Student Bloggers

Currently Studying at: University of Otago, New Zealand

Homeschool: Wofford College

On Monday I had my flat inspection. Leading up to this, my flatmates and I had to clean the entire flat and each of our bedrooms. The inspection went very smoothly, and I continued to study the rest of that afternoon. On Tuesday morning I had my Tourism 103 exam. It went very well, and I hope that I get a good mark! It consisted of two short answer and two essay questions. After that, I went to work out and then to my flat for lunch. I called my best friend from home and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing and planning for the weekend. On Wednesday, I slept in and then went to the Otago Museum in the afternoon with some of my mates. We then picked up some five-dollar Domino's and ate dinner together. After dinner, we worked on a puzzle. The following day I packed for the weekend and watched a movie. I also went to a gift shop and Starbucks with my flatmate for some last minute shopping.

On Friday, two of my flatmates and another friend of mine drove out to Queenstown. We stopped at the Moeraki boulders on the way out. We ate at the Cookie Time cookie bar for an afternoon snack and then went to rent our ski gear for the following day. We checked into our hostel and then went to check out the ice bar. This was a pretty cool experience, but we ended up being the only ones there, so we left and went to sleep. We woke up pretty early and headed to the Cardrona ski area. We spent the majority of the day skiing on the beautiful mountain, only stopping for a quick lunch break. We drove back to Queenstown and dropped one of my flatmates off to catch a bus back to Dunedin. Sally and I went to meet Jane for a cuppa hot chocolate and to catch up. Then we went to Fergburger for dinner. We went to Patagonia for some ice cream dessert and then headed back to the hostel for some shuteye.

The next morning we drove to Mount Aspiring National Park to hike the Rob Roy Glacier Track. This was an amazing track and a beautiful day to do it. We walked through cows and sheep, over a suspension bridge, through the forest, and ended up on some rocks gazing at the stunning glacier. We even saw tons of waterfalls and a small avalanche! It was an amazing last hike through New Zealand. We drove through Wanaka and got some lavender ice cream, ate it at the Wanaka tree, and then ate at an awesome pizza place. We drove back to Queenstown and stopped at a dessert place for injectable donuts! We spent one last night in Queenstown and checked out the next morning. We drove back to Dunedin and Sally and I met Jane at Saint David's with other Arcadia students for one last cuppa. It's been an amazing last road trip, and I would not have wanted to end on any other note. I'm going on a four-hour train ride through Dunedin tomorrow and then I will spend the following day packing and saying goodbye to everyone. That night I will go to Speight's for a nice dinner out with my entire flat.

It's been such an amazing experience from start to finish, and it still hasn't sunk in that in four days’ time, I will be back in the states. I have no regrets from my time here, and I'm proud of myself for being able to do all of the things that I've done in my time here. I've loved everything about this country, and I could not have picked a better place to study abroad.

Stay tuned for one last post, it'll be a compilation video of my entire semester in New Zealand!! Thanks for those of you who have stuck with me through the entire semester; I could not have done it without y'all. And to anyone still wondering if they should study abroad in New Zealand or just study abroad in general: DO IT!

Kia Ora,
Liesel