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Show Thomas Burns COVID-19 Chronicles: Thomas Burns – My time in New Zealand during the 2020 pandemic My name is Thomas Burns and I am a member of the soon to be graduating class of 2021 here at Westminster. On February 17th, 2020, I departed Salt Lake City bound for New Zealand where I would be studying for the next five months in the capital, Wellington. At the time of my departure COVID-19 was not a conversation anywhere really. It had been known for a short time that a virus had developed and spread in Wuhan China, but nothing was serious, and traveling was still going on without any indicator that anything was wrong, there was no reason to be afraid at this point. After a layover in Houston followed by a long flight, I arrived in Auckland New Zealand the next day. From there I spent some time in Auckland and the surrounding area in the far north exploring with a group of fellow students from the U.S. that had applied to study abroad through the same study program that I had called International Studies Abroad (ISA). After about a week I flew down to Wellington and moved into my student house on Adams Terrace near the Kelburn Campus of Victoria University of Wellington. My first month in Wellington was spent getting to know other international and Uni students at Vic (nickname for the University), surfing, hiking, playing soccer and training for the University team tryouts, attending professional rugby and soccer games, enjoying the restaurants and night life, going to wineries, and of course traveling around the surrounding area near Wellington. During that first month the news on a global perspective got worse and worse and before I knew it many of the international students that I had made friends with had been asked to leave the country and come home by their home universities. I think looking back in reflection this was one of the most challenging and hard parts of my time abroad because I lost most of the people that I had become close with after only a month. On Monday March 23rd I walked to my first class, Politics of China which was normally a 100 person lecture hall. When I arrived, there were roughly only 20 students present. At the end of the [Type here] lecture my professor gave us his regards and said to keep an eye on our emails and the news to see what would happen. That’s when I knew things were not looking good. By this point COVID-19 had hit New Zealand and numbers were climbing slowly. Two hours later I was walking to my second class of the day and upon arriving to campus I witnessed something that to me is a defining moment during the pandemic. Professors and TA’s were walking down the streets with computer monitors and other office supplies in hand. Some were even pulling desk chairs behind them with stacks of papers and boxes. There were hardly any students in sight and I instinctually continued on to my lecture hall for my Plant Biology class. I stopped to talk with my professor at the entrance where he informed me that we were going into a nation-wide total stay at home lock down within 48 hours. The following day I found out that a handful of my friends that were left had decided to head back to the States. I was moved from my original house on Adams Terrace one street over to 1A Landcross street where one of my friends was already living. One of my original roommates, a girl from Germany, moved in along with one of my closest friends and we all took the time to go shopping and prepare for the inevitable lockdown to come. The initial Lockdown issued was a total of 6 weeks long and my daily activities were limited to reading, exercising, walking around Wellington, grocery shopping, and hanging out with my roommates. Everything was closed except essential businesses which for my purposes consisted of grocery stores, medical facilities, and dairies (convenience stores). During this 6-week period the university was on total pause and classes were suspended until the 6 weeks were up. I think one of the most interesting things to note was that wearing a mask was never a thing in New Zealand. I never once had to wear one from the time lockdown started until I came home. After the fifth week the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, made a statement that the nation would begin the process of rehabilitating and getting back to normal. [Type here] After the sixth week school began again but this time fully online. Businesses slowly began to start reopening and travel, including going on flights and renting cars, was also available once more. The last roughly two and a half months that I was in New Zealand were spent traveling around the South Island backpacking, hiking, and soaking up as much as I could while balancing school. I also went on some North Island road trips with friends and was able to go to the University gym, go out to eat, and attend more rugby matches. I flew home on July 7th and landed in Los Angeles the following day. I can honestly say that this was one of the strangest and most disorienting experiences in my life thus far. I wore a mask the whole flight home to the states for the first time which was tough to get used to. I had a long layover in Los Angeles which for the lack of better words felt like a post-apocalyptic ghost town. I flew through the night and arrived home to Michigan where I was picked up by my Mother early in the morning and my journey ended. The final thoughts that I would like to share are that I can honestly say I felt like a stranger in my own country for the first two weeks home. Getting used to the mess that I had come home to was an adjustment to say the least, especially coming from a country that was able to handle COVID-19 better than most any other place on the planet. I would also like to mention that there are so many details that I left out for the sake of space and ease of reading but I will always be grateful to the Kiwi’s that I became friends with and looked out for me during my time there. Most students that studied abroad during Spring semester 2020 were forced to head home around the world. I was one of the lucky few in so many ways. [Type here] |
