As my incredible study abroad experience comes to a close, I was incredibly excited for one last major event: traveling to Fiji. While I have been abroad and have visited so many different places, it is crazy for me to realize that I have done all of this travel within only two countries to this point. This all changed over the weekend.

After a 4:30 am alarm, Sienna and I were off to the Auckland airport by 5 to ensure we would be at our gate with plenty of time to spare. Once we got there, I was able to check in after not being able to do so online and had a small stroke of luck when I was assigned to a comfort plus seat on the flight. Even better, there was nobody sitting in the middle seat of my row giving me the most leg room that I have ever had on a flight, even if it was only about 3 hours to Fiji. Nonetheless, I sprawled out and watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower for the very first time and absolutely loved the movie.

Economy Plus Seat Experience on Fiji Airways

Once we landed, we were greeted by two locals playing island music in the customs area. We were extremely lucky to get through customs with next to no line and shortly departed for our resort afterwards. Along the way, our shuttle driver stopped at two stores for us to pick up essentials that we needed and taught us facts about the country. The further we traveled, the more surprised I was by Fiji’s mountainous landscape, very different from the sprawling white sand beached I expected to see as we flew into the country. We eventually made it to the dock where the boat took us to the resort island and met Ryan on the beach. It didn’t take long for us to get in the water as we grabbed kayaks and headed towards a lighthouse off the shore. As the sun went down, we split a pizza before heading back to the mainland to see if there were any other points of interest for us to explore in the main town. When nothing specific caught our attention, we stopped at McDonalds for milkshakes and went back to Belo Vula. With the extremely early start to the day and lack of activities to do once the sun had set, we all chose to call it an early night and were in bed before 8 pm.

The view of mainland Fiji from the resort

Nighttime picture at our resort

While we had an early bedtime, this also pushed us to start our Sunday morning early as well. After a quick breakfast, the 3 of us returned to our kayaks and set out on a journey to make a full lap around the island. While we were prepared to be on the water for some time, we did not realize just how large the island we were on truly was. In total, it took us nearly two hours to make a full lap of the island though we took breaks and made stops when we saw interesting wildlife and calm waters to wade in. It was amazing how clear the water was and we were able to see a handful of different coral and fish species as we made our way around the island.

Starfish in the ocean along one of the beaches of the resort

Following lunch, we all relaxed on the beach for a few hours. Since I did not have the chance to buy a new book before the trip, I became a little restless and went back to the main pavilion for a brief period of time when I spotted something on the table: an old and very well-used acoustic guitar. I kindly asked the bartender if I could borrow it and was luckily told yes. I returned to the beach and found myself strumming the rusty strings for nearly two hours, relying on muscle memory to try and remember songs that I could in fact play on the old instrument. Eventually my fingers had enough but I truly enjoyed having an instrument in my lap as I looked out over the bay toward mainland Fiji.

As the sun began to set, we all went out to the boat dock where we watched the sky and enjoyed the general lack of urgency that we felt on the island. As this happened, we saw a faint rainbow appear in the sky, adding to the image of Fiji that we had all perceived prior to arriving to the country. We stayed on the dock talking and enjoying the warm weather until it got dark.

The rainbow we saw as the sun began to set

Sunset from the dock

That night, we each decided to order a medium pizza in three different flavors to try and determine which was best. We ordered one margarita, one barbeque chicken, and one mazala pie and all three were delicious. We ended up having about a half of a pizza left over between the three of us which attracted the attention of a cat and the large group of goats that call the island home. The pool deck where we had been enjoying our evening quickly felt like a zoo, but we this only added to our cultural immersion. Shortly after we called it a night.

Monday was nearly a full beach day. Since there was no specific time that the resort needed us to check out, we decided to enjoy the beach for the majority of the day once again. While I wish I had brought a book with me, I did not feel a constant need for something else to capture my attention. While IO had bought a gigabyte of data for my phone while in Fiji, I spent most of my time keeping my phone on airplane mode, enjoying being unplugged from the rest of the world for a few days. It was nice to have a few days where the biggest concern on my mind was what meal I wanted to choose to eat on the resort’s menu.

We eventually went back to Nadi airport and since our flight had been delayed by half an hour, decided to grab dinner at a sit-down restaurant outside of security. My dinner was surprisingly one of the best burgers that I have had in my entire semester abroad, likely elevated by the amazing few days I had just had. After doing some airport souvenir shopping, we got through security and customs (although an unfortunately timed power surge extended our wait). We spent the next hour waiting to board and ready to head back to Auckland. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed roughly an hour due to the plane getting in later than scheduled but we eventually made it back to Auckland and quickly were in an Uber back to our accommodation.

While Fiji was very different that I had initially envisioned, the country grew on my pretty quickly. It reminded me a lot of Roatan Honduras where I had traveled with my family in high school. Both vacations consisted of us staying primarily at one main place and becoming regulars at one single place for our meals. Both countries also had incredibly hospitable people who were extremely welcoming and made the trips feel all the more enjoyable.

While this was my final weekend abroad, I don’t think there could have been a better way to spend it. I feel rejuvenated to push through the final week of my internship while still being very excited to return home. I’ll be wrapping up my final few projects over the next few days, purchasing the final souvenirs, and packing the few items that still need to be packed, all while trying to enjoy the last few glances at Auckland’s interesting skyline.