Submitted by Andrea Lock on the 2017 winter session study abroad program in New Zealand sponsored by the School of Marine Science and Policy and the Department of Geological Sciences….
Last night, we traveled to Rotorua in the North Island and experienced a different and interesting encounter with the native people of New Zealand, the Maori. We toured one of the local villages called TEWHAKAREWAREWATANGAOTEOPETAUAAWAHIAO. We arrived at the Maori village and got a tour around their village. The village sits on top of an active volcano and there are many hot springs. We learned many things about their culture. For example, they bathe in little pods in the ground that are filled with water that runs from the hot springs. We then got an authentic meal that was cooked in a hot box in the ground. We then all stayed overnight in a Marae which is their meeting grounds which was a big sacred room. It was really cool to see all the different traditions and cultural values that the Maori have and to see how their everyday routine is a little bit different than people from the United States. We learned from our host Chris many stories about the culture and her life including that she has 22 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren! It was really amazing to see their traditions in action and I thought we were very lucky to be able to experience it first hand!