I went to Motueka on the South Island (New Zealand) and spent there an amazing time. I came in January and I have to admit that the first weeks weren’t that great. I didn’t have many friends right in the beginning and came straight home after school quiet often with nothing to do. But that changed after a short while and with getting more friends and getting to know my host family better my life over there turned soon into a great time.   

In school, I chose the subject outdoor education, whih is one of the best subjects on earth! We went on many tramps and kayak trips, caving or rock climbing. To go on a normal Wednesday afternoon out to the close beach to go kayaking as part of school would be unthinkable in Switzerland. Other than that, I also tried out other unusual subjects like dance or cooking which were great fun. In my second holidays, I joined a South Island tour what was great and gave me the opportunity to see more parts of that beautiful country.   

In term two I also joined the volleyball team to get some exercise and I am still pretty bad in volleyball, but it was fun to play and soon I did it also a lot with friends outside of school when we hang out at the beach or in a Park. Now I was hardly ever bored. I can’t remember a day apart from when I was sick once when I was just hanging bored out alone in my room. I met with friends nearly every day after school and even though Motueka is a really small town we always found something to do. When summer came, it was just great! We went to the river or the beach and on the market which was huge with all the tourists coming. School finished every day at 3.15 h and gave us a lot of time to do stuff in the afternoon.   

When summer holidays came, I was a bit scared of running out of stuff to do, because they were about two months for us since we don’t have to join the exams. But I was wrong. In the first two weeks during exams the school had organized a special International program for us and it was just great fun! We went skydiving and did stuff like paintball or cooking together. But the highlight was a little tramp into the Able Tasman, a national park close to us where we kayaked, hiked and went canoeing. Later in the summer holidays our homestay coordinator took us down to Dunedin where we spent about three days and hiked, went dolphin swimming or just enjoyed having fish and chips at the beach. 

Also in the last two terms a lot of things happened. I went with friends and a host mom down to Dunedin and was on an Ed Sheeran concert, I went surfing and sailing and we had a school ball, as also some international balls and dance parties. Since I saw my friends every day and we did so much together I got really close with them and they are like second family now to me, same with my host family, who were all the time really lovely and funny. I will never forget this great time, all those sunrises and sunsets and bonfires, the beautiful nature, weird fruits like fijojas or nachis and the chilled kiwi way of being.