AlidaAlida Van Almelo

All articles by Alida

 

Well here I am, back in upstate NY after a good five months on the other side of the world. It’s sort of funny that the one thing that every and anybody wants to know right off the bat is “How was it?”… Taking that question into consideration on the spot, about half a million
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STUDY abroad?

Barely over 3 weeks left here in New Zealand, classes just finished yesterday, and I’m finally blogging something about Victoria University! To confirm the curiosity of those of you wondering whether or not I do actually attend university here, I do! As a matter of fact, I am enrolled in three courses here (called, “papers”).
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Wellington…

…Is a beautiful city right on the harbour of Oriental Bay on the southern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. The city skyline can be seen while walking down along the harbour. …Is Windy! and is full of all sort of plants, both indigenous and introduced. …Is the capitol city of New Zealand.
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Stafford House

I can remember sitting at my kitchen table back home in Groton, NY staring at what felt like an infinite number of options of where to live here in Wellington, New Zealand. I could flat with other uni students throughout the city, I could live with a family in the Wellington area, which would provide
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A drizzly, reflective evening…

The past two weeks have been busy with sunny weather, rainy weather, finishing up big trimester projects and organizing what time I have left way down here. As I had mentioned in a previous blog, I spent my mid trimester break back packing and hiking around the South Island. Despite the rain, I experienced some
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The Tongariro Crossing

10 Hours of astonishing sights, temperatures, and burning muscles… The Tongariro Crossing is known as “New Zealand’s Finest One Day Tramp” (tramping = hiking here). As the summer winds down and weather becomes more unpredictable, they allow fewer and fewer trampers up the crossing, as conditions can go from sleet and hail one moment to
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Half way…

I apologize for the lack of pictures in this upcoming blog… I promise that when I get a chance I will upload some pictures of the most recent adventures I’ve taken part in (Including a 10 hour hike of the Tongariro Crossing [see previous blog..] plus a 1500 m straight up climb to the top
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Just for Kicks…

Some Panoramas! (Afterall, who doesn’t like to look at pictures??) I just thought it would be fun to post up some panoramas of New Zealand that I’ve made: This is (most of) the city of Wellington! The picture is taken from Mt. Victoria- the highest point in Wellington- AND where a good deal of the
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Festivals Galore!

Hello again! Fall has arrived here in Wellington, and with fall comes rain. (Something that I hadn’t taken into consideration when packing all of my tank tops and tshirts) But despite the weather, New Zealand continues to provide fullfillment for the curious, adventurous individuals with a drive for experiencing such a brilliant culture! (Yay!) Aside
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A bit of New Zealand tradition, both “then” and “now”

I think that I might begin this blog with a couple more cultural aspects of New Zealand. Starting with: The Maori. I’m currently enrolled in a course called Maori Society and Culture, which after only 3 full lectures I have found to be incredibly interesting. The second day of class, we all went to the
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The Great Odyssey Continued…

Throughout the rest of the trip we pretty much switched from hiking to beaches… both white sand and black- both beautiful. The beaches often looked out into the ocean or into a beautiful torquoise-blue sea with islands in view, white-capped crashing waves along sharp but gorgeously shaped rocks, and tall, naturally carved cliffs with tall,
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The Great Odyssey

Things in New Zealand are still absolutely wonderful! The sun has been out the past few days, I went to a Maori welcoming ceremony, been noting all kinds of differences between New Zealand and the States, I’ve found some beautiful running routes, met my two flatmates, and classes offically began 27/Feb. However, first and formost-
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Driving on the left hand side of the road…

Good morning, everyone! (Sunday morning, that is…) The majority of you are probably waking up Saturday right now… crazy! I was thinking about dates the other day, and realized that if I were to have been born at the exact same moment, but here in New Zealand (or anywhere else past the dateline) I would
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From an entirely different sky…

I’m here! And it’s beautiful, and sunny… and a city. The trip over here went much more smoothly and was much more relaxed than I expected it to be. I drove up to Rochester airport in a snowstorm, checked my luggage, handed off my winter coat to my parents, and went through security… up until
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Three days and counting…

It wasn’t until just this morning that I realized how little time I have left here in America before I head down to live with the Kiwis for five months! Three days and whole wonderful medley of excitement, nerves and lists lists lists. Lists of what I have yet to do, to pack, people to
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Coming Soon!!

I will be in New Zealand and starting to blog soon!
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