During late January through the first half of February my classmates and I spent about a month in Wellington, a wonderful little city filled with many fun activities. Every single student in our group got a single as a room in a residence hall named Te Puni Village located at the top of a hill. About half of us, myself included, lived on the side with the stunning view that looked outwards into the city, the dazzling blue ocean, and the green forest scenery.
While in Wellington, the learning environment took place in a Victoria University classroom with minor trips to museums and reserves. Usually if we aren’t in Wellington, we are on a two week field trip out on the road actively learning about the environments that surround us. Every week day we were in Wellington, we’d have class from 9am- 5pm with a break in between. Mostly each day we had a different speaker- it was structured as seminars rather than lectures. But each speaker spoke on specific topics. For example, during the weeks of biogeography, topics like the effects of tectonic movements, and the evidence for or against the oligocene drowning were taught to us. We honestly have learned so much and I am so impressed with how well our group is able to retain information, make connections, and actually apply it to what we see when we go on field trips.
In trying to get a feel for New Zealand’s history, culture, and present perception, we visited places like the Te Papa Museum, Museum of Wellington City and Sea, Zealandia, Parliament, and a Marae where Māori traditions are practiced. All of these experiences were one of kind. For example, at Zealandia, the very first sanctuary established in New Zealand, we learned how to do identify bird calls and do bird counts, we saw baby tuatara (tuataras were around when dinosaurs were still alive), and two out of the 260 Takahēs (endemic bird) left in the world.
On our first field trip we collected invertebrates, and finally got to work in the university’s lab where we did some sorting of spiders and DNA sequencing. We also were assigned to read “Ghost of Gondwana” by George Gibbs, and eventually he came to speak to us. He signed all of our books! In learning about biogeography we got to see some fossils, in particularly a megalodon shark tooth and dinosaur droppings embedded into a rock. I instantly sent my 14 year old brother a picture of the tooth, he loves sharks, and has sparked my interest in them.
Wellington the city itself, is very windy, kind of hilly, full of stores and restaurants, really close to the beach, heavily focused on rugby, and has a famous and fun street called Cuba Street. Me and a few others became very fond of Tulsi, an Indian cuisine restaurant that was very delicious- my usual was the butter chicken dish. Hell Pizza was also a popular place we visited often, which had incredibly creative and unique pizza options like their sweet dessert pizza. However, my favorite thing to order there were the churros because they’re sugary, hot, crunchy on the outside and soft in the center, and they even came with a chocolate dip.
Being in Wellington, I also had my first experience paint balling. At the beginning of our study abroad program we had Greta’s family join us and so one day we celebrated Max’s eighth birthday. It was extremely entertaining, since I was so good at it. Max had 25 college student friends, his sisters, and a few adults, join his birthday party.
Lastly, one of the most exciting things we did in Wellington was go to the Rugby Sevens two days in a row. The sevens is this huge rugby tournament where multiple countries compete and fans dress up in costumes. The first day many of us dressed up in togas and participated in the runway show where we’d go up on stage and dance just for fun. We didn’t win but we bonded. The second day was very exciting because our program coordinator, Andrew Martin, won tickets to a suite box so all 25 of us, plus the adults got to sit up there and get catered. On the second day I was a super hero. I wore an orange cape that said SF (San Francisco, CA) on it- of course I have to represent where I am from. After the sevens, I entered the cafeteria and one of the lunch ladies at the residence hall told me she was watching the tournament on tv and we all popped up. I can now proudly say, I’ve been on New Zealand television.
Wellington has grown on me and I get excited every time we go back there.