A Trout Laker Abroad

At 3:30 am my alarm went off. Startled out of deep sleep but oddly awake at the same time, I scrambled out of bed. I stood there for a minute in the middle of the room, collecting my slowly awakening thoughts and waiting for my head rush to subside. After a few seconds I smiled to myself, thinking of the day ahead. Today would take us south into the heart of the North Island to Tongariro National Park where we would hike the Tongariro Crossing. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is one of the most famous hikes in New Zealand and well known all over the world. It’s one of those hikes you read about it National Geographic’s lists of best hikes in the world that you know you probably will never be able to do but sigh over the beautiful photographs. It’s an iconic trek through a mountain pass complete with alpine lakes and lots of stairs. It’s also where they filmed many Mordor scenes from the Lord of the Rings and one of the two mountains that frame the pass was Mt. Doom. (Side note: not ...

I arrived in beautiful New Zealand on January 22 for a semester exchange program through the University of Hawaii. I will be studying at Victoria University of Wellington on the North Island for about four months and am planning to return home around mid-July. At the moment, I am staying with some wonderful family friends in a city called Tauranga for a few weeks. I will join my parents later in February for a trip around the North Island before starting school in early March.  Tauranga is a beautiful city of around 120,000 people about a three-hour drive from Auckland. It sits on the Bay of Plenty; a stretch of sunny beaches and lush farmland that swoops down from Coromandel and extends eastward. The city itself rolls across green hills above sandy beaches and has much to offer from a nice shopping district and beaches perfect for surfing and swimming to waterfall hikes and a variety of community events. It’s a relaxed, welcoming place that perfectly melds the feelings of goi...