Une Vie Différente

“Life isn’t about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself.” –George Bernard Shaw

Another post inspired by French class, but this time, the post will be much more than a simple translation of my writing.  One option for my most recent composition was what would be different about your life if you had attended a different university.  This was a much more challenging prompt to address than most because attending UW-Milwaukee has been extremely influential in who I’ve become.  The list of potential differences wasn’t going to fit on one page (the length requirement) which is why this post will be an elaboration of the actual assignment.

My other option (at the time), if I didn’t attend UWM, was UW-Madison.  I’m skeptical if I’d have liked Madison enough to complete my degree though.  It’s not that I have anything against Madison, just that I don’t think it would have been a good fit me personally.  There were numerous differences regarding the campus culture that I discovered when touring; I’m sure I’d have found several more if I actually studied and lived in Madison.  The tidbit about most of campus being drunk before noon on football game days still gives me pause when I consider I almost attended that school.  The drinking lifestyle was never for me.  There’s also the possibility I could have avoided the drinking or it might not have been as bad as the tour guide said (and my imagination imagined).  However, I have a low tolerance for drunk people, especially noisy and rowdy ones.

If I disliked the environment and culture enough, there’s a good chance I would have transferred.  The question is where.  I know I wouldn’t have transferred home; I refused to move home even when I didn’t have a job and could barely support myself immediately after graduation.  A part of me thinks I’d have transferred to UWM.  I loved almost everything about my three and half years of undergrad and firmly believe I was meant to end up in Milwaukee.  However, there’s another part of me that considers my love of travel and distant lands; thus I could have transferred abroad.  There are an uncountable number of factors that would have played into my decision though: how old was I when I chose to transfer, was I dating someone, had I studied abroad already, how were my relationships with certain family members (my mom, my older sister, and my niece), where were my interests, etc.

Not only would my relationships have played a definite role in where I transferred, but these relationships could have been extremely different than they are today.  I couldn’t have afforded to take the bus and frequently visit my sister and newborn niece my freshman year, so—unfortunately—neither of these relationships would have their current resilience.  The positive influence they (and my brother-in-law) have had on me is immense.  The amount of patience I gained by spending time with my niece (now nieces) is reason enough to say their impact was huge.  By having a stronger relationship with my sister, I sought out her advice and took said advice seriously—as well as my brother-in-law’s advice.  This advice helped shape other decisions I made.  None of this would be the case without the current strength of our bond though.

My Eldest Niece and Me

Then there’s the relationship with my mom.  I have no idea how that would have differed because regardless of where I attended university, I still would have gone home for as many holidays as possible and talked to her the same amount.  The difference would have been that I have since learned she didn’t support the idea of me going to Madison.  However, she also isn’t one to hold a grudge, so I’m confident she wouldn’t have held this against me; she may have been overly supportive if/when I chose to transfer though and thus influenced that decision.

Returning to going abroad, I might not have studied in New Zealand.  Almost my entire life, I had my heart set of going to England and I didn’t because I needed an international internship for my Global Studies major (a major Madison doesn’t have), and UWM has a program to New Zealand that included help securing internship placement.  New Zealand was still on my bucket list of countries to visit, but it wasn’t my first choice; I realize now it should have been though.  Similar to how my relationships shaped me, so did my time in New Zealand.  Some of these results would have happened regardless of where I studied abroad: sense of adventure, increased independence, appreciation for other cultures, etc.  I wouldn’t, however, have met the same people and had the same internship/learning experience.  My internship in New Zealand gave me confidence in my work that my classes hadn’t.  Since neither of my majors exist at Madison, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have completed that internship anyways.  Madison has similar majors, but I still could have taken my education (and thus my life) down a completely different path.  Either way though, I would have found something I enjoyed.

Christina, Me, and Gavin in NZ

All these potential differences mean I might not be friends with some of the wonderful people I am today.  I happen to really like my Milwaukee friends, especially considering the majority of them have one very distinct similarity: French.  There are one or two friends I don’t know directly through the French Department who also happen to love French, if not the language then certainly the culture.  Aside from these friends, I’ve only made a few other friends in Milwaukee.  In recent years, French has definitely made a big impact in my life.  Regardless of where I could have attended university, hopefully I still found the delicious eloquence of French 🙂

Oui!sconsin

Then there’s Alice, who I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t attended university in Milwaukee.  I also wouldn’t know all the great people from my jobs or from the student organizations in which I was a part.  Nevertheless, a lot of other people inhabit the world, so I wouldn’t be friendless and I would have had other jobs in which to meet people.  Plus living in Madison would have allowed me to assist more with my high school forensics team as one of the assistant coaches lives in Madison and the team competes in Madison almost every season.

Ultimately, I hope I would have either found my way to UWM or found myself happily living abroad, travelling with any spare money I have while learning/perfecting my knowledge of other languages and making friends along the way.  Also I like to think that somewhere in creating myself and seeking happiness, I would have developed the strong relationships I have with my family.

Some Sisterly Love

A Look Back: Two Years Since Studying Abroad

Two years ago to the day (February 5), I was somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, on my way to New Zealand for the adventure of a lifetime.  I’d done research, so I knew, more or less, what to expect regarding the climate, language, clothing, animals, etc.  However, no amount of research could prepare me for being halfway around the world from everyone I knew or how much I was going to learn.  Not everything I discovered is easily articulated with words; not everything I discovered was a conscious discovery; but I know the experiences helped me grow personally. 

Since returning, especially in recent months, I find myself thinking about “pre-New Zealand Bethany” and “post-New Zealand Bethany.”  I look the same physically, but mentally I changed a lot in those five months abroad.  The biggest change being that I feel like a much smaller part of the world but a more lively part.  I glimpsed just how big and diverse the world is, which made me feel insignificant; more insignificant than knowing I’m one person in 7 billion on Earth.  Despite always having a sense of adventure and enjoying exploring new places; these emotions don’t compare with the lively desires that have since replaced them.  Traveling the world no longer seems like a distant dream but something accomplishable because wanderlust tugs at my soul, begging to be released and allowed to take me somewhere new.

My burning desire to travel opened my mind to the world and everything it has to offer, leaving me bored with everyday activities I once enjoyed.  Instead I’ve realized there are simpler, finer activities; activities that would have bored “pre-New Zealand Bethany.”  Walking through the city just to see what’s there is now a thoroughly enjoyable pastime, as is relishing in the culture of local establishments.  My love of running has transformed from being just a workout to a means of exploring my neighborhood.  New Zealand really helped me prove to myself that trying new things isn’t as terrifying, nerve racking, and difficult as I once thought.  The list of new foods and experiences is a lengthy one, and I don’t regret trying a single thing.  If I keep myself closed off from the world (even from the city) around me, I’ll never “learn things [I] never knew [I]never knew” (Colors of the Wind, Pocahontas).

I also met so many wonderful people while traveling.  Some of whom I’m still friends with while others I’m not; either way, we still enjoyed the adventures we had together.  Simultaneously, I rediscovered a balance with alone time.  For the first time, I’d wander around the city, peruse museum exhibits, go shopping, etc alone and didn’t feel like a loner.  I was accustomed to being on my own and doing things myself, but these are activities usually done in groups, and activities I’d only done in groups.  I’ve since extended this list of activities to movies because if I really want to see a movie than why shouldn’t I go see it.  Sometimes all my friends are busy, especially during the semester, but I wasn’t going to let that dictate what activities I partake in.

Opening up, putting myself out there, and taking advantage of every possible opportunity while I was abroad enhanced many of my already existing characteristics by removing the constant questioning “what if.”  I continue to abide by this and keep “what if” at arm’s length.  So in an attempt to precisely articulate what I wouldn’t have found no matter how many hours I researched and what coincidentally led to the most adventures: forget the “what if” and just go for it.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” –Steve Jobs.

Road Trip

“It’s so fluffy I’m going to die.”
— Despicable Me

The weekend started on Saturday with Julia and I picking up our car and driving down to Matamata.  Our sole purpose of stopping in Matamata was to visit Hobbiton aka the real-life Shire 🙂  This is another of my most amazing experiences in New Zealand.  I felt like I was in Hollywood except there weren’t any famous people there now, but famous people spent months on this on-location movie set!  I was giddy with excitement walking through the Shire and passing Bag’s End.  My excitement was nothing compared to the stories our tour guide told.   She had a group all dressed as elves and dance beneath the party tree; another day a man spent the entire day sitting beneath the party tree reading the Hobbit; yet another day a man, dressed as a hobbit, recited Bilbo’s whole party speech from memory.  These are all more spectacular than me bouncing around from too much excitement.

The land is owned by the Alexander family and is located on their working farm of 13,000 sheep and a bunch of cows.  There are sign posts indicating East Farthing, West Farthing, the Green Dragon pub, and other significant places; these places are extremely condensed though as there are only 40 some hobbit holes populating the entire Shire.  Sadly none of the hobbit holes had much, if anything, in them; the only hobbit hole with anything besides dirt is Bag’s End.  One wall is decorated because one scene showed both the Shire and inside Bilbo’s house.  While I couldn’t enter Bag’s End, I did stand inside the door of a hobbit hole!!  Basically, totally awesome 🙂

That night we drove to Tauranga and stayed with Julia’s friend, Lea.  We talked, went out for pizza, watched the All Blacks beat Ireland in another friendly, watched Love Actually, and I slept in a real bed.  I had a great night, despite being ridiculously tired and ready for bed immediately after eating supper.  My pizza was topped with roast beef and simply delicious.  Even though I was half asleep and remember very little about the movie, I did enjoy it.  I’d like to watch it again…and when I’m more awake.

Sunday morning, Julia and I drove to Rotorua to do the Skyline Luge and hike the Redwood Forest.  Despite already luging here, I had just as much fun the second time.  Hiking through the Redwood Forest was fantastic.  We went a couple hours before dark, so the sun shined through the trees.  Unfortunately this meant we didn’t have much time to hike.  We chose a short 75 minute track, but followed the horseback signs and walked the track in 10-15 minutes.  We were so confused, but after going through a second time found the trail we wanted to walk.

From the forest, we drove to Taupo and spent the night there, so we were close to our next activities: Taupo Cliffhanger Swing and unknown.  The swing was amazing; Julia and I went tandem and I don’t know why I was nervous.  The initial drop frightened me, but in my defence I had no idea we were about to drop.  Also the first swing backwards freaked me out because we didn’t spin and I couldn’t see where we were swinging to.  After this I was fine and had an excellent time 🙂  I really wanted to go a second time, but didn’t feel like paying, especially when it would cost me more.  (I paid half price for a voucher, otherwise, we might not have done the swing at all.)  Instead I spent my money on photos and a video.  This was a much safer adrenaline rush than bungy jumping, but the rush didn’t last as long as my rush from skydiving.

We stopped by a café for brunch before leaving town.  I only mention the café because I had a delicious, warm cheese scone that reminded me of cheesy biscuits in the States.  I drove us to Otorohanga Kiwi House.  Yes, I (mostly) successfully drove on the left side; the mostly is because my lead foot finally got me pulled over.  Granted it took almost four years and a foreign country half the world away.  I’m pleased to announce I didn’t get a ticket, despite exceeding the speed limit by 21 km/hr (~13mph).  Oddly enough, seconds previous I was exceeding the speed limit by 30 km/hr (~18mph).  Perhaps I didn’t get a ticket because I was ridiculously polite and apologetic or maybe the paperwork wasn’t worth it when I only had a week left in the country.  Either way, I kept my NZ$170 (~US$140) and slowed down for most of the trip.  I couldn’t help myself when I reached the motorway, but the verbal warning wasn’t the only pressure to slow down.  It poured so hard the windshield wipers couldn’t keep up with the rainfall.

The Kiwi House was a perfect end to our trip because Julia and I watched two kiwi birds running around doing whatever it was they were doing.  The one did a lot of standing around; the other kept running back and forth between the wall and the other kiwi bird.  Sometimes the running kiwi bird would touch the stationary kiwi bird with its beak and seemed to frighten him/her.  I never wanted to leave them; they were so cute and fluffy.  There were other birds outside too, but most of them weren’t as interesting.  Paradise ducks are interesting creatures though as they mate for life and starve themselves to death if their mate dies 😦  It’s really quite sad, but I applaud their devotion.  The other birds included moreporks, quails, wekas, teal ducks, keas, oystercatchers, mallards, and a few more.

Despite the chilly weather Saturday and Sunday plus the downpour of rain on Monday, the weekend was a complete success.  I’m happy with the activities we did since we didn’t have those planned out before departing.  I’m also satisfied with my left-sided driving skills, but prefer the right-side as shifting left-handed was quite awkward.  Knowing which side to stay on is easier because the steering wheel is on the right side placing the driver in the road’s centre.  Definitely still a learning experience though.

“I promise to come home to you…Don’t count the miles, count the I love yous”  –“Miles” by Christina Perri
I love you!!! –> For more adrenaline
I love you!!! –> For driving on the left side (and not getting a ticket)
ILYs: 175

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Wellington

Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.
–Anne Frank

With the semester done, I had two weeks to travel, pack, and relax, so I flew down to Wellington for three days.  I didn’t know exactly what to expect from this impromptu holiday; I just wanted to cheaply see more of the North Island and not sit around my flat in Auckland.

My flight was the best ever because there were two cute little kids sitting near me and the flight was only an hour.  The little girl was somewhere near my niece’s age because she had more teeth, similar coordination (as far as I could tell), but didn’t talk very well.  The little boy was only a few months old and simply precious.  One hour is absolutely nothing in a plane, especially compared to my looming flight home.

When I arrived, I checked into my hostel and went to walk around town.  I took pictures of the railway station, government buildings, Cathedral of St. Paul, the national library, and archives building.  I planned to return my last day and tour any buildings I could for free.  First, I wanted to orient myself with the city and explore my options.

The one place I did stop to tour was Old St. Paul’s Church.  This became my final stop because it was becoming dark.  The church had a beautiful, wooden gothic style inside that I’ve never seen before and I could take pictures with flash 🙂  I also loved taking pictures of the stained glass windows; they’re so well done.  While there I spoke with the curator, learning the organ has 1,316 pipes and having the opportunity to see the bells.  He told me the bells must be upside down and allowed to drop in order to ring, so playing a tune requires five people with impeccable timing.

My walk back was cold and dark.  The wind was biting at my exposed skin and reminded me of the wind in Milwaukee.  I managed to take a few pictures of the city at night before losing feeling in my fingers to the cold.  Since I took a different route back to my hostel, I almost got lost by taking a right when I should have gone left.  I realised my error within a block or two and quickly corrected my route, so as to find heat.

My accommodation was wonderful.  The heat was on, supper was included, and the other girls in my room were really nice.  The heat in my room kept my bunk really warm and I loved it!  The supper was a bit small, so I bought dessert and upgraded to a larger portion the next night.

Two of the girls (French and English) were living in the hostel while working and searching for more work.  They were both really nice and the French girl reminded me of my friend, Alyssa, because she looked a lot like her and had the same shy, friendly personality.  The first night another French girl roomed with us; she was working in Queenstown and was on her way back from hitchhiking her way through New Zealand.  I think she’s crazy to hitchhike.  The second night a German girl volunteering throughout the country stayed with us on her way to her next volunteer position.  Despite every bed being full, I enjoyed meeting these girls.

The second day I bought a muffin from the supermarket for brunch before exploring numerous free museums.  I learned about the history of New Zealand’s money at the Reserve Bank Museum, awed at the splendid Wellington Cathedral of St. Paul, viewed historical documents at Archives New Zealand, wandered through the Wellington Botanic Garden, discovered the history of cable cars in Wellington at the Cable Car Museum, rode the cable car back into town, ate a cheap as late lunch at McDonald’s, read about incredible New Zealand women at The New Zealand Portrait Gallery, and enjoyed a few hours at the Museum of Wellington City & Sea.  Everything aside from food, souvenirs, and the cable car ride was free, so I was happy with how little I spent; even the cable car was cheap because I’m a Kiwi student.

Originally I planned to spend Wednesday on the South Island, however, new information about the ferry ride persuaded me otherwise.  I knew the ferry ride to Picton would be longer than my other ferry rides, but the travel agent at my accommodation said from the time I arrive at the Wellington ferry dock until I dock in Picton is four hours, three of which are travel.  I get sea sick after an hour, so I didn’t want to spend two hours releasing my stomach contents only to repeat the process again that night.  Also the most time I could spend in Picton would be 5-6 hours, so I’d spend more time on the ferry than in Picton.

Thursday was my final day, so I hiked Mt Victoria, stopped by Oriental Bay Beach, explored Te Papa Museum, and relaxed at the public library.  For the second time in Wellington, I took a right when I should have gone left.  This wrong turn led me around Mt Victoria instead of up the mountain.  I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was going and went so far out of my way that I almost walked off my map.  Once I found the mountain base, I easily found my way to the top.  Getting to the top wasn’t as easy physically because most of trails were quite steep to be hiking in jeans with a purse.

The view at the top was marvellous despite the freezing cold, wind, and rain clouds.  I could still see the whole harbour, Cook Strait/ the Pacific Ocean, the CBD, and the airport.  I had an interesting incident with a group of Spanish speakers at the summit as well.  The guy asked me to take a picture of their whole group, but his English was so horrible he couldn’t form a complete sentence (or in this case question).  I totally misunderstood what he was trying to ask, but when a girl helped him in Spanish, I understood what she said and consequently what the guy had tried to ask me.  Maybe my Spanish isn’t as bad as I thought…

I stopped by Oriental Bay Beach to eat a snack and admire the random fountain out in the water before visiting the Te Papa Museum.  The fountain provided more entertainment than I expected and so did searching for shells 🙂  On my way to the museum, I passed a colourful sea mural with several animals I didn’t anticipate seeing until I realised the mural incorporated all of New Zealand’s waters.

The museum was giant, but not as interesting as I thought it would be.  The first couple levels were geared more towards kids.  While I enjoy simplistic exhibits, I’m not interested in learning through arts and crafts.  The Awesome Forces section started extremely interesting with information about shifting plates and Gondwanaland (aka Pangaea).  I learned Christchurch is moving further south every year because it lies on a different plate than most of New Zealand.  The Living Cloaks special exhibit was also interesting at first, but pictures aren’t allowed and the various cloaks don’t change much from one to another.  The feather cloaks were incredible and I couldn’t imagine weaving so many feathers into a cloak, but they basically all looked the same.  The contemporary art section was also great, but again I couldn’t take pictures.  There were a couple works I really wanted pictures of too.  I enjoyed the exhibits on New Zealand history because this didn’t focus solely on the Maori people.  Pasifika immigrants were included as well as European immigrants.  This was the first I’d really learned about the European settlers.  When New Zealand was being heavily settled, I could have received free passage from England and easily would easily be admitted into the country.  Today, I qualify for permanent entrance if I receive a job offer.  The top level contained practical pottery.  The pieces included a fruit juicer, sauce cups, a water jug with faucet, and other kitchen items.

I still had time before my flight, so I picked up my stuff from the hostel and killed time in the library.  I worked on a blog post and checked stuff online using the free Wi-Fi.  Sitting down felt great and my seat had a cushion 🙂  Relaxing felt great after being on my feet for two straight days.

At the airport, I met up with Julia who I’d be road tripping with that weekend.  We swapped stories about our three days in Wellington and discussed our plans for the coming weekend.  Since the airport was small, our view was the dark, rainy night instead of the inside of our gate.

“I promise to come home to you…Don’t count the miles, count the I love yous”  –“Miles” by Christina Perri
I love you!!! –> For not wasting my second to last week in NZ
I love you!!! –> For doing lots in Wellington
I love you!!! –> For learning on my holiday
I love you!!! –> For not spending much money
ILYs: 173

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Busy Weekend

If you’re going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now.
–Marie Osmond

After spending double digit days working on my final reflective portfolio, I wanted to lie around and watch movies all day.  I couldn’t be lazy though because I had too much to do before my back-to-back-to-back trips.  My time in New Zealand is limited, so I need to cram as much as possible into these final days; I don’t know how long before I return (if I ever do) to New Zealand 😦

Friday afternoon I walked to the Auckland Domain to enjoy the beautiful weather and take pictures (as if I don’t have enough pictures from New Zealand).  Unfortunately for me, I forgot to charge my camera batteries and my camera died shortly after arriving.  Instead I continued on to the Auckland Museum earlier than planned and decided to come back later in the weekend with more battery power.

When I returned Monday afternoon, I finished taking pictures of the Domain and returned to the Auckland Museum.  In the two hours I spent there Friday afternoon, I only walked through the ground floor.  I quickly walked through the ground floor again to take a few pictures before moving on to the next two levels.  The ground floor focuses on the Pacific Islands and Maori culture; the middle level is New Zealand’s natural features: coastlines, oceans, volcanoes, dinosaur fossils, and ancient art is also mixed in; and the top level is New Zealand’s involvement in war.

My favourite sections on the ground floor were the Maori Court and Music.  The Maori Court included a few Maori legends, a marae (meeting house), numerous tiki carvings, and various everyday items (tools, canoes, jewellery, etc).  The marae was the best though because the atmosphere is extremely calm and relaxing.  Shoes aren’t allowed in maraes, so I could feel the wood through my socks.  Ancestors attend meetings as well, thus the calm—and holy—atmosphere.

This atmosphere was also present on the top level where the WWII Hall of Memories is located.  The walls contained a list of New Zealand fallen soldiers from WWII and one panel was left blank except for “Let these panels never be filled.”  Seeing so many names from such a small country was horrible.  The hall’s centre was a memorial with NZ military flags and beautiful stained glass depictions.

The middle level was more active.  I enjoyed the volcano simulator that included the shaking ground from the violent eruption.  I didn’t realise there were so many volcanoes in and around Auckland or that a large volcano exists beneath the harbour.  I became mildly disturbed until learning most are dormant or extinct.

Some of these volcanoes have been around as long as the ancient worlds exhibit.  Here artifacts from famous ancient civilisations were on display.  Water jugs from ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt were incredible.  The Greek vase was in wonderful condition compared to its Roman counterpart.  My favourite was the Egyptian sarcophagus; I didn’t know they were so short back then.

That night Gavin and I saw Prometheus in theatre.  We had a good time together and had an interesting conversation about the movie on our walk back to the apartments.  The movie itself was entertaining and took a different approach to aliens than most movies.  Prometheus isn’t about aliens invading Earth; it’s about aliens possibly being our creators.

The best event was the next day’s All Blacks rugby game.  Despite sitting alone (most of my friends didn’t go and those that did were seated elsewhere), I thoroughly enjoyed the game.  The All Blacks are extremely skilled, thus winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup.  They didn’t just beat Ireland, they obliterated them.  All Blacks were up 23-3 at halftime, holding the Irish to just a kick.  The final score was 42-10 and the All Blacks only let Ireland score one try (like a touchdown in American football).  The stadium was packed with All Blacks fans and an unexpected number of Irish fans.  I loved the general atmosphere, except when the wave included throwing rubbish in the air…there was a lot of spilled beer and pop.  Thankfully nothing was spilled on me; I didn’t lose my voice/get sick this time; and I want to attend another All Blacks game 🙂

I have mixed feelings about Sunday.  The day started great: Christina and I took the bus to the outer suburbs and walked to the Auckland Harbour Bridge with time to spare.  We checked in and suited up with anxious nerves for our bungy jump.  As we walked out to the launch pad beneath the bridge, I actually felt better because I realised how close to the water we would be.  I wasn’t even sure why I was nervous to bungy jump when I loved skydiving so much.  When we arrived at the launch pad, I couldn’t believe I was actually going to bungy jump; I hadn’t planned to bungy while in New Zealand.

Lucky for me (sarcasm), I had to go last since I was the lightest.  First time in my life I didn’t want to be skinny.  Although the three or four people before Christina and me enjoyed their jumps, we were still really nervous.  The longer I waited, the more nervous I became and Christina minorly freaking out didn’t help.  My nervousness became slightly excited as Christina returned to the launch pad and I was harnessed for my jump.  That excitement was whisked away by the wind as stepped out and looked down.  I didn’t mean to look down until I was jumping, but the ankle weight tugged as it slipped off and I looked down to see what pulled on me.  This mistake almost cost me my jump because I started majorly freaking out.  I kept shaking my head and started crying while the guy tried reassuring me.  This continued for 3-4 minutes until I finally bent my legs and leaned off the edge.

All I remember on the way down was screaming my lungs out in terror, but I don’t remember the water approaching.  I first remember seeing the city as I bounced up and I immediately curled the other direction in search of the ankle release cord.  I yanked on the cord until my ankles were free and I sat upright again.  While being pulled up, my knuckles turned white from gripping the cord so tightly and I couldn’t return to the launch pad fast enough.  I shook so hard while being unharnessed, I thought I’d fall off the launch pad again 😦

Upon returning to the bungy base, we watched everyone’s videos.  While I knew my video would be embarrassingly long, I wanted to watch it.  I knew my reaction was over the top and I was okay with that; so okay that I laughed while watching the video.  I can’t believe how much I overacted, but at the same time I know I’d react the same way if I jumped again.  I’m glad I jumped; I just wish the experience wasn’t so traumatic.

Monday was a much better—less traumatic—day.  Since Roni couldn’t attend my Farewell Tea last Friday, we had lunch together instead.  We had Japanese donburi at a little place across the street and caught up on my plans until I depart New Zealand.  She told me more about the necklace she gave me and I can’t wait to unpack it, so I can wear it more 🙂

I can’t believe how little time I have left in New Zealand.  There’s still so much I want to do, so my remaining weeks will be busy like this weekend 🙂

“I promise to come home to you…Don’t count the miles, count the I love yous”  –“Miles” by Christina Perri
I love you!!! –> For seeing the entire Auckland Museum
I love you!!! –> For an enjoyable time watching the All Blacks
I love you!!! –> For bungy jumping
I love you!!! –> For having a wonderful lunch with a friend 🙂
ILYs: 169

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End of Internship and Academics in NZ

There are no secrets to success.  It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
–Colin Powell

My week started off boring and held this theme.  I worked on my final reflective portfolio every day, slowing chipping away at it.  I also watched a movie every day, except I worked on my portfolio while watching most days.

Tuesday, I added to the boring by studying for my Advertising Media Planning exam.  This went well, but I’d rather do anything else besides read my boring notes.  These notes only reminded me how boring lectures were for this class and of the lecturer’s droning, monotone voice.

Finally something interesting happened on Wednesday: the Transit of Venus.  Despite not having anything to do at work, I chose to watch the transit from my desk.  Administration provided a live feed from the viewing room where the transit was displayed on a projector screen.  I really wanted to watch this, so I opened the site early and would also know when the transit started then.  Since my co-worker, Roni, couldn’t access the site, she watched with me.  Having someone to talk to while Venus approached the sun made the experience more interesting 🙂  Life is more fun with good company.

A day of truth: Thursday.  I did some last minute studying and took a few notes to continuously reread while I waited for my exam to start at 2pm.  The exam experience was different than any other exam I have ever sat; the environment reminded me of K-12 standardised testing because they were paranoid about cheating.  All bags were lined along the front wall; only pencils, pens, an eraser, our student ID, glasses, and a calculator could be at the table with us, but pencil cases and glasses cases were left in our bags; we had to wear out sweatshirts/jackets or leave them with our bags; and we had a proctor (her title started with an ‘i’ though).  The most paranoid part of this experience was the proctor checking our IDs to ensure we were who we claimed to be; she also seemed to use our IDs to make a seating chart of the exam room.  This, I’ve never heard of.

Despite the strictness, I think I did really well on the exam because everything I studied was on the exam and there weren’t any questions I couldn’t answer at least partially.  I know I got a couple wrong, but hopefully not many more than that.  I checked my math in the second half because I did part of it wrong…twice, so I wanted to make sure the third time really was the charm.  Since I also don’t know if double jeopardy applies, I wanted to ensure the beginning was right, in hopes of everything else being calculated correctly.  I won’t find out my results until just before I leave or shortly thereafter though.

By far, the best but saddest day was Friday.  We had a farewell party at work that was fun, but I’m also done at work and don’t know when I’ll see any of them again.  I thought our morning tea would be fairly short and not many people would come.  Instead more than half the department (Max-my primary supervisor, Shelley-my secondary supervisor, Gaye-the secretary, Jonah-…, Angela-social media, Tania-Marketing Director, Tania-my aisle buddy, Scott-my desk buddy, Belinda-social media, and Mina-talked to around the office while Caitlin-social media/communications and Roni-events would have been there if they didn’t have prior commitments) was there to share the cake and say good-bye.  Shelley said I like chocolate, so Gaye, the secretary, ordered a huge, delicious, chocolate with chocolate frosting cake that said “Farewell Bethany” across the top.

While eating the cake, Max and Shelley gave little speeches saying good-bye, thanks for all the help, and miss you.  With Max’s speech came the biggest card I’ve ever seen and two gifts (one from the department and the other special from Roni).  Folded the jumbo card is a standard size sheet of paper, maybe bigger, and everyone I worked with or worked near wrote a message 🙂  The department’s gift is a green AUT University t-shirt and Roni, who unfortunately couldn’t attend :(, gave me a beautiful Maori necklace.  The Koru—meaning new beginning or life, growth, and peace—necklace represents everything new in New Zealand to me (experiences, skills, friends, and ways I’ve grown).  To make the necklace even more special, Roni had the necklace blessed by a Maori leader on campus specifically for me 🙂 (Thank you again, Roni, for your thoughtfulness!)

A couple notes on the deliciousness of the cake: rich chocolate flavour, one seemingly small piece is a meal, and BEST CAKE EVER!  I’m not a cake lover, but I do love this cake.  Also the remaining half a cake was sent with me to eat over the weekend.  As amazing as the cake was, I could never eat that much cake.  I made meals out of the cake and still needed help from my friends.  I’m glad I could spread the cakes’ wealth to everyone.

Hopefully my papers are a success, but if they aren’t my internship definitely wasn’t 🙂  With classes more or less done and my internship done, I have free-time to travel and finish my To Do in Auckland list.

“I promise to come home to you…Don’t count the miles, count the I love yous”  –“Miles” by Christina Perri
I love you!!! –> For working on my portfolio all week
I love you!!! –> For hopefully doing well on my exam
I love you!!!  I love you!!!–> For having a great semester interning with extremely wonderful people
ILYs: 165

Transit of Venus

After cutting the cake for everyone, there’s still half a cake remaining. Did I mention this was sent home with me? CAKE OVERLOAD!!

Koru Necklace

Bay of Islands, Take 2

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
–Winston Churchill

As many of you may know I’m like the majority of the world and scared of heights. Friday, June 1, 2012 (New Zealand’s first day of winter), I had the courage to face my fear and ascended to 12,000 feet (~2.25 miles) before being pushed out of an airplane.

This would be the wonderful activity known as skydiving.  After waking up ridiculously early, dealing with a broken city bus, and riding in a clown car for 3.5 hours with a crazy driver on windy New Zealand roads, we arrived at Skydive Zone-Bay of Islands. Thankfully Christina and I didn’t have to wait long to jump, we were the first of seven plane loads. After filling out a couple safety forms, paying for our proof, and receiving verbal safety instruction, we met our professional jumping buddies, suited up, and took off.

Surprisingly I felt quite calm: no hyperventilating, no nausea, no general freaking out/panicking, nothing. While taking off, the nerves became anxious and I thought to myself, “Faith and trust. Faith and trust. I know this phrase from somewhere, but there’s more to it. There’s nothing but faith and trust. Yes, but there was something after faith and trust. And where do I know this phrase from?…faith, trust, and, and what? There’s nothing to it but faith, trust, and…PIXIE DUST! Peter Pan and Tinkerbell’s pixie dust to help the kids fly to Neverland.” This isn’t completely random, I watched Peter Pan and Return to Neverland the weekend before.

With that mystery solved, I resumed staring out the window. It was a beautiful day and perfect skydiving weather: sunny with light clouds and warm, 17-18°C (~62-65°F). As we passed through the clouds another phrase stuck in my mind: up above the clouds…so high. “Up above the clouds? That’s not right; it’s up above the…twinkle, twinkle little star, up above the world so high. Well that works too because at this height I’m up above the world and oh, so high. I’m not sure if we’re high enough to be considered a diamond in the sky though, maybe a line.” Between these two mental conversations with me, myself, and I, the 20 minute plane ride to 12,000 feet had almost passed. Brent, my professional jumping buddy, tightened the straps on my harness and finished attaching our harnesses, so I wouldn’t go falling through the air alone. I spent the remaining minutes admiring the Bay of Islands and 90 Mile Beach.

Christina and her professional jumping buddy went first. With the door open, I had a better view of the distant ground and couldn’t believe what I’d gotten myself into. I know I’m not crazy for skydiving; it’s an extremely normal thing to do, but the ground was really far away. I mean like really far away; I couldn’t see any houses, just square, farm fields.

Brent and I scooted towards the open door and then I just hung over the edge. I assumed the ‘banana’ position as the safety instructor called it by tucking my legs underneath the plane, grabbing the straps on my shoulders, and leaning my head back (so Brent could see passed me). At least now I couldn’t see the ground, or maybe that wasn’t a good thing. Once Brent let go of the plane, I felt like we were sucked out, so this initial falling was by far the scariest part of the jump, especially considering we rolled and I went from seeing the approaching ground to the brilliant blue sky. I’m too much of a control freak to not see where we were going.

As we left the plane the first of two involuntarily screams escaped. The rolling through the air while plummeting at 9.8m/s/s didn’t help the screaming and took my scared of heights to terrified of heights. I was better once my first involuntary scream finished and I could, again, see where we were falling to, despite another briefer scream escaping. I screamed at least the first half of the approximately 40 second free fall, but the voluntary screams were accompanied by a smile and enjoyment 🙂 Truthfully I enjoyed free falling more than after the parachute deployed because free falling was more thrilling (after the initial shock).

The exhilarating scary was over at approximately 5,000 feet when Brent deployed the parachute. Here I realised how little I was breathing while free falling. After catching my breath, I had a chance to steer the parachute. To turn right, I pulled down really far with my right arm and let my left arm go all the way up. This would have worked better for me if I had the arm strength to pull a parachute that far down and my left arm would cooperate and go up. I was happy observing the ground gliding closer as the Bay of Islands and 90 Mile Beach disappeared beyond the shrinking horizon.

A soft landing ended my 12,000 foot adventure. I enjoyed falling and gliding through the air, but I like having both feet on the ground 🙂 I was so proud of myself for surviving without making a fool of myself, I threw my hands into the air and sighed. If skydiving wasn’t so expensive, I’d definitely do it again. Instead, I’ll convince myself bungy jumping is close enough and give that a shot too!

Unfortunately the rest of my weekend wasn’t as exciting as skydiving. I started planning my trip to the South Island for my final week in New Zealand. There’s a lot I want to do, but I have some number crunching before deciding exactly what to do. I couldn’t spend too much time planning though because I’m still not done with my final reflective portfolio. Hopefully, I’ll be done by next weekend, so I can enjoy my final weeks, stress free 🙂

“I promise to come home to you…Don’t count the miles, count the I love yous” –“Miles” by Christina Perri
I love you!!! –> For facing my fear of heights
I love you!!! –> For enjoying my skydive
I love you!!! –> For travelling on my free-time
I love you!!! –> For focusing on my studies
ILYs: 161

Check out my video: http://youtu.be/wBISm2jnd2w

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Last Week of Classes

Doing nothing is very hard to do…you never know when you’re finished.
–Leslie Nielson

This was my final week of classes in New Zealand.  The twelve week semester quickly passed, but now I have a bit of ‘free-time’ before exams start.  Unfortunately this free-time is limited by work and a final reflective portfolio that needs completing; as I have lots to do yet I’m still keeping extremely busy.

My week started well with a short trip for cheesecake.  I had a craving and know a place nearby that has mini cheesecakes, so I enjoyed yummy strawberry cheesecake for dessert Monday night.  The rest of the night wasn’t nearly as delicious since I only worked on my portfolio.

I arranged free-time on Tuesday, so I could go to the cinema and watch The Avengers.   The movie is amazing!  I can’t believe I waited so long to see it and would love to see it again 🙂  For only NZ$11 (~US$8.27), I can afford to see the movie twice or thrice, however, I probably won’t have time for this.  I’m glad I watched the movie before leaving New Zealand though.

Wednesday was another wonderful day because my classes are done and I received a free supper.  AustraLearn reserved part of the Britomart Country Club for our End of Semester Dinner.  The dinner was nice because the majority of the AustraLearn students attended and there was lots of free food.  We were served four pizzas and a bowl of hot chips.  I filled up on the non-traditional flavoured pizzas, but still managed to eat plenty of hot chips.  The pizzas were barbeque chicken, mango and avocado, chicken and spicy sausage (sausage link style), and one I don’t remember.

I spent Thursday morning at the Auckland Art Gallery wandering through the Degas to Dalí travelling exhibit.  This was worth the NZ$10 (~US$7.52) as there were several well-known artists (Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, etc), but even more lesser-known artists.  Unfortunately photos aren’t allowed in this exhibit, but I do have names and artists of my favourite works.

I added a few Google images below of my favourite works from the exhibit.  Gelmeroda III by Lyonel Feininger is a cubist style building, possibly a church steeple.  Exploding Raphaelesque Head by Salvador Dalí has wonderful dual-dimensions with the nuclear debris creating a woman’s face.  The Joy of Living by Max Ernest is constructed from the point of view that grass is a jungle.  Bandeaux et Lettrines by Henri Matisse are bands of the same letter written in various font styles.  The mother’s look in A Woman Nursing a Child by Auguste Renoir reminds me of the fond look my older sister gives her daughter 🙂  I have pictures from Australia that are similar to The Wave by Gustave Courbet.  The Church at Véthevil by Claude Monet is a beautiful work of art, as is Olive Trees by Vincent van Gogh.  Up close the brush strokes are visible in both works, but when I stood across the room these strokes blend together to create another beautiful image.  The Lustre Bowl with Green Peas by William Nicholson is simple with a reflective bowl and a pile of pea pods.  These are only a few of the many, many artworks in this exhibit.

Finally The Candlestick by Georges Braque reminds me of the reflections of various objects in a broken mirror.  While looking at this painting, another woman was trying to find the various objects within: scissors, thimble, pipe, and a few others.  Between the two of us, we found all the objects and had a short, yet pleasant, conversation afterwards.  I think Eye Spy books are based on this painting, as the concept is similar.

Despite a school group also being at the art gallery, I had a wonderful time, admired great works of art, and gawked at the detail of their frames.  Hopefully I’ll finish my portfolio sooner rather than later, so I have more free-time in my final weeks studying in New Zealand.

“I promise to come home to you…Don’t count the miles, count the I love yous”  –“Miles” by Christina Perri
I love you!!! –> For surviving a semester of classes abroad
I love you!!! –> For seeing The Avengers (and at a great price)
I love you!!! –> For receiving a free meal
I love you!!! –> For having an appreciation of art
ILYs: 157

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Tattoo

Success is never wondering what if.
–Karrie Huffman

Wednesday, May 23^rd, 2012 at 7pm, I, Bethany Blount, received my first tattoo.

Whew, glad that announcement is off my chest!  Now for the details 🙂

After searching online, carefully reviewing websites, and browsing pictures of previous tattoos done by each shop, I decided on Otautahi Premier Tattoo Shop.  These guys aren’t kidding when they say ‘premier’ because I’ve never seen a cleaner place in my entire life.  The walls and floors practically glittered with immaculate cleanliness; Cinderella would be impressed by their cleaning.  Despite the fluorescent lights blinding me as I walked in, they decoratively covered the walls.

I intended to only have a sketch done, but while trying to book an appointment for the actual tattooing, realised it was now or never.  There wasn’t another available appointment for two weeks with the guy who specialises in colour tattooing.  My time in New Zealand is waning and I really wanted this tattoo done sooner rather than later, so (procrastinating on my homework another hour) I decided on then and there.

I waited in the lobby for a few more minutes while the tattoo artist started preparing the tattooing station.  When he was ready for me, I still had a couple more minutes to wait while he set up the colours and equipment.  Finally the time came to imprint the tracing on my freshly cleaned skin and lay down for a potentially painful 45 minutes.

Since I wasn’t sure how painful the actual tattooing would be, I wanted to be as comfortable as possible; I used my fleece jacket as a pillow and relaxed for nap two of the day.  This was almost easier than the decision to have my tattoo done that same night because the needle didn’t hurt that much, only a minor stinging.  There were a couple times when I flinched a little from the pain.  The closer to bone the needle comes, the more painful the process.  Overall though the vibrating of the tattoo needle jabbing into my skin several times a second acted as a natural numbing agent 🙂

The artist started by outlining the kiwi bird, the leaves, and the strawberry.  The details (strawberry seeds and kiwi bird feathers) were added next.  Then he moved on to shading the kiwi bird’s feathers, colouring the strawberry leaves, and filling in the whole strawberry before adding colour to the kiwi bird’s beak.  Whenever he paused for more colour or to change colours, I peeked to see how my tattoo was coming along 🙂

An hour and a half visit to the Otautahi Premier Tattoo Shop resulted in a cute, full-colour, kiwi bird and strawberry tattoo on my lower back.  I’m happy with the tattoo’s quality, the price I paid, and the locations (the shop I went to and where on my body).  I’m also glad I decided to get my tattoo in New Zealand; it’s a nice way to remember my time abroad.

“I promise to come home to you…Don’t count the miles, count the I love yous”  –“Miles” by Christina Perri
I love you!!! –> For finding a safe, clean shop to have my tattoo done at
I love you!!! –> For choosing a discreet location for my tattoo
I love you!!! –> For selecting a meaningful tattoo
ILYs: 153

Tattoo on my lower back

Close up of my tattoo

Stress–Conquered

Being defeated is often only a temporary condition.  Giving up is what makes it permanent.
–Marilyn vos Savant

This week was much less stressful than last week, thank goodness.  Honestly the suspense of not knowing my marks was starting to kill me; my stress levels were unnaturally high, but they’ve dropped significantly this week 🙂

The week started out stressful with group meetings on both Monday and Tuesday for my big presentation on Wednesday.  We had so much to do: finalise our report, design an entire PowerPoint, and practise our presentation at least once or twice.  I hadn’t done much else aside from this project for so many days I lost count and knew I’d be thrilled to sleep again.  My mind spent so much time focusing on the project that I had a nightmare about presentation day.

After spending hours with my group mates working on our project on top of working and attending classes, I was too brain dead to do any other homework Monday or Tuesday.  Instead I started sifting through the 15.4GB of pictures I’ve taken thus far in New Zealand.  I received 50 free prints from Shutterfly.com for opening an account with them and needed to redeem my prints by the end of the week.  Since I bought a photo album here, I decided I should fill it with pictures from here, so my task was narrowing down all those GB to 200 photos.  As much as I would like to say this was quick and easy, the task was anything but.  I needed a lot more time to finish this giant project of mine.

Monday contained two rays of sunshine as well though.  I received my feedback and mark for my first two Co-op assignments 🙂  On my Progress Report, I earned an A- while I earned an A on my Annotated Bibliography!  I expected to do well on these assignments though, so I’m more relieved I did as well as I thought I would.

Tuesday started off fantastic (sarcasm).  I had just finishing brushing my teeth when my flatmate, Shaun, comes in saying our flat inspection would be in like ten minutes.  The four of us that were around quickly cleaned anything in sight to make the flat look as nice as possible.  Most of the major cleaning was done at various times over the weekend, so this was mostly touch-ups.  We still failed the flat inspection because supposedly our shower and toilet weren’t clean enough; they looked clean to me and even after knowing they’ve been cleaned, they look the same.  We are granted one re-inspection though.

With the drama of not passing our flat inspection behind me, I spent the early afternoon practising my first presentation of the week: SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of myself at my internship placement.  A few short hours later, I stood in front of Max and Shelley (my work supervisors), Jeanette and Stefan (my Co-op classmates), Katharine (my Co-op supervisor), Sonja (my academic supervisor), Joyce (the international Co-op coordinator), and Kate (the study abroad coordinator from Arcadia University…she was learning about the co-op programme) for my Co-op presentation.  (All I needed was a black book and I could have been performing at a forensics tournament :P)

Overall the presentation went really well, despite me talking too fast for most of the presentation, and a lot of conversation was sparked during the question and answer time.  Max and Shelley thought I did a great job and thanked me for making them look good throughout my presentation, not that they need my help.  At first I was uneasy about having so many people I knew as my audience, but this worked out well for me, especially having Max and Shelley in the audience.  They reaffirmed my analysis—the strengths in particular—and were always the first to laugh at my humorous attempts 🙂  With the humour, I’m just thankful my audience responded well and I never heard a cricket chirp.

Following my wonderful performance, I went to my next class only to have my newly inflated self-confidence bubble brutally burst, and not from over-inflation.  My Advertising Media Planning assignment was finally returned and my performance couldn’t have been further from the one immediately prior.  This assignment is a classic example why I don’t try to judge how well I do on assignments because I’m usually wrong.  Class started with two statistics about our assignment: 93% passed and 23% earned an A in some form.  I thought I did well, but didn’t think I’d even manage an A-; I was wrong to get my hopes up at these figures.  Keeping the rest of my emotions out of this, I received a C+…half a point from a C…with no substantial feedback whatsoever.  I hold myself to high standards, so for me I was told I failed for forgetting a summary chart that was mentioned once (I checked my notes).

The day of truth finally arrived, Wednesday.  After months of hard work, and more recently hours upon stressful hours of my life I’ll never get back, the day had finally come to present my Strategic Advertising Management group project.  We met the hour beforehand to practise one final time, our second time ever, in hopes of boosting our confidence.  After arriving to class, I wasn’t sure if the first group was ever going to finish; I thought their presentation would go on forever and I was done waiting.

This presentation went almost as well as my first presentation; I remembered everything I needed to say, didn’t talk to fast, remained confident the entire time, and answered a question well (despite being asked on the spot).  The audience only asked us one question and the lecturer only asked two questions, so my group and I believe this was a positive.  After class, we received feedback from the lecturer and I really wanted to know how we did, so I posed him a question.  In short, we were pitching a new advertising strategy in hopes of gaining the brand’s advertising business, so I asked if this scenario was real, would he (the lectuer) have hired us.  With a bunch more words about this being a lot shorter of a presentation and how young we would be in the work field, yes he’d have hired us.  He didn’t hesitate when he answered my question directly, as if he has confidence in us, so I’m now expecting an A on our presentation.  Hopefully we did just as well on our corresponding written report.

Two presentations in two days is exhausting work, so I took Wednesday afternoon off from work.  Max said I deserved a day off, so I took a load off.  I watched The Fox and the Hound while eating pineapple lumps before taking a 45-60 minute nap 🙂  Max said I could take Thursday off too if I needed it and I really wanted another lazy afternoon, but I’m not one to abuse people’s kindness.

I already planned for Wednesday to be an exciting day though.  Wednesday evening I went to Otautahi Tattoo and had a sketch done.  I was pushed into a now or never type situation afterwards as the tattoo artist who specialises in colour had the rest of the evening open and no another availability for two weeks.  I’m not sure if it was the nap, all the sugary pineapple lumps I ate, or being in New Zealand, but I went with slightly spontaneous 🙂  More on this in my next blog post!

After riding a crazy roller coaster of emotion, my stress is conquered and I can sleep peacefully at night.  Now to quickly write a follow-up post about my tattoo before my avid readers fall off the edges of their seats (over-dramatic tone).

“I promise to come home to you…Don’t count the miles, count the I love yous”  –“Miles” by Christina Perri
I love you!!! –> For handling my stress until it dissipated on its own
I love you!!! –> For receiving lots of positive feedback on my Co-op presentation
I love you!!! –> For managing my abysmal grade without exchanging angry words with the lecturer
I love you!!! –> For doing well on my second presentation
I love you!!! –> For being spontaneous!
ILYs: 150

SWOT Analysis Presentation for Co-op

Strategic Advertising Presentation

Tattoo 🙂