PREPARATIONS
I’m totally in love with New Zealand. I spent 7 months there studying, working and traveling. Aotearoa, the name of the nation in Māori language, was my very first long term stay far from home. I had traveled to many places around Europe but I never thought that one day I would be flying to the farthest point that exists from Barcelona (Catalonia).
At home, I was working as a Journalist in a local newspaper but I was not feeling satisfied at all. I knew that I wanted to travel but I literally didn’t have the balls (don’t get offended by my vulgar slang words). I constantly had the unpleasant perception of being trapped in a cage.
Surfing the net I found an English course in Auckland that really satisfied my needs. More than six months for about 3.300 euros. A reasonable price taking into consideration the market and the other options around the area.
I started thinking seriously about going to New Zealand and I searched deeper, so I could find the best deals. I emailed lots of schools located in the North Island and the corresponding marketing advisors answered me with fees and dates.
One day, a loved friend told me that she had a colleague who actually had lived in New Zealand for a while studying English. Bingo! I arranged a meeting with him in order to have the confirmation that Auckland and the low-priced school was the coolest place to go. But he did not. Thank God.
He strongly advised me not to go to Auckland and to choose somewhere in the South Island. This guy, Pol, took a map from his bag and pointed his finger to Queenstown. He said this little town was the best place ever, full of lakes, mountains and heaps of stuff for nature lovers. Just one disadvantage: SUPER EXPENSIVE
Once at home, I checked and I asked for information to the schools settled in the Otago region. A few minutes later, while I was cooking, I got a response from the director of the Southern Lakes English College. We talked quite a lot and he convinced me. Going to Queenstown was one of the best decisions I ever made.
I wanted to both study and work so, once I got all the paperwork done with the school, I applied for a Student Visa. This kind of permit allows you to work up to 20 hours per week, which is not a lot, but with that you can cover part of your expenses.
NEW ZEALAND
When I first landed in Queenstown, after 2 days of planes, I felt dazzled, since the mountains were fascinating and the lake mind-blowing. Looked like a fairy tail place. If you don’t know, Queenstown is located on the northern shore of the Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand’s longest one with a length of 80 kilometers. It has an urban population of 14.000 but you can find whatever you want, as is, probably, the most touristic spot in the nation.
I used to live in a school property house with nine other people from all over the world. I stayed there until the end because the rent was economical and the bills were included. Besides, finding a room in Queestown is extremely hard, epecially when approaching summer and winter. You could literally end up having nowhere to sleep. I have to say that I had great time in Hamilton House with Antonio, Leandro, Hikari, Sindy, Jefferson, Martin, Bruno, Loreto and Sara. We were like a family taking care of each other when we felt homesick.
As I said before, I didn’t want just to study. One, my money wasn’t infinite, unfortunately. Two, I wanted to know better the country. After two weeks sending resumes, I found a job. Partying I met a Colombian girl whose workplace was looking for a dishwasher. I went there myself asking for the head chef and after a quick trial I got the job.
I was “lucky” because they were kind, funny and honest. They gave me 20 hours p/w that I could distribute if asked. Furthermore, I requested some free weekends and other favours and they always helped me. I remember that was hard at the beginning especially because of the language barrier. I did speak English decently but it wasn’t enough. On the other hand, the restaurant was the busiest in town so the job was tough. In Ballarat I cleaned plenty of shit for six months since the conditions, as I said before, were OK with me. The salary was 14,3 NZD per hour, so I was able to cover part of my expenses such as rent and food.
During the weekends I wasn’t destroying my back dishwashing, I traveled around and hiked the surrounding mountains. Is not that expensive to rent a car and explore the area. With a group of friends, we visited the Catlins and Dunedin; Milford Sound and Te Anau; Wanaka, Lake Pukaki, Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo; The West Coast and Arthur’s Pass; and Christchurch and Akaroa, among others.
If you are more interested in hiking, in Queenstown you won’t get bored. You can go to Queenstown Hill, Queenstown Gondola, Ben Lemond or to the Remarkables. You can check the oficial page. I stayed in Queenstown from March to October, so I never had the change to enjoy the Summer. But in Winter the town is crowded with skiers and snowboarders and full of life.
I would go to school every morning from 9.00 to 11.45 and from 13.00 to 15.00. The teachers were amazing and I improved a lot. The environment was friendly and welcoming and I met people from all over the world. When you are closed within the walls of your city or even your country you don’t realize how big the world is and how similar we all are. We, humans, just want to have fun and be happy.
If I could go back in time, I would try to speak more with native speakers. Is the only thing I really regret about my time in New Zealand. At home all of us were students so our level was not high. In the school, the same. But is normal to make friends who are in the same situation as you. Also, you naturally tend to join people who speak your language which in general is good because you feel more comfortable but it’s a pity because you’re precisely abroad to learn English.
I remember feeling homesick or whatever it was. Sometimes, I would wake up in a bad mood without understanding why and with an odd strange anxiety symptoms that would pass two hours later. Being in New Zealand is not that simple. If you’re studying English or working abroad but inside Europe is different because you know you can catch a cheap flight and go back for a few days. When you’re in Oceania, you can’t do that. You finally learn how to deal with these feelings.
I also fell in love and I even wrote an article published in the local bulletin to express that feeling. I usually do whatever I want without being ashamed. And that’s nice, because you’re free and unfortunately not everyone is. The lucky one was Sara, my house mate, who is still my girlfriend. She’s Italian, and we started speaking in English but over the time we ended up switching to Italian. If you fancy reading what I wrote you’ll understand how I was feeling at that time.
If you ever want to study overseas make the most of your time because it’s limited and it moves forward rapidly. In the blink of an eye my stay there was coming to an end and I started to feel both sad and happy. It was time to quit the job and to say goodbye to the people who had been my family for months.
GOING BACK
Living in New Zealand changed everything. I realized that I wanted to keep traveling and foreign cultures started to fascinate me. In fact, before going back home, I had a little crisis because I didn’t know what to do. Return to Europe or visiting Australia without a proper visa? I finally chose Italy because getting a Working Holiday Visa was not possible at that time and because I had Sara there. Well, I’ll admit that. Sara was the main reason. Apart from that, I had studied Italian in the past and I thought that could be a great chance to go deeper with the language.
I quit the job, I finished the school and I said goodbye to all my friends that were still there. When you are living abroad or traveling you have to cope with lots of emotions and probably the hardest one is leaving mates behind. I packed all my stuff and I remember me crying like a child. I was confused because Queenstown had become my home, and what a beautiful home. The trees, the lake, the environment, the isolation…
With a French guy I traveled through the North Island with his van for 15 days. We had terrible weather, and we couldn’t visit all the spots we had planned. This is part of the game. Once in Auckland, I canceled my kiwi bank account and I went to the Airport. Infinite airtime was waiting for me. And if that wasn’t enough, I had an 8-hour layover in Dubai.
Once in Catalonia, I arrived at home, I hugged my family and I announced my next destination. “I’m moving to Italy“. Two weeks later I was landing in Bologna, the capital of Emilia Romagna.
I LOVE YOU, NEW ZEALAND.
23/08/2017