americangonekiwi-blog

[americangonekiwi-blog]

January 10th, 2018

So, it’s not that I actually remembered to post but actually thought about doing one for the hell of it.

This post is kinda gonna be sad and emotional because, well, that’s kind of how I’m feeling since I’m in the top 10 day countdown to my 21st. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be exactly what I imagined at all but gotta make due, right?

One of the things that is pretty obvious when moving abroad is missing family, friends, and the towns you’ve known your whole life.

& that is becoming the hardest obstacle I’m having to jump over.

God, I’m glad you guys haven’t been able to see me the past couple of months because I’ve been a fucking WRECK.

I’m talking worse than the Titanic.

Yeah, that bad.

But anyways.

I miss literally everyone so much.

& I think that’s my biggest drawback about leaving because I took everything for granted.

Like, calling up some of my friends to go shopping and get something for lunch since we just got paid (& then eating Ramen with them two weeks after we spent it all). Or sitting there, laughing for hours at something stupid that happened at work. Or talking about the cute boy who winked at us at the checkout line at  Walmart (not Target because we’d be too distracted throwing more unnecessary items in our cart). Or driving to our first job at Burger King to get free food because we also had our times where we were too broke to eat real food. The questionable drives until 3 AM around NWI or Chicago listening to our favorite songs / having deep conversations about anything.

Then being so close to your family, ya know?

I could call my dad and his girlfriend (they also lived two minutes away) and just come to hangout for hours. Her name’s Joanne and she’s like, THE BEST person to have in your life, ya know? You’d walk in and she’d be like, “MADI!! HOW THE HELL ARE YOU?! SIT YOUR ASS DOWN AND LET ME MAKE YOU FOOD!!” Then every time I would get ready to leave it would be like,”Does Buddy have food? Do you have food in the fridge? Do you have gas money?” & Jesus Christ, i’ve never met someone who cares so much about someone else. She could be in the worst pain but if something wasn’t right, she’d make sure you were okay first. & it’s the exact same with my dad. He’d cheer you up and talk you up if something wasn’t right just to make sure you weren’t upset. He’d put himself in jeopardy to make sure you got home safely.

I miss living so close to my Grandma & Grandpa’s. I miss just walking inside and saying “HI” with no questions asked, then quietly opening the fridge to steal some of Grandpa’s Dr. Pepper (secret’s up). I miss their little fluffy butt, Dexter the doggo. He’d always come up to greet you with tail wags or he’d bark and poop on the couch because he was scared. I’m so grateful to have these two in my life and as my grandparents. Don’t get me wrong, my parents were in my life, but I see them more as a second set of parents, ya know? I couldn’t wait to tell them that I was actually trying in school and doing GREAT at it. Just any of that, ya know?

I miss my mommy. I miss my mom so fucking much it hurts.She’s my best friend in the whole world. God, yet again, I’m glad you can’t see me because I can’t stop crying. We’ve had our ups and downs and I know I can’t change those, but she’s the best person ever. You can talk to her about literally anything and she’ll listen, but if it’s gross or TMI, she’ll shake her said and say. “OH. MY. GOSH.” Or when she spends too much money eating out and says, “Okay, no more eating out for the rest of the week.” Then the next hour she calls you at work, “I don’t feel like cooking. Adam’s not home. Meet me at (insert restaurant here).” She always did her best growing up even if other’s couldn’t see it. She tucked us in every night until we were probably 15 each. She’d work doubles straight through the weeks before holidays just so we could have nice presents. She’d try to find money so we could go on those field trips. She let us have the last cookie or slice of cake. I know that’s what mom’s do, but some don’t and I’m grateful to have my Marci. Hell, she even loved me through my emo phase in middle school.  She encouraged me to do what I want. I mean, she was completely supportive of me coming here. & she’s watching my baby Buddy and that means the whole world to me.

& here comes the water works. I miss my dog so much. He’s my best friend. He’d be here giving me cuddles right now because I was sad. I know, it’s tacky. But when I was alone last summer crying in my apartment all alone, you know who was there? He was. He slept with me when it was too cold or I was sad. He gave me kisses and always brought me his favorite toy to share. I mean, I NEVER ate alone. Only because he was right there staring at me, but ya know. On my nights off when I lost all my friends, he was sitting in the passenger seat with me in the McDonald’s parking lot while eating ice cream. While I was having relationship issues, he was the one crying with me in the car. He was the one I turned to. He never had an issue sitting there doing nothing. Buddy is my best friend and i’d give my whole life up for him.

I miss the snowy roads in Valpo with the lights up for Christmas. I miss the tacky little restaurants on every corner. I miss the cornfields in Boone Grove where I grew up exploring. I miss Apartment B nestled in the corner of town. I miss going to the bookstore and sitting there for hours on my days off. I miss driving past my old school and flipping it the bird. I miss seeing my old house. All the memories, all the places, and all the people.

I know I talked down the place I grew up, but I miss it so much more now. 

I took it for granted and now I wish I could be there forever and never leave.

I’m sorry I don’t talk to everyone as much as I should. I suck at talking to people. & I’m trying to come home for vacation next November. Too long but it’s the best I can do. 

Sorry for the sappy post but I love you all and I miss you.

XOXO. 

Gossip Girl

Madi

[americangonekiwi-blog]

January 5th,2018

Let me just start off by saying,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope you all had a great New Year and have an amazing year ahead of you! *Muah*

So, I thought I could keep up with this whole “starting a blog” thing but here I am almost two weeks later thinking, “Shit. I kind of have to keep up with this thing.” But alas.

That’s when I decided my New Year’s Revolution is I am going to be to be organized. Let’s face the fact that I am never going to stick to a diet (and neither will yoooou).

Anyways. 

I’ve decided that this little post today is going to be about traveling to New Zealand and dealing with a possible 24+ hour long haul flight.

Traveling here was FAR from a walk in the park. Which I much rather would have done.

Now when I say that, I don’t necessarily mean getting into the country, etc. I’m talking about my luck and first time traveling outside of the country by myself, because lost af.

There I was. The day I was leaving and trying to be as emotionless as possible. I was packing everything that I could possibly fit into one 50lb suitcase, carry on, and a personal item. That is the greatest downside to moving abroad (for all of you that don’t know).

I was shoving my favorite pictures of all my family in there. Literally a picture of all of my family members (including picture’s of their pets. Don’t ask me why.)

By this point, I had to just toss it all in there as quick as possible because if I kept thinking about leaving them, I wouldn’t have gone at all.

Finally, my wonderful momma came in and told me it was time to say goodbye.

Tearing up, I went to my BEAUTIFUL dog, Buddy, and gave him the biggest hugs and kisses imaginable without trying to cry because I didn’t want my baby boy to be sad. Then moved on to my cat and mom’s dog and lost my shit.

Literally, LOST MY SHIT.

I love those little fur balls, Florida, and my family so much. I miss you guys so damn much and I want to come home and visit you all soon (it’s just really expensive and I can’t afford it).

Skip forward a bit again and I’m on the way to Tampa INTL talking to my mom to distract ourselves from the fact that we wouldn’t see each other for a year +. & believe me when I say my mom was my best friend, so she was one of the hardest goodbyes.

As we were talking, it came to my attention that once we got to Tampa, the traffic started to slow down MAJORLY. Then we came to a stand still. Eh, no problem. Just a bit of traffic and we still have 2 hours and 20 minutes until my flight leaves.

But WAIT.

Nope, I had to check in in 20 minutes.

I started to FREAK OUT. Ask my mom, it wasn’t pretty.

I’m screaming at my mother, “SWERVE. STEP ON IT. DON’T LET THEM IN. AIN’T NOTHING TO CUT THAT BITCH OFF.” At this point, my mother and I are both flustered and panicking. We’re in total frustration. I was even considering running my butt there to see if it would be faster!

After wasting a good 15 minutes in traffic, we arrived at the parking garage. As soon as that car braked, I was out that door. 

Also still screaming at my mother to hurry up.

So, there I am dragging those suitcases through the parking garage, congested elevators and then through check-in areas which of course, none of them were my destination.

But when I did, the line was outrageous so I just kinda skipped to the kiosk. When I logged in, it literally read 2:59. Bam.

We dodged that bullet for sure (we as in my mom and I because I still can’t make a doctors appointment without her help.)

We made our way to where they divide into the gates and what not and decided to just chill. We got ourselves some Hard Rock Cafe before the long haul off to Houston then to Auckland when out of the corner of my eye, the sky became ominous. 

That’s when I had my second mental break down checking the flight schedule.

TPA Intl’ to HOU                                                        DELAYED 

Ya know, I kept my cool for a bit. Mom did too. 

Then as the storm kept beating down, so did the DAMN DELAY. By this point, I had given up hope because the flight moved from 5:20 PM to 10:00 PM. Which is when my flight left in Houston. So basically, I wasn’t making it to New Zealand on time.

I started panicking hard core.

I CAN’T AFFORD TO BUY ANOTHER DAMN TICKET?! I JUST DROPPED $1,500. ONE-WAY!

My mother is trying her best to calm me down. She’s calling and talking to every Air New Zealand attendant she can when she gets told to call them.

Okay, but it was literally the most funny thing I’ve heard all day when I heard someone on the other line answer, “G’day, Air New Zealand!” *insert chatter and desperate plea* “Aw, yup! CHEERS MATE!”

Long story short, I had to either take a cross country journey with 4 connecting flights or have a 10 hour lay over in San Francisco the next day. The only question I had for them was, “I just had a panic attack thinking about missing my connecting flight. Now you guys want to add 3 more connecting flights that add a couple extra hours onto my 32 hour haul? **** you, man.” Went home *disappointed* and got some shut eye to repeat everything I went through the next day in San Francisco.

Ya know, it wasn’t the fact that I had to spend all of my American money or had to actually wait 10 hours wandering aimlessly an airport in California.

It was the fact that by the time it was time for us to board, another delay until 10:45pm occured.

ARE YOU ******* KIDDING ME?!?

That left me 40 minutes to go through customs. & mind you I’ve never flown out of the country before so I had no idea what I was doing.

By the time I get to my seat, right, I’m moved to the last seat on the plane even though I had bought the huge skycouch so I could sleep. (lost it because I had to get a new flight and this was the only way I was getting to New Zealand) 

No leg room

Cold. Very cold

Screaming children

Vicious Asians snapping at the poor ladies

The two teenage girls I had to constantly listen to say, “Oh my gooood”

Besides that, it was a great flight. & when I heard the accents, I was like, “Is this really happening?”

Take Two: 

I hope off the plane (at LAX with a dream and my cardigan) in Auckland. I’m lost. Confused. 30 minutes until my flight takes off. So I start asking everyone. 

WHERE DO I GO?!?! 

They all pointed to baggage claim. 

Uh, yeah. Haha. Ha. Right.

But of course, my bags were the last ones to come out. 

This probably was the most stressful moment of my life besides picking out which Barbie I wanted to play with as a child.

Grabbed those suckers and I ran (where to? I don’t know.)

So, I thought they were totally going to hound me in Immigration.

Nope. Literally just scanned my passport was on my way. I was so angry that that was all. I spent the whole day printing out bank statements, immunization records, etc, just to get told to go on through. Pffft. Fine.

Then customs. 

They asked me if I had anything to declare and I sheepishly said gum. Security rolled their eyes.

After there it was time to get to my gate which was oh, I don’t know, ten minutes away walking. Or I could wait for the bus which takes 20 minutes to get here (International to Domestic Terminals). I ran my ass off behind some little Japanese lady that had her 3 year old daughter riding on the suit case.

Stood in the wrong line to check my luggage in. Had to figure out where the hell that was. Walked past it. Ran back. Made it through security as I got pat down. Considering I looked like a crazy woman, I didn’t blame them. 

Just as I made my way up to gate F12, they were just about to close the gate. I waved my boarding pass (mind you, I’m severely out of breath, sweating, and red & puffy) and muttered out kind of a “ARGaaaaA” noise. Proceeded to hold the door for me, no questions asked.

Then all of a sudden, it was a breath of fresh air. I had recieved the third row seat in first class next to this lovely Kiwi couple. *They call people from New Zealand, Kiwis* I wasn’t stressed for the first time in 30 hours. 

As the flight got on it’s way, I was too tired to even realize I was in New Zealand until the couple asked me where I was from and why I was in New Zealand.

I looked out the window and to my amazement, we weren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto. There was mountains GALORE. Rivers, streams, beaches, and sheep. Sheep, sheep, sheep and more sheep. 

The flight attendant came around and started handing out tiny cookies all wrapped up. When the couple passed down my cookie, they handed me both of theirs as well saying that I NEEDED to try these.

This is kind of like their Chips Ahoy but it was called Cookie Time. && it was the salted caramel (carmel is how you say it, not car-uh-mel). I fell in love with them and now we are getting married in a week. 

But no, I live for these cookies.

Once the flight landed, I thanked the lovely couple and kind of realized, “Oh, I CAN GO PEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” 

I refuse to use airplane bathrooms because I have that irrational fear that it’s going to suck me right out of the plane.

After my little pit stop, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone talked funny. They sounded Australian but they weren’t? 

Then a tall figure approached me and realized it was Jamie. He reached out for a hug and all I could say was, “I need food and sleep,” and continued to walk past him.

Don’t judge me. He understood. 

I hope?

Well, ya’ll. That’s my second post done and I hope you enjoyed the misfortunate circumstances that seem to be a daily regular thing for me. 

If you actually read and enjoy this, i’ll try to post next week but I apoligize because I probably will forget and do it in two weeks.

XOXO,

Gossip Girl

Madi

[americangonekiwi-blog]

December 20th, 2017

Well, if you stumbled upon this, then I guess welcome to my new blog. 

Let’s make this first post about muah. 

Let me introduce myself. 

My name is Madison, but i’m begging you to call me Madi because Madison sounds too much like medicine. Yuck.

 I’m 20 years old & I guess you can say I haven’t done much with my life so far. Pitiful, right?

I was born & raised in the mid-west town known as Valparaiso, Indiana. I know, it’s quite unfortunate. Actually, it’s really not that bad. BUT, once you get a taste of something a little bit different, ya never wanna go back. (sorry to my former English teachers reading this, you’re great)

I went to Boone Grove schools in, well, the “boondocks”. Let’s face it, the curriculum wasn’t that great, but the staff (mostly) was amazing.

I kind of screwed up while attending school. The first two years were kind of a popularity contest for me. I went from being that awkward, fat girl in middle school who wore a Blink 182 hoodie every day (I didn’t even know who they were at that point) to that obnoxious, try hard in high school who just wanted everyone to like me. 

Tried too hard to fit into Abercrombie & Fitch clothing. Drank a bit too much Skol Vodka. Talked a little too loud and too much. Tried following all of the trends. All while I should’ve been studying for that test and memorizing the Periodic Table of Elements.

Skip forward about 2 years and a couple fake friends later, I sort of got my shit together. 

My momma told me to. Plus, I had to maintain a certain grade point average to keep my scholarship for a full ride.

I had gotten my first job at Burger King to pay for, I suppose, whatever I needed. Except I spent all of that money on Starbucks, clothes, and a nasty habit that i’m pretty sure all my colleagues smelled. Sry bros.

I started hitting the books when I was at work on night shifts as long as I wasn’t getting yelled at by my managers. Let’s face it, I was getting yelled at by my managers. HA.

I stayed up all night doing homework even if it required a bit of Adderall that was(n’t) prescribed to me. 

When I hit my senior year, Senioritis ( a colloquial term mainly used in the United States and Canada to describe the decreased motivation toward studies displayed by students who are nearing the end of their high school, college, and graduate school careers, or the end of the school year in general) kicked in MAJORLY. 

I cheated on everything. BUT, in my defense, all the cool kids were doing it.

aaaaand they all air dropped me the answers (we had iPads instead of books at this point). 

At this point, it was also decided that I wanted to become a nurse. So, I tried kicking ass in every school subject, hence the above.

I made great friends at my job who I now don’t really speak to (except you, Mayah. You da real MVP and my best friend, and oh my god, I love you so much and I miss you) but they were my greatest support system up until graduation. 

That’s when my life started to crack around the edges.

& let me tell you how it started.

I knew my life was about to be the definition of bad luck when at my graduation, I got hit in the head with a fake pillar. Literally. I don’t really want to talk about it partially because it gave me a concussion and I don’t remember even getting my diploma and because it was super embarrassing. Go ahead and laugh, assholes. Then:

My car broke down

Only 3 friends showed up to my open house

I lost my full ride scholarship

I was still working at Burger King

Got my heart broken

I had no $$

etc.

So, I started drinking. A lot. To “celebrate me graduating”... for the whole summer.

There was no way I was going to IUN for nursing now. I gave up, basically. 

(this is nearing the end, don’t worry. i’m getting to the point where I tell you about how I ended up at the bottom of the earth)

I felt alone and lost, really. So, I made an account on meetme to basically mess with people and get to talk to someone. Not for a boyfriend. Seriously. No.

And then, ladies and gents, is when I met my bff (and current boyfriend) Mr. Jamie.

Pretty much found out he was from New Zealand and had an accent, and that’s all I really cared about because he sounded Australian. We all know the obsession in the states with the Australian accent. TOTALLY HOT, RIGHT?!?!

By the way, Australian and Kiwi accents are different.

If we’re being COMPLETELY honest here, I had no idea where New Zealand was. I totally thought it was where Madagascar is.

Anyways, Mr. Jamie was coming to Chicago [2015] to go to Grace (a Michelin star restaraunt, by the way, he’s a chef if you haven’t stalked him on my Facebook yet) so I met him when he came 3 months later in December.

It was super awkward, to say the least.

During that time we first started getting to know each other, he helped me realize that I wanted to be a baker. I decided against it my freshman year when I found out it’s hard to get far in that career, but it’s what I wanted and still want to do.

Flash forward after he left, we got together, yaddayaddayadda. Mushy gushy blah blah blah.

By the way, don’t do long distance relationships. They are literally the worst and people are snakes.

During 2016, 

I moved out

 got an apartment in downtown Valparaiso with my dog Buddy (xoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxo) & older brother, Tyler

Got a new car

Had my heartbroken again

Glued it back together and became a boss ass bitch who took shit from no one

Waited for Jamie to come back in December

My mom, stepdad, and little brother moved to Florida

Got a job at Family Express Bakery

Jamie came in November and stayed until the end of January. After he left, I realized how depressing and lonely I was in Valpo. Long story short, him and I decided I was coming to New Zealand.

In that mean time, I HAD to get out of NWI.

I packed my car and dog up, and headed south to FlOrIdAAAAa. 

Two months after arriving, I saved every penny I had and moved to New Zealand.

There’s my little (big) introduction if ya didn’t already know that about me. From here on out, the rest of this blog is going to be about adapting to the new culture and adventures away from home.

Thanks for reading, lovelies. Talk to ya lataaaa, alligata.

Xoxo, 

Gossip Girl

Madi