Whenever I tell someone I am studying abroad this semester in New Zealand, they always have the same reaction.
"New Zealand, huh? Well that's … interesting."
Now, I get it: When you think of studying abroad, you think of art history class in the Louvre, perfecting your Spanish over tapas in Madrid, or exbeeriencing Prague. At least for an English major like me, you'd expect a semester in London, complete with weekend trips to Cumbria to visit the home of William Wordsworth.
So why New Zealand? Why this tiny, unimposing country with a sheep to human ratio of 10:1? Why a place so far removed you actually have to turn the globe upside down to find it? Well, to be perfectly honest, because I thought the same thing everyone else did. New Zealand, huh? Well that's interesting.
Truth is, there are very few things Americans know about New Zealand. We know that the country's stunning landscape was the backdrop for Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. We know the hysterical duo Bret and Jemaine from "Flight of the Conchords" and can sing along to nearly every word of "Business Time" to prove it. And of course, we know New Zealand is teeming with sheep.
But that's about it. Middle Earth's mountains, funny accents and farm animals seem to be the only things New Zealand is famous for in the world. The bright lights of Paris and the delicious beer of Dublin are what usually draw students overseas. Who'd rather spend their semester abroad in a country that is less than 200 years old and has no access to the Eurail?
Well, me.
Realizing I wanted to come to New Zealand actually came as a big surprise. I had always tagged myself as the Europhile: rambling the cobblestone streets of some French chateau while nibbling a baguette, a book of philosophy tucked into my trendy trench coat pocket. Oh yes, I was living in a chardonnay-drenched fantasy of "Amelie" and Simone de Beauvoir. But then I remembered I can't speak a word of French to save my life. There goes the baguette and high fashion. Then I thought, "London?" Eh, Prince William is already taken.
And I guess that brings me here, to an English-speaking country in the middle of effing nowhere, with some of the most thrill-seeking idiots you'll ever meet and more sheep than you can possibly dream of. Yep, sounds like paradise.
For the next five months, I'll be living and studying in the capital city of Wellington, meandering the tree-lined streets, reading works by famous Kiwi authors like Katherine Mansfield and Witi Ihimaera, visiting Te Papa Tongarewa (the award-winning national museum) and drinking as much locally made wine as my liver will allow.
On weekends I'll travel out to the bush, "tramping" (hiking) through lush rainforests and glaciers, checking out geothermal parks and maybe even seeing some wild penguins (which, let's be honest, is about 75 percent of the reason I actually came here).
Maybe it's not Europe, but New Zealand appears to offer much of the same attractions, minus the nausea-inducing exchange rate. This country's got a foreign language (Te Reo Maori, the indigenous language, is still spoken, but English remains predominant), rich history (albeit quite young) and (most importantly) hot accents.
In the end, though, we do all go abroad for the same reason: to do something interesting with our lives. Maybe we want to perfect our knowledge of a foreign language. Maybe we want to see famous places and meet beautiful people. Maybe we just want to be legal. Either way, no matter where we end up for a semester (or year) abroad, we usually end up getting a lot more out of it than we expected.
As for me? Well, let's hope this semester in New Zealand exceeds my expectations and involves more than just hobbits and sheep.
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Ally Gimbel is a junior majoring in English. She can be reached at Allyson.Gimbel@tufts.edu.
