Leaving Dunedin was a bit strange, if only because it was so surreal that my time in New Zealand was over. I was able to pack all of my stuff up (no small feat) with time to spare, and was left wondering where everyone had gone - by the time I left, most others had already embarked on cool trips to the North Island, Australia and Fiji. Of course, no packing experience for me can go off without a hitch, and I managed, the night before I left, to put my passport through the washing machine. This was not fun, but after a reassuring phone call to Butler, I felt good enough that I could beg US Customs for forgiveness and to let me into the country if I had to. In the end, it all worked out and my tattered, warped passport didn't ever get a second glance.
The flight back to the US was, like my flight to NZ, fantastic. It was probably only half-full, which meant I had a seat between me and the other guy in my row. And despite the many rumors I had heard to the contrary, I was indeed served complementary wine (twice!) at dinner. Air New Zealand, you rock.
By far the highlight of my first month back in the States was my five days at Pomona, spent variously driving around on the right side of the road, playing beach volleyball, wearing only shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops, and enjoying the company of good friends. I really couldn't have asked for anything more. The flight from Ontario to Salt Lake City, by the way, may have been my favorite of all time, if only for the scenery. We took off flying west, oddly enough, but then rose up to about 15,000 feet as we banked right and flew directly over the San Gabriel Mountains going northeast, and the views we had of the Mojave were spectacular...once again I could see the awesome lava flows at Pisgah Crater, as well as the cinder cones in the Mojave National Preserve. Good stuff. [Note: those are old pictures, not from that flight.]
Anyway, one of the big things Pomona and Butler mention in their study abroad guides is 'reverse culture shock,' which is pretty much the same as culture shock, only now you find your own culture abhorrent. Maybe it's just me, and I knew what to expect coming home, or maybe it was the fact that I was in an English-speaking, Western society, but I haven't been at all surprised or dismayed by things at home. I love, among other things:
- central heating
- fast Internet
- cheap CDs, movies, electronics, books, alcohol
- dining hall food
- calling and NOT texting
So there you have it. I realize this isn't much of a post to summarize my thoughts and feelings about it all, but if I had to really sum it up, I'd say that I really had the time of my life over there. I did well in my classes (unbelievably, it's true) while still having a lot of free time on my hands to travel around and see as much as I could of a country on the other side of the world. And while I didn't get to meet and hang out with as many Kiwis as I'd hoped, the tons of Americans I met more than made up for it, and besides, Americans are ideal there because they share similar goals (i.e. having fun and traveling) and can keep you connected in some ways to the culture you left behind at home. I liked that. And I loved New Zealand - the people, the mountains, the roads, the tramping tracks, the sheep, the rocks - all of it. And this much I know: I'm going back.
