I started my four weeks in Wellington, New Zealand feeling a mixture of apprehension and nervous excitement, and ended the four weeks with lifelong friends, a camera roll full of stunningly beautiful photographs, valuable service experience, and a serious case of jet lag! As part of the first group of service- learning students in New Zealand, my purpose was to help a local non-profit in their day to day operations while learning some professional skills and getting a deeper understanding of the social issues that affect Wellington. I worked at Pablos Art Studio, a non-profit organization providing a place for artists recovering from mental ill health to cultivate their artistic practice and reconnect with their community.
Before I could begin my program, I first had to conquer a 30-hour journey full of long flights and navigating massive airports. Amazingly, there was another girl from Louisville in the program and we had the same flights! It put me at ease to be able to travel with someone else. This also marked the first of many "kia oras" pronounced (key-or-ah), a phrase that would become comforting and familiar to me over the next four weeks. We arrived in Wellington on an uncharacteristically sunny and still winter day. It was nice to be away from the heat and stifling humidity of the U.S. summer. I was so tired from the flights that I slept through dinner until late the next morning.
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The view of hilly Welly from my apartment window
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Before our service-learning placements began, our group of eight spent a couple days on ISA excursions as part of their bridging cultures orientation. During the orientation, we visited the parliament building a.k.a "the Beehive", drove along Owhiro Bay looking at seals and admiring the crystal clear, but freezing cold pacific ocean, learned about Aoteroa's history at the Te Papa museum, and explored Somes Island, an immigration quarantine island turned nature preserve.
The tour of the Parliament building was interesting because, in addition to learning about some of the differences in our two political systems, we got to learn about modern earthquake engineering! The Parliament building and adjacent library are supported by base isolators that allow the building to shift from side to side in the event of an earthquake, making the buildings practically earthquake proof.
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| Service-Learning Student Awkward Family Photo |
The day of the seal coast safari started out cold and drizzly as we all piled into the back of an old land rover. Our guide drove along the coastal road up to Owhiro Bay until we eventually reached the beach. This is where the trip got really bumpy! Thankfully no one got sick as we bounced down hills and around turns until finally, we reached a rock outcropping that looked promising as a seal napping spot. We climbed out of the truck and squinted to see the seals against the similarly colored rocks, and there they were! Seals are very much like dogs in that they love to sleep and lay around, occasionally yawning or letting out the odd snore. As our group walked along the black sand beach, the sky began to clear and a rainbow appeared out over the water. This was my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean in person and it was an awe-inspiring and humbling experience. After arriving back in Wellington, we went on a guided tour through the Te Papa museum focused on the history and culture of the Maori people. We only scratched the surface of the massive number of exhibits that day, and during the following weeks, I found myself headed back to the museum again and again to explore more exhibits.
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| Te Papa's own functional wharenui, or meeting house, used by the local Maori tribe |
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The second rainbow of the day outside the museum!
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The last day of orientation, our group took a ferry from Wellington harbor to Somes Island, a former quarantine site for immigrants coming into New Zealand, later converted into a nature preserve. Most of the island is now home to many at-risk native plant and animal species as well as the quintessential heard of sheep.
The next week marked the start of my placement and my first full week in Wellington. I worked at Pablos with two other service-learning students and together, our task was to help the director organize Pablos annual art auction, the proceeds from which go to boost funding for operational costs. Our daily tasks consisted of emailing artists across NZ asking for artwork donations, canvassing local Wellington businesses for support, and preparing fliers and other promotional materials. However, our time at Pablos was not just spent in the office. Every Tuesday, we took part in a painting workshop led by one of the tutors. Most of our work was donated to artists that missed the session so they would not fall behind, but I always looked forward to getting to do some creating. We also saw different parts of Wellington by taking fliers and donation letters to businesses all around the city. My legs are definitely strong enough to conquer any hill now! Interacting with the artists was also a large part of my day. Taking breaks for "yarns" in the tea room, talking about what our hometowns in the U.S. are like compared to towns in New Zealand, and laughing together about Kiwi and American slang were many of the highlights of my time at Pablos. There were also lots of opportunities for outings with the director and staff such as artwork pickup for the auction and gallery visits.
The last Monday of our placement was a bittersweet day. We threw a pizza party for the volunteers and board of Pablos as part of national volunteer week, but it also doubled as a goodbye party for us. After the party, a few of the artists came over to us and presented us with a gift wrapped in red and blue. One of the artists had made us a painting as a farewell gift! We all teared up a little bit. It was such a kind and meaningful gesture. The artists and staff at Pablos will always have a special place in my heart. Even though we had only known each other for a few short weeks, it felt like I had known them for much longer, making leaving all the more difficult.
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| A painting in process from the workshop |
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| Planning out our four weeks at Pablos with delicious NZ coffee |
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| The round house |
The most memorable part of my whole experience was the trip to Queenstown our group planned. I made a last minute decision to go but I'm so glad I did because those few days really united our group and created the memories I most cherish. We rented a house and stayed for 4 days. The website didn't have a picture of the outside of the house so we were a little concerned when we pulled up to the address and it was just a gravel driveway. We walked down the driveway and let out relieved laughter and yells of excitement when we saw the small
round house sitting before us! The entire house is a circle that slants slightly downhill to reveal an amazing view of the mountains. At night we would all cook dinner together then listen to music, and talk about anything and everything while sitting around the fireplace (most houses in New Zealand do not have central heating). We truly became a little family after this trip. We still talk almost every day and I have hung out with the girl from Louisville a couple times since being back.
Luckily, our trip coincided with the Queenstown Winter Festival providing lots of free activities and concerts. We watched an amateur dodgeball tournament, danced around at concerts at night, and watched fireworks on the edge of the lake. Queenstown is near the bottom of the mountainous south island making it one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand, but also one of the coldest! At one point during the trip, I was wearing four layers! The last full day, we took a bus to Milford Sound where we cruised around the sound and out to the Tasman Sea. It was a four-hour ride to and from, leaving us exhausted at the end of the day, but it was well worth it! Milford Sound shrouded in mist is one of the most magical things I've ever seen. A pod of dolphins even appeared just as we were leaving the dock! the water was so blue and clear that you could see them swimming alongside the boat.
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| Milford Sound picture 1/1,000 |
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| The view of the mountains from Lake Wakatipu |
The relationship we had with the director of Pablos, Dee, was something special that we were lucky to experience. Alongside her, we worked as hard as we could to show her we truly cared about Pablos and were doing our best to help make sure the organization could continue. In return, Dee showed us all the hidden things she loves about New Zealand. We became her "American children", and on the last day of our placement, we took the train to visit her small, coastal town of Paekakariki, about an hour outside of Wellington. The four of us walked along the beach and looked for shells before spending the afternoon exploring the town and hanging out in her backyard laying in the grass eating oranges off the trees in the yard. It was one of the most blissful sunny days I will remember for a long time and hope to experience again.
The end of the four weeks came too soon, making the journey home all the more difficult because I was not ready to go. I have learned so much about myself and the world through participating in this program and I would encourage anyone even on the fence about studying abroad to do it. The experience you will have is well worth all the months of paperwork and planning it takes to get there. My only regret is that I did not sign up for the eight-week program. Now I just have to save up enough to go back before my sky miles expire!
