Kia ora! New Zealand, the home of the Maori people, kiwi bird, and people with a wickedly sarcastic, yet cynically dry sense of humor has been a great home for the last few days. I arrived on June 5th exhausted and alone in Auckland. After some much needed coffee, wifi and delicious eggs benedict, I took the day to explore the city-center and Warf.

Written 9 June 2014

Yesterday we went through the final part of our orientation called “Mystery Beijing”. We were split into groups of three or four, given tasks to do, and the rules were as follows: 1) use technology as little as possible, and 2) do NOT take taxis.

I moved out of my flat in Dublin on the 24th of May, 2014, at 9:30 AM. After donating most of what I owned to charity, I managed to squash the rest of it into two bags and to squash those bags into the taxi which picked me up in Halls.  I had hoped to see the last of city centre one more time as I went to the airport, but my taxi — driven by a very gregarious Irishman lately back from Vegas and eager to tell me about it — took the shortcut around the outside of the city, so I didn’t get a chance.

As the final count down until I leave begins, I have started to think about the things that I will really miss here. Probably one of the main things is that there is always something going on here. Somehow I heard that there was a program being put on by the humanities department at University of Cape Town called, “Queer in Africa Series.” This series included various speeches, films and exhibitions about what it means to have a queer identity while being African.

Hello again! It’s a beautiful day in Vienna, and I have the day off since it’s a national holiday; I figured I’d take a moment to capture some thoughts about the past weekend.

Finals week abroad is really different. I find it hard to concentrate when all I wanna do is explore the city and travel. However it must be done, it’s been a while since I pulled a necessary all nighter. I had 5 classes, Renaissance Art, Turkish Culture, Anthropology of the Body, Human Rights in World Affairs and Turkish Language. Plenty of finals to drive anyone crazy. I am halfway done and only have 2 finals left, I can almost see the finish line.

This past week has been one of the most emotional times in my life. I have cried so much and hugged so many people. My experience in Turkey has been life changing, I have met so many people and I now know what is I want from life. Turkey taught me to appreciate my surroundings and to understand the muslim culture. For many years the muslim religion was unknown to me, but now I think I understand it better and I am very grateful for that. One thing I know for sure, is that in the future I will go back to Turkey, I have to.

I am literally writing this as I get on the airplane to my first connection in Amsterdam. The things I am feeling are pretty much indescribable. It is a myriad of emotions that somehow seem to cancel each other out and leaves me feeling nothing at least until it really hits me that I am actually in Morocco.