This past week I went on an excursion with my class to Savaii. The country of Samoa is made up of two big islands, and a few smaller ones. For the past month, I have been living on Upolu, the smaller but more populated island. Savaii is the big island to the northwest, with the small …
Tag Archives: Oceania
Lotofaga Village Visit
This past week I had a 10 day home stay in the rural village of Lotofaga on the south side of Upolu. This was an incredible experience. My host family consisted of 11 people, which was a very average family size for the village. I had a host mother and father, four host sisters, a …
University of the South Pacific
I am currently taking classes at the University of the South Pacific in Apia, Samoa. The USP is a fascinating and extremely unique organization. Because the islands of the South Pacific are scattered throughout thousands of miles, and many of the islands are extremely small, there had been difficulty throughout the years in establishing a …
Samoa: First Impressions
I have now been in Samoa for one week, and it is quite an adventure. We arrived in Apia, the capital, early in the morning after a 6 hour red-eye flight from Honolulu, and went straight to the University of the South Pacific, our new home. After checking into our rooms, we left for downtown …
Ancient Polynesia in Hawaii
Aloha from Hawaii! I cannot believe that week one has already drawn to a close, and even though I have not yet gone abroad to Samoa, (I am in Hawaii right now for a pre-departure orientation), I have already had a wonderful taste of Polynesian culture. On Saturday, my group and I took a tour of …
The Final Push
This past week I had both of my final exams for the semester. I had two weeks to prepare for them after classes had ended, but in true Christian Leathley form, I waited until the 4 days prior to the first one to start studying. The exams were in back-to-back days, so I had to …
The Best in Show
This weekend I went to the New Zealand All-Blacks rugby game. I had purchased my tickets several months in advance, as their games are in high demand, and the Dunedin stadium doesn’t seat as many as a typical American sports venue. I purchased the cheapest tickets available, and was seated in what’s known as The …
Spoonfuls of Nature’s Bounty
Over the last 3 weeks, I’ve gone on several weekend trips, while finishing up classes for the semester. The first trip was to the Fiordlands to hike the Routebourn track; one of New Zealand’s Great Walks. The first day was by far the most difficult. We covered about 15 miles of ground over a 9-hour …
Interview with a Kiwi
The following is an interview I conducted with a native New Zealander, my Kiwi host, and very good friend, Tim Neilson. Christian: Let’s get the obvious question out of the way first, what is your favorite part of living in New Zealand? Tim: Probably just the chilled-outness of the place, really. Everyone here is really …
A Week in the Life
SATURDAY As I awake from my slumber in a foggy haze on Saturday, the 7th of September, I look at the time and realize I have no discernable reason for waking up. However, instead of returning to my comatose state to try and get a few more REM’s, I decide to grab my laptop and …
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