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My trip to New Zealand - a country on the other side of the world

Kia Ora! My name is Charlotte and I'm 16 years old. In 2011 I've spent 4 and a half months in New Zealand. I lived in Dunedin, a pretty cool city with beautiful beaches and lovely small shops and also yellow-eyed penguins and seals next door. Going to school at St Hilda's -I must say that I enjoyed being surrounded by kiwi girls, the most friendliest teachers I've ever met and student wearing the typical Scottish uniform of the school. Me and my host family lived a wee bit apart from the city centre, I had a wonderful beach view out of my window in Brighton and it was only a few steps until touching the cold refreshing water and the sand with my feet. During my time in New Zealand I got to know a lot of different people, unbelievable places and the way ordinary kiwis live. :) By thinking back I must say that I'm so glad I had the chance to live there and got to love the country and it's nature as a glamorous jewel. This is me sitting on a thousand years old rock near the Catlins on the South-Island

Brighton sign on the road in front of my house

view all over Dunedin from the lunchroom at St Hilda's

I arrived at Dunedin airport on April 27th of 2011 after a 24 hours flight from Frankfurt to Singapore and then to Christchurch where I boarded a small airplane to Dunedin. Getting picked up by my host family and Maggie, the woman with the nice smile who is responsible for the international students at St Hilda's, was quite strange because even though I had skyped with my host family before I started my journey I certainly didn't know them very well. 2

St Hilda's sign next to the school archway and the bus stops where pupil from small villages used to pull in their cars

Studying at St Hilda's Collegiate School

Outdoor Education class year 12

Internationals and kiwi girls at 'buddy meeting' during lunch time

St Hilda's has about 400 students, and about 40 of them are Internationals from all over the world. We had girls from Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Austria, Germany and a lot other nationalities. I joined year 12 and had to choose six subjects. We had to take English, Maths and Physical Education which changes between Cooking and Health Education every term. The other three subjects weren't given, so I took Drama, History and Outdoor Education. My favourite subject was Drama, because our drama teacher was awesome and we did a lot of practically exercises and performed a Shakespeare play. It was lot of fun! As every school in NZ even St Hilda's had a school uniform of blue and green, the skirt was made in a Scottish style and some pupil wore buttons with their house sign on it or an award for something special they had achieved. During the week we had chapel, twice which is a little church in the school where we sang our school's hymn and pray. It was always nice to see how a school community can be so fused together and strong as it is the case at St Hilda's. The experience of being together as one big group was one of the most significant things I remember. We also had tutor group once a week: Girls from year 10 to year 13 came together to have fun and play some games or do a quiz to get to know each other better, even the tutor group teacher was nice and always brought sweets for us =) There's a lot more I remember about studying at St Hilda's, the teachers and pupil were all so friendly to each other that you have the impression they are your friends! And for the international students there was a 'buddy meeting' every Wednesday during lunch time with kiwi girls and Maggie, who organised presentations or supplied ingredients for the baking of cheese rolls. All in all I loved being surrounded by St Hilda's pupil, the teachers and even the sound of the bell ringing which was 5 abnormally loud! =)

Germans on the top of Dunedin Peninsula

Maggie's student office

Bowling night with all the Internationals

Me and my host sister April in school uniform on the driveway

Dunedin Railway Station is one of the beautiful old7 buildings and was built in 1906

Fortunately I had the chance to go to a real school formal as they're always shown in American films! I was quite excited and it turned out to be one of the best days I've ever had! We all had to dress up and organize a partner and when we arrived at Dunedin Town Hall, the school Principles welcomed everyone. The buffet was amazing and after tea we all got up to take photos and dance to the live music. It has been a wonderful evening! 8

St Hilda's Year 12 Formal

yellow- eyed penguine on the Peninsula

a group of seals chilling on the beach

sheep overlooking Dunedin's harbour

girls cayaking

Baldwin Street - the steepest street in the world is located in Dunedin

Celebrating my 16th Birthday in NZ

We built sand kiwi birds and ate Pavlova 12

Trips with my host family

Daytrip to the Moreaki Boulders

stop on the road

Me and my host family did a few day-trips to the Catlins and it's wonderful water falls and also to the famous Moreaki Boulders on the South Island. It was always a lot fun sitting in the car, singing songs from the radio together and having picknick and stops on beautiful fields. I am so glad that they showed me their country and explained 14 its differnet landscapes.

I got to know a lot of different people and also some Germans who attended St Hilda's,too. Now, half a year later, I'm still in contact with all of them and we'll catch up soon!

Me and Jule near the Catlins

North- and South- Island Tour with Flying Kiwis

Wai- O- Tapo Thermal Wonderland in Rotorua

During school holiday between Term 2 and Term 3 I did a guided tour all around the North- and South- Island of New Zealand. There were many other international students, especially from Italy! We visited the famous places and traveled from Auckland to Wellington, crossed the sea on a ferry and then travelled all the way down to Christchurch, Lake Tekapo and Wanaka until two weeks had past by and we arrived in Dunedin. In some cities we were able to do bungy jumping or sky diving and even dolphin swimming and whale watching which were the things I preferred to do! We visited New Zealand's national museum 'Te Papa' and learned more about the Maori culture. Even the place where 'Lord of the Rings' was filmed was on our way. It has been two weeks full of excitements and experiences! And I think everyone ought to know how beautiful the wild nature is! 20

wild dolphins in the sea

smelly mud pool

Maori village in Blenheim

Puzzling World in Wanaka

Whale Watching in Kaikoura

Queenstown's harbour at night

New Zealand's national museum 'Te Papa'

Rugby game in the new stadium in Dunedin

View all over Wanaka from its top

Cadbury Chocolate, Milo and TimTams

Me and the neighbour's dog Toby on the beach

View from my window at home in NZ

St Clair Beach with friends of mine

Back to Germany Even the thought of flying back to Germany brought tears into my eyes. I had to leave all the people I got to know behind, my host parents, my host sister, the kiwi girls at St Hilda's, the Internationals and also the teachers! When the door of the airplane closed I finally had to realise that this is done, but in my heart a part of myself is still in New Zealand. Emails and Skype make it easier to keep in touch and I promised myself to go back one day, but at this point I take it as the best time I've ever had! 28

Me and Kathi: We love New Zealand =)

Having dinner at Vapiano in M端nster with NZ and some German girls

29from Stefannie

Die Fjordlands auf der S端dinsel - ganz wie in Norwegen 30

Der Bahnof von Dunedin 31

St. Clair's Beach in Dunedin 32