Cats are Magic

I’ve been in New Zealand for about three days now. After 37 hours of travel, it was nice to be able to settle in to what would be my room for the next four months. By settle, I mean cry for a solid two hours and then nap for at least three. Why was I crying? Well if you haven’t already noticed just by knowing me, I am a giant baby. I’m very bad at change even though I don’t want to be, and I was lamenting the people and places I wouldn’t see until August. I was also crying because the guy who picked me up from the airport belittled almost every aspect of my identity (turns out the shitty white guy devil’s advocate stereotype exists in New Zealand, too). He made fun of me for not being religious and yet studying religion, and told me I’d be going back to school for a “real” degree within years of graduating with a BA in English. Even if any of those things are true, it’s just not cool to tell someone that after they’ve been awake for three days straight!! Also he doesn’t know me at all!! Also English degrees can come in handy in a lot of ways!! And Religion permeates every aspect of our culture!!!! Anyway, I’m trying not to hold a grudge. Clearly it’s going well.

After my mean-guy-induced-cry and jet lag induced nap, I went out and explored the campus of Massey University. New Zealand itself has about five million people living there. Four million of those people live on the North Island. I live in one of the bigger cities (though certainly not the biggest), Palmerston North, which is home to about 80,000 people. The university I’m attending is definitely bigger than Goucher, with a population of at least 20,000 (I think?). Only 4,000 people live on campus, as most people either commute or take online classes. However, International students get to campus a week before most of those 4,000. And I happened to get there a day or so before most international students.

So, if you can picture it, I’m on a very empty campus meant to house a good couple of thousand people, on a large island home to a small number of people sparsely scattered around, after having traveled for three days, cried a lot, and napped a lot.

I was discombobulated.

New Zealand, it turns out, is one of the most beautiful places in the entire fucking world. There are mountains everywhere that pop up at random. There are sheep and cows dotting the entire landscape. The cloud formations alone are enough to write like twenty books of poetry about. It’s at least 70 degrees and humid, so you can walk around in shorts. Everything is green. Succulents grow like crazy- aloe plants dot the walkways from my dorm down to the main campus, growing at random because this is their natural habitat. So I’m jet lagged and sad and sleepy and walking around this gorgeous, deserted fairytale island. It feels like I have the whole country to myself. I don’t think my mouth has stopped gaping at it all since I got here.

As I’m walking around, I notice that to get to the main campus from my room, I have to go under a main highway. To get across the highway, you go through a sketchy tunnel that’s filled with florescent lights and cobwebs and suspicious puddles. It’s only about a hundred feet long, but it’s enough to convince you that you’re in a Miyazaki movie and might be turned into a pig if you eat anything on the other side of the tunnel. This is a bummer because all the food is through the tunnel. My options are to become a pig or starve.

The tunnel isn’t the only thing that reminds me of a Miyazaki movie. The plants honestly look made up. There are palm trees and pine trees, which I don’t think belong together in the same climate. There are fern trees (just giant ferns!!) and morning glories and a whole host of things I can’t even name. The birds make ridiculous noises- there’s one that sounds exactly like a human whistling, and it still makes me whip my head around to see if anyone’s following me whenever I hear it. The animals are all friendly. The sheep look like No Face from spirited away.

But here’s the thing that really convinced me that I’m in a fake place; the cats. As I’m walking around, I realize I’m definitely lost. It’s a Friday afternoon, most things are closed, and I napped through the window of time I had to get to the international students office and get my ID card. I figured I could wander around and maybe find the office by chance so I could go first thing on Monday. However, I was supremely lost. I probably could’ve found my way back eventually, but I kept following things I thought were cool looking (plants, trees, birds, views) instead of using actual paths. This led me to a very secluded road on the top of a hill that seemed to be a good ways away from the main campus. As I’m about to give up and retrace my steps to where I last had my bearings, a cat jets out from the side of the road and limps towards a clearing. I sprint after it hoping to make a friend, and almost immediately find myself in front of the International student’s office.

Before I jump to any conclusions about cats being spirits of the forest that lead me to where I need to go, let me tell you another instance that happened on the same day. About an hour after the first cat incident, I’m walking around the most beautiful parking lot I’ve ever seen in my life. I sat up there in the middle of the pavement staring at the scenery, close to crying again just because of the sheer beauty of my surroundings; the clouds breaking over the mountains, the rolling green hills dotted with lines of trees, sheep roaming freely between fields, sunlight streaming down through the clouds after the rain, making the pavement gleam as the puddles evaporate from the sudden heat. It was fucking incredible.

I stay up there for a good half hour or more, just looking at everything. Once I decide to go back to my dorm to unpack a bit, I realize that once again I’m not sure how I got to where I was. I consulted a map and quickly went down the wrong road, getting lost once again. As I’m turning around to try and get back to the dorm, I once again see a cat running off into the bushes. Naturally, I run after it. And what would you know, but stalking the cats’ path for a little while ends up leading me directly back to my dorm. Once again, a cat led me exactly where I needed to go.

That all happened a few days ago. I’ve been here for five days now, and today we had orientation. Part of that orientation included a picnic in a public playground after a quick excursion up into the mountains. As we’re heading back onto the busses from the playground, someone spots a cat. I whip my head around to see a beautiful black cat. Skinny, but still an adult, with huge green eyes. I run over. The cat doesn’t get scared, doesn’t move away. Instead, it walks towards me, meows once, and immediately lets me pet it. I pick the cat up and carry it with me towards the busses. It’s so calm, and so kind to me, letting me carry it wherever I want. Despite having seen those two other cats (and some kittens!) this is the first cat I’ve pet since coming to New Zealand. I put the cat down before reaching the busses, and it scampered off to the edge of the trees. I turned around and watched it as the busses left, and the sun caught its eyes at just the right angle, making the cats eyes flash bright green.

Before leaving, I was wracked with doubt about whether or not I was making the right decision. Was I leaving at the wrong time? Was I giving up certain things I’d never get back again by leaving? Was I even going to the right place? I know it might sound silly, but these experiences have only solidified my belief that I’m exactly where I need to be. They haven’t eradicated my doubts or anxieties about this trip, but I am choosing to interpret these cat sightings as a reason to not worry about them as much. Whether these cats were some messages or signs, some kind of deliverance from whatever higher power you choose to believe in, or if they were just random happenstances; I don’t care. Cats are magic. These three cats have given me solace in a time where most parts of my life are in some form of upheaval. In a time of transition and change, these cats led me to the places I needed to go. I feel blessed.

I don’t know what the rest of these five months are going to bring me. I don’t know what my life will really be looking like. However, as long as I have some cats to lead me in the right direction, I think I can chug along for the ride.

The wild aloe plants-