Alyse Horn, 2011 New Zealand student blogger, writes:
Traveling to New Zealand is a task within itself. After leaving from Newark Airport in New Jersey at 5 a.m. on Monday, I finally made it to Christchurch, New Zealand with my group around 5 p.m. Wednesday. The time difference here has really taken a toll on my body, as I find myself getting a full eight hours of sleep but I am still tired within a few hours, but that is a price I am willing to pay.
Before coming to New Zealand, I looked at pictures of different areas around the South Island and could not help but be awed by the beauty. Now being here, there are literally no words. A camera lens does not give justice to this gorgeous country, only the human eye.
On my first night here in New Zealand, I actually had to stay in a hostel in Christchurch while the rest of my group went to Akaroa because of a flight mix-up. Angela and myself both thought that I had booked a different flight, and in return I would have been arriving two hours behind everyone else. For me to take a shuttle to Akaroa separate from everyone else would have been over $200, so Sheena from AUIP helped me out by booking me a reservation at Kiwi Basecamp. I was really nervous having to stay a night alone without everyone and having to catch a shuttle by myself the next morning, but the outcome happened to be the best mix-up of my life.
Everyone at Kiwi Basecamp was super friendly, and I met people from all around the world. My shuttle driver was from France and had been staying in New Zealand for a few months. We shared a Twizzler on our ride to the hostel and chatted about different things. When I got to the hostel I met my roommate Andrew, a British boy who had been traveling all over Asia before coming to New Zealeand.
After I got settled in at the hostel I went out to get food and ended up running into a guy named Phil from New York who was going out to get food the same time I was. We got some Chinese food, which was the cheapest we could find, and ate in the lounge back at the hostel. The rest of the night we hung around while a group of Germans played Risk and chatted with the desk guy Dan who was also British and was working at the hostel on a student visa. Hearing all of their amazing stories of traveling was so interesting, and after asking each other for the main reason of coming to New Zealand we all had the same answer: we wanted to go somewhere far, far away. It is not the fact that we were running away from something, but I think this country is the last that gives off the true feeling of adventure.
There was a quote painted on the desk of the Kiwi Basecamp that I feel sums up the urge to explore inside of all of us, as it did for me.
“We do not travel to escape life, but so life does not escape us.”
After being in New Zealand for a few days, today was our first hike at the Hinewai Reserve on Banks Peninsula. Along with Penn State, there is a group of students from Virginia Tech who are traveling with us throughout our stay. At the reserve, we split up into two groups to go on a hike, with students from each university meshed together. The first trail we took led to an overlook, and let me tell you it was not easy. All of us were joking about how out of shape we were as we made out way up the mountain.
Once we got to the top, the VT advisor Bob asked us to close our eyes and hold hands for the last few feet as we emerged from the bush to the overlook. We all laughed, but once we opened our eyes the view was breathtaking, as it included the lush, green, rolling mountains and the bright blue Pacific Ocean in the background. There was such a great sense of self achievement inside all of us. We were red-faced and smiling with joy as Bob took pictures of all of us standing with the overlook behind us. I would post pictures, but when we first arrived in New Zealand I dropped my MacBook while getting off the plane and cracked my screen. Hopefully in my next post I will be able to share our gleaming faces with the Internet world, as it is a moment I will cherish forever.
