Student Bloggers

Currently Studying at: University of Otago, New Zealand

Homeschool: Wofford College

Orientation week began with a meeting where we were introduced to the Uni Flats coordinator. Uni Flats is where all of the international students live while studying at University of Otago . We were given a lot of information and were also introduced to the International Student Coordinator. I spent much of my free time organizing my room, reading through the pamphlets given to me, and cooking food. Later in the week, I went to the International Student Welcome where we had the opportunity to hear some guest speakers, and we were able to see some local high school students perform traditional Maori dances. After the welcome, we were provided with some lunch. Also, this thing called Tent City was going on Monday through Wednesday, so I stopped by to see what was happening. Many local businesses set up on the lawn and handed out flyers and some free merchandise.

I went to get my student ID card at the OUSA center, which was super easy and everyone was incredibly friendly. Some of my friends and I went to the local AA downtown and applied for our NZ driver’s licenses. You can drive in NZ with a US driver’s license (I am not planning to drive), but it is recommended that you get either a Kiwi access card or a New Zealand driver’s license so that you do not have to carry your passport around. The driver’s license is $52.50, versus a Kiwi access card at $55, so you know your girl saved that $2.50. The AA workers were also super helpful, and my peace of mind about paying $52.50 is at ease when I think about the headache that losing my passport would have caused. Later that day, I went to Clubs Day on the lawn where tents were set up to advertise for their clubs. Some of my friends signed up for clubs like ski club, tramping club, geology club, and tea club.

A group of Arcadia students decided to go to the Saint Clair beach, so we packed our bags and hopped on a bus to the beach. The bus ride was about thirty-five minutes and cost us $3.40 each way. We stayed at the beach all afternoon, and a group of us walked all the way from the far end of St. Clair to the other end of St. Kilda. The view on the rocks at St. Kilda was magnificent, and the walk was much needed. That night, some of my friends went to a local concert, but I stayed in and made some friendship bracelets with a neighboring flat.

On Friday, Arcadia took the first half of its students to Queenstown. We left Otago at 9:45 and stopped for a lunch break along the way. We arrived in Queenstown and checked into the Pinewood Lodge. We then drove over to Shotover river and rode on the Shotover Jet, a New Zealand invention allowing the boat to glide over water as shallow as 13 centimeters! The water was so beautiful and the jet ride was thrilling. We then went back into town for dinner at Fergburger, where I ordered the Southern Swine. I kid you not when I say this was probably one of the top three best burgers I have ever had in my entire life. We walked a short way to the lake beach and ate our delicious burgers. Some of us went grocery shopping for food for the rest of the weekend and then settled down for the night.

We had a wakeup call at 6:30 because we needed to board the bus early to get over to the Routeburn Track. It was about an hour ride by bus from our lodge to the base camp of the trail, and we stopped once on the way to take pictures because the view was absolutely breathtaking. As soon as we got out of the bus, we saw a beautiful Kea bird on top of the shelter. We broke off in groups of around ten people, but the groups broke off even more once we started tramping (hiking). There were four bridges in the first part of the trail. After the fourth bridge, we stopped for a snack and waited for the rest of the group. Jane then led us to a hidden part of the trail that took us to a valley between the mountains. We started back up the actual trail and made our way to the Falls Hut. The second part of the trail was much steeper and more demanding than the first part. My legs were definitely feeling it by this point, and I had to take my top thermal layer off, leaving just my moisture-wicking tank top. About an hour later, we finally made it to the hut. We stopped for a fifteen-minute lunch (I made some pasta the day before) and continued on to Harris Saddle. The terrain changed once we left the hut. Up until this point it had been mainly forest vegetation with a pebble and dirt trail. Now it was a much rockier trail and fewer trees. This hike was not as steep, but there were many more places where you could slip as well as more tall stairs. Once we reached Harris Saddle, we had about forty minutes before we had to turn around in order to make it back on time. A small group of us trekked onward up to Conical Hill. This was the steepest and rockiest bit of trail yet, and I was crawling by the end of it. It took everything I had to reach the summit, but the view was definitely worth it. I made it to the top at 2:02 (two minutes after we were supposed to turn around, oops) and took lots of well-deserved pictures.

My friend Devin offered to take my bag down to Harris Saddle since he left his there (like I should have) and I eagerly accepted his proposal. We had to watch our step on the way down, but it was ten times easier going down than it was coming up. We made it to Harris Saddle, I put my bag back on, and I got a second wind. We ran some of the way and it felt amazing. It helped us stretch our legs and allowed us to make up some time. We reached Falls hut, where we refilled our water bottles and were greeted by Jane with a sweet treat (a snake, kind of like a gummy worm) and continued running down the mountain. By this point, we were sweating, smelly, and sore. But the way down was going double time and we were full of the adrenaline from making it to the summit. At 5:26, four minutes before we were supposed to board the bus, we arrived back at the Routeburn Shelter. A total of twenty miles, eight hours, and a height of 1515 meters later, we had made it. Exhausted and starving, we got back on the bus to sleep until we got back to the lodge. We all ran inside to grab our passports/Kiwi access cards/NZ driver’s licenses and then headed to a pizza place called Winnie’s. Arcadia provided dinner for us that night, and the pizza was incredible. The venue was super cool because we were on the second floor of the restaurant bar and the ceiling opened up to see the sky. It was my friend Keith’s twenty-first birthday that day, so the pizza place gave him some ice-cream cake and we sang to him. We walked back to the lodge and called it another early night.

Sunday, we woke up and packed our bags and filled the bus. We rode over to the skyline gondola and took it to the top of the mountain. We took lots of pictures at the top, and then we had two rides on the luge. The first ride was the beginner ride, where we had a crash course on how to drive the luges. Then, we received a stamp on our hand indicating that we could go onto the advanced luge ride next. These were super fun and pretty fast. They basically are little carts that you pull back on the handles to break and lean forward to go. The handlebars turn side to side to turn, and the course was like a narrow road winding down the mountain around the ski lift above the skyline lodge. The wind was pretty brisk, but the ride was very fun. Everyone split up to do various activities, where some just hung out in Queenstown for the afternoon, some did the Kawarau bridge bungee, some did the Nevis swing, and I did the Nevis bungee.

We then rode the gondola back down and met in the AJ Hackett bungee place to sign in. We were weighed and our weights, bungee order, and buses were written in marker on our hands. The company then loaded us in a bus and drove us to the Nevis. We drove up to the jump, unloaded, and got strapped into our harnesses. The first group left and then the Arcadia group (five jumpers and one spectator from our group) got into the cart that took us to the middle of the canyon on the suspended platform. Once on the platform, they put ankle braces on each of our legs, and I was the first from the Arcadia group to jump. I was prepped and took some pictures. I stepped out onto the ledge; the woman holding me said: “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” and I dove out into the open air. It had started sprinkling, and the weightlessness of freefall was one of the best feelings in the world. I freefell for 8.5 seconds, and the bungee was 134 meters long, the tallest bungee in New Zealand. On the third time up, I had to reach up to unpin my legs from each other. Then, gravity pulled me to a seated position and I was roped upward. I could not stop laughing and smiling! It was one of the best experiences of my life and I immediately wanted to do it again once I was back on the platform. The workers were so cool and they had music playing, so we were all jamming up there and hyping each other up for our jumps. Once everyone jumped, we got on the cart back and got to see videos and photos of our jumps. The bus took us back to the Kawarau Bridge, where the first commercial bungee in the world is located. All of the Arcadia kids then met up and got back on the bus back to Dunedin. The bus back was full of excitement from the thrilling day, but soon everyone crashed with tiredness.

We were once again very blessed in terms of weather. Jane told us that she has been on the Routeburn track upwards of sixty times and this weekend was one of the nicest times she has ever been. So many activities were packed into this amazing weekend, but I would not have changed any of it. I had such an awesome time and I felt so accomplished not only with the hike and the bungee jump but also just being able to take every moment as it came. I started school the Monday after this huge weekend, but I was not worried at all. I will update you on how this whole school thing goes once I have a week under my belt. It is finally starting to sink in that this is where I get to spend my entire next semester. I have already done so much more than I thought possible, and am so excited to see what else I will be able to do with my time here. For now, I am going to be hitting the books for the first time in almost three months, wish me luck!

Kia Ora,

Liesel