It’s hard to believe that I’ll be leaving this country I call paradise in a little over two weeks. This past week was my final week of classes at Uni, as well as our Arcadia Farewell Dinner. Our program directors aka program moms, Kate and Jane, took us to a wonderful little Mediterranean restaurant called Ima Bistro. All fourteen of us gathered anxious to spend some quality time together, as it would be one of our last as an entire group with finals coming up and everyone soon parting ways. This was the last time we would all see Jane in New Zealand, and it was tough to say goodbye. I had the opportunity to meet with Jane back at Providence in the Fall before arriving in Auckland, and she was that familiar face when we first arrived at the airport. Jane is in charge of the entire New Zealand Arcadia program, whereas Kate is based here in Auckland with us, and we will see her again before our group flight back to Los Angeles on July 2nd.
We enjoyed an amazing appetizer (which are actually called entrees here) filled with an assortment of hummus and dips as well as a stack of pita bread. During our antipasto we caught up with Kate and Jane and filled them in on all our adventures. We also enjoyed the main dishes- fish, chicken, various salads and rice dishes. Mmmm!
Delicious dinner at Ima Bistro
Jane and Kate then presented the prizes for the Arcadia Photo Competition. I had submitted my photos on a whim, mostly landscape pictures (because how could I not!), and my photo of Lake Marian, a lake located on top of a mountain in the South Island won for Best Landscape Photo. I was thrilled! And in addition to that, I also won the prize for Best Overall Photo from Te Ika o te Maui (North Island) out of all the Arcadia program students studying in both Auckland and Wellington. The prizes were great too- I got a Kiwi luggage tag and a hoodie sweatshirt with the classic kiwi lingo “Sweet As” written on it. Needless to say, I was very happy.
My winning photograph- Lake Marian, Fiordland National Park, South Island, NZ
Kate then made a short speech talking about how tight-knit our group has grown and that we are one of the closest groups she has seen in thirteen years. She handed each of us an ArcadiaNZ t-shirt and a post card with the saying: Te pae tata, te pae taqhiti kia puta koe ki te whaiao ki te ao marama (Pursue horizons of understanding so you may emerge into the world of light).
To follow Kate’s speech, Dan prepared his own speech and shared it with all of us. He talked about all the various places around NZ we have travelled, the many memories and laughs we shared as a group from our first trip together to Coromandel to our mid-semester South Island trip to now. He then went on to say a few special things about each person in the room, I had some laughs, but mainly tears, as I was the first one to start bawling. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room, everything dan said hit us all hard. He concluded his speech with a special dedication to our South Island group of himself, Ryan, Bianca, Meghan, Caroline, and I (the Misty Whitney crew). And in Dan’s words he wrote a poem to talk about the special friendship and experiences we shared together: The winding roads and all the bends, While spending times with all your friends, The pictures you take the memories you make, They’re worth it all in the end.
To conclude our dinner we snapped one final picture of all of us together. Although this was our farewell dinner, we like to think of is not as goodbye, but a see you soon or until we meet again. I am so fortunate to have come to this country with such a great program and with such great people and new lifelong friends. Many more posts to come as I am trying to fit so much in the so little time I have left! Cheers!
Our Arcadia Family!
Posts From Paradise 