Posted by Jed Wieland on Jul 09, 2018

Another great year for Rotary Student Exchange ends

Christopher de Blanc says good bye to Pakuranga Rotary and returns home to Denmark.

On his last day of his year with Pakuranga Rotary, Christopher shared some of the highlights of his time with us, starting with his long trip down under with its lengthy delays, then only to discover that our winter was not what he was expecting – it was much warmer than he was expecting!

During his year with us, Christopher travelled throughout the country. He goes home with fond memories of his weekend at a Marae, a South Island trip with all his new found international friends, a trip to Rotoroa Island, the Tongariro Crossing walk, a day on the harbour, and a bungy jump to name but a few of the events.

Christopher thrived on the diversity of New Zealand and the different families who hosted him. He goes home having learnt a lot about independence from the situations he faced. He successfully planned his own fundraising event and raised sufficient funds for an Emergency Response Kit.

His trip to District Conference in Fiji was memorable and he counts himself fortunate amongst his Danish countrymen for being one of the few who experienced a tropical Cyclone first hand.

So now it is back to his largely urbanised homeland and his town with its 38 meter “sky tower” and the “mountainous” terrain and its highest peak of 147 metres.

Christopher enjoyed his stay and the benefits and memories it brought him will be with him for ever. When asked, he said he will miss our pies, but not the Marmite. And we will miss his jovial and good-humoured company and wish him all the best for his future and the plans he has.