Brett Davis, the Eagles Abroad marketing intern, writes:
Last winter break I was lucky enough to study abroad on the New Zealand & Sydney: Humans, Business, and the Environment program through the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. I say lucky for many reasons, but mostly because I had knee surgery one week before my trip; ouchy! You can’t imagine how lucky I felt to be able to go on the study abroad adventure after all of the beautiful pictures I had seen and the amazing adventures planned. Even with these high expectations, I thought it would be difficult to participate in all the adventures. Well, that New Zealand air must have had something in it, because not only was I able to participate, I had the most amazing month of my life with a group of new friends that I will never forget.
Although the list is long, there were a few moments that stood out from this experience. There is absolutely no feeling like being dropped off in a pod of dusky dolphins and seeing 20 dolphins swim within five feet of you. I can’t stress how cool this experience was with Dolphin Encounter in Kaikoura, truly something I will never forget.
Brett T-bowing in Queenstown, New Zealand
Another memorable time was in Abel Tasman National Park when we were able to hike next to the ocean and then kayak with Abel Tasman Kayaks the remainder of the day. While kayaking we were in the bluest waters and most scenic mountains you could ever imagine, meanwhile of course soaking each other with water non-stop. I can remember everyone constantly joking, “Yeah, I guess this is alright. It’s a little better than the 20 degrees in Wisconsin right now.”
From an academic perspective, I can honestly say that I gained the more real world advice from our daily speakers than I ever have opening up a textbook. My favorite speaker was an executive from Ziptrek, a ziplining company that started in Whistler, Canada, and has become one of the most eco-friendly tourism operators in the world. Our speaker explained in detail exactly why his company was successful, his core values of business, and in general, he was just very knowledgeable on ecotourism. Just like all the speakers, he answered every question we posed.
It is funny to look back and realize just how much influence this trip has had on my life since. It influenced my goals in business, my beliefs of how a business should be operated (which now highly includes sustainability), my idea of people from different cultures, my understanding of the world and even my personal life. I really felt a little more grown up after my trip.
All of these experiences are why I am so excited to work with AUIP and UW-La Crosse as the program marketing intern. I feel the experience gave me so much that I wanted to give back and help everyone else at UW-La Crosse understand why this trip is so life-changing. AUIP organized a schedule that was both physically- and mentally-challenging, but not so much so that I couldn’t enjoy myself and everything about New Zealand and Sydney, even with my bum knee!
A little bit about myself: My name is Brett Davis, but all of my friends call me Spud, yeah Spud. I am a senior now at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. I am a Business Management major with a minor in Organizational and Professional Communication. After my trip I was able to return to our university track team, recover from my knee surgery and qualify for the NCAA Championships that were held in California. I came to college to run cross country, but I found my calling as a long and triple jumper on the track team. I’m an extremely outgoing, self-motivated person and really like to enjoy anything life has to offer.
As you can tell I’m very glad to have had the opportunity to have studied on this program, and I hope that I can help AUIP and Eagles Abroad promote this program so others can have a similar experience.
