Be The Change Care For Change

Never Let The Unknown Or Failure Stop You

Have you ever felt in dire need of something new? Choosing Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology New Zealand as the school to study at has been the key to satisfying my needs for change. Traveling to Nelson New Zealand has helped me break out of an echo chamber of familiarity. It has been teaching me not only a whole new culture but a whole new perspective in life. Being the first person from my school back in the states to attend NMIT has not been easy. Being on the opposite side of the planet from my family while the world is facing a pandemic has been such a weird, strange challenge I never thought I would face. I have been filled with so many mixed emotions throughout my journey here. NMIT has now been put on hold including online classes and the timing of things has been such a mess. However, the magnificent beautiful mountains and nature I have been exploring little by little has been helping calm my nerves, worries, and stress.

To sprinkle a handful of my life goals around; traveling outside the USA for studies was my first. Second, is to create artwork that will allow people to pause. Life moves at an extremely fast pace and sometimes we need a reminder to slow down. As a Creative Media major and environmental activist, the ability to study how humans around the globe are impacting the environment in helpful and different ways is important. I hope that in my travels, my eyes will open to new ways we can start to help save the Earth. The future is in our hands. The future is in my hands. Ignoring this major issue of our home heating up at a drastic rate would be unintelligent. Each and every person’s actions matter, no matter how small they might seem. Just because an idea might be more convenient and quick does not always mean it is the best option. I have learned New Zealand does not have a large number of production factories. Because of this choice, the country does not experience the negative effects of pollution compared to most other nations. Experiencing first hand New Zealand’s environment beats learning from a book or article any day.

Saving up has been a long process; working hard at multiple jobs to pay for my plane ticket and expenses on my own while abroad has not been easy.  Being able to have this semester at NMIT in New Zealand has been preparing me to grow tremendously as an individual. Being able to have this experience and bring it back home to build off of has been a dream of mine. Just these couple months here has been one step closer to figuring out the next steps to my life.

Having the Coronavirus hit while studying abroad has been a huge turn I was not ready for. Granted, no one was ready for this to happen. I cannot let this stop me from learning and creating each day though. I am not losing hope for my education. A huge obstacle I am about to face is obtaining art materials. I was blessed with NMIT lending the supplies to us during class but now I need to find my own in order to keep creating. I really hope this will not hold me back from learning new ways to make art.

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