Student Bloggers

Everything feels backwards. It’s suddenly the dead of winter, the water spins the other way, there are new stars in the sky, and folks drive on the left. This last point became particularly salient last Saturday, when I woke up early and walked into a rental car place, picking up the keys to a white, hulking, diesel-powered 12-seater van.

As soon as I got my bearings, I turned towards Carlaw Park student apartments to pick up my cargo- 10 bright-eyed and loud-mouthed American students I had befriended during my orientation the previous week, a cosmopolitan girl from London who could tell you all about the dynamics of the European Union but never learned to drive, and my co-pilot, a soft-spoken, frizzy-haired girl from the Scottish countryside who later proclaimed that the rolling green hills and bountiful sheep of the Whangaparāoa Peninsula reminded her of home.

Eventually we made it out to Shakespear (not the scruffy Brit) Regional Park, where we trudged up a muddy hill in the rain, took selfies with sheep, and chased off some inquisitive peacocks. After piling back in the van, we took the challenge a step further by driving over to the west coast and down a treacherous mountain road over to Piha, just to watch the sun set through the clouds over the rugged, windswept coast, and take a few more selfies, of course.

On the evening drive back to Auckland, the group was understandably exhausted, and thus I piloted this great vessel back to the city in relative silence, the only sounds being the purr of the engine (pure diesel, baby) and the soft patter of the rain on the windshield.

A great man (Voltaire or Spiderman, depending on who you ask) once said that “with great power comes great responsibility,” and here I was, suddenly thrust with both but not sure how to handle either. With 11 pairs of sleepy eyes under my watch, the van came to a halt with a soft thud back at Carlaw Park, and the journey had come to an end. We all parted ways, and the reality of school starting up on Monday was beginning to sink in. A whole new set of challenges were on their way, but for now I felt a little more confident that I could handle the sudden powers and responsibilities life throws at you. And as I cooked my humble spaghetti dinner, my phone lit up with a message that said “Hey Mike, nice driving today! We’ll cover your portion of the bill for the van. Let’s do this again soon!” Spiderman would be proud.