Hallelujah for the Stars

 

My mom always tells me, “I love you to the moon and back times infinity and beyond.” That is one reason why I have always been interested in the stars. They are the most incredible things in this galaxy. I feel like there is something more to the sun, moon, and stars and I always make sure to take note of the sky. However, there are some moments that can’t quite be captured with a camera. Like that beautiful sunset from the top of a mountain reflecting onto the ocean or a perfect crescent moon. I have moments like these all the time. I want to be able to grasp onto these memories forever just so I can show them to others, but there is no way for me to share the images I have stored in my brain. I recall having a lot of these types of moments during my first term at TGS. New Zealand was full of amazing opportunities and natural beauty.

 

While in the Bay of Plenty, we visited Waitomo to go black water rafting in a glowworm cave. Even though my hands were nearly purple by the end, it was such a wonderful experience. In order to fight off frostbite we wore wetsuits along with white rubber Timberland like boots, helmets with flashlights on them, and carried our own rubber tube. We all laughed at how funny we looked, but the ice cold water was no joke. To start our journey, we climbed through a crack in the earth to get to the flowing water underground and hopped into our tubes. For a while, we floated just admiring the rock and then we were told to shut off our headlamps. I was kind of having an internal freakout at this point because I am scared of being underground and the dark, but I tried not to think about it and decided that this moment was a once in a lifetime opportunity and something that I will always remember. As soon as the lights went out, our guide, George, told us to all look up. All we saw were beautiful blue stars above us. The stars blanketed the sky of the cave. Our guide explained that the dots were the feces of glowworms. Isn’t it weird that something so disgusting and natural can be so pretty? We were handed some strangely shaped food and told to eat it while we stared at the ceiling watching the blinking stars. It turned out they were chocolate covered marshmallows shaped as fish. I had a short moment to reflect on what was happening. I, as a fifteen year old, was sitting under the beautiful country of New Zealand, half way across the world from home, eating a marshmallow, and looking at the stars that you not only can’t see in the northern hemisphere, but anywhere else on the planet. This moment lasted from our break in the middle to our exit when we could see the light from the end of the cave while we listened to George sing Hallelujah.

 

The next month, we traveled through the Bay of Islands. We spent a night on Rock the Boat, which was an unbelievable opportunity. We got to see some more of the extraordinary phenomenons that New Zealand had to offer. After stuffing our stomachs with pasta salad, sausage, bread, and beets, we went kayaking out into the darkness, so we could see the phosphorescent algae of the water. The water began to glow every time I dipped my paddle in to stroke backwards. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. That night became even better when we heard a call repeated 20 times, which we were convinced was a kiwi bird. After we kayaked, we danced with the fairydust as well. I only lasted a few seconds after I jumped in each time, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to glow in freezing, bright blue water.

 

On the night of October 14, 2014, I watched my first ever meteor shower. New Zealand was the perfect place to watch because of the clear sky and lack of light pollution. Yodsel, Erica, and I stayed up late in the freezing cold, lying on the trampoline watching the tons of shooting stars go by. I can’t quite tell you how many stars I saw, but I know for sure that I made a wish on each and every one of them. Most of all, I wish I could have paused one to be able to take a picture of it as proof. I would have set that moment as my desktop picture and maybe even have posted it on Instagram.

 

I not only want to be able to look at the stars from every country, but to also look beyond at all the other sparkling things this world has to offer. I want to be able to experience everything. I will never forget the quote that I read in a shop in Maunganui. It was a little sign with the phrase, “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you’ll land upon the stars.” written on in. This is my favorite quote now because I know I will never stop striving to reach the moon.