Final Days in New Zealand

As the semester came to an end, our enthusiasm to travel was still thriving. We tried to make the most of our last couple weeks in New Zealand, even though the thought of finals loomed over our heads. While a couple of my girl friends headed to Wellington for the weekend, I stayed in Dunedin with Max, Luke, and Dave to see what kind of trouble we could get into.

We decided to take a trip to a winter hut about an hour and a half away. The night before we left, we found ourselves extremely bored and mischievous. We decided to pull a prank on the girls that had left. We discovered that they had all left their rooms open, and suddenly we thought up the greatest prank I have ever done in my life. We schemed a three-way room switch between Eliza, Ali, and Zoe. We took EVERYTHING from each room and reorganized it in someone else's room. Everything from the dirty clothes on the floor to the pictures on the wall, me moved it all. We replicated each girls room in a different location, and when they came back from Wellington they were confused, impressed, and a little bit mad.

The next morning the boys and I drove towards Middlemarch and started our climb to Big Hut. We hiked straight up a popular backcountry ski field and along the ridge to the hut. It was about 6km of extremely steep grass field that lead to an open ridge overlooking the valley. That night we stayed in the hut with a couple from the University of Otago. Big Hut is a popular destination for the Otago Ski Club and is fully equipped with a ping pong table. We had an epic ping pong tournament and Max ended up taking home the glory of champion.

The next morning we woke up to a trace of snow and the most intense wind I have ever seen. We whipped up some delicious breakfast burritos and bundled up for our trek back down to the car. As we got down off the ridge the sun began to shine and we embraced the great hike back down.

When we got back to Dunedin, finals started and we began to realize that our utopia of a semester was coming to an end. We had a great time in Dunedin cooking dinner, watching movies, and reminiscing on all our adventures. We all realized that the last five months was very unique, because we created a tight group of friends that explored New Zealand together. The memories we share from these adventures will always remind us that our semester abroad in New Zealand was a life-changing experience. With 6,000 miles of fun-filled road trips, late night camp fire stories, and some of the most incredible hikes of my life, I am grateful we took full advantage of our time in New Zealand. Every weekend we packed the car to the brim and hit the road to explore a new area of New Zealand's South Island. Most of all, I am grateful to have met such a fun-loving group of people. Leaving the most beautiful place in the world, my relaxed lifestyle, and my friends was not easy, but I look forward to going back to New Zealand.