fiji could be considered a third world country, especially for those who live on the islands that surround the biggest island.  I had a life changing experience, which I plan to blog about more thoroughly in the future.  I highly recommend visiting Fiji.  I loved my time there and it was the perfect transition to leaving New Zealand and coming back to the US.

 

Bula = Hello.

Vinaka = Thank you.

 

Vinaka, Fiji, for an incredible vacation in a beautiful country.

Last Weeks in Wellington

Classes concluded on June 8^th.  For me, this day marked complete freedom to have fun as well as create my own schedule.  From June 8^th until July 5^th (the day I left New Zealand for Fiji), I had a lot of fun and did a lot of cool things.  I went to the Pinnacles which you can read about here and took a trip to Cairns which you can read about here.  During the time I also had to take finals; if you’re curious, you can read about how they are structured in New Zealand here.  The rest of the time was spent indulging in food, alcohol, and fun experiences with friends.  One of my goals before coming to New Zealand was to expose myself to a variety of foods.  I also had a list of restaurants that I had wanted to go to around the city, so I spent the last month in New Zealand indulging in food and going out to eat a lot.  It minimized cooking and cleaning quite a bit! If you’re curious about the food I tried, restaurants I ate it, and random day adventures I took, keep reading.  Otherwise, this may be a boring post for you.  I love food, and one of the reasons I love traveling so much is because of the food I get to eat and try along the way.

Lebanese: To celebrate the survival of my first final, Suzanne, Ashley, and I decided to go out for dinner and dessert.  I had discovered a Lebanese restaurant, Phoenician Falafel, while searching for the Harley-Davidson shop earlier in the semester.  We all ordered different things, but we all loved our food.  I ordered a Makanek, a Lebanese sausage.  I really enjoyed it.  Afterwards, we went to a restaurant known for its desserts called Strawberry Fare.  This restaurant deserves its own blog post, so stay tuned.

Our Lebanese food

Indian: Suzanne, Ashley, and I wanted to try Indian food.  If I remember right, Suzanne had finished with her finals so we wanted to celebrate.  There are tons of Indian restaurants around the heart of Wellington.  We decided on Great India because it was close to some places we were planning to go afterwards.  The restaurant was very fancy and I spent more on myself than I would have liked, but I definitely can say I like Indian food.  I don’t remember what I ordered exactly, I just know it was chicken-related.  We shared rice to go with our individual meals and the bread was to die for!  I could have just ate that and been satisfied with my meal.  Afterwards, Suzanne had a Lord of the Rings event to attend.  Ashley and I went to a bar called El Horno to share a pitcher of Sangria and watch the All Blacks rugby match in the bar.  It was quite the night!

Soul Food aka “New Orleans”: Suzanne, Ashley, and I went to an adorable southern themed restaurant called Sweet Mother’s Kitchen for lunch one day.  It was the first time I had BBQ sauce on a sandwich in months!  Talk about heaven to the taste buds!  It was an American style restaurant, so it may seem out of the ordinary, but a taste of home was just what I needed.  It’s a cute restaurant, and I recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Wellington one day.

My burger from Burger Wisconsin

Burger Wisconsin: That’s right!  There is a burger joint in Wellington, actually, it’s a chain restaurant around New Zealand, called Burger Wisconsin.  I often had many Kiwi’s mention it to me when they found out I was from Wisconsin.  My friends Ashley, Justin, and I had to take a bus to one of the locations because it wasn’t in walking distance from our flats.  It was kind of strange taking the bus somewhere because it had been a while since I needed to take the bus for anything.  My burger was delicious, but it doesn’t top Wisconsin burgers.  However, New Zealand puts a lot of interesting toppings on their burgers that make them unique such as aoli sauce, relish, and beet root.  I will miss their creativeness!

Hell Pizza: Wellington has three religious based pizza companies, but they are completely separate from each other: Heaven, Hell, and Wholly Pizza.  Sam, Cameron, Ashley, Suzanne, Kayla, and I all went to Hell Pizza one evening.  We all ordered our own personal pizza’s, and I have to admit, this was the closest I found to the pizza tasting like it was made in the states.  Pizza in New Zealand is just…different.  That’s the best word to describe it.  Anyway, my point is, the pizza there is delicious!  They have this “Russian Roulette” game there.  One slice of pizza gets a drop of their hottest chili sauce put on it.  You eat the pizza with more than one person and someone gets the hot slice unknowingly.  Trust me, it’s hot.  And it didn’t sit well with me either…in case anyone was wondering.

Last Meal: I left New Zealand on July 5^th.  On July 3^rd, my group of friends decided to have a nice last meal together.  We ate a restaurant called Osterio del Torro.  I ordered Pasta Cabronara, something I’ve become quite the fan of since being in NZ.  The meal was wonderful and we concluded the evening with drinks at The Welsh Dragon and dessert at Strawberry Fare.  This was also the night that a 7.0 earthquake rattled Wellington.  The earthquake was about 300 miles northwest of Wellington, so there was no damage to the city itself.  However, the 20-25 second earthquake caused quite the excitement amongst my friends and me.  Something so powerful right before I left made leaving a little easier.  In case you didn’t know, Wellington sits right on a fault line—something I didn’t know until after I was already there!

Everyone after our last meal together

Otari-Wilson Bush Walk: The weekend before our last week of classes, Kayla, Suzanne, Cameron, and I decided to escape the city.  Cameron had heard of Otari-Wilson through a friendly Kiwi she encountered who described this place as her “heaven on earth.”  I would say it was a pretty accurate statement.  I wish I had known about this place sooner because it reminded me a lot of hiking the bluffs in La Crosse.  It was wonderful to escape the city and see gorgeous sites while hiking.  I’m thankful I was able to go to this place once because it refreshed me.  I love the excitement of the city, but I am a country girl at heart.  Getting out of the city is something I will always need to do to recharge.

The crew at Otari-Wilson

Shinobi Sushi: The day before we left, Sam, Suzanne, and I decided to get sushi one last time before we left Wellington.  I have to admit, I’ve developed quite a love for sushi and I know I’ll really miss it once I get home.  I don’t think sushi in the Midwest will be quite the same as sushi in Wellington.  We went to for lunch to a restaurant recommended through National Geographic’s “I Heart My City-Wellington” and from my Kiwi friend, Adele.  I’m so glad we went here.  The sushi was made on the spot and it was mouth-watering!  I’m glad we went for one last minute lunch together, and fully recommend this place to anyone—it’s well worth the money!

The last month I was in Wellington was a very exciting one, with the exception of having to worry about finals.  I feel so fortunate that I was able to spend such a large amount of time really enjoying the company of the amazing friendships I formed while in New Zealand.  And I’m glad I got to eat tons of great food before I left!  There were a few places that we ate at that I didn't include in this post.  These were some of the highlights.  I'm also sick of writing about food.

Saying Goodbye to Wellington

This is my city: Wellington

Unfortunately, 3 of my final 4 full days in Wellington involved exams.  Perhaps it was an underlying blessing because it did not give me time to dwell on the fact that I was leaving.  Saying goodbye to Wellington was bittersweet.  Bitter because I did not want to say goodbye; sweet because I was anxious about returning to the land I love: Wisconsin.  It was strange to walk out of my flat and see it exactly how it looked just 5 months earlier when I walked through the doors with my mobile home.  As I took one last look of my incredible view, I simply just wondered where the time had gone.  I am not sure if I will ever be able to wrap my head around the fact that my time abroad—something I had been looking forward to for as long as I could remember—was already coming to a close.  It was something that I never thought would happen, and there I stood, taking in my last view as this particular chapter of my life was coming to a close.  We do not always get to pick when certain chapters end in our life—they come to a close when we are least expecting it.  It was nice to have a chapter end with a smile and a few tears.

I wish that I could come up with the words to describe the emotions I was feeling in the moment I gazed over Wellington one last time.  I was in disbelief that the time had gone by so quickly; I was sad because I didn’t know when I’d see my friends that I made in Wellington again; I was proud because I set a goal and accomplished it; I was excited because I was going to be vacationing in Fiji for 10 whole days; I was ecstatic about the idea of going home and seeing everyone; I was satisfied knowing that I made the experience everything I wanted it to be; I was happy because I made my dream a reality; I was confident because I did so many things I never expected.  I think that sums up the moment pretty well.  Thinking back to it, I cannot help but smile.  When my flight out of Wellington officially took off, it was rewarding to know that I knew what things were as I flew over the harbor and bays for the final time.  I got to know Wellington pretty damn well.  That feeling is only comparable to when I fly over Wisconsin.

Studying abroad, living in a different country, traveling with friends, traveling alone, being away from my family/friends/horses/dog, and creating a new life were all incredible opportunities that I’d recommend to anyone, seeing that they apply to you, of course.  Times were not always “rainbows and butterflies” while I was in New Zealand.  Now that I am home, all the tough times seem so insignificant and they are not the first things to come to mind when I look back at the last 5 amazing months I was able to call Wellington, New Zealand, my home away from home.  I am thankful that my foreign home will always be Wellington.  It’s a great place and I don’t think there will be a day in my life where I do not think about it.  My mind often wonders to my mornings of climbing 8 flights of stairs to campus, my afternoons wondering around Cuba Street, and my evenings walking along the gorgeous waterfront.  It is an experience I will never forget and will feel forever thankful to have had.

Finals in New Zealand

After an amazing trip to Cairns, I had the pleasure of returning to Wellington to endure not only cold, windy, and rainy weather, but also to endure the pain and agony of studying for finals.  Okay, I’m exaggerating, but seriously, finals in New Zealand were anything but pleasant.  I took four courses in New Zealand.  To refresh anyone’s memory who has been reading my blogs and following along on this epic journey of my life, those courses were: 1) Global History; 2) Gandhi, India and the World; 3) Visual Perception; and 4) Business Environment Tourism.

I took 80 steps to campus each morning

 Courses are either internally or externally assessed in New Zealand.  If I had understood this when I selected my classes last December, I would have put forth more effort to pick internally assessed courses.  From my understanding (I could be wrong), internally assessed courses have a final the last week of classes and the final is not worth as much.  For example, my “Gandhi, India and the World” class was internally assessed.  My final for that course was only worth 25 percent of my final grade.  This is typically what I am used to from going to college in the Wisconsin for the majority of college career—with New Zealand being the only exception.  On the other hand, externally assessed courses have finals during a 3.5 week finals period.  That’s right, you read it right: 3.5 weeks of finals!  Unfortunately for me, three of my classes were externally assessed and carried a much larger percentage of my final grade—50, 50 and 60 percent to be exact.  Needless to say, I could not take finals lightly and the last 2.5 weeks I spent in New Zealand were not full of fun and adventure like I was hoping for.

The library on campus

 When I start a semester of classes at UWL, I instantly know what my entire semester will look like as well as what day my final will be held.  This was not the case in New Zealand.  In fact, I did not know my finals schedule until nearly May.  I found this to be rather frustrating because it was hard for me to plan trips.  Plus, I had my heart set on going somewhere in Australia, so that limited any amount of traveling that could occur during the finals period, or “finals month” as my friends and I all called it.  I was hoping I would get lucky, and that all of my finals would be at the beginning of the finals period.  This way I would be able to spend more of those 3.5 remaining weeks relaxing and taking day trips or extended trips around New Zealand.  Finals ended on July 4^th.  I was unlucky and had finals on June 22^nd, July 2^nd, and July 3^rd.  Translation: I could not have had a worse schedule.  That’s why I took my trip to Cairns early, and I remained in Wellington those last 2.5 weeks.  Aside from the large amount of studying I had to do, those last 2.5 weeks are what hold some of my fondest memories of my time in New Zealand with the amazing friends I made (a future post to come on this).

I had my tourism class in this building

I am not going to elaborate on how incredibly frustrating finals were for me.  However, I will tell you a little bit more about how they are ran.  When final times were posted towards the beginning of May, I knew when, where, and what time they were being held.  All of my finals were in different rooms compared to where I attended lecture.  Luckily for me, they were still on the campus that I had the class at, but some of my other friends had to go to a completely different campus for finals—a huge inconvenience.  All of my finals were at 2:30 pm because the university I studied at only had two final times per day (a little unnecessary if you ask me).  Two of my finals were three hours long, while the other was two.  With the exception of one of my finals, I had to two essay finals.  To sum things up, I will be coming home with some higher quality study habits because studying for essay finals is way more intense than any other final I’ve ever experienced.

I had Visual Perception in Hunter Building

If a student is smart, you arrive at the room where your final is held at least 15 minutes prior to it starting.  This allowed ample time to be checked in (I had to bring my student ID with me), ditch my bags (inclusive of my iPod and cell phone) at the front of the room to avoid academic penalties, and find a spot to take the exam.  Exam booklets were laid out around the giant lecture halls, and I had to sit where they were placed.  I could only have pens, pencils, a clear water bottle, and a clear pencil case with me.  Oh, and I had to leave my ID face up the entire time for the people who ran the exams to randomly check to make sure it was still me (because somehow someone else could randomly appear to take my final).  Once I completed the exam, I had to be checked out and show them my ID one last time.  Basically, my rampage that I am on is that the finals in New Zealand are more intense than the ACT’s I took my junior year of high school. 

 The good news is that I survived all my finals.  I would like to thank anyone who took the time to read this rather boring blog, but it was part of my experience here in New Zealand so I felt it was important to talk about.  Also, I just wanted to complain about how much I did not like the school system in New Zealand, and I will forever be thankful for the education I received and will receive in Wisconsin.  I like the system much better!