The perks of being an international student x

Heaps of people I met during my stay in NZ, but also before I left Germany say, it's hard to leave your "old home" and family and loved ones behind, to go live in a totally different and new country on the other side of the world. But to be honest, and I know what I'm talking about, it is even harder to be yanked out of your new old life, the life with all the people and the new family and new surroundings that you've just gotten used to, only to go back to Germany. It's like being ripped in half. While eventually my body must go back to Germany, finish school and stuff, my heart and soul will forever be drawn to NZ and all the amazing people I got to meet. I love all my new old friends so dearly and I've spent the best year with those people.
I promise I'll come back - come back for everybody's wedding, for mc donalds runs and for the monthly shopping trips to Wellington. For the gem stones, for GNOs, for new years at Riversdale and for my (host) family obviously.

Wairarapa College was THE BEST DECISION I could have ever made in my life when it comes to schools. Not only was it a totally different experience to my school in Germany (Uniforms, subjects and timetable etc), but also I had the advantage of being thrown into a new life, new culture, new language, new everything, WITHOUT a "German buddy" (aka. other German exchange students). While I bet it's nice to have someone to talk to, especially in the beginning when everything is plain new, it will only restrict you from the possibilities you have. People end up hanging around only with other exchange students, what eventually prohibits them from actually learning the language and getting to know new people.
So do yourself (and your parents who are paying for you to learn English in NZ) a favor and DO NOT HANG OUT WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS! Make your own memories and experiences and don't be afraid to make mistakes.
I myself had to "describe" the words I was looking for in the beginning. My sentences would constantly be interrupted by me trying to explain the word I was looking for. But people didn't mind. They helped me with words and expressions and after a while everything was easier.

I love you all guys xxx
13 PEOPLE IN PARTICULAR X

Singapur Airport

Oh yes i love being on the plane with like
NO GOD DAMNE F****ING ROOM FOR MY INCREDIBLE LONG LEGS AND YOU CANT SLEEP BECAUSE THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU IS TAKING UP ALL THE ROOM ON THE ARM LEAN AND YOURE JUST WATCHING MOVIES FOR 10 HOURS AND ARGH
anyway apart from that it was alright.
We arrived in singapur about 2 or 3 hours ago i dont quite know to be honest ...
since then we havent really done anything,  we found free wifi and somewhere to charge phones and laptops and we also walked around a bit but its mostly just boring.

the next flight leaves at 23:55 tonight, so we have about 6 hours of waiting.
Just wanting to keep all the peeps up to date :)))

Singapur Airport, boredom selfie :)

30kg on the dot hahahah :) well packed
and goodbye welly :(

YUMMY FOOD
jokes it was disgusting...

läuft bei ihm (wort wörtlich er hatte Nasenbluten) 

are you on drugs, plane?

socializing level: 21st century

TWO MORE DAYS OMG OMG OMG

Hey guys (: so this is probably one of my last posts on this blog since i am going home in two days. 

wow in tow days, thinking about it makes my heart hurt (literally) 

but i also dont realize it to be honest, like i can not imagine it so it seems really unreal :) 

any way this is my goodbye-internation-exchange-speech what ever you want to call it. 

I was supposed to present it this week tuesday but they cancelled the assembly so there is no chance to me to make my speech :( its really sad especially because this speech is so cool and lots of my teachers like it (the ones who have read it anyway)

I hope you guys like it :) 

Learning another language, learning how to think, being independent, finding your own way through a foreign country, making friends, experiencing a different culture, acquiring academic qualifications, having unforgettable experiences and memories – in a nutshell expanding your perspective.

Hello my name is Paula Budde and I am from Germany, Hamburg aka a Hamburger. J

I’m speaking in assembly today about my year in New Zealand.

“Going to live your Life in a different country is like having the opportunity to reinvent yourself, to create a new you and a new life, you can be anyone and do anything you want if you just give it a chance.

So why should you go on an exchange, why reinvent yourself, there are many reasons!

If you weren’t happy with yourself before, you can go and be someone else, be whoever you want to, create a new you and in the end you might change to be that ‘better’ person.

You will not only make many memories but you will also experience a completely different lifestyle to your usual one, but thanks to those experiences you make during your stay in a different country you will grow up. Getting to know different school systems , you will develop greater self-awareness and self-confidence and you will be more motivated and open for changes. You will experience and learn how to deal with yourself and your emotions.

Furthermore you will develop tolerance and open-mindedness towards a foreign country and there culture and way of living.

However a stay abroad also means that you need to challenge yourself and solve problems and difficulties on your own. You will become more mature and learn how to stand on your own feet, how to act and behave without your parents and how to make the right or sometimes the wrong decisions by yourself.

It also requires great self-confidence and braveness and you need to believe in yourself that everything is going to work out even if at that moment it doesn’t seem like it.

Going to live in a country that is not your home country is a huge step no matter for how long you plan to go, whether it’s three months, half a year or even a year or longer, you will more or less always face the same struggles and emotions. It can be your biggest change, I come from Hamburg with 1,6 Mio. Inhabitants and I came to Masterton and thought “omg where did they put me” the bus in front of my door goes every 5 minutes and another one every 20 the subway aka train goes every 3min and I can pretty much ride my bike everywhere because nothing really is ‘far away’. I never wore school uniforms and suddenly I am, I never saw a school bus in my life, next minute im catching one every morning. There can be so many changes when you go on an exchange, and you might find that you don’t always like those changes but you will get used to and start appreciating them.

As for me I arrived at WaiCol and I didn’t know anyone. I was scared and embarrassed that I couldn’t speak English as well as everyone else. I didn’t know who to hang out with or even where the toilets were. But thanks to some amazing people at this school I learnt how to ‘live a normal life’ quite easily and quickly.

When my parents told me I was going to go on an exchange for half a year I was totally unhappy and angry because they had decided that without even asking if I wanted to do it. When the time came and I was on my way to New Zealand on a 30 hour trip I got really excited and I wanted to finally arrive and start my new life.

It is amazing how much my perspective and way of thinking and living has changed over the year I have been here. I like it so much, I even stayed half a year longer than originally planned. Going on this exchange was one of the best things that has ever happened to me in my whole life so far. This might seem a bit like an over exaggeration but to be honest it’s the truth.

I don’t know if all of you know but I am leaving next Friday and thinking about not being able to meet up with Seraphine and go to Maccas or calling a friend or going to parties with friends makes me really sad and I realize that my time is up. Small things like not walking around the corner and meeting a person you know that always walks around the same corner after 3^rd period is a huge thing for me. If you go on an exchange you will face the problem of letting go not only when you leave your real family and old school to go on a new adventure in a different country but also when you need to let go of the new life that you just got used to and go back to your old life.

I have met amazing people here, beautiful inside and out, I have great memories with them and thinking about those makes me sad and happy at the same time I have experienced a completely different culture and a different school system, I realized that school isn’t just about learning things, studying 24/7 and getting the best grades or the most credits. It’s also about socializing with friends and teachers about a good learning atmosphere about being happy. Whenever I see someone sad in class the teacher goes up to them and asks if everything is all right. I have never seen that before I came to New Zealand.I also realized how important school is for me especially. I realized what real friendship is, I realized how important your family is and how much they support you even when you don’t notice it. I learnt a lot of life lessons this year that I will never forget.  

So if you really want to go on an exchange, and I advise everyone to at least try it for a short period of time, then you better start saving up now.

I’d really suggest everybody doing it, I promise you, you’ll not regret it. You will make some of the most amazing memories you will experience a new culture and undoubtedly you will make amazing friends that will always have a part in your heart.

Your exchange country, wherever you might go, will not just be a land for you anymore but a second home.

“Going on an exchange is like being a computer game, and you are the creator”

UNIFORM

another day another post
this one about uniforms at my school.

we have different uniforms for winter and wummer season as well as for boys and girls and PREFECTS. and we also have a junior (year 9,10,11) and a senior (12,13) uniform which is just a different colored shirt.
If i was you i would totally buy my uniform second hand because goooosh it's expensive!
If youre cold in winter then you can buy a school jacket or school umbrella or rain jacket, anything really as long as its black or navy blue and doesnt have a label on it.

SENIOR GIRLS:
WINTER:
#black or dark blue tights
#black polishable shoes, not to be worn over the ankle
#dark green and blue plaid skirt
#white long sleeved shirt (sky blue long sleeved shirt for juniors)
#navy tie with red, yellow and blue stripes
#blue jersey with the school logo
optional:
#navy,red,yellow striped scarf
We can wear the school jersey any time of the year as an option. We don't have to though.

SUMMER:
#white socks instead of tights
#black polishable shoes
#blue skirt
#white short sleeved shirt with dark blue details (white and blue striped for juniors)
#no tie
#no scarf
#school jersey if you're not too hot
#in summer most girls wear bike shorts underneath

We also have a sports uniform, so if you plan on doing sports in nz you will have to buy
a PE (physical and practical education) shirt and waicol shorts.

Furthermore we are not aloud any jewelry.
No bracelet no hair ribbons or bands
No necklace no tattoos or piercings in the face
No nothing.
One earring on each ear is the maximum. although i have to admit i don't follow that rule..

PE UNIFORM

timetable swaggity

HEYYYYY
maybe some new people today because study nelson asked me if i wanted to be a buddy and yeeeh i gave them the link to this  blog so this is like a win win situation because that means i get more popular hahahahhaha no jokes, but it means that i haaaavvvveee to try be more regular with my updates ha.
win - win situation everybody

anyway so since this is sort of my new zealand diary and ill be looking back at this one day and show my kids and friends i thought i put some 'general information' online.

NEW ZEALAND TIMETABLE AND SCHOOL
this is my new zealand timetable
it looks very colorful and nice and like i randomly colored the different boxes in colors but it actually is a quite clever system the schools in new zealand here have.

so one color represents one subject.
every student has six different subjects.
one day has 5 subjects, two breaks and two times form time ill explain what that is later.
The subjects are systematically ordered in a two weeks circle (10 days)
one period is 55min long.
We have two periods in the morning then Interval (20min break); then two more periods and then Lunch for 50min and one period in the afternoon.

I ALWAYS have the green subject (media studies) after the pink subject (sport studies) that NEVER changes! Each day all the subjects just move one slot up but the general structure of the day stays the same. So on DAY 1 i have: Period 1 Photography and Period 2 Drama Period 3 OutdoorEd etc. on DAY 2 everything moves up one slot, so its: Period 1 Drama Period 2 OutdoorEd and Period 3 Sportstudies. I dont have Photography on that day because i had it first period on the day before. On day three ill have it last and i wont have drama etc.


Everyday except Wednesday is structured the same as you can see on the photo below.
Wednesdays are special because (my school) has a late start. School starts one period later and the whole day is different but dont worry about that unless you go to Wairarapa College :)


DO you get it?



GOUP TIME, SSR AND HOUSES
The whole school including teachers and students is divided into 6 houses (like harry potter)
every house has a special color.
every house is divided again into several Group classes.
Every group class has one teacher and some students from year 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 mixed.
in our school the house names are mountains in the wairarapa the area where i live.
Aorangi - blue
Maungarake - red
Remutaka - orange
Rangitumau - purple
Puketoi - yellow
Tararua - green

The houses compete against each other in competitions like: singing, swimming, athletics etc. (look for the blog post athletics day)
So im in Aorangi and my Group class is AORBD (BD is my teacher) We meet every day after period 1 in the same classroom for a catch up and to hear the daily notices about whats going on in school, which teams play on the weekend or if we have a performance from the music department.
Group time goes for 20min
After lunch we meet again for silent significant reading, 15min long. you need to be completely quiet and read a book or magazine etc.


SCHOOL YEAR:
the whole year is divided into 4 terms.
the school year starts in January
between each term we have two weeks of holiday except between term 4 and term 1 we have 6 weeks summer holiday.
Final exams are in term 4 so if i was only going for half a year dont go term 3 and 4 because they will be doing exams and its boooooring.

HAHAHHA GOOD JOKE

Seraphines little birthday

hey ho 

lets go

welcome to the choco show

this post is dedicated to my dear best (new zealand) friend, 

Seraphine Rochery 

she is one of the most amazing people ever

it was her 18th birthday in the holidays and here are some snap shots for you :)

ENJOY

happy 18th birthday, the glas was a present from steph and it is so thick that even if it falls to down it
won't break :) she got two of them haha

all us girls lining up on the table in seraphine's parents cafe in carterton :)
it was private function and we had the cafe to ourselves, so we got dressed up with make up and heels and everything.
from the left: Delaney, Steph, Lucy, Justine, Israel, Eden, Seraphine (middle) Kaitlin, Me, Kate, Grace, Kiera

all lined up again (:
Delaney, Lucy, Me, Kaitlin, Kiera, Eden, Seraphine, Grace, Kate, Justine, Israel and Steph :)
all dressed up and everyone is wearing heels except me :(
nevermind.

daily post #2

Yeeeeah
so this is daily post number two..stress on the daily because its not really daily..its been about two weeks since i last posted something and man i know it sounds like a bad excuse but our wifi..dont even get me started :) :(
Anyway this post is a bit about whats been going on lately a whole bunch of photos not related or connected to each other just stuff i wanted to share with friends and family.

also i wanted to let you all know that it is just another 47 days until i leave. crazy stuff aye :o

AND
an italian friend of mine posted this on facebook and i thought it was cool so ill share it with you haha:
chiudere gli occhi e vedere solo lacrime.... spero che questo periodo passi velocemente.

Summer Uniform (scarf if its cold )

Photo i took of the horse (:

me and the bobbie <3 

massive gummibears hahaha

we all know what happens if you put haribo into water. it gets massive hehe 

aw oskar :)

my little hamburg 

meee 

haha

our artroom has the newest macs you can get haha (: (we got new ones yesterday and this photo is a week old) and tayla and me changed the background picture hahaha :)

LILY's BIRTHDAY

CAKE
this is lilys birthday cake.
her birthday was on the 15th of April
ANZAC day
a very special day
yeah...
haha

well enjoy

ps. added a little childhood joke everyone knows hahaha

Wellington Waterfront - at night

daily post #1
a little add on to the north island tour post since i only got the photos from my friend today
i just want to say: Mutti wenn ich wieder in hamburg bin dann geh ich diese freundin noch in den sommerferien besuchen, Dankeschön :))))
This is Maria from Austria, Me and Hanna fron Germany by the blackforest

NORTH ISLAND TOUR

Hey ho!

So its holidays since last Thursday now and I already had some nice memories that I will remember forever, because I went on the north island trip with NZ direct!

We caught the flight to Auckland and drove down with the bus all the way to wellington in about 6 days and 5 nights! Me and everyone else probably had a great great time!

Ill do everything in one post now because I already loaded the photos and it would just be extra effort to separate them and ach I don’t know whatever one tour one blog post!

AUCKLAND

Our flight to Auckland city was on Friday morning 8am. We had to wait another half an hour because some people from nelson were late..

Arrived in Auckland it was soo hot! It was supposed to be stormy and cold so no one brought summer clothing! And then It was god damn hot up there!

We had a rushed morning tbh.  (tbh=to be honest)

First we had to run down to the harbour to be on time for the activity America’s Cup Sailing! If was amazing! We went sailing for about 2 and a half hours with the best view of Auckland city and surroundings! Wow Auckland skyline is so amazing!

But windy and I was afraid to drop my camera all the time haha!

Then later on I had to find my way to the sky tower, the tallest building in new Zealand!

I had booked the stupidest and most terrifying activity ever, the skytower walk. It was so high and there were no hand rails and the platform we were walking on was so small! Also It was only me from our group because no one else had booked it! But I guess it was really worth it since I had the best adrenaline shock and the bestest view ever! No cameras were aloud though so I had to buy the photos they were taking themselves for like 30$ grrr

After that the whole group met downstairs and we went up all together again but this time on the inside platform where it was save and there was glass all around! We had such a beautiful view, it was slowly getting dark so we could see all the night lights of Auckland! I got some good photos and some less good photos since cameras hate taking sharp photos when it’s to dark J

That was the first and last day in Auckland and because it was Good Friday NO SHOP WAS OPEN NO GOD DAMN SHOP IN THE WHOLE CITY! NO SHOPPING IT WAS SO DEPRESSING NOTHING NOOOOTHING WAS OPEN OMG!

Yeah so we went to sleep and everyone was so tired! We only had two plugs to charge our phones and cameras which was really bad because everyone had to charge everything haha J In the end we managed it somehow and then went straight to sleep (I took a shower)  The next morning we had to get up really early to go on the bus to Whitianga a small town in between rotorua and auckland!

the crew on one of those sailing boats normally is 19 people, we only had 5 therefore we had to help :)

scary angle right there :)

Me with Auckland Skyline in the background

Auckland Skyline

View from the Skytower

Skytower view 

Peer, Philipp and Julius

Skytower view with Auckland bridge :) 

Auckland at Night

WHITIANGA

So the next day we arrived in this little town around mid day! We had to rush straight away to a bone carving workshop which started at 12:30pm..as I said this tour was a bit rushed because we only had 6 days time..

That workshop was about carving one of those Maori shaped necklaces. It was quite interesting and funny. But also it was so surprising that we took about 2 hours to finish our necklace. It was bone therefore the necklace is white and I think im going to give it to Lilly J its her birthday tomorrow!!

After that we went to the hostel which was called turtle cove accommodation. Weird name. Straight after that we grabbed our togs and towels and went to the hot thermal beach! It was pretty cool, except the fact that I forgot my togs (because I thought it was going to be rainy and stormy and we wouldn’t go swimming anyway) so I just took photos and went for a walk. It was pretty cool anyway because there was the most beautiful scenery I ever saw after nelson of course, beach and mountains together and an amazing reflection on the wet sand!!!

About 5 everyone went back to the bus and we drove home.. It was a late night with movies and much laughter. I went to bed pretty early and didn’t really made the effort to socialize because I was really tired and we had to get up early again the next morning to go horse riding! That was pretty slag in the end because we only walked, but it was nice scenery…we left the town at one pm in the end and made our way to smelly town Rotorua.

the beach right by our hostel :)

Bone carving workshop, first step.

everyone really concentrated..

second step..

last step :)

so many people. it was extremely crowed because it was school holidays and easter..

burchard, luckas and our tour assistant sonja in one of the self made hot pools :)

a m a z i n g 

that reflection..

ROTORUA

The next morning we arrived in smelly town Rotorua!

No one liked it. Everyone was complaining straight away about the smell, but surprisingly for everyone (except me because I was there before) the smell faded as we got used to it. We had a hostel with a pool, it was sooo cool. Everyone went in the pool and it was so nice and hot and raining! Just perfect after a long bus tour!

Rotorua was the only city were we stayed two nights. The first day we didn’t do much except lying in the pool, sorting out rooms and we went to have a nice dinner in the restaurant. Yummy!

After that we chilled in the pool until about 10:30pm and then went in out room to continue chilling and talking.

By that time the groups were pretty much made. Like who was hanging out with who and stuff like that. My ‘friend group’ for the tour was mixed boys and girls. Their names were Anna, Lisa who are from Dunedin, Peer, Philipp, Maria and Juli who are from Nelson, Hannah from Christchurch and me. We had really good times together in and after rotorua and we would stay awake until late night and keep everyone awake hahaha J

The second day in rotorua started with a rather early morning for all the people (including me) who went to hobbit land! It was exciting, so so so exciting. We arrived and then we saw all the places where the movie was filmed. We also got told some stuff about why there and all the contracts the people who owned the land had to sign. Well yeah it was incredibly exciting because now if I watch the movie ill be able to say:  I WAS THERE!!!

The same day after lunch Hannah, Anna, Peer, Juli, Philipp, Alex, Lucas, Burchard and me went to the ZORB, we rolled down a hill in massive plastic bags which was also really funny. But we had to wait so so long until it was our turn…so many people and it also was a rather nice day so everyone thought: why not do the zorb! Grrr

After the zorb we hung out in the pool (again yes) until we met to go to the maori dinner I already visited with my parents. It was pretty much the same but the bus driver was not as funny as the other one I had with my parents. BUUUT everyone including me loved the food, it was one of the best meals in ages, finally some meat and other vegetables J On the way back to the hostel we sung (mum dad if you remember) but only we the germans were singing. Without a break we would sing 99 ballons or auf einer straße nach berlin, das beste etc etc. only german songs and it was funny.

After that we hung out in the pool for another time and we stayed up until 2am J J J

The next morning unfortunately was our last morning in smelly town and we had to say goodbye. We left at 7am to go to Windy Welly and everyone was already a bit sad because we knew it was our last bus ride, the last full day together…

only photos of the hobbit land :)

complete hobbiten..

one out of 45 hobbit holes :)

and another one..

view from the top over to the green dragon..

face oak tree..

famous sign..

proud peer and philipp. small as hobbits or :p

all the nzdirect people who went to hobbit land dancing :) 

group photo (:

this way to the legendary green dragon cafe :o

beautiful..

another group photo on the stone bridge,

inside the green dragon cafe is a green dragon oho haha :) 

 WELLINGTON

The bus rides all together were pretty boring I have to say, I slept half the time and we watched quite a lot of movies. Peer and me had the back seat with 5 seats (for tall people because we could stretch out legs) and then Juli and Philipp each had a two seater on the left hand side of the bus and Lisa and Anna too but on the right side J

That bus trip was sort of really confortable because for once I was able to stretch my legs out and actual have a good sleep.

 By the way:

Anna Lisa maria and Hannah and me are girls

Peer, Juli and Philipp are boys.

Just saying in case you didn’t get it right the first time J

We arrived in wellington one hour too late so the shops were closed already, how unfortunate L But we went to a Chinese dinner and it was alright, I became better friends with Hannah and maria and now we are already talking about meeting up in nelson sometime J

After that some people went to the movies and others went to the waterfront J I went for a walk along the waterfront and we took beautiful photos J!!

It was a funny last night, we ate ice cream at 11pm and played cards J

The next morning we went to the te papa and then had some time to go shopping J!

It was a beautiful day but unfortunately we had to say goodbye to everyone..

I miss them already and im looking forward to seeing some of them again soon no matter if in nelson or in Germany J f

SEEE YOU SOOON PEOPLEEEEEE

Ps. I nearly missed my train home