What a time here in NZ!!!

15 months!!!

2017 is over, 2018 arrived. In 2016 I started into this adventure. This last year has been...lucky? It is difficult to find a word for these last months. There were so many ups and downs on my way through New Zealand, that I can't say that it was a absolute bad or a really good year. And still...it was awesome! It was special! Far away form home I went through many things that probably let me discover more of myself than ever before. 2016 was a heavy and despitefully year for me and I just wanted to get far away, so that I could figure it out. But what was I looking for? Or was I running away from something? Probably both. Running away from some things and looking for something that would fulfill me more than my life til then did. The beginning of my travel was hard. Far away from everything that I have known, from my family, my friends...I was actually coming closer to figuring out what kind of person I want to be in life. The year was ending great! Then, in 2017, I was more myself than ever before! I met so many great people who had an huge impact on me during my travel and helped me a lot to come forward. I want to say thank you to those people.

First I want to start with the guys I started into the new year (2017) with: Selina, Max, Gera and Laura. It was a really good start into the year and I hope that it was a good one for you too guys! 

Next I want to say thank you to An, Agi, Laura, Minyen, Adrien, Sammy, Queenie, Barry, Natalia, Leanna, Joshua, Kimberly, LeChi, Tui, Ondra, Weei, Melissa, Wayne and so many more people, that I met in Roxburgh, the first place I was working in New Zealand: Blueberries!!! The time with you guys in the end of the world was awesome! Every blueberry, every cherry is gonna be a nice reminder of a really good time with you! It was just amazing to travel with you, An! I can't wait to show you Germany and to visit you in Vietnam!

After me and An split up in Wanaka/Queenstown, I travelled along a group of people, who made my journey over the south island as special as it was too. Thank you Vanessa, Bas, Agi, Sheena, Kevin and Linda! I loved to be stucked with some of you in Takaka and can just say that the time with you guys made a huge impact on me.

My time in Motueka and the work in the apple packhouse was funny and amazing thanks to Paula, Claudio (can't wait to visit you guys back in Chile!), Charity, Lara (wir sehen uns back in Germany/#denglisch), Jesse & Adam (take care of your little cuties! and of course of yourself ;)), Kirk & Laura (hopefully I see you guys in Canada!), Sam (maybe I can visit you in the states :)), Iris, my neighbor and Charlotta. I might didn't like the work so much (even that I love apples), but you guys made the time just perfect! I will always remember how we were excited about changing the apple sorts and how we hated Granny Smiths ;).

After my short time with the apples, I went further east into THE wine region of NewZealand: Marlborough. Blenheim might not be the nicest place to stay for long, but thanks to a lot of people I met there I had an amazing time there. Why I was four months in this place? Because everytime I wanted to leave I met new crazy people, who made the time there sweet and awesome: Arni, Nicki, Joshi, Gabriel, Nick, Lena, Francoise & Esme (I can't wait to see you guys somewhere in the world again to eat that amazing self-made hummus again ;)), Bazz & Melissa (I want to see you back in Europe!!!), Julie (who always confused me speaking French and Spanish xD), Giannina and Adrian (or Jasmine&Aladdin), Yamila and Angie, Renata, Levi, Bea, Isa, Hermano, Carina, Martina, Paloma, Noe, Tiphaine and Gwen (I might see you in France?), Nicolas, Pamela, Steffi, Lucas and Florian. Thanks for an amazing time there. Thanks also to Joe, Va'asa and Fred and Tini, it was a pleasure to meet you guys and to work with you. I wish you the best and hope to see all again one day!

A special thank you for this time is going to four people who always gonna be special for me: Lena, Anna, Catherine and Regina! It is a deep friendship that is connecting us and I couldn't be happier about having you in my life! Wherever and whenever I met you and will meet you, it is a special time for me and like a medicine!

Thanks also to all my new dancing buddies I met in all over New Zealand: Sally, Callum, Maria, Zarryn and Gemma, Aaron, Susan & Henning, Rob, Dener, Paddy, Tom, Ian, Derek and Reuben! Hopefully looking forward to a lot more amazing dances!

My last thank you is going to the people I spent the time with in Te Puke while working on the kiwi orchards. Anna, Yamila, Angi, Levi and Pam, it was so nice to meet you again there and I am going to visit you all at home (maybe I learned some Spanish til then? xD) Until we meet: carry on and keep going as amazing as you are, guys! This goes also to Nico, Sofi, Carol, Lu, Andi, Vari, Nico, Diego, Gerrardo, Rocio, Nicole, Nick, Marjine and Juergen! It was such an awesome time in this area (and not just because the landscape is so beautiful xD)!

Also a big thank you is going to my family and friends at home, without them I would never have gotten through all of this. But I always had their help and support and I am really glad to have the all in my life! Can't wait to see them all! Thanks to all these people I had an amazing time here in New Zealand and can now start into new adventures with having friends all over the world. A long time I was thinking I don't want to go back to Germany so soon and it didn't change so much. But there are people I  want to see again and so I decided to go home for a little while. How long I am going to stay in Germany? I don't know. What I am planning to do next? I don't know. Where I am going next? I don't know. I know that are a lot of 'I don't know's, but that is the point. Life isn't always about everything being perfectly planned. I'm going home now and will see what opportunities I am going to get. Which ways are going to open up for me. My dear friend Anna showed me a little piece, that touched me so much, that I really want to share it with you:

“Did you know that for pretty much the entire history of the human species, the average life span was less than thirty years? You could count on ten years or so of real adulthood, right? There was no planning for retirement, There was no planning for a career. There was no planning. No time for planning. No time for a future. But then the life spans started getting longer, and people started having more and more future. And now life has become the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future--you go to high school so you can go to college so you can get a good job so you can get a nice house so you can afford to send your kids to college so they can get a good job so they can get a nice house so they can afford to send their kids to college.” Paper Towns/John Green

This is NOT going to be my last post! I am going to upload some of my absolute favourite pictures of all my time in NZ really soon ;) I am also planning to work on the extra pageson this blog for NZ, so that the future NZ travelers can find some help here as well as on more posts about the time after the adventure. So keep calm and keep on track!