Bethany | Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty

“Something that comes to my mind immediately is France. So I spent about nine weeks there last year, just before Covid, and that was probably the biggest home I’ve had, of my life. I’m just in love with the country, and in love with the people, and I stayed with an English couple, in a really small town called Ticheville in Normandy, and even French people don’t know where that is.

But that’s just what I consider home, to me, and whenever I think about where I’d rather be, it would be right there in that garden, at that restaurant. So, there I was just gardening, cooking food, looking after the lady’s mum and that was just the biggest sense of home, because I was a stranger when I went there. They didn’t know me, but they knew my friend, and immediately they were like my second parents. It was just so much fun. I got to stay with them for so long, with just no expectations or no judgement, and it was just the most freeing place to be. I felt so free, so safe, but also on a crazy cool adventure and that was home. So, I think adventure is also part of home for me. That’s where I feel my best. I just think home doesn’t limit you to the four walls where you grew up, because that’s not always nice. So, I think home is kind of what you make along the way for yourself and what you love is your home, pretty much. That’s what I kind of think.

I was born in Paeroa but when I was a baby, moved down to the South Island, to live in Ōavmaru and was raised down there. Then when I was about 14 years old, I shifted up to Tauranga, and finished high school here, went down to Wellington as soon as I turned 18, just to live and work. I didn’t really know what I was doing. I didn’t want to study straight away, so I just worked full time, got a flat, did that whole life experience, and then one of the friends that I worked with, she was going back overseas and doing her traveling thing, and she said to me, Beth just come to France. Juan, my best friend was there, which is a big part of my home, and I was just like, okay why not? So, in February I booked my tickets. In October I was gone. I travelled around for seven months, and then Covid happened and  it was quite a hectic time, obviously. I was overseas and didn’t really know what to do. Didn’t want to come back to New Zealand but obviously I had to, and it was the best thing I did, because obviously we’re in a pretty good position right now. So when I got home in Level 3, I was like, well I need some money. So, I went and did some kiwifruit picking and then after that ended, I came and worked down at a local bar, and now I’ve been working at a coffee shop, and a Vietnamese restaurant, Rice Rice Baby, across the road. I’ve just been working two jobs trying to figure out what I want to do with my life now that I’m not traveling. But I think one of my biggest goals is to leave The Mount and start traveling my own country, because it’s just as exciting. And hopefully in a couple of years, open up my own café with the best friend that I went overseas with, which is pretty cool. So, it’s exciting.”