DU Abroad

The Trip That Almost Did Not Happen

Location: Dubrovnik, Croatia

You will all see and read in a later blog why there was a very real chance I would not have been able to go on this trip – but that’s a story for another time. A few years ago, my parents began a tradition of traveling to a new European country each summer and exploring for at least three weeks. I can say with the utmost certainty that my love and desire for adventure and travel comes straight from them. Their first location that sparked this tradition was Ireland, followed by Greece, and this past summer Croatia. On their Croatia trip, they drove up and down the coast, stopping in cities such as Zadar, Split, and their personal favorite – Dubrovnik. Ever since hearing their Dubrovnik stories, and seeing my mom’s Instagram posts, it instantly became the number one place I knew I had to visit while abroad.

Funny enough – and this ties right back to that “late blog” story – my mom ended up joining my friends and me on our Dubrovnik trip. We flew in on a Wednesday afternoon (yes, we all skipped school) and left Saturday morning, much to our dismay. The trip overall was much pricier than we had anticipated, mostly due to our eating and spending time in the touristy areas, where meals ranged from 30 to 40 euro and drinks around 15. We quickly learned our lesson.

Because of an injury, I was not able to join my friends on their speed boat tour of the caves, so my mom and I decided to explore and do a guided tour of the walls. Yes… those walls – the ones featured in many scenes of the infamous Game of Thrones television series. Together, we climbed more than 600 steps, walking around the entire perimeter of Dubrovnik’s Old Town that is covered in orange tiles molded by the thighs of the women who once lived there. Although I am not much of a history buff, the history of the city was incredible, topped with my skyline view of the entire city to my left and sparkling Adriatic sea view to my right. It might have been one of the most touristy things to do, but it was truly incredible.

Visiting Dubrovnik, Croatia was not just another tally in countries I have visited, it was a dream-come-true. Despite being strapped in a medical brace, it reminded me and revived my love of travel and exploration.

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BEAAMMS Was Born

Locals: Pile-Kono Mountain

Our Airbnb sat on the hill just outside Dubrovnik’s Old Town, meaning that every trip in and our required an uber. While talking to one of our drivers, he told us that he had his own business – a small company called Simply H. H – as he told us to call him – offered us a discounted tour of the three most beautiful photo spots according to Croatian locals. Given that there were 8 of us and one of him, we decided to take him up on his offer. After spending a couple hours exploring Old Town, we met him outside the Pile Gate and to begin our local tour.

The first stop made us a little skeptical. He pulled the car over on the side of the rode and gave us only a few minutes to take pictures of… a bridge; yes, a bridge overlooking the water. Was the view beautiful? Yes, but it was not considered a ‘local spot’ like we were expecting. The next spot filled us with more hope – a run-down barn with a small waterfall in the background. I have to admit, it was like nothing I had ever seen. The sun cast a bright glow over everything, creating the illusion of shimmering air, and the surplus of water made the plants lush and green, and the river alive with fish. None of us wanted to leave but had to in order to catch the sunset at our final stop.

Driving up a two-way road barely wide enough for one car, we arrived at the top of a mountain overlooking the entire Old Town city, the hill surrounding it, and the Adriatic bordering the entirety of Croatia. It was something of a painting with the island perfectly placed in the sea, the sky painted with hues of pink, purple, yellow, and blue, and a mountain covered in fresh plants and rosemary leaves. After taking the mandatory “I was here” photos, my friends and I stood in a line and took a moment of gratitude.

The weeks leading up to this trip had been a blur of hospital visits and doctor’s appointments, but that all seemed to melt away at that moment. I was joined by my best friend – my mom – and the girls I had grown closest to abroad. Everything was perfect at that moment.

It was there, on the Pile-Kono Mountain, that we came up with a word to describe something that simply cannot be described by ordinary adjectives. An acronym for all our names: Bridgette, Em, Alex, Avery, Maddie, Michelle, Sophie. Just like that, BEAAMMS was born.

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!

Location to Locals: Dubrovnik, Croatia

Final week of study abroad