Submitted by Hannah Babbitz 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….
This week we stayed overnight in a Maori village. This was the most shocking culture that I have experienced since being here. The Maori people live simple lives. For fun, the children dive off a bridge in their village looking for coins. To cook meats, the Maori use the geothermal heat below them to create their own ovens and thermal pools to cook their vegetables. We were greeted with a cultural song and dance and put to sleep by amazingly detailed stories by a Maori elder. All 35 of us slept on the floor of a sacred Maori building. This of all things may have been the most culturally different experience. Sleeping just inches from 34 people that I met 2 weeks ago was at first uncomfortable, but the feeling of oneness quickly sunk in.