ASU Study Abroad in New Zealand June 21-July 12, 2024
Welcome to my Study abroad blog post! It has taken me a long time to be able to write about this trip, but this trip truly changed my life. I met so many great people on this trip that I have learned so much from. The experiences I have gotten from this trip will always be with me. New Zealand is truly the eighth wonder of the world with its beautiful landscapes, rich culture, and diverse food. I hope you like the videos and photos from this trip as much as I did filming/taking them.
Week One
Starting in Phoenix, Arizona, I make my first solo trip abroad and my first solo trip ever. It gets off to a rough start when my flight gets cancelled and I am told I will be a day late to the start of my program. Thanks to the wonder United Airlines lady, I was able to find a flight that left Arizona 30 minutes after my canceled flight, still getting to Auckland, New Zealand on time. Once I make it to New Zealand, we have a welcome dinner to meet everyone on the trip. The next day, we had a few tours and we slowly started to get to know one another. On a late activity day, Connor, one of the guys on our trip, took us to Davenport for a small hike to explore and look at shops. We also saw some information on the hill we walked up about World War 2. In this video, we also go to our first WETA Workshop which shows what they can do with movies and things they have created. We also get to immerse ourself in the Maori culture with going to hear a Taituwha King speak on their culture in the Marae, their sacred meeting place. This took place in Auckland where we got to see how they live and learned some of their language as well as learned one of their most famous songs, Pokarekare Ana. In Rotorua, we went to the Te Puia which shows the different schools for the Maori, like wood carving and weaving. We got to witness a lot of their dances. One of their most famous dances is called the Haka. It is an intimidation dance and is performed before every New Zealand rugby game. One of the highlights of this video as well as my trip, was the Hobbiton Tour in Rotorua. It was so cool to see where The Shire was filmed and learned little facts about the films. At then of the video, we did the luge, (where I lost my GoPro but found it) which is like Mario cart without an engine.
Auckland
Week Two
Starting in Rotorua, right after the first video, my video includes golfing, Lord of the Rings, day in the life traveling and culture. After making quick friends with a lot of people on the trip, I was able to find two people to go golfing with me. While we didn’t play the best, we still had a lot of fun. Later that day, we went to the Redwoods night walk which was super cool. We had a few Lord of the Rings location tours where we saw where certain scenes were filmed. We also had a WETA Workshop where we made little green monsters out of the material WETA uses in movies. We also had a tour of the Lord of the Rings props and other popular films WETA worked on. We also make a stop at Tongariro National Park where the Mount Doom hike takes place. While I did not go on the Mount Doom hike, most of us spent the day relaxing and exploring the small town. Wellington is the last stop in the North Island before we head to Queenstown on the South Island.
Rotorua
Redwoods in Rotorua
Tongariro National Park
Week Three
In my week 3 video, it highlights the last few days of being in Wellington, our rush to the airport to make our flight to Queenstown, Lord of the Rings, fun memories, and the last few days of my study abroad. In Wellington, we go to the Museum of New Zealand where we see its ancient history, including its involvement int World War 2. The World War 2 exhibit is extremely informational and has a bunch of real-looking giant soldiers made from WETA Workshop. Our last day in Wellington is spent exploring the (non existent, although promised) night life. We retired at 12am once we realized no one was out on a Friday night (unbelievable). The next morning was a rush to the airport to make it on time for our flight. One of the people who booked the flights behind the scenes messed up the times. Thankfully, we made it one time. In Queenstown, we do the Milford Sound, where we saw waterfalls and dolphins. In addition, we try great food, try to watch Lord of the Rings, play Dnd, and explore the small city. We also did the TSS Earlslaw Cruise, which is a 114 year old boat that goes around the lake in New Zealand.
Wellington
