Submitted by Erin Jackson on the 2018 winter session program in New Zealand sponsored by the Department of Animal and Food Sciences…
One of the first things our group bonded over when we arrived in New Zealand was our love of Ed Sheeran. Both of our Air New Zealand flights, the first one to Auckland, and the second into Christchurch played the same song when we landed: Perfect by Ed Sheeran. It seemed strange at the time because it didn’t really strike any of us as a specifically exciting landing song. From the moment we landed though, the song was thoroughly cemented into all of our heads, and for people like me, that means it was also consistently sung out loud throughout the bus rides and hikes of the first week. It was one of the very first lines of the songs that particularly stuck with me: “Darling just dive right in, follow my lead.”
Since the first week or so of the trip, I hadn’t thought much of the song any more. Not until this past free weekend which we used to travel to Queenstown, also known as the adrenaline capital of the world.
Another fun fact about Queenstown was where we ended up later that day. In a restaurant called Fergburger, famous throughout New Zealand for its magnificently delicious and gigantic burgers, I saw a signed picture from Ed Sheeran. He had eaten at the same restaurant before and declared it had the best burger in New Zealand. I had to laugh upon seeing it as this was the man who had basically welcomed me into the country as his song blasted through the airplane speakers, the man whose lyrics will reverberate with me forever as I think of the miraculous feat I achieved that day, and a man who had eaten the same burger that I had and proven that it was the best.
This program has been amazing so far, and I feel that there is so much that I owe to this incredible country. But right now I am also pretty grateful towards a British singer/songwriter who has impacted my experience in a strange, but undeniable variety of ways.