by Hunter Ludlam

There is something about living in a new place, compared with just being a tourist for a short time. It gives you a completely different perspective and experience which I am grateful for. I think everybody should go and live somewhere else for a few months to learn so much about a new culture, and in turn, learn more about yourself and where you come from.

My highlights for the trip all centre around experiencing a new culture. I loved my workplace, spending time with my colleagues each day and hearing all of their life stories. I loved travelling up north and visiting villages and hiking through the rice fields. I loved the food, it is just out of this world. I loved the chaos, living in a city that really did not sleep. It was such a vast contrast to where I live in New Zealand, and I learnt so much from experiencing it.

My biggest challenge was finding a balance between work, travel, and self-care. Obviously, when you normally travel you are trying to make the most of every single second of every day. Of course, we also wanted to do this, however, when you are there for 2 months you do need to give yourself a break to allow your body to rest. I found this quite difficult because I would feel guilty if I wasn’t constantly doing something (because there was always something to do) but then would get really run down which isn’t useful. I think if I were to do a similar trip in the future I would put less pressure on myself to be constantly doing different things, and just relax a bit more to ensure I didn’t burn out throughout the trip.

One thing I learnt from this experience is that if you really want to experience a culture you need to go live in it. Being in another culture really broadened my understanding of how to respectfully engage with others which will be a key learning experience to bring into my future career. I also learnt how grateful I am to live in New Zealand. I have found this every time I go overseas and it is a nice reminder to be thankful for what I have here in Aotearoa. I have grown so much as a person, and I will take all of my skills and knowledge with me wherever I go.