I leave New Zealand tomorrow, and I can’t help but think back on all the things I have enjoyed about being here, what I have learned, and what I hope to still learn more about. I have been more aware of little moments since I have been here, and they remain in the back of my mind as I approach my departure. A lot of these moments happened simply, at a time when not a lot was going on. It was when I was able to fully appreciate where I was. Having a conversation with my friend at 1am. Looking at the snowy peaks of the Southern Alps at eye level while my flight takes off. Having a coffee in a cafe looking over Cathedral Square or at Sumner Beach. Of course I greatly appreciated the fun and wild experiences I was able to have, but while I was here I got better at being present in the times when ~nothing~ was happening.

While I was in New Zealand I made the decision to pursue a double major in Psychology and Communication Sciences and Disorders, rather than a major in Psychology and minor in CSD. Throughout college I have been trying to figure out a way to take classes necessary to get me into grad school without graduating with a degree in CSD. As it turns out, I needed to add only 3 classes to the rest of my college career to complete the double major, and it would open may more doors for me upon graduation. I am excited about the next year and a half at Wooster and look forward to where the wind blows me. I believe that my time here had an impact on this decision. In class every day I was among graduate students who had a background in something else and decided to pursue a masters in Speech-Language Pathology later. 1) I have always been keen on having a diverse background of knowledge and experience, and adding to the value of my college degree seemed like an exciting adventure. 2) I don’t want to NOT major in the thing I want to do for the rest of my life, and then have to go back and re-prepare myself later in life when I could’ve done it now. This is a relatively easy addition in terms of scheduling, and it gives me the opportunity to explore in more depth the two fields I have a passion for and make a decision from more options. Bottom line: I’m excited to go back to Wooster and do the dang thing. Roll Scots.

One of the things I was looking for most in coming to New Zealand to study CSD was an extension of my cultural competency. I got that and more. When I was being taught about cultural competency as a whole, I realized I had never had a proper lesson on it. I knew what it was, but the processes and efforts involved in it on a broad and narrow scale go much deeper. I learned how to handle a clinical scenario in which I need help to provide services to a client from a different cultural/linguistic background. I also learned about the Māori culture. My time here was a continual learning opportunity as it relates the native culture of Aotearoa New Zealand. From touristy activities during orientation, to reading literature, to having a conversation with my Māori barber, I most definitely had the experiences I came in search of. I didn’t know what I would they would be beforehand, but I accomplished the goal multiple times over. Plus, Māori people are awesome. At least in my experience, they enjoy sharing their culture.

When I get home I will certainly reminisce on this in a way that I don’t know yet – there is so much to take in and make sense of. The experience as a whole makes up something much different than anything I experienced in isolation. I, along with thousands of other study abroad students all over the world, have conflicted thoughts and emotions about this coming to an end. At the end of the day, I recognize that it is time to go home, and that adventures must start and end. It is the appropriate time for this one to end. I am thankful for the friends I’ve made, the wild things I’ve seen and done, another catalyst of passion, and the undeniable addition to the travel bug somewhere inside of me.

The university system in New Zealand, or at least in Christchurch, seems much more lax than it is in the United States. I know for fact that part of this perception comes from my unusually light course load. However, several people I have come across have been intrigued by the pace of my home college. In a sense, university seems to be less of an “institution” that students are tied to while they are enrolled. There are no meal plans that make students feel like they should always eat in the dining hall, student housing is run by an external company, and more often than not, students choose to rent flats with their friends/whānau off campus. When an American student is in college, they live and breath it until winter or summer break. Kiwi students are less bound to the place; many have jobs and spend a lot of time off campus. Of course this amplifies when lectures are recorded and many students choose not to go to class and just watch it later.

I know my experience at Canterbury was not representative of the typical kiwi university experience, but I felt like a lot less was expected of me ON campus, and I was given the opportunity to complete the vast majority of assignments OFF campus if I chose to do so. My American college experience led me to still go to class in person every day (I admit I skipped one or two and watched them later). Some days there would be 10 students present out of 40 enrolled in the class (especially in lower level introductory classes). Aside from that, I spent much less time on campus and would often do work in a coffee shop, in my flat, or somewhere outside if it was a nice day. At Wooster, I would camp out in an academic building or library if I had a lot to do.

The final exam period is much, much longer at UC than at most American schools. I am used to having one weekend after classes end to study and then taking finals Monday-Thursday the week after. At Canterbury, there were 11 days between the end of classes and the start of finals, and the examination period lasted another 11. I had an exam on the last day of the examination period, so that means I had more than 3 weeks between the last class and the exam. This is conducive to an entirely different method of studying than I was used to. If you’re looking for advice on how to manage that kind of schedule, look not here.

This is a little thing, but it made a significant difference for me when I first started going to classes back in July. Professors aren’t as concerned with behavior or the respect students have for the lecture. Students will be on their phone and whispering to each other during a lecture, especially if there are a lot of students in the room. This confused me very much, I am used to lectures where every student is quiet until it is appropriate to ask questions, and where no phones are being used. The more I think about it, this is probably less of a New Zealand-USA thing and more of a big school-small school thing. New Zealand only has 8 universities, so by default they are all of decent size.

I have noticed a multiplicity of little things that make university in New Zealand different than in the United States, for better or for worse. All I know (or opine) is that the system here is just as good as ours. New Zealand produces graduates in a wide variety of fields, many of them choosing to pursue postgraduate degrees. Oh, and it’s much cheaper.

It has been difficult for me to come up with academic material in as much volume as is needed for a whole blog post, that would not bore the heck out of somebody reading this. I figured I’d focus this post on communication in general, and what I have noticed being in New Zealand.

It’s been fun to make fun of the kiwi accent, which is ironic because the American accent is so clearly “American” that people can make fun of it just by imitating it. It’s all innocent. Kiwis like to add r’s to the end of words that don’t have r’s at the end of them, which is interesting because they don’t pronounce the r at the end of words that DO have r’s at the end of them. “The Banks Peninshulahr.” At normal speaking speed, the palatalized /s/ and postvocalic /r/-esque sound has left me with a couple blank faces and needing to ask for repetition. I’m proud to say that I think I have mastered the art of comprehending Kiwi English, but once I tell myself that, I jinx it. Important note: DO NOT compare the kiwi accent to a British accent – they do not like that. In all truth, they sound nothing alike anyway.

The slang is amazing. I don’t go a lot of places and think the slang people use there is better than the slang that I use, but this is my first exception. Kiwis frequently talk about how they’re simple creatures in the way they live and go about things, but some of the slang terms they use are intuitive, fun to say, and make so much sense, even if they don’t at all. Some of my favorite Kiwi terms follow:

“Togs” – Arguably my favorite addition to my lexicon. This refers to a bathing suit/swim suit. This has helped me to realize that bathing suits are in fact not suits, and that something so simple should not, intuitively, require more than one syllable to express. Makes sense to me. I will be calling them togs from now on.

“Stoked” – The inner frat bro in me loves this word. It rolls off my tongue to say that I’m stoked about something.

“Chur” – A shortened version of “cheers.” Shortened anything makes for good slang. Also a word that a frat bro could use.

“Kia Ora” – This is not a slang word, but rather an effective and meaningful integration of Te Reo Māori into the Pākehā (white New Zealander) culture. My observation is that if a non-Māori New Zealander greets someone using “kia ora,” it adds endearment to the greeting. Very nice.

“Sweet as” – Means the same thing as “sweet” without the “as.” I just applauded the shortening of words, but this is fun. An exception. It took me a while to appreciate, but it comes out easily. It’s not as convincing when said with an American accent, though, so I’ll have to appreciate it from afar.

After spending 5 months in this country, I can confidently say I am in tune with how people in society operate, and believe I have the ability to code switch my behaviors and language. By no means do I blend in with the population when I open my mouth, but I can interact in a way that I could not when I first arrived. There is less thinking about every move I make and how I use the words I say. I am approaching my departure for home, and what I have learned about communication alone during this experience is enough draw me back. Chur bro.