Submitted by Sarah Bussard on the 2018 winter session program in New Zealand sponsored by the Department of Animal and Food Sciences…
On January 24, I had the incredible opportunity to celebrate my 20th birthday while studying abroad in New Zealand. It was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget. My class spent most of that day traveling from our dorms to Hokitika, our first journey to the west coast of the island. The bus ride was pretty lengthy and took up most of the day, but our professors made sure to keep it interesting with multiple scenic stops along the way. Winding through mountains and gorges, we got to stop at well known sites like Castle Rock and Arthur’s Pass, just to name a few.
When we finally arrived in Hokitika, we checked into our hostel and hopped right back on the bus to check out the Hokitika Gorge before sunset. The gorge was located at the top of a mountain and could only be accessed by a 20 minute hike through the temperate rainforest at the top. The hike was incredible with suspension bridges and lush vegetation everywhere, and the gorge itself was even more impressive. The crystal blue water and picturesque forest was beautiful enough to make you feel as though you never wanted to leave – and apparently the gorge did not want us to leave either.
It turned out that we would be able to spend much more time at the gorge than we had planned that day. After we loaded back on the bus and were about to head home, our bus got stuck in a muddy ditch on top of the mountain. We worked tirelessly to try to dig the bus out of the mud to no avail. It was clear that our bus was not likely to budge, so we were forced to find another way back to our hostel. It definitely is not easy to find transportation for 45 people on the fly, but thanks to our amazing program directors and some friendly Kiwis, we were able to slowly make our way down in groups of 10.
By the time we were all finally off of the mountain, it was considerably late in the evening and almost pitch black out. We had originally planned to be back from the gorge before dinner time, but given the punitive size of the town and early Kiwi quitting time, almost every food shop in town was closed when we got back to our hostel. We just barely made it to a local grocery store before it closed and bought a bunch of ingredients to cook a big dinner for our entire program. Our group really pulled together to make a feast of salad, pasta, pizza, garlic bread and an assortment of finger foods. As stressful as it was, it turned out to be one of my favorite meals so far.
It had been an incredibly long and tiring day, but I was really proud of my class’s ability to work together under stress and make the best of the situation. The events leading up to our “family dinner” were interesting to say the least, but that sure made for a memorable birthday! Not only was it cool simply to celebrate my birthday in a different country, but I loved that I got to spend it with the classmates I had gotten so close to over the course of our program. It was not a traditional birthday, but I would not have had it any other way!
