Student Bloggers

About a year and a half ago, I found myself sitting next to a German on a flight from Atlanta to Minneapolis. He was in the States to get his degree from the University of Minnesota, and although we were both exhausted from our international flights, we managed to get a brief conversation in before we both fell asleep. We talked about traveling and about what he thought of the U.S., what I thought of Europe. There’s one thing he told me that has stood out, even after all this time has passed.  

“If you really want to understand a place,” he told me, “go to the small towns. Get far out of the city and see the countryside. Talk to the people there, see how they live. That’s the heart of any nation.”

An interesting thought, isn’t it? It’s hard to say if it’s actually true or not, but the idea has slipped into my head several times over the last few months as I prepared for this semester.

In a few days, I’ll be in a new country, away from everything I know and everyone I know. While it’s an intimidating feat, I’ve done it once before (albeit on a smaller scale) when I moved from Wisconsin to Nashville to attend Belmont University. Although this is much more dramatic and I have yet to step foot in New Zealand- let alone its countryside- there’s something that comforts me about the place I’m going to call home for the next months: the country is filled with sheep.

In New Zealand, the sheep outnumber the people ten to one, tallying a grand total of roughly 40 million sheep roaming the hills of the North and South Island. A strange thing to find comfort in, I know, but there’s something about the idea that a midst the astoundingly landscape- the mountains, the fjords, the glaciers, the forests- millions of sheep wander around, completely obliviously of the remarkable place they are in. 

I promise, though, I did not solely choose to study abroad in New Zealand because of the sheep. An embarrassing amount of research was done before I landed on Victoria University of Wellington, but, if I’m being completely honest, I’m not sure what lured me to this country in the first place. I will say this though: I already feel like I fit with New Zealand. Everything I have read or heard about New Zealand indicates a nation that adores being outdoors and maintains a minimalistic lifestyle. Just the thought of those two things makes my heart happy and peaceful. 

There’s so much I hope to do and accomplish in New Zealand, but I’ll limit myself to elaborating on just one: Project 137.

If you happen to have any photographer friends, chances are, at some point, they considered, started, or completed something called a 365 photo challenge. The idea is really simple: take one photo per day. It sounds like an easy task, but it’s actually fairly difficult. Since it’s a challenge, every day has to be different, has to capture a new idea (in other words, you can’t take 100 mirror selfies or pictures of your latte). The project is really daunting, since after all it’s a yearlong commitment, so I’m adjusting it to 137- the entirety of my semester abroad.

Most of my photography experience is sports related, so this project will 100 percent push me out of my comfort zone, as will the whole semester. And, just like spending a semester in a foreign country, I’m desperately excited.

If you want to keep up on my 137 photo challenge, I’ll be posting each photo on Instagram. And, there will be sheep. I promise.