DU Abroad

This past Saturday, I had my last final for my study abroad at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. One week prior, I had my second final, but now my study abroad time is officially over. I’ve said goodbye to all my friends I’ve made over the semester, and just like everyone told me, I’ve made genuine friends that I’ll keep in contact with and hopefully go and visit. I still have a couple of weeks until I leave New Zealand because my parents are coming to visit at the end of November, so I’ll post a couple more blogs after this one, but this will be my main reflection of my time here.

What I learned

Traveling by yourself is the easiest way to grow as a person and really get to know yourself. You find out how you do in a crisis or even under stress. I’ve done a bit of solo traveling prior to coming here, but there are a few things that rival the stress of navigating airports for international flights. From all of this, I’ve learned to give myself more time than I thought I would need to help minimize the stress.

In New Zealand, I found that everyone likes to be extremely casual, from the way of dress, to events, to taking trips. This was originally hard for me when I would plan trips with my friends because sometimes, we would go into the trip with no solid plan and an attitude of “what happens happens” and figuring out activities as we came across them. While this is definitely not my style, I learned to embrace it while I was here and just keeping my eyes open for opportunities to try new things.

As an accounting major, I liked to think that I had a plan for how I was going to spend my money in New Zealand, but there are always little things that come up that I would spend money on. Eating out was a big part of that. You can plan your meals for the week, but it’s hard to say no when your friends want to get dinner or go out for dessert.

I learned that the best way to see the island and to meet people was to just say yes to everything and get out of my comfort zone. This led me to go on a couple of trips with some people that I wasn’t very close with, and end the trip with great friends. Even just in my everyday life, I would say yes to doing little activities throughout the day or night, and I got a lot of new experiences from it. One of my favorites was going to the night that only opens at 11 pm on Thursdays.

I learned that studying abroad is a balance between experiencing the people and place you’re in, but there is also the important part of school. At Otago, there were very few assignments that were due during the semester; it was mostly just midterms and finals, which gave me a lot of time to explore, but when it came time for those assessments, I knew that I needed to put my exploration on hold and focus on school.

What I wish I had known before coming

I didn’t pack very well for study abroad. I brought too many clothes that I didn’t end up wearing, and I didn’t consider how cold the winter in New Zealand would be. I would have brought some warmer clothes with me and fewer summer things. I could’ve looked at the weather and done some more planning for this, and not packed at the last minute.

In orientation, instructors had mentioned that a lot of people bought cars when they went to New Zealand. I originally thought that it was super weird, but my friend did it, and it made things a lot easier. We were able to take a lot more weekend trips for cheaper this way. It also helped with going to the grocery store, as the cheap one is a couple of miles away by bus, and the car made it a lot easier. BUT remember the importance of getting insurance because the roads in New Zealand are hard to drive on, and being on the other side of the road is a little tricky at the beginning.

Going to a less popular study abroad country like New Zealand (in comparison to some of the popular European countries like Italy or Spain) can bring some FOMO to the experience. Some people from DU came to the University of Otago, but not many. We hung out a little in the beginning, but we all found our own groups and split off. I think this is great because we get to make friends from other schools and countries, but it could be hard to see all my friends in Paris or Amsterdam together. Just being aware that I would be missing out on some of those experiences was a little difficult originally, but it’s important to remember that everyone feels like this at some point during their study abroad.

Highlights

In hindsight, getting stuck in Auckland for a day on my way to start my study abroad was one of the best things that could’ve happened to me. I met one of my best friends this way, and we might never have met otherwise.

Participating in Otago’s REO introduction week, where I met another one of my best friends and got to meet a lot of Kiwis.

Weekend trips to Queenstown, Milford Sound, the Fiordland, Christchurch, Lake Tekapo, Mt Cook, etc. Just getting to explore the island and see different towns and cities was incredible.

I loved my classes; it was nice to take different courses that had nothing to do with my major but were interesting to me personally. My crime, shame, and scandal in New Zealand history class was my all-time favorite. The schooling system over here is different from DU, which was confusing, but it worked out in the end.

Being able to meet people who live in Dunedin was cool because everyone was so proud of their home and were excited to talk about it and recommend places to go and things to do. The people overall in New Zealand have been incredible. Everywhere I went people were friendly and welcoming.

My living situation was great; I lived with four other girls in a two-story house. We all got along really well, and it was fun to live with random people and become friends with them; it reminded me of my first year of college at DU.

Lowlights

Due to the weather and all the people in Dunedin, I was sick a lot. I caught every cold that went through the school, got strep, and dealt with sicknesses that just circulated through the flat. The cold medicine over here is a lot weaker than in the US, and you oftentimes have to get a pharmacist to prescribe stuff stronger than Advil. Aside from getting sick, I had a couple of orthopedic issues that prevented me from being able to go out and hike as much as I would have wanted to.

The public transportation is not great here; the buses run infrequently, Uber is not very popular, and without a car, it can be difficult to get around unless you have a lot of time or are willing to walk. I spent a lot of time walking around Dunedin trying to get to the grocery store and to other appointments.

The biggest lowlight of my time in New Zealand was the feelings of homesickness and loneliness. While it didn’t bother me very often, there were days that I would wake up and miss my family and friends from home and college so much that I didn’t want to do anything with my day. On days like that, I found that getting outside and going on walks was helpful. I’d call the people that I missed, but what helped the most was hanging out with my friends that I made in New Zealand. While it didn’t necessarily take away the feeling, it helped me remember that it’s normal to feel this way, and it’s just part of the experience of studying abroad. It also helped to put it in perspective that this is a temporary experience, and while there are some parts that are harder than others, it always gets better.

Final thoughts

Studying abroad has been something I’ve looked forward to for years. When I was applying to DU, one of my favorite parts about it was the ability to travel and the opportunity to study abroad. It can be an overwhelming experience, but one that I wouldn’t trade for the world. It feels like I just got to New Zealand yesterday and also like I’ve been here for the last four years. I’ve loved my time here, and I’m really sad for it to be done, but I’m excited to go home and then back to DU!

Sagrada Familia — A stained-glass window inside the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. This may very well be the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen in my life.

I spent the last week toting my cheap plastic carry-on and backpack around Geneva, Zurich, and Barcelona. The whole trip was planned a little last-minute; I had no idea that my program had a “reading week” where there was no class and just gives you time to complete some midterm projects. Like most other students, I immediately thought that I should take advantage of the cheap flights out of London and head to mainland Europe, so I planned the whole thing with help from my parents sort of last-minute. Originally, I had wanted to go with some other people, but everyone seemed to have plans already, or there was too much coordination that needed to happen, so I just shoved everything in my bags and headed down to Heathrow by myself.

Originally, I hadn’t thought that I would enjoy travelling solo as much as I would travelling with someone else. But, my overwhelming curiosity about the delicacies of Swiss chocolate and fondue and if Spaniard Spanish is that different from Latin American Spanish got the better of me. Both are beautiful countries, but I’d rather focus on some things I learned from travelling alone instead of just telling you that yes, there are beautiful mountains in Switzerland, and that no, you cannot ever escape clueless American tourists in Barcelona.

There are two main things I learned from this trip.

One, push yourself to do things that you’re curious about, even if you’re alone.

I came into study abroad wanting to exercise my free will, and I think I have become significantly better at doing so. You will not always have people to do things with you. Yes, it’s nice to have a plus one to go and do something, but it should never become a crutch. Since I’m an only child, you would think that I am perfectly used to doing everything alone, but this isn’t exactly true. I did things with my parents, my friends, family; certainly not going on an international trip by myself. The main thing is that when you are by yourself, making mistakes that are small seem a lot bigger when you’re alone. For me, if I’m with a friend, I can pretty easily laugh things off, but it can be a lot harder when I’m alone. Something I’ve found that helps me just go out and do things alone is to start with manageable small things, like going on a walk in the park or going to a coffee shop for an overpriced drink. Every time you avoid these little discomforts, you’re only reinforcing the belief that you can’t handle it. Don’t think about it too hard.

Bacalao is dried and salted codfish, I had it at a restaurant with garlic alioli and potatoes at a restaurant where I saw a group of older Spanish women smoking outside. It was one of the best seafood dishes I’ve had in a long time.

Truly, people do not care about you and are not thinking about you as much as you think. A plus one is nice to have, but it shouldn’t become a crutch – there’s nothing stopping you from going and doing something you would normally do with a friend, just by yourself. For me, this mostly applied to the anxiety of eating alone at a restaurant. You don’t have to awkwardly pretend that you’ve just been stood up by a date when you eat alone. Order a drink, read something, or just people-watch. The restaurant is getting your money anyway, so there’s no reason for them to be upset with you for existing. Taking up space is not a crime, so don’t be afraid to do so.

Or, think of solo travel as a matter of convenience – you don’t have to spend any time negotiating your itinerary with anyone. If you see something you’d like to do, you can just do it without someone in your ear saying “I’m hungry”, “let’s go back to the hotel”, “I don’t really want to do that, but okay”.

Two, be a responsible and considerate tourist, no matter where you go.

Púlpito — Arroz negro con pulpito (black rice with little octopus) in Barcelona again. I don’t think I ate a single piece of land-based meat in Spain.

In London, it’s actually quite hard to feel like a tourist sometimes, unless you are in a hotspot like Borough Market or Big Ben or Buckingham Palace. The city is just so big and dense that you get lost in the sea of people. Also, as an American, speaking English makes the city easy to navigate. Besides, I live here now! So I’m not exactly a tourist anymore.

But in Switzerland and Spain, tourism is a lot more obvious. I’m going to take a second to hate on my fellow Americans. I find that social media tourism has become incredibly common nowadays with people my age. It is more typical now to find restaurants and attractions on TikTok, or even worse, use AI to give you an itinerary (note: I actually despise AI. It makes you a secondhand thinker once you start abusing it, not to mention the environmental impact it has). I grew up with my parents using Rick Steves books to get a sense of what to do, and I largely did the same to plan this trip. I went to the library after class the week before I left, and picked up two travel guides for Switzerland and Spain, respectively. In the library, I just sat and took some notes on them. I quite liked the physical act of searching for what to do in these other countries, giving me the sense of being a 1700s explorer (colonizer) planning out a route on some poorly-drawn map. The walking tours and restaurant recommendations I found were delightful. On social media, people are often paid to promote certain spots, and they are usually overpriced because they sit on main streets or pricey areas. What I found, both in the books and just wandering around, were spots that are a little quieter, or busy with locals (meaning: they are the real deal). Why only subject yourself to predesigned spectacles? Travelling, to me, should be seeing the sights, yes, but also seeing how people live in another country. It gives you perspective on how you live your own life in comparison.

Zürich — A lot of birds sitting on this tiny roof in Zurich. I wonder if they understand German?

The view of the mountains from Montreux, Switzerland. I took a little day trip here, and the view is so majestic. France is on the other side of the lake!

Anyway, English sounds like an alien tongue to me after French in Geneva, German in Zurich, and Spanish in Barcelona. I had gotten so used to speaking Spanish in Spain (my mom is Bolivian, so I am proud to be fluent) that I looked at the poor British Airways flight attendant like she was an alien when she said “Hello, welcome aboard!”

Thank you again for reading!

Alexandra

Final week of study abroad