Illusion Vs. Reality — not quite

‘’It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.’'

Almost two years ago, when my best friend and me started our journey to New Zealand, we felt like two little hobbits who leave their safe and sound home in order to go on an adventure - yeah, sort of - even though we didn’t expect New Zealand to be as dangerous as Bilbo describes the world beyond the shire in the LOTR quote; rather quite the opposite. We encountered the country almost like an earthly paradise - I reckon I’ve sufficiently went into raptures about the breath-taking landscapes and the amazing hospitality Kiwis display in my first blog post. Surely, we also got to know that not everything is puppies and kittens on the other side of the world - speaking of the devastation of Christchurch, the Maori’s socio-economic challenges and an inconsistent environmental policy.

Nevertheless, that CS II course made me aware of a lot more issues Kiwis have to face, such as the present housing crisis in Auckland, polluted rivers, insufficient school kids' lunches - and a ponytale-pulling prime minister. Saying that the course destroyed my illusion of a perfect world in NZ is surely a little over the top; still, it has led to a more differentiated view. Even though I have been constantly struggling to upload the posts on time - like this one - I do agree with my fellow students. Blogging about self-chosen subjects was a great means in terms of raising interest for topics not covered in class, reflecting your style of writing and gaining an insight in other students' approaches.