Just like that, it’s over. Six weeks have come and gone like the blink of an eye. I swear yesterday I was meeting the others in the airport to fly out. It seems a little bittersweet – we all leave the airport, go our separate ways, back to our real lives. Will we keep in…Continue Reading Alvida
Bucket lists. What are they, why do we make them? According to Stanford, a bucket list is an itemised list of goals, experiences or achievements that people want to accomplish before they “kick the bucket” — or die. I made my first and only bucket list when I was 12. For me, the things I…Continue Reading Bucket List
I’d apologise for the pun in the title but I’d be lying. It has now been four weeks abroad, and safe to say that as much as I love Mumbai, I miss home. But thank goodness for the others I’m on this trip with, because we have managed to create a sense of home here,…Continue Reading “Intern”-ational Travellers
In my internship this week, I felt great privilege for the opportunity, confronted by the harsh living conditions of the communities I work, and grateful to the people of Mandala who have opened their lives and hearts to the organisation and me. Working with the Zahra Hasanaat clinic, I was able to help with the…Continue Reading Art needs no language…
Mera Hindi Kahani As soon as I learned I was accepted into this amazing trip, I immediately jumped onto Duolingo to try and learn as much Hindi as I could. At the start of the trip I had a 110 day streak, but disappointingly, this didn’t magically mean I could speak fluent Hindi with the…Continue Reading Blog 4: People and Language!
Readjustment When I search “reverse culture shock” google tells me it is a “common reaction to returning home from studying abroad. It is an emotional and psychological stage of re-adjustment, similar to your initial adjustment to living abroad.” I keep on toying with the word: readjustment There is something about it that acknowledges a changing…Continue Reading Readjustment
It’s the final week, and I feel like I have barely touched the surface of India whilst also having had so many adventures and opportunities that I cannot wait to share with friends, family, and anyone who will listen upon my return to New Zealand. I don’t have any words good enough to express my…Continue Reading Where did all the time go?
“Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua” “I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past. This whakataukī or ‘proverb’ speaks to Māori perspectives of time, where the past, the present and the future are viewed as intertwined, and life as a continuous cosmic process.” The final week is here! The time went…Continue Reading Times flies make the most of it!
“He aha te mea nui o te aoWhat is the most important thing in the world?He tangata, he tangata, he tangataIt is the people, it is the people, it is the people” Coming back home has undoubtedly been a reverse cultural shock and a new beginning in the sense that we have all changed so…Continue Reading Dhanyavād! (Thank you!)
This title was inspired by this week’s experiences of meeting women similar in age to me but with completely different life experiences. Again opening my eyes to all the privileges I have had throughout every year and stage of my life. Whether it be the privilege of the things I had, people around me, opportunities,…Continue Reading Same age. Different life.