Well it's hard to believe that a year has gone by so quickly and my time in NZ has finally come to a close. 12 whole months have been and gone, just like that.
I had exams in my final week of NZ, so the majority of my penultimate week was spent with my books. But not all of my time. Apart from casual evenings seeing friends, a small group of us went to the FIFA U20s World Cup as it was being hosted in NZ! We got tickets to the semi-final: Serbia vs Mali.
Serbia had a good section of support and went on to score pretty early. But because of this and Mali's flamboyant style of play, the rest of the stadium was soon cheering for Mali and when they scored, everywhere erupted!
The game went in to extra time, a rule explained by Beni to Ella very well. He had been very informative all night, but for some reason Ella did not seem to appreciate this too much ;-) Serbia scored again in the closing minutes to win. It was a good game and both teams went on to win their final matches for 1st and 3rd place overall.
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| National Anthem time! |
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| Semi-final selfie! |
My leaving week was very sad, but for all the wrong reasons. I came down with a stomach virus which completely ruined me. I was bed-ridden, and yet still in need of sitting exams and making the most of my time with friends. Neither was done very well unfortunately. I have special considerations for my final exams, but even so I'm very disappointed as I had worked really hard this semester. But we can't control everything, and things will be what things will be.
On the plus side, it was proved to me once again that I had great friends. My flat mates were so kind looking after me all week, putting up with my lack of energy in the process. Dannii especially looked after me and also lost sleep through the nights as I did, but still did her best to make me feel better. Thank you so much all :-)
And then Lolo even came to visit on his last night, understanding that I couldn't come to his leaving party. Another sad moment, he was awesome. I mean, so awesome. He told me this when he lived with us the week before and I've believed it ever since. I see no reason why Lolo would lie about such a thing. He is awesome after all ;-) haha. Ah goodbyes...
Despite all this, I was determined to sit with friends in the Sky Tower after my exams were finished. As a leaving meal, our flat decided it would be perfect to overlook the entire city one more time. It was a great venue and everyone enjoyed what they ate.
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| Dannii, Scott and Harbour Bridge in the background! |
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| F(l)atties! A pleasure to live with! |
And then before we could digest the situation, we were done. Tommy came over to see us off, and Liz just made it with a bit of running. We had just enough time for one last selfie, and then we were taxied off to the airport to begin the long haul home.
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| The final NZ selfie #NZForever |
I was still on meds and hoping they would see me through the long journey home via a 3 day stop in Hong Kong. I had lost a lot of weight and wasn't feeling my strongest, but I wasn't going to let that ruin the journey!
An so now I need to say a few words. I really am not sure I can wrap this up cleanly. In all honesty, my time in NZ has just been the best of my life. It's been life changing, personality defining and eye opening. I have seen everything I wanted too in such an amazing country and have left with a wetter appetite to see more of the world. I've learned so much not only through uni, but through the people I've met and the experiences I've had.
And there are just too many people to thank. To those who gave me the opportunity and helped me seize it. To those who gave me help or advise whilst here, or just casually kept contact. To those who ran errands for me and others who lived happy memories with me in NZ. You have made my year so amazing and or that I am forever grateful.
And of course, thank you NZ for being the amazing country you are. You will be missed!
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| The final head change of The Bachelor NZ. I think it's forever improved :-) |
Kia Ora,
Ben
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