What Lies Ahead

“Oh yeah, loads of room” - a sarcastic comment at 5:30am as the sixth and final member of our party poured his 6-foot-four frame on to the mattress in the back of the converted van, and on top of the other three of us drowsily trying to make ourselves comfortable.

The distance from our hostel to the base of Mauao wasn’t far, but after a cider-induced oath the night before to make the predawn trek up Mount Maunganui’s extinct volcanic cone for sunrise we rewarded our inexplicable commitment with a more time-friendly approach to getting there.

At that point I had been in New Zealand for only a few months, and I was having trouble trying to shake the feeling that it was a mistake. Leaving behind my life in Ohio to backpack solo around a country 8000 miles away seemed more and more foolish by the day. I had taken a risk, and I was still doubting my decision and myself.

Then we arrived at the summit.

After the twenty-five minute, 761-foot huff-and-puff up the steep mountain trail, two Americans, two Englishmen, and two Germans who had recently forged a friendship had made it to the top. I was breathless – and not only because I’m terribly out of shape.

We had made it just moments before the sliver of golden sun peaked up over the horizon and broke across the Pacific Ocean. The light bounced off lines of aqua waves, the clouds glowed a fiery orange and pink, and the sandy beach town was nestled quietly below, still asleep.

To anyone else it may have just been any run-of-the-mill sunrise – something that happens everyday and isn’t worth dragging yourself out of bed for after five ciders. But to me it was ultimately symbolic.

The sun was rising not only on what would come to be a marvelous day ahead of us, but on the rest of the next seven months I would spend in New Zealand. It was rising on new friendships, new experiences, and a new me. I didn’t know that my future held such beautiful things, and yet my uncertainty was being washed away with the tide. I knew this was the best decision I had ever made. This was what I wanted.

It was the combination of the scenery and the people that changed my mind, and the fact that there had been no other time in my life that I would get myself out of bed that early for anything – at 23 it’s that sort of thing that makes you realize you’re happy. Staring at that sunrise, laughing with those friends, and holding that tiny achievement – I felt happier than I ever had. I couldn’t wait for what I couldn’t see ahead of me.