{"id":1599,"date":"2012-12-10T13:17:48","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T17:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crosscultural\/?p=1599"},"modified":"2012-12-10T13:17:48","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T17:17:48","slug":"turning-towards-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/2012\/12\/10\/turning-towards-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning towards home"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 5, 2012<\/p>\n

As our semester draws to a close, our group has returned to the place we started: Motu Moana Boy Scout camp.\u00a0 I believe it was Eric King who referred to the cyclic nature of our trip as poetic, so I decided to write haiku (mostly as a joke) to describe the last week or so of our trip.\u00a0 The first one is describing the period of time we spent in the Catlins.\u00a0 We travelled there after leaving St. Margaret\u2019s College; our home for the previous two weeks.<\/p>\n

Outside is wet and dreary,<\/p>\n

Inside I journal.<\/p>\n

I forgot how to have fun.<\/p>\n

The return to travel was strange after weeks of technology.\u00a0 It took a while to get back in the swing of things as we visited a farm.\u00a0 We were only in the Catlins for two days before travelling to Invercargill, a town famously referred to as the butthole of the world.\u00a0 There we visited an aluminum factory at Tiwai point and were able to see some long lived tuataras.<\/p>\n

Tiwai future looks quite bleak<\/p>\n

Failing industry<\/p>\n

Tuataras are cool though.<\/p>\n

After Invercargill and some bus breakdowns we traveled to Te Anau, where we saw the underground hydroelectric dam that powered the aluminum smelter, creating more than 15% of Aotearoa\u2019s total energy.\u00a0 It\u2019s not larger in scale only because of protests to save the lake it is run by, Lake Manapouri.<\/p>\n

Tunnels delving to the deep,<\/p>\n

Torrents of water,<\/p>\n

Islands, a lake, serene above.\"IMG_3368\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From there we intended to go to Milford Sound in fiordland, but were unable to due to closures.\u00a0 Instead, we headed to\u00a0the adventure capital of the world, Queenstown.\u00a0 There we had a lot of free time and people did various activities including bungee jumping and New Zealand\u2019s version of street luge (it is like downhill go-carting.\u00a0 I personally went on the luge and wrote this haiku about it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whizzing around curvy tracks,<\/p>\n

Brakes are forgotten\u2026<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a traffic jam of Asians.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally we have returned to where we began and I wrote a limerick to sum up how the semester has been.<\/p>\n

Here it is spring rather than the fall<\/p>\n

Seasons, toilets differ. And see all<\/p>\n

This travel\u2019s good for,<\/p>\n

New cultures and more,<\/p>\n

Then back to the scout bunks much too small.<\/p>\n

– Elias Kehr<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Until the Next Adventure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our journey from Queenstown back to Auckland marked the beginning of the last stage of our New Zealand adventure.\u00a0 The South Island was incredibly beautiful and we were constantly surrounded by snowcapped peaks running down into crystal clear blue lakes, but returning to the North Island brought new excitement.\u00a0 In less than a week we will be flying from Auckland back to the United States.\u00a0 So now the countdown has begun, and I think I speak for everyone when I say how much I look forward to seeing friends and family back in the states.\u00a0 Yet, as our trip is concluding, I also find myself looking back upon my New Zealand experience and wondering what things I will remember most clearly and what I have learned.\u00a0 I am often scribbling into my journal any fleeting thoughts and details I am afraid of forgetting when I return home.<\/p>\n

One aspect of our journey that will definitely stick with me is just how little I still know of other cultures and how much they know of mine.\u00a0 Here in New Zealand they follow the US election, and even our wider political world, and watch TV programs and movies that clearly reflect American culture.\u00a0 Yet how much do I pay attention to other countries around the globe?\u00a0 This realization has ignited a desire in me to travel and learn more.\u00a0 If New Zealand, a very modern and westernized place can teach me so much, I\u2019d love to experience a culture even further from my comfort zone.<\/p>\n

\"Jenn<\/a> Another thing I will always have fond memories of is our group.\u00a0 They have consistently been quirky and fun and our dynamic is one that I will miss when we return to the states.\u00a0 As an only child, I have never been consistently surrounded by even one or two other people, so walking into a readymade family of over twenty was an adventure all its own for me.\u00a0 It is one I have appreciated and I am so thankful for the entertainment each and every one of them has provided at different stages in our trip.\u00a0 They made all of our big adventures like hikes, rafting, and marae stays, as well as the more mundane bus rides, and meals a memorable experience, and I am glad to have been a part of such a fun-loving group of people.<\/p>\n

Of course this doesn\u2019t even begin to cover all the things that have made this trip wonderful, but those are things you\u2019ll just have to ask us about when we get home.\u00a0 Just know how excited we are to see all of you loved ones reading this at home, and New Zealand, it has been just wonderful getting to scratch your surface.<\/p>\n

– Erica Garber<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Personally I like being a nomad. To always be traveling somewhere, seeing new things and meeting new people, is an exciting way to spend three months. However, spending 2 to 3 hours or more on a bouncy bus every day with 21 other people equally as tired and grumpy from squeaky beds and loud snorers, can wear you down. My one motivating factor that saved me from throwing myself from the moving bus was that we were headed to Dunedin and we would be staying there for a whole TWO WEEKS – which seems like a lifetime compared to the one, two, and three night stays we were accustomed to. The road to Dunedin was like all other New Zealand roads: incredibly winding and steeply inclined. Such conditions make it extremely difficult to fall asleep as your head is constantly lolling from side to side and you might end up in someone\u2019s lap or in the aisle of the bus. Anyways, I was especially excited to reach St. Margaret\u2019s College at the University of Otago for several other reasons, one being we would each have our own rooms! This had only happened to me once before on the trip and it was the best three nights of my life! I would have room to throw my stuff all over the floor and not live out of a hiking backpack for once. Secondly, we had three meals a day, and they were prepared FOR us and there was NO dish washing involved!! Thirdly, we had no strictly regimented schedule to follow. There were a few speakers we had to listen to and a few other places to visit, but for the most part, the two weeks were ours (of course, we had to write a research paper in that time\u2026)!<\/p>\n

When we arrived at St. Margaret\u2019s, we were all impressed by the lovely accommodations. It was by far the nicest place we stayed at in all our travels. We were all thankful that we hadn\u2019t stayed there the first week; otherwise we would have been disappointed with the rest of the accommodations! I spent the next two weeks sleeping in and eating a lot, and wasting a lot of time on the free internet. I did manage to write a seven page paper in between my laziness, and to prepare a presentation along with it. We didn\u2019t do a lot in Dunedin, but that was the best thing about it. We got to walk downtown to the octagon and spend money on clothes and gifts, experience the local nightlife, and play volleyball at the huge stadium complex on campus. We saw the steepest street in the world, and some of the more ambitious members of the group ran up it (not me). We also hid in man-made trenches to spy on the rare yellow eyed penguins as they fed their young by throwing up in their mouths. Yum.<\/p>\n

Speaking of food, we also got to celebrate Thanksgiving here. The cook prepared us a special dinner in what he thought was an American Thanksgiving meal. Contrary to everyone\u2019s loud praise for the meal, I was rather disappointed that there was no pumpkin pie! Dunedin was a time of relaxation and research and preparing ourselves to spend the last leg of our trip traveling in close quarters. Though the down time did allow for homesickness to creep in, I was able to use our time in Dunedin to refuel and motivate myself for the next two weeks.<\/p>\n

-Laura Nyman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 5, 2012 As our semester draws to a close, our group has returned to the place we started: Motu Moana Boy Scout camp.\u00a0 I believe it was Eric King who referred to the cyclic nature of our trip as poetic, so I decided to write haiku (mostly as a joke) to describe the last....<\/p>

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