NEW ZEALAND TRIP POST: Pleasantly Surprised

8/28

Today was an interesting day. It is Sunday and today we were given the chance to do anything we really wanted to do. So what do you do in a foreign country when left to your own devices?

When I was preparing to come to Auckland, I purposely decided that I wasn’t going to learn a lot about the area prior to arriving. Since most of my trip was being planned through Habitat, I didn’t have any idea what all I would have time to do so I didn’t want to get my hopes up by creating a wish list of things I wanted to see only to find that I didn’t have the time to see them. Plus, I always have a plan so this time I wanted to just enjoy my time

there without overanalyzing everything or plotting my every move. I was going to go with the flow.

Well when my “free day” arrived, there were a lot of great options that people came up with. A group of very adventurous girls decided to climb a bridge and jump off it. New Zealand is known for Bungee jumping so I guess when in Rome (or in this case

New Zealand) do as the locals do. Sure I could have taken the plunge off the bridge but the truth is I have absolutely no desire to strap an elastic cord to my ankles and throw myself off a ledge. I’m not scared or intimated, it’s just not my thing but I’m very proud of the girls who did it! Others decided to take a sailboat out for a sailing tour because another thing that New Zealand is known for is sailing and their long standing involvement in the America’s Cup boating competition. However, because I was on a boat the day before, going on another cruise sounded fun but I wanted to do something else while I was there besides just sail around the harbor. Personally, I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do but ultimately neither of those ideas sounded like the right option for me.

So I decided that I just wanted to see the city. Really walk around and explore it. I was completely prepared to do this on my own but I ended up with an unlikely travel buddy. The youngest member of my team was a 19 year old sophomore in college. Typically he found himself hanging around with the younger girls in our group but when they all decided to make the big jump; he decided that he wasn’t ready to conquer his fear of heights quite yet. To be honest, I was a little hesitant to agree to spend the afternoon with this boy. Part of me felt badly for him that he was left out but the other part of me knew that with the way he can act, my day could be a very long one if I spent it with him. He was a difficult kid and I spent the whole week trying to break through the harsh exterior he put forth with

 very little success. He was tough to crack! He was very sarcastic and at times boarding on mean. Definitely oppositional when it came to authority and completely empathetic towards a lot of the things we were doing on this trip. Most people found him to be a real brat but for some reason I believed that there was something more to him and he just needed someone to give him a chance. So I trusted my gut instinct and decided that some company would be nice.

At the end of the day, I have to say this may have been my best day on this trip so far. As we walked around the city, I realized I was spending time with a different person than the one I thought I knew. Throughout the week it was clear to everyone that this boy was a know it all but when we went to Auckland’s Maritime Museum I was surprised just how intelligent he actually was. I learned a lot of about the history of the country and its people from him. I was definitely impressed at how he genuinely wanted to read the museums signs and expand his knowledge base on the establishment of New Zealand and its history in sailing. Next we went to see the University of Auckland because as a student at a rural university, he wanted to see what a city school was like. We had driven past the university the day before on the bus and I definitely

The end of a pretty great Sunday Funday

 wanted to check it out too. I liked the fact that we had similar experiences attending large rural schools so we were able to compare and contrast. After that we just walked around the city. We ventured down little streets and found hidden bars, cafes and shops to stop in. The whole time he talked to me about his life and began to let down the impenetrable walls that he kept his true personality hidden behind. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed just listening to him and exploring the city with him.

For the whole year, I’ve had this idea of unexpected adventures driving me. Sometimes that means doing something extreme or challenging what you think you are capable of but it can also be the simplest of things. All you have to discover something you didn’t expect and today I did.