I cannot believe that this is the final week of required blogs for this amazing semester abroad. As I have done after returning home from Dublin last summer, I am certain that I will be revisiting these blogs occasionally to reminisce on all of the memories that I made over these four months.

My fifth week in Auckland was somewhat underwhelming by the standards of every other week I have spent abroad, but I feel that this is a major testament to how well I optimized my free weekends during this semester. The workweek was relatively normal as I continued to work on different projects at Tomahawk including social media posts for a motel company, researching and drafting a blog all about Tonga (which I now desperately want to visit), and writing search engine headlines for UNICEF New Zealand. This was also Sophie’s final week in New Zealand so we made sure to grab lunch one of the days and Renee brought different treats to the office to celebrate.

After the workweek ended on Thursday due to Good Friday, Dom, Ryan, and I did some exploring in Auckland and set out for a night market that Dom’s coworkers had recommended we see before leaving. This market was unlike anything I had ever seen: carnival food-like stands in the bottom of a parking garage. There were many different options for food to try but ultimately I choose to have a BBQ pork bun that was very delicious. We looked through all of the souvenirs that vendors were also selling before ultimately calling it a night.

The Auckland Night Market

While Easter weekend initially presented itself as a great time to travel, the ominous forecast I had been watching all week made me pause my plans to visit Rotorua until I had a better idea of how the weather would cooperate. Strangely unfortunately, while thunderstorms were forecasted all weekend, only light showers came through the north island. meaning that I could have definitely made a trip work. While my initial plan didn’t happen, it was nice to have a quieter weekend to catch up on sleep, try and rest my way through a small cold, and enjoy a little downtime.

On Friday, Dom, Ryan, and I went to a bowling alley close to the accommodation which was a fun way to spend part of our evening, even if I had one of my worst bowling performances that I can remember. Thankfully my second game was much better, but I am definitely out of practice and may need to try and find some chances to fix that this summer when I get home.

Please ignore how poorly I bowled in this first game

Sunday was Easter and after missing mass the first time I spent the holiday in New Zealand 8 years ago, I made sure to go to this time. I found a cathedral about a 20 minute walk from the accommodation but was very surprised to see few people dressed up as I walked there. Once I entered, I was once again surprised and felt as though I was very overdressed, a big contrast to what I see at church back home in the US. Most people wore t-shirts with jeans, making me (no joke) one of only two people I saw wearing a blazer and tie. This was probably the biggest cultural difference that I have experienced in my entire time abroad, especially since the mass itself was very similar to what I am used to back home. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the experience and realized that this was also one of the first times that I have attended church alone, but still felt welcomed even if my clothes may have made me stand out.

An image of the Cathedral. I didn’t want to take a picture with everyone inside but I recommend looking at some photos because it was pretty nice there

That night, Ryan, Dom, and 2 of the 3 guys from W&L (who had just gotten back from Japan) and I all went out for Easter dinner. We went to the Lula Inn where I enjoyed a very Easter-y mimosa and had a delicious steak for dinner. It was very nice to have almost all of the New Zealand guy interns together since the W&L guys have been traveling during the duration of the semester, but I gained a lot of insights about things to do in the many places that they had the chance to travel to. After dinner, we went to an ice cream store with the most elaborate cones that I have ever seen and enjoyed some delicious New Zealand ice cream to end the night.

The crazy ice cream cone shapes at the very good ice cream shop

While I still have about three more weeks worth of time abroad, I can’t help but feel as though everything is coming to an end. I am extremely excited for my plans to finally return to Queenstown and make my first visit to Fiji, but I also realize that this means I am just about finished with my Auckland sightseeing. As much as I loved Sydney and missed it during the first week here, I have come to really like Auckland and am sure that I will miss it as well in the near future when I am back home. The standout moments included seeing both Rangitoto and Waiheke islands, lounging at Mission Bay, enjoying great food down by the harbor, and seeing the Milky Way out in Coromandel. While Sydney was full of quieter weekends where I would join whoever was headed to the beach, I feel that my time in Auckland has been very intentional and I feel that I have seen just about everything I had hoped by this point. I am very excited for all of the adventures I’ll have in my final two weekends but am also very excited to be closer to home after spending so much of my last 12 months in different places around the world.