End of an Era

I was tense when I woke up on Saturday June 17th. I was still worried about having hit my head on that tree, had a minor discomfort in my throat and I had realized that in all the car key commotion of yesterday, I hadn’t locked the car. And I certainly wasn’t going to go back to the mean man behind the counter to ask to borrow the key so I just hoped and prayed Paihia didn’t have a high crime rate. Much to my relief, when I walked out in the morning, the car was still sitting there, ready for pickup by the rental service.

Skye and I packed up our stuff as quietly as possible to avoid waking our Dutch roommate. We walked into town and retraced our steps back to Auckland via the InterCity Bus. I had the fun discovery upon arrival in Auckland that I had been sitting with a chocolate bar in my back pocket so I had to deal with that before we could proceed (I don’t think that was a concussion symptom, more a symptom of me being me).

We had a little time before our flight so we decided to get lunch. And lo and behold, there was a Denny’s right in front of us. It’s a cool feeling when you’ve lived in New Zealand long enough that it feels ok to go to Denny’s. Inside there, eating greasy eggs, it was like we were back in the homeland. Then we returned to New Zealand and Ubered to the airport.

We arrived back in Wellington around 6:00 and flying in, I recognized Kapiti Island and Somes Island. I had visited both (described in previous posts). Flying in, it felt like I was returning home. It was a nice feeling but also made me sad knowing that one week from then, I would no longer be in New Zealand. It was gonna be a tough week of goodbyes.

I had to start the goodbyes right away because Everton Hall was hosting an International Student sendoff and it commenced at 5:30pm so I quickly got back to my flat, dropped off my stuff and went to the hall! There was a shirt to sign and plenty of people to say goodbye to. It wasn’t too busy though because most people had already been and left. They were serving Pavlova, a New Zealand dessert, but unfortunately given my gelatin allergy, I couldn’t partake.

After hanging out with folks, I headed back to my flat. That feeling in my throat was still there and I was starting to think that it wasn’t just a tonsil stone (a mineral deposit on the tonsil that I get fairly often these days). But I was also getting congested and started to realize I had some sort of sickness. It felt like a cold but obviously, I didn’t know for sure. I took a rapid Covid test which was luckily negative. That was a relief at least. In the middle of the night, I had to write to my friend Dylan and cancel going skating with him the next day. I was devastated. I did not want to be sick at ALL on my time abroad but especially not the very last week.

In the morning, I definitely felt like I had a cold. I self-tested for Covid again (negative) and spent the day in my room trying to do some studying to at least make use of my time while also drinking as much water as I could manage. My friend Rebekah was leaving the next day for a South Island adventure and I’d be leaving Wellington before she returned so we arranged an outdoor meetup for gelato so that we could say goodbye safely. Skye, Rebekah and I met up at Kelburn Park and walked down to Kaffee Eis. I didn’t really feel that sick, but I knew I had something. Anyway, we had a nice goodbye and I gave Rebekah a copy of my children’s book with a note in it. I’m doing this for a bunch of my friends I am saying goodbye to. I went to New World afterward and bought some soup for dinner.

That night, I was in bed early. I was tired. On Monday, I took it easy again in the morning. It was Father’s Day back home so I called my Dad, tried to call Grandpa but missed him unfortunately, and then called my grandfather Irwin. I was able to talk to Irwin via FaceTime which was great! Then I took my online Media of New Zealand final. It was open book and multiple choice but super hard to take because each possible answer had three bullet points with a lot of information and some of it might be correct but we had to choose the item that was completely correct. It was only twenty questions but took me the full two hours to complete.

After the test, I got some air and walked to Cuba Street to donate my mom’s, grandmother Marian’s and my aunt Nancy’s published books to a used bookstore. Originally the idea was that I was going to donate them to the library so that their books could be accessed in New Zealand but the library didn’t accept donations so the used bookstore was the next best thing. I was given some money in exchange for the books so I decide to give that money to someone experiencing homelessness.

I then walked to campus and met up with Kaitlyn from my AI class to study for the exam. I was starting to feel better from the cold which was exciting but I again went to bed early. I decided not to cook this week given the cold and instead ordered some Indian food takeout.

Tuesday was the first of a few days full of goodbyes. Before the goodbyes though, I went into town to get more copies of my Kylo Kangaroo book printed. The reason is that my friend Dylan (the one I had to cancel skating with) works at a primary school and brought the copy I gave him to the school and they wanted to pay for eleven more copies to use in class!! I was so excited! A teacher apparently read my book to the grade fives and they really enjoyed it. Sadly, the woman that has printed them in the past wasn’t there and the people working that morning were like “it’s impossible”. I didn’t want to be like “it’s clearly possible because I’ve had a dozen made already”. They said I could come back that afternoon when the skilled woman would be there so I agreed to do that.

I had tried to meet up with Lynda and David (friends of my extended family) before my trip up north but Lynda had gotten a cold. If you remember, I went to their house for Passover back in April and then they met my parents over my Fall break. Anyway, we had arranged to meet on Tuesday but of course, now I had a cold. I wrote to them about it but they still wanted to meet so we went ahead with it. Lynda and I took a nice walk in the Botanical Gardens and then had hot chocolate and cheese scones outside at the Botanical Garden Café. It was nice to spend more time with them since it was a bit more busy at Passover with all their relatives there as well.

Lynda and David dropped me off on Cuba street and I went back to the Design Campus print shop. The skilled woman was there this time and handled my request with grace. We arranged that I would pick up the copies the following morning. I had some time to kill so I tried to do some studying for my AI final in the library.

A bit later, I walked to Kaffee Eis and met up with my Kiwi friend Sophia from my Media of New Zealand paper. We got some gelato to celebrate being done with the class and as a goodbye.

I got my classic banana and chocolate mix. It was great to catch up with Sophia and then we walked back to Lambton Quay and she went to New World and I went to the chemist to buy floss. I hope we can one day meet again!

I had fallen into a habit since getting my cold of going to bed early and I did so again that night. The following morning, I was definitely feeling better and had been testing negative for Covid every morning so it seemed it was just a cold. I walked into town, picked up my printed book pages, folded them into booklets and then went back to the building where I took my Visual Narrative class to use a special big stapler there to bind the books.

I grabbed lunch from Best Ugly Bagel and then met my Kiwi friend Callum near Te Papa. He was in my Visual Narrative class and we became friends there and this was our first time hanging out together outside of class other than at the Zine Fest. Our plan was to go to the Lego Jurassic Park Exhibit that was up in the Wellington Exhibition and Convention Center.

It was an impressive exhibit with huge lego models and lots of interactive activities. One really cool aspect was that they had a station where a computer gives you instructions for how to build a design on a small lego square. Then they put that piece on a huge board and once enough people do this, a whole picture will be made. Sadly, we were there too early to make out what it would end up being but I can imagine it will be impressive when complete!

We walked to the train station via the harbour and let me say, it was a gorgeous day in Wellington. Winter doesn’t seem to mean much in this city. We said our goodbyes and I gave him a copy of my book which he had seen through all stages since he was my Visual Narratives table partner. I so hope we meet up again soon!

I tried to study some more that afternoon and then I met up with Dylan at a café called Midnight Expresso and we got milkshakes. The one nice thing about goodbyes is that they are super yummy! I gave him the eleven books and we chatted.

I tried to study a bit more for AI and then in the evening, I met up with Skye and Kaitlyn and we headed up to Zealandia to have a night tour in hopes of seeing a Kiwi! At Zealandia, Annelie (friend from Germany who went on a bunch of hikes with us) met up with us and so did Utsav! Utsav was fresh back from a six week trip to the United States and it was great to see him again! Too bad his United States trip wasn’t when I was there though. Anyway, the tour started with an info session and then we ventured out into the bush to look for animals. We weren’t allowed cameras so I can’t show you any photos but we saw some cute birds, insects and MOST IMPORTANTLY, we saw TWO kiwis! They were so adorable scurrying around in the dark. 

At the end of the tour, the guides served us tea made with special New Zealand leaves. Apparently you should pick the leaves caterpillars have eaten from because those leaves are clearly the most tasty but to me that seems like the leaves you should avoid lol. After the tour, Utsav drove us back to our flats. What a good guy!

Somehow it was suddenly Thursday already and time for my Artificial Intelligence final. My cold was gone and I felt back to normal. I thought I was well prepared and went in there ready for the Win!

Man, they take tests seriously here. I wasn’t even allowed a water bottle that wasn’t clear. We had two hours and I think the test went pretty well! There were a few questions I wasn’t sure about but from talking to others afterwards, it seemed others also were stuck by the same questions. I’ve been doing really well in that class anyway so I wasn’t too worried. And now, I’m down with my classes! Over the course of the trimester, I had twelve assignments/tests and they are now complete!

I found the Accommodation Support Office and paid for my linen pack they had provided when I moved in. I then went to my flat and started my final packing. I took a break at around 3:00pm and walked around Wellington one final time. I rode the Cable Car as well and breathed in that I was still in this lovely city on the other side of the world.

I packed up some more when I got back to my flat and then Dylan, Ruby and Alicia (from the flat below) came upstairs. I said goodbye to them and they also took a picture of me with my flatmates.

I walked up the footpath to Kelburn Park and met up with Skye. We Ubered over to Oriental Bay to get dinner with Utsav at Beach Babylon. I had first met Skye sitting in Rotorua waiting for the geyser to erupt in February and we had both met Utsav when he was playing a guitar on the Fresher’s hike in March. And tonight, we were getting dinner together one last time. It was bittersweet.

After dinner, we drove over to the Light House Cinema for a movie. It’s a really nice cinema. They served us free drinks (Hot Chocolate!!) because it was apparently student night. The theatre had comfy pillows too. We watched You Hurt My Feelings which was a fun movie. I recommend!

Before I knew it, we were back near Kelburn Park, saying goodbye. I’ll see Skye again soon because her family actually lives in Concord some of the time but I’m not sure when I’ll see Utsav next. Hopefully soon! I’ll be back to Wellington at some point!

After months of planning, I had gone to New Zealand and after months of being in New Zealand, it was time to leave. It was sad to say all these goodbyes but I actually felt gratitude more than anything. New Zealand used to be just a mysterious landmass to me. Now it is a place I feel at home in which is full of kind people I had the opportunity to get to know and to become friends with.

Tomorrow, I depart for one final adventure on this epic journey. I head off to Hawaii.