The Georgia Peach Goes Home
 |
| Where I spent a lot of my time in Fiji. |
Fiji was an awesome place to spend the last two weeks of this program relaxing and finishing up classes. I spent copious amounts of time lounging in hammocks staring at the ocean. Adventures were less frequent then New Zealand or Australia since I stayed in the resort most of the time, but I did do a little paddleboarding. I fell in a couple of times, but got the hang of it pretty quickly. Both times that I went, the weather decided to turn on me and Thomas while we were out there and it would start downpouring. As long as its not thundering, paddleboarding in the rain really isn't so bad after all.
Fiji is a third world country with a lot of poverty which was easy to forget on resort property, but glaringly evident whenever we left. Each year while in Fiji, the Pacific Program does a service day in the Denuba Village where we paint the school for the kids. This was a really fun and rewarding experience to have. The night before we painted, we went to a welcome ceremony in the village. Once someone goes through this welcome ceremony, they are considered welcome anywhere in the
village in anyone's house. As part of the ceremony, all of us were offered a drink called kava. Kava is mild narcotic (legal in both the US and Fiji) that makes the lips numb and causes sleepiness. The drink is prepared by putting ground up kava in a towel, dipping the towel in the water, and wringing it out repeatedly until the desired strength is acquired. I wasn't particularly interested in the drink to begin with, but then I saw it prepared with village water and a dirty towel at which point I politely declined. Many people on our program tried it though both in the village and at the resort.
 |
| The Bure where I stayed with 3 roommates. |
After the welcome ceremony and village tour, we came back the next day to paint the school. As part of painting the school, we got to see the classrooms where the children learn and the supplies they have. The students there sang us songs to welcome us and would periodically leave their classes during the day to come play with us. They loved piggyback rides, duck duck goose, and rugby especially. I even had one little girl meticulously brush out my sweaty hair and braid it so that it looked beautiful. The happiness that emanated from these children was remarkable. They live in poverty, but they were some of the happiest people I had ever met in my life. Truly all the Fijians were joyful and welcoming. It just goes to show how materiality is not the key to happiness despite what our society may try to tell us.
 |
| A stunning Fijian sunset. |
Towards the end of our 2 weeks, everything wrapped up in a flurry of finals and we all got ready to leave Fiji. Most of the program was ready to go from the variety of ailments that occur in a third world tropical country. Over half of the program got sick from the water (I made it out without any issues), around 10 or 12 developed various strange rashes (made it through this one too), and around 6 laptops died from the humidity (mine's going a little slow, but still strong). We even had one student who was told by a Fijian doctor that he got herpes in an open wound on his neck from playing with the village children. Fortunately he recently went to an Australian doctor and was told he actually has shingles. Not fun, but also not herpes so it's all relative.
Leaving Fiji meant a marathon travel day. I use the term day quite lightly because we did make it back all in one day, but that day was over 40 hours long due to time changes. We started by getting up at 5am and taking a 3 hour (delayed) flight from Fiji to Auckland, NZ. Just as a side note, the delay on this flight was because a bird flew into the plane cabin and the couldn't get it out...Fiji problems. From there we took a 14 hour (delayed) flight from Auckland to Houston. At this point, people from the program parted ways. It was a lot sadder than I expected to say goodbye to my friends that I got used to seeing all the time. I knew I would see them over the summer or in the fall, but the fact that I wouldn't see them at breakfast was sad to me. I was very glad to be coming home to see all the people I had missed so much, but I was also going to miss the people I was parting ways with. From Houston, I hopped on one final two hour flight to Atlanta. This one was delayed both in the airport
and on the runway to takeoff, but I eventually made it back. I made it to baggage claim knowing my dad was right outside the doors waiting to take me home to sleep and as I pull up the handle on my bag that has so faithfully traveled with me, the handle breaks. At least it happened at the very end right? Unable to do anything but laugh, I pushed my suitcase outside and finally hugged my dad again.
 |
| Our final squad pic on our last day in Fiji. |
Seeing my family (and my dog again) has been incredible. I missed them so much while I was abroad. In a couple days, I get to head down to campus and see all the friends I left behind which I also can't wait to do. Getting back to normal and not having all these adventures is a bit strange, but I'm glad to have such great memories to look back on and such wonderful friendships with the people I met. I learned about while I was on Pacific Program not only about the places I went, but about myself. I still can't believe that I was lucky enough to have this opportunity and will be forever grateful to my parents for making such a trip possible for me. To anyone who has read this blog from start to finish, congrats that's a real accomplishment. I hope you've gotten some travel ideas and maybe laughed a little along the way. For me, this blog will serve as a reminder of all the memories of this incredible trip. And so I sign off on my blog for the last time...hope you've enjoyed reading as I've enjoyed writing!
~S
