After a riveting game of Uno, I was talking with my roommates one evening and one of them mentioned the German word Marmeladenglasmoment. It is a word that describes moments that are so special, as if you could bottle them up in a jar of marmalade to open them later. As my roommate explained the meaning, I could only smile at her because I was delighted to find out there was a word to perfectly describe how I have felt about this entire abroad experience.
Given my discovery of this new word, and the fact that I am nearing the end of my abroad experience in a few weeks or so, I decided to take a moment of reflection and look back on some of my marmalade jar moments, meaning the moments that I wish I could pocket and then open up whenever I want! There are obviously a lot of moments like that, but I sorted through some of the most memorable.
Whether that be the most delicious Turkish eggs that have graced my
taste buds….
… or when my sister and I walked through this awesome tree path/art installation on the University of Auckland’s campus…
…. there have been so many moments that have really stuck with me throughout my time here. As one can assume, most of them are travel-related, but some of them are pretty ordinary. For instance, a few evenings ago, I went and got the most amazing steamed buns and dumplings with my roommates, and we ended the night with card games and ice cream.
It was something so simple as eating out with my friends that made it into my marmalade jar.
There were other smaller moments as well, such as when I and two other friends stumbled onto an unconventional route back to our hostel in Wellington. It was a dark, little weird winding path, with stairs back down to our hostel, but I thought it was honestly really cool (it also gave us a wonderful view of the city)! We stopped to take a few pictures and although it was a short moment, it was definitely something that I remember vividly from our trip to the capital.
Then of course, there are some other marmalade jar moments that are much bigger for me. The first one has to be when I climbed up Mount Maunganui in Tauranga, mainly because I was just happy I made it up there with relatively minimal heaving. There was also the fact that a beautiful sunset was happening when we made it to the top, which just added to a very magical experience. It was one of the first memories I made with a majority of other exchange students, and that was certainly something I wish I could relive whenever I wanted.
Speaking of sun, I must say we don’t get a ton of it here in New Zealand depending on the season! When it was peak winter, we often saw gray, rainy days. So, when the sun does come out, we make the most of it and bask in it. That brings me to my next marmalade jar moment; I had a wonderful picnic in the sun. It was still pretty cold at that point, but a few friends and I just had a tiny picnic on one of the hills not to far from our campus housing, and it was so-for lack of a better term-chill. This picnic also kicked off a week ahead where we went to the Waitomo caves and the Mangapohue Natural Bridge, which were frankly their own marmalade jars.
Since originally drafting this post, a lot more marmalade jar moments have happened, but I think that is the beauty of my abroad experience, that these perfect moments will continue to happen. And, New Zealand aside, this concept of Marmeladenglasmoment is something I will definitely keep in mind when I come back to the US and have more adventures. If anything, this word has opened my eyes to seeing the charm in so many more experiences, whether they be big and gorgeous like the top of a mountain, or weird and arbitrary…
… like seeing this giant cow statue named Mable with friends.
With love and L&P,
Raeva :)