Student Bloggers

After arriving in New Zealand and exploring a bit of Auckland for a day, we made our way to Rotorua to stay for two days. Here we were able to experience the beauty of hot mineral spas, lots of sheep, Zorbing, Lady Knox Geyser, and Hydrogen sulfide. Aside from the minor smell that followed us everywhere, everything about Rotorua was awesome. It’s a peaceful city that’s scattered with pools of hot water and steam bubbling every few hundred meters or so.

We were able to visit Wai-O-Tapu park where our guide explained that the mass amount of geothermal activity is due to our location being a lot closer to the earth’s core than most of the planet. This creates many pools where dangerous gases and chemical compounds congregate, but also creates a beautiful array of colors as they surface. At Wai-O-Tapu park we saw Lady Knox Geyser, one of few geysers that remain in the area. We were able to experience an eruption with the help of an environmentally safe substance called surfactant that breaks the surface of two temperature pools of water, causing them to mix, give off steam, and finally erupt.

We also got he chance to visit Rainbow Spring Park to seem some amazing animals like the Tuatara, the Tui, some enormous trout, as well as the country’s bird: the Kiwi. The Kiwis are kept in a nocturnal environment during the day (since they are nocturnal) so visitors get the chance to seem them moving about, and a diurnal environment at night so they can still get their rest. Kiwis used to thrive in New Zealand, but upon the introduction of rats, dogs, weasels, and other egg hunting and bird hunting species, they didn’t stand much of a chance. Now you can find Kiwis in very remote parts of New Zealand’s forests and at Zealandia, New Zealand’s animal conservatory.

Also while in Rotorua we were welcomed guests at Tamaki Māori Village. This was probably the highlight of our time in Rotorua. The evening began by use designating “tribe leaders” for each of our visiting groups, our leaders maintaining composure and eye contact with the Māori warriors executing their Haka, which was used as a warning to oncoming tribes to proceed with caution but also prepared individuals for war. Once the intimidation stopped, we were granted permission to enter the village and visit different sections where we learned about various things.

So the black markings on a Māori’s face have significant meanings. The left side is for the maternal lineage while the right side is for the paternal lineage. The bottom half of the face represents physical gifts while the upper half shows spiritual gifts. The process for creating the tattoos is a brutal multistep process of carving a wide shallow outline on the face, then a narrower carving about 2-3mm into the face within the outline, to then be filled in using embers/ashes from a fire. This process resulted in a lot of blood loss and often death. The Māori love and respect their women to the utmost because they give life, play a vital role as nurturers within a community, and are beautiful. Out of their respect, women’s tattoos were reduced to their chins, as to not cover up the beauty of their faces, but the positioning and placements mean the same thing.

We ended the night having a wonderful meal prepared in a hāngi pit. This is a hole dug about 6 feet deep heated by rocks for about 2-3 hours. It’s amazing and I was delighted. Enough said about that.

The next day we made our way to Wellington. We all made it to our respective housing and settled in, then we all met up as a group once more to walk around Wellington and share a meal on the harbor. We parted ways and most people went grocery shopping at Countdown after that (Countdown is one of the less expensive grocery markets.) After the groceries meant the ascent up the monstrous hill to where we all stayed (some further than others), but in my eyes we had to walk up the hill to earn our place of residence.

A lot of these week days meant orientation events. For me it was a lot of walking around campuses to visit professors, find my course locations, and make the most of campus resources to ensure a fluid transition into this semester. On day one of orientation I ended up meeting a rapper from DC (goes by the name of Capi) who relocated to New Zealand quite some time ago. We made connections and stayed in touch to eventually meet up later in the week along with a student from my group who is a beatmaker (goes by the name WNGLESS). So Pragmatic, WNGLESS, and Capi take a trip up the coast to hang out, make a beat, and vibe to some great music. That was a great time... stay tuned ;).

This week was also the deadline for the major that I’m creating back at Davidson entitled Digital Media. Remember to stay on top of due dates and keep good communication when it comes to things you are passionate about and academics endeavors. Time is always of the essence. While my courses here are to gain experience and knowledge in the fields of music production and design, I also have coursework in The Pacific Heritage and 3D Modeling and Animation. Now, this is 65 credits, which is a heft amount and I don’t want to overwork myself so I may drop the 3D Modeling and Animation course. It is a skill that I would like to gain, but I will most likely run into this course work back at Davidson.

Another important thing to note is that yes, I’m here to study art and music, but I’m here for an experience and to gain a new perspective. Coming across Māori culture has really reminded me of this mission. As an African-American and American I have a perspective of my country when I’m a resident, but I now have taken on the viewpoint of an African-American/American in another land where there is a different ethnic dynamic between the indigenous population and colonizing population. I want to learn as much as I can about what it means to be Māori in present day Wellington/New Zealand because it is a viewpoint that contains valuable information and a beautiful culture that I would like to understand and grow to respect even more. So I’ve been taking the initiative to introduce myself to students in the Māori Student Association and attending some of their orientation events. It has definitely been an intriguing thing to do because apart of me feels as if I don’t belong, while another part wants to just be present, but all of the people I have encountered have shown me nothing but kindness, cheer, and camaraderie and I really do appreciate that. So yeah, I’m going to keep learning more and keep pushing myself to be uncomfortable because that’s how you grow.