Stories

At nineteen, I dropped out of university before I’d technically started and flew to upstate New York to become a lifeguard. Within a week, I had three new friends from Dunedin. Shortly after that, I put my hand up when someone asked if I could drive a boat. I could. Technically.

At eighteen, I went to America expecting a tan, a bit of adventure and perhaps the beginnings of a six-pack. Instead, I found myself responsible for eight boys who seemed convinced I was an adult. The life jackets were compulsory, homesickness was inevitable, and a particularly useful Kiwi phrase helped me realise we were all figuring things out together.