Thursday 10 March 2016

So New Zealand then?

I am a hopeless dreamer and constant worrier, but above all I am a passionate traveller.



So far, I have been to 21 countries and lived in 3.

Yet, there I so many places I need to see! In Europe alone I can name at least another 10.
And then, it feels like I still need to see Patagonia, Peru, Australia, Iceland, Wyoming, Idaho... and of course New Zealand.

Anyway, 2015 taught me not to plan. I stopped planning, but I did decide to apply for a couple of things but not be bombed about it if it did not work out. In the end, I ended up applying for Master´s studies in Sweden (still waiting for the results there) and decided to apply for a Working Holiday Visa (WHV). That is a bit random you might think, but the truth is I for once consulted my intuition instead of constant rationalizing. :)

It all started...
I think...a couple months ago. I booked a consultation at the embassy where I asked all the possible questions about working visas. The deal is that once a year a certain number of visa open for a certain country and what I have been told is that you have to be super quick and type in your details really pronto, so that you are quicker than the masses of other people applying at the same time. To be honest - this scared me so much and I did not even get my hopes up at all.



The day that the application opened
Tuesday 1.3.2016, 10pm was the time that the applications for the visa for 1200 Czech people gets open. During the day, I could not stop the thoughts, about me finally having the option to turn my life around, distracting my attention. Twenty minutes before 10 pm I was sitting infront of my computer, a lovely cup of coffee next to my right hand. 10 pm - the applications are open aaand the website goes down. The amounts of people applying for the visa was more than the website could take. After two and half hours when I kept on clicking F5, pulling my hair and biting my nails of I finally managed to load the page and enter my details.


But...I did not know you wanted this!
Many of my friends were surprised about it and said that they never knew, I wanted to apply. For that I have a simple answer. Unlike what I was brought up to do, I am learning to be selfish and think it is a good thing. Once in the past i was talking to a friend about my idea for a bachelor thesis and another girl overheard it and guess what she wrote hers on. The option to get the visa in NZ was so precious for me that I did not want to have it stolen.

So what now?
I found out four days ago. I woke up, checked my phone that was still being charged and jumped out of the bed. Was this really happening?
"I am pleased to advise you that your application for working holiday visa has now been approved. All the best for your time in New Zealand :)" 
I could not believe it! You know what I loved about it the most? The smiley face at the end of the email!

Off to do some planning then
For now I know that there is a lot of things to be figured out. The insurance, the job hunt, the place to stay, the travelling!
But I will get there, one step at a time. Any kind of help or advice would be golden though.