The Flying Kiwi

Summer school experiences, Swedish boyfriends and European travel were all talking points for an early morning call to Pia, a 22-year-old Law and Sociology graduate from New Zealand.

Quick fire random questions

The beach or ski slopes

The beach - I’m a beach bum at heart and love to be near the ocean.

Cocktails or a cup of tea

Cocktails - Only because rooftop bars normally have great views but don’t serve tea!

Travel solo or travel with someone 

With someone - I like to share experiences, whether it be with my partner or really great friend Vik!

Aisle seat or window seat 

Window seat for long haul flights (because I like to lean on the window when I sleep). Aisle seat for when I know I’ll spend most of the flight awake because asking people to get up for me makes me feel bad.

On a plane: Read a book or watch a film 

Watch a film - Unfortunately, I am prone to motion sicknesses and have always struggled to read on flights.

Hostels or hotels 

Hotels - I am my mother’s child and like my sleeping area clean, quiet and private.

City centre or countryside retreat 

City centre - I’m a city girl and I need the ambient hum of other people. (The silence of the countryside freaks me out at night haha).

Photos: Go pro or smart phone 

Go pro - I love the little go-pro video/vlog type things some of my friends make and you can’t make those if you’re worried about your smartphone getting wet!

Hot tub or swimming pool 

Swimming pool - This sounds dumb, but hot tubs get too hot if you’re in them for too long.

Lie in or get up early 

Lie in - I’m on holiday to relax, not to yawn.

Hot air ballooning or sky diving 

Hot air balloons! But my partner is afraid of heights, so I guess this is the kind of trip he won’t come on.

Mountain climbing or scuba diving 

Scuba diving - Again, I love the ocean. But also, I hate the idea of fish touching me, so I get a little squeamish when I’m actually among sea life.

Beach walk or forest walk 

Beach walk <3 <3 <3

Posh Afternoon tea or brunch

Brunch - I want brunch to be served at my wedding. Who doesn’t want hash browns?

Summer school

Taking the opportunity to travel internationally, taste delicious local cuisine and meet new people from different cultures and countries, is an amazing experience. However, some future explorers may want a little security or the people around them that speak the same language. If this is the case, consider applying for summer schools. They form the perfect playground for international adventures.

At university, you are sometimes bombarded with numerous emails and naturally it is easy just to ignore them, especially if the subject begins with a module code. But sometimes what is contained within those emails can be awesome opportunities.

For Pia, this was certainly the case when she checked her university inbox and saw the chance to study at an international summer school. On top of that, her university would pay the full cost of return flights, 2 weeks on-campus accommodation and the programme fees. Which meant she would only need to take some spending money.

After some research into the different summer schools, Pia applied to study politics, media and culture in southeast Asia, at the University of Nottingham (Malaysia Campus).

A screenshot of the email I received which is still saved to my cloud.

On a routine bus journey to university in Auckland, Pia decided to check her emails. To her sheer delight, she saw the subject line of an email which read ‘congratulations’ which could only mean one thing. She had been successful!

With the stresses that come with third year of university and the first proper year in law school, there were tears of joy and excitement.

“It felt even more amazing to get into the summer school in Malaysia because university had not been what I had expected but suddenly, everything changed with that email.”

This was the first time Pia had flown on her own and to a South East Asian country which was not the Philippines.

Homesickness was something Pia had to contend with, which previously limited her ability to travel long haul. Saying that, even travelling short distances with her brother, to see her cousin in Australia, would leave Pia feeling homesick.

At the weekend students had free time to relax. Pia and her friends were keen to make the most of what was around them and booked a weekend trip to explore Penang, located towards the North West coast of Malaysia.

As a second-generation Filipino, it was the first time Pia had ever experienced being taught by someone who looked like her. A Malaysian/Chinese lecture in this instance.

During her time in Malaysia, Pia felt like she fit in. Taxi drivers would speak to her in Malay (the local language) and then ask where she was from. Her response of ‘the Philippines’ would lead the taxi drivers to state that Malaysia and the Philippines are pretty much the same thing. These exchanges left Pia feeling accepted, especially because when she has travelled to other countries, she has always been considered as the minority.

International Summer School 2018: University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.

The summer school in Malaysia was totally different to anything she had experienced previously. Her confidence increased and sparked excitement to travel more in the future.

Malaysia was a life changing experience for Pia and it was the first travel experience where she felt she was not ready to go home yet, as she was still enjoying herself.

Visiting Europe

Life changing experiences come in many forms. In Pia’s case, it was that she met her current boyfriend, now of over 2 years, at summer school. A blonde haired, green eyed, Swedish guy.

It is down to Pia’s boyfriend, that she has travelled to; Copenhagen, Aarhus, Lund, Helsingborg, London and Rome. She previously had no desire to visit Europe, considering it overpriced, but now she sees why people love Europe for its history, architecture, culture and food.

“I come from a country where if something is 50 years old, it is considered historic. But then you go to Rome and they say ‘oh that thing has been there for 400 years’ and I am like wow! 400 years ago, there were not any white people in New Zealand. It is insane. It really puts the world into perspective.”

International friends

For Pia, people who become friends through an intense bonding period, like a 2-week summer school, build friendships which are more resilience to distance. Having a video call every few months is a great way to check in with friends or family wherever they live. With technology, distances disappear.

Work work work

Pia is currently working on a government inquiry, (on a fixed term contract until 2023) which gives her plenty of time to save, before she embarks on exploring new countries in the future with her boyfriend.