Submitted by Alexys Padilla on the 2024 Winter KAAP program in Queenstown, New Zealand…
For our third week, we traveled to Queenstown from Dunedin and spent 3 days enjoying the town and diving into thrilling experiences in the adventure capital of the world! All of our program hiked Ben Lomond to what was called the “saddle” of the mountain as it was a brief plateau before the summit. Once our group collected there we had a quick snack break and most turned back to begin the decline of the trail from there, while 5 others and I and our two program advisors took on the challenge of summiting the mountain! This hike challenged both my mental and physical boundaries, but in the best ways and I felt so proud of myself being able to get to the top of such a challenging mountain. We took lots of pictures and celebrated our success at the top before making the downward trek, which was honestly more physically painful than the incline. The next day I spontaneously decided to go bungee jumping with 2 other girls in my group and I was the only one that day out of all visitors who opted to get dunked into the river below! That was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done but was well worth the money and overcoming the feelings of fear and anxiety. I learned so much about myself on this part of the trip and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to experience it! (Submitted on January 27, 2024)