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I was going to call this entry, “day 136: the return of the study abroad student to massachusetts by the fellowship of airplanes,” but I figured it was a bit long. (That’s a LOTR and South Park reference by the way.)

That’s all folks - I’m leaving New Zealand in a matter of hours. I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading and taking a small glimpse at my travels abroad. I will most likely be posting a few things here and there when I return, but my writing will move to the primary blog, as I mentioned before.

I’ll be travelling some 28 or so hours - in a single day. Let’s hope I make it out alive.

See you on the other side!

Today is my last official full day in New Zealand and the tone is somber - for reasons near and far.

I learned last night that my grandfather passed away. From what I understand, his condition had wavered during my study abroad — some days were better, but it appeared that his body was in decline. I was already thinking about the stories I was going to tell him, and the photos I wanted to show (even though he probably would not have been able to see very much because of his eyesight) Few days passed when I didn’t think about him, but it was reassuring in small part to learn from my Dad that he, though uncomfortable, appeared to be in little pain. I can still remember visiting him for the last time, before I left — he told me that he would try his best to hold out until I returned. I told him that was nonsense: he’d be up and about in a short while and I’d have lots to show and tell when I came back to Boston. I could never imagine that the short embrace and firm handshake we shared would be our last. I will miss him.

I anticipated that it would be difficult, psychologically, to transition from NZ to the US, but since hearing this news, my thoughts have been with my family.

I didn’t intend for this travel blog to become particularly personal, but I feel that this is certainly an exception. Once again, my two seemingly disparate worlds have collided. This is our world, that we share, after all.

Here there is quite a bit of commotion, people moving out - more people moving in tomorrow for the summer sessions. I don’t have much to do, some cleaning here and there and a bit of packing. I plan on heading downtown again to snap a few photos and maybe up to campus to do the same. For now, I’ll post some random photos from the last few days: Wellington Zoo, the harbor, a rainy day, and the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra.

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What do you mean it’s almost over?

… really?

Yes. I know. This is expected - I knew it would be and even prepared myself for it. Well, my all too brief adventure in New Zealand is rapidly winding down: my flatmates are boxing up their things, prepping for moves of their own. I’m packing and re-packing, partly making sure I won’t have to pay a ridiculous overweight surcharge at the airport, but mostly because I’m getting anxious and, yes, even packing is a bit more reassuring than dawdling in contemplation or scrambling to do anything and everything.

There are things I haven’t seen. I never made it out to WETA Studio, though this is not really my fault: they don’t allow tours of their facilities because of the confidential nature of their work (trust me: I received about four separate responses to my e-mail inquiry.) I think I only covered about 2% of Te Papa, the free national museum here in Wellington. I didn’t spend enough time going to nightclubs and checking out the music scene - but my flatmates reassure me that most local bands aren’t that great anyways. I should have taken a few of the ferry rides from the harbor to explore some of the islands just a few minutes off the coast. I should have spent more time relaxing in the botanical gardens instead of doing schoolwork; I probably could have got away with doing a lot less (sorry Mom and Dad.) I could still go swimming, but the weather is looking nasty for the next day or so. I should have taken more photographs, approached more strangers, asked more questions to anyone and everyone: what is New Zealand? Who is New Zealand?

But then, I remember. I remember that I’ve made some excellent friends here — some Americans, but mostly Kiwis. I know that I will always remember these people: the crazy film lecturer, the tutor who dropped f-bombs left and right, that guy who works at the library and always hits on girls when they check out or that guy I always see with his poodle (Is he blind? We may never know.) I remember feeling so in touch with the world around me, or so self-aware that I wanted to disappear. I remember that day when, walking back to my flat from class, I first felt like this place was my home. I was humming on the same frequency as the rest of the city. I was here.

We are all affected by our surroundings, whether we realize it or not - whether we like it or not. Some of us welcome that feeling, the realization. Others shun it out of fear, or perhaps frustration. Or maybe it’s all too much to just think about your place in the world. Where do we fit? Do we? I can’t say that my experience in New Zealand has provided any answers to these questions, but it certainly has left me feeling more connected - on a global scale. I feel more ambitious about travel and would love to do more of it. I will, in fact, be traveling again next week (to London, to visit my girlfriend who is studying there.) As an aside, I’ll be writing about that and all subsequent events/ramblings/opinions in what will become my main blog, here.

I will miss this place and the wonderful people I’ve encountered. NZ is the world’s youngest country and one of its youngest land masses as well: wild, unyielding and still, fortunately, uncompromised in certain spots. Sort of sums up my trip. There is still much to be done and lots to see, but I will have to save that for another time. After all, I may have jumped off a bridge, but I still have to jump out of a plane.

To quote a famous robot: I’ll be back.

Nothing like celebrating the night when one of your citizens decided to commit an act of terrorism by blowing things up!

And yes, I did set off fireworks the other day for the first time in my life. Thrilling really. Fortunately I do still have all of my limbs and digits.

Today is important for other reasons too… I feel like there’s something pretty big going on… can’t quite put my finger on it. Oh well.

Well, what to make of all this?

I’m stuck between places - mentally, anyways. Physically, taking into account my current state of ambivalence and the 10,000 or so miles that separate me from Boston, that puts me somewhere…. in the Pacific Ocean. Which is what life in Wellington feels like right now. Aimlessness is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be deadly if not dissuaded within a reasonable amount of time. Sure, I’m sad. New Zealand has been a fantastic, accommodating, warm and welcoming country with really generous people — some I’ve grown quite fond of. On the flip side, however, I couldn’t be more excited about coming home and heading back to school in Chicago. And yes, the prospect of enduring another winter isn’t appealing in the least. That said, those familiar friends and places still feel miles away and come with their own anxieties and apprehensions.

I’ll be executive producing a major concert event at NU in May (Dillo Day, with about 6,000+ attendees), returning to work in a new building at school (they relocated the film office), living in a new place (first apartment), potentially returning to work at a retailer that shall not be named, and getting back into the academic swing of things and facing the reality that I’m over the halfway hump in terms of college education. Scary. It should be a great ride.

It’s an exciting time for the country as well - Election 2008 fever has died down to more of a dull, “Let’s Get This S–t Over With” Roar - but there exists the very real possibility (if not certainty) that the United States of America will have a minority President. And that’s fantastic. The state of affairs in the US is far worse than it seems to most people and it will certainly be an uphill battle for whoever occupies the oval office, but there’s hope in the air. And though I could foresee the country disintegrating into a second civil war if a certain Republican nominee is elected, hope is still a powerful political asset.

Then there’s the frustrating aspect to all of this: I’m essentially missing this election. I missed all of the fanfare, the build-up and the excitement of the event. There’s a certain helplessness with being so far away, which is funny because being in this position also provides a whole lot of perspective - namely that Americans are incredibly self-centered, but that’s beside the point.

If we assume for an instant that I haven’t learned a great deal about NZ culture or society, or met a wide range of interesting people, or encountered some new and different ways of living, I’ve still come away with a better understanding of myself and my position in the world. Maybe not a better one, per se, but a different, enriched one. You could probably attribute this to a renewed sense of self as an American - what does it mean to be different? To be in the minority? The other? It’s a puzzling position to be in and one that most of us (us as in Americans) probably won’t encounter because, let’s be honest, America isn’t exactly the melting pot that it envisions itself as. Sure, we’ve all felt uncomfortable at some point: speaking in front of a large audience, being forced into an awkward situation, sitting in a chair for too long, etc. But what does it mean to feel uncomfortable and to feel this way because of where you’re from — not your neighborhood, or your city, because this does happen — but your country? What does it mean to feel self-conscious not about the way you speak, the way you carry yourself, but the way your country and your government represents itself in the global sphere?

Needless to say, it’s been an eye-opening challenge. Most people are genereally forgiving (at least here in New Zealand) and I can’t speak to any other parts of the world, really, but there is an overwhelming sense that if we don’t right this ship in the next few years and assert ourselves not as a global power — not as leaders of the free world — but as just a small piece of the world community, then we are headed for basically a nationwide collapse. To borrow a sports cliche, we’ve got to be team players, simple as that. But it never is, is it?

I certainly didn’t intend for this post, or this blog in general, to get very political but I thought these were observations worth pointing out and are among just some of the things I’ve noticed since being here. Still, I can’t believe how quickly time has passed and how little time I have remaining here in NZ. I will truly miss it.

The final installment.

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Find the remaining road trip photos after the cut — there weren’t too many after Milford Sound partly because of the weather and partly because I think we were suffering from road trip burnout. Anyways, check ‘em out.

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Road trip adventures continue in part three.

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