Send Me on My Way

Written by Amanda White

Tuesday was bonding day for the NEIP-ers! 

We formed two teams—the Average Feijoa’s (Or, if you like, Fei-Joe-a's) and the Fellowship of the Kiwi—and embarked on our Amazing Race throughout Auckland. We ate hokey pokey ice cream, spoke to strangers in Maori (which was mostly saying “Kia Ora!” to runners and backpackers...), and "sunbathed" on North Wharf. Both teams took creative pictures and enjoyed all of our exploring and wandering.

After the Amazing Race, we joined back up at YHA to prep for grocery shopping at Countdown. The Avg Feijoas bought lots of pasta and sandwich fixings for the remainder of the expedition. Some of us spent a chill evening in, chatting and getting to know our hostelmates, and others went out for one final evening of Auckland exploring.

Wednesday dawned early for our first day of touring and industry speakers! We met bus driver Stacy beside our spacious 19-seat Haka Tours Bus, then got to hear from Jatendra of Haka Tours. He shared about the history of Haka Tours and Lodges, and was a great start to our expedition. We then headed out of Auckland for the rest of our trip—an exciting moment that meant our expedition was truly beginning! We spent the rest of the morning on the bus, observing New Zealand’s incredibly diverse landscapes and weather that seemed to change by the minute. Stacy distinguishes North from South Island by describing the former as “the Shire” of New Zealand and the latter as the more majestic and mountainous scenes from Lord of the Rings. The rolling hills certainly reminded me of my time in Hobbiton! (It was rather challenging to get pictures from the moving bus though…)

After a quick pit stop in a town that is world famous in New Zealand for its corrugated murals (!), we made it to Lake Rotorua which was one of the most lovely and peaceful places I’ve ever been.

Rotorua also was home to our next industry speaker, OGO Rotorua. When Kelly started his presentation, he simply said, “We push people down a hill in a big, giant ball.” His casual and straightforward style of speaking was accessible and enjoyable, in the bustling lobby of OGO. Five of our NEIP-ers opted into the experience, as did Anna! The rest of us took pictures and watched from beside a lovely fire.

Cheers to Day 3!

Another Day, Another 'Dventure

Written by Amanda White

Friends! Dear readers! Mom! (As I'm sure she's reading this, too.) 

After three days of solo exploring, I am so ready for NEIP to start! I arrived Thursday evening, and have spent the past days wandering around Auckland on foot to parks and shops and everything in-between; 

 geeking out over the Hobbit holes on the Hobbiton Movie Set Tour;

visiting Muriwai Beach and loving the fallish rain that came with the sea spray; 

and making lots of new friends from all over the world along the way.

Yesterday evening, fellow NEIP-er Shannon arrived and we explored the streets of Auckland together in search of dinner fare. We landed on Denny’s, which, though technically an American chain, uses a kiwi as an apostrophe in New Zealand, so it definitely counts as kiwi food!

Orientation begins this afternoon, and so do our group adventures... here we go! 

"Adventure is out there!"

Written by Amanda White

I believe that it was Bilbo Baggins who said, “I’m going on an adventure!” (<-- with far more exclamation points than that, though.) I am thrilled to echo that sentiment as I turn my thoughts and energy toward my National Expedition and Internship Program (henceforth referred to NEIP) in New Zealand this summer--where I will hopefully skip along some of the paths that he trod.

Greetings, friends! My name is Amanda White. I hail from Cincinnati, Ohio, where I’ve spent almost all of my twenty years reading good books and frolicking outdoors; riding bikes with my parents and brother; laughing loudly and thinking deeply; making new friends; and, for the past three years, studying Communication and Linguistics at Miami University of Ohio (I used to wish it were in Florida, but now I’m rather fond of Oxford, Ohio… which is also not the one in England). This last collegiate part of my life makes me thrilled to embark on this journey through Massey University on the Communication and Marketing track of the NEIP.

I’ll be filling this blog with pictures, anecdotes, and reflections about the expedition part of our trip, as well as internship adventures. These posts will be distinctly punctuated by my writerly voice, which is often pun-filled and just a tad sarcastic; I hope to make you smile at least once per post. Despite my fingers being the ones typing, though, I’ll try to faithfully represent the experience of our team as a whole, so that the record shows the wonderful time that we have as the family I am sure we travelers will become.

By my count, I have NINE days (single digits!) until my flight and I absolutely can’t wait. Most of that time will be spent puzzling over packing, Googling pictures of New Zealand places, and making my coffee shop bucket list for the trip… till next time!